“Good,” Sarah bit out firmly, before turning to Ellie and lightly squeezing her arm. “I’m really glad the two of us have had this little chat together. But now, if the two of you will excuse me, I think I’ll go over and tell my father how wonderful he is!” She gave a glowing smile.
“I’m sure Uncle George will be pleased about that,” Patrick encouraged huskily.
“I hope so.” Sarah laughed softly. “I’ll see you both later.”
There was a silence after Sarah had left to weave her way through the crowd to where her father stood talking to Patrick’s parents. Although it wasn’t a particularly awkward silence. More, Ellie decided, an expectant one…
“I’m sure there will be something in the fridge in the kitchen that I can put on this eye.” Patrick finally spoke huskily at Ellie’s side. “Care to come with me?”
Why not? The engagement had already been announced, and Toby and Teresa were the centre of attention as everyone stood around laughing and talking. The buffet supper was to be served in an hour’s time.
“If you think I can be of help,” Ellie agreed.
Patrick gave her a considering look. “I’m not really sure you’re ready to hear what I’m thinking right now, Ellie.”
She looked up at him searchingly. Could she be mistaken, or had there been a wistful note in his voice just now?
She drew in a deep breath, swallowing hard before speaking. “Patrick, exactly why did you come to my house this evening?”
He shrugged. “Because I knew, once I was made aware that Sarah had finished things with Davies, that his next move would be to pay you a call.”
She had already worked that part out for herself! “And?” she prompted huskily.
“Ellie, do you think we could get out of this crush of people before I answer that?” he asked impatiently, not waiting for her answer but taking a firm hold of her arm to guide her out of the sitting room, through the hallway—beautifully decorated with boughs of holly and red ribbons—into the kitchen at the back of the house.
As Ellie had expected, the McGrath house was equally as grand as the Delacortes’. The huge kitchen was of mellow oak, with a dozen or more copper saucepans hanging from the rack over the work table in the centre of the room, and a green Aga giving the room its warmth.
Patrick grimaced as he saw there were several members of the household staff bustling around the room, preparing the last of the buffet supper. “Is there nowhere in this house that we can be alone?”
He scowled his displeasure, whereas Ellie felt heartened by the fact that he wanted to talk to her alone!
“They’ve almost finished, Patrick,” she soothed lightly, giving one of the maids a sympathetic look as she glanced at them curiously. “Why don’t you see if there’s any red meat in the fridge we can put on your eye?”
“Damn my eye!” he dismissed impatiently, grasping hold of her hand to pull her out of the room, back down the corridor and into another room off the hallway. “Ah,” he said with satisfaction as he saw this room—probably his father’s study, judging by the desk and book-lined walls—was empty. He closed the door behind them decisively, and the two of them were instantly surrounded by blessed silence.
Ellie eyed Patrick quizzically for several seconds. “And?” she finally reminded him huskily.
He grimaced. “I came over to your house this evening because—because—”
“Yes?” Ellie prompted breathlessly, a cautious excitement starting to build up inside her.
Patrick drew in a harsh breath. “Because if Davies had come over to see you with the intention of hurting you in any way I intended stopping him,” he bit out determinedly, grimacing as Ellie continued to look at him wordlessly. “Because if he’d come to see you with any intention of persuading you into taking him back into your life I intended stopping him from doing that too! As I told you I would,” he concluded impatiently, grey gaze challenging.
It was a challenge Ellie had no intention of answering. A hope was welling up inside her now, so intense that she could barely breathe, let alone speak.
“Ellie, don’t you want to know the reason why?” Patrick finally asked harshly.
She thought—hoped!—she knew the reason why. But she wasn’t sure…
“Ellie, will you please say something?” Patrick demanded at her continued silence.
Was there a time and place to lose that pride she had been trying so desperately to hang on to? And was this the time and place?
