Eloise opened the door before she could knock. As she removed her coat, Eloise bounced up and down.
“You have to see my project. Daddy and I have worked really hard and he says it’s ready. I hope you like it because I do!” She adored Eloise and her endless enthusiasm. It struck her how much Eloise had helped her regain her own passion for dance and life.
He met them in the foyer, waving a long skinny piece of dark fabric. She arched an eyebrow questioningly, but he retained an air of smug silence. Her news could wait, at least for a few minutes. He slipped behind her, his warm lips pressing against her cheek. He smelled pleasantly of aftershave, his face smoother than usual for this time of the evening. The effect was disconcerting, but not unpleasant.
He slipped the fabric over her eyes. If not for the presence of his daughter, she would have suspected him of having something kinky in mind. He already surprised her with the intensity of their lovemaking, so much better than she ever dreamed it could be.
“Come.” He and Eloise each took a hand and guided her to what had to be the garage, warning her of impending obstacles on the way.
They turned on the light, removed the blindfold, and shouted, “Surprise!”
She wasn’t sure what to think of the structure before her. It resembled a playhouse, but looked rather wobbly and lacked a true roof. Instead, an old floral blanket draped over the frame. The exposed boards painted with green, blue, pink, and purple resembled a flower garden, but with the addition of glitter. It was beautiful and gaudy, solid yet haphazard. She struggled to find words. “Wh — ”
Eloise shouted, “It’s a full size fairy house! Remember the little one we built? The fairies knocked it over. We rebuilt it but I asked Daddy if we could make an even better one. He said we can move it outside when the weather is warmer. Since you said fairies like things from outside, we are going to make a roof from leaves and chicken wire and maybe some plants. Now we just have a blanket. Go inside and look!”
He gave her a nudge and followed her inside. She saw him wink at Eloise before crossing the threshold. Suddenly, the blanket fell down, trapping them underneath a faded floral print. Eloise laughed.
Carson kneeled before her.
“Gotcha.” Eloise said from outside.
Penelope gasped as Carson held a small open velvet box. “Will you marry me?”
Eloise shouted, “It’s a fairy trap, too! See.”
He called to her, without moving his gaze from Penelope’s. “Did it work?”
“Yes.” Penelope sputtered, knowing there was only one answer for both questions.
“No, silly. I only caught you and Miss Penny.”
He stood, lifting her feet off the floor as he hugged her. She held him tight, happy to be caught in his arms forever.
Epilogue
Next Christmas
Carson braced himself as Eloise bounded on the couch beside him. Soon he’d clear away the discarded wrapping paper, but for now he enjoyed the chaos. He tousled her curls, pulling her in for a hug.
“So, princess, how did Santa do this year?”
She straightened up, an earnest expression on her face as she considered the question.
“Pretty good. I like the movie and the Littlest Pet Shop and the games. But he forgot to bring my brother or sister.”
His mind flashed back to last Christmas. He held his daughter close, pressing his cheek against her curls, trying not to squish her bow. He considered his words carefully, but before he could speak he heard an “oof.” He lifted his head in time to get clocked by a wad of wrapping paper as his wife ineffectively hid a giggle behind her delicate hand.
Penelope collapsed on the other side of Eloise and rubbed her round belly. Carson loved how she continued to show off her beautiful body with form fitting clothes.
“We’re all excited about the baby, but he or she won’t be here for a few more weeks,” he said.
“I know. I thought Santa might be able to make the baby come out sooner. I’m tired of waiting.”
“Me too.” Penelope looked tired, a bit paler than usual. It had been a long day.
She started lifting her feet to the coffee table, but he grabbed them, pulling them across Eloise and onto his lap. Her smile provided all the incentive he needed. He removed her slippers and started massaging her feet, taking delight in the joy on her face. He wouldn’t say it in front of Eloise, but if he hit the right spot, Penelope’s face momentarily displayed the same beautiful expression it did on the night she conceived and many other nights.
He turned to Eloise. “If the baby didn’t want to come out when Mom Penny did that dance recital a few weeks ago … ”
She nudged him playfully. “Hey. It wasn’t that intense.”
“You did the splits.”
“Any pregnant woman can do the splits because of the elastin. It’s getting up again that’s the problem. I had some help there.”
“Still, you frightened half the audience, including me.”
“I did warn you beforehand and both you and the doctor approved of my performing.”
“It was amazing. Felix will probably beg you to be in the same condition for the festival circuit sometime.” They held each other’s gaze until Eloise interrupted.
“When are we going to Grandma and Grandpa Glazier’s? I’m hungry for dinner.”
“Soon.” Penelope eased back as he continued to rub her feet.
Abruptly she sat up, a strange look on her face. “Who spilled something on the couch? It’s soaking wet back here.”
“Not me. I remember the rules. No drinks on the couch.” Eloise ran off like she wanted to escape any guilt by association.
He crossed to where she sat, extending his hands. “Try standing up.”
He examined the couch and her rounded body, noticing the dampness on her pants. He patted her leg and the bump concealing the product of their love.
“I’ll grab the bag and call the doctor.”
