The Yuletide Engagement & A Yuletide Seduction

by Carole Mortimer

  She glanced at the younger woman, Teresa, sitting dejectedly at the kitchen table staring into a cup of cold coffee, her face pale.

  Ellie could see a faint family resemblance between the brother and sister now—both were dark, with those magnetic grey eyes—but where Patrick’s face was all ruggedly sharp angles Teresa’s was softened into gamine beauty.

  Why hadn’t she seen that resemblance on Saturday evening?

  Because she hadn’t been looking for it! Because no one had told her that Toby’s girlfriend Tess was Patrick’s young sister!

  That was what really bothered Ellie about all this; why had no one told her of the relationship?

  Until she had the answer to that, she felt the more distance she put between Patrick and herself the better.

  “If you don’t mind,” she answered Patrick evenly. “I wouldn’t expect Toby in to work tomorrow either, if I were you,” she added dryly; she doubted her brother would be strong enough to get out of bed in the morning, let alone anything else!

  “I wasn’t,” Patrick dismissed impatiently, looking down at her frowningly. “Ellie—”

  “Patrick, I don’t think now is either the right time or place for the two of us to talk,” she bit out abruptly, moving sharply away from him, at the same time giving a pointed look in the direction of his sister.

  Not that Teresa looked as if she were taking any notice of their conversation. She was completely wrapped up in the misery of her worry over Toby. Which probably meant that the affection Toby obviously felt for “Tess” was reciprocated.

  Why had no one told her that Toby was dating Patrick’s sister?

  But perhaps someone had, Ellie realised slowly, as she recalled Gareth’s enigmatic conversation of yesterday…

  Gareth had seemed to be under the impression that Toby, as well as herself, was no better than he was. Because he believed them both to be dating the McGrath brother and sister for the same reasons he had become engaged to Sarah—wealth and ambition? He was totally wrong, of course—on both counts. But—

  “Ellie?”

  She looked up to find Patrick watching her concernedly. “Perhaps you should take your sister home now,” she suggested stiffly. “She looks as if she’s had enough for one evening,” she added, with a rueful glance at the younger woman.

  “I think we all have.” Patrick nodded grimly. “I’ll call in tomorrow and see how Toby is.”

  And continue this conversation, his words seemed to imply. Well, Ellie needed time and space to form her tangled thoughts into some sort of order. She wasn’t sure twelve hours was long enough for that!

  “Of course,” she accepted smoothly. “Now, it really is late…”

  He gave her another searching look before turning abruptly to his sister. “It’s time to go, Teresa,” he told her briskly. “I’m sure Ellie will call us if she needs us,” he added as Teresa looked about to protest.

  Considering the only telephone number she had for Patrick was his business one, that wouldn’t really do a lot of good. Although Toby would have Patrick’s mobile number.

  “Of course I will,” Ellie assured the younger woman as Teresa gave her a distressed look.

  Teresa stood up, very tall and slender. “I’m really sorry we’ve had to meet for the first time under these circumstances.” She grimaced.

  Yes, it might have been better—it definitely would have been better for Ellie!—if the two of them had met before now.

  “I don’t suppose Toby will feel like this for long, and then perhaps he can bring you here for a drink one evening,” she consoled.

  Once he had given Ellie an explanation as to exactly what was going on! Because something was going on— Ellie was just too tired at this moment to be able to make sense of it all.

  “Maybe the four of us could go out to dinner together at the weekend,” Patrick put in smoothly.

  Ellie turned to give him a cool look. “I think it would be better if we took one step at a time. Besides,” she added firmly as she saw Patrick was about to argue the point, “I doubt Toby will feel up to eating anything for several days.” It was a valid point—one she could see Patrick would have a problem arguing with.

  Thank goodness. She didn’t want to tie herself down to a definite time for seeing Patrick again. Not until she had some answers to a few pertinent questions. Answers that only her brother could give her.

