Say it with Diamonds...this Christmas: The Guardian's Forbidden Mistress / The Sicilian's Christmas Bride / Laying Down the Law

‘We haven’t been boyfriend and girlfriend all that time,’ she replied. ‘That’s a more recent development. He asked me out for a drink one night after my workout, one thing led to another and … well, what can I say? I’m very happy.’

Sarah smiled, despite the lurch within her chest.

‘And very healthy, too,’ Flora said with a return smile. ‘Don’t you think so, Nick?’

‘I think she looks like she could do with some of your caramel slice.’

Sarah found a laugh from somewhere. ‘That’s funny coming from you. All your girlfriends have figures like rakes.’

‘Not all of them. You haven’t met Chloe, have you?’

‘I haven’t had the pleasure yet.’

‘You will. Tomorrow.’

‘How nice.’

‘You’ll like her.’

‘Oh, I doubt it. I never like any of your girlfriends, Nick. The same way you never like any of my boyfriends. I’ve already warned Derek.’

‘Should I warn Chloe?’

Sarah shrugged. ‘Why bother? It won’t change anything.’

‘Will you two stop bickering?’ Flora intervened. ‘It’s Christmas, the season of peace and love.’

Sarah almost pointed out that Nick didn’t believe in love, but she held her tongue. Sniping at Nick was not in keeping with her resolution to move on. But he’d really got under her skin with his remarks about her being skinny.

When Flora presented a plate full of caramel slice right in front of her, she couldn’t really refuse. But she did take the smallest piece and proceeded to eat it very slowly between long sips of tea. Nick chose the biggest portion, devoured it within seconds, then had the gall to take a second salivating slice. The lucky devil had one of those metabolisms that allowed him to eat whatever he liked without getting fat. Of course, he did work out with weights every other day, and swam a lot.

Although thirty-six now, he didn’t carry an extra ounce of fat on his long, lean body. Really, other than some muscling up around his chest and arms, Nick hadn’t changed much since the day they’d met.

Physically, that was. He’d changed a good deal in other ways, matching his personality to suit whatever company he was in, sometimes warm and charming, at other times adopting a confident air of cool sophistication and savoir-faire, both personas a long way from the introverted and rather angry young man he’d been when he’d first come to live at Goldmine.

Though he was never angry with me, Sarah recalled. Never. He had always been sweet, kind and generous with his time. He’d made a lonely little girl’s life much less lonely.

Oh, how she’d loved him for that!

Sarah much preferred the Nick of old to the one sitting beside her today.

In the beginning, when he’d launched himself into the business world, she’d admired his ambition. But success had made Nick greedy for the good life, feeding on hedonistic pleasures that were as fleeting as they were shallow. Other than the holiday house on Happy Island, he owned a penthouse on the Gold Coast and a chalet in the southern snowfields. When he wasn’t working at making more money, he flitted from one to the other, always accompanied by his latest lady-love.

Whoops, no. Amend that to latest playmate. Love was never part of Nick’s lifestyle.

Her father had always said how proud of Nick he was. He’d lauded Nick’s work ethics, his intellect and his entrepreneurial vision.

Sarah could see that, professionally, there was much to be proud of. But surely her father would have been disappointed, if he’d been alive today, at the way Nick conducted his personal life. There was something reprehensible about a man whose girlfriends never lasted longer than six months, and who boasted that he would never marry.

No, that was unfair. Nick had never boasted about his inability to fall in love. He’d merely stated it as a fact.

Sarah had to concede that at least Nick was honest in his relationships. She felt positive he never spun any of his girlfriends a line of bull. They’d always known that their role in his life was strictly sexual and definitely temporary.

‘Glad to see you’re still capable of enjoying your food.’

Nick’s droll remark jolted Sarah out of her reverie, her stomach contracting in horror once she realised she’d consumed a second piece of caramel slice without being aware of it.

She kept her cool, however, determined not to let Nick needle her further.

‘Who could resist Flora’s caramel slice?’ she tossed at him airily. ‘Next Christmas we’ll get back to having a smaller Christmas lunch, Flora, and you can cook whatever you like.’

‘You won’t keep your father’s tradition going?’ Nick asked in a challenging voice.

‘Is that what you think you’ve been doing, Nick?’ she countered. ‘When Dad was alive, Christmas lunch was a gathering of true friends, not a collection of business acquaintances.’

