anywhere that’s going to remind me of Cathy and the Christmases we spent together.’ He smiled self-derisively.
‘Don’t.’ She put a sympathetic hand on his arm. ‘Don’t do this to yourself, David,’ she urged. Though at the same time she was curious as to what his explanation would be for Gideon’s presence here…
But as Crys brought Diana Chisholm over to formally introduce her to the two of them Molly knew she wasn’t going to hear David’s opinion of Gideon being there. Pity. That might have been worth hearing.
Where was Gideon? It had been some time since he went to answer the telephone call, so what was keeping him?
‘Excuse me,’ she murmured before slipping away, confident she could leave the slightly melancholy David in Crys’s more than capable hands.
She found Gideon in the kitchen, standing in front of the window, staring out, supposedly, up at the starlit sky. She came to a halt in the doorway, not sure whether or not she should intrude on what was obviously a moment of privacy. She decided not.
‘Makes you realise how insignificant we all are, doesn’t it?’ Gideon murmured just as she would have turned and walked quietly away. He turned to face her, his face partly in shadow. ‘The stars,’ he explained at her puzzled look. ‘Did you know that some of them have died, completely disappeared, before their glow is even apparent to the human eye? Quite—’
‘Have you and David both forgotten to take your happy pills this evening?’ Molly cut in pragmatically. ‘You’re both so introspective I think you must have done!’ she explained as his eyes widened. Inwardly, she wondered how he had known she was standing in the doorway, sure that her high-heeled shoes hadn’t made any noise as she walked down the thickly carpeted hallway. Eyes in the back of his head, probably; he certainly didn’t seem to miss much.
Gideon continued to look at her for several seconds, and then his mouth began to twitch, his eyes to glow with suppressed laughter. ‘If it happens again we can always rely on you to bring us back down to earth, can’t we?’ He was openly chuckling now.
She shrugged dismissively, not sure it was actually a compliment, but deciding to accept it as such. ‘Who was on the telephone just now?’ she prompted lightly; at least they weren’t arguing for once.
‘My assistant.’ He grimaced. ‘A client wants me to fly to Vienna the day after Christmas.’
“‘All work and no play”,’ Molly quoted dismissively, suddenly wondering if his assistant was female, and also if their relationship was just business orientated. Surely it was a little unusual for an assistant to track you down at someone else’s house on Christmas Eve, of all days, just to tell you about a commission?
Just as quickly she admonished herself for even thinking such a thing. What difference could it possibly make to her whether or not Gideon’s relationship with his assistant was purely business—or his relationship with any other woman, for that matter?
‘Not this time.’ Gideon shook his head firmly. ‘I’m fully booked until at least Easter; this client will just have to take a number.’
James, she knew, had been an extremely popular interior designer, but the name Gideon Webber had been in vogue long before James had come on the scene. Obviously his designs were still sought after.
‘Come on,’ Gideon said firmly, crossing the room in three strides. ‘Let’s go and join the others.’ He took a firm hold of her elbow. ‘And David was right, by the way,’ he murmured as they approached the sitting-room. ‘You do look gorgeous in that dress,’ he enlarged at her questioning look.
Molly was so stunned at the unexpectedness of the compliment that she stopped dead in the hallway, looking up at him with widely surprised eyes.
She had taken great care with her appearance after a glance in the wardrobe mirror in her bedroom had confirmed her earlier suspicions that she looked a mess. She had showered and washed and styled her hair so that it fell in soft russet waves past her shoulders. Her makeup was golden, with the merest hint of green shadow on her lids, the lipgloss a perfect match in shade for the dress.
But the last thing she had expected was that Gideon would be complimentary about her appearance.
He was looking at her quizzically now, and Molly spoke quickly to bridge the awkwardness. ‘You’re looking pretty good yourself,’ she said bluntly, at once cringing inwardly at her less-than-sophisticated answer.
He gave another grin, suddenly looking roguish. ‘Well, at least you and I have taken our polite pills this evening,’ he murmured dryly, before his expression darkened. ‘Molly, I’m afraid things got rather out of hand earlier, and—’
‘Please,’ she cut in abruptly, no longer able to meet his gaze. ‘Let’s just forget about it.’
His head tilted towards her, his face only inches away from her own now, his hand beneath her chin so that she had no choice but to look at him. ‘Can we do that?’ he prompted huskily.
Well, she certainly couldn’t—not when a part of her still burned to know where those kisses might have led if she hadn’t stopped them so abruptly.
‘Of course we can,’ she assured him brittlely. ‘It’s Christmas,’ she announced, with the same determination she had earlier. ‘And we should all try to be nice to each other at Christmas.’
His mouth twisted derisively. ‘I admire your sentiments—even if I think them somewhat ambitious.’
Especially where the two of them were concerned…
‘Yes. Well.’ She gave a rueful shrug. “‘Go for it” has always been my motto. Now, I suggest we do join the others,’ she added briskly, stepping away from him, her chin tingling from his touch. ‘Before our polite pills wear off.’
To her surprise Gideon laughed out loud this time. Looking so attractive when he did so that Molly’s breath caught in her throat.
‘You know…’ he sobered slightly, shaking his head ‘…you aren’t quite what I thought you were going to be.’ This last came out in a slightly puzzled voice, as if he was surprised at the admission.
‘I’m not?’ Molly said warily.
He grimaced. ‘No.’
She shrugged. ‘Actually, I don’t think I’m what you thought I was at all. But that’s just my personal opinion, you understand?’ she added dryly.
Gideon looked at her frowningly for several long seconds before once more taking a firm hold of her arm and opening the sitting-room door. ‘Let’s, as we’ve both already suggested, join the others,’ he said grimly.
Molly wasn’t sure what the state of play was between herself and Gideon after this latest exchange, but at least it helped to make the Christmas Eve dinner more enjoyable for all of them. The two of them were no longer snapping at each other, and even David seemed to have shaken off his mood of despondency as he conversed with Diana Chisholm about her work.
In fact, the dinner passed off quite enjoyably, with everyone complimenting her on her cooking. Molly was pleased by their compliments, while at the same time assuring them that Crys would have done a better job of it.
Even
