Читать книгу Mills & Boon Stars Collection: Sinful Proposals - Кэтти Уильямс, Cathy Williams - Страница 12

CHAPTER FOUR

SUNNY HAD NOT explored this section of the house. She knew where Flora’s room was because she settled her to bed but all the other rooms were always closed off and somehow it would have felt nosy to open doors and peer inside.

So she had no idea where she was being taken and she was far too busy trying to deal with her mortification to give that much thought.

She heard the sound of a bath being run and when she opened her eyes she could instantly see that she was in Stefano’s room. It was massive, with a super-king-sized bed in solid dark wood dominating one side of the wall. Everything in the room was overwhelmingly male, from the dark wood of the bed and the chest of drawers, to the sleek lines of the built-in wardrobes and the lush fall of deep burgundy velvet curtains that had been pulled back to offer spectacular views of the rolling lawns at the back.

Including, she suspected, the treacherous swimming pool, which had glittered so temptingly before subjecting her to this horrendous attack of pure humiliation.

He kicked the door to the en-suite bathroom fully open and deposited her gently on the chair by the window.

Immediately, he began undoing the buttons of his shirt and Sunny nearly leaped out of the chair in horrified consternation.

‘What are you doing?’ she yelped and he shot her a dry look.

‘I’m getting out of my wet clothes to forestall an attack of pneumonia. Where are your dry clothes?’

‘I changed in the bathroom downstairs. They’re...they’re in my backpack. Please, there’s no need for all of this.’

He didn’t answer. Instead, he continued getting out of his clothes as he vanished out of the bathroom and she distantly heard him shouting to Flora to hunt down the backpack and bring it up. When he reappeared, he had changed and the bath was now completely run. Lots of bubbles. Sunny could barely bring herself to look at it.

‘You’re probably in a state of mild shock.’ He tested the water with one hand and just then Flora appeared with the backpack and hovered by the door.

‘I was teaching Sunny how to swim,’ she offered.

Stefano shot her a frowning, questioning look. ‘She doesn’t know how to swim? You’re eight and you swim like a champion... We’re going to have to have a race one of these days. I can’t believe...’

‘I know. It’s silly.’

‘It is a little odd.’

‘Would you two mind not discussing me as though I’m not here?’ Sunny was burning up with embarrassment and even more so when Flora looked at her with an eight-year-old’s sympathy.

‘You were doing really well until...’

‘Yes...well...’ There was no way she was going to get into any conversation about how Stefano’s sudden appearance at the side of the pool had thrown her into a tailspin. ‘If the two of you wouldn’t mind, I’ll have this bath now...’ Not, she wanted to add, that she needed one.

But the bikini, drying on her, was cloying and uncomfortable and she felt horribly exposed in it, her nipples tight from the damp cold, pushing like bullets against the fine, stretchy fabric. When she glanced down she could see her own shadowy cleavage and her bare stomach and her legs.

She wanted to burst into tears but, instead, she stared down at the pale tiled floor and almost collapsed with relief when they both left the bathroom, quietly shutting the door behind them, a door which she made sure to lock.

She sank into the bath, which was blissful because she had been colder than she had thought, and she closed her eyes, letting the warm water wash over her.

What was happening to her? It had been a shock for her to discover, having written off her sexuality, that she could find a man so blindingly attractive. But this wasn’t just any man and she knew that even if she might react to those incidental touches, that sort of reaction was purely on her side.

Stefano Gunn was out of her league. Over the past two years, after she and John had broken up, many men had looked at her, made passes at her, some crude, others more subtle, but she had never been interested. None of them had penetrated the hard outer shell she had taken pains to develop around herself and she still couldn’t understand how it was that Stefano, without even trying, had managed to do so.

She had always considered herself immune to the superficial tug of lust. She had learned lessons from her flawed parent and then, later, having to always be on guard against the covert, greedy glances of her foster father, she had developed an edge of cynicism that had never left her.

Even the more open, healthy appreciation from the boys she had met when she had been at the boarding school and after, at university, had failed to get past her inherent wariness and when the one man she’d felt she should have been able to really open up to had failed to excite her in that way, she had firmly shut the door on physical attraction.

Stefano didn’t look at her at all and yet...flustered her. When he did look at her, it was as if she was plugged into an electric socket and there was no part of her body that didn’t respond.

Was it because he was so out of her league? Because there was no danger of him taking any interest in her?