‘Is that so? I think perhaps you’re mistaken about that. Most of your father’s so-called friends were business contacts.’

Nick was right, of course. But people had still liked her father for himself, not just for what they could get out of him. At least, she liked to think so.

But maybe she was wrong. Maybe she’d seen him through rose-coloured glasses. Maybe, underneath his bonhomie, he’d been as hard and cynical as Nick.

No, that wasn’t true. He’d been a kind and generous man.

Not a brilliant dad, though. During her years at boarding-school he’d often made excuses for not being able to come to school functions, all of those excuses related to work. Then, when she came home for school holidays, she’d largely been left to her own devices.

If she was strictly honest, things hadn’t been much better when her mother was still alive. A dedicated career woman, Jess Steinway had been totally unprepared for the sacrifices motherhood entailed upon the arrival of an unexpected baby at forty. Sarah had been raised by a succession of impersonal nannies till she went to kindergarten, after which Flora had taken over as carer before and after school. But Flora, warm and chatty though she was, had mostly been too busy with the house to do much more than feed Sarah and make sure she did her homework.

No one had spent quality time with her, or played with her, till Nick had come along.

She turned her head to look at him, a wave of sadness washing through her. Oh, how she wished he was still their chauffeur, and she the little girl who could love him without reservation.

Tears pricked at her eyes, right at that moment when Nick’s head turned her way. She quickly blinked them away, but not before she glimpsed regret in his.

‘Sorry,’ he muttered. ‘I didn’t mean any disrespect for your father. He was a good man and a very generous one. Christmas was his favourite time of year. Did you know that every Christmas he gave huge donations to the various charities round Sydney for the homeless? Because of him, they always had a proper Christmas dinner. And no one, especially the children, went without a present.’

Sarah frowned. ‘I didn’t know that.’ She knew about his good work with young prisoners. And he’d given lots of money to cancer research and cancer support groups. There were a few hospital wings named after him, too. But he’d never mentioned his Christmas donations. ‘I hope his estate is continuing with that tradition, Nick. Do you know if it is?’

‘It wasn’t written into his will, so I do it in his name every year.’

‘You?’

‘Don’t sound so surprised. I am capable of generous gestures, you know. I’m not totally selfish.’

‘I … I never said you were.’

‘But you think it. And, generally speaking, you’d be right.’

‘Don’t be so modest, Nick,’ Flora piped up. ‘You should see the huge plasma television Nick bought Jim and me a few weeks ago, for no reason at all except that he thought we’d like it. It has surround sound and its own built-in DVD. You can tape any number of shows and watch them later, when you have time. Jim’s in seventh heaven, watching cricket and tennis at all hours of the day and night.’

‘Why do you think I bought it?’ Nick quipped. ‘Had to do something to stop my right-hand man from spending every summer’s day glued to that TV, when he should be outside working. My motivation was purely selfish, I assure you. And don’t be expecting anything too expensive for Christmas, because I’m flat broke now.’

‘Oh, go on with you,’ Flora said laughingly.

‘Don’t laugh. I’ve made two dud movies already this year. And I’m damned worried about the one coming out in the NewYear. We’ve had a couple of test audiences view it and they said the ending was way too sad. The director reluctantly agreed to reshoot it with a happy ending, but I’ve decided to go with his original vision. If this one flops, I might have to come to Sarah here for a loan.’

Sarah was shocked by this news. She knew better than anyone that Nick’s ego would not survive becoming poor again. ‘I can give you as much as you need, come February. And it won’t be a loan, either.’

‘Lord, what am I going to do with this girl, Flora? I hope you haven’t made any similar offers to this boyfriend of yours. Don’t ever give a man money, Sarah,’ he told her sternly. ‘It brings out the worst in them.’

Sarah shook her head at him. ‘How many times do I have to tell you? Derek doesn’t want my money.’

‘He will, when he sees how much you’ve got.’

‘Not every man is a fortune-hunter, Nick. Now, if you don’t mind, I do not wish to discuss Derek any further. I know there’s no convincing you that no man could possibly love me for myself and not my money, so I’d prefer not to try.’

‘Hear hear,’ Flora agreed. ‘I agree with Sarah. Another piece of caramel slice, love?’

