For Christmas, Forever: The Yuletide Engagement / The Doctor's Christmas Bride / Snowbound Reunion

‘Don’t let him get to you, Ellie.’ Patrick was looking down at her concernedly. ‘He only behaved in the way he did because he’s still not quite sure how much you’ve told me about him,’ he added hardly.

Her main emotion at this moment was embarrassment. That she had been fooled by Gareth in the first place. That Patrick knew she had been fooled by him!

Because Patrick’s opinion was important to her. And that had nothing to do with that pride she had been so desperately trying to hang onto for the last six weeks and everything to do with the fact that she did not want Patrick to think of her as some poor, wounded woman, still in love with Gareth Davies.

Which, in turn, led her to wonder why Patrick’s opinion of her was so important…

She gave a dismissive shake of her head; she couldn’t think about that right now—had other things to deal with. ‘I think Gareth could be a very dangerous man,’ she said slowly.

‘Not dangerous,’ Patrick dismissed confidently. ‘Irritating, yes. Extremely so as far as George is concerned. But I was watching Gareth Davies through dinner—and whenever he thought no one else was taking any notice he was watching you. The fact that he saw you go out of the room and followed you shows that he isn’t quite as confident of the situation as he would like us to think he is,’ he added shrewdly.

Ellie eyed him uncertainly. ‘He isn’t?’ Gareth had seemed extremely confident to her! She hadn’t been aware of the other man watching her as they all ate dinner either. But obviously Patrick had…

Patrick gave a slow shake of his head. ‘You obviously bother Gareth Davies very much.’

‘Somehow I doubt that,’ she scorned disbelievingly.

‘Oh, yes, you bother him, Ellie. At least, your being with me, Sarah’s cousin, bothers him,’ Patrick muttered, obviously deep in thought. ‘In fact, we may not have to do anything other than produce you on a regular basis,’ he added shrewdly.

Her eyes widened. ‘What do you mean?’

Patrick grinned. ‘You have him rattled, Ellie!’ he said with satisfaction. ‘All we have to do is keep up the pressure.’

Ellie wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that! In exactly what way was Patrick proposing they ‘keep up the pressure’…?

‘Do you remember George mentioning a party earlier?’ he reminded her.

‘Tomorrow,’ Ellie nodded slowly, eyeing him warily.

As far as she was concerned this evening was a oneoff situation. Especially as it had turned out to be so much more complicated than she could ever have realised.

But Patrick seemed to have other ideas…

He nodded. ‘The official engagement party.’ He grimaced. ‘I think it would be a good idea if you were to—’

‘No,’ Ellie cut in firmly, at the same time shaking her head in protest. ‘The answer is no, Patrick,’ she insisted determinedly as his expression turned cajoling. ‘As far as I’ve been able to ascertain you accompanied me this evening under false pretences,’ she told him accusingly. ‘Admittedly you were doing me a favour, but as circumstances have turned out I think that favour has more than been returned. After all, George is your uncle; you knew that the engagement announcement I told you about was actually between Gareth and your cousin—that’s why you weren’t surprised when I arrived in your office earlier in the week!’ Her eyes sparkled accusingly as that realisation finally dawned on her too.

‘Ellie—’

‘No, Patrick.’ She firmly resisted his teasing tone. ‘This evening has been awful. I have no wish to repeat it.’

‘Awful, Ellie?’ Patrick repeated softly, suddenly standing much closer than was comfortable. For her peace of mind! ‘All of it?’ he prompted huskily.

No, as it happened, not all of it. The kiss the two of them had shared earlier had been more pleasurable than she cared to think about. Certainly more disturbing than she cared to admit!

‘All of it,’ she insisted forcefully. ‘I am absolutely, definitely not going to the party with you tomorrow!’

He looked at her consideringly. ‘Not even for Sarah’s sake?’

‘Not even for—That’s emotional blackmail, Patrick!’ she snapped irritably as her resolve began to sway at the mention of Sarah.

She and Sarah had been good friends in the past, and she knew the other girl to be bubbly, loving, completely carefree. Marriage to Gareth, once Gareth had shown just how ruthless he could be—and there was no doubting that he would show himself in his true colours one day—promised to ruin all that.

‘I don’t want to go to this party with you, Patrick,’ she protested.

And it sounded weak, even to her own ears.

‘I have nothing to wear!’ she added inconsequentially when he made no reply.

Which sounded even weaker!