Was it the sort of silly schoolgirl crush that made teenagers stick posters of pop stars on their bedroom walls? Was that it? Something passing, harmless and hardly surprising?

She uneasily told herself that that was exactly what it was because she knew that when and if she ever tested the waters again, ever felt inclined to go on a date, then it would be with someone safe, someone who wouldn’t make her feel vulnerable and out of control. True, John had filled that specification but because that particular relationship hadn’t worked out didn’t mean that the parameters for all future relationships should change. They shouldn’t. Logic decreed that.

And when had she ever not listened to the unwavering voice of logic?

Listening to her head, paying calm heed to what it told her when her own young life had been in such disarray through no fault of her own, had always worked.

Feeling a bit better, she opened the door and there he was, lying on the bed in a pair of faded jeans and an old T-shirt with his computer on his stomach. He snapped it shut and eased himself off the bed.

‘I was beginning to think about breaking the door down to make sure you hadn’t drowned in the bath...’

Caught on the back foot, Sunny could only stare. He looked so effortlessly elegant. The low-slung jeans did amazing things for his physique and the T-shirt clung in a way that showed off the muscled strength of his arms. And he was barefoot. She hurriedly looked away.

‘I’m sorry about that,’ Sunny said stiffly. She eyed the open door and headed towards it. ‘Perhaps—’ she cleared her throat ‘—I might have a quick word with you.’

‘I’m surprised you haven’t asked me why I’m back so early. Did you start floundering because you weren’t expecting to see me?’

‘I...’ They began trotting down the stairs, she quickly, he taking his time but still keeping pace.

‘Because I wouldn’t like you being so nervous in my presence that it becomes life-threatening.’

Sunny rounded on him, arms folded. ‘Are you laughing at me?’

‘How is it that you’ve never had swimming lessons?’

‘I... I...’ She went red and looked away. ‘Where’s Flora?’

‘Happily ensconced in front of the television in the sitting room. I told her you would probably need a little time to gather yourself after your skirmish in the pool. I thought that swimming lessons were compulsory for all schoolchildren...’

‘They probably are!’

‘Did you have an early aversion to water?’

Sunny glared. ‘I would have loved to have had swimming lessons,’ she gritted. ‘But that never happened to me.’ She spun on her heel, heart beating wildly inside her and made for the kitchen. She would have to hand in her notice. How could she not? What sort of babysitter ended up having to be rescued from a dangerous situation by the young child she was in charge of babysitting? He would never trust her around his daughter again.

And maybe that was for the best, she thought. He did weird things to her, things she didn’t like, and if he wasn’t around then life would get back to normal without that jumpy, sickening feeling inside her that she’d been carrying around for days.

And maybe, she further thought, she could address some of his curiosity about her. Curiosity about why she spent all her time working, why she needed money so badly, why she’d never learned how to swim...

Maybe it would be a good thing for those glaring differences between them to be brought out into the open. The way she’d been brought up was something that had been out of her control but maybe vocalising it would be a timely reminder to her of the idiocy of harbouring delusional fantasies about him. It would also kill off his curiosity stone-dead because he certainly wouldn’t keep prying for extraneous information when he knew that he might be provided with information that would make him feel uncomfortable. Rich people always, but always, felt uncomfortable when they were treated to tales of hardship, poverty or despair.

But mostly, if her body kept ignoring the fact that he was from a different world, then wasn’t it time that her head took control?

‘I just want to say...’ She turned to him the minute they were in the kitchen, making sure to keep her voice low just in case Flora decided that the television programme she was watching wasn’t as much fun as seeking out her nearly drowned babysitter, to whom she’d been giving swimming lessons. ‘I just want to say,’ she repeated, ‘that I’m handing in my resignation.’ She tried a laugh. ‘It goes down as the shortest job in history.’

‘What are you talking about? Why are you handing in your resignation?’ She’d washed her hair but already the late-afternoon heat was drying it, throwing blonde strands in stark relief. It hung down her back, almost to her waist. And she didn’t wear make-up. He had never known a woman who didn’t lather on the war-paint the second she was out of the bath. But her skin was satiny-smooth and clear. His gaze lingered on her ripe, full lips and he looked away because he could already feel his body stirring into life. Once again. Just as it had when he’d been holding her, wet and trembling, against him and as light as a feather despite the fact that she was tall.

