Their Yuletide Promise

by Stacy Connelly

  Moving to stand beside her, Griffin shook his head. “I didn’t. After some of the things my dad and your aunt said, I suspected, but I wasn’t certain.”

  “You lied to me.”

  “Evie...”

  “You lied, and your father—”

  “Is here because thirty-five years ago, he fell in love with your aunt! And I think—even though I know he loved my mother—I think a part of him never stopped loving Evelyn.”

  “No, that’s not...” Evie shook her head. A love that survived for over three decades? “I don’t believe it.”

  “It’s true, Evie.” Griffin flung a hand back toward the open lobby doors. “Look at them!”

  But Evie didn’t want to look back into the crowded lobby, where her aunt and his father still stood, the sea of guests parting around them. Seeing the two gazing at each other hurt something deep inside her. Something that was still broken and, she feared, always would be.

  “He’s using her. He’s using her the same way you used me.”

  Griffin flinched, reeling back as if she’d struck him. “Dammit, Evie, can’t you see that I don’t have some hidden agenda? I wasn’t using you! The only thing I was doing the whole time I was here was loving you!”

  Her heart clenched at the passionate declaration. She wanted to believe him. Oh, how she wanted to! But she couldn’t. The last time she’d believed in love, it had ripped her apart. It had torn her away from Hillcrest House, away from her family. She hadn’t been there when her aunt needed her, and she wouldn’t—couldn’t—let that happen again.

  As if reading her mind, Griffin’s stance softened. He took a step closer, closing his hands around her upper arms and turning her toward him. “Evie...I know you’re afraid. I know how much Eric hurt you, but I’m not him.”

  No, he was Griffin James, which made this all so much more unbelievable.

  If she alone wasn’t enough for a man like Eric Laughlin, did she really think she’d be able to hold on to Griffin? Charming, flirtatious, gorgeous Griffin James with hotels around the world and a private jet at his disposal.

  “This isn’t about Eric.”

  “Isn’t it? You trusted him and he abused that trust. And now you don’t think a man could love you for who you are. For your beauty and passion. For your quick wit and even for your sharp tongue.”

  He was killing her. The words acted like a battering ram against the shield around her heart. All the things she wanted to hear...

  “And I don’t give a damn about Hillcrest House.”

  “But I do!” Evie swallowed. The hotel had been her refuge, her chance for redemption, and she needed the comfort of its timeless security now more than ever. “The hotel is all I’ve wanted. All I’ve ever wanted.”

  “No, Evie. It’s just all you think you deserve.”

  If his earlier words had been blows to her heart, that final, softly spoken sentence was like a slap across the face. “And you think you—you don’t even know me if that’s what you think. This was all about Hillcrest House, remember?” She let out a laugh as ragged as the edges of her control. “This whole plan to make my aunt believe we were in love—”

  A soft gasp silenced Evie’s words. She had been so focused on Griffin, she hadn’t noticed her aunt stepping out onto the porch. Light streaming out from the lobby illuminated the confusion and hurt mingled in Evelyn’s expression as she glanced between Evie and Griffin. “What do you mean, make me believe the two of you were in love?”

  Evie’s heart pounded so hard inside her chest, she almost expected the fragile strands holding the seed pearls on the bodice of her dress to snap, sending the delicate beads spilling out across the floor. The way it felt, her every emotion was threatening to pour out at Griffin’s feet.

  “Evie.” He cupped her cheek in his hand. “No more pretending.”

  He stood in front of her, so serious, so...sincere. No sign of the laughing, flirting Griffin James remained. Somewhere along the way, he’d dropped that pretense, allowing her to see the real man inside.

  A man she could trust. A man she could love...if only she could believe.

  Turning to her aunt, Evie swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. She’d wanted so much for her aunt to be proud of her, to trust her with the legacy of the hotel that meant so much to both of them. To make up for the mistakes of the past when loving the wrong man had cost her the chance. “I wanted to prove to you that I could run Hillcrest and still have a life, so I came up with a plan.”

