by Lynne Graham
‘We still have the Neilsons’ deposit,’ she tried halfheartedly, knowing it wasn’t enough. ‘Besides, you’re completely tied up at the moment with the arrangements for the Gregorys’ wedding on Christmas Eve,’ she reminded her sister hopefully.
‘Yes, I am,’ Pam confirmed, glancing down at her wrist-watch. ‘In fact, I have an appointment at the florist’s in fifteen minutes,’ she realized. ‘But you, Cally, on the other hand, are totally free for the next three days.’
‘I’m more than willing to pay extra, petrol money, whatever, if you will just agree to help me out,’ Noel Carlton enticed.
‘Bribery and corruption usually work, do they?’ Cally snapped.
He grinned. ‘Every time.’
‘I thought so.’ Cally gave a disgusted shake of her head.
‘Cally!’ Pam gasped reprovingly.
‘Sorry,’ she muttered, feeling as if she were swimming upstream—and rapidly losing the battle. Besides, a part of her knew that Pam was quite right to grasp this replacement commission with both hands. If only it weren’t Noel Carlton’s hands they were grasping!
‘There’s the added benefit that you’ll be working close to home,’ Noel Carlton encouraged, his smile one of false brightness when Cally gave him another frown for reminding her that he was her neighbour from hell. As if she needed any reminding of that!
But, in actual fact, it would be a benefit, more so than this man probably realized, if she agreed to arrange Christmas for him and his family.
She would be able to pick Lissa up from her sister’s house much earlier in the day. Brian was looking after the children, school having finished for the Christmas holidays. It didn’t happen very often that either Pam or herself couldn’t care for the children during the holidays, but Christmas was such a busy time that it invariably ended with Lissa staying with her uncle Brian, a self-employed accountant who worked from home, for part of the Christmas holidays. Not that Lissa didn’t enjoy being with her cousins, because she did, but it was a lot to expect Brian to cope with three children instead of two for long hours.
‘I really do have to go now, so I’ll leave you two to discuss it,’ Pam stated briskly, moving to collect her outer coat. ‘But, whatever the outcome, I do sincerely wish you a happy Christmas, Mr Carlton.’ She gave him a warm smile.
In other words, Pam was leaving the decision completely up to Cally as to whether or not they took pity on the man and agreed to work for him.
More to the point, her sister was leaving her with the knowledge that if she didn’t agree to do this because of present—and past!—resentments towards Noel Carlton, then they probably wouldn’t even have enough money in their bank account to cover their monthly rental on the shop premises.
Great.
Just great!
CHAPTER THREE
‘I WANT YOU TO KNOW that I really do appreciate—’
‘Fine,’ Cally cut Noel off rudely, busy unloading the boxes of decorations from the boot of her car, not in the least mollified by the fact that her newest client had been waiting outside Parker Hall when she’d arrived ten minutes ago, with the obvious intention of helping her carry the boxes inside.
She hadn’t wanted to do this job at all, but at the same time she was well aware of what Pam’s reaction would be if she returned to the office and found that Cally had refused to help him after all. That, she told herself firmly, was the only reason she was here at all. That, and the thought of his poor mother’s disappointment when she arrived to spend Christmas in England and found her son had done nothing about arranging it. No, she certainly wasn’t doing this for Noel Carlton.
He straightened, arms folded across his chest as he gave her a considering look. ‘Tell me, is that heavy?’
She frowned, looking at the box in her arms. ‘Not particularly, no.’
‘I wasn’t referring to the box,’ he drawled.
Cally blinked; she really didn’t have the time to play word games with this man. In fact, she didn’t have a lot of time at all, and would have preferred it if he hadn’t been here! ‘Then what were you referring to?’ she asked distractedly.
‘The monumental chip you have on your shoulder,’ he said dryly. ‘Can I take a guess at that having something to do with the fact that it’s Miss Turner instead of Mrs?’
Cally stiffened. ‘I beg your pardon?’
