My Only Christmas Wish

by J. M. Jeffries

  “What’s wrong with you?” her mother suddenly asked, her gaze sharp and unnervingly perceptive.

  “Nothing,” Darcy retorted, even as a guilty heat spread over her cheeks. “What could be wrong with me? Nothing’s wrong.”

  Marilyn frowned. “You have the most peculiar look on your face.”

  Darcy blinked. “I look like this every day.”

  Marilyn studied her for several seconds. “No, you don’t.”

  Darcy ducked her head as she poured another cup of coffee and handed it to her mother. “I don’t have time to talk about it. I have to get ready for work.”

  “Did something happen last night?” Marilyn asked, suspicion in her eyes.

  “Nothing important, Mom.” A man she wasn’t certain she liked enough to make love with had seduced her. She’d let him and had loved every damn second of it.

  “You can talk to me. I am your mother.” Marilyn sipped her coffee, studying her daughter with appraising eyes.

  Darcy was startled. She and her mother had never been close. Marilyn had always been working on one charity or another. Darcy had preferred being with her grandfather. “Are you crazy?”

  Marilyn tilted her head to eye Darcy. “I know we’ve never had a strong mother-daughter relationship, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t love you. I do have your best interests at heart.”

  Right, like selling my store out from under me. “Mom…” Darcy said, feeling more vulnerable than she’d ever felt before.

  “Please talk to me,” Marilyn said softly. “I know you’re angry with me for selling the store. But I thought if I sold the store, I’d keep…Simon. I know now he just wanted money. And nothing I do is going to change that. I thought I loved him. I thought he loved me.” Marilyn turned away, her voice breaking.

  “Mom, I’m sorry.” For a second Darcy wondered what her mother would do if she put her arms around her and then Darcy decided what did it matter? She gathered her mother in her arms, all the while thankful Marilyn had done one thing right in insisting on a prenuptial agreement. Simon would get a nice payout in a divorce, but he wouldn’t get the mother lode. “I’m sorry your marriage didn’t work out the way you planned.”

  “Me, too,” Marilyn said in a tired tone. “I just didn’t want to be alone anymore. I wanted a marriage where I didn’t have to compete with a store. It’s funny, though, I could have managed another woman, but not a brick and mortar goddess like Bennett’s.”

  Darcy hugged her mother tightly. “Granddaddy and Daddy thought they were doing the right thing for us. Look at what all our money has accomplished. We’ve funded charities, helped the people of Atlanta in a way that was desperately needed.” She bit the inside of her lip and blurted out. “I slept with Eli Austin last night.”

  Marilyn drew back in surprise. “Darcy, you didn’t.”

  Darcy looked down at her feet. “I did. I had one glass of wine too many—” She stopped. “No, I can’t blame my decision on the wine. He frustrates me so much. And…and—” She didn’t have the words to continue. Just the memory set her skin to blazing with heat and every little nerve ending burned with need.

  “Why?” Marilyn asked.

  Darcy shrugged. “I have no idea.”

  “Well,” Marilyn said. “You could have done worse. He is one of Atlanta’s most eligible bachelors. At least you don’t have my current lamentable taste in men.”

  “I don’t know what possessed me. I really don’t. One minute we were sitting in the car and the next thing I knew we were tearing each other’s clothes off. I don’t know how to face him today.”

  “You have two options. You could move to Brussels or you could use that spine you inherited from your father, face him and move on.”

  “Brussels is kind of far,” Darcy said with a small smile. “But Katerina’s is only three miles away and we could have a spa day.”

  Her mother laughed. “As much as I would like to spend a day with you, my darling daughter, avoiding a certain gentleman isn’t the answer, and that’s not your style. You’re a Bennett. You face life head-on. So you did something unexpected—”

  “Is that a polite way of saying I made a mistake?”

