Page 64 of A Merry Little Christmas

She smiled, remembering how she’d tried to recreate the scent of his aftershave just after they’d met. She’d been dying to ask what he was wearing so she could google it and break down the essential oils, but to have done so, she’d have had to admit to liking how he smelled. In those early days, she wasn’t even ready to admit to herself how much she thought about him, let alone alert him. Nell had seen the sparks between them straight away and had teased her constantly about how often Merry brought his name into their conversation. Their first kiss had been under the mistletoe outside Merry and Bright, and so Mistletoe Kiss had been the obvious name for the candle which smelled as delicious as her husband.

‘However.’ He bent his head and whispered in her ear, his warm breath sending shivers of pleasure down her spine. ‘This is the candle you were burning in Holly Cottage the first time we met.’

‘I’m amazed you remember that,’ she murmured, tilting her head to one side as he traced a line of kisses from her ear to her collarbone.

‘How could I forget, you made a big impression on me. Whenever I smell this candle, I think of that day and how pretty you were.’

‘Were?’ she repeated.

‘Are, darling.’

Merry laughed. ‘Good recovery, Mr Robinson.’

‘I’m learning,’ he said with a grin. ‘Right, are you ready for a relaxing bath?’

‘Absolutely.’ Not only had he lit candles, but gentle classical music was playing from a speaker, the bathwater had been sprinkled with pink rose petals and a bottle of fizz and two glasses poked out from a bucket of ice. ‘You’re spoiling me.’

He touched a finger to her lips tenderly. ‘Impossible. You deserve it.’

Merry didn’t think she did, not after the way she’d behaved recently, but she said nothing, not wanting to ruin the mood. She’d tell him later about Nell’s resignation and how she may well have just made things worse between Nell and Olek. For now, she needed this moment of romance with her husband. They needed to clear the air between them and reconnect, remind each other what made their relationship so special. Because it was, she thought, blinking away the tears which threatened to spill any moment.

‘Allow me, my lady.’ Cole held her hand to steady her as she climbed into the bath.

She sighed with pleasure as she sank lower into the warmth until only the baby bump was above the water. Her body began to unwind, and her legs, which had ached all day, suddenly felt weightless.

‘Bliss,’ she breathed, closing her eyes.

She listened to the sound of a cork being gently eased from a bottle and the fizz of liquid being poured into a champagne flute.

‘A glass of Nosecco for Madam?’

She opened her eyes and accepted the alcohol-free glass of bubbles she’d taken to drinking.

The first cold sip slid down her throat, a delicious contrast to the hot water surrounding her. While he poured one for himself, it struck her that he’d stopped drinking alcohol recently. She knew why; if they needed to go to hospital, he would want to be able to get them there without worrying whether he was over the limit or not. The fact that he’d simply made this decision without even mentioning it was so ‘him’, and made her love him even more.

‘Sit forward a bit.’ Cole gingerly lowered himself in to sit behind her. ‘Now lean back against me. Remember when you said this bath was too big and we’d never fill it,’ he said, squeezing his legs outside hers.

She giggled and laid her head back on his chest. ‘I do. I was wrong, you were right.’

‘Pardon?’ He pretended to be shocked. ‘Did you just admit you were wrong about something? Are you feeling OK?’

She let out a deep breath. ‘Not really. Everything is … well, life is a lot at the moment.’

He rested his glass on the end of the bath and encircled her with his arms, his hands resting lightly on her tummy. ‘I get it. I do, and … Listen, I’m going to make a suggestion and, knowing you as I do, I expect you to say no to it, but hear me out.’

She smiled at his tentative tone. ‘I’m all ears.’

‘Let me organise the funeral.’ He scooped warm water onto the baby bump and rose petals clung to her skin. ‘I know, I know, you want to be in control of everything but—’

‘OK,’ she replied quietly. She’d been mentally constructing a to-do list ever since leaving Springwood House earlier and had had to stop because it had begun to overwhelm her. Would she like to manage it herself? Yes. Did she already have an alarming number of things that she wanted to accomplish prior to Christmas? Also yes. And it would go against every natural inclination she had to let anybody help her, but with her induction date only a couple of weeks away and Christmas even closer, even she had to accept that she was never going to manage everything by herself.

‘At least let me deal with the funeral directors and do the running around, like registering the death, booking the wake and so on.’

‘OK,’ she said again.

‘I don’t mind checking in with you for sign-off, but it’ll be easier for me to …’ He stopped, realising what she’d just said. ‘Did you just agree?’

‘I did. There’s no one in the world I’d trust more than you. I’d love your help.’