Once Upon a Christmas Night...

by Annie Claydon

  He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as if he had a headache. ‘Jess, you’re making this complicated. I’m not telling you where you ought to work or what you should do. Shaw Industries isn’t just a faceless, evil conglomerate, you know.’

  ‘I dare say it isn’t.’ Jess frowned. That was how it appeared to her, and she was going to need a fair bit of convincing to think any other way.

  ‘Do you know what we do?’

  ‘Engineering?’ Something like that. Jess hadn’t taken a great deal of notice.

  ‘Yeah, design and engineering. It started out when my father invented a drill head—which doesn’t sound very exciting, but it was ground-breaking in a number of different areas. The basic design has applications of all sorts, it’s even used downstairs in the operating theatre here.’ He looked at her steadily. ‘It might not be as much of a medical breakthrough as Lister made, but every little helps.’

  He had an answer for everything. Everything apart from what would happen to his soul if he was separated from the job he loved, the one he’d chosen, and started to trudge in the treacly footsteps of his father.

  ‘Is this really what you want to do, Greg?’

  ‘It’s what I have to do. At some point you have to choose whether what you want is more important than where you can do the most good. It’s not about being happy, it’s about doing the right thing.’

  It sounded like a life sentence. A life behind bars, for something he hadn’t done. Jess could think of nothing more to say to him. She was going to have to wave him goodbye and think about baking a cake with a file in it. Trouble was, Greg didn’t seem to want to escape.

  ‘This’ll be okay, Jess. We can make this work. Let me show you.’

  ‘How are you going to do that?’

  He slid his hands around her waist. ‘This weekend. I’ll pick you up at seven o’ clock on Friday night. Bring a toothbrush.’

  ‘Sounds interesting.’ Greg was trying to charm her out of all her reservations. He wasn’t doing a bad job of it either. ‘Where are we going?’

  ‘Do you need to know?’

  ‘Yeah, I do.’ However much Jess was tempted to plunge into the exciting unknown with Greg, it still frightened her. It should frighten her. She had responsibilities now, and the tried and tested was always going to be preferable to the heady gamble that Greg offered. ‘I need to know where I’m going.’

  He nodded. ‘Okay. We’re going to Rome.’ He quieted her protests with a finger across her lips. ‘You don’t have to do anything, it’s all arranged. I’ve got to go over there to see the new headquarters building on Saturday. I’m hoping we’ll have Sunday to ourselves.’

  ‘I don’t know, Greg.’ It sounded fabulous, but it wasn’t exactly the kind of thing that Jess did. ‘Italy for the weekend?’

  ‘Is just the thing. We’ll stay at the house in Rome. You’ll love—’

  ‘Yes, I know. I’ll love the house in Rome.’ She should at least try to see his point of view, for everyone’s sake. And seeing Rome with Greg didn’t sound like too much of a hardship. ‘I’ll be able to make my own mind up about that at the weekend, won’t I?’

  Something ignited, deep in those dark brown eyes. He pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. ‘Good. Thanks, Jess. I know things haven’t been great recently. I’ve been under a lot of pressure, and things have been complicated. Thanks for sticking by me.’

  ‘Isn’t that my line?’ She snuggled into him. She never got tired of his scent.

  He chuckled. ‘Not really. You have all you need, Jess.’

  It didn’t actually feel as if she was anywhere different. Since the car had picked her up at her flat, Jess had been shepherded through two airports at top speed and with the minimum of fuss, having had a good meal and a nap on the plane. She wasn’t sorry that she hadn’t had to struggle with airport officials and taxi drivers, or get lost in a foreign city, or study each coin as she counted it out of her purse. Somehow, though, in the absence of these inconveniences the house in Rome might just as well have been in any city in Europe.

  They arrived in darkness. No chance to stop and see where she was as Greg caught her arm and hurried her inside. As he opened the front door, the car they’d come in slid away into the darkness. Jess imagined it would be back tomorrow to take them wherever they wanted to go. Greg opened the front door and picked up their weekend bags, ushering her inside.

