A Little Christmas Faith (Choc Lit)

by Kathryn Freeman

  Daniel opened the door to a large office dominated by a black desk with an in-tray in danger of buckling under the weight of its contents. To the side of the desk was a glass-fronted display cabinet and inside it row upon row of gleaming silver trophies.

  ‘Are all those yours?’ She nodded over to the trophy cabinet.

  He gave her a grin she’d have described as sheepish, had it not been on the face of a strapping six and a half foot athlete. ‘Yeah. I know it’s a bit corny to have trophies on display, but I figured they looked better here than on my mantelpiece at home.’ He laughed at himself. ‘Besides, I worked blood, sweat and tears to win the damn things. I reckon I owe it to myself to show them off once in a while.’

  ‘Yes, you do.’ She’d watched him win a fair few of them.

  While Daniel moved round to sit at his desk, Melissa slipped cautiously into the black leather chair facing him. In his tennis playing days the man sitting across from her had been known as a handsome charmer and it wasn’t hard to see why. The combination of rippling athleticism, dark good looks, compelling brown eyes and a dazzling smile was hard to ignore.

  ‘Is it something I said?’

  She blinked. ‘Sorry?’

  ‘You’re staring at me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not averse to having a woman stare at me, but in this case I get the feeling it’s not because you like what you see.’

  ‘Oh no, it’s not that at all.’ His lips twitched and she realised how that sounded. ‘What I mean is … well, to be honest I was thinking how relaxed and easy-going you were. Then I remembered how you used that charm on court to sucker the competition.’

  He let out a startled laugh. ‘I did?’

  ‘You know you did. One minute you were entertaining the crowds with a wise-crack. The next you’d turn deadly and rip your opponent to shreds. I believe they nicknamed you the Laughing Assassin.’

  He laughed, coughed and laughed again. ‘Oh boy. I hadn’t realised you were a tennis fan.’

  She felt herself starting to blush, which hadn’t happened to her in years. ‘I wasn’t just a tennis fan,’ she admitted. ‘I was a Daniel McCormick fan.’

  His gaze crashed into hers and for a moment she was transfixed by his deep brown eyes. An almost forgotten feeling of attraction tugged at her, warming her skin, tickling her senses.

  ‘Has William ever played tennis?’

  Grateful for the safer topic, she smiled. ‘No, not really. I’ve been out on the local courts a few times and tried to help him hit the ball, but he hasn’t received any proper coaching.’

  ‘Did he enjoy it?’

  She watched him pick up a pencil and twirl it through his long, tanned fingers.

  ‘Melissa?’

  Shaking herself, she focused back on the conversation. ‘Sorry, yes, William does enjoy tennis. That’s why, when I mentioned it to Alice, she offered to speak to you.’ She decided to leave it at that, even though it wasn’t just an improvement in William’s tennis skills she was hoping for from the academy.

  ‘He’s quite shy, isn’t he?’

  ‘Yes.’ She sounded abrupt and defensive but couldn’t help it. The question put her on edge.

  Daniel’s dark eyebrows rose up a fraction. ‘It was just an observation. I didn’t mean to imply it was a bad thing.’

  ‘I know.’ She sighed and took a moment to remind herself this stranger was also her friend’s brother.

  ‘I understand you and his father are divorced?’

  ‘We are, yes.’ She wondered how much more Alice had told him, and felt her posture slowly stiffening.

  Daniel narrowed his eyes, his expression hard to read. ‘Does he still see William?’

  Abruptly her chin shot up. How much more did he really need to know? He was only going to give her son tennis lessons, after all. ‘Sorry, but I’m not sure that’s any of your business.’

  Daniel took the barbed retort on the chin. ‘Fair enough. Is there anything else you do want to tell me? I’m afraid you’re going to have to fill out some forms. Just the usual stuff, name and address, any allergies or illnesses we should be aware of. Emergency contact.’ He smiled at her look of alarm. ‘I can assure you we’ve only had to use that once, when one of the mums forgot to pick up her daughter because she thought the session finished an hour later.’

