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‘A glass of wine?’ She looked up to see Alex smiling coolly at her, his face bland, and like an actor taking a cue from a director she adopted the same pose as the meal progressed. She had five more days to get through and then she would be free and she would make sure she never, ever came into contact with Alexander Cade again.
‘Mrs Cade has finished her meal, Mr Alexander.’ Christine, Isabella’s companion, stood in the doorway as they sipped their coffee. ‘Are you coming to say goodnight?’
‘Of course, Christine,’ Alex said easily. ‘Mary did us proud, didn’t she? But it was a shame you and my grandmother couldn’t join us.’
‘Oh, we had our own little party upstairs, Mr Alexander,’ Christine said comfortably. She paused and then moved closer to him, lowering her voice as she spoke again. ‘I’ve suggested to Mrs Cade that she doesn’t get up at all tomorrow. The company over the last two days has tired her more than she will admit.’
‘I was thinking the same myself,’ Alex agreed thoughtfully. ‘She really seems very frail. Don’t worry, Christine, I’ll take care of it when I come up shortly.’
As the tall elderly woman left the room he turned to Fabia, his face polite but withdrawn. ‘I shall be going to midnight mass in the village later. It’s something that Isabella expects and it’s little enough to do to please her. You are welcome to come along if you’d like to.’ She hesitated, the instinctive refusal dying on her lips. She didn’t want to be alone with him tonight with the atmosphere so tense and brittle, and yet... Neither did she want him to think she was nervous of him and the uncaring casualness of the invitation had made her feel contrary. He obviously didn’t care one way or the other and she intended to let him see she felt exactly the same!
‘I may as well,’ she said lightly in the same tone he had used. ‘I always find a Christmas Eve mass rather lovely.’
‘Yes.’ He smiled at her and there was something in the tawny-brown gaze that made her think, just for a minute, that in some way she had just played right into his hands. But that was nonsense and she was getting far too imaginative. She gave herself a mental shake.
‘Just dress for warmth, a couple of jumpers and thick trousers,’ he said nonchalantly. ‘The dogs are in need of a walk and they’ll wait outside while we’re in the church so I thought it would be nice to go by foot rather than car. It isn’t far, just a mile or so across the fields.’
‘Fine,’ she agreed quickly. If she was going to be alone with him it would be less dangerous to be in the great outdoors with the temperature well below freezing and two frisky dogs bounding by their side than in the warm intimacy of his car.
‘You’ll need a warm coat and boots,’ he cautioned as he stood up to leave the room. ‘The church is always only slightly warmer than the temperature outside and once one is sitting down the cold can really bite. I’ll see you down here in an hour or so?’
* * *
She took him at his word and joined him in the hall some time later, buried under her big thick duffel coat, long scarf and mittens with her feet as warm as toast in sheepskin boots. He smiled slowly. ‘You look like all the Christmas presents in the world rolled into one waiting to be unwrapped,’ he said softly, touching the smooth softness of her cheek before donning his own thick car gloves. ‘Come on, Major, Minor!’ The two dogs bounded round their heels excitedly, tails wagging and shiny black noses ready for action.
As they stepped outside the shock of the icy frost-laden air made her gasp, but it was wonderfully exhilarating. The frost on top of the smooth white blanket of snow made the silver world surrounding them sparkle magically, the clear black sky overhead alive with a million twinkling stars.
‘There’s a shortcut through the grounds,’ Alex said in her ear as he tucked her arm in his, ‘then a mile over the fields and we’re there. Are you game?’
She nodded, laughing suddenly as the two big dogs, wild with delight at the unexpected outing, rolled each other in the snow, barking madly in a confused welter of heads, paws and tails. ‘Crazy pair of mixed-up kids,’ Alex said indulgently. She glanced at his handsome face, alight with laughter and affection as he watched the antics of the dogs, and her heart lurched uncomfortably and then raced at twice its normal rate.
The night was clear and the moon was full, and as they walked through the fields arm in arm, following the path that other feet had trod that day but that was still inches thick in snow, she had a blinding sense of the significance of the moment. The starlit sky overhead, the rolling countryside clearly visible in its mantle of white, the exuberant animals and...Alex. She drank it all in without trying to understand why she felt so sweetly sad; now was not the time.
She felt dwarfed at his side in the flat-heeled boots but it was a good feeling. They didn’t speak and curiously that was more intimate than any spoken words, and as the Christmas bells began to call the faithful to worship she knew a poignant shaft of pain in her heart that was more piercing than any of the agony she had endured with Robin.
‘There’s the church.’ He looked down at her as he spoke, pointing across the white expanse in front of them to where a small stone-clad church complete with pencil-thin spire stood picturesquely under the dark sky. She had known it would look like that. The magic that had her in its grip had decreed it.
She couldn’t remember the details of the service afterwards, just the heavy sweet smell of incense, the timeless beauty of the carols and the small crib at the front of the altar containing the Christ child. As they walked out into the cold crisp air to the waiting dogs she felt more miserable than she had ever felt in her life, and totally, helplessly confused.
‘I’m glad you came.’ He pressed her into his side as he spoke. ‘Isabella was pleased when I told her.’
She looked up into his face slowly. And you, she wanted to ask; what, if anything, did it mean to you? The dogs walked quietly at their side now as if they too had been touched by the mystery of the night, and as they left the village lights and retraced their steps over the snow-lit fields he put an arm round her shoulders, drawing her close.
‘It’s Christmas Day,’ he said softly as he brought her to a standstill, lifting her chin up to meet his gaze. ‘Happy Christmas, angel-face.’ His kiss was deep and fierce, his cold face touching hers as his lips plundered the sweetness of her mouth as though he was slaking a deep-rooted thirst.
She had known it would happen, planned that she would remain cool and unmoved, but the second she felt the pressure of his arms holding her close into the big body and his warm lips opening hers she was lost. The flame roared savagely, brightly, and when at last he lifted his mouth from hers they were both panting slightly, her eyes wide and dazed and his narrowed into bright gold slits.
‘There’s magic in the air, angel-face.’ He slipped her arm through his and started walking, the dogs leaping up and padding by their side again, looking slightly puzzled at the strange behaviour of the humans who contro
lled their world.
‘Magic?’ Her voice was shaking slightly as she spoke and she hoped he wouldn’t notice.
‘Can’t you feel it?’ He looked down at her again, his face alive with emotion. ‘The world decked out in bridal white as though it’s waiting for us to—’ He stopped abruptly and she licked suddenly dry lips, her heart thudding. For us to make love? she asked silently. It still comes down to that?
‘Magic fades in the cold light of day,’ she said quietly, ‘and bridal white has a nasty habit of turning to black.’
‘You don’t believe that, not really.’ He stopped again to look deeply into her face. ‘You must believe in the power of love.’