As evidenced by the fact that Patrick laughed, eyes twinkling warmly, his teeth showing whitely in his mouth—that mouth that only two hours ago, on this very spot, had very thoroughly kissed hers!

It was a mistake to think of that kiss…

Because she wanted very badly for Patrick to repeat it!

Something of that desire must have shown in her face, because Patrick took her very firmly by the shoulders and held her away from him at arm’s length. ‘No, Ellie,’ he murmured regretfully. ‘I’m not going to be accused of seduction as well as emotional blackmail!’ He grimaced.

Ellie felt warmth enter her cheeks at her emotions being that transparent. Maybe it was the way her gaze had gone to his mouth—and stayed there. Or maybe it was just an expression of longing on her face. Either way, it wasn’t very sophisticated of her to allow her emotions to be so easily gauged.

‘Very well, Patrick,’ she bit out abruptly. ‘I’ll come to the party with you—’

‘I knew you wouldn’t let me down!’ Patrick beamed, seeming to forget his resolve as he pulled her into his arms to hug her.

Ellie pulled back, looking up at him warningly. ‘I’m not doing this for you,’ she reminded him firmly.

‘No, of course you aren’t,’ he accepted lightly, but he still grinned broadly, looking far too attractive for Ellie’s peace of mind. For the sudden rapid beat of her heart. For the heated longing that coursed through her body. For the way she wanted to just throw caution to the winds and kiss him if he wasn’t about to kiss her!

She really would have to get a grip on her emotions where Patrick McGrath was concerned. Because to fall in love with him wouldn’t only be ill-advised—it would be pure madness!

Chapter Five

‘NOT a word,’ Ellie cautioned Toby when he looked up from reading the Saturday newspaper as she came into the kitchen, dressed warmly for going out, needing only to pull her coat on when the time came. ‘Not one word, Toby,’ she repeated as he continued to look at her. ‘You aren’t my favourite person at the moment,’ she added, and dropped down onto one of the kitchen chairs to wait.

Toby returned her gaze with too-innocent blue eyes. ‘I can’t imagine why you’re in such a bad mood, sis.’ He shrugged unconcernedly. ‘You know how you love shopping.’

Ordinarily she did. But today wasn’t ordinary. As Toby very well knew.

She glared across the table at her brother. ‘I think working for Patrick is having a bad effect on you,’ she muttered bad-temperedly. ‘You’re becoming as sneaky as he is!’

Toby chuckled softly. ‘You forgot “underhand”, “secretive”, and—"manipulative", wasn’t it?’ he prompted lightly.

They were all the names she had called her brother this morning, after he had asked her how the previous evening had gone!

‘You forgot “too clever for your own good”,’ she reminded him heavily, but her mood began to thaw slightly. ‘You really should have told me, Toby.’ She shook her head disgustedly.

‘But then you wouldn’t have gone to the dinner last night. At least, not with Patrick,’ he reasoned. ‘And that would have been a pity.’

Ellie eyed him suspiciously. ‘Why?’

‘Hey, look, Ellie, in case you’ve forgotten Patrick and I are two of the good guys,’ Toby pointed out protestingly. ‘Gareth is the bad guy—remember?’

Oh, yes, she remembered. She also remembered that look of triumph on Gareth’s face the previous evening when George had stood up to announce the younger man’s engagement to his daughter, Sarah.

‘He doesn’t deserve Sarah, Ellie—let alone you!’ Patrick had muttered disgustedly at her side.

Which was why, when the Delacorte family—and Ellie—had all been chatting together at the end of the evening, Patrick had been only to happy to suggest that Ellie accompany Sarah the following day, when she shopped for a new dress to wear to the party tomorrow evening!

‘Ellie has just been complaining that she has nothing to wear either,’ Patrick had told his young cousin happily.

Ellie glared up at him; she might have said something along those lines, but as Patrick must know only too well Sarah was the last person she wanted to go shopping with.

‘I don’t mind coming with you, Sarah,’ Gareth put in—rather hastily, it seemed to Ellie. A brief glance at Patrick, his expression knowingly satisfied, showed her that he thought so too.

‘It’s very sweet of you, darling.’ Sarah gave her new fiancé ‘s arm a grateful hug, the emerald and diamond engagement ring twinkling brightly on her left hand. ‘But you know how you hate shopping. Besides, I want the dress I’m wearing tomorrow evening to be a surprise.’

‘I thought it was the wedding dress I wasn’t supposed to see until the day?’ Gareth frowned.

