‘I have known loss,’ Ed said quietly, ‘but nothing as cruel or as heart-breaking as this. I wish I could soothe your pain, I really do.’
She didn’t want him to think that she couldn’t cope about David, because she could. She’d learnt how to, with Jess’s coercion over the past few years. ‘Don’t be upset for me, Ed. I’m fine now, really.’
When he continued to look deeply concerned for her, she pulled one of her hands from his and reached out to rest her palm against his cheek. ‘I really am fine. I’ll miss him for ever, but now I can think about him without feeling like there’s nothing for me to live for.’
‘Good, I’m pleased.’
‘You’ve helped me do this,’ she said honestly. ‘You’re kind and good, like he was.’ Not wishing him to think she was only seeing him to replicate her time with David, she added. ‘That’s where your similarity ends though. You’re very different from David physically and I’ve grown up a lot since he died. But we kissed, Ed. Don’t you think that meant something to me?’
‘I’m glad it did. It meant something to me too, Iz.’ He stood up and pulling her to her feet took her in his arms and kissed her.
Relieved to have assured him that she did have feelings for him, Izzy kissed him back, her hands slipping up over his shoulders and around his neck. She murmured in pleasure, enjoying his reaction when he kissed her more thoroughly and held her tightly to him.
When he finally let her catch her breath, Izzy laughed. ‘You see, I have moved on.’
He smiled and kissed her once again. ‘I’m happy to be the man with whom you’ve chosen to move on,’ he said kissing her quickly again. He gazed at her, his eyes glazing over as he stared thoughtfully. Then, clearing his throat, he picked up their glasses and walked through to the small living area just off the kitchen. ‘Come through,’ he said. ‘Let’s chat for a bit and catch up properly.’
Izzy didn’t allow herself to show any disappointment at his change in attitude. And she was disappointed, extremely so. She followed him through and sat on the cream sofa opposite where he’d placed her drink on a glass coffee table.
‘It’s such a pretty cottage,’ she said. ‘Very contemporary décor too, which surprises me.’
He sat down next to her turning to face her, one knee raised up onto the seat. ‘Catherine oversaw the revamping of the three cottages last year. She did an excellent job, don’t you think?’
She had to agree.
‘I enjoy living here,’ he said, looking out of the window at the tree-filled wood beyond. ‘It’s peaceful most of the time yet so close to the beaches.’ He laughed. ‘Well, everything is close when you live on an island,’ he said. ‘Especially Jersey, don’t you think?’
Izzy giggled. He was right. Nothing was that far away. She’d always dreamt of living in England when she was growing up and having so many places to visit and things to do and see. ‘When I first visited England, I thought that I could see all the places I’d read about and visit them. It didn’t occur to me that England might have these places, but most of them take forever to get to.’
‘Yes,’ he nodded. ‘It’s very inconvenient when you have to travel hours between one place and the next.’
She slapped his leg lightly. ‘Stop teasing me. I forgot you’re French.’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘You really don’t have any accent at all, apart from when you speak with your family or another French person. It’s very strange.’
He pulled a face. ‘Not really. I’ve been here for years, so I was bound to lose some of my accent.’
‘Maybe, but not completely.’ She thought of a few close friends who had lived on the island for years and still had kept their accents. ‘I thought you were English when I first met you.’
‘Disappointed that I wasn’t?’ he said, a glint in his blue eyes.
She tilted her face to one side and did her best to look serious. ‘No, but I would have liked you to sound a little more exotic. You sound the same as Alex,’ she rethought this notion. ‘No, not very like him, but you both have that cut-glass accent.’ She smiled. ‘Even though Alex does his best to hide it.’
‘But you like where I live, though?’ he teased.
‘I do. It’s cosy yet smart.’ She looked at the warm cream wallpaper, coffee-coloured carpet, and contrasting purple curtains and nodded. ‘Jess and I should do something with our place,’ she thought of the floral curtains, carpet and wallpapers, each room different, all mismatched. ‘When I first moved in I thought the décor was going to drive me nuts, but oddly enough I barely register it now.’
