Merry Christmas (Mills & Boon Vintage 90s Modern) by Emma Darcy Page A

good?”
    “Tell me.” Safer to invite than to guess.
    She hesitated a moment, then seemed to pick her way carefully as she said, “Uncle Nick is going to invite you to spend the Christmas holidays with us at Pearl Beach. It’s on the Central Coast, about two hours from here. Can you come, Merry?”
    Christmas with her daughter. She wouldn’t let anything get in the way of having that joy. She smiled. “Yes. I’d love to.”
    “You’ll be in the same house with us,” Kimberly said with satisfaction. “It’s right on the beach, so you’ll like it.”
    “I’m sure I will.”
    “And Ms. Pearce won’t be there.”
    Meredith made no comment. The Machiavellian glint in her daughter’s eyes was disquietening. It was a relief when she grinned and her expression changed to mischievous conspiracy.
    “It would be really good if we could get Uncle Nick to marry you instead of her...wouldn’t it!”

CHAPTER NINE
    T HEY strolled along Pearl Beach in the darkening twilight—man, woman, child—and Meredith let herself pretend they were together in the idyllic sense. After all, it didn’t matter what she dreamed as long as neither Nick nor Kimberly knew.
    It was their first night here, the first of nine nights they would spend in this beautiful place with no one else to please but the three of them. The three of them for Christmas. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve. Tonight was simply for the pleasure of feeling their normal lives were left behind in Sydney and this was the start of a special time.
    For her it was, anyway.
    This was her family...her child...and the father of her child.
    After these holidays...but she wouldn’t think about what might happen then. Better to treasure every moment she had with the only two people who were especially dear to her.
    Although Nick had brought provisions, now stacked away in the kitchen of the holiday house, they’d gone to the take-away shop in the village and dined on hamburgers and chips, just like any other family who didn’t want to bother with cooking after a long, busy day. The walk home along the beach was Kimberly’s decision. Meredith suspected it was part of her daughter’s plot to promote romantic situations between her and Nick.
    She skipped ahead of them, dancing around the scalloped edges of dying waves, still very much a child, perhaps enjoying the fact that her parents were following her, watching her antics, caring about her. Not that Nick knew he was her father, but being her legal guardian was more or less the same. Meredith wondered what he was thinking... feeling.
    He was walking beside her, as they’d walked so long ago, sand squelching under their feet, the splash of waves slapping onto the shore, whooshing up and being sucked back, the underlying thrum of the sea in constant motion, a breeze flicking their hair and teasing their nostrils with the fresh smell of salt.
    She could feel the heat of his body, almost touching hers. His strong maleness stirred an acute awareness of her femininity and the need to have it complemented. They had once been perfect together. The memory clung, arousing desires she hugged to herself, secretly wishing they could be expressed.
    It was strange. The thought of Rachel Pearce had tormented her all week, yet here...maybe it was the sense of distance or the magic of the night... the woman who belonged to Nick’s city life just didn’t seem real. Only the three of them were real....walking together... listening to the same sounds, all their senses alive to a different world.
    “Look at the stars! There are so many!” Kimberly remarked in awe.
    “No pollution dimming our view of them,” Nick commented.
    “That’s so unromantic, Uncle Nick.”
    “Simple truth.”
    Kimberly huffed her exasperation. None of her matchmaking efforts had borne any fruit so far. Meredith found them intensely embarrassing and Nick pretended he didn’t notice the hints and manoeuvrings.
    “We’re almost home,” Kimberly pointed out.
    “So