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

‘Leave that for a minute,’ Patrick murmured softly, and he took the coffee pot out of her hand, turning her to face him. ‘I want to see the bruises on your arms,’ he told her grimly as he removed the wrap from her shoulders.

She felt the colour warm her cheeks as he turned the sleeves back on her dress. There was a huge thumb-print-size bruise on the front of each arm, one already turning a sickly yellow, the new one a blue-black. Ellie stood still as Patrick walked around to look at the back of her arm, hearing the angry hiss that followed.

‘I should have hit him while I had the chance,’ Patrick snapped angrily. ‘Damn it—I’ve a good mind to go back to the party right now and hit him anyway!’ he bit out harshly.

Ellie shook her head as she pulled the sleeves back down over her arms. ‘He really isn’t important.’

‘No, he isn’t,’ Patrick agreed abruptly as he moved to stand beside her, his eyes gleaming metallic grey. ‘But I have no intention of just standing by while he hurts you.’

She gave a self-derisive laugh. ‘You’re a little late in the day to prevent him doing that!’

Patrick stepped back, watching her with hooded eyes as she prepared the coffee. ‘Did you love him very much?’

‘Not at all,’ she answered with complete honesty. ‘Oh, I may have thought I did for a while. But I was just—flattered by his attention, I suppose. Believe it or not, he can be very charming when he wants to be.’ Besides, she already knew that the way Patrick made her feel, just by being in the same room as her, was far deeper than anything she might have thought she felt for Gareth!

‘I’m sure he can,’ Patrick dismissed scathingly.

‘No—really.’ She gave a self-conscious laugh.

It was strangely intimate in the quiet of the kitchen—the muted light under the kitchen cupboards the only illumination, the only sound the drip, drip of the coffee percolator.

Patrick’s eyes were mesmerizing now as he looked down at her, obliquely black, ringed with silver. ‘Dinner on Tuesday?’ he prompted huskily.

‘Er—Well—Yes,’ she agreed awkwardly, still unsure as to the reason for his invitation. ‘Although—’

‘Just a yes will do,’ Patrick assured her mockingly, his arms moving lightly about her waist. ‘I would like to see you relaxed and enjoying yourself for a change,’ he added frowningly.

If he thought she was going to be relaxed in his company then he was mistaken! Although she would enjoy spending the evening with him. If she knew the reason for it…

But he was standing so close now she couldn’t even think straight, let alone try to rationalise his dinner invitation. Her heart was beating erratically, her breathing shallow as she looked up into the handsome ruggedness of his face.

‘You look extremely lovely tonight, Ellie,’ he told her huskily.

‘You said that earlier,’ she reminded him breathlessly.

He smiled, his eyes crinkling warmly at the corners. ‘Some things need to be repeated.’ His hands linked at the base of her spine and he moulded her body lightly against his, his head bending slightly as his lips moved teasingly across hers.

She had forgotten to breathe again, felt as if time itself were standing still. Only her hands resting on the broadness of Patrick’s shoulders prevented her from actually falling down.

‘You have a very kissable mouth, Ellie Fairfax,’ Patrick murmured huskily as he took little sips from her lips. ‘A very sensuous neck,’ he whispered as his lips moved down the silky column of her throat. ‘Divine breasts—’

‘I think perhaps you should stop there, Patrick, don’t you?’ Ellie moved awkwardly in his arms, very aware of the sudden pertness of those ‘divine breasts’, the nipples hard against the silky material of her dress.

He straightened, his head tilted to one side as he regarded her quizzically. ‘Why do I get the impression you’re an innocent?’ he murmured ruefully.

‘Probably because I am!’ Ellie admitted uncomfortably as she extricated herself from his arms, at the same time looking up at him irritably. ‘There’s nothing wrong with that,’ she added sharply.

Patrick’s smile deepened. ‘Did I say there was?’

‘You looked as if there was,’ she snapped defensively.

He shook his head, still smiling. ‘I don’t think so, Ellie.’