“For days now I’ve had trouble stopping you from saying things I didn’t want to hear, and now I want you to say something—anything—you’ve been struck dumb!” he muttered frustratedly. “Ellie, I’m tired of waiting for you to come to your senses. And I swear, if you don’t soon say something I’m going to pick up my father’s favourite whisky decanter and throw it out the window!”
Once again Ellie couldn’t help it; she laughed. “And what good will that do?” she finally sobered enough to ask. “Except break a perfectly beautiful decanter and let in all the frosty air from outside!”
“It’s preferable to the overwhelming urge I have right now to wring your beautiful neck!” Patrick rasped.
Tears filled her eyes now. But they were tears of joy, not sadness. “Patrick— Oh, Patrick—” It was no good. She couldn’t talk through the emotion that choked her.
His expression softened slightly before he moved to wrap her fiercely in his arms. “Ellie, I can’t stand this any more! I love you,” he told her forcefully. “I’ve loved you for so long, it seems—since the moment I called at your house in the summer, walked round to the garden and saw you lying there—”
“Patrick!” she protested as once again he reminded her of the embarrassment of being caught out bathing topless. Only to become very still in his arms as his words fully penetrated her heightened emotions. “I— Patrick, did you just say that you love me?” She stared up at him unbelievingly.
He nodded, his mouth twisting into a smile as he looked down at her. “For all the good it’s done me!” He sighed heavily. “I was always under the impression that falling in love would be a joyful experience—not make me feel as if I had been pole-axed!” he muttered disgustedly. “Of course it might have helped if the woman I fell in love with felt the same way about me, but as it is—”
“Oh, but she does,” Ellie cut in eagerly, her hands tightly gripping his arms as she gazed up at him, a feeling of such joy welling up inside her she felt as if she might burst. “I mean—I do,” she corrected awkwardly.
“You do?” Patrick repeated slowly.
She smiled shyly. “I do,” she confirmed huskily.
He looked at her uncertainly now. “But the other night, when Davies left so abruptly, you were crying—”
“Because of the way he’d kept belittling me in front of you—making me sound like—! Patrick, I only told you that I still cared about Gareth to try and cover up the fact that I’ve fallen in love with you,” she added softly.
“And all this time I’ve been going quietly insane with jealousy!” he groaned. “Ellie, do you love me enough to walk down the aisle to me with Toby at your side, to stand next to me in front of a vicar, with all our family and friends looking on and wishing us well as we make our vows to each other?” he said slowly.
Was Patrick asking her to marry him? It certainly sounded like it!
“A ‘meaningless affair’,” he muttered disgustedly, before Ellie could answer him. “As if that’s what I ever wanted from you!” He moved back slightly, holding her away from him as he looked down at her. “I love you, Elizabeth Fairfax. Will you marry me?”
She swallowed the tears, gazing up at him adoringly. “Oh, yes!” she answered joyfully.
His eyes widened. “You will…?”
“I will,” she confirmed emotionally.
He closed his eyes briefly, as if he couldn’t quite believe what he had just heard, and then those eyes gleamed silver as he looked at her once again.
�
��Darling Patrick.” Ellie raised a hand to gently touch the hardness of his cheek, making no effort to hide her love for him now, knowing by the sudden glow of emotion in his eyes how deeply affected he was just by the touch of her hand. “Why did you never tell me before—show me that you felt this way about me?” she choked.
“Because when I first began to feel this way about you I very quickly learnt from Toby that you were involved with Gareth Davies, and had been for several months.” He scowled at the memory. “Not the best news I’d ever had in my life. Patience is not exactly one of my virtues,” he admitted self-derisively, “but I decided, when it came to you, I didn’t have much choice in the matter; no one else would do for me once I had seen you.”
Ellie could hardly believe all this; Patrick had been in love with her for months and she had had no idea!
