Christmas Promises: The Christmas Eve BrideA Marriage Proposal for ChristmasA Bride for Christmas

by Lynne Graham

  ‘Well...you could have scheduled her helicopter departure for a more convenient time,’ she allowed ruefully.

  In truth, she was slightly ashamed now of her outburst early this morning, knowing it had been the result of a broken night’s sleep, and that ordinarily she would never have spoken to anyone in the way she had spoken to Noel.

  He gave her a derisive look as he handed her another piece of holly. ‘I’ll try and remember that next time.’

  ‘Thanks.’ She grinned, adding the final touch to the bannister, then standing back to admire the results.

  The front hall and staircase were transformed, a huge tree up and decorated downstairs, its lights blinking invitingly, a festive display of red and gold flowers on the table in the middle of the hallway, and real holly from the grounds acting as garlands up the stairs.

  ‘So, what do you think?’ She turned to smile at Noel.

  ‘I think you’ve worked wonders in the last five hours.’ He nodded his approval. ‘I also think you need to take a shower or a bath; you even have a smudge of dirt on your nose!’

  Cally attempted to wipe away the smudge. ‘I’ll take a shower when I get home.’ Once she had picked Lissa up and collected a few groceries from the village store on the way back.

  ‘I was suggesting you take one now.’

  She looked sharply at Noel, finding only guileless innocence in his expression. ‘No, thanks,’ she responded dryly. ‘I can wait.’

  A mocking smile curved his lips. ‘I’m not about to leap on you expectedly if you take a bath, Cally.’

  She hadn’t for a moment thought that he would, and the offer was tempting; she had seen the luxury of the Jacuzzi bath earlier when she’d gone to use the bathroom, couldn’t imagine anything more decadent at this moment, covered in dust as she was. But she still had no intention of taking a bath in Noel Carlton’s home.

  ‘We’ll never know, will we?’ she teased.

  ‘Spoilsport,’ he taunted.

  ‘My middle name.’ She laughed. ‘Well, I think that’s enough for one day,’ she added briskly. ‘I’ll be back bright and early in the morning to start on the sitting-room.’

  ‘Exactly how bright and early?’ Noel queried as he followed her down the stairs.

  ‘Six-thirty do you?’ Cally looked back at him, brows raised pointedly.

  ‘Very funny.’ He grinned his appreciation at her dig at him for this morning. ‘I thought about nine o’clock?’

  ‘Fine,’ she agreed; it was the time she had in mind anyway, needing to take Lissa to Brian’s first.

  ‘You know, you can be quite accommodating—when you aren’t calling me names!’ Noel told her as he stood outside with her on the driveway.

  ‘The remedy for that would appear to be—don’t wake me up at six-thirty in the morning!’ Cally came back lightly.

  ‘Not a morning person, hmm?’ he mused slowly. ‘I’ll have to remember that.’

  Her eyes narrowed at the thought of the only sort of situation when that information would be of the least interest to him. ‘I wouldn’t bother,’ she said. ‘It’s never likely to matter!’

  He gave her a considering look, making Cally very conscious of that smudge of dirt she was sure was still on her nose, her hair tousled from their machinations earlier with the Christmas tree, and her shirt no longer being clean, either.

  ‘Was he anything like me?’ Noel finally asked softly.

  She frowned in puzzlement. ‘Was who anything like you?’

  ‘Your daughter’s father—hey, I didn’t mean to startle you!’ Noel reached out and took a firm hold of her arms as she would have recoiled from him and the question. ‘Sorry,’ he muttered repentantly. ‘I shouldn’t have asked.’

  Cally could feel how the colour had drained from her cheeks, her mouth feeling very dry too as she answered him. ‘No, you shouldn’t.’

  ‘I just wondered if it was because I reminded you of him that you’re so defensive with me.’

  She gave him a tight smile. ‘Believe me, I don’t treat you differently from any other man!’ The whole lot of them, apart from Brian, were only out for what they could get, as far as she was concerned. And the fact that Noel must have had a fiancée when he had invited her out two months ago certainly didn’t make him any different!