He picked up her drink and handed it to her. ‘Probably because you’re so busy.’
They finished their drinks and it seemed the most natural thing in the world for Izzy to take his empty glass from his hand and place it down next to hers on the table. She looked at him to try and gauge his thoughts. Fed up with waiting for him to make a move, she leaned forward and kissed him.
The next thing she knew she was lying on top of him, kissing him like mad. Her brain vaguely took in his fresh recently showered smell, his hard chest and stomach muscles. She stopped kissing him and ignoring his groan of protest, pushed herself up to gaze down at a very pleasing bulge in his faded jeans. Maybe pleasing wasn’t the exact word she was looking for, she decided, forgetting he could see her studying his crotch; startling probably described how it looked to her right now.
She looked up at him, seeing the amusement on his face, and grimaced.
‘I’d like to say something encouraging or amusing, but I can’t seem to think of how best to make you forget my obvious enjoyment of you lying on me. Maybe you should kiss me again?’
Deciding he was right, Izzy, lay back down on top of him, pushed her hands in his wavy hair and kissed him again. He wrapped his arms around her, then moving one down to her bottom he squeezed lightly and groaned. She liked having this power over him, although if he stopped kissing her now she was liable to rugby-tackle him to the floor.
She moved her hands down to his chest and up under his white T-shirt, relishing the heat of his muscles.
His hands moved away from her bottom and taking her under the arms, Ed lifted her off him.
‘Hey, what are you doing?’ she asked sounding, even to her ears, like she was about to have a temper tantrum. Which she just might, she thought.
‘I’m a bit big for this furniture.’
She saw how high his knees were now they were sitting. ‘I suppose you are,’ she said, wanting to kiss him again.
‘Would you think it forward of me to suggest we go through to my bedroom?’ he said. ‘I think it’ll be much more comfortable in there.’
Izzy didn’t mind him being forward at all. She’d waited a long time to find another man she wanted to go to bed with.
‘OK,’ she breathed, trying not to sound too desperate.
He took her hand and led her through to his room.
Izzy wasn’t sure what to do next, now that the spell of kissing him had been broken. She peeked up at him through her lashes, sucking in her breath at the sight of him standing silently in front of her, so tantalisingly close. She dropped her gaze down to the floor, her bravado seeping away from her.
Ed stepped forward and took her in his arms. ‘If you’d rather we go back into the living room, just say,’ he said, his tone tender. He placed one palm on the side of her face and kissed her lightly on the mouth. ‘I don’t want to rush you. I want you to want this as much as I do.’
Hearing him saying how much he wanted her made her forget her inhibitions. ‘No,’ she said taking his hand and kissing the palm that had just been against her cheek. ‘I want this, very much.’
She stepped back from him and taking a few shallow breaths slipped her spaghetti-straps from her shoulders and let her dress drop to the floor, stepping out of it and standing in front of him in her white bra and panties.
He watched her. ‘You’re so beautiful.’
She smiled. It was so long since anyone had
been this intimate with her, but unexpectedly it didn’t seem strange. ‘This feels so natural,’ she said unable to keep the surprise from her voice.
He took hold of her, hugging her tightly against him. ‘For me too,’ he said.
They stood together for a moment. Izzy realising she was the only one who’d undressed, stepped back. ‘Hey, I’m not going to be the only one standing here in my underwear,’ she joked.
‘You don’t have to tell me twice to take my trousers off,’ he laughed, undoing his jeans and letting them fall to the floor. He stepped out of them, kicking them away.
‘Very nice,’ she said, amused at her huge understatement. She stared at the bulge in his boxers, unable to help herself.
‘Nice? Right, you beautiful woman, come and let me show you how a Frenchman makes love.’
‘Even one who’s lost his accent?’ she teased.
He picked her up, carrying her over to the bed and laying her gently on top of the duvet. ‘Yes, even one that’s lost his accent.’
‘Can’t you even try to speak that way now?’