She frowned. “But I stopped seeing Gareth two months ago…”
Patrick nodded. “And I’m sure having me turn up on the doorstep with every intention of sweeping you off your feet would have been exactly what you wanted immediately after that!” he drawled. “No, I decided I had to leave things for a while, give you a chance to get over—whatever.” He scowled again, just at the thought of her ever having felt anything for Gareth. “It was all I could do to stop myself getting up and hugging Toby when he came to me three weeks ago and asked if I would mind taking you to the Delacorte dinner!” he revealed happily. “Mind?” he repeated mockingly. “I ‘minded’ so much I followed Toby home that very evening just for the opportunity of seeing you again!”
Ellie winced as she remembered that evening. “At which time I said thanks, but no thanks. I’m so sorry, Patrick.” She groaned in remorse. “I really had no idea.”
No idea that he had loved her for months. No idea that all this time she had been fighting her feelings for him he had already been in love with her.
“It doesn’t matter.” He shook his head. “None of that matters if you really do love me.” He still looked as if he couldn’t quite believe it was true.
And no wonder, when she had been pushing him away at every opportunity, to the point where she had even claimed to still have feelings for Gareth!
“Patrick, I thought—” She gave a heavy sigh. “When I found out about Toby and Teresa that evening we came back from dinner, I thought you had just been taking me out to give them enough of a breathing space to convince Toby into announcing their engagement. You were so—definite about Toby’s sense of loyalty, how fond he was of me, how he felt a responsibility—”
“But not to the point of my deceiving you in that way!” he instantly protested. “Was that the reason you suddenly cooled towards me? Another reason you told me that you were still in love with Davies?” he added hopefully.
“Yes,” she confirmed with a grimace.
“Ellie, by saying those things about Toby I was just letting you know that, when the time came I’d fully approve of Toby as my sister’s future husband, listing the qualities he had that made me feel that way. I never—” Patrick broke off, shaking his head. “Ellie, I only ever went out with you because I’m so deeply in love with you I can’t think straight half the time! Do you believe me?” He looked down at her intently.
She gave a tremulous smile. “As long as you tell me that the children you’re going to educate from home will be my children too!”
The tension left him and he gathered her close in his arms. “They were never going to be anyone else’s,” he assured her huskily.
Her arms tightened about his waist as she told him fiercely, “I love you so much, Patrick.”
“I love you, Ellie.” His words were muffled in the dark thickness of her hair. “Would you mind very much if we were married as soon as it can be arranged? I really don’t think I can wait too much longer to make you completely mine,” he owned longingly.
She didn’t want to wait either—wanted to be Patrick’s wife as much as he wanted to be her husband.
“I don’t mind at all,” she assured him huskily. “But perhaps we should wait until you no longer have a black eye; at the moment you most resemble a panda bear!” she added teasingly.
“As long as you become Mrs Panda Bear, who the hell cares?” he dismissed happily.
Certainly not Ellie!
How different everything was now from her unhappiness when the evening had begun. She loved Patrick. He loved her in return. They were going to be married. To each other.
Toby was right; this was going to be the best Christmas ever.
And it was only the start of what promised to be the best years of her life.
Of their life together.
Patrick and Ellie.
How wonderful that sounded!
A YULETIDE SEDUCTION
To Peter
CHAPTER ONE
GOLD.
Bright, shiny, tarnished gold.
She didn’t want to touch it any more than she needed to, didn’t want it touching her either, the metal seeming to burn her flesh where it nestled on her left hand.
She pulled the gold from her finger. It wasn’t difficult to do. She was so much slimmer than when the ring had first been placed on her finger. In fact, the ring had become so loose that it had spun loosely against her skin, only her knuckles stopping it from falling off by itself.
How she wished it had fallen off, fallen to the ground, never to be seen again. She should have pulled it off, wrenched it from her finger, weeks ago, months ago, but she had been consumed with other things. This tiny scrap of gold lying in the palm of her hand hadn’t seemed important then.
