‘There’s nothing wrong with looking smart at work,’ he protested.
‘I know, but you’re not at work today, Sean. You’re playing. You can keep the shirt, but lose the tie.’
‘Bossy,’ he grumbled, but he did as she asked. By the time he’d changed into the jeans and his running shoes, he looked fantastic—much more approachable. Touchable. Claire was glad she’d picked a light-coloured denim that looked slightly worn. It really, really suited him.
She folded her arms and looked at him.
‘What now?’ he asked. ‘I’m not wearing the tie.’
‘But your top button is still done up. Fix it, and roll your sleeves up.’
‘Claire...’
‘We did your date your way,’ she said. ‘And you agreed that we’d do this one my way.’
‘This is the giddy limit,’ he said, and for a moment she thought he was going to refuse; but finally he indulged her.
‘That’s almost perfect,’ she said, then sashayed over to him, reached up to kiss him, and then messed up his hair.
‘Why did you do that?’ he asked, pulling back.
‘It’s the “just got out of bed” look. Which makes you look seriously hot,’ she added. ‘Like you did in Capri.’
He gave her a predatory smile. ‘So if you think I look hot...’
‘Rain check,’ she said. ‘Because we’re going out and having fun, first.’
* * *
There was a bossy side to Claire, Sean thought, that he’d never seen before. The whole idea of giving up control—that just wasn’t how he did things.
Claire Stewart was dangerous with a capital D where his peace of mind was concerned.
‘This is your car?’ He looked at the bright pink convertible Mini stencilled with daisies that was parked on the road outside his house. ‘Oh, you are kidding me.’
‘What’s wrong with my car?’ She put her finger into the keyring and spun her keys round.
What was wrong with the car? Where did he start?
He closed his eyes. ‘OK. I know, I know, go with the flow.’ He groaned and opened his eyes again. ‘But, Claire. Pink. With daisies. Really?’
Finally she took pity on him. ‘I borrowed it from a friend. I don’t have a car of my own at the moment.’
‘Then we could go wherever it is in mine,’ he suggested hopefully.
‘Nope—we’re doing this my way.’ She gave him another of those insolent grins. ‘Actually, my friend wants to sell this. I was thinking about buying it from her.’
He pulled a face, but said nothing.
‘Very wise, Sean, very wise,’ she teased.
She tied her hair back with a scarf, added some dark glasses that made her look incredibly sexy, and then added the disgusting khaki cap he remembered from Capri and which cancelled out the effect of the glasses. Once they were sitting in the car, she put the roof down, connected her MP3 player, and started blasting out sugary nineteen-sixties pop songs. Worse still, she made him sing along; and Sean was surprised to discover that he actually knew most of the songs.
By the time they got to Brighton, he’d stopped being embarrassed by the sheer loudness of the car and was word-perfect on the choruses of all her favourite songs.
‘Brighton,’ he said.
‘Absolutely. Today is “Sean and Claire do the seaside”,’ she said brightly.
‘And this isn’t planned out?’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Don’t be daft—you don’t plan things like going to the seaside. You go with the flow and you have fun.’ She parked the car, then took his hand and they strolled across to the seafront.
This was so far removed from what he’d normally do on a Sunday. He might sit in his garden—perfectly manicured by the man he paid to mow the lawn, weed the flower beds, and generally make the area look tidy—but nine times out of ten he’d be in his study, working. He couldn’t even remember the last time he went to the seaside. With one of his girlfriends, probably, but he hadn’t paid much attention.
But with Claire, he was definitely paying attention.
He hung back slightly. ‘Those are very short shorts.’ And it made him want to touch her.
She just laughed. ‘I have great legs—I might as well show them off before they go all wrinkly and saggy when I’m old.’
‘You’re...’ He stopped and shook his head.
‘I’m what, Sean?’
‘A lot of things,’ he said, ‘half of which I wouldn’t dare utter right now.’
‘Chicken,’ she teased.
‘Discretion’s the better part of valour,’ he protested.
