His Christmas Acquisition by Cathy Williams

her.’
    ‘Ah, but is it mutual? One-way devotion could become trying after a while, I should imagine.’
    ‘Won’t your family be wondering where we are?’
    ‘We’re adults. I don’t suppose they’ll be worried in casewe miss our footing and fall in the pool by accident. Besides, Claire and Hannah are doing their nightly battle with the children, and my mother was feeling tired and took herself off to bed with a book and a cup of hot chocolate. So you can put that concern of yours to rest!’
    ‘You have a fantastic family.’ Jamie sighed wistfully, and for a moment Ryan was sufficiently distracted to silently wait until she expanded. Women always enjoyed talking about themselves. In fact, from his experience, they would hold court until the break of dawn given half a chance, but generally speaking their conversations were usually targeted to sexually attract. They flirted and pouted and always portrayed themselves in the best possible light. In the case of the women he dated—supermodels and actresses—their anecdotes were usually fond recollections of their achievements on stage or on the runway, often involving getting the better of their competition.
    ‘A bit different from yours, I expect,’ he murmured encouragingly when his lengthy silence didn’t appear to be working.
    ‘Totally different. You never talk about them.’
    ‘And you’ve only now started talking about yours.’
    ‘Yes, well, my situation is nothing like yours. When I think of Jessica, I start getting stressed. But
your
sisters … they’re very easy-going.’
    Ryan grinned. ‘I have vague recollections of the three of them trying out their make-up on me when I was younger. Not so easy-going for me, I can tell you.’
    Jamie laughed. She couldn’t help herself.
    ‘Still, it was tougher on you, raising a teenager when you weren’t even out of your teens yourself.’
    Lost in her thoughts, she was seduced by the warm interest in his voice, by the soft, warm breeze and the gentle, rhythmic sound of waves breaking against the cliff face.
    She felt inclined to share, especially after her conversation with Greg.
    ‘Even before Mum died, Jessica was a handful. I just did my own thing, but she was always demanding, even as a child. She was just so beautiful and she could twist Mum round her little finger. When I look at your sisters and see the way they share everything … Anyway.’ She pulled herself together. ‘I always think that there’s no point weeping and wailing over stuff you can’t change.’
    ‘Quite. You were telling me about your conversation with the vet. You thought that your sister was bored because she was a party animal and the vet only enjoyed the company of his sick animals.’
    ‘I never said any such thing!’
    ‘I’m reading between the lines. Have you got an update on the real situation?’
    Of course, Jamie thought, brought down to earth, he was keen to find out whether matters were being sorted. He needed her back and functioning in one piece, and the sooner Greg and Jessica sorted themselves out and cleared off the better for him. She would do well to remind herself that his interest was mostly self-motivated. She would also do well to realise that allowing herself to slip into a state of familiarity with him just because he happened to know a little bit more about her private life than he ever had would be madness. There was no chance that she could ever be interested in him in the way that she had been interested in Greg, because Greg represented just the sort of gentle, caring person she found attractive. But still …
    ‘I think we might be seeing the true cause of everything that’s been happening between Greg and my sister,’ she told him crisply. ‘Apparently Greg wants children and he thinks that it’s a good time for them to start trying. That seems to have caused everything to explode.’
    ‘Your sister isn’t interested?’
    ‘She hasn’t mentioned a word of it to me,’ Jamie said