He pulled off his boxer shorts and climbed in next to her. ‘Ma chérie, kiss me,’ he said in an exaggerated accent, kissing her shoulder.
‘Shut up.’ She pulled his head down to her and kissed him, trying not to giggle. She wasn’t sure if it was excitement or nerves, but whatever it was, she was enjoying every second lying semi-naked in bed with this gorgeous man.
‘I think this is a little one-sided, don’t you?’ he asked.
‘What do you mean?’
He touched her mouth with his finger, kissing her. Then, tracing lightly down from her mouth, her chin, her neck to her bra, he kissed each of her breasts. ‘Are these going to stay encased in this?’ he asked, indicating her lacy bra.
Izzy giggled, shivering when his finger, followed by his mouth moved lightly down her stomach to her knickers. ‘Can I take these off?’
‘No,’ she said, enjoying the look of disappointment when she sat up. ‘I want to.’ She unclipped her bra, threw it off so it flew through the gap in the curtains and rested on the inside of the window. ‘That was close,’ she laughed. ‘I hope no one can see it on the windowsill.’
‘I doubt anyone will be walking by this cottage tonight.’ He put one hand behind her head and lifting it slightly towards him bent to kiss her.
She couldn’t stand the tension a second longer. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘I’ve changed my mind. You can pull down my knickers.’
He reached out and did so.
‘So beautiful,’ he said looking appreciatively at her body as she lay there in front of him. ‘I’ve wanted to do this since we first went riding at the château.’
She couldn’t help grinning like a fool at his admission. The pressure of his firm lips on hers when he kissed her once again made her insides clench. His tongue found hers. Boy, he knew how to kiss. She wanted this kiss to go on for ever.
He moved from her mouth, kissing her neck. Izzy squirmed involuntarily at the exquisite touch. He was on top of her but she only felt the firm pressure of his body, and his pleasure at being with her pressing against her stomach. Unable to resist, Izzy reached down and took him in her hand.
He groaned, reminding her that he could feel everything she was doing and this wasn’t just a fantasy she was experiencing.
‘Sorry,’ she whispered, not letting go and kissing him hard on his lips.
‘If you keep doing that I’m not going to be able to contain myself.’
She giggled. ‘I don’t care, I’m enjoying this.’
He placed one hand on her left breast and, taking her nipple in his mouth, tugged it gently between his teeth. Izzy forgot what she was doing, opened her legs, and put both hands onto his buttocks, annoyed when she couldn’t get low enough to get a proper grasp of them.
‘You are one sexy lady,’ he murmured. Reaching down he touched between her legs lightly.
Izzy groaned. ‘Please, don’t do that.’
‘Why not?’ he asked.
Was he smiling she wondered, looking up into his eyes and seeing tenderness shining from them. ‘What do you want me to do?’
Oh hell, she thought, not caring how unladylike she sounded. ‘Please, get on with it before I lose my mind,’ she whispered, barely able to speak with the sensations he was causing between her legs.
‘You’re sure?’ he asked, his voice husky.
She was. ‘You want me to say it twice?’
‘What? That you want me to …’
She giggled, embarrassed. ‘Shut up and do it.’
He did.
She arched against him, consumed by him wanting him inside her. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she writhed against him as he thrust into her. Oh God, this was beyond anything she’d ever experienced before. Desperate not to come before him, she tried to hang on. Unable to resist, she gave in to the most almighty climax she’d ever experienced, heightened by his guttural groan as he came seconds later.
He kissed her neck and then her mouth for a few minutes before resting next to her, her legs tangled in his. Their breathing slowed back to normal and she relished lying in his arms.
She felt his body tense.
Had he just heard something too, she wondered. ‘What was that?’ she asked. ‘Was someone outside the window just then?’
He shook his head. ‘Probably just one of my godfather’s dogs, out before being shut in the boot room for the night.’
She snuggled back into his arms. ‘You were right.’
He gave her a brief squeeze. ‘Go on, what was I right about?’
