Daisy stared between them as if she was watching a tennis match.

‘OK,’ Penny said, quietly. She wasn’t entirely sure what the right answer was. She did want to go but she didn’t want Henry to be forced into taking her.

‘OK, you’ll come?’

Penny nodded, feeling suddenly very silly for making such a fuss.

‘Good,’ Henry said. Putting his mug down, he got up and walked out.

‘I’m sorry about him, he has no patience at all. But if he didn’t want you to come, he would say so, look how he was with Jade the other night,’ Daisy said.

‘Daisy, get your arse in here and let Penny have some peace for a few hours,’ Henry called through the open door and Daisy smiled with love for her dad.

‘I’ll see you later,’ she said and ran quickly after him. After a few moments Henry appeared in the doorway, flashing Penny a brief tiny smile before closing the door.

Penny sat staring at the door in confusion. What the hell had just happened?

Chapter Seven

Penny could see Henry in the shed, moving around and looking completely at ease as he worked.

Feeling the need to repair their tentative friendship, though she wasn’t sure why, she cut a big slice of Christmas cake, made a mug of tea and carried it out to the shed.

He didn’t notice her at first. A small foot-long piece of wood was clamped to the table and he was chipping into it with a small chisel. It looked like the beginnings of a small reindeer.

She watched him run his hands lovingly over the wood, brushing away the sawdust. His hands were big and strong and very capable. He had a huge smile on his face as he worked, evidently loving the creativity of what he was doing. He was obviously very talented and if he could create something this detailed and small by hand, it was little wonder White Cliff Bay Furniture Company had hired him. He paused for a moment and she stepped forward.

Either sensing or hearing her move, he turned around and his face lit up into a huge smile when he saw her, which warmed her from the inside. That feeling faded very quickly as she suddenly felt very foolish for coming to apologise to him when clearly he hadn’t been bothered at all by what had passed between them a few hours before. Now, standing there with a slice of cake and a redundant apology drying on her lips, the offer of a cake looked flirtier than she had wanted. It reminded her of Jade arriving with an Italian the night before. She really didn’t want to be lumped in with the women of the town throwing themselves at him. She groaned inwardly. Why was he making her second-guess everything? She felt so raw around him, as if a plaster covering an eight-year-old wound had been ripped off and he was poking at it without even realising it.

‘Hi,’ he said, the grin not disappearing from his face.

‘I thought you might be hungry,’ Penny said, cringing inwardly at how awkward this was, though he hadn’t seemed to notice.

‘Thank you.’ In two large strides he was in front of her. He took the cake gratefully, taking a huge bite. His eyes locked on hers.

She forced her gaze away from him and focussed on the reindeer. Now he had stepped away from it, she could see it in all its glory and it was stunning.

She stepped away from him and his intense proximity to look more closely at it. ‘This is beautiful.’ She ran her fingers over the tiny intricate antlers. ‘Do you make them to sell?’

He shook his head as he swallowed down the cake. ‘No, just for fun. I always make a new tree decoration every year for Daisy, it’s kind of a tradition, that and making terrible mince pies on Christmas Day. Daisy has started making her own wooden tree decorations too and we exchange them on Christmas morning.’

‘I love that idea.’

He stepped closer. ‘You do? Maybe I’ll make one for you this year too.’

She looked up at him and then back at the reindeer. His flirting was making her uncomfortable. He would hurt her. If she let herself be swept away by the comments and looks of affection, she had no doubt that he would break her heart after a few weeks. He didn’t want anything serious.

‘You’re very talented,’ Penny said, annoyed at the crack in her voice. She didn’t want him to know how much he affected her. She blushed as she realised that what she had just said was very flirty too. She really had no idea how to act around men. She had never properly dated. Chris had been her only real boyfriend and he had instigated their relationship. She had never tried to impress him or say the right things because in the first month or so he had been completely smitten with her. Though her shine had clearly rubbed off very quickly.

‘Making furniture is what I’m most comfortable with. This is just a bit of fun for me, it’s nothing like the kind of sculptures you produce,’ Henry said, leaning round her to brush away some more sawdust. ‘I bet you could do something like this very easily. Have you ever carved with wood before?’

Penny swallowed as his sweet, spicy Christmassy scent enveloped her. She shook her head.

‘Have a go.’ He picked up a tiny chisel and offered it to her.

‘Oh, I couldn’t, I don’t want to ruin it.’

He leaned round her, bracketing her with his arms as he took her hands and placed them on the chisel. Goosebumps exploded on her body at his touch. She moved the chisel to the thick fur around the reindeer’s neck. Henry’s hands stayed over hers even though they both knew it wasn’t necessary. As Penny had told Daisy this morning, the skills were completely transferable. She obligingly chipped a few small chunks of wood away, making the fur collar more defined. It was fun to work on a different canvas. This one was a lot more permanent than the carvings she created.

A cough came from behind them and Henry immediately stepped back away from Penny.

Daisy was standing in the doorway, with a slight scowl on her face. She turned her attention away from her dad and looked at Penny. ‘There’s a man here to see you. Josh?’

Penny nodded. ‘Can you tell him I won’t be a second?’

Daisy hesitated for a second then left.

Penny let out a breath she hadn’t realised she had been holding and brushed the hair off her face in frustration.

‘I’m not sure what is going on here, whether all this – the flirting, looks, touches and comments – is just some kind of game for you, or you are just incapable of not flirting with a woman, but nothing is going to happen between us so you can stop it now.’

Henry looked stunned. ‘You’re flirting with me.’

‘I am not.’

‘You brought me cake,’ Henry said, with exasperation.

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t realise cake was the international sign language for I want to get you into bed. If that’s the case I must have been flirting with my friend Maggie every Saturday for the last five or six years.’

‘I’m rubbish at reading women, but I thought you made it pretty bloody obvious you were attracted to me.’

Penny felt her mouth fall open. What had she done to give him that impression?

He stepped closer. ‘Your breathing accelerates when I come near you, your pupils dilate, I can see your pulse hammering against your throat, your body goes into goosebump overdrive whenever I touch you,’ he said, softly laying his finger on her arm and her body betrayed her by proving his point.

‘Fine. I am attracted to you.’

‘I’m very attracted to you, so what’s the problem?’

‘You.’ She gestured frantically at him and all his spectacular gorgeousness. She suddenly stopped her protests for a second to appreciate his wonderful words. He was attracted to her. The endless flirting hadn’t just been a bit of silly fun for him, he actually was attracted to her. Very, was the word he used.