The Girl Who's Never Had a Valentine (3 page)

 

     By seven o'clock, any reservations I'd had about the gold accessories were laid to rest. One twirl in front of the hall mirror and I had to admit that the ‘Girl Without Valentines' had scrubbed up well. I retrieved my card from the drawer and examined it once again.

     ‘I don't know where you came from today but you've brought me good luck and a date into the bargain.' I couldn't help smiling as I propped the card up on the mantle. I was contemplating a glass of wine to calm me while I waited, but decided a clear head was preferable and a few nerves were no bad thing. Suddenly the doorbell rang, making me jump. My immediate thought was ‘Luke', although I hadn't heard a car pull in. Opening the door, it wasn't Luke standing there but a young man. A teenager, to be precise, looking a little sheepish. He peeped out from under a long, side-swept fringe. Oh so fashionable and oh so awful. Eventually he spoke, ‘I'm sorry to bother you. Er, I think you may have got a card this morning that was meant for my girlfriend.' His voice cracked a bit on the last word. I was so taken aback I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I folded my arms and tried to look serious.

     ‘And why do you think it might have come here?' The young man, getting redder in the face by the minute, continued, even though the whole process was so obviously excruciating for him.

     ‘Because you're number twenty-four and my girlfriend lives at fourteen and I think the postman might have got confused. He must have mistaken the one for a two.' I laughed and was about to question him further, but he looked so uncomfortable that I thought I'd better put him out of his misery.

     ‘You'd better come in.' I found the discarded envelope in the bin and flattened it out on the kitchen worktop. Sure enough, there it was. Yes, the one did look a bit like a two. Staring at the card on the mantle, the boy looked fit to burst.

     ‘I'm sorry. She knew I'd send her a card and was so disappointed when she didn't get one. This was the only explanation I could think of.'

     ‘Well, clever old you for working it out.' I handed him the card, saying, ‘Today you've made two girls very happy.' He looked confused and relieved, then grinned. As he sped off through the door, he shouted, ‘Thanks!'

          How strange. If I didn't have a date lined up for this evening, I wondered whether I'd have been so obliging, handing over the card, even though it was blatantly clear I'd received it by accident. I fear I may have wrestled the spotty youth to the floor in order to hang on to my one and only Valentine's card. However, the day had taken a very different turn and the card was now history.

     I heard a taxi pull into the car park. Dashing over to the window, I watched as my date stepped out of the vehicle. The lamplight shone directly down on him and he glanced up and waved. He was carrying a bouquet of red roses; James Bond couldn't have looked more inviting. My cheeks tingled and a shiver ran down my spine. Slipping my black cashmere wrap around my shoulders, I waited in delicious anticipation for my very own personal Valentine to ring my bell.

 

CARINA™

 

ISBN: 978 1 472 09466 7

 

The Girl Who's Never Had a Valentine

Copyright © 2014 Elizabeth Player

 

Published in Great Britain (2014)

by Carina, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a "Licensed Device") and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

 

CARINA™ is a trademark of Harlequin Enterprises Limited, used under licence.

 

www.CarinaUK.com