  Tears burned the back of her throat as she stepped out of Griffin’s warm embrace and into the cold, empty night air. “A plan to fool you into thinking Griffin and I had fallen in love, but none of it was real.” Not the laughter they’d shared, not the love they’d made. “And now it’s over.”

  * * *

  Griffin wasn’t sure how he ended up at the gazebo. All he’d known after he left Evie on the porch was that he couldn’t go into the hotel and he sure as hell wasn’t going to the wedding reception. The thought of seeing Chance and Alexa together, so committed to each other, so in love, gutted him.

  None of it was real...and now it’s over.

  He didn’t know how long he sat in the darkness, the twinkling stars overhead, the sound of the waves breaking against the shore, before he caught sight of a shadow off to the left near the tree-lined pathway. The broad-shouldered form was in silhouette, but he still recognized his father.

  Settling onto the step beside him, Frederick handed him a bottle of beer.

  “How’d you know to find me here?”

  Frederick glanced back at the gazebo with a shrug. “Just a feeling. This place has always been...special.”

  “Okay, no. I really don’t want to hear about that.”

  Frederick’s teeth flashed in the darkness before his smile faded. “I loved your mother, Griffin,” he said, and even in the faint landscape lighting, Griffin could see the sincerity and emotion in his father’s expression. “I need you to know that.”

  “Dad...” Shocked that his father felt he had to say the words, he insisted, “I never doubted that.”

  Not like Evie doubted him.

  Spinning the cold bottle between his hands, he asked, “But what really happened between you and Evelyn McClaren all those years ago?”

  Frederick sighed. “I was young. Headstrong.” He chuckled. “Almost as headstrong as Lynnie. I was just out of college and ready to make my mark on the world. I’d already taken over for your grandfather and wanted to expand James Hotels into the global market. Staying at Hillcrest House was never part of the plan.”

  “And now?” Griffin asked after tipping back the beer, as if the mellow brew could wash the sour taste from his mouth. “What’s your plan for the hotel now?”

  For a long moment, Frederick didn’t speak. Finally, he said, “You know Evelyn wants to sell, right?”

  “I know, but—but not to us, okay?” Losing Hillcrest to his father would ruin Evie, and even though she had already destroyed him, he cared too much to let that happen. “You can buy any other hotel in California, in the world, but not this one. Please, Dad.”

  “It means that much to you?” his father asked.

  Griffin swallowed. “It means—” ah, hell “—everything to me.”

  “So if I agree to this,” his father stated, “you’d be willing to oversee the new hotel in Japan?”

  “Sure,” he agreed hollowly. Why not? Maybe being half a world away from Evie McClaren would ease the ache in his chest.

  “You would do that for her?” his father asked.

  “I would do anything,” Griffin swore.

  “Well, fortunately for you, you don’t have to.” Reaching into his suit jacket, Frederick pulled out an envelope and handed it to Griffin.

  “What is this?”

  “Consider it a Christmas present. It’s
the paperwork releasing your trust fund. Signed, sealed and now—” he gave a slight nod “—delivered.”

  “I don’t—I don’t understand. Why here? Why now?”

  “It’s something I should have done years ago, but I guess I thought if I held on to the trust fund long enough, if I made you work hard enough for it, you’d learn to love the hotel business the way your grandfather and I did.”

  Evie had been right, Griffin realized. His father had been holding on to the trust as a way to hold on to him.

  “I know how much you love flying, and I shouldn’t have kept you from following your dream. But maybe you’ll take one bit of advice from a man who knows what he’s talking about. No dream, no matter how big, means anything without someone to share it with.”

  After clapping him on the shoulder, Frederick pushed off the steps and left Griffin alone with his beer and the trust fund that he’d been counting on for over a decade.

  He was free. Free to fly anywhere in the world—except for one problem. For the first time in his life, there was nowhere else Griffin wanted to be.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Are you sure you’re up to this tonight?”