  He gave a heavy sigh. ‘That’s what I was afraid of.’

  Her smile became genuine. ‘I doubt that scares you too much, Noel.’

  Those dark blue eyes looked into hers, seeming to see into the very depths of her being. ‘You might be surprised,’ he murmured. ‘For instance, I was a little bowled over at the force of attraction I felt towards you two months ago.’

  She swallowed hard. ‘Obviously enough to forget you already had a fiancée!’

  He gave an impatient shake of his head. ‘I didn’t have a fiancée then.’

  Cally’s eyes widened. ‘You didn’t...?’ It must have been the shortest engagement in history. The shortest she had ever heard of, anyway!

  ‘No,’ he rasped. ‘Look, could we just forget about my ex-fiancée?’

  She frowned. ‘It seems you already have...’

  Cally was very conscious of the warmth of his hands on her arms, of the closeness of their bodies, of the soft warmth of his breath as it stirred the fiery tendrils of hair at her temples as she tried to break her gaze away from his, and failed.

  ‘Cally...?’ he questioned huskily.

  Move, she instructed herself. Kick him in the shin. Do something to break this moment of intense intimacy!

  But she couldn’t seem to move, could only stand stiffly immobile as Noel moved closer, his head bending, his lips claiming hers in a kiss of extreme tenderness.

  If he had been rough, or in the least overpowering, Cally could have resisted him, but it was his tenderness that was her undoing, her arms moving up slowly to hold onto the width of his shoulders, her lips parting beneath his as his hands released her and his arms moved about the slenderness of her waist.

  With the parting of her lips the kiss deepened, Cally groaning low in her throat as Noel moulded her body close to his, able to feel every hard contour, to know the sheer strength of him.

  She knew that she had to stop this. Now!

  She wrenched her mouth away from his. ‘No!’ she said in a strangled voice, her palms pushing against his chest until he released her. ‘I’m here to decorate your house, Mr Carlton,’ she insisted once he had reluctantly let her go. ‘I have no intention of warming your bed as well!’ She was breathing deeply in her agitation, at the same time aware that she was as much to blame as him for what had happened.

  Because, despite what she might say to the contrary, she had been attracted to him for the last two months, too!

  He had knocked her sideways at that first meeting. The strength of his body had been shown to such advantage in the faded denims and a loose tee shirt he’d seemed to have just pulled on over his nakedness to answer her knock on the door, and the tightness of his denims had certainly left nothing to the imagination. Although that certainly hadn’t stopped Cally’s imagination running riot just at the sight of him!

  She had been surprised at her reaction to him; she hadn’t felt attracted to any man since—since Michael. Which was, of course, the reason she had given Noel her telephone number so that he might call her and arrange a definite time for dinner.

  Initially she had been disappointed when he hadn’t telephoned. But as the days had passed without a call from him that disappointment had quickly been replaced by relief; she really did find him too attractive for her peace of mind.

  He gave a wistful smile now. ‘But we’re nowhere near my bed, Cally.’

  ‘And we aren’t going to be, either,’ she said as she pulled open her car door. ‘It might be better if you don’t help me tomorrow,
’ she added, determinedly avoiding the pull of that cobalt-blue gaze.

  ‘Is that a request or an order?’

  She raised her head to frown at him. ‘I don’t believe I’m in any sort of position to give you an order.’ After all, she was working for him... ‘But if you want me to finish the decorating and stocking up the freezer in time for your family’s arrival, then I would suggest that you let me get on with my work.’ She looked at him challengingly.

  ‘That sounds suspiciously like a threat to me,’ he said, his gaze narrowed now.

  Cally tossed back the long length of her red hair. ‘Not in the least,’ she denied. ‘I have my work to do, and I’m sure you must have yours.’

  ‘Holidays, remember?’ he taunted.

  Her mouth twisted. ‘I’m sure there must be a way you could make another million or two instead of just sitting around doing nothing for two weeks!’

