88

The door opened. When his Aunt came into the room, Anna was lying beneath the bedclothes, while Cedric stood over her.
“Cedric?” Diana said, “Oh I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were in here,”
“It’s alright,” Cedric replied, “Anna and I were just talking…Catching up, I mean,” He looked questioningly at Anna, and she nodded her head weakly.
“I managed to quieten him a little,” said Diana, referring to Ben, “But I think he is hungry so I decided to bring him up. Are you sure you’re alright, Anna?”
She’d probably looked weird, Anna thought. “I’m fine. Thanks for looking after him, Diana.” She hoped that she sounded more relaxed than she felt. It was ridiculous that she and Cedric were reacting like a couple of guilty schoolchildren. But she had a feeling that it wasn’t for his own sake that he was doing it. She doubted that Cedric would have given a damn about being found on the verge of making love to her.
“Well, if you’re sure you’re okay.” Diana put the baby in her arms and began to move back towards the door. Cedric followed her.
“I’m fine,” Anna assured her again.
“Believe her. She is,” Cedric commented drily as he opened the door for his Aunt and followed her through it.
Anna had had the time to put Ben down for a second, slip out of bed and put on her nightdress before she heard the second knock on her door as she began to breastfeed Ben.
“I’ve brought you a cup of tea,” Diana announced as she walked in and put the mug down beside the bed.
“Cedric’s gone to bed. I’m glad to see you’ve put on your nightdress,” she added wryly. “It will help to keep you warm. I do know what loving someone’s all about, Anna,” she commented, smiling at her.
Was Diana hinting that she hadn’t been deceived by Cedric’s story? Obviously. The woman wasn’t stupid, and Anna couldn’t help but blush.
“All I can say is that I’m happy that you two are alright now and getting along well. I’m glad,”
___________
Cedric invited her the following evening to have dinner with him in the roof garden so they could discuss something, and Anna had spent the entire day wondering what he wanted to talk about. She had a feeling that she already knew what it was about. Were they finally going to have that conversation about their future together? He’d wanted them to go out at first, but Anna knew she’d spend most of the time worrying about Ben as she wasn’t used to leaving him alone for a very long time yet, so Cedric had suggested the roof garden.
She arrived to find him sitting at a table beautifully laid with crystal and fine white linen. It was illuminated by several candles floating in a wide water bowl of gold, the only other lighting being several soft amber-coloured lamps that ran the length of the balustrade.
Anna was so mesmerized, so enchanted, so moved by the beauty spread out before her, that she was incapable of verbally acknowledging Cedric’s presence as he came to stand beside her.
“Like it?” he murmured,
Like it? She thought it was very romantic and very thoughtful. But was she still going to feel that way after they talked?
“It’s very beautiful,” she said truthfully, then turned away from him before he could guess what she was thinking, “Can we start dinner now? I’m absolutely starving!” She didn’t even glance at Cedric as she moved to the candlelit table and sat down.
Cedric took his time joining her, his thoughts distracted. Anna’s slightly distant manner told him that she had something on her mind. Probably had doubts about this evening. That doubt came as no surprise to him, because he had felt those doubts earlier too. But he had no intention, by word or deed, of increasing that uncertainty. He wanted her to enjoy this evening, and what he had to say was just too important-Anna herself was too important-to his future happiness for him to ruin it.
And so he deliberately set out to once more put her at her ease, keeping his conversation light and well away from anything of a remotely emotional nature. Instead, as they ate, he drew her out to talk of her work as a Virtual assistant and the university she’d chosen to attend as soon as Ben was old enough for her to leave him for a while. The enthusiasm with which she spoke of it, the pleasure in her face, told him of her deep satisfaction in her chosen path, and he was proud of how far she’d come.
“I am not sure that I believe a woman could ever be that calculating!” he teased, after Anna broke off telling him a rather amusing story she’d once heard of a woman who had lain on her bed to make sure that she could reach out and adjust her newly installed lighting so that it reflected in the mirrors above and would increase the pleasure for herself and her lover.
“Oh, I think that some of them are,” Anna confirmed, her cheeks coloring bright red as she realized that the single glass of champagne she had allowed herself with her meal seemed to have loosened her tongue. Discussing another couple making love was definitely not something she had planned to do with Cedric tonight. But despite her earlier nervousness, she had found the evening so relaxing, and Cedric such easy company, that she had temporarily let her guard down.
Not a good idea when the meal was almost over and the night was rapidly approaching!
“I-This has been a wonderful evening, Cedric. Thank you,” she told him with stiff politeness.
Cedric was instantly aware of the return of Anna’s doubts. While he had been totally captivated all evening by how beautiful she looked, by how much he wanted to make love with her again, he’d already vowed to himself that he wouldn’t do anything to upset her or give her a reason to say no to him.
She gave him a quizzical look as he reached across the table to cover her clenched hands with one of his own. He could feel the tension in her hands beneath his, and he curled his fingers about them to move his thumb lightly, caressingly, across her tightly clenched knuckles.
“Having you here makes me happy, Anna,” he told her truthfully, “Happier than I have ever been or ever thought I would be,”