He’d had a battle not to stare at the plump thrust of her breasts under the bikini top, not to get trapped by the sight of that tightened nipple poking against the wet cloth. She had been utterly unaware of just how revealing the swimsuit was and, thankfully, just as utterly unaware of the effect it had been having on him.

It seemed his body had decided to raise two fingers to common sense. He’d never had to deal with self-denial and he was finding it difficult.

He wondered whether his mother would have been amused by the fact that the woman she had done her best to set him up with had left him cold while the office junior was sending his blood pressure into the stratosphere.

The difficult, stubborn office junior whom he’d had to cajole into this job. The job she was now talking about ditching.

‘Because I think it’s safe to say that I failed.’ She looked away quickly. ‘You didn’t pay me to...to...’

‘Endanger your life?’

‘I should never have gone anywhere near that swimming pool considering I can barely doggy-paddle from one side to the next.’

‘You’re good for Flora and I wouldn’t dream of accepting your resignation.’ And that, he reminded himself heavily, was why he couldn’t do what he wanted to do. She was good for Flora and, in turn, that was proving to be good for his relationship with his daughter and he wasn’t going to risk fooling around with that...

‘You don’t have to say that,’ Sunny said fiercely.

‘You’re right. I don’t. So why don’t you just take me at my word?’ He ran his fingers through his hair and stood up to pour them both some water. ‘You’ve probably had enough of this stuff for the day. Want something stronger?’

‘This is fine. But you don’t pay me to get myself in situations where I need rescuing.’

‘I haven’t rescued a damsel in distress for a while. Maybe it was time that I brushed up on the skill.’ He looked at her over the rim of the glass and was surprised at how vulnerable she seemed. Scratch a little under the surface and it was easy to reach the person who didn’t spend her every waking moment doing her job and keeping the world at bay.

Was that why he found her so intensely appealing? She made him feel young again for reasons he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He was thirty-one and most of the time he felt much older. But something about her...

Was it the same thing that appealed to his daughter?

He fought to stop the senseless speculation.

‘I don’t need rescuing,’ she heard herself say. ‘And I’ve never been a damsel in distress. In fact, I disapprove of all those limp women who think that they need rescuing by some big, strong guy...’

‘Is that your way of telling me that you think I’m big and strong?’ He caught her eye, raised his eyebrows and grinned crookedly, unable to help himself. ‘So tell me why you’ve never learned to swim.’

Sunny took a deep breath. Would he be amused if he knew her background? Pity she would find hard to tolerate but she somehow didn’t think that he would pity her. Certainly, it would reposition the lines between them which, for him, were clear but for her too blurred for comfort.

She was an underling in a company he could buy ten times over. Had he given them the job because of Katherine? She didn’t know. What she did know was that Katherine was far more in his league than she was so it was totally out of order for her to even look at him in any way other than someone way down the pecking order who was working for him.

Get the boundary lines back in place, at least in her mind, and maybe she would stop responding like the teenager she no longer was. And he would keep his distance, too.

‘I guess you think that I’m like all the other people who work for the company,’ she said, tilting her chin and maintaining eye contact, even though she could read nothing on his face.

‘Do I? Tell me what you think I think about all the other people who work for the company. I’m all ears...bearing in mind I haven’t met most of them...’

Sunny blushed. Explaining about her past was something she had never done. The other kids at the boarding school into which she had been accepted had known that her circumstances had not been like theirs, had known that she had been given a scholarship, one of only three full scholarships awarded to kids from underprivileged backgrounds.

But she had never talked about hers.

There was no reason to talk about it now but something in her head was telling her that she had to recognise the lines drawn in the sand between them because she couldn’t understand her response to him and she was desperate to keep it at bay.

She needed to tell him more for her sake than for his.

And part of her...wanted to.

‘I didn’t have a cosseted childhood,’ she said steadily. ‘In fact, I had a pretty awful time growing up, although I just accepted it for what it was and never really spent too much time thinking of how it could have been different. I learned early on that what you can’t change you just have to accept...’

She remembered the way Flora had, very briefly, communicated with her father and allowed him into her world and she wondered whether her words of advice had been taken on board. Accept the things you can’t change.

Stefano was listening intently, his head ever so slightly tilted to one side.

When women launched into anecdotes about their past, they did it to try and engage his attention and encourage his interest.

He didn’t get the feeling that she was trying to encourage his interest.

There was an underlying defiance to her voice that made him wonder whether she was even trying to engage his attention at all or whether she was, in some obscure way, trying to warn him off.

