The Mills & Boon Sparkling Christmas Collection. Kate Hardy

did on a Saturday morning when Heather and Eva came in.

      ‘Thanks,’ Eva said, taking a mouthful of lemon drizzle cake and rolling her eyes to the heavens. ‘Delicious.’

      Heather happily filled Freya in. ‘Eva’s going to be decorating her new neighbour’s front room who just happens to be a hunky physicist.’

      ‘Is that the guy you had coffee with in here the other day?’ Freya asked innocently.

      ‘You had coffee with him as well?’ Heather’s eyes almost popped out of her head.

      ‘He was very handsome – had that whole smouldering thing going on.’ Freya made a dreamy face at Heather.

      ‘Some people might think he’s handsome,’ Eva said primly.

      ‘And you don’t?’

      ‘Technically he is, yes … I suppose …’ Eva lifted her coffee to hide her blush although she didn’t mind her friends’ gentle teasing. Being married and having Jamie so young she always felt she’d missed out on a chunk of growing up. She had gone from what was essentially her first big romance to becoming a wife, mother, and then widow. Men were just something that happened to other women – boyfriends, husbands, partners – they simply hadn’t been on her radar.

      ‘So you’re decorating his house?’ Freya broke into her musings.

      ‘I offered to decorate his front room. He had a leak in his living room –’ Eva ignored Heather snorting into her coffee ‘– which I helped him with, so it left some damage. We got talking and I found myself offering to decorate the whole room,’ Eva finished matter-of-factly.

      ‘You are pretty handy with a paintbrush – I can vouch for that.’ Heather’s head bobbed up and down.

      ‘So how’s it going then?’ Freya wanted to know.

      ‘That’s the thing. For some reason I’m struggling with ideas, almost like I’ve got a mental block.’

      ‘You’re usually so good with decorating.’

      ‘I know,’ Eva sighed. ‘I’ve haven’t used one before, but I was thinking of creating a mood board.’

      Heather’s eyebrows shot up suggestively. ‘A what board?’

      ‘It’s an arrangement of colours, material scraps, images – anything to help give ideas,’ Freya explained before turning to Eva. ‘You’ve never had trouble before. Do you think you might be trying a bit too hard?’

      Eva felt her shoulders slump. ‘Could be a possibility,’ she admitted.

      ‘Hold on, I might have something to help you.’ Freya bustled away. Eva and Heather exchanged mystified glances while finishing their coffee. A few moments later Freya reappeared with a small canvas.

      ‘Before I start painting a seascape I work on a small canvas first. It helps to give me an idea of colour and composition.’

      Eva studied the canvas, which she realized was basically layers of colours representing a view of the beach. The sky was painted light blue while the hills in the distance were shown with strokes of white. The rocks in the foreground were brown and the water turquoise. Light grey depicted the small peaks of foam in the water and finally there was a sweep of golden beige for the sand.

      ‘I adore the colours in this; it’s really lovely,’ Eva said appreciatively.

      ‘Do you think it might help you at all?’ Freya asked.

      ‘You know, I think it just might,’ Eva replied thoughtfully. Even though it was quite abstract, the layers of colours captured the essence of the sea, sand, and sky and Eva could already feel it igniting ideas, imagining Ben’s brown leather sofas set against very pale grey walls.

      Heather nudged Eva, reminding her it was time to go and watch the last part of the football game. Neither of them was overly keen at the prospect of leaving the warmth of the coffee shop for the cold sidelines of the pitch but duty called. Full of cake and clutching Freya’s canvas, Eva pulled on her jacket, feeling much happier.

       Chapter Eight

      The following Tuesday Eva let herself into Ben’s house. She had arranged for the plasterer to come and fix the ceiling where the leak had been and finally she felt as if her creative juices were flowing again. Freya’s canvas was propped up on the mantelpiece and Eva now had a clear picture in her head of how the room would look. She was determined to detach any feeling she may have for Ben and do a professional job.

      Eva hummed to herself, feeling a light-heartedness she hadn’t felt for a long time. The morning was bright and light filtered into the room. The walls were dotted here and there with small patches of paint where Eva was testing an assortment of paint samples. She was leaving them to dry so she could see how they would look at different times of the day.

      Having decided to restore them to their former glory, today Eva was going to tackle the floorboards and she’d hired a floor sander, which stood in the corner ready to go. Wearing her usual dungarees, she tied her hair in a ponytail in readiness to start work. On her hands and knees, she was using a pair of pliers to pull out some leftover carpet staples still intact in the floor when a sound made her freeze. She listened to a movement coming from upstairs and realized someone was there. Her heart rate rocketed as she heard footsteps making their way down the stairs.

      From her position on all fours she saw his feet first. Eva slowly raised her head to find Ben looking at her from the doorway. He was smiling at her, his eyes soft and amused.

      ‘You all right there?’

      Eva rocked back on her heels, her hand on her chest. ‘God, you gave me a fright – I didn’t realize you were in the house.’

      ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.’ He strolled over to Eva, holding out his hand to help her up. She took his hand, feeling his warm, strong fingers wrapped around her own, and knew there was little chance of her heart rate recovering. Visibly fresh from a shower, his hair was still damp and he wore a snug-fitting white T-shirt and blue joggers. He was close enough for her to breathe in the citrus fragrance of his aftershave and she blinked hard, trying to dispel the image of him in a hot shower.

      ‘I’m going to a seminar at Glasgow University later so I’m working from home this morning,’ he explained – not sounding overly keen. Instead he seemed more interested in looking round the room. ‘So, how are you getting on in here?’

      ‘As you can see I’ve lifted the carpet and all the wallpaper is off – I think I lost count after four layers of wallpaper. The plasterer is coming to do the ceiling later; in fact he’ll be here soon.’

      ‘Plastering not one of your many skills?’ he teased.

      She smiled back. ‘Not brave enough to try. It’s quite a difficult skill to master and I’d be scared to make a mess of it,’ she admitted looking up at the ceiling with her hands on her hips. Ben strolled over to her, his closeness not exactly helping her attempts to be detached and professional.

      ‘I pretty much know what I’m going to do now but actually now that you’re here, I was wondering if you had any ornaments or pictures that you wanted me to use in the room?’

      ‘Um, I don’t think so.’ Ben rubbed the back of his head. ‘There might be something through here.’ Eva followed him into the hall where he looked at the pile of boxes before he appeared to gather the energy to start shifting them about. Eva watched the muscles of his arms flexing as he lifted a particular box and placed it in front of her, looking at her with a half-smile.

      ‘I don’t really have many er, ornaments but you might find something in here. I packed a few bits and pieces.’

      ‘You don’t mind if I look through this?’

      ‘Not at all but