She laughed and took him onto the pier. They queued up to go on the fairground rides.
‘You couldn’t get fast-track tickets?’ he asked.
She rolled her eyes. ‘Queuing is part of the fun.’
‘How?’ he asked. In his view, queuing was a waste of time. If something was worth visiting, you bought fast-track tickets; otherwise, you didn’t bother and you used your time more wisely.
‘Anticipation,’ she said. ‘It’ll be worth the wait.’
He wasn’t so sure, but he’d agreed to do this her way. ‘OK.’
But then they queued for the roller coaster.
‘I thought you hated heights?’
‘I do, but it’ll be worth it if it loosens you up a little,’ she said. ‘It’s OK to stop and smell the roses, Sean. If anything it’ll enrich the time you spend on your business, because you’ll look at things with a wider perspective.’
‘Playing the business guru now, are you?’
‘I don’t play when it comes to business,’ she said, ‘but I do remember to play in my free time.’
‘Hmm.’
He wasn’t that fussed about the thrill rides, but for her sake he pretended to enjoy himself.
They grabbed something quick to eat, then went over to the stony, steeply sloping beach next. The sea was such an intense shade of turquoise, they could have been standing on the shore of the Mediterranean rather than the English Channel. He’d never seen the sea in England look so blue. And this, he thought, was much more his style than waiting in a queue for a short thrill ride that did nothing to raise his pulse.
Claire, on the other hand, could seriously raise his pulse...
‘Shoes off,’ she said, removing her own canvas shoes, ‘and roll up your jeans.’
‘You’re so bossy,’ he grumbled.
She grinned. ‘The reward will be worth it.’
‘What reward?’
She fluttered her eyelashes at him. ‘Wait and see.’
He had to admit that it was nice walking on the edge of the sea with her, his shoes in one hand and her hand in his other. The sound of the waves rushing onto the pebbles and the seagulls squawking, the scent of the sea air and the warmth of the sunlight on his skin. Right at that moment, he’d never felt more alive.
It must have shown in his face, because she said softly, ‘Told you it was rewarding.’
‘Uh-huh.’ He smiled at her. ‘Talking of rewards...’ He leaned forward and kissed her. But what started out as a sweet, soft brush of her lips against his soon turned hot.
He pulled back, remembering that they were in a public place and with families around them. ‘Claire. We need to...’
‘I know.’ Her fingers tightened round his. ‘And this was what I wanted today. For you to let go, just a little bit, and have some fun with me.’
‘I am having fun,’ he said, half surprised by the admission.
‘Good.’ Her face had gone all soft and dreamy and it made him want to kiss her again—later, he promised himself.
When they’d finished paddling, they had to walk on the pebbles to dry off—Claire clearly hadn’t thought to bring a towel with her—
and then she said, ‘Time for afternoon tea. And I have somewhere really special in mind.’
‘OK.’ He didn’t mind going with the flow for a while, especially as it meant holding her hand. There was something to be said about just wandering along together.
As they walked into the town, he could see the exotic domes and spires of Brighton Pavilion.
Another queue, he thought with a sigh. It was one of the biggest tourist attractions in the area. Again, if she’d planned it they could’ve bought tickets online rather than having to queue up. He hated wasting time like this.
But, when they got closer, he realised there was something odd. No queues.
A notice outside the Pavilion informed them that the building was closed for urgent maintenance. Just for this weekend.
Sean just about stopped himself pointing out that if Claire had planned their trip in advance, then she would’ve known about this and she wouldn’t have been disappointed.
‘Oh, well,’ she said brightly. ‘I’m sure we can find a nice tea shop somewhere and have a traditional cream tea.’
Except all the tea shops nearby were full of tourists who’d had exactly the same idea. There were queues.
‘Sorry. This is, um, a bit of a disaster,’ she said.
Yes. But he wasn’t going to make her feel any worse about it by agreeing with her. ‘Carpe diem,’ he said. ‘Maybe there’s an ice cream shop we can go to instead.’
