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

by Lynne Graham

  ‘Cally, just relax, hmm?’ Noel reached out and briefly squeezed her hand. ‘Even if I do say so myself, my family are all okay,’ he added as she turned to look at him.

  ‘I know that,’ she answered brittlely.

  He sighed. ‘Then it must be me who’s making you so nervous—’

  ‘I’m not nervous!’ she denied.

  He touched her hand a second time, that light clasp remaining this time. ‘Then why are you trembling?’

  Was she? She hadn’t been aware of it. But, yes, she was trembling now that she thought about it. Not with nervousness, she quickly realized, but with rising awareness of the man seated at her side, the blood seeming to thrum through her veins as her body responded to the closeness of his.

  She had never wanted anyone, or anything, as much as she wanted Noel Carlton!

  ‘Cally!’ he groaned as he must have seen some of that desire in her face.

  She snatched her hand out of his grasp. ‘I think your earlier insanity must be catching!’

  ‘I certainly hope so.’ He grinned.

  Cally didn’t know what she hoped any more. Her thoughts were all chaotic, all the resolves she had made before leaving the house earlier this evening crumbling to ashes once she was with Noel. Keep your distance, she had decided. Don’t respond to any of Noel’s more intimate remarks, she had instructed. Most of all, don’t take any of what Noel said seriously.

  Hah!

  She wanted to launch herself into Noel’s arms and forget the past, present, and future. She longed to respond to his every word. As for taking him seriously—she wished that she could!

  Which was why it was probably just as well that they had arrived at the pub, all of them piling out of the cars to go inside, Cally finding herself seated next to Honey Markham on one side and Hester on the other. Lissa had very neatly placed herself between Josh and Andrew, both men paying court to her innocent charm.

  Noel stood beside the table for several seconds, frowning, finally telling his brother to move up once he realized there simply wasn’t any room for him on the padded bench seat next to Cally, scowling his displeasure across the table at his mother and sister.

  Honey giggled softly next to Cally. ‘My big brother has it bad, doesn’t he?’

  Cally swallowed hard, not sure she could keep up this subterfuge. ‘Does he?’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ the beautiful teenager assured her smilingly. ‘I always wondered what Noel would look like when he fell in love; now I know!’

  Cally turned to give her a quizzical glance. ‘And how does he look?’

  Honey’s grin widened. ‘Pretty good, actually.’ She gave her eldest brother a playful wink as he glanced her way, receiving a stony glare for her trouble. ‘Incredible,’ Honey murmured with a rueful shake of her head. ‘Noel has always been super cool, you know,’ she explained to Cally. ‘But he isn’t very cool about you, is he?’ She grinned again.

  Cool wasn’t a word Cally would have used to describe either herself or Noel when they were together! Things were usually pretty heated between them, she had found, whether from temper or from passion.

  ‘So when are the two of you thinking of getting married?’ Honey prompted in a hushed voice after giving Lissa a brief look and establishing that she was totally engrossed in telling Andrew Markham about her school. ‘I’ll be nineteen in six months’ time, and I always fancied being a bridesmaid while I was still a teenager,’ she added happily.

  ‘I—we haven’t decided yet,’ she answered evasively.

  ‘Not too long, if I know Noel,’ his sister predicted knowingly. ‘It’s pretty obvious he can’t wait for the two of you to be married!’ she said with another teasing glance at her eldest brother.

  In fact, Noel’s whole family seemed to be happy with the idea of the two of them marrying each other and bringing Lissa into the family too—so in a way it was a pity it was never going to happen.

  In a way!

  Cally was fast coming to the conclusion that she would be happy to be marrying Noel too, and couldn’t seem to stop looking at him as he finally relaxed and engaged his mother in easy conversation. He really was the most gorgeous looking man she had ever seen, her fingers once more itching to touch the dark thickness of his hair, to experience again the feel of his lips on hers, to have his hands—

  This had to stop!

  How could she become aroused just from looking at him? Because she was aroused, her nipples hardening pertly beneath the jumper she wore, her thighs feeling warm.