  “I’ll ring you in the morning, if that’s okay,” Teresa McGrath told her a few minutes later as she stood in the doorway preparing to leave.

  “Of course,” Ellie accepted, deliberately avoiding looking at Patrick as he stood at his sister’s side. “Brr, it’s cold out here.” She shivered from the icy wind blowing around them.

  “Yes, it does seem to have turned a little icy,” Patrick murmured softly.

  Ellie looked at him sharply as she sensed his double meaning, and those raised dark brows told her she hadn’t been mistaken. “The forecast is for snow,” she returned, deliberately meeting his gaze.

  “Luckily it never settles for long in our climate,” he came back, just as deliberately.

  Ellie shrugged. “The forecast is for a long-term cold front.” Two could play at this game. And, until she knew exactly what was going on, a cold front was exactly what she intended showing Patrick McGrath.

  He shrugged broad shoulders. “Ice and snow eventually melt.”

  “Eventually,” she echoed evenly.

  “Patrick, you can discuss the weather another time; we really should go, and let Ellie get back inside out of this biting wind,” Teresa prompted her brother, obviously having no idea of the double-edged conversation that had been taking place between her brother and Ellie.

  To Ellie they had sounded like a couple of secret agents in a B-rated movie, talking in a code only the two of them understood!

  “So we should.” Patrick nodded abruptly before bending his head and lightly brushing Ellie’s mouth with his own. “But I will be back in the morning, Ellie.”

  A threat if ever she had heard one, Ellie decided irritably. Well, if, as the doctor had implied, Toby was better by the morning, Patrick would arrive here to find Toby recovering on his own and Ellie at work!

  But not before she had spoken to Toby herself…

  “I HAVE no idea what you’re talking about, sis.” Toby shook his head, his face still very pale as he lay back on the pillows. He had slept well through what had been left of the night, and the nausea seemed to have completely abated, although he had been left with a severe headache.

  Join the club, Ellie thought, and gave a deep sigh before sitting on the side of her brother’s bed. “Okay, let’s start this off simply: why did you omit to tell me that the Tess you have been dating the last few months is actually Teresa McGrath, Patrick’s young sister?”

  “I—”

  “Please, don’t tell me that you didn’t think it was important,” Ellie advised him dryly—she sensed he was about to tell her exactly that. “Because you know very well that it is. That it always was. That it still is,” she concluded pointedly.

  “I’m not sure you should be badgering a sick man in this overly strident way.” Toby shook his head before lying back to close his eyes, having just risked consuming a cup of weak tea and a dry piece of toast, both of which seemed—so far—to have stayed down.

  “It could get worse, Toby,” she warned him. “If what I suspect is true, I could actually end up strangling this ‘sick man’—and so put everyone out of their misery!” Her eyes glittered dangerously.

  She had had plenty of time to think during a rather sleepless night—and some of the conclusions she had come to had been less than reassuring!

  Toby opened one eye to look at her with obvious reluctance. “Why don’t you tell me what you suspect—and then I’ll tell you if it’s right or not?”

  “There’s little point in doing that if you aren’t going to answer me honestly!” she bit out sharply.

  Both Toby’s eyes opened innocently wi
de now. “My big sister taught me to always tell the truth.”

  “Very funny!” Ellie gave a humourless smile, getting up from the side of the bed to move impatiently about the room, her narrowed gaze fixed on her brother the whole time she did so. Finally she gave a heavy sigh. “Are you and Teresa McGrath serious about each other?”

  “Yes,” Toby answered unhesitatingly.

  Ellie nodded; it was the answer she had expected. “Why did Patrick McGrath agree to take me to the company Christmas dinner?”

  Her brother frowned his puzzlement at this sudden change of subject. “I told you—”

  “I know what you told me, Toby,” she cut in impatiently. “But now I want the real reason.”

  He shook his head, wincing as it obviously caused him a certain amount of discomfort. “But that was the real reason. Wasn’t it?” he added uncertainly as Ellie looked unconvinced.