But it was important now. It was the only physical reminder she had that she had ever—ever—
Her fingers closed around the small ring of metal, so tightly that her nails dug into her flesh, breaking through the skin. But she was immune to the pain. She even welcomed it. Because that slight stinging sensation in her hand, the show of blood, told her that she, at least, was still real. Everything around her seemed to have crumbled and fallen apart, until there was nothing left. She was the only reality, it seemed.
And this ring.
She unclenched her fingers, staring down at the ring, fighting back the memories just the sight of it evoked. Lies. All lies! And now he was dead, as dead as their marriage had been.
Oh, God, no! She wouldn’t cry. Never that. Not again. Not ever again!
She quickly blinked back those tears before they could fall. Remember. She had to remember, to keep on remembering, before she would be allowed to forget! If she ever did…
But first she had to get rid of this ring. She never wanted it near her again, never wanted to set eyes on it again, or for anyone else to do so either.
Her fingers curled around it again, but lightly this time, and she lifted up her arm, swung it back as far as it would go, before launching it forward again. And as she did so she threw the ring as far as it would go, as far away from her as she could make it fly, watching as it spun through the air in what seemed like slow motion, making hardly a ripple in the water as it was swallowed up by the swiftly running river in front of her, falling down, to be sucked in by the mud and slime at the bottom of the river.
It took her several breath-holding seconds to realise it had gone. Finally. Irrevocably. And with its falling came release, freedom, a freedom she hadn’t known for such a long, long time.
But freedom to do what…?
CHAPTER TWO
“TAKE the cups through to—” Jane abruptly broke off her calm instruction as one of those cups landed with a crash on the kitchen floor, its delicate china breaking into a dozen pieces. The three women in the room stared down at it, with the one who had dropped it looking absolutely horrified at what she had done.
“Oh, Jane, I’m so sorry.” Paula groaned her dismay. “I don’t know what happened. I’ll pay for it, of course. I—”
“Don’t be silly, Paula,” Jane dismissed, still calmly.
Once upon a time—and not so long ago—an accident lik
e this would have sent Jane into a panic, the money she would have to pay for the replacement cup cutting deeply into the profit she would make from catering a private dinner party. But those days were gone now, thank goodness. Now she could afford the odd loss without considering it a disaster. Besides, if this evening was the success Felicity Warner hoped it would be, then Jane doubted the other woman would be too concerned that one of the coffee cups in her twelve-place-setting dinner service had met with an accident.
“Take the cups through.” Jane replaced the broken cup, putting it carefully beside the other seven already on the tray. “Rosemary will bring the coffee. I’ll clear away the broken cup.” She gave Paula’s arm a reassuring squeeze before the two women left the high-tech kitchen to serve coffee to the Warners and their six dinner guests.
Jane almost laughed at herself as she bent down, dustpan and brush in her hand. In the last two years since she’d first begun this exclusive catering service to the rich and influential, she had moved from a one-woman band to being able to employ people like Paula and Rosemary to help with the serving, at least. But, nonetheless, she was back down on her hands and knees sweeping up! Some things just never changed!
“My dear Jane, I just had to— Darling…?” Felicity Warner herself had come out to the kitchen, coming to an abrupt halt as she spotted Jane on the floor behind the breakfast-bar. “What on earth—?”
Jane straightened, holding out the dustpan containing the broken cup. “You’ll be reimbursed, of course—”
“Don’t give it another thought, darling,” her employer for the evening dismissed uninterestedly, the affectation sounding perfectly natural coming from this elegantly beautiful woman, slim in her short, figure-hugging dress, long red hair loose about her shoulders, beautiful face alight with pleasure. “After this evening I’m hoping to be able to buy a whole new dinner service and throw this old thing away!”
“This old thing” was a delicate china dinner service that would have cost thousands to buy rather than hundreds! “It’s been a success, then?” Jane queried politely as she disposed of the broken cup, her movements as measured and controlled as they usually were.
The Yuletide Engagement & A Yuletide Seduction Page 15