‘Maybe,’ she said, though he could tell that she was really disappointed. He guessed that she’d wanted to share the gorgeous furnishings of the Pavilion with him—and there had probably been some kind of costume display, too.
They wandered through the historic part of the town, peeking in the windows of the antiques shops and little craft shops, and eventually found a tea shop that had room at one of the tables. Though as it was late afternoon, the tea shop had run out of scones and cream.
‘Just the tea is fine, thanks,’ Sean said with a smile.
They had a last walk along the beach, then Claire drove them home. ‘Shall I drop you back at your house, or would you like to come back to my place and we can maybe order in some Chinese food?’ she asked.
Given what she’d said to him by the sea, Sean knew what she wanted to hear. ‘I think,’ he said, ‘we’ll go with the flow.’
Her smile was a real reward—full of warmth and pleasure rather than smugness. ‘We won’t go home on the motorway, then,’ she said. ‘We’ll find a nice little country pub where we can have dinner.’
Except it turned out that every pub they stopped at didn’t do food on Sunday evenings.
‘I can’t believe this,’ she said. ‘I mean—it’s the summer. Prime tourist season. Why on earth wouldn’t any of them serve food on Sunday evenings?’
Sean didn’t have the heart to ask why she hadn’t planned it better. ‘Go back on to the motorway,’ he said. ‘We’ll get a takeaway back in London.’
‘I’m so sorry. Still, at least we can keep the roof down and enjoy the sun on the way home,’ Claire said.
Which was clearly all she needed to say to jinx it, because they were caught in a sudden downpour. By the time she’d found somewhere safe to stop and put the car’s soft top back up, they were both drenched. ‘I’m so sorry. That wasn’t supposed to happen,’ Claire said, biting her lip.
‘So we were literally going with the flow. Of water,’ Sean said, and kissed her.
‘What was that for?’ she asked.
‘For admitting that you’re not always right.’ He stole another kiss. ‘And also because that T-shirt looks amazing on you right now.’
‘Because it’s wet, you mean?’ She rolled her eyes at him. ‘Men.’
He smiled. ‘Actually, I wanted to cheer you up a bit.’
‘Because today’s been a total disaster.’
‘No, it hasn’t. I enjoyed the sea.’
‘But we didn’t get to the Pavilion, we missed out on a cream tea, I couldn’t find anywhere for dinner and we just got drenched.’ She sighed. ‘If I’d done things your way, it would’ve been different.’
‘But when I planned our date, we ended up rushing and that was a disaster, too,’ he said softly. ‘I think we might both have learned something from this.’
‘That sometimes you need to plan your personal life?’ she asked.
‘And sometimes you need to go with the flow,’ he said. ‘It’s a matter of compromise.’
‘That works for me, too. Compromise.’ And her smile warmed him all the way through.
On the way back to London, he asked, ‘So are you seriously going to buy this car?’
‘What’s wrong with it?’
‘Apart from the colour? I was thinking, it’s not very practical for transporting wedding dresses.’
‘I don’t need a car for that. I’m hiring a van for the wedding show,’ she said.
‘So why don’t you have a car?’ he asked.
‘I live and work in London, so I don’t really need one—public transport’s fine.’
‘You needed a car today to take us to the seaside,’ he pointed out.
‘Not necessarily. We could have gone by train,’ she said.
‘But then you wouldn’t have been able to sing your head off all the way to Brighton.’
‘And we wouldn’t have got wet on the way home,’ she agreed ruefully.
‘We really need to get you out of those wet clothes,’ he said, ‘and my place is nearer than yours.’
‘Good point,’ she said, and drove back to his.
Sean had the great pleasure of peeling off her wet clothes outside the shower, then soaping her down under the hot water. When they’d finished, he put her clothes in the washer-dryer while she dried off. And then he had the even greater pleasure of sweeping her off her feet again, carrying her to his bed, and making love with her until they were both dizzy.
Afterwards, she was all warm and sweet in his arms. He stroked her hair back from her face. ‘You were going to tell me how come you’re not a doctor.’