The ringing of Nick’s cellphone was a welcome interruption, not only to his incessant questioning about Derek, but also to her escalating exasperation. Tomorrow was not going to be a pride-saving exercise. It was going to be hell!

‘Hi there,’ she heard Nick say in that voice he reserved for girlfriends. ‘Yeah, that’d be great, Chloe. OK. I’ll pick you up tonight at seven. Bye.’

He clicked off his phone and slipped off the stool. ‘Sorry, folks. Change of plan. Chloe’s had a last-minute invitation to a Christmas Eve party at some bigwig’s place, so I’ll have to dash out and do my present-shopping now. We’ll have to put off that talk till I get back, Sarah.’

‘Fine,’ she said, pretending not to care. But she did. She cared a lot. Not about the talk so much but about his going out this afternoon, then going out with Chloe tonight. Pathetic, really. The way she would accept the crumbs of his company.

‘Don’t forget I want a new car,’ Sarah called after him as he walked away. ‘A yellow one.’

Nick stopped walking, then glanced over his shoulder at her. ‘Yellow,’ he repeated drily. ‘Any particular make?’

She named a top-of-the-range model. ‘Of course. What else?’

When he smiled his amusement at her, Sarah’s heart lightened a little. It was still there, that special bond between them. Because they knew each other.

Chloe didn’t know Nick. Not the real him. She only knew the man who had graced the cover of Australia’s leading financial newspaper last year.

‘I’ll see what I can do,’ he said. ‘Bye, girls.’

‘Bye,’ Sarah trilled back, smiling on the outside whilst inside she was already sinking back into the pit, that moment of pleasurable intimacy wiped away in the face of where Nick would be going tonight.

Do not succumb to jealousy, she lectured herself, or depression. Do not let him do this to you!

‘You don’t still have a thing for Nick, do you, love?’

Flora’s softly delivered question was almost Sarah’s undoing.

Gulping down the sudden lump in her throat, she straightened her spine and adopted what she hoped was a believable expression. ‘No, of course not.’

‘That’s good. Because it would be a mistake. There’s no future for any woman with a man like Nick.’

Sarah laughed a dry little laugh. ‘Don’t you think I know that, Flora?’

‘This Derek chap, is it serious between you two?’

Sarah hesitated to answer for a second too long.

‘I didn’t think so,’ Flora said. ‘You would have told me about him sooner, if that were the case.’

‘Don’t tell Nick,’ she blurted out.

Flora’s eyes narrowed. ‘Is this Derek a real boyfriend or not?’

Sarah bit her bottom lip. She knew it would be wiser to lie, but she couldn’t, not to Flora’s face.

‘He … he’s just a friend.’

Flora gave her a long, searching look. ‘What game are you playing at, girlie?’

Sarah sighed. ‘Nothing bad, Flora. I just wanted to bring someone to the Christmas lunch and Derek volunteered. I’m sick and tired of Nick’s girlfriends looking down their noses at me.’

‘So it’s a matter of female pride, is it?’

‘Yes; yes, that’s exactly what it is.’

‘You do realise Nick is going to give this poor Derek the third degree?’

‘Yes, he’s prepared for that.’

Flora pulled a face. ‘I hope so. Because Nick takes his job as your guardian very seriously, love.’

‘Derek can hold his own.’

‘None of your other boyfriends could.’

‘Derek’s not a real boyfriend.’

‘But he’s pretending to be one.’

‘Yes.’

Flora sighed. ‘Good luck to him, then. That’s all I can say.’

CHAPTER FOUR

SARAH decorated the Christmas tree on automatic pilot, her mind still on Flora’s last words.

Flora was right, of course. Derek was going to be in for a rough time tomorrow.

But I did warn him, she reminded herself. And he still wanted to do it. In fact, he seemed to find the prospect of pretending to be my boyfriend an exciting challenge.

Sarah was beginning to find the thought terrifying. Nightmarish possibilities kept popping into her mind. What if Nick somehow discovered that Derek was gay? Or that their so-called relationship was just a sham? How could she explain such a crazy deception? Surely saving her pride wasn’t worth the risk of feeling more of a fool in front of him.

And in front of Chloe.

Chloe …

Already she didn’t like the woman and she hadn’t even met her.

Nick had implied earlier that Chloe wasn’t as skinny as his usual girlfriend. Was she blonde as well?

She would have to ask Flora later for a more detailed description.

