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

Chapter Six

ELLIE still had no idea, seated beside Patrick in the front of the car as he drove competently through the busy streets, why her brother should be accompanying them.

Obviously he was Patrick’s assistant, but this was a family party, to celebrate—or commiserate!—with Sarah on her engagement to Gareth. Admittedly, Toby obviously knew much more of the Delacorte family than Ellie had at first realised, but what possible place did he have amongst such a gathering?

She gave a dismissive shake of her head, giving up on trying to work that one out; she already had enough to think about this evening without worrying about why her brother should have been invited too.

Patrick’s present, for one thing…

Even now Ellie snuggled down into the warmth of the shawl, loving the feel of the soft wool against her arms. And Patrick had obviously been out and bought the gift himself. Which made it doubly precious.

That kiss, for another thing…

Given enough opportunity, she could quite get used to kissing Patrick. In fact, she couldn’t think of anything she enjoyed more, could still feel the sensuous warmth of his lips against hers…

Stop it, she instantly ordered herself exasperatedly. There was no point in getting used to Patrick kissing her. In fact, it might never happen again, so she had better get used to that!

The Delacorte house was ablaze with lights as Patrick parked the car outside. Over twenty cars were already parked in the long driveway—Jaguars, Mercedes, Rolls Royces and the occasional Range Rover, Ellie noted with a self-conscious grimace.

As Gareth had quickly realized when he’d come to work for Delacorte, Delacorte and Delacorte, Ellie was quite a favourite with George Delacorte, but she had never actually been to George and Mary’s house before. She now found a butler opening the door to their ring, a maid taking their coats and wraps. The luxurious de?cor and furnishings of the house were all a bit overwhelming.

Did Patrick’s parents have a house like this one too?

Probably, she acknowledged heavily. Even if, as she vaguely remembered Toby once telling her, as a bachelor of thirty-eight Patrick lived in an apartment of his own in town.

All this luxury made their own little house seem positively minute in comparison!

But then there was no point in comparison; the obvious wealth of Patrick’s relatives only served to emphasise the differences between the two of them. Differences she would do well to remember.

There was the sound of voices and laughter coming from a sitting room that led off to the right of the huge reception hall, and it was to this room that Patrick took them, his hand lightly under Ellie’s elbow. Almost as if he knew that what she really wanted to do was turn tail and run!

‘My family doesn’t bite, Ellie,’ Patrick told her mockingly now. ‘At least not on first acquaintance!’ he added tauntingly.

‘How reassuring,’ Ellie drawled, taking a glass of champagne from the circulating waiter.

‘If the two of you will excuse me…?’ Toby muttered distractedly, before disappearing into the throng of people already crowded into the room.

Ellie watched his departure with puzzlement. ‘What—?’

‘Let’s go and say hello to George and Mary,’ Patrick suggested lightly. ‘You had better hold my hand.’ He held it out to her. ‘I would hate to lose you in the crush.’

Ellie would hate to lose him too; she hadn’t recognised a single face in the room so far, apart from George and Mary Delacorte where they stood over by the huge fireplace, chatting to another middle-aged couple.

It was undoubtedly a large room, seeming to run the entire width of the house, with a huge bay window at one end and doors out into the garden at the other, but with fifty or so people in it there was barely room to move.

‘We have a large family,’ Patrick told Ellie ruefully as he managed to push his way through in the direction of the fireplace.

Ellie and Toby had several aunts, uncles and cousins too, but they would be hard pushed to fill even their small sitting room with the dozen or so that made up their family.

It didn’t help her nervousness when she instantly saw the likeness between Mary Delacorte and the tall darkhaired man who made up half of the other couple the Delacortes were chatting to. She knew she was right in the conclusion she had come to as the man gave a light laugh; his likeness to Patrick was unmistakeable.

Saying good evening to George and Mary was one thing, meeting Patrick’s parents was something else entirely!

Ellie came to an abrupt halt before they reached the foursome, giving Patrick an accusing glare when he looked down at her questioningly. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea, Patrick,’ she bit out tautly.

He gave her a considering look. ‘Ellie, introducing you to my parents is not tantamount to making a declaration about our relationship,’ he finally drawled teasingly.