  “If you don’t go to the store, you will regret your decision the rest of your life. And, for your information, I don’t think you made a mistake.” Marilyn kissed Darcy lightly on the cheek, picked up her cup of coffee and waltzed out of the kitchen to her bedroom.

  Darcy stared after her mother, her mouth open, her thoughts churning. What was her mother trying to tell her?

  * * *

  Darcy felt strange as she walked into the store. She felt as though she wasn’t truly herself at the moment. Had she changed overnight or had something else happened? She couldn’t attribute this strange feeling to Eli’s spending the night.

  “Good morning, Ms. Darcy,” a clerk at the cosmetics counter said.

  “Good morning, Lizzie.” Lizzie was Christmas help and the daughter of the department manager. She looked as chipper as any high school senior with her pale blond hair and heavily made-up eyes. “Your mother tells me you’ve been accepted at Brown University.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Lizzie said with quiet pride. “And thank you for sending such a nice reference letter.”

  “You got that scholarship because you earned it,” Darcy said with pride. She loved when her employees’ families did well for themselves. Their successes told Darcy she was on the right track, which meant she couldn’t let Eli Austin derail her.

  Darcy stiffened her spine and raised her head a notch as she walked to the escalator. She wasn’t in the mood to head directly to her office. She’d take a bit of time talking to customers and employees and wait to see what happened.

  She jostled into a man staring up at the wreath.

  “That’s pretty impressive,” he said as he eyed the one-of-a-kind jewels decorating the wreath.

  “A nice chunk of change goes to the charities Bennett’s supports,” she said with a swelling of satisfaction even though there was a sign under the wreath stating exactly that.

  “That’s a lot of expensive jewelry just hanging there. Taking the wreath down every night to put the jewelry away must take hours.”

  “The wreath is actually pulled up into a vault hidden in the ceiling the minute the store closes.” Darcy had thought of the ceiling vault, knowing that putting the jewelry away on a daily basis would be time consuming. Now they just flipped a switch and the wreath was pulled up into the vault and locked without anyone having to pull it down and unload it by hand.

  He nodded and walked away.

  Darcy finally ended up in lingerie just as she’d planned. As she smiled and chatted with customers, she tried to ignore the nagging little feeling in the back of her mind that she was a coward after all.

  * * *

  Eli soothed himself with work. Stacks of folders on his desk required his attention, but the longer he stared at them, the more his thoughts drifted away toward Darcy.

  Work had always provided him with solace, keeping his mind occupied, but nothing seemed to stop him from thinking about Darcy. How could he have been such an idiot as to end up in bed with her? The ramifications of sleeping with Darcy went beyond sane behavior besides complicating their relationship even more.

  He rested his elbows on the desk and covered his face with his hands. This one little transgression could affect the store and his plans to fire her despite her threat about the lease. A root canal would have been easier to deal with.

  His eyes itched from lack of sleep and he rubbed them. A part of him never hung his business out on the street. What if the employees found out? How could he justify firing her when he’d just slept with her? Boy, had he shot himself in the foot.

  He jumped to his feet and stared out the window at the loading dock. Two
semis were backed into the bays and lift trucks went back and forth unloading large cartons of merchandise.

  He paced back and forth across the small space. He needed to get out of the office for a while. The work would keep. He couldn’t sit still any longer. A good survey of his kingdom should make him feel better and put his business goals back into perspective.

  He found himself in the toy department. Roo had mentioned something about a hamster. What had it been called? The name refused to come to him. He wandered the packed aisles, smiling at Santa Claus and pausing to watch a toy train whirl around on its track beneath a huge Christmas tree.

  Despite the two percent drop in sales, he still had hope this season was going to show some form of economic recovery. Maybe now was the time to shop for his daughter. She wouldn’t be in the store until later when his driver dropped her off. He could hide the presents in his office. Nobody went to his office except him.

  He glanced around. Roo was at a transitional age. She was as actively fascinated by toys as she was by clothes. She’d grown so independent the last two weeks. He’d had no idea that streak existed in her.