Finally, all of the ornaments and lights were hung, except for the star that went on top of the tree. A glance at her watch showed that it was ten past six, way past time for a toasted sandwich and some coffee. She’d bypassed lunch after having eaten two pieces of that dreaded caramel slice, believing that they would easily sustain her for the whole afternoon.

Serious hunger pangs told her she’d been wrong. But the Christmas star came first.

Sarah climbed up the stepladder once more, this time having to go up on tiptoe to reach the right spot.

‘That’s a great-looking tree.’

Sarah jumped at the unexpected sound of Nick’s voice, the star dropping from her hands as the back feet of the ladder lifted off the floor and she began to overbalance forwards. How Nick managed to save her she’d never know, but one second she was about to crash head-first into the tree, the next the ladder was abruptly righted and she fell backwards into Nick’s arms.

‘Oh, lord!’ she gasped, her arms flailing wide whilst his wound tightly around her back, pulling her hard against his chest.

‘You’re all right,’ he told her.

Her arms finally found a home around his neck, her heart thudding loudly behind her ribs.

‘You … you frightened the life out of me,’ she blurted out.

‘Sorry. Didn’t mean to.’

Sarah opened her mouth to say something more, anything to defuse the excitement that had instantly been sparked by finding herself in Nick’s embrace. Such physical closeness, however, was not conducive to sensible brain activity, her mind going totally blank when his dark eyes dropped down to her softly parted lips.

For several, highly charged seconds Nick just stared at them.

Time seemed to slow around her, the air stilling whilst her pounding heart suspended its beat, her eyes closing as her head tipped invitingly sideways.

He was going to kiss her. She was sure of it!

To suddenly find herself being lowered onto her feet came as a shock.

‘Oh,’ she cried out, her eyes flying open to discover Nick frowning down at her with nothing but concern in his face.

‘Steady now,’ he said.

Sarah could have cried. Clearly, she was so desperate in her infatuation with this man that she’d conjured up passion where there was none. Not on his part, anyway.

‘I’m fine, thank you,’ she said curtly, pride demanding she cool her overheated blood and still that foolish, treacherous heart of hers.

‘For a second there, I thought you were going to faint.’

‘Faint? Why on earth would I faint?’

‘Some girls do, after a shock.’

‘I’m fine,’ she reiterated.

‘In that case, how about thanking me for saving you from a nasty fall?’

‘Which you caused in the first place,’ she pointed out stroppily. ‘What are you doing home, anyway? I thought you were going to a party at seven. It’s not far off that now.’

‘Chloe forgot to tell me that it was black-tie. So I came home to change.’

Sarah had seen Nick in a dinner suit. Of course, he looked devastatingly handsome. Jealousy jabbed at her as she thought of Chloe on his arm tonight, then possibly in his bed …

Sarah’s stomach somersaulted at the thought.

‘I’m surprised you’re not going out tonight yourself,’ Nick said.

‘What? Oh, yes, well … Derek wanted to take me somewhere, but I … I told him I’d be too busy with the tree and present-wrapping.’ She was babbling and stammering! Why, oh, why did she have to think about Nick with Chloe?

‘You should do what I do,’ Nick said. ‘Only buy presents at shops that do free gift-wrapping.’

And in shops where some smitten female sales assistant did all the choosing for him as well, Sarah thought ruefully.

‘I’d better get going,’ Nick went on. ‘See you at present-opening in the morning. And before you ask, no, Chloe will not be in attendance. So you won’t have to sulk.’

‘I never sulk,’ Sarah snapped.

‘Oh, yes, you do, madam. But I agree with you on one score: some of my girlfriends have not been all that nice to you. Still, that’s because most of them are jealous.’

‘Of me?’ Sarah could not have been more surprised.

Nick’s smile was wry. ‘How would you like to discover that your Derek was living with an attractive young female ward? Now I really must go,’ he pronounced abruptly, and spun away.

‘We still haven’t had that private talk,’ she called after him.

He stopped and glanced over his shoulder at her, his body language impatient. ‘I realise that. It’ll just have to wait till after Christmas Day.’

‘But won’t Chloe be here then?’

Nick had said this morning that he had a guest between Christmas and New Year. Who other than his current girlfriend?

‘Chloe and I don’t need to spend every minute of every day together,’ he said rather pointedly. ‘See you in the morning, Sarah.’