  ‘What would you like?’

  She gave Noel a startled look as he leant across the table towards her, wondering if her longing could possibly have shown on her face. And if it had, what he was doing drawing attention to it in front of his family! ‘What?’

  ‘What would you like to eat?’ he asked softly, the affectionate teasing in the deep blue of his eyes telling her that he had indeed seen that longing.

  ‘Oh,’ she gasped, picking up the menu that lay on the table in front of her. ‘The chicken, please.’ She chose the first thing she saw. ‘Lissa will probably have the same. Er—if you’ll excuse me, I need to go to the Ladies,’ she added abruptly, knowing she needed to splash some cold water on her face. ‘Lissa?’ she prompted her daughter as she moved past Honey.

  Lissa turned to give her a beaming smile. ‘I’m fine, thank you, Mummy.’

  ‘Would you like me to come with you?’ Noel offered as she squeezed past his chair, the warmth of his gaze resting tantalizingly on her lips.

  Almost like a caress, Cally acknowledged achingly, a melting sensation somewhere deep inside her. ‘No, thank you,’ she refused, moving hurriedly away.

  This was awful, she groaned inwardly as she moved as quickly as she could through the crowded lounge bar to the Ladies situated in the adjoining room. She couldn’t go on with this, she simply couldn’t, was going to make a complete idiot of herself if she didn’t—

  ‘Cally? Cally Turner?’

  She turned in the direction of that guardedly enquiring voice, staring blankly at the woman who had spoken to her, sure she had never seen the woman before. Nothing about her shoulder-length blond hair and attractively made-up face seemed in the least familiar.

  And then a memory stirred, a deliberately long-buried memory, overlaying the gamine features in front of her with a slightly plumper face, short brown hair, and much fuller figure.

  Jane Shaw...!

  Michael’s wife!

  CHAPTER NINE

  ‘IT IS CALLY, isn’t it?’ the other woman pressed. ‘I don’t know if you remember me, but—’

  ‘I remember you,’ she breathed hollowly, having felt her face pale as she stared at Jane Shaw with complete recognition.

  How could she ever forget this woman? She had been the shatterer of Cally’s dreams, but ultimately her salvation at the same time. As for what Cally represented to Jane Shaw...!

  ‘Hey, I didn’t mean to upset you.’ The other woman frowned at her with concern. ‘I just—perhaps I shouldn’t have spoken to you.’ She sighed regretfully. ‘I—you’re looking very well,’ she concluded lamely.

  So did Jane Shaw; now a slim, elegant, beautifully confident woman. She had been anything but that when Cally had last seen her: slow, cumbersome, with all the accompanying aches and pains that went with being seven months pregnant.

  With Michael’s second child.

  Michael!

  Was he here too? But a frantic look round in the general vicinity didn’t show his presence anywhere near. Just as well; that would be just too much!

  Cally turned back to the other woman, feeling completely flustered by this unexpected encounter with a woman she hadn’t seen for almost seven years—and had hoped never to see again! ‘What are you doing here?’ she asked bluntly, too shaken to be
polite.

  ‘I live near here,’ the other woman told her gently.

  With Michael... How ironic that Cally should have moved out of the city to the country, only to find that Michael and his family had moved here too!

  Cally shook her head, desperate to get away from this woman, and the humiliating memories she evoked. ‘I really don’t think—will you excuse me?’ she said abruptly. ‘I—I’m with some people, and—they’ll wonder where I’ve got to.’ She turned to leave, only to walk straight into the hardness of a chest that was completely familiar to her.

  ‘Cally?’ Noel reached up to clasp the tops of her arms as he steadied her, his gaze narrowed on the paleness of her face before he looked past her to Jane Shaw. ‘A friend of yours?’ he asked lightly.

  A friend of hers! How wrong could he be? Cally wondered slightly hysterically!

  ‘Jane Shaw.’ The other woman held her hand out to Noel, her smile guarded as she glanced at Cally’s stricken face.

  ‘Noel Carlton,’ he supplied slowly, briefly shaking that hand.