  He drew in a sharp breath, his jaw set and his gaze glacial now. ‘You know, one day that chip is just going to get too heavy and it’s going to crush you!’

  She smiled without amusement. ‘Then I would advise you to be well out of the way when it does.’

  Noel gave a frustrated shake of his head. ‘He must have been one hell of a louse!’

  ‘Oh, he was,’ she confirmed heavily, not even going to the trouble of trying to pretend she didn’t know exactly whom he was talking about.

  Cally was only too well aware that she treated men the way she did because of what had happened seven years ago, that it had been her disastrous relationship with Michael that had coloured all her dealings with other men since that time. Which was why it was so surprising that Noel had managed to get under her guard two months ago. It was also why she was so defensive with him now...

  ‘A first class louse, in fact,’ she added moodily.

  Noel gave her a searching look. ‘But without knowing him you wouldn’t have your daughter,’ he pointed out softly. ‘And I’m sure, even from the little you’ve said about her, that you love her very much.’

  ‘She’s my life!’ Cally admitted.

  ‘Exactly.’ He nodded.

  Cally continued to look at him for several long seconds, surprised—and a little resentful too!—that he seemed to have latched onto the one thing that made thinking of her relationship with Michael bearable: Lissa.

  She deliberately made her smile dismissive. ‘Take my advice, Noel—forget the amateur psychology and stick to what you obviously do best!’

  He raised an eyebrow. ‘And what would that be?’

  She gave a pointed look at their opulent surroundings before answering him. ‘Making money?’

  He gave a shake of his head. ‘I don’t own this place, Cally, I’m just renting it for a year.’

  ‘With an option to buy at the end of that time,’ she said knowingly. ‘Oh, don’t worry, Noel, I haven’t been prying into your personal business,’ she assured him as she saw the far from pleased expression on his face. ‘The agent for the estate told me that little piece of information the first time I complained about the noise; as a way of trying to console me, I think.’

  ‘Why didn’t you just come and talk to me?’ Noel demanded.

  ‘I did,’ she reminded him huskily.

  He frowned. ‘I really wish I could explain what happened two months ago—’

  ‘There’s really no need—’ Cally began.

  ‘Yes, there is,’ he sighed. ‘I just—’

  ‘Could we please just forget about it?’ Cally grimaced self-consciously.

  ‘Can we?’

  They would have to—if the next couple of days weren’t going to turn out to be one long nightmare!

  ‘Tell me about your family,’ she changed the subject suddenly. ‘They live in America, you said?’

  He smiled wryly, seeming to accept for the moment that she really didn’t want to talk about them. ‘My sister and brother, Honey and Josh, at eighteen and twenty, are from my mother’s second marriage. I suppose technically that makes them my half-brother and -sister.’ He shrugged. ‘But none of us have ever looked on the relationship that way. Honey certainly hates like a real sister!’

  ‘We all do at eighteen.’ Cally smiled, feeling a reluctant curiosity about his family now.

  ‘You were probably pregnant with Lissa at eighteen,’ he put in quietly.

  Yes, she had been. Eighteen, pregnant, and scared. Scared most of all. There had never been any question in her mind as to whether or not she would keep the baby, only the worry as to whether or not she would be able to cope. But she had.

  ‘Talking of Lissa...’ she gave a pointed look at her wrist-watch ‘...I have to go and collect her from Pam’s husband now.’

  He nodded. ‘I wondered how you organized that.’

  ‘Did you?’ Cally gave him a puzzled frown, wondering herself why he had given it a second thought.

  Noel stepped back. ‘I’ve kept you late enough.’

  Cally blinked at this easy acquiescence to her departure after what had seemed like deliberate delaying tactics minutes ago, but she got slowly into the car before driving off with a brief wave of her hand.

  It was only as she sped off down the driveway, the image of Noel still in her driving mirror, that she realized the last few minutes’ conversation had completely driven her earlier confusion, at being kissed by Noel, from her mind.

