Christmas at Lilac Cottage: (#1 White Cliff Bay) Read Online Free

down to eat hers. ‘Do I get enough to pay for this place, you mean?’
    Henry’s eyes widened slightly. ‘Sorry, that came across as very nosy, didn’t it? Ignore me. I hate it when people ask me about my work and my money. It’s absolutely none of my business.’
    ‘The house belonged to my parents, I grew up here, but they emigrated to Italy several years ago and left the house to me and my brother. He lives in the next town and I bought him out of his half of the house. I’m the only ice carver for miles and there are weddings every weekend, business functions, parties. I have to turn down many jobs because I just don’t have enough time to do them. It pays very well.’
    Henry looked surprised but she’d got used to those comments by now; no one took her job very seriously and certainly didn’t believe that she could support herself on it.
    ‘And, erm… is there a Mr Meadows?’
    Penny stabbed a piece of pasta with her fork. Why did people assume that she needed a man to keep her happy? She was perfectly fine on her own.
    ‘I’m presuming by the way you are murdering that piece of lasagne that I’ve stepped on a sore nerve there. My apologies.’
    Penny smiled as she looked at the massacred piece of lasagne.
    ‘I only asked because that hoodie looks way too big to belong to you,’ Henry said.
    ‘I just like big jumpers or hoodies. They’re comfortable. There isn’t a Mr Meadows, there never has been. Everyone in the town says I should be married with babies by now so it gets a bit wearing. I… I’ve had my heart broken in the past and I guess I’m wary of falling in love again.’
    She stared at her dinner in horror. Why did she feel the need to divulge that to him? She barely knew the man. How much wine had she drunk to loosen her tongue that much? It wasn’t even true. She wasn’t not with someone because she was scared of falling in love again, she was just happier on her own. It was easier this way. She took the last sip of wine in her glass and went to the stove to pour herself some more.
    ‘So you’ll have to go to the Christmas Eve ball now you’re a resident of White Cliff Bay,’ Penny said, desperately trying to change the subject. ‘Daisy will love it, there’s music and fine food and dancing, there’s also a big ice carving competition there this year.’
    ‘I’m not sure a ball is really my sort of thing. I’m too big to dance gracefully.’
    ‘Everyone goes, you have to go. It’ll be a great way for you to meet people and I’m sure Daisy will be upset if you don’t take her.’
    Henry still seemed undecided.
    ‘It’s for charity, you sort of have to go.’
    He smiled at her again and she cursed herself for reacting like a silly schoolgirl with a crush.
    ‘Well, if it’s for charity then I can’t say no, can I?’
    Penny grinned and shook her head. Noticing he had finished his lasagne, she stood up and took his plate to the sink. ‘Shall we go into the front room? It’s a bit cosier.’
    What was she doing? She didn’t need to get cosier with this beautiful man, with this beautiful married man. But Henry was already standing up and moving in there, taking his new best friend Bernard with him.
    She watched him go. She could do this, be in the same room with a man she was insanely attracted to without launching herself at him. A giggle burst from her throat at this thought. She had never launched herself at anyone in her entire life; it was unlikely she was going to start now. She was rubbish when it came to approaching men or even talking to them. Henry was easy to talk to. Although she was attracted to him, being married meant he was safe and she had spoken more to him tonight than she had to almost any man recently. She would just enjoy his company tonight and hopefully tomorrow she could pick up in the same place with his wife too.
    She plated up two mince pies and followed him. She stopped when she saw him on all fours in front of the fireplace trying to light