  To Ellie’s relief, her brother’s answer told her one thing at least; whatever Patrick McGrath had been up to this last couple of weeks, Toby had obviously played no part in it. Which meant it had all been Patrick McGrath’s own doing!

  She had thought about several of the puzzling remarks Patrick had made this last week, about how much Toby cared for her, how her young brother felt a responsibility towards her, and all those questions about why she didn’t have someone else in her life after Gareth—questions that all seemed to lead to the same unpleasant conclusion.

  She was even more convinced about it now she knew from Toby that his relationship with Teresa McGrath was a serious one: Patrick was desperately trying to clear the way—clear Ellie out of the way, if only temporarily—in order to secure his young sister’s happiness with Toby.

  “Toby, why didn’t you just tell me about Tess?” she prompted gently.

  “But I did tell you about her,” he answered evasively.

  Ellie shook her head. “Only when the two of you were going out. Nothing else about her. Certainly not that the two of you are in love with each other. Why was that?”

  Toby drew in a ragged breath. “I’m sure that was just what you wanted to hear two months ago!” he bit out disgustedly.

  Two months ago? When she had suspected that Gareth was seeing someone else behind her back—six weeks ago when she had finally found out the truth and stopped seeing him?

  “Oh, Toby!” she cried emotionally, tears misting her eyes now. “I would be pleased to hear of your happiness at any time. Any time at all!” she repeated with affectionate exasperation.

  Instead of which Toby had kept the seriousness of his relationship with Tess a secret in an effort not to hurt Ellie.

  Patrick McGrath, it seemed, was the one who had taken it a step further than that!

  She sat back on the side of the bed, taking her brother’s hand in her own. “Are you and Tess going to get married?”

  Toby gave a start at the directness of the question, his gaze not quite meeting Ellie’s searching one. “Maybe—in time,” he answered evasively.

  It was just as she had thought!

  Toby and Tess were serious about each other, and until six weeks ago it must have looked as if Ellie was in a serious relationship too. But that had all come crashing down around her ears, leaving Toby feeling the responsibility towards her that Patrick had mentioned.

  She could see exactly what had happened now—knew that Toby, despite numerous protestations on her part, felt he owed her an emotional debt for taking care of him after their parents died. The fact that her relationship with Gareth had fallen apart under unpleasant circumstances had triggered Toby into putting his own relationship with Teresa McGrath on hold.

  Except Patrick obviously had other ideas where his sister’s happiness was concerned…

  So much for what Ellie had thought—hoped—was developing between the two of them!

  “No ‘maybe’, Toby,” she told her brother firmly now, standing up. “No ‘in time’ either,” she added decisively. “If you love the girl, and she loves you, then you should ask her to marry you.”

  Toby grimaced sheepishly. “I already have.”

  “When?” Ellie prompted sharply.

  “Eight weeks ago,” he admitted reluctantly.

  Ellie raised dark brows. “And?”

  The grimace turned to a self-conscious smile. “She said yes.”

  Ellie gave an emotional laugh. “You are an idiot, Toby,” she told him affectionately. “You’ve asked her; she’s said yes. The next move is to buy her a ring. Then arrange the wedding. I’ll be there to dance at it,” she promised. “Am I making myself clear, Toby?” she teased.

  He grinned widely. “Very.”

  “Good.” She nodded her satisfaction. “I’ll just have to learn to cope with having the arrogant Patrick McGrath as some sort of relative.” She frowned.

  Toby frowned too. “But I thought you liked him?”

  Too much!

  She swallowed hard, straightening determinedly; after all, there was such a thing as pride involved here—her own! “He’s your boss, Toby; of course I had to be pleasant to him. Now that he’s going to be your brother-in-law too, I’ll just have to continue being pleasant to him. It shouldn’t be that difficult; with any luck I’ll see very little of him,” she dismissed scathingly, turning to leave the bedroom—and finding herself face to face with a stricken Teresa McGrath!