‘It is, silly.’ Sarah laughed huskily. ‘I just—wait and see,’ she dismissed excitedly, before turning to Ellie. ‘I think it would be lovely for the two of us to go shopping together tomorrow, don’t you?’

It was obvious from Sarah’s completely confident expression that she didn’t expect Ellie to refuse. And, with Patrick looking at Ellie with the same expectation, what choice did she have? Absolutely none.

Which was why she was sitting here now, dressed warmly in jeans and a thick sweater, waiting for Sarah to pick her up so they could drive into town together.

‘I remember,’ she answered Toby heavily. ‘Until Patrick told me last night I had no idea how worried George and Mary are by the relationship.’ She shook her head.

‘Strange how these things come around in circles, isn’t it?’ Toby said ruefully. ‘Your dastardly exboyfriend engaged to Patrick’s cousin,’ he explained, at Ellie’s questioning look.

Ellie winced at having Gareth described as her exboyfriend; she just wanted to forget she had ever known him. Which was impossible in the present situation.

Although she had felt slightly warmed by Patrick’s comment last night—‘He doesn’t deserve Sarah, Ellie—let alone you!’ Quite what he had meant by that she wasn’t sure, but again it had sounded as if there might be a compliment in there somewhere.

A compliment she would be wise to ignore, if she had any sense. And, after her recent disappointment over Gareth, she ought to have a lot of sense!

Except…

She had felt quite shy as Patrick had driven her home last night, wondering exactly how they were going to say goodnight to each other. Not that they had been out on a genuine date or anything—even less so than she had initially realised!—but Patrick had kissed her earlier in the evening.

She hadn’t known whether to be disappointed or relieved when, having walked her to the door, he’d bent to kiss her lightly on the cheek before telling her he would call for her at eight o’clock the following evening.

‘There’s no point in getting there too early,’ he had added grimly.

‘None at all,’ she agreed with a grimace.

‘And don’t worry about the shopping expedition with Sarah tomorrow,’ he told her with a grin. ‘Just be yourself and nothing can go wrong.’

Which was okay for Patrick to say—but Ellie did not relish the thought of having to listen to several hours of Sarah telling her how wonderful Gareth was. It promised to be a very trying afternoon.

‘Buy something blue, Ellie,’ Patrick had added huskily. ‘The same blue as your eyes.’

Once again Ellie felt warmed by the fact that he had even noticed what colour her eyes were!

‘Oh, and by the way—’ he turned before getting into his car ‘—Anne and Thomas are my parents; Teresa’s my younger sister.’

Oh, great. She was going to meet all of Patrick’s family tomorrow evening, too.

‘That dress is perfect on you, Ellie,’ Sarah told her admiringly as Ellie came out of the changing room.

It might be, but a brief glance at the label whilst in the changing room had shown Ellie that the price was perfect too—for bankrupting her!

She should have known the other woman would want to go to a designer shop for her own outfit. In fact, Sarah had already picked out a gown—an emeraldgreen sheath that perfectly matched the emerald in her engagement ring—and had only returned to try the dress on after alterations.

The dress she had persuaded Ellie to try on was indeed the blue that Patrick had suggested, its material pure silk, with a fitted, mandarin-style collar and short sleeves.

‘With your dark hair swept up like it was last night, and some kohl around your eyes, you’ll look positively exotic, Ellie,’ Sarah enthused.

The gown was beautiful, it was also more glamorous than anything Ellie had ever worn before. Dared she buy it?

‘Patrick is going to be bowled over when he sees you in this,’ Sarah added encouragingly.

She wasn’t sure she wanted Patrick ‘bowled over’ when he saw her. Where could any relationship between the two of them ever go? Nowhere, came the resounding answer. And yet a part of her so wanted the dress—if only to see if she could bowl Patrick over…!

‘Why don’t you think about it while the two of us have a cup of coffee?’ Sarah proposed as she saw Ellie’s uncertainty.

‘Good idea,’ Ellie accepted with a certain amount of relief.

Although she wasn’t so sure it had been a good idea once the two women were seated in a coffee-shop further down the street and the conversation naturally turned to Sarah’s engagement!

‘It was all a bit—sudden, wasn’t it?’ Ellie suggested lightly as she stirred sweetener into her coffee.

‘Mmm,’ Sarah acknowledged thoughtfully. ‘I’ve quite enjoyed this last year—the modelling and having my photograph on the cover of magazines but you know, Ellie, it’s a very lonely sort of life too. I missed my friends, the family,’ she added wistfully. ‘Most of all the family. Marriage, the possibility of having my own family, suddenly seemed the right option.’