Sarah watched him stride across the family room, then leap up the two steps that led to the foyer. She heard him run up the stairs, depression descending at the sound of his hurrying to take out his girlfriend.

‘I’m glad Derek is coming tomorrow,’ she muttered under her breath.

‘Talking to yourself is never a good idea, love.’

Sarah turned, then smiled at Flora. ‘I have some of my best conversations with myself.’

‘Better than that tea towel you used to talk to when you were a child, I suppose.’

Sarah stared at Flora. ‘You knew about that?’

‘Nothing much gets by me, love. So was the tea towel your other self? Or a special friend?’

‘A special friend,’ she confessed.

‘Boy or girl?’

‘Um … boy. Sort of.’

‘He wasn’t called Nick, was he?’

Sarah flushed.

‘Like I said, love,’ Flora continued as she went over and turned the switch that lit up the tree, ‘nothing much gets by me. My, now, that is one lovely tree.’

‘Jim chose a really good one this year.’

‘He did indeed. Was that Nick I heard a minute ago?’

‘Yes. He came home to change. The party’s black-tie.’

‘I’m not surprised. Chloe’s a social climber, if ever there was one.’

Sarah shook her head. ‘She sounds awful. What on earth does Nick see in her?’

‘What does Nick see in any of his girlfriends? I suppose he doesn’t much care about their characters as long as they’re beautiful and do whatever he wants them to do in bed. He doesn’t keep any of them, after all.’

‘Flora! I’ve never heard you talk like this about Nick before.’

Flora shrugged. ‘I’m getting old, I guess. When you get old you say things you wouldn’t dare say before. Don’t get me wrong. I’m very fond of Nick. But where women are concerned, he’s bad news. He’s never made a pass at you, has he, Sarah?’

‘What? Me? No, never!’

‘Just as well, with you having that crush on him.’

‘I’m over that now.’

‘You might think you are, but he’d still be able to turn your head, if he tried.’

Flora had never said a truer word. ‘Why would he bother, when he has the likes of Chloe in his bed?’

Flora wrinkled her nose. ‘I suspect Madame Chloe is fast reaching her use-by date. I’d watch myself, if I were you, when you swan downstairs tomorrow wearing one of those sexy new dresses of yours.’

Sarah’s mouth dropped open. ‘How do you know about them?’

‘Couldn’t sit around doing nothing all afternoon, so I unpacked for you. Which one are you wearing tomorrow? The red and white one, I’ll bet.’

‘Flora, you’re an old sticky-beak!’

Flora remained quite nonplussed at this accusation. ‘How do you think I get to know everything? I also put all those lovely Christmas cards you got from your pupils on your dressing table. Didn’t leave room for much else, I’m afraid, so I set out all your new makeup and perfume and skin-care stuff on the vanity unit in your bathroom.’

Sarah didn’t know whether to be appreciative, or annoyed. ‘So, did everything get your seal of approval?’

‘Let’s just say I think you’ll give Chloe a run for her money in the beauty stakes.’

‘I sure hope so.’

‘And who knows? Maybe your Derek will take one look at you and decide to take your friendship to a different level.

‘Somehow I don’t think that’s likely to happen.’

‘You never know, love. You just never know.’

CHAPTER FIVE

SARAH woke to a less than gentle shake of her shoulder and an unshaven Nick leaning over her. Surprise and shock sent her eyes instantly wide and her heart racing.

‘What is it?’ she exclaimed. ‘What’s wrong?’

When he straightened she saw he was already dressed, in jeans and a T-shirt. ‘Nothing’s wrong,’ he said.

Then what on earth was he doing in her bedroom at some ungodly hour in the morning?

‘Flora sent me to wake you,’ he went on, his voice carrying a measure of exasperation.

‘What for?’ Confusion in her own voice.

‘For breakfast and present-giving.’

Sarah blinked. ‘This early?’

‘The men with the tables and blinds are due to arrive at nine and it’s already eight.’

‘Eight!’ Sarah sat bolt upright, pushing her hair back from her face as she glanced first at her sun-drenched balcony, then at her bedside clock, which confirmed that it was indeed, just after eight. Yet she had set her alarm for six, wanting to be looking her very best for present-opening with her hair done, make-up perfect and dressed to impress in her sexy new jeans and a very pretty green top.

‘I must have slept through the alarm,’ she said with a groan.