Recognition flashed across Penelope’s face. “Eloise, Santa didn’t forget after all.”
A Sneak Peek from Crimson Romance
Ringing in Love by Peggy Bird
“Damn it, Melody,” Catherine Bennett said as she slammed into the dolly loaded with banker’s boxes her assistant was supposed to be pulling. “You can’t stop like that. This thing has no brake lights to warn me.” As she steadied the pile of teetering boxes, she followed Melody’s gaze to see what had distracted her. She should have known. A man. Dominic Russo, to be precise. And he was definitely a distraction. Mister Dark and Dangerous. Man candy. A professional bachelor with a reputation for notching his bedpost with a new name every few weeks. Name a cliché describing a sexy male, and he fit it. Hell, he owned it.
He also owned one of the most successful public relations firms in Philadelphia and was Catherine’s biggest competitor.
“Damn is right,” Melody said. “Hot damn.”
Catherine bent and rubbed the shin that had borne the brunt of the collision. “You might want to add an ‘ouch’ in there.”
Melody whipped around as quickly as she’d stopped. “Oops. Sorry, Catherine. Are you okay? Didn’t mean to hurt you. I was just admiring the scenery.” She returned her attention to the man who was now almost at the elevator bank. “Look at those shoulders! And the way he moves. I bet he’s a great dancer—and you know what that means. He is definitely sex on legs. Wonder who he is?”
“Your encyclopedic knowledge of Philadelphia gossip is failing you. The ‘scenery,’ as you put it, is Dominic Russo. The Russo Group has offices on the fifteenth floor.”
“Of course! Shoulda looked at his face instead of his ass.” Melody started toward the elevator again. “If you’d told me my days in our new office building would be brightened by sightings of the sexiest man in the city, I’d have been happier about moving her
e.”
“I’d have used it, believe me, if I’d known it would have stopped you from complaining about all the work it took to move the office.”
“You know how much I hate change and loved the old building.” Melody looked across the lobby again. “Although the old building never offered us something like that to look at. On the other hand, now that we’re in the same building as our competition, we’ll always have to be careful what we say when we’re …”
The service elevator door began to close, and Catherine interrupted Melody’s latest reservations about the new office arrangements to yell, “Hold the elevator!” to her staffer Tom.
But before Tom could hit the “door open” button, Dominic Russo made a graceful move to his left and grabbed the door.
“Thanks,” Catherine said as she and Melody pushed the dolly into the elevator.
“Happy to help. Moving’s hard enough without having to wait endlessly for elevators.” He smiled and the temperature in the lobby spiked. “You’re Catherine Bennett, aren’t you? I’m Dominic Russo.”
“Of course. We’ve actually met …”
He nodded. “After you spoke at the business roundtable about your firm’s approach to socially responsible marketing and business practices. You had so many people trying to talk to you that day, I didn’t know if you’d remember me. I enjoyed your presentation. When you get settled, maybe you’d consider repeating it to my staff. I don’t imagine I did it justice when I tried to relay the information.”
Not remember meeting him? Was he kidding? He was impossible to forget.
If the rumors were to be believed, most of the women in the city would agree. Interesting, because he wasn’t handsome in a classic, young god kind of way. His jawline was a bit too strong and his nose a bit too aquiline for the perfect image of the divine. The bits of silver beginning to show in his thick, dark hair and the lines around his eyes and mouth put him out of the age range of most Hollywood hotties.
But all that was unimportant compared to the devastating smile currently aimed at Catherine and the deep, dark, espresso brown eyes that seemed to say he knew everything worth knowing about a woman merely by looking at her. Any woman he turned that look on would have her knees melted in two seconds flat with the rest of her quickly following.
And then there was the body Melody had drooled over. Not to mention the wrapping it came in. Even in Philly’s humid summer heat Mister Sex on Legs looked cool and unruffled. The dark suit he wore fit as if he had grown it like skin, not had it tailored. The accompanying white shirt was crisp and unwrinkled, the dark gold and black paisley print tie in a perfect knot, the matching pocket square precisely placed.
Catherine, on the other hand, was both ruffled and wrinkled. Her long hair was mostly pulled back into a messy ponytail; her jeans and T-shirt were rumpled and dusty. There were, she was sure, tracks of perspiration running down her neck and arms from helping to load the dolly with the boxes of client records she didn’t trust to the movers. To top it off, she must reek; she hadn’t showered yet today.
Naturally, Dominic Russo not only looked good, he smelled good. Like a gingerbread man.
Right. The hot guy smells like Christmas cookies. Nice, Catherine. Not some sensuous fragrance. A kid’s holiday treat. You’re really out of practice, aren’t you?
She would prefer to think she was relying on food imagery because she’d skipped breakfast, but in truth she was out of practice. Unless he was a client, staff member, or sub-consultant, she hadn’t thought about, dated, or otherwise paid attention to any man, sexy or otherwise, for a long time. With a business to grow and a teenaged son to raise, she didn’t have time for a social life. At least, that’s what she told her family and friends. What she admitted only to herself was she hadn’t recovered from having her ex-husband leave her for another woman. She wasn’t about to take the chance of having her ego battered again by a man who would use her for what he wanted then move on to the next female who crossed his path.