But, as Ellie knew only too well, Gareth most certainly wasn’t the right man to share that option!

‘You’re only twenty-one, Sarah,’ she teased. ‘There’s plenty of time for that once you’ve done all the other things you want to do with your life. Didn’t you once mention that you wanted to do some fashion designing of your own?’

‘I’ve already done some,’ Sarah told her excitedly. ‘I had totally forgotten in the excitement of the last few weeks,’ she went on ruefully, ‘but I’m waiting for Jacques, the designer I worked with in Paris, to tell me what he thinks of them.’

Ah. So Sarah hadn’t completely given up on her life in Paris after all…

‘That sounds interesting,’ Ellie encouraged. ‘Do you think that will affect your engagement to Gareth?’

Sarah looked startled. ‘I must admit I hadn’t given that much thought.’ She grimaced. ‘This being engaged and having to think of another person is all new to me,’ she added self-derisively. ‘But I would really like to follow it through if Jacques thinks I have any talent at all.’

Again, this was encouraging, Ellie thought; it showed the other woman wasn’t yet quite so tied up in her relationship with Gareth that she had given up on her own ambitions.

‘I’m sure Gareth will understand if we have to wait a while before getting married,’ Sarah added dismissively.

Ellie thought the other woman was being slightly optimistic concerning Gareth’s patience in that direction—after all, the sooner Sarah was his wife, the sooner his position at Delacorte, Delacorte and Delacorte was secured—but wisely she didn’t voice any of those doubts to Sarah.

She did, however, relay the conversation to Patrick when he arrived to collect her that evening.

‘You look wonderful, Ellie.’ He stood back to look at her appreciatively.

Ellie felt warmth in her cheeks at his praise. ‘Patrick, didn’t you hear what I said? Sarah—’

‘Still has plans to become a fashion designer,’ he finished dismissively. ‘That’s great. But—’

‘Just “great”?’ Ellie persisted frowningly. ‘Don’t you realise this could be the way to drive a rift between her and Gareth?’

‘Well, of course I realise that,’ he confirmed lightly. ‘He isn’t going to like the idea of a delayed marriage at all.’

‘Exactly,’ Ellie said with satisfaction. ‘Which is good—isn’t it…?’ she added uncertainly when Patrick didn’t look as thrilled by the news as she had been earlier.

‘Very good.’ He nodded. ‘But at the moment I’m more interested in the way you look, Ellie. That dress is—you look wonderful,’ he said again.

Ellie had given in to impulse and gone back to the shop to buy the blue silk gown, aware that it was costing a small fortune but for the moment not caring. She had also swept up her hair and applied kohl to her eyes, as Sarah had suggested. The finished effect was pretty good, even if she did say so herself. And it was also good that Patrick liked the way she looked this evening. Wasn’t it…?

That was the particular problem she had at the moment. There was no denying that she was attracted to Patrick, that she more than liked being in his company, but at the same time she was still very much aware that their relationship was nothing but a sham. It certainly wouldn’t do for either of them to forget that. Because once this situation had been sorted out she and Patrick would go back to being strangers—perhaps occasionally mentioned to each other by Toby, but other than that strangers.

The fact that Patrick was once again dressed in evening clothes, and it made her heart flutter just to look at him, was not something Ellie could allow herself to dwell on!

There was also the matter of the large flat white box he had carried in under his arm…

‘You told me off yesterday evening for repeating things,’ she reminded him dryly.

‘Telling you how beautiful you look in that dress deserves to be repeated,’ he said unrepentantly, his gaze still appreciative. ‘It’s blue too,’ he added with satisfaction.

‘Shouldn’t we be going?’ Ellie prompted sharply, after a glance at her wristwatch, not particularly wanting to get into a conversation about why she had chosen this particular gown. ‘After all, there’s politely late and then there’s just bad manners!’

Patrick laughed softly. ‘You sound like my mother!’

Great! Just the person she wanted to be likened to!

‘Oh, no, you don’t.’ Patrick removed the heavy winter coat from her hand as she would have put it on, throwing it back over a chair before laying the white box on the kitchen table and removing the lid. ‘I bought you a present today,’ he told her lightly, folding back the tissue paper in the box.