She held back a giggle. ‘About showing me how Frenchmen make great lovers.’
He laughed, loudly. ‘What, even those with very English accents?’
She pinched the skin on his waist, making him flinch.
‘Ouch.’
‘Yes,’ she said bending down to kiss him where she’d just inflicted pain. ‘Even then.’
They lay in silence for a few moments.
‘Tell me about your father?’
She couldn’t understand why he would ask such a random question. ‘Why?’
He propped himself up on one elbow looking down at her and kissed her on her forehead. ‘I want to know more about you. Do you mind me asking?’
She shook her head. ‘It’s just an odd question to ask, I mean, right now.’
He frowned slightly. ‘I suppose it is.’
‘My dad was eccentric, but lovely.’
‘You must miss him very much,’ he asked thoughtfully making her wonder if he was relating it to himself somehow.
‘I do. I don’t have as many memories of him as I’d like and I suspect some have been altered in my mind. I wish I still had him in my life to be able to get to know him as one adult to another. ’
He thought about this, then nodded. ‘I can imagine.’
‘He wasn’t in my life as much as I would have liked, and I suspect Mum secretly wanted him to be a bigger part of our lives, but he had a family. That was before I came along.’ She thought back to the birthdays and Christmases she had watched friends being spoilt by their fathers since losing hers at ten years old and secretly wishing for the same closeness with her own. ‘I suppose that’s what comes from being an unexpected surprise.’
Ed scooped her up in his arms and cuddled her. ‘You deserve to be loved.’
‘Thank you,’ she said, meaning it. She reached up and kissed him.
Moving so that he was on top of her once more, he grinned and said. ‘I think I should show you how I make love when I’ve got a bit of self-control.’
She smiled, happy to let him know how much she approved of his idea and even happier to be changing the subject away from her and her strange childhood. ‘Now that is a good idea.’
As Izzy drifted off to a contented sleep in his arms, she thought for a second she heard distant rumblings of a thunderstorm. ‘I hope that passes us,’ she said sleepily, closing her eyes.
Cha
pter Twenty-one
She wasn’t sure if it was the screaming that woke her or Ed leaping out of bed.
‘What on earth’s that?’ she shouted, but Ed was tugging up his jeans and out of the doorway before she’d finished speaking. Izzy grabbed her dress, shoved it over her head, and ran out of the door after him. The crying was coming from around the other side of the manor house somewhere. Izzy ran but as she neared the first corner she came to a sickening realisation. She knew that sound.
‘Jess!’ she shouted, running faster. She turned the corner to see Ed standing at the door to the marquee, a sobbing Jess in his arms.
‘What’s happened?’
Jess pointed into the marquee.
Izzy saw the arch Ed had hung so carefully above the opening. Almost all the roses had been blown off and the ivy hung untidily from the frame.
‘It’s fine,’ she said, hugging Jess. ‘We’ll fix that in no time.’
‘Not the bloody arch,’ Jess pushed her away. ‘Look inside.’
Izzy stepped forward, but Ed grasped her arm. ‘You don’t want to look in there.’
‘It’s bad, isn’t it?’ she said, trying her best not to panic.
‘We’ll sort it out,’ he said, his voice cracking. ‘Try not to worry.’
Izzy gently disengaged his fingers. She had to see.
‘No,’ she whispered as she stepped inside, her heart pounding at the sight of the devastation. The lining was torn and hung in strips, the tables had been turned over, and almost all the crockery had been smashed.
Unable to move, she stared from one destroyed setting to the next. It was ruined. They were ruined. She checked the time on her watch. Five hours until seventy-five people would descend on this place, and there was nothing here for them at all.
She felt Ed’s firm arms go around her from behind. ‘I’m so sorry, Iz. I can’t imagine what could have happened.’
Jess stepped inside, spluttering. ‘It’s perfectly clear what happened. Catherine. I’ll bloody kill her.’
‘No, Jess,’ Ed said gently. ‘She isn’t capable of this.’
The Jersey Scene series box set Page 86