‘It just wasn’t what I wanted to do,’ she said.
‘But you applied to study medicine at university.’
She shifted onto her side and propped herself on one elbow so she could look into his face. ‘It was Dad’s dream, not mine. It’s a bit hard to resist pressure from your parents when you’re sixteen. Especially when your father’s a bit on the overprotective side.’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘Luckily I realised in time that you can’t live someone else’s dream for them. So I turned down the places I was offered and reapplied to design school.’
He frowned. ‘But you were doing science A levels.’
‘And Art,’ she said. ‘And the teacher who taught my textiles class at GCSE wrote me a special reference, explaining that even though I hadn’t done the subject at A level I was more than capable of doing a degree. At my interview, I wore a dress I’d made and I also took a suit I’d made with me. I talked the interviewers through all the stitching and the cut and the material, so they knew I understood what I was doing. And they offered me an unconditional place.’
He could see the pain in her eyes, and drew her closer. ‘So what made you realise you didn’t want to be a doctor?’
‘My mum.’ Claire dragged in a breath. ‘She was only thirty-seven when she died, Sean.’ Tears filmed her eyes. ‘She barely made it past half the proverbial three score years and ten. In the last week of her life, when we were talking she held my hand and told me to follow my dream and do what my heart told me was the right thing.’
Which clearly hadn’t been medicine.
Not knowing what to say, he just stroked her hair.
‘Even when I was tiny, I used to draw dresses. Those paper dolls—mine were always the best dressed in class. I used to sketch all
the time. I wanted to design dresses. Specifically, wedding dresses.’
He had a feeling he knew why she tended to fight with her father, now.
Her next words confirmed it. ‘Dad said designers were ten a penny, whereas being a doctor meant I’d have a proper job for life.’ She sighed. ‘I know he had my best interests at heart. He had a tough upbringing, and he didn’t want me ever to struggle with money, the way he did when he was young. But being a doctor was his dream, not mine. He said I could still do dressmaking and what have you on the side—but no way would I have had the time, not with the crazy hours that newly qualified doctors work. It was an all or nothing thing.’ She grimaced. ‘We had a huge fight over it. He said I’d just be wasting a degree if I studied textile design instead, and he gave me an ultimatum. Study medicine, and he’d support me through uni; study textiles, and he was kicking me out until I came to my senses.’
That sounded like the words of a scared man, Sean thought. One who wanted the best for his daughter and didn’t know how to get that through to her. And he’d said totally the wrong thing to a teenage girl who’d just lost the person she loved most in the world and wasn’t dealing with it very well. Probably because he was in exactly the same boat.
‘That’s quite an ultimatum,’ Sean said, trying to find words that wouldn’t make Claire think he was judging her.
‘It was pretty bad at the time.’ She paused. ‘I talked to your mum about it.’
He was surprised. ‘My mum?’
Claire nodded. ‘She was lovely—she knew I was going off the rails a bit and I’d started drinking to blot out the pain of losing Mum, so she took me under her wing.’
Exactly what Sean would’ve expected from his mother. And now he knew why she’d been so insistent that he should look after Claire, the night of Ashleigh’s eighteenth birthday party. She’d known the full story. And she’d known that she could trust Sean to do the right thing. To look after Claire when she needed it.
Claire smiled grimly. ‘The drinking was also the worst thing I could have done in Dad’s eyes, because his dad used to drink and gamble. I think that was half the reason why I did it, because I wanted to make him as angry as he made me. But your mum sat me down and told me that my mum would hate to see what I was doing to myself, and she made me see that the way I was behaving really wasn’t helping the situation. I told her what Mum said about following my dream, and she asked me what I really wanted to do with my life. I showed her my sketchbooks and she said that my passion for needlework showed, and it’d be a shame to ignore my talents.’ She smiled. ‘And then she talked to Dad. He still didn’t think that designing dresses was a stable career—he wanted me to have what he thought of as a “proper” job.’
Harlequin Romance April 2015 Box Set Page 66