  ‘William’s pretty healthy. No illnesses, no allergies.’ Just a fear of his arrogant, overbearing father, she added to herself. But that would go in time, now it was just the two of them. Already she’d seen an improvement. It was an extra reason not to let another man into her life again. It simply wasn’t worth the risk.

  ‘Excellent. If you could fill these in for me while you’re waiting for us.’ He pushed a couple of forms at her. ‘Then the only thing left to do is see him play tennis.’

  He stood and once again Melissa was struck by his size. Quickly she got to her feet, though even with her model height she felt dwarfed by him. It wasn’t just his physique that intimidated though. It was his air of confidence, of sureness. His presence.

  More aware of him than she wanted to be, she followed him out of his office.

  Enjoying a drink in the café opposite the courts, Melissa found her eyes constantly straying towards the young tennis players William had joined. She was acutely aware of how he hung back, even though his best friend, Simon, was there. The group, a mixture of boys and girls, all seemed determined to prove to Daniel that they were the best. All except for William. His shyness, in direct contrast to the confident children around him, was almost painful to watch.

  ‘He’ll soon settle in when he gets to know Daniel and the other children better,’ Alice remarked gently.

  ‘Yes, I know.’ It didn’t stop her worrying, though. Happy wasn’t a word that sprung to mind when she watched him. Oh he laughed when he was with her, but his quietness around others was wrong. She worried it was more a reflection of his state of mind, than his true character.

  Daniel changed the exercise, getting the children to throw a ball at each other and catch it on the bounce. He demonstrated with one of the girls, pulling comic faces when she dropped it, much to the amusement of his young audience. Clearly his brand of easy charm worked equally well with children as it did with adults.

  ‘Does he miss the tennis?’ she asked Alice, intrigued that a top ranking professional could find contentment teaching basic tennis skills to children.

  ‘You wouldn’t think it to watch him, or to talk to him.’ She paused, eyes on her brother. ‘There were a few weeks, right after he knew his career was over, when he was very down. It was heart-breaking to see.’ Briefly her face filled with sadness. ‘But then he pulled himself together and focused all his energies on taking his career in another direction. I don’t know if he still yearns for what might have been. I only know that he’s put his heart and soul into these academies and is rightfully proud of what he’s achieved.’ Alice turned to her. ‘He’s a good man, Melissa. He would suit you very well.’

  Melissa almost dropped her cup. ‘Oh no you don’t. I’ve already told you, I’m not interested in another relationship. The scars from the last one are far too raw, for both me and William.’

  Alice merely shrugged and took a sip of her drink. ‘Don’t worry, I heard you and I won’t be doing any stirring. It doesn’t stop me thinking you’re wrong, though. And we are coming into the season of goodwill to all men.’

  Melissa groaned. ‘Don’t remind me. I’ve never really enjoyed Christmas, but after Lawrence’s sudden appearance on my doorstep last week, I’ve started to dread it. I expect I’ll spend most of December terrified he’ll try to see William again. I ran out of goodwill towards that particular man a long time ago.’

  Alice looked at her sharply. ‘Did he make any threats?’

  ‘No, not in the sense you mean. He just made it clear th
at he wanted to see his son over Christmas, which is odd because the last time he saw either of us was nearly two years ago, on William’s sixth birthday.’

  ‘He’s not what you’d call a doting father then,’ Alice remarked dryly.

  ‘Not at all. William’s birthday was … awful.’ No words could adequately convey how distressing and difficult the few hours had been. Seeing her son change from happy in the morning, to tense and miserable in front of his father.

  ‘Are you going to let him see William?’

  ‘I told him he could only see him if I was there, too.’

  ‘And was he happy with that?’

  ‘No.’ She sighed. ‘Truth is, neither am I. I don’t want Lawrence seeing William at all. He’ll only intimidate him. And me.’

  Alice squeezed her hand. ‘It’ll sort itself out. As Lawrence didn’t bother to see William last Christmas, I can’t imagine he’ll try very hard this time. Don’t worry.’

  But asking a worrier not to worry, was easier said than done.

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