Surely not.

Surely she couldn’t have noticed the effect she had on him. For once, he was in the company of a woman who was...unpredictable. A woman he couldn’t read, a woman who wasn’t out to impress him.

Throw sexy into the mix and was it any wonder that she turned him on?

‘Tell me,’ he encouraged huskily and he caught the wary look she shot him from under her lashes.

‘Most of the people I work with come from good, solid, middle-class backgrounds.’ She stared at her fingers, inspecting her fingernails while talking. ‘I don’t have a problem with that. It’s great, but a good, solid, middle-class background was so far out of my reach when I was a kid...’ She sighed and stopped fidgeting to look him squarely in the eyes. ‘My mother drank and took drugs. She was weak, easily influenced by men, and I spent my childhood never knowing what life was going to bring from one day to the next. There were times when I was taken into care and other times when there were little periods of stability. My schooling was patchy and then, when I was still far too young, my mother died from an overdose and I was taken into care permanently. Eventually I was fostered, which was a nightmare, and thankfully I managed to win a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school. In between all of that, there was no opportunity to really crack on with the swimming lessons.’ She smiled wryly. ‘It was all I could do to make sure I kept ahead with my schoolwork, to be honest.’

‘Why did you choose to tell me...?’

‘Because you were curious. Hence your question about how it was that I couldn’t swim. In your world, there’s no such thing as an adult who doesn’t know how to swim. I think, in your world, most people don’t know what it’s like to grow up without their own private swimming pool and holidays abroad by the sea.’

Stefano didn’t say anything. She was beginning to make sense to him. He was beginning to understand the layers she had constructed to protect herself and he was also beginning to understand why it was so important for her to work hard and build a career.

A career would be something tangible she could hold onto and he guessed that, after a turbulent childhood, that would mean a lot to her.

And she was right. He’d been curious about her. He’d wanted to find out what made her tick even though it went against his better judgement.

Sunny shrugged. ‘I don’t share details of my past with people as a rule,’ she explained, ‘but neither is it some great big secret and it was easier to just fill you in than to have you constantly asking pointed questions. Also, you should know because you might want to change your mind about hiring me as a babysitter for Flora.’

‘Why would I change my mind?’

‘Because...’ Flustered, she looked away.

‘Because you think I’m probably a snob...’

‘I don’t think anything. I was just...giving you the opportunity... Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I’m more than happy to continue working for you until the end of next week. Who will be taking over after I’ve gone? Have you managed to secure another nanny?’

She was a wrong-side-of-the-tracks girl and she had made sure to tell him that, made sure to point out their differences, because she had picked up something. Probably she hadn’t even consciously registered it, but she had picked up something, some vibe he had been giving off, and she was firing a warning shot from the bows.

Except when had he become the sort of guy who got scared at warnings being fired? His learning curve at the hands of his ex-wife had freed him from any hesitations when it came to women. He played fair, he laid out the rules of the game and within those constraints it had never, not once, occurred to him, ever, that he might allow anything of himself to get out of control. He’d buried his emotions so deep that he had no idea where they were or if he would ever be able to find them and that suited him.

So if she was trying to warn him off by filling him in on the horrors of her background...

She truly must think him a crashing snob.

‘My mother usually helps out. Right now, as I have explained, she’s in Scotland but she will pick up the slack until I can secure someone else. Flora gets along with my mother slightly better than she gets along with me, which is not terribly well, but at least she isn’t outright rude, as she’s enjoyed being with the nannies I’ve hired in the past. Now, why don’t I get Eric to drop you at your flat, just long enough for you to change into something a little more dressy? I intend to take you both out for dinner, as I happen to be home much earlier than expected.’

‘No! Thank you. I... If you’re here, then I should be getting back.’ Which would come as a major blow to Amy, who was probably, right now, in full-blown domestic-goddess mode.

‘Nonsense,’ Stefano said smoothly. ‘I insist.’ He stood up and dialled his driver, whose lodgings were in a cottage on the grounds. ‘I’ve tried meals out with my daughter,’ he admitted with a trace less of his usual self-assurance, ‘and the success rate has been zero. When my mother comes, the situation is slightly less fraught but I’ve noticed small changes in Flora and I can only thank you for that.’ He gave his words time to sink in. ‘I think,’ he continued honestly, ‘if you came there might be a marked change of atmosphere.’

Why did the thought of having a meal out with him make her feel so jumpy? Flora would be there! Yet the thought of getting dressed up...turned it from a casual chat into an occasion.