‘No, Patrick.’ She gave a firm shake of her head. ‘Helping out with this situation concerning Gareth is one thing, but I won’t complicate things by meeting your parents.’ She determinedly released her hand from his. ‘You go and say hello to them. I’ll go and find the ladies’ room.’

He frowned darkly. ‘But—’

‘I said no, Patrick.’ Her gaze met his unwaveringly. ‘I’ll be standing over by the bay window when you’ve finished talking to them.’

‘Wearing a pink carnation in your lapel?’ he returned, with obvious impatience at her determination.

She gave the ghost of a smile. ‘I don’t have a lapel.’

Patrick shook his head as he looked down at her frustratedly. ‘You are undoubtedly the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met!’

Her smile was more genuine this time. ‘Nice to know I have the distinction of being something,’ she returned unconcernedly.

His expression lightened. ‘Oh, you’re a lot more than that, Ellie,’ he assured her dryly, before sighing resignedly. ‘Okay, no introduction to my parents. But try not to get lost, hmm?’ he encouraged.

As it happened, despite directions from the busy maid in the hallway, she did get lost—several times—and it was almost fifteen minutes later when she came back down the stairs. Only to walk straight into Gareth—literally—as he began walking up them.

The words of apology died on his lips as he looked up and recognised her. The boyish smile turned to one of derision. ‘I thought you had decided not to come to the party after all when I saw your boyfriend was in there alone,’ he bit out caustically.

Ellie straightened her shoulders, her hand tightly gripping her evening bag; Gareth was the last person she’d wanted to find herself alone with! ‘Obviously you thought wrong,’ she returned, non-committal—about the ‘boyfriend’ or the fact that she was there!

‘Obviously,’ Gareth acknowledged hardly. ‘I don’t know what you’re hoping to achieve by all this, Ellie, but—’

‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ she interrupted firmly, glancing over his shoulder in the hope that Patrick or Toby might see her predicament and come to her rescue; neither of them was in sight.

He grimaced. ‘I realise that you’re in love with me, Ellie, but—’

‘You realise no such thing!’ Ellie interrupted heatedly, knowing that briefly she might have thought herself in love with this man. But it had only been briefly. She was most certainly over whatever she had once felt for him! ‘If I’m in love with anyone, it most certainly isn’t you,’ she added scathingly.

Gareth’s gaze narrowed. ‘McGrath?’

She didn’t know what she felt for Patrick—had spent most of the last twenty-four hours determinedly not giving herself time to even think along those lines.

Her chin rose challengingly. ‘And what if it is?’

He gave a pitying shake of his head. ‘Then you’re wasting your time there more than you were with me,’ he scorned. ‘Delusions of grandeur!’ he added nastily.

‘And what about you?’ Ellie flushed angrily—more so because she knew what he said was true. ‘Isn’t Sarah Delacorte just as much out of your league as Patrick is out of mine?’

‘Ah, but I’ve already succeeded with Sarah,’ he reminded her confidently.

‘Not for long, if I have my way,’ Ellie snapped furiously. ‘You—Let go of my arm, Gareth!’ she gasped as he grasped her painfully on exactly the same spot he had the previous evening. And she had the bruises to prove it!

He ignored her, maintaining his grip, his face very close to hers now, his eyes glittering angrily. ‘Don’t try and mess this up for me, Ellie,’ he warned softly. ‘Because if you do—’

‘Everything all right, Ellie?’

It was Toby who came to Ellie’s rescue this time. Gareth released her in time for her to turn and see her brother strolling across the hallway to join them.

‘Davies,’ he greeted the other man coolly before turning to look at Ellie concernedly.

Ellie had a good idea what he would see too; she was both shocked and dismayed by Gareth’s verbal attack on her, and the bruises on her arm were hurting.

‘Ellie, Patrick was looking for you so that you can go into the buffet together,’ Toby said softly. ‘I think you should go and join him,’ he added firmly.

She didn’t want to rejoin Patrick; she just wanted to leave, to go home and lick her wounds—literally. Her arm really was throbbing, adding to the discomfort of the bruises already there.

‘I’ll just stay here and have a few quiet words with Gareth,’ Toby continued lightly, before turning to the other man. ‘I don’t think I’ve congratulated you on your engagement yet, have I?’