Well…okay, maybe he hadn’t. But he certainly seemed surprised to meet a twenty-seven-year-old virgin!

Maybe it was odd at that; Ellie really wouldn’t know. It wasn’t something she had ever discussed with any of the women she worked with.

She had been out with several boys of her own age up to the age of nineteen, but after her parents had died she had been too busy trying to keep a home for Toby and herself—hadn’t really had much time to think about relationships. Which was probably the reason she had fallen for Gareth’s charm six months ago!

But in the face of Patrick’s sophistication, his obvious experience when it came to women, she must seem rather gauche and naïve.

Well, tough! She had no intention of pretending an experience she just didn’t have. And that included appearing sophisticated in the face of Patrick’s appreciative comments on her body!

‘Coffee, Ellie,’ he reminded her lightly, moving to sit down at the kitchen table.

‘Of course.’ She moved economically about the kitchen, getting out the cups, cream and sugar, all the time avoiding Patrick’s gaze, but knowing it followed her every movement.

‘Did Davies—? Steady,’ Patrick soothed as a spoon landed on the floor with a clatter when Ellie just dropped it.

She bent to pick it up, her face averted so that he shouldn’t see the heated colour in her cheeks.

‘Ellie?’

Just that. Her name. Nothing else. But it was said compellingly enough for Ellie to know he wanted her to look across at him. And she did exactly that. The steadiness of his gaze as he looked at her wordlessly was as forceful as Ellie had known it would be.

‘What do you want to know, Patrick?’ she snapped impatiently, picking up the tray of coffee things only to put it down noisily on the kitchen table. ‘Whether Gareth and I came close to being lovers?’ she bit out sarcastically. ‘What business is it of yours if we did?’ she added challengingly, blue eyes bright with anger as she glared down at him.

‘Black, no sugar,’ he told her economically. ‘My preference for coffee,’ he explained mildly at her blank look.

‘Oh. Fine,’ she muttered, sitting down abruptly to concentrate all her attention on pouring the coffee. She didn’t want to think about anything else!

‘You’re quite right, Ellie,’ Patrick began softly, ‘it is none of my business just how—intimate your relationship was with Davies. Except…’

She looked up sharply. ‘Yes?’

His gaze was intense on the paleness of her face. ‘Did he hurt you, Ellie?’

She felt the blood drain completely from her cheeks, her hand shook as she held the coffee pot poised over one of the cups.

‘Ellie?’

She drew in a deep breath, swallowed hard, willing herself to carry on pouring the coffee without spilling it. No, Gareth hadn’t hurt her, he had humiliated her. But it wasn’t an incident she particularly wanted to relate to Patrick. It was the reason she knew she had meant absolutely nothing to Gareth—the reason she knew what sort of man he really was…

She gave an over-bright smile, her gaze not quite meeting Patrick’s as she handed him his cup of coffee. ‘It isn’t important, Patrick,’ she dismissed lightly. ‘We’re all agreed that he isn’t a nice person.’

Patrick reached out, his hand covering hers as it rested on the tabletop. ‘Tell me what happened,’ he encouraged huskily.

She closed her eyes, wishing she could shut out the memory of that last time she had been with Gareth but at the same time knowing that she couldn’t.

Gareth called into her office as she was finishing work, suggesting that he drive her home. Things had been rather strained between them the last couple of weeks—forgotten telephone calls, cancelled dates—and she had welcomed this chance to talk to him alone for a while.

Toby was still at work when they arrived back at the house, and almost before Ellie and Gareth were in the door, it seemed, Gareth began to kiss her. But as the kiss deepened, with Gareth’s hands roaming more freely over her body than ever before, Ellie began to pull away from him.

‘Don’t,’ she told him frowningly, at the same time pushing ineffectually at his painful hold about her waist.

He smiled then—a smile like no other Ellie had seen him give, a smile so scornful it made her cringe. ‘That’s always been the trouble with you, Ellie,’ he told her scathingly as he released her so abruptly she staggered slightly. ‘Maybe if you hadn’t been so frigid I wouldn’t have needed to find someone else. As it is…’

Ellie stared at him. She had suspected something; of course she had. Gareth had been far too elusive these last two weeks for her not to have realised that something had gone seriously wrong with their relationship.

