Chapter 8

There was a slight click, and the radio alarm started, a local radio station giving the news that 4 inches of snow had fallen overnight. Schools would remain closed, and police were advising people to stay indoors, and all non-essential journeys were to be avoided. Edward rolled over and looked at the ceiling.

‘What an interesting night, and how lovely Geraldine really is – a true find, and actually I think she really is a treasure,’ Edward thought. He lay hoping that something could develop between them. Her final kiss had indeed helped his dreams, as she had said. Edward had enjoyed a night of arousing thoughts and had been tempted on more than one occasion to go and knock on her bedroom door and ravish the body that he knew only too fleetingly.

At one point he even considered dispensing with the knocking and just going and getting straight on with the ravishing. In his dreams he had explored every inch, his mind’s eye followed every curve, his lips kissed every lip and his hands caressed and massaged every muscle. All in his mind; the temptations were indeed great, but his will was strong. He hoped that this relationship with Geraldine would turn into something real and long-lasting, and tumbling into bed too soon was often a recipe for disaster. But gosh, the draw was powerful. She was only a thin partition wall away, lying alone in her double bed, perhaps naked, perhaps thinking of him, perhaps wanting him, as he wanted her.

His mind turned to matters more mundane: what chance, he wondered, of getting home now? He could probably get a driver later on in the day, at least to get him somewhere near and walk the last bit. He needed to get home; of course there was the small matter of clean clothes, at least underwear, and he could then work from home with his computer via the secure network link. He also knew that he ought to see the colonel face-to-face, but he suspected that a telephone call would have to suffice.

He realised that the taxi driver would report in and guessed that two and two would make five in the office. But then he believed that the office had already added three and three and got to eight anyway. He expected that the weather would mean that all local plans and itineraries would have to be rescheduled for most people. This being a rural area, the snow would mean that most people would struggle to get to work, and really he expected that the disruption would last for today and tomorrow.

Life would probably start getting back to normal by Friday – assuming no more snow fell; however, continuing snow was forecast, so the outlook was definitely not normality in the short term. He left a short message on Rosemary’s voicemail saying he would be late in, if at all, and that he would talk to the Colonel later. In the meanwhile, could they send a four-wheel drive to pick him up and take him home? He knew that they would know the address.

Geraldine could hear the low tones of the radio from the guest room, although the volume was too low and the sounds too muffled for her to make any words out. As she lay there, she reflected on the previous night. What a fabulous evening. Wow, far better than she had imagined and as good as she had dared to hope. And their final kiss had certainly done much to add depth to her dreams. Golly, she wondered if, in reality, he could ever live up to anything like the dreams she had experienced last night.

Her dreams during the night made her waking dream of yesterday morning seem like a teenage magazine story, and she had read enough of those in the magazines that Debbie left lying around; no, last night was definite ‘Top Shelf’ stuff. She was shattered; he might just as well have spent the night in bed with her, and she actually may have slept more!

In truth, Geraldine was glad that he hadn’t in a way; she sensed something, almost an interaction of their inner selves, far more than just a physical attraction of two people to each other, and her senses were rarely wrong. It would have been nice, though, to have woken up enveloped in his arms, for the physical attraction was really strong, and she felt so wonderful and warmed to think that he had really been attracted to her and had been quite obviously aroused by her too.

Geraldine sighed at what might have been and threw back the quilt, tutting at the evidence of her dreams, and made her way into the ensuite to freshen up. A quick functional shower and a few minutes spent addressing her hair before turning to the bedroom to dress. Now what to wear? Good, but comfortable was the order. She needed to be able to wander around the Mews without being self-conscious of what she was wearing in front of Edward but still be able to do various jobs around the place and still be very attractive to him!

Sometimes, she decided, it was good to be a woman and today was going to be one of those good days. Today was a day for subtle flirting and overt femininity. A pair of beige slacks and a cream cotton blouse was the best option she decided; with light underwear, which didn’t need to match it, it just needed to be functional and very slightly visible through her clothes.

A quick spray under the arms of deodorant, perfume on her earlobes and décolletage, clothes on her body, and lipstick, and she was ready to face the day – and Edward. Geraldine went down to the kitchen and prepared the coffee. As the coffee was perking, she examined the fridge to see what Edward could be offered for breakfast. Eggs, tomatoes, bacon, mushrooms and cheese gave the choice of either a fully cooked or an omelette.