Ellie left them to it. These confrontations with Gareth were unpleasant as well as nerve-shattering. Although Patrick seemed to be right in his surmise that she only needed to appear in order to upset Gareth’s selfconfidence. She just wasn’t sure she was up to the effect these meetings were having on her own self-confidence!

Patrick was frowning darkly as she joined him by the window. ‘Where on earth have you been?’ he snapped. ‘I finished talking to my parents long ago. I—What is it?’ he probed concernedly when Ellie’s eyes misted over with tears. ‘Ellie…?’ He lightly clasped her arm.

Ellie gasped at this added pressure on a spot that already felt black and blue, biting her bottom lip as her tears became tears of pain.

Patrick instantly released her when he realised he was hurting her. ‘Ellie, where have you been?’ he asked slowly. ‘And why does your arm hurt?’

She shook her head, desperately blinking back the tears; she didn’t want to make a complete fool of herself—and Patrick—in front of his family. ‘I bumped into Gareth in the hallway—’

‘That’s how you hurt your arm?’ he ground out suspiciously, eyes narrowed to steely slits.

‘Not exactly,’ she conceded awkwardly. ‘You see, I still have bruises there from last night, when he grabbed me, and—’

‘Davies hurt you?’ Patrick bit out, dangerously soft.

‘I don’t suppose he meant to,’ she lied—knowing from the expression on Gareth’s face earlier that he would greatly enjoy strangling her for what he saw as her interference! ‘You see—’

‘Yes, I do see, Ellie,’ Patrick ground out harshly, his narrowed gaze searching as he looked across the room towards the door. ‘Here’s Toby,’ he rasped. ‘I want you to stay here with him—while I go and have a few words with my so-called future cousin-in-law!’

‘Patrick, no—’ But she was too late. He had already left her side, muttering a few words to her brother in passing before going out into the hallway himself.

This was awful! She deplored Sarah’s choice of future husband, knew Gareth for exactly what he was, but the last thing Ellie wanted was to cause trouble at Sarah’s engagement party. And she was pretty sure, from the grim expression on Patrick’s face as he’d left her side, that there was going to be trouble!

Toby smiled as he reached her. ‘Patrick wants me to take you in to the buffet; he’s going to join us in a few minutes.’

Maybe this was the reason Toby had accompanied them to the party—this way Patrick had ensured that she was never left alone. Except she had been…

‘Toby, Patrick is going to find Gareth and, from the looks of him, hit him,’ she said agitatedly, staring anxiously towards the direction in which Patrick had so recently disappeared.

‘So?’ Toby prompted unconcernedly.

‘Toby—’

‘Ellie,’ he cut in firmly. ‘I would have hit the man myself if I hadn’t thought the bruises might show, but I had to settle for a few choice words instead. And talking of bruises…’ He looked down at her searchingly. ‘Patrick said something about Gareth having hurt you just now?’

She sighed her impatience, wishing she hadn’t given away the fact that her arm was bruised beneath the sleeve of her dress. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ she dismissed. ‘What matters is that Patrick is going to make a scene.’ Her eyes were wide with distress at the thought.

Toby gave a confident shake of his head. ‘Patrick never makes a scene,’ her brother assured her dryly.

No, he probably didn’t—could probably get his point over by talking in that softly dangerous voice she had heard him use just now. But, nevertheless, she doubted Gareth would just meekly stand there and take whatever Patrick had to say to him.

‘Come on, sis,’ Toby encouraged lightly. ‘Let’s go through to the other room and get some food.’

The last thing Ellie felt like doing was eating! How could she even think about food when Patrick and Gareth might even now be at each other’s throats?

She hung back. ‘I just want to go home, Toby.’ She sighed. ‘In fact, after tonight I need to rethink my whole life,’ she added frowningly.

After tonight she wasn’t even sure she could go on working in the same building with Gareth, let alone anything else. If Gareth could be this threatening in the midst of his future in-laws, what possible chance did she stand of avoiding his wrath at the office?

She had worked for Delacorte, Delacorte and Delacorte since leaving school at eighteen, had been steadily promoted through the firm, until she’d become George’s personal secretary four years ago. It was a job she greatly enjoyed. At least, she had. The last couple of months, with the chance of bumping into Gareth around every corner, hadn’t been quite so much fun. And after this evening it promised to get worse!