‘A present?’ Ellie gaped. ‘For me? But—’

‘For you,’ Patrick repeated firmly, taking something black and woollen out of the box. ‘It’s a pashmina. It’s made from the soft wool of goats in Northern India—’

‘I know what it’s made from,’ Ellie cut in dazedly, staring at the soft woollen shawl. She also knew that it was very expensive! ‘Patrick, you really shouldn’t have—’

‘I really should,’ he told her firmly, shaking out the long shawl to drape it decorously about her shoulders. ‘You deserve something in the way of thanks for what you’re doing. Think of it as an early Christmas present. Besides,’ he added as she would have protested again, ‘that black coat does absolutely nothing for you,’ he told her dryly.

Or for the image of the woman who was to be his partner for the evening, Ellie realized ruefully.

Not that he wasn’t right about her long black winter coat; it had been bought more for warmth rather than as any sort of fashion statement. It was just the fact of Patrick having bought her a gift—an expensive one at that—that was so disturbing. And it might be Christmas in just over a week’s time, but Patrick wouldn’t have been buying her a present anyway…

But the shawl did feel so warm, and it had such panache—its front drape fell to just above her knees; the other drape was thrown stylishly across one shoulder by Patrick. She didn’t want to refuse it!

Patrick’s hands moved up to cradle either side of her face as he looked down at her intently. ‘Just say, “Thank you, Patrick”, politely,’ he told her dryly. ‘Give me a kiss for good measure. And then we’ll be on our way.’

She tried to swallow, knowing which part of those instructions had suddenly caused this obstruction in her throat. Verbally thanking him would be no problem—

‘Too difficult?’ he teased mockingly. ‘Okay, just kiss me and we’ll forget all about saying thank you!’

That was the part that was bothering her! And Patrick knew it too. The light of challenge burned in those otherwise enigmatic grey eyes.

The problem was, if she ‘just’ kissed him, as he suggested, would either of them be able to forget about that? Ellie knew that she wouldn’t!

‘Don’t take too long deciding, Ellie,’ Patrick told her dryly. ‘Or the party will be over before we even get there!’

Which, to Ellie’s mind, wouldn’t be a bad thing!

But she was prevaricating. She knew she was. Patrick knew she was, too. Why not just kiss him and get it over with?

‘Thank you for my present, Patrick.’ She stood on tiptoe and kissed him lightly on the mouth. ‘But you shouldn’t have—’

Patrick put silencing fingertips over her lips. ‘Don’t ruin it, Ellie,’ he told her huskily. ‘And do you call that a kiss?’ he added derisively. ‘Sarah shows me more enthusiasm than you just did!’

Sarah was his cousin, and perfectly free to kiss him as enthusiastically as she chose. Ellie—who wasn’t quite sure what she was to him—felt rather more constrained.

‘How about you try again, hmm?’ Patrick encouraged throatily.

He was suddenly very close. Ellie was able to feel the warmth of his body, smell his spicy aftershave, and as she looked up into his eyes she could see that his pupils were dilated, so that only a ring of grey showed about the eyes.

‘Patrick…!’ She groaned huskily, before she once again rose on tiptoe, her mouth soft and pliant against his as she kissed him with all the pent-up longing inside her.

Patrick’s arms moved about her waist as he pulled her in against his body, although he let Ellie continue to control the kiss.

If you could call it control when she just wanted to melt against him and give in to the languorous yearning of her body!

‘Wow!’ he breathed slowly when Ellie broke the kiss, lightly resting his forehead against hers. ‘Now, that’s what I call a kiss. You have hidden talents, Miss Fairfax,’ he added warmly.

Ellie swallowed hard. ‘I—’

‘Will I do?’ Toby burst unceremoniously into the kitchen, coming to an abrupt halt as he saw how close Ellie and Patrick were standing to each other. ‘Sorry.’ He grimaced self-consciously. ‘I had no idea—I mean—’

‘You’ll do, Toby,’ the older man told him dryly as he stepped away from Ellie. ‘I was just telling your sister how beautiful she looks this evening,’ he prompted pointedly.

‘Er—yes, sis, you look great,’ Toby said, a perplexed frown on his brow. He still sounded slightly flustered—as well he might; the last thing he had expected was to see Ellie and Patrick in what must have looked like a clinch!

Ellie was a little puzzled as to why Toby was dressed in a black dinner suit and white shirt…

Patrick shot the younger man a searching look, and whatever he saw there in Toby’s face caused him to give an impatient shake of his head. ‘Did I forget to mention that Toby is coming with us this evening?’ he said blandly, turning to pick up his car keys from where he had left them on the table earlier.