  She’d been half expecting an Italian version of the Victorian monstrosity he’d taken her to on their last weekend away. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Warm, clean lines that drew you in, past the graceful curved staircase, towards a kitchen that was stylish but also comfortable and unmistakeably designed for home cooking. A sitting room that didn’t just invite you to sit but demanded that you take your shoes off, make yourself at home and join in the conversation.

  ‘Rosa chose this house, didn’t she?’ The house bore none of the hallmarks of Greg’s father’s taste and all of the characteristics of his mother’s.

  ‘Yes. Is it that obvious?’

  ‘Yup.’

  He looked around. ‘Yes, I suppose it is. Mum came over and chose the house and decorated it for him about ten years ago.’

  ‘So she never lived here?’

  ‘No. When she comes home she goes to Milan to be with her family.’ He caught Jess’s look and laughed. ‘I told you their relationship was complicated. They were always friends, even though they were divorced. In fact, I think their relationship worked better when they weren’t married.’

  ‘Fewer expectations?’

  ‘Yeah, I guess so. He wasn’t much good at being a father or a husband. Once you accepted that and stopped expecting him to be home for things like Christmas and birthdays, things got a great deal easier.’

  Jess swallowed hard. All her fears encapsulated in one damning sentence. But Greg was different. Wasn’t he?

  ‘So do you like it?’ When Jess didn’t reply, he nudged her. ‘The house. Do you like it?’

  ‘It’s beautiful. Stunning, actually.’

  He nodded, clearly pleased. ‘Thought you would. Want to see upstairs?’ The curve of his mouth was enough to chase everything else away for the moment.

  ‘Yes. Are you going to give me the in-depth tour?’

  He flashed her an I-don’t-know-what-you-mean look. ‘Bathroom probably. Hallway… inevitably. Bedroom.’

  ‘Just one?’

  ‘Just the one that matters.’

  ‘Which one’s that?’ She reached forward, running her finger up the buttons on his shirt until she got to the top one.

  ‘The one that has a box on the bed. Gift-wrapped.’

  ‘Gift-wrapped?’

  ‘Yeah.’ His hands slid to her hips, pulling her against him. ‘I like a bit of gift-wrapping.’

  The nightdress lay spilled on the carpet where he’d tossed it in a heap of lace and silk. Jess had never had anything so luxurious and had loved the way it had felt on her body. Loved even more the way it had felt when he’d slowly peeled it off. Since they’d found out about the pregnancy, their lovemaking had changed. It had become more tender and sensual. As if all the things that they couldn’t say might be encapsulated in a caress. Jess sighed. There were quite a lot of things that they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, say at the moment.

  He was still asleep, and when she shook him he growled and rolled over. Fair enough. How he managed to function on the amount of sleep he’d had in the last few weeks was a mystery to Jess anyway. She poked him in the ribs and he protested groggily.

  ‘I’m getting up. Just going to have a look around. I won’t go far. Be back in an hour.’

  ‘Uh. Okay.’

  ‘You stay here.’ He didn’t answer and Jess supposed he’d gone back to sleep. Just in case, she wrote him a note and propped it up on the nightstand.

  The house wasn’t the largest in the small square but it was the prettiest. Not ostentatious but oozing quiet class. Jess put the key that Gr
eg had left in the hallway into her pocket, and looped the strap of her handbag across her body.

  It was cool, but not as cold as London, and Jess left her gloves in her coat pocket. She looked around to get her bearings and fix the position of the house in her mind before she started out. Five minutes took her out of the quiet, sleepy streets and onto the main road.

  Suddenly she knew she wasn’t in London. The sound of Italian, spoken in the street. Different smells, different sounds. A teeming city, so like her own and yet so different.

  ‘Breakfast.’ Jess grinned to herself. ‘I’ll go for breakfast.’

  She found a café. It was too cold to sit on the pavement but there was a seat by the window, where she could watch the world go by. The waiter’s English and her Italian were more than enough to get her what she wanted from the menu.

  She’d been to Italy before, when she’d been a student. Had slept on the train, her head on her rucksack, and shared a small cottage with three friends, far enough from anywhere to be affordable. This might just as well be another country, it was so different.