  Evie straightened her spine at the pity she saw in her cousin’s expression. Did she want to make an appearance at Hillcrest House’s New Year’s Eve Ball? Only about as much as she wanted to walk naked through downtown Clearville.

  Instead she would be wearing an elegant red gown with tiny jeweled straps and a floor-length satin skirt as she tried to pretend her heart wasn’t broken.

  “It’s fine, Rory,” she insisted as she leaned closer to the mirror in her bedroom to wipe at a fleck of mascara beneath one eye. The highlighter, shadow and a vat full of concealer had done a good job disguising the red eyes and dark circles. Evidence of the long sleepless nights since Frederick James had arrived a week before.

  Evie hadn’t seen Griffin since, but his dad? Good ole Frederick—or Rick, as Lynnie called him—was everywhere. Or more to the point, everywhere her aunt was, including at the McClaren family Christmas celebrations. Evie couldn’t seem to turn around without bumping into the loving couple.

  Frederick hadn’t said anything about his son’s disappearance, but Evie supposed that was one of the perks of being a pilot and owning his own plane. Griffin could take off at a moment’s notice, nothing to hold him back, nothing to tie him down.

  Evie swallowed as she turned away from her reflection. Of course, she could easily say the same. Though her aunt hadn’t come out and told her so, Evie knew. With Evelyn talking about joining Frederick in Tokyo as he finalized the deal for the newest James hotel, Evie had to face the facts.

  Her brilliant 4-F plan had ended in the biggest F of them all.

  Failure.

  She’d lost Griffin. She’d lost the hotel. She’d lost her job because there was no way she could stay at Hillcrest House once her aunt sold. Not because of what Frederick might do to the hotel, but because of what staying at the hotel would do to her. She couldn’t work and live in a place where memories of Griffin would haunt her every time she turned around.

  Grabbing a lacy shawl and her slim black purse from the dresser, she said, “Let’s get this over with.”

  “Evie...”

  “Please, Rory, I need to get through tonight—”

  “And then what?” her cousin challenged.

  And then the rest of her life stretched out before her looking pretty damn empty at the moment. “I’m going back to Portland. The firm said they would be interested in hiring me back.”

  “Oh, for goodness’ sake! For once in your life, can you focus on something other than your job?”

  “What do you want me to do, Rory? Focus on how because of me, Aunt E is selling Hillcrest House? Focus on how this is the second time I’ve screwed up the only thing I’ve ever wanted?”

  “What happened with Eric was not your fault!”

  “I was so stupid and so blind to the kind of man he really was. You and Chance warned me. If I’d listened, I would have been here to help Aunt E. I would have made sure she took better care of herself, that she didn’t skip out on doctor’s appointments and mammograms and—”

  “Evie.” Shocked filled Rory’s voice as she sank down on the corner of the bed. “You can’t really believe that Aunt E’s cancer is your fault! And if you do, then doesn’t that mean Chance and I are just as guilty? I’ve spent the past five years in LA and Chance has been living all around the world for almost a decade.”

  “I—” Her cousin’s words stumped her for a minute before Evie shook her head. “I was the one who was supposed to take over until I fell for Eric.”

  “You made a mistake, Evie. We all have, and we both know Aunt E. She’s as stubborn as—well, as you are. She wouldn’t have run Hillcrest all these years unless it was what she wanted to do. Besides,” Rory added, “if this is anyone’s fault, it’s mine.”

  “Yours?” Evie gave a scoffing laugh. Despite what Rory had said about everyone making mistakes, Evie still had a hard time seeing her cousin as anything other than perfect. With the perfect soon-to-be husband and perfect family.

  “All my talk about Hillcrest’s magic...”

  As Rory’s voice trailed off, Evie held up a hand and she sat beside her cousin. “Don’t, okay?” Her voice broke a bit on the question. “I’ve had enough shocks the past week for an entire lifetime. The last thing I need right now is you telling me that you don’t believe Hillcrest is magic after all.”