  Jane Shaw’s eyes widened fractionally as she looked at him. ‘Of the communications network of the same name?’

  ‘Yes,’ he confirmed.

  ‘And the international investment empire?’ the other woman murmured appreciatively.

  ‘That too.’ Noel nodded.

  Cally blinked, having had no idea herself what it was Noel did, or where his considerable wealth came from. But even she, someone who didn’t keep up-to-date, had heard of the empire.

  ‘But I prefer to think of myself as Cally’s fiancé,’ Noel continued, his arm moving possessively about the slenderness of Cally’s waist as he came to stand beside her.

  Cally could only gape up at him disbelievingly now; wasn’t it taking this subterfuge a little far to introduce himself to a complete stranger in that manner? Not that she particularly minded where Jane Shaw was concerned; at least it showed the other woman that she hadn’t simply curled up these last seven years and pined away for love of Michael.

  Jane Shaw smiled at them both warmly. ‘Congratulations! Well, I really must be getting back to my friends. It was nice seeing you again, Cally,’ she added.

  Cally didn’t see how it could possibly be that, for either of them! But without increasing Noel’s suspicions any more she could do little else but smile in agreement.

  ‘Mummy, can I come with you, after all?’ Lissa pranced up to them happily.

  Cally looked at her daughter, then quickly back to Jane Shaw, swaying slightly as she saw the way the other woman was staring down at Lissa.

  Was there something of Michael in Lissa, after all, a likeness that Cally couldn’t see? Perhaps in the curve of her cheek? Or the set of her sometimes stubborn little chin?

  Cally didn’t think so, but then she was biased, thought her daughter the most beautiful child in the world—with not a single attribute of the man who had never known he had fathered her!

  Jane Shaw’s husband...

  Not telling Michael of her own pregnancy hadn’t been an easy decision to make when she’d discovered her condition seven years ago, but, as Cally’s own relationship with him had been over anyway after the visit of his wife, to have told him of her own pregnancy would have ruined so many lives, not least Jane Shaw’s own. There had also been the lives of Jane’s child and unborn baby to consider.

  No, Cally had decided, better to leave things as they were; after his deceit she had no longer loved or wanted Michael anyway, whereas Jane had seemed to have forgiven him for his relationship with Cally.

  Although none of her reasoning then would help her now!

  Would Jane tell Michael she had seen Cally when she got home? Worse, would she mention that Cally had a little girl of six or so with her—?

  ‘Mummy?’ Lissa looked up at her again.

  Who called her Mummy!

  Cally broke her gaze away from Jane Shaw’s questioning one to look down at her daughter reassuringly. ‘Sorry, darling. Excuse us.’ She smiled vaguely before taking hold of Lissa’s hand and hurrying into the adjoining room, breathing a sigh of relief once she was away from Jane Shaw and her enquiring looks. Only the trembling of her legs told of the shock she had just received.

  It was only as she stood outside the cubicle waiting for Lissa to come out that she realized she had left Jane Shaw and Noel alone together!

  But surely Noel wouldn’t— Even if he did, surely the woman wouldn’t—

  She closed her eyes, groaning inwardly as she imagined the conversation that could be taking place between Jane and Noel right this moment.

  She certainly wasn’t prepared to find a grim-faced Noel leaning on the wall outside waiting for her when she emerged into the noisy room with Lissa!

  Cally looked at him searchingly as he straightened, but as he smiled down at Lissa it was impossible to tell anything from his expression. To know whether or not the other woman had told him that Cally had once had an affair with her husband and that he wasn’t aware he had an illegitimate child!

  ‘Ready for your dinner, young lady?’ Noel teased Lissa as she slipped her hand into his.

  ‘Yes, please.’ Lissa beamed, walking along happily at his side.

  Cally watched the two of them together with an ache in her heart. Why couldn’t she have met someone like Noel seven years ago? Before Michael had broken her eighteen-year-old heart. Before she’d become disillusioned with men and love. Then perhaps Noel could have been Lissa’s father, instead of a man Cally had grown to despise for his weakness and duplicity.