  She’d changed so much since Darcy had come into her life. And he realized he liked the new Roo. Though maybe he needed to start calling her Sophia as she’d already asked a couple times. Somehow Roo didn’t seem to work anymore.

  She wasn’t as dependent as her mother had been. She didn’t keep silent, when she probably should, and she’d turned into an intrepid explorer that he didn’t even know existed in her. He had Darcy to thank for that, even though he didn’t want to thank her. In fact, he wanted to avoid her for the next sixty years.

  He chose a few toys he thought Roo—Sophia—would like and paid for them. He asked they be delivered to his office, and then he went down to the next floor to the children’s clothing department. As he stepped off the escalator, he saw Darcy in the lingerie department across from children’s.

  She looked distracted as she helped a woman with a nightgown, carefully folding it into a box. She tucked the box into a bag and handed it to the woman.

  His heart skipped a beat, his palms grew sweaty as he remembered the way she’d looked with her hair spread out over the pillow and her brown eyes gazing at him raptly. He remembered the way her body had responded to him, the silken softness of her skin and the warmth of her hidden places.

  He marched up to her. “Help me choose some clothes for Sophia.”

  “I’m working.” She glared at him.

  His temper rose and he took a deep breath. “We have to talk.”

  “I don’t want to talk.” Darcy glanced away from him.

  “You can’t avoid me.” He’d wanted to avoid her, but seeing her on the floor had changed his mind.

  “I can give it a good try.”

  The clerks in the department watched them out of the corners of their eyes. If the whole store didn’t know they were arguing before, they’d know now. Gossip traveled like lightning.

  “Please, we can’t talk about what happened—”

  “Darcy.”

  “Not now. The department is having a sale on bras, buy two get one free.”

  “Darcy,” a man bellowed. “Darling.”

  Eli spun around to find a tall, slender man walking swiftly toward Darcy. He had a thin aristocratic face, reddish-brown hair and light blue eyes. Everything about him screamed wealth and privilege.

  “I looked in your office,” the man said, his British accent more pronounced. “Your assistant said you were slaving away in the trenches today.”

  “Cedric,” Darcy said. He grabbed her and swung her around.

  Eli stepped out of the way of her feet as Cedric whirled her around. Darcy giggled.

  Cedric set her back on her feet. He brushed a bit of dust off her shoulder and then kissed her soundly on the lips. Eli wanted to jerk Cedric away from her and…Eli stopped his next thought. One night with Darcy did not make for anything. She could kiss whoever she chose, but he wished she’d chosen him.

  Darcy disentangled herself from Cedric. “I wasn’t expecting you until next week.”

  He brushed a stray hair out of her face. Eli’s hackles rose and, if he could have, he would have growled.

  “Plans change,” Cedric said. He turned to Eli, one eyebrow elegantly raised. “And this is…?”

  “Cedric, allow me to introduce you to Mr. Eli Austin.” Darcy’s voice was cool. “He’s the new owner of Bennett’s.”

  “You sold Bennett’s!” Cedric said, brows arched in surprise.

  She simply nodded. “I’ll tell you later. Eli, allow me to introduce you to Cedric Wingate, Earl of Winterhaven.”

  Cedric held his hand out and Eli shook it after a slight hesitation. “Pleased to meet you,” Cedric said.

  “Me, too,” Eli responded.

  “What brings you in early?” Darcy asked as she hooked elbows with Cedric.

  Eli wanted to grab him and demand Cedric release Darcy.

  “I want to take a closer look at the jewelry on the wreath and I want you to model the jewels.” Cedric kissed her on the cheek.

  “Not a problem. I can have security bring the wreath to the conference room.”

  Eli wondered if this man was just getting his jollies at Darcy’s expense, and the idea ticked him off.

  “That would be lovely.” Cedric started moving her toward the elevator.