Noel Carlton drew in a deep breath. ‘I said, does that monumental chip on your shoulder—?’
‘I heard what you said,’ she snapped.
He nodded unconcernedly. ‘I thought that you did.’
She scowled at him. ‘I was just giving you the opportunity to retract the question!’
He shrugged. ‘An opportunity I have no intention of taking. Look, I really am sorry you were woken up by the helicopter this morning—’
‘I can assure you, your insulting remark just now certainly hasn’t helped the situation!’ she assured him.
‘I can see that.’ He grimaced. ‘Look, Cally—may I call you Cally?’
‘I believe you just did.’
‘And I’m Noel,’ he told her unnecessarily, giving an impatient sigh as she looked unimpressed. ‘Cally, I want you to know that Celebrations comes highly recommended—you organized my secretary’s wedding last week,’ he enlarged as she looked at him questioningly. ‘Debra Hayes,’ he supplied as she still looked blank.
‘Oh, yes.’ She smiled as she remembered the glowingly lovely bride she had spent months consulting with to make absolutely sure the elaborate wedding plans worked out successfully, that smile fading as she also remembered that Debra and her husband, Giles, were supposed to be honeymooning in Barbados right now. ‘Exactly when did Debra recommend us to you?’
‘I telephoned her last night, if you must know,’ Noel Carlton revealed reluctantly. ‘I was desperate, okay?’ he added irritably as Cally raised incredulous brows.
She bit her lip in an effort to stop herself from laughing, finally giving up as she realized she was fighting a losing battle. ‘I’m sure she and her new husband really appreciated that!’ She chuckled gleefully.
Noel gave a rueful smile. ‘I don’t think Giles was best pleased.’
‘Would you have been, in the circumstances?’ Cally shook her head in disbelief as she continued to walk inside the house, depositing the box with the others in the huge hall at the bottom of the wide staircase. ‘They’re on their honeymoon, for goodness’ sake!’ She turned to grin.
‘Yes. Well. I was desperate,’ he muttered.
‘So you already said.’
In actual fact, Cally had been slightly thrown off her guard when she’d arrived at Parker Hall and found Noel Carlton waiting for her, no longer wearing his business suit, shirt and tie, but dressed in faded denims and a rugby top that looked as if it might be a relic of his university days ten years or so ago. If anything, he looked more lethally attractive in these casual clothes than he had in his suit!
He raised a hand to sweep back that overlong dark hair. ‘Ordinarily I could have asked Debra to help me out with this little problem—’
‘Oh, so now it’s a little problem, is it?’ Cally teased.
It was Noel’s turn to grin. ‘It is now that you’re here to help!’
‘Don’t expect miracles,’ she warned. ‘I’ll do my best, but this is rather a big house.’ She looked pointedly at the huge hallway they stood in, half a dozen doors leading off it, and this was only the ground floor; there were two more of them up the wide staircase.
Parker Hall was the old manor house to the local village of Axton, and had once housed the rich and influential family of Parker. But as with many of these old families, death duties and lack of interest in succeeding generations had almost brought about its ruin, the hall now rented out to whoever could pay the exorbitant fee being a
sked. Which Noel Carlton obviously could...
‘As long as the Neilsons weren’t going to eat smorgasbord for Christmas, or something equally unsuitable, I really don’t care!’ he assured Cally now.
‘You’re in luck. The Neilsons intended having a traditional English Christmas as they were in this country—roast turkey and all the trimmings.’
‘Great.’ He smiled his satisfaction, that smile fading as another thought obviously occurred to him. ‘Do you have any idea how to cook a turkey?’ he asked tentatively.
Her eyes widened. ‘Don’t you? No, obviously not,’ she accepted as he gave her a derisive look from those deep blue eyes. ‘Well, I’m sure that your housekeeper will know—What?’ she questioned sharply as he shook his head.