Gareth raised blond brows at her stricken expression. ‘Of course, it isn’t too late,’ he drawled suggestively. ‘I could still be persuaded into continuing our relationship. If you were to—’

‘You conceited—!’ Ellie broke off angrily, glaring up at him disgustedly. ‘Let me get this right, Gareth,’ she said evenly, eyes narrowed now. ‘If I’ll agree to go to bed with you then you’ll consider breaking off your other—relationship?’

The fact that he had another relationship had come as a complete shock to her. But she would think about that later. Once Gareth had left. Because he was leaving. Soon!

He smiled. ‘Well, I wouldn’t go quite that far,’ he mocked.

Her eyes widened. ‘You’re suggesting that I become part of some harem?’

‘Of course not, Ellie.’ He chuckled. ‘If everything goes according to plan, I should be getting married soon. But that’s no reason for us to break off our relationship. If things were different between us,’ he added pointedly.

If everything went according to plan! What plan?

She swallowed hard. ‘If the two of us were lovers, you mean?’ she clarified icily.

Gareth shrugged. ‘Well, it would hardly be worth the risk otherwise, now, would it?’

‘Get out,’ Ellie told him shakily, her hand on the table beside her for support; her legs felt so shaky she thought she might fall over otherwise.

‘Now, Ellie, there’s no reason to be like that,’ he cajoled huskily, taking a step towards her.

She straightened, her chin raised challengingly. ‘I said, get out, Gareth, and I meant it. And God help the poor woman you’re planning to marry,’ she added disgustedly.

He had come to a halt some distance away from her. ‘Frigid,’ he repeated scornfully.

Her eyes glazed coldly. ‘You’ll never know,’ she bit out forcefully.

He smiled. ‘But I already do know, Ellie,’ he assured her derisively. ‘Oh, well.’ He shrugged in the face of her stony expression. ‘I made the offer. See you around.’ He raised a hand in farewell before letting himself out of the house.

She turned to Patrick now, having no intention of relating any of that conversation to him. It was bad enough that she still remembered every painfully humiliating word of it, without sharing it with anyone else. Least of all Patrick!

She gave him a dismissive smile. ‘It isn’t important what happened, Patrick,’ she told him lightly. ‘Gareth hurt me with words, that’s all. And as my mother always said, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me”,’ she quoted ruefully.

Patrick looked unconvinced. ‘Bones heal; words can never be forgotten.’

How true that was. She hadn’t forgotten a single word Gareth had said to her six weeks ago, whereas a broken finger or wrist would have healed and been dismissed by now.

‘Surely it’s Gareth’s problem if he considers that any woman who doesn’t want to sleep with him must be frigid.’ She shrugged.

Grey eyes widened. ‘He actually said that? To you?’ Patrick sounded incredulous.

Ellie gave him a disgruntled frown. ‘Yes, he said that to me,’ she repeated irritably.

Patrick chuckled softly. ‘You’re right, Ellie.’ He gave a rueful shake of his head. ‘He isn’t important,’ he explained at her questioning look. ‘He obviously didn’t get to know you very well at all, did he?’ he added derisively.

‘Exactly what do you mean by that remark?’ she demanded defensively.

He looked at her consideringly before answering. ‘Ellie, you are one of the warmest, most responsive women I have ever had the pleasure to meet.’

Her cheeks coloured hotly. It was no good denying what he said; her response to him whenever he touched her was undeniable.

‘I’ll tell you something else,’ Patrick added huskily as he stood up to move round the table and pull her unresistingly to her feet. ‘I’m glad Davies never got close enough to you to discover that for himself,’ he murmured throatily, before bending to lightly brush Ellie’s lips with his own.

So was she.

She hadn’t always felt that way, had wondered in the days and then weeks that had followed Gareth’s abrupt departure from her life whether