Although even at her best, she would have known better than to waste her time thinking about Dominic Russo in any capacity except as someone who did the same thing she did for a living. He was like the statues of perfectly formed men in the art museum. She might like looking at them, but they were blind to women like her, used to lots of attention, and off limits to the masses. He wasn’t for amateurs.
Come to think of it, though, he was paying attention to her at the moment, waiting for a response to his request. Which was what she should be thinking about instead of mentally concocting some weird thought mixture of art museums, marble statues, and Christmas cookies. If she didn’t say something soon, he was going to think she was an idiot.
Finally she got out, “I’d be happy to talk to your staff. But you’re right; it’ll have to be after we get ourselves settled.”
“Not to worry. We’ll be here when you’re ready.” As he let go of the door, he flashed another of his heat-inducing smiles, which Catherine was sure could not only melt knees but also the hooks on a bra. Lord, even her perfectly straight copywriter Tom was blushing from its high wattage. And Melody was speechless, for the first time in all the years Catherine had known her.
Oh, for heaven’s sake, she wanted to say to her staff as the elevator began to rise to the tenth floor. We don’t have time for this. We have an office to get set up and clients to attend to.
• • •
Dominic hadn’t been in his office more than fifteen minutes when Edie Martin, his creative director, stormed in.
“What were you thinking, Dominic, letting The Bennett Group lease space in our building? Do you really think it’s wise to have that group of newbie pretenders eavesdropping in the elevator every day when they’re the biggest threat to our business?”
“It’s Bennett and Associates, Edie. If you’re going to complain about them, at least get the name right. And I’d hardly call them ‘newbie pretenders.’ They’re one of the up and coming PR firms in the city. Everyone in the industry is talking about their approach as cutting edge.”
“Why are you letting them in our building where they can spy on us and steal our clients?”
“It’s not ‘our’ building. It’s my building.” He took the papers she’d been waving around as she spoke. “Catherine Bennett’s firm has all the qualifications to be a good tenant, and I’ve had a hard time filling the space the engineering firm left when it moved. Besides, we already have several other threats to our business, as you describe them, in the building and we’ve been fine.”
“But the other communications firms aren’t—she’s the one—they’re the people who’ve been getting too much of the work we should have gotten.”
“We have more than enough clients to keep us busy. And we’re on track to have the most profitable year in a decade. I’m not worried Bennett and Associates will listen in on our plans through the HVAC system and we’ll go under.” He could see she was not responding to his attempts to make light of her concerns. “Why don’t you think of it another way—now we have all our strongest competitors in one place so we can watch them.”
Edie’s face brightened a bit. “Oh, I never thought of it that way. Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s a brilliant plan. I hope so, Dominic.”
“Now, other than to bitch about Catherine Bennett what brought you to my office this lovely Monday?”
When Edie left, the thought of Catherine Bennett didn’t go with her. Dominic’s morning encounter with Ms. Bennett had been a welcome start to the day. In spite of being a bit sweaty and in clothes miles away from the stylish suit she’d worn the first time he’d met her, she was stunning. Her olive skin and her dark chocolate brown hair and eyes, which didn’t fit with her WASP-y name, had intrigued him from the first. Still did, even though now he knew from a little background research that her coloring was from an Italian heritage as deep as his own. And there wasn’t a man alive—well, a straight one—who wouldn’t fantasize about the luscious curves even moving-day clothe
s couldn’t hide. She wasn’t some stick-thin model who served as a hanger for the latest designer’s ideas of fashion. She had the body of a real woman. A real woman with considerable ability and the drive to take her firm all the way to success. It was quite a combination.
Dominic had wanted to get to know Catherine Bennett ever since he’d seen her give her presentation. Mostly he’d wanted to see if she was as smart and interesting one-on-one as she’d sounded on the dais. And he wouldn’t mind finding out if she was as sexy in a more intimate situation as she was when she walked across a room in her pencil skirt and stilettos. He was bored to tears with the business dates he’d been stuck with for what seemed like an eternity. Catherine Bennett looked, sounded, and acted different.
And it wouldn’t hurt to size up the woman who was making such a splash in his industry. Mixing business and pleasure was what he did on a regular basis. Most of his recent social life, including the women he escorted to the theater or dinner, had been more about marketing his business than about anything personal. At least if he were doing the mixing with Ms. Bennett, he might actually enjoy what he felt he had to do to keep his company on top.
A fixture in public relations and advertising in Philadelphia for more years than Dominic cared to think about, The Russo Group was the biggest, the most highly regarded, most sought after communications firm in the city. Catherine Bennett had only been on the scene for a half dozen or so years, but she’d made a name for herself in a niche he’d never thought about—marketing and advertising for socially responsible companies who wanted to do more than make a profit at any price. He admired someone who could find a new facet to a business he thought he knew cold and owned outright.
He’d told Edie the truth about how he viewed Bennett and Associates—there was plenty of business for both of them. But the fact was, relocating to the building where the big boys played meant Catherine Bennett was moving up in his world. It wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye on her.
Tidings of Love Page 52