He grimaced. ‘My housekeeper, Mrs McTavish, was the one who flew off to Scotland in the helicopter this morning; I’m not expecting her back until after the New Year.’
‘Well, that wasn’t very sensible of you, was it?’
‘Sense had nothing to do with it.’
‘You can say that again,’ Cally muttered unsympathetically.
‘Have you always been a know-it-all?’
She shrugged. ‘Pretty much.’
‘Well, it’s very unbecoming in a beautiful woman—’
‘Flattery will get you nowhere!’ she told him, knowing even as she said it that her heart had given a little flutter at being called beautiful by this wildly attractive man.
Forget it, Cally, she instantly instructed herself. Remember, he was the one who asked a woman out to dinner and then forgot to follow up on the invitation by telephoning to make a definite date!
‘I never for a moment thought that it would,’ he assured her. ‘But it isn’t flattery when it happens to be the truth,’ he added huskily.
Cally’s breath was caught somewhere in her chest, even the air around them seeming to have become still as her gaze caught and held Noel’s, blue clashing with green.
A pirate, that was what he reminded her of, Cally suddenly realized, with that dark flowing hair, eyes that smiled roguishly, his skin darkly tanned, his body lean but muscular, his smile sensual.
A pirate! she instantly scorned herself. Get a grip, Cally Turner.
‘Fine.’ She was deliberately dismissive, breaking their gaze as she turned away. ‘As for the turkey, I’m sure your mother will know what to do with it when she arrives,’ she said; after all, she was just putting up the decorations and providing the food. She had nothing to do with the how and why of what he chose to do with it after that!
His brow cleared. ‘Of course she will. Why didn’t I think of that?’
‘Probably because you’ve been too busy disturbing Debra and Giles on their honeymoon, and sending your housekeeper away to Scotland in a helicopter,’ Cally derided.
‘For your information, young lady, I did not send Mrs McTavish away.’ He totally ignored the jibe about his secretary. ‘She fell down the stairs a couple of weeks ago and broke her arm. In the circumstances, she may as well go to Scotland and spend Christmas with her married daughter; keeping her here was a complete waste of her time and mine.’
‘How considerate of you!’
His eyes narrowed to dark blue slits. ‘You’re determined to see the worst in me and my actions, aren’t you?’
She gave him a falsely bright smile. ‘Got it in one!’
He gave a heavy sigh. ‘Look, Cally, there were—reasons, why I didn’t—why I didn’t follow through on that dinner invitation a couple of months ago. You see—’
‘Did I mention anything about a dinner invitation?’ she cut in quickly, her cheeks fiery red just at the mention of it.
‘No, you didn’t, but—’
‘But nothing,’ she interrupted a second time—she really didn’t want to talk about that embarrassing incident.
He gave her a frowning look. ‘You aren’t even going to give me chance to explain?’
‘No, I’m not—because there’s nothing to explain!’ She deliberately stood her ground as he took a step closer to her. ‘Mr Carlton—’
‘Noel,’ he prompted softly, definitely standing much closer than was necessary. ‘We’re going to be pretty much thrown together for the next three days, so you may as well—’
‘What?’ Cally asked sharply, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. ‘But why are you going to be here? Don’t you have work, an office, to go to?’ she suggested desperately; spending hours, days, in this man’s company had not been part of her agreement!
‘Of course I have an office to go to. It just happens to be closed for the holidays.’
‘But—but this morning!’ she pounced frantically. ‘You were dressed in a suit, obviously on your way somewhere—’
‘I thought I might make more of an impression on the owners of Celebrations if I dressed in a suit and looked businesslike.’
‘You had already made impression enough, I can assure you!’ Cally snapped.
‘So it would seem.’ He shrugged. ‘But in my defence, how was I to know that one of the owners was my own dear neighbour?’
Cally’s eyes narrowed. ‘I’m not your “own dear” anything.’
Once again he looked down at her with those dark, fathomless blue eyes. ‘But you could be,’ he murmured throatily.