But she’d told him about herself, had mentally reinforced the differences between them. Hadn’t she killed off all stupid notions of romance? She wasn’t tempted by bridal magazines and she didn’t peer at engagement rings in the windows of local jewellers. She’d sharpened up her act over the years and, anyway, she’d been born streetwise. She knew that there was a big difference between finding a guy attractive and knowing that he would be rubbish as a long-term investment and she would never allow herself to get wrapped up in anyone who would turn out to be a rubbish long-term investment. Her financial long-term investments were carefully thought out. Her emotional ones would be the same. She’d made that her life’s work.

So she was safe as houses when it came to Stefano Gunn, and sparing him no detail about her background—so very, very different from his—was just another safeguard in place.

Just for one bleak moment she stood back and looked at herself. So tough, so sensible, head always screwed on...

It made sense!

It was important to have full control... She’d lived a life where there had been no control; she’d seen how complete lack of control had destroyed her mother...

So here she was, letting her head work through her life options instead of her emotions...

Yet...

For just a few fleeting seconds she was shaken and disconcerted by a sort of raw envy of Amy’s trusting outlook on the world, her open, hopeful view of men, the enthusiasm with which she flung herself into relationships which Sunny could see would never work.

For a few fleeting seconds she wondered whether she hadn’t sacrificed too much in her quest for stability and her distrust of basic relationships. She’d watched her mother and had sworn from a young age that she’d protect herself from ever getting like that. She’d never let a parade of unsuitable men influence the outcome of her life. She’d never let a weakness for passing fun get the better of her good judgement. She’d never think that salvation could be found at the bottom of a glass or after getting high.

But now it crossed her mind that in her rush to learn her life lessons she’d written off a lot more than just those things.

Had she written off fun? Amy pretending to be a domestic goddess for some guy she would get bored with after two minutes...wasn’t that fun? And how much could you protect yourself from getting hurt? Without becoming a rock, isolated and set apart from the rest of the living, breathing, hurting human race? With John, she’d dipped her toes in the water only to hurriedly yank them out because the temperature hadn’t been right. So what happened next? The dry, sterile, clinical life of someone who refused to...dare?

‘Fine,’ Sunny said abruptly, annoyed with herself for the foolish tangent her thoughts had taken. She smiled stiffly and politely. ‘I’m sure Flora will be pleased. What time do you...want me back here or will we be going to somewhere in London? In which case I can meet you both there...’

‘Eric will wait for you. Somewhere here, I think. I know a couple of places and it’ll be far less tiresome than making the journey into central London, even if Flora and I can overnight in my apartment in Mayfair.’

He thought she didn’t have fun. Sunny’s thoughts were still whirling in her head even though she’d tried to snuff them out with a stern talking-to.

He thought she was an ambitious and probably bitter young woman who didn’t know how to do anything else but work. She had no boyfriend, she’d had a sad and challenging life, and now...she worked late every night, did a second job in her free time to earn money and on the weekends caught up on her sleep...when her head wasn’t buried in her books.

She recalled him saying that he worked hard but he played as well...

She imagined that, deep down, he would expect her to turn up in work clothes if they were going somewhere where the dress code wasn’t jeans and a T-shirt and some trainers.

Was that why he had kindly warned her that they might be going somewhere dressy? Because he feared that she might show up, whatever the occasion, in her stiff little suit and crisp white blouse?

‘Okay—’ Sunny shrugged ‘—but I hope he doesn’t mind waiting. Girls can be...er...indecisive when it comes to choosing clothes...’

Stefano raised his eyebrows wryly and she flushed because she had the annoying feeling that he could see straight through her—which made her want to carry on protesting.

Yes...girls take time getting their appearance right! And that includes me, whatever you might think!

She was stubbornly determined to prove him wrong and to prove to herself that she hadn’t forgotten what it was like to dress up and think of something other than her long-term plans and passing exams.

* * *

She’d expected Amy to be horrified at her unexpected arrival but instead the plump, good-natured brunette dimpled smugly and pulled her to one side when she was through the front door.

‘The meal was a disaster,’ she whispered, giggling. ‘Honestly, Sunny, I swear I followed every instruction in the recipe book, more or less, but it was an absolute disaster!’

‘Why are you grinning?’