  “Of course I still believe.” Reaching over, Rory took Evie’s hand in hers. “Hillcrest House has always been able to bring two hearts together, a place where couples fall in love and—”

  Struggling to reclaim some of her previous cynicism, Evie muttered, “Blah, blah, blah.”

  After making a face, Rory said, “My point is that love isn’t all about magic. It’s also about effort and hard work. About not giving up even when times are tough and about wanting that love to last more than anything.”

  Not so long ago, Evie had determined she wanted Hillcrest more than anything. She’d put together a plan and had gone to great lengths to obtain that goal. Her plan had failed, but at the moment, that wasn’t the point. The point was that she’d tried.

  But with Griffin...instead of standing and fighting, she’d run scared.

  The only thing I was doing here was loving you!

  She been too afraid to believe he could actually love her, so she’d pushed him away. She’d hidden behind Hillcrest and their fake relationship rather than admit her real feelings.

  “All I’m saying is, don’t give up on love, Evie,” her cousin encouraged her.

  Good advice, but too little, too late, Evie feared. Thanks to how she’d pushed him away, Griffin had already given up on her.

  * * *

  Though her own plan might have fallen apart, the New Year’s Eve Ball had come together beautifully. The elegant walnut-paneled ballroom was packed with hotel guests and Clearville locals, most making use of the party hats and noisemakers handed out at the door. If this was to be her last event at the hotel, at least she was going out with a bang.

  During a break in the music, Evie made her way toward the small stage, her legs trembling on each step. Normally, Rory would welcome the guests to the hotel, but tonight Evie was making her stand. No more running, no more hiding.

  Her determination faded a bit as she reached the microphone and looked out over the well-dressed audience. She spotted several familiar faces in the crowd, many of whom had spoken their vows at Hillcrest House. Couples who’d had the courage to believe in each other and to hold on to the faith that their love would be strong enough to get them through good times and bad. Couples like Rory and Jamison, like Chance and Alexa...like her Aunt Evelyn and Frederick James.

  Drawing on their courage and strength, Evie took a deep breath
. “Welcome, everyone, to our New Year’s Eve Ball. I hope you are all enjoying the beauty and...romance of Hillcrest House. My cousin Rory and I want to give our entire staff a huge hand for making this evening such a success. I especially want to mention our marvelous chef, Aaron, and our manager, Trisha, and to also offer them our congratulations on their recent marriage.”

  Though Aaron was safely back in the kitchen, enough people offered catcalls and whistles to have Trisha, standing at the back of the room, ducking her head before giving an embarrassed wave.

  As the applause died down, Evie said, “I also want to thank my aunt for giving Rory and me this chance to run Hillcrest for the past several months.”

  Evelyn shook her head in protest, but Rory and Jamison urged her up the few steps. The applause rose, and Evie’s throat ached as her aunt crossed the stage to give her a hug.

  “Thank you, Evie and Rory. You’ve done a marvelous job in my absence, as I knew you would. You have both made me so proud.” Turning to face the crowd, she said, “And now I have an announcement of my own to make. Thirty-five years ago, Frederick James asked me to marry him, and yesterday I said yes.”

  The cheers that had barely died down erupted once again as Evelyn called Frederick up to stand beside her. Joy radiated from the couple as Frederick swept Evelyn into his arms. Laughing and breathless once he set her back on her feet, she finished her speech. “I know many of you are probably wondering what this means for Hillcrest House, but I am confident I am leaving her in the best of hands,” she said as she reached out for Frederick’s. “Thank you, and enjoy the ball.”

  So that was it. Hillcrest was officially a James hotel.

  Evie’s eyes burned, and she could only hope that anyone who noticed would think they were happy tears. Because she was happy. As much as she longed to rush from the stage, to find some solitary corner to cry her eyes out, she refused to allow her own heartache to ruin her aunt’s happiness. Her aunt deserved to live life to the fullest. And seeing Evelyn and Frederick together, it was clear. Hillcrest’s magic was alive and well.