  Eli cleared his throat. “Darcy, could I have a moment?”

  “Cedric, wait for me in the conference room. You know where it is.”

  Cedric gave Eli a penetrating look and slowly nodded. “I’ll see you in a few.”

  Eli waited until the elevator doors closed, before turning to Darcy. She had pulled out her cell phone and held up a finger to stop him as she pushed a button and held the phone to her ear.

  “Mabel,” Darcy said. “Lord Wingate is here. Send a plate of your pralines and a bottle of his favorite wine up to the conference room. You know how he loves them and he’s ready to spend a ton of money.” She disconnected and put the phone back in her pocket.

  “Who is that guy?”

  “I introduced you.”

  “I’m supposed to be impressed by some fake English title?”

  “He’s the real deal. Not only is he filthy rich, but he comes every year to Bennett’s to do his Christmas shopping.” She paused as though gathering her thoughts. “We met during my grand tour of Europe.”

  La-de-da! Eli thought, but wisely remained silent. “Then who is he buying jewelry for?”

  “His sister lives in Atlanta and he has several nieces who adore everything he gets them, and I’m sure he has a mistress or two hiding somewhere in the woodwork.”

  “I think he wants to give the jewelry to you.”

  Her eyebrows rose. “And that’s a problem, why?”

  The next words out of his mouth startled him as much as her. “I don’t want him giving you jewelry.”

  Her mouth fell open. “Excuse me. Did I hear you right?”

  He opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out.

  “I can accept jewelry from anybody,” she said quietly.

  “What strings are attached?”

  “Other than a thank-you, probably nothing. And is it any business of yours?”

  Her mouth looked totally delectable, and he had to restrain himself from kissing her.

  “If you’re so worried about my virtue, then you just come right along and watch him spend his money.” She walked to the elevator and jabbed the button. When the doors opened, she walked inside with Eli on her heels. Silas glanced at her, and then at Eli. When the doors closed, Silas whistled a little tune that Eli didn’t recognize though he had the feeling the old man was laughing at him.

  Darcy made a quick stop in the wom
en’s department. And while Silas held the elevator, she quickly chose an evening gown of deep scarlet to wear with the jewels. She knew exactly what she wanted and returned to the elevator, the gown over her arm. And while Eli watched her juggle the phone and her gown, she called the shoe department and ordered a pair of matching shoes to be delivered to her office ASAP.

  Eli watched her out of the corner of his eyes. She looked calm and beautiful and he wondered if the duke, or rather, the earl, had a thing for her. Who wouldn’t?

  “I’m going to change, you entertain Cedric for a while.”

  Eli didn’t want to entertain the earl. He wanted to grab Darcy and sling her over his shoulder and… He forced his thoughts away from what he wanted.

  When Eli entered the conference room, Cedric stood in front of a portrait of Darcy’s grandfather. He held a glass of wine in one hand and a praline in the other.

  “Darcy went to change. She’ll be along in a minute.”

  Two security guards entered carrying the huge wreath. They set it on the conference table, and then left. The green wreath glittered with all the jewels attached to its branches.

  “How long have you known Darcy?” Eli asked casually—at least he hoped his voice sounded casual.

  “A long while now,” the Earl said as he bit into the praline. “Exquisite, isn’t she?”

  What the hell did he say to that? Eli thought. “Yes, she is rather attractive.”

  His answer warranted a raised eyebrow from Cedric. “Only rather attractive? I assume you’re not interested in her.”

  “It doesn’t seem as if it would matter much if I was.”

  Cedric eyed Eli. “I’ve been after Darcy for years. I just want to make sure you’re not my competition.”

  Startled, Eli couldn’t think of single thing to say. After all, he’d slept with her last night, even though he wasn’t certain what that meant. “Good luck. If you need help, I’d be happy to do something.” Though if this man had been chasing Darcy for years and she hadn’t made any commitment, he doubted she would now.