  Deliberately so?

  Probably, she acknowledged ruefully.

  It had also prevented him making any reply to her request that he not be at the house tomorrow while she was working, she realized with a groan of frustration.

  Again, deliberately so?

  Definitely!

  CHAPTER FIVE

  PARKER HALL FELT very big, eerily so, without Noel Carlton’s annoyingly provocative presence in it...

  Cally had arrived promptly at the house at nine o’clock that morning, only to meet Noel going out of it, his car keys in his hand.

  ‘Got to run,’ he’d only had time to call out to her. ‘See you later,’ he’d added before roaring off in the Ferrari.

  Well, it was a lot later now, the morning having passed, her packed lunch eaten, and most of the afternoon having passed too. All without sight or sound of another human being.

  Was she complaining?

  If she were honest?

  Yes.

  How on earth did Noel live alone in this huge house, every creak and groan of the floorboards contracting as the central heating system fired into life seeming to echo through its emptiness?

  Not that Cally hadn’t kept herself busy, because she had. The house had been polished and cleaned from top to bottom before she’d put up the tasteful decorations in the sitting-room, and another Christmas tree. She’d also draped more freshly picked holly along the top of the hearth, and put a match to the logs in the fireplace as a final nicety, pleased with the result as the flames crackled and burnt, filling the room with seasonal warmth and cheer.

  But now she felt dusty and grimy from her Herculean efforts to turn this big old barn of a house into a warmly welcoming Christmas paradise, and was seriously tempted by the offer she hadn’t taken up yesterday: that of soaking in that gigantic Jacuzzi bath!

  It really was the most opulently luxurious bathroom she had ever seen in her life. The deep cream bath, which could have accommodated four people at once, took up the whole of one corner of the room. There were brown and cream tiles on the floor and on three of the walls, with a huge ornate mirror covering the fourth one. As for the cream towels on the heated rail, they looked softer and thicker than anything she had at home.

  There was absolutely no competition between this and the bathroom in the gatehouse, where the white bath was old and stained, and the supply of hot water was erratic to say the least.
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  The hot water reached right up to her neck as she lay back in its scented depth, the bubbles tickling her nose as the Jacuzzi frothed the foam right to the top of the bath.

  Heaven.

  Absolute, unadulterated luxury.

  Cally rested her head back on the side, her eyes closed as she imagined what it must be like to indulge like this every day. Not that she ever would, but she was going to enjoy it while she could!

  ‘Oops!’ exclaimed a deeply amused male voice.

  Cally sat up with a startled cry, only to lie back down again as she realized the deep pink tips of her breasts were visible amongst the thick bubbles, the blush in her cheeks rising to meet that colour as she found herself staring across the bathroom at a man she knew she had never seen before!

  Not that he looked in the least perturbed at the encounter—on the contrary, he was completely relaxed as he leant against the doorframe, blond brows raised as he grinned across the room at her. ‘Well, well, Mama, and who’s been lying in my bath?’ he teased.

  Cally continued to stare at him, having absolutely no idea who he was or what he was doing here, only knowing that she didn’t appreciate the totally assessing male look in his sky-blue eyes.

  ‘Tell me, do you have Noel in there with you?’ he asked curiously.

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Cally snapped as she found her voice at last, frowning across at him now, the bubbles decorously draped across her nakedness. She was not in the least reassured by the fact that he knew the owner of the house was called Noel, and was cross with herself for not thinking of locking all the doors before going upstairs for a bath.

  He shrugged broad shoulders. ‘Just a thought; you had such a sublimely happy look on your face when I came in!’

  The blush deepened in her cheeks at his implication. ‘Who are you? And what are you doing in here?’ she demanded, knowing she would have remembered this man if she had ever seen him before. His hair was straw-blond, his face youthfully handsome, and he was tall and slim in faded denims and a heavy blue jumper.

  ‘Shouldn’t I be asking you that?’ he taunted, making no effort to move.