Christmas with Her Ex(21)

The train jolted suddenly, the whole carriage shifted and there was a small outcry, and she probably would have fallen if Connor hadn’t caught her. He looked down at her and grinned as he steadied her against his chest for a moment as their bodies remembered one another. Instant, scorching heat flared between them as their eyes caught and held.

‘Are you starting a new habit of saving me?’ she asked with a shaky laugh, and he raised his brows.

‘Do I need to?’ he asked softly.

She blushed and looked away. On the tiny scrap of dance floor a young couple had turned a near accident into an impromptu waltz and their obvious absorption in each other cast a glow over the whole carriage, so people were smiling despite a few spilt drinks. There was a brief round of applause for the dancers when they separated.

Further down the carriage, Winsome, dressed in blue shot silk, had somehow managed to secure a full side-facing seat and sat with another elderly lady with flaming red hair who waved hands laden with diamonds.

Kelsie’s fingers rested over Connor’s arm and he drew her forward so she had no choice but to intrude on the older women. ‘Lady Geraldine, this is Kelsie Summers. a friend from my school days.’

He gestured to the older lady. ‘Kelsie, Lady Geraldine, who sat on a committee of a large charity with my grandmother several years ago.’

Lady Geraldine inclined her head, Kelsie smiled, and then sat when Winsome patted the sat beside her.

Why did she feel the jaws of a trap were closing around her?

‘Winsome and I have arranged a table for ourselves,’ Lady Geraldine said, as if continuing a conversation Kelsie had missed the start of. ‘We don’t want to bore you young things with our gossip.’

The implications were immediately obvious. Another man and Connor exchanged a glance, as if they were measuring each other up and considering the prospect of a foursome for dinner.

Kelsie was watching the older women as if she knew there was more coming. And there was.

‘Instead, we have three tables.’ Geraldine smiled. ‘One for each couple.’

Charlotte, the granddaughter, looked as if she wanted to groan aloud. ‘I don’t think you’re allowed to change arrangements like that, are you, Gran?’

Lady Geraldine merely tapped the side of her nose. ‘Wait and see where the maître d’ puts us all,’ she murmured. And then she winked at Winsome. ‘Being old doesn’t entirely deprive us of our ability to charm men into doing what we want, does it, Winnie?’

‘Not at all, dear. As you say, age is only an attitude.’

Winsome seemed surprised when Connor didn’t demur at her seating arrangements. She wasn’t the only one surprised. Kelsie hadn’t thought Connor would enjoy being organised by someone other than himself.

‘Absolutely. I’m sure you and Lady Geraldine have a lot of catching up to do. I’m quite fine sitting with Kelsie if that’s what you’ve arranged. As long as Kelsie doesn’t mind.’

Kelsie declined to comment but decided she needed a drink for fortitude.

Connor must have picked up on her thoughts because he disappeared and returned with a glass of champagne. He handed it to Kelsie as if it was his lot to meet her needs, and she decided something was going on here because the vibes were so-o-o different from those at lunch and certainly different from when they had parted that afternoon.

And now they’d have to sit together, alone, for a formal dinner.

She took another sip and wondered what the alcohol content in her blood was running at since boarding this darned train and whether it was interfering with her usual caution.

Conversation flowed remarkably easily until the gong went for dinner. The bar car had filled up, men and women flashed their jewels and fabulous clothes, stilted conversations merged into introductions as strangers tried to make conversation as they waited to be allocated their tables.

Kelsie felt the heat in her cheeks as Connor stood attentively beside her. People dodged the champagne buckets and others milled and chatted in the small space as they waited.

Finally the loudspeaker encouraged the patrons to go through to dinner, first in English and then in French, as the waiters checked off names. Kelsie stood with Connor and walked through to the next car and their table.

Connor beat the waiter to her chair and pulled it out for her, helping her to move it back in when she was seated, and she looked down at the table, suddenly feeling embarrassed. He’d always had such beautiful manners. It had been one of the lovely aspects of spending time with Connor away from home. He’d always treated her like a princess.

The table was crowded with crystal glasses—four sizes each and all engraved with the VSOE insignia—three sets of silver cutlery, fine china with the crest again and crested doilies under everything to stop any hint of slippage from the motion of the train. She marvelled at the thought of the relaying of the tables for the next sitting.