Toby frowned. ‘I don’t think you need to do anything drastic just yet, Ellie,’ he cautioned. ‘Give Patrick a bit more time to resolve the situation, hmm?’

She gave a wry smile. ‘You have great confidence in your employer!’

Her brother gave a rueful shrug. ‘I’ve never seen Patrick at the losing end of a fight yet.’

No, she could believe that; Patrick had the air of a man completely confident in his own abilities. But this situation was too personal, too close to home, to be dealt with like the business deals he was usually involved with.

‘Hello, Ellie,’ Sarah greeted her brightly, looking exceptionally beautiful in the green dress she had bought earlier that afternoon. ‘You don’t happen to have seen my fiancé about anywhere, do you?’ she added ruefully.

Ellie felt the colour drain from her cheeks. ‘Er—’

‘He was outside talking to Patrick when I last saw him.’ Toby was the one to answer. ‘I’m Ellie’s brother Toby, by the way,’ he added lightly, holding out his hand in friendly greeting.

‘Sarah Delacorte.’ She gave Toby a considering look as she shook his hand. ‘Yes, I can see the likeness.’ She smiled warmly. ‘You work with Patrick, don’t you?’

‘For him, actually,’ Toby corrected dryly.

Sarah’s smile widened. ‘Of course. Well, it’s very nice to meet you,’ she added sincerely. ‘I hope you’ll both excuse me while I go and find Gareth?’

Ellie looked up impatiently at Toby once they were alone. ‘Shouldn’t you go and warn Patrick?’

Her brother shrugged unconcernedly. ‘One thing I’ve learnt from working for Patrick—he’s quite capable of taking care of himself. Now, let’s go and get some food; I’m starving!’ With his hand under her elbow he guided her through to the dining room.

Toby had learnt something else from working for Patrick, Ellie realized: how to take charge of a situation with the same arrogance!

Somewhere along the way, she realised dazedly as she put food on her plate without even noticing what she had chosen, her little brother had grown up…

She had spent so long thinking of him as her younger brother, that she just hadn’t noticed him grow into a man almost as confident as the one he worked for.

He was a handsome man too, Ellie had to acknowledge as a girl of about twenty who stood helping herself to the buffet—probably yet another relative of Patrick’s—gave him more than a cursory glance from beneath lowered dark lashes.

At twenty-six and over six feet tall, with short dark hair, laughing blue eyes, a pleasantly handsome face and a healthily fit body from his visits to the gym several times a week, her brother wasn’t the boy she had always thought him; he was a man who was obviously attractive to women.

When had that happened? She—

‘You aren’t eating, Ellie.’

She turned sharply to find Patrick standing at her side, and quickly checked his face for signs of a fight. Thankfully she didn’t find any.

‘How was I supposed to eat when for all I knew you might have been lying unconscious in the hallway?’ she came back, her sharpness due to her worry concerning his welfare.

Like a mother when her child came back to her unharmed after doing something she considered dangerous? Or like a woman worried about the man she loved…?

Patrick’s reply didn’t exactly calm her impatient anger. ‘Not very likely,’ he drawled confidently.

Ellie’s eyes sparkled angrily. ‘That’s okay for you to say, but—’

‘Ellie!’ Toby cut in laughingly. ‘I told you that Patrick is more than capable of taking care of himself.’

She glared at them both—Toby laughing, Patrick amused, one dark brow raised mockingly. ‘Men!’ she finally muttered frustratedly, turning away to pile more food haphazardly onto her plate.

‘Are you sure you’re going to eat all that?’ Patrick murmured close beside her. ‘Maybe we should just share the plate,’ he added teasingly.

Ellie turned to find that she and Patrick were alone. Toby had wandered off, was now standing across the dining room chatting to the dark-haired girl who had given him such an admiring look a few minutes ago. He hadn’t wasted much time!

She looked up at Patrick, some of her anger abating in the face of his teasing look. ‘I had visions of a brawl in the hallway,’ she admitted ruefully.

He shrugged. ‘I very rarely resort to violence, Ellie. Although in Davies’s case,’ he added hardly, his expression becoming grim, ‘I could be willing to make an exception. As it is, I’ve made it very clear what I will do to him if he so much as comes near you again, let alone touches you.’