‘Because Jake thought it was hilarious! He said he’s a brilliant cook and he’s been looking for a woman who can be impressed by his culinary skills! Anyway, he’s disappeared to the Thai down the road to get us a takeaway and then we’re going to watch a movie. You’re not staying, are you? I mean, that’s fine, but would it be awful of me to ask if you could hide out in your bedroom? Just for a bit?’

‘I’m not staying!’ Sunny laughed. ‘But I need you to do me a favour and I need you to do it before Jake gets back with your Thai...because I need your undivided attention...’

* * *

Half an hour later, Sunny looked at herself in the full-length mirror in her friend’s bedroom.

Her selection of dressy clothes was pitiful. She had casual and she had work and then, in between those two polar opposites, she had a paltry array of drab skirts and jumpers that seemed to be neither one thing nor the other.

She’d become accustomed over the years to playing down her looks. Her looks had always earned her the sort of unwarranted attention she’d hated. As far as she was concerned, what mattered was what lay beneath the surface and the only way she had ever felt she could be taken seriously was by muting her appearance. Even when she’d been dating John, dear, thoughtful John, she’d made sure not to dress up. She’d always had the sneaking suspicion that he had been a little threatened and overawed by her appearance and so she had unconsciously accommodated his insecurities.

For the first time, she had the crazy urge to make the absolute most of herself and the only person who could help her was Amy.

Amy had the clothes she lacked and, although they weren’t really the same size at all, Amy’s clothes were tight, small and stretchy. Many of them were a one size fits all variety and Sunny, having had her first few picks ruled out as way too boring for a night out on the town, had allowed herself to be led.

‘It’s not a night out on the town,’ she had protested, stepping out of one dress and straight into another. ‘His daughter is going to be there!’

‘You’re going out and it’s night time. It’s a night out in my book, and he’s cute, isn’t he? You said so before when I asked.’

‘He’s full of himself.’

‘But cute and sexy.’

‘Arrogant and way too...too...much for my liking.’

‘I notice you didn’t dispute the sexy bit.’ Amy had laughed and spun her round to the full-length mirror.

And now Sunny was staring at the young woman she had spent a lifetime making sure to hide.

Her long slender legs seemed to go on for ever and were on full view in the little stretchy skirt which was a demure pale pink in colour with a far from demure cut. She was taller than her friend, so what would have sat a couple of inches above knee level on Amy just about managed to skim Sunny’s thighs.

She had a driving urge to tug the skirt down and had to squeeze her hands into fists to stop herself from doing it.

The skirt was accompanied by an equally small stretchy top with a scooped neckline and three-quarter length sleeves. Together, she appeared to be wearing a dress, were it not for the fact that when she moved little slivers of her flat belly were exposed.

‘Perfect,’ Amy declared with satisfaction. ‘You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to get my hands on you and do this. You can leave your hair the way it is; just run your fingers through it to make it look a little wilder and if you stay still for a couple of seconds I’ll put some eyeshadow, mascara and lipgloss on you.’ Amy shot her a sly look. ‘I must say you’re putting yourself out for someone who is arrogant, full of himself and way too...too...much for your liking...’

Sunny didn’t reply because she was too busy staring at the stranger staring back at her.

Despite the disparity in their height, she and Amy both wore the same shoe size and Sunny had been persuaded into a pair of her friend’s shoes which weren’t particularly high and weren’t particularly flamboyant, at least compared to the revealing outfit, but which still managed to make her look...

Sexy...

She had a sudden attack of panic. She would never, ever have worn anything like this if she’d been going out with girlfriends. She would have been far too terrified of attracting unwanted attention from all the wrong sorts but she would be going out with Stefano and Flora and she was wickedly excited at the prospect of showing him that, yes, she was a fun girl. She was someone who went out, who did all sorts of exciting things in her free time.

She was a sheep in borrowed clothing but he wasn’t to know that, was he?

She teamed the outfit with her own denim jacket and hung onto her casual backpack even though Amy did her best to entice her into something small and sparkly.

‘You look fab,’ her friend said, practically pushing her out of her door because her legs suddenly felt quite leaden. ‘Your arrogant dinner date is going to be bowled over! Now, shoo! I have to work on bowling my own dinner date over! Hurry up so that I have time to spray some more perfume and get myself arranged in a way that makes it look as though I haven’t been hanging around waiting for him to get back!’ Amy smiled and impulsively stood on tiptoe to kiss Sunny on her cheek. ‘And have fun, Sunny. You don’t do enough of that...’