  If only wishes were real.

  Cally gave a rueful smile as she remembered her mother’s teasing comment whenever she or Pam had wished for this or that when they were younger. She missed her mother. And her father. But they had both died in a car accident eight years ago.

  Before Michael.

  Before Lissa.

  But how the two of them would have loved Lissa! Cally had absolutely no doubts about that. Never had. Had known that her parents would lament, for Cally’s sake, the circumstances of Lissa’s birth, but that they would have loved this grandchild as wholeheartedly as they would have loved Pam and Brian’s children.

  ‘Do you want to leave?’

  Cally looked up dazedly at Noel’s softly spoken question, suddenly aware of where they were, of Noel’s family sitting at the table a short distance away, Lissa having already rejoined them. ‘No,’ she decided firmly. ‘No, I’m fine,’ she insisted, forcing a bright smile to her lips.

  Noel looked down at her with narrowed blue eyes, the scepticism in that gaze telling her that he wasn’t in the least convinced by that smile, that he knew something was seriously wrong. And that her meeting with Jane Shaw had something to do with it...

  But unless the woman had told him about their history, Noel couldn’t possibly guess the reason why, Cally acknowledged heavily. Who could...?

  ‘Besides, the food’s arriving,’ she added lightly as two waitresses walked over to the table with four of the meals they had ordered. Although quite how Cally was going to eat after the shock she had just received...!

  Noel continued to look down at her for long, timeless seconds, and then he gave a brief nod of his head. ‘But the two of us are going to talk later,’ he warned huskily.

  She frowned her alarm. ‘There’s no need—’

  ‘There’s every need,’ he rasped. ‘Something is going on, and I want to know what it is!’

  Cally raised auburn brows. ‘And do you always get what you want?’ she challenged dazedly, sure now that Jane Shaw hadn’t told him the truth.

  ‘Not always, no.’ He gave her a look that was unmistakably pointed. ‘But this time I don’t intend taking no for an answer!’ he added grimly.

  ‘Really, Noel,’ Cally taunted, her relief that Noel d
idn’t know the truth making her feel almost light-hearted. Almost... ‘There’s no need to sound so serious!’

  ‘Isn’t there?’ His expression remained grim.

  ‘No,’ she answered evenly.

  Because whatever Jane Shaw chose to tell her husband, whatever Michael’s reaction was to knowing he had another child, it would not affect Cally or Lissa.

  She simply wouldn’t allow it!

  CHAPTER TEN

  ‘THANK YOU, Noel, we had a really lovely evening,’ Cally told him as he stopped the Range Rover outside the gatehouse a couple of hours later. ‘Didn’t we, Lissa?’ she prompted her very tired daughter as she almost lay on the back seat.

  ‘Lovely,’ Lissa echoed in a very sleepy voice.

  ‘I’ll carry her inside for you,’ Noel offered as he turned off the engine and swung out of the vehicle.

  ‘There’s no need!’ Cally called after him, having hoped to escape into the house without Noel coming in with them, knowing, as he gave her a triumphant look as he lifted Lissa up into his arms, that she was going to be disappointed. ‘Fine,’ she accepted ruefully, getting out to unlock the door. ‘First door on the right up the stairs,’ she instructed as Noel stood in the hall with Lissa in his arms, following behind him as he walked up the stairs.

  Lissa was so tired after her evening out that she was more than happy to just change into her nightgown, snuggling down under her duvet before turning over in bed and falling fast asleep.

  Ordinarily Cally would have been pleased at her daughter’s easy acquiescence in going to bed, but not tonight, not when Noel stood outside the bedroom waiting for her to go back downstairs...

  No doubt Noel had decided it was time for them to ‘talk later’!

  Except that Cally still wasn’t ready to do that. Wasn’t sure that she ever would be!

  Getting through the rest of the evening with his family had been strain enough, although it had been helped a little by the fact that Jane Shaw and her friends had left the pub about twenty minutes later, the other woman giving Cally a brief nod as she’d left.