  ‘Ciao, bella.’ A man sat down opposite her at her table and Jess looked around. There were plenty of free tables.

  All the same, he seemed intent on conversation. Jess couldn’t understand much of what he was saying but his general drift was pretty obvious. She wondered whether a polite but firm rebuff would be better delivered in her shaky Italian or in English.

  ‘Scusi… ’ A young, fair-haired man, dressed in a dark jacket and jeans, was towering over them both. ‘The lady’s with me.’ He smiled amiably at the man opposite Jess, who gave a shrug and left.

  ‘Who are you?’ Now this second man had sat down at her table. At least he spoke English, so it was going to be more straightforward to send him packing.

  He’d already reached into his jacket and pulled out a wallet, opening it to display an ID. The photo was unmistakeably of him and the card bore the logo of Shaw Industries. ‘Joe Callaghan, ma’am. Security.’

  Jess scanned the card and raised her eyebrows. ‘Senior Security Officer, no less.’ She leaned across the table towards him and whispered, ‘So Shaw Industries is interested in the security of this café? What is it? A drop point for industrial secrets?’

  ‘Nothing so exciting. Our only interest in this place is that currently you happen to be sitting in it.’ Joe seemed quite unflappable. So far, anyway.

  ‘So if I go somewhere else… ’ There really wasn’t any point in asking, she knew the answer to that one. ‘Have you been following me all the way from London?’

  ‘No, I work for the Italian branch of Shaw Industries. My wife worked for the British Embassy over here and when we started a family we decided to stay.’

  Nice touch. ‘Which might lead me to believe that you’re a trustworthy kind of fellow?’

  Joe laughed. ‘It appears that Mr Shaw thought so.’

  ‘Dr Shaw? Or his father?’

  ‘The younger Mr Shaw. He doesn’t use his title in the company.’

  Jess swallowed. It felt like Greg’s last betrayal of all that she’d thought he held dear. But that wasn’t Joe’s fault. ‘So when did you start following me around?’

  ‘You make it sound like surveillance. I’m just here for your safety. There’s a big difference.’ There was a hint of steel in Joe’s easygoing smile. ‘And I’ve been here since last night.’

  The thought that Joe might have been in the house somewhere occurred to Jess and she reddened. Catch-me-if-you-can, naked in the hallway, suddenly didn’t seem as good an idea as it had in the small hours of that morning. ‘Where did you spend the night last night?’

  ‘In the guest house.’

  ‘The flat over the top of the garage? With the red door?’ Which just happened to be completely self-contained.

  ‘That’s the one.’

  ‘And what? You were just looking out of the window and saw me walking past. So you decided to follow… protect… me.’

  Joe gave his slow, easy smile. ‘No. The security system alerts us when anyone goes in or out of the main house. And it’s not up to me to decide anything. My instructions are to look after you.’

  ‘Your instructions from whom? Dr Shaw?’ Shaw Industries might call him Mr but she wasn’t Shaw Industries. ‘Did he know you’d be looking after me?’

  She must have betrayed her indignity. The nagging thought that Greg had let her wander off on her own a little too easily this morning. Joe smoothly went into maximum tact alert. ‘I get my instructions from Mr Shaw’s personal assistant.’

  Pat again. Jess wrinkled her nose. ‘What’s she like? Pat?’

  ‘I’ve never met her. She seems very nice on the phone.’

  ‘I’m putting you in a difficult position, aren’t I?’

  Joe suppressed a smile. ‘Nah. A different position maybe. My job is to blend in with the furniture, not make conversation.’

  ‘But it won’t make much difference if you have coffee with me?’

  Humour flashed in his face. ‘Yeah, it’ll make a difference. I won’t be wishing that you’d waited until I’d had breakfast before you left the house.’

  ‘Operation Coffee it is, then.’

  Joe rolled his eyes and motioned to the waiter. ‘Just coffee will do fine.’

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  JESS OPENED THE front door, fully aware that Joe had paused and was waiting to see her safely inside. Greg was still in bed, but he stirred when she walked into the bedroom.

  ‘Hey, there. Enjoy your stroll?’