She eyed him suspiciously. ‘I thought I warned you about trying to flatter me?’
He arched dark brows. ‘Was I flattering you?’
Too late Cally realized exactly how her last remark had sounded. Without thinking she retaliated. ‘Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m sure that Debra, during one of our many meetings to discuss her wedding, once mentioned the fact that her boss—presumably you—was out to lunch with his fiancée?’ She smothered a gasp—having just made the connection between Debra and her boss, she now realized why Noel had not followed up on his dinner invitation two months ago—already having a fiancée was definitely reason enough!
The humour faded from his gaze, his expression hardening. ‘Ex-fiancée,’ he corrected her.
‘Really?’ Cally was not altogether sure she believed him. ‘Look, are you going to help me unload the rest of the decorations, or just stand there looking ornamental yourself?’
He looked thoughtful. ‘Do you talk to your other clients in the way that you do me?’ he asked slowly.
‘No,’ she came back pertly. ‘It just seems to come naturally where you’re concerned.’ She gave him another, meaningless smile before striding back outside to collect more boxes.
‘Only because you have me at a disadvantage,’ he guessed shrewdly, having followed her outside to stand on the driveway beside her car.
Cally’s grin widened. ‘Is that what it is?’
‘I should be careful about just how superior you feel, Cally Turner,’ he warned softly. ‘It comes before a fall, you know.’
‘I thought that was pride?’ she challenged, eyes gleaming with humour.
‘Same thing,’ he assured her. ‘You never know when you’re going to need a friendly neighbour, you know.’
Cally gave a scornful snort. ‘I haven’t needed him so far—and I see absolutely no reason for that to change,’ she added firmly as he would have spoken.
‘Please yourself.’ He shrugged.
‘I usually do,’ she answered him dryly. ‘Here.’ She placed a box of decorations into his arms. ‘If you insist on hanging around, then you really will have to make yourself useful!’ She turned her back on him as she sorted through the boot of her car, picking up some of the things that had fallen out of the boxes.
But she was nevertheless aware of him still standing behind her, of his gaze still on her as she leaned into the boot of the car, could almost feel it burning the back of her legs.
Finally, when she could stand it no
longer, she straightened abruptly and turned to give him another verbal dressing down. Only to find herself looking at his back, he whistling softly to himself as he walked back into the house with that easy grace that reminded her of a big cat. A jaguar, perhaps. Or a panther.
Her breath left her in a sigh, the tension easing out of her now that he was no longer standing beside her.
These, she was perfectly sure, were going to be the longest three days of her life!
But at the same time she couldn’t help but feel curious about his fiancée—ex-fiancée, she corrected slowly. Who had broken the engagement? Noel? Or the woman? And if so, why...?
CHAPTER FOUR
‘YOU KNOW,’ Cally said as she twisted herself round on the staircase to fix the bowers of holly around the banister, ‘I’m not sure your Mrs McTavish was too good at her job even before she fell over and broke her arm.’ She rubbed her dust-covered fingers together as she straightened to look at her handiwork.
‘She wasn’t,’ Noel conceded with a grimace. ‘But she was better than nothing.’
‘I suppose,’ Cally acknowledged distractedly, straightening the holly as it looked slightly out of line with the next piece down.
The two of them had started work on the hall first. Cally knew it was going to be first impressions that mattered, and that after their initial reaction Noel’s family probably wouldn’t take too much notice of the décor. It would be the food and the log-burning fire, that would please them after that.
But she really wasn’t joking about Mrs McTavish’s housework, and was glad she had returned to the gatehouse earlier to change into some of her old clothes before starting work; everywhere looked as if it could do with a good dust and polish. The old denims and loose cream shirt were better for working in than a skirt anyway, especially with Noel following her every move...
Cally nodded. ‘Probably as well you whisked her away to Scotland for the holidays.’
Noel’s eyes widened indignantly. ‘You can say that, after the names you called me this morning?’