  Ellie looked at the other woman searchingly, knowing by her unhappy expression that she had heard every word of Ellie’s last statement…

  CHAPTER TEN

  “I KNOW I said I was going to telephone, but— I did knock on the kitchen door when I arrived, and when no one answered I let myself in,” Teresa explained awkwardly. “I hope you don’t mind?” she added with a self-conscious grimace.

  Mind? Of course Ellie didn’t mind the younger woman letting herself in—it was the remarks that Teresa had overheard her making about her brother that Ellie minded! It was one thing to say those things about Patrick to Toby—completely out of defence for her heart—quite another for a member of the McGrath family to have actually heard her saying them…

  “Tess…?” Toby called hopefully from inside the bedroom.

  Teresa’s face visibly brightened. “He’s feeling better?”

  “Much,” Ellie assured her warmly. “I’ll go down and make some coffee and leave the two of you to have a chat.” And, hopefully, regain some of her lost composure!

  What she really wanted to happen was for the ground to open and swallow her up!

  Ellie was shaking by the time she reached the sanctuary of the kitchen, sitting down weakly in one of the kitchen chairs before burying her face in her hands with a groan of self-disgust.

  All she had wanted to do with those remarks she’d made to Toby was regain some of her damaged pride—and what she had succeeded in doing was probably alienating her future sister-in-law!

  How could she explain that to Teresa without giving away the fact that she had fallen completely in love with Patrick?

  Her groan of self-disgust turned to one of pain. She had fallen in love with Patrick, and all he had been doing was keeping her romantically occupied long enough to ensure that Toby announced his engagement to Teresa.

  She was sure now that was all Patrick had been doing this last week or so. She was the one who had been stupid enough to take his attention seriously. To fall in love with him!

  How to extricate herself without Patrick ever being aware of that fact, without completely losing her self-respect? That was the problem!

  Out of the frying pan into the fire, once again sprang to mind.

  She had thought her infatuation with the fickle Gareth was the worst thing she had ever done in her life, but falling in love with Patrick had to be so much worse. Because he wasn’t fickle. The love she felt for him wouldn’t be as easily shrugged off as her feelings for Gareth had been.

  It was because she truly loved Patrick that she was now able to see her previous feelings for Gareth for exactly what they were!


  But this time she would come out of it with at least her pride intact, Ellie decided as she straightened determinedly. She had to!

  The coffee was fresh in the pot, and cups, cream and sugar placed on the kitchen table by the time Teresa came downstairs ten minutes later. The smile on Ellie’s face was warm and friendly.

  “He’s much better, isn’t he?” she told Teresa lightly.

  “Much.” The younger woman nodded, her expression slightly reserved.

  Was that so surprising, when minutes ago Teresa had walked in on a conversation where Ellie had been totally dismissing any need for her to like this woman’s brother?

  Ellie drew in a ragged breath, deciding it was probably better to jump in at the deep end. “Look, concerning what you overheard me saying about Patrick earlier—”

  “Please,” Teresa cut in with an awkward wave of her hand. “I know how—how Patrick can be sometimes. He really doesn’t mean anything by it. He’s just—well, he’s used to being in charge.” She grimaced. “Not that he’s in the least arrogant about it.” She hastened to defend her brother. “Usually he just charms people into submission!”

  Ellie knew just how true that was!

  She shook her head. “That was still no reason for me to—to—Well, I’m sorry you overheard my remarks,” she concluded heavily.

  Great, Ellie, she instantly chided herself. That was really apologising for being so rude earlier about Teresa’s brother!

  “Would you like some coffee?” she offered briskly.

  Teresa turned to look at the things laid out on the kitchen table before glancing back at Ellie. “That would be lovely, thank you.” She smiled before sitting down.

  Somehow Ellie very much doubted this young woman was any more used to sitting down in a kitchen drinking coffee than Patrick was; it would most likely be served to them in the drawing room, by staff as efficient as George’s had been on Saturday evening.

  Which posed the disheartening thought: where did Toby fit into all this?