Ellie raised dark brows. ‘Oh?’

Patrick nodded abruptly. ‘I think we need to discuss your continued involvement in all this.’

Ellie felt her heart stop for a moment. What did he mean? Was he suggesting that it was no longer necessary for her to be involved?

She might have decided minutes ago that she needed to rethink her life, to perhaps consider giving up her position at Delacorte, Delacorte and Delacorte as a way of avoiding accidentally bumping into Gareth any more. But she hadn’t included not seeing Patrick any more in that rethinking…The very thought of that filled her with desolation.

A week ago Patrick had just been her brother Toby’s boss—a man she had once shared an embarrassing experience with—but he was now so much more than that. How much more she still didn’t want to admit to herself. She just knew she couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing Patrick again!

Her mouth tightened. ‘You can manage without me now—is that it?’ She was waspish in her disappointment.

‘I didn’t say that.’ Patrick gave her a reproving look. ‘I just think that it might be better for you—’

‘I’ll decide what’s best for me, if you don’t mind,’ Ellie told him shortly. ‘And while I can still be of any help in preventing Sarah making a terrible mistake I intend staying very much in Gareth’s face!’ she announced firmly—in complete contradiction of what she had decided minutes ago!

But the only way she could continue to see Patrick was to remain a thorn in Gareth’s side.

And she very much wanted to continue seeing Patrick…

Chapter Seven

‘I’M SORRY, how did you say Toby was getting home?’ Ellie yawned tiredly as Patrick drove her home a couple of hours later.

He shrugged dismissively. ‘Someone he met at the party is driving him back later, I believe.’

Ellie would take a bet on it being that pretty darkhaired girl who had looked at him so interestedly as they stood at the buffet table; she certainly hadn’t seen much of her brother during the rest of the evening.

Oh, well, good luck to him, Ellie thought slightly enviously. She had spent the whole evening with Patrick glued to her side—but for completely the wrong reason!

‘I felt so sorry for George and Mary this evening.’ She sighed heavily. The older couple’s unhappiness at their daughter’s choice of future husband had been perfectly obvious to Ellie as they’d looked at Sarah so wistfully. She frowned. ‘Does Sarah really have no idea how they feel about Gareth?’

‘George has voiced his—reservations concerning the speed of the engagement.’ Patrick grimaced. ‘Anything else is sure to just make her all the more determined to have her own way.’

Ellie turned to smile at him in the semi-darkness of the illuminated streets they were driving through. ‘Runs in the family, does it?’ she teased.

He gave a slight smile. ‘Something like that.’ She could believe it. They were certainly an attractive family, but stubbornness seemed to be one of their less endearing characteristics.

‘Gareth is going to cling like a leech,’ Ellie warned heavily.

Patrick’s mouth tightened. ‘I agree. He’s a parasite.’

How embarrassing it was for her that she had been the previous woman taken in by Gareth’s charm! In fact, she would rather not talk about Gareth at all.

‘So what’s the next move?’ she prompted briskly.

‘Dinner on Tuesday, I thought,’ Patrick came back lightly.

Ellie turned to him frowningly. ‘What’s happening on Tuesday evening?’

‘I just said—dinner,’ he dismissed.

‘Yes, but—what’s it for?’

He shot her a sideways glance. ‘So we don’t starve?’

‘Yes, but—’

‘You’re repeating yourself again, Ellie,’ he mused teasingly. ‘I’m inviting you out to dinner on Tuesday evening,’ he explained lightly.

Ellie’s frown deepened. ‘But—’

‘Ellie, will you or will you not have dinner with me on Tuesday evening?’ Patrick cut in patiently.

‘Well, of course. I’ve already told you I’ll do everything I can to help—’

‘This is dinner with me, Ellie.’ He parked the car in the driveway and turned in his seat to look at her. ‘No one else. Well…I suppose there will be other people in the restaurant. But they will have nothing to do with us. Have I made myself clear now?’

If she understood this correctly, Patrick had just invited her out on a date!

He gave a smile at her perplexed expression. ‘I believe it’s usual to invite your escort in for coffee at the end of the evening.’

Ellie was still so dazed by his invitation out to dinner on Tuesday that she did ask him in, getting out of the car to unlock the front door of the house and lead the way in to the kitchen.