  ‘Yes.’ She climbed onto the bed and sat astride his body. ‘Guess what happened?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I got saved by Joe from Security.’

  A flash of uncertainty appeared in his dark eyes. ‘Saved from what?’

  ‘A man sat down at my table while I was having coffee. Spoke to me in Italian.’

  ‘Oh. Really?’

  Jess nodded gravely. ‘Really. It was terrifying. Good thing that Joe was there to rush to my rescue.’

  He was man enough to know when he was beaten. ‘Fair enough. I dare say you could have dealt with that on your own.’

  ‘I dare say I could.’ Gripping his wrists, Jess leaned forward, pinning his arms against the pillows. He grinned, stretching beneath her and tipping her forward slightly.

  ‘Joe’s been teaching you a few moves, eh?’

  ‘No, this one’s all mine. And just for the record, Joe was a model of tact. Didn’t even admit that it was you who had me followed.’

  ‘Protected.’

  ‘Whatever. I doubt you could have done any better yourself.’

  ‘Clearly not. Are you going to let me up?’

  ‘Not until you tell me why you thought it was a good idea to have me tailed by your security team. And how long this has been going on for.’

  ‘Joe was called in last night. There wasn’t anyone up till then.’

  Jess sat up straight, letting him go. ‘What were you thinking, Greg? That I can’t manage for myself outside London?’

  ‘It’s nothing to do with that, Jess. I know you can look after yourself, but I can’t help it if I want to do that too.’

  ‘You’re being over-protective.’

  He sat up, wrapping his arms around her, and she slid into his lap. ‘Maybe I am but I don’t care. I’d do anything to keep you and the baby safe, Jess. When you got locked in that vault and we couldn’t find you… ’

  ‘Right. You’re not going to let me forget that, are you?’

  He sighed. ‘Why should you? I can’t.’

  ‘You can’t be with me every minute of the day, Greg.’

  ‘I know. And I’ve got to get going soon.’ He kissed her. ‘So Joe will make sure you’ve got everything you need today.’

  She was in Rome. There was so much to see, so much to do, and she wanted to do it with Greg. Wanted him to show her this beautiful city. Jess swallowed her disappointment. ‘You have to go?’

  ‘Yeah. Sorry,
sweetheart, but I did tell you that this was a working visit.’

  Yes, he’d told her. And Jess was beginning to understand that all the excuses she’d been making to herself were just that. Work came first. First, last and apparently most things in between.

  ‘Mmm. When do you think you’ll be back?’ She hated the tone that crept into her voice every time she asked that question. Needy. Wheedling.

  Greg rolled out of bed and padded towards the bathroom. ‘I’m hoping to get this over quickly but I may be late. It depends.’

  There wasn’t much point in asking what it depended on. When Greg said that he might be late, there was no need to wait up. ‘I’ll go and do some sightseeing, then, and you can always call me if you finish early. Is it all right for me to ask Joe if he’ll show me around?’ She followed him into the bathroom, watching as he stepped into the shower.

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘He’s not going to be busy with… whatever he does?’

  Greg laughed, turning in the shower. ‘Going where you go is what he does for the next couple of days. I’m sure he’ll find it far more interesting to give you the grand tour than sit around all day.’

  She’d hoped that Greg would find it more interesting to give her the grand tour than sitting around in a meeting all day. The thought seemed to stick in the back of her throat as the muscles there knotted into a lump and instinctively she swallowed.

  ‘Oh, and, by the way, he has a company credit card.’

  ‘Meaning?’

  He laughed, leaning out of the shower to kiss her. A few drops of water fell onto her sweater and Jess brushed them away. ‘Meaning that if you want to go shopping, he’ll use it to pay the bill.’

  ‘So how was your weekend?’ Reena caught Jess on her way to the canteen on Monday morning.

  ‘Great. I had a lovely time. I’ve got some grappa for you in my locker.’ Courtesy of Shaw Industries. Joe had persisted in pulling out the company credit card at every opportunity, and finally she’d let him choose a couple of bottles for her to bring home with her.

  ‘Fabulous. Thanks.’ Reena took her arm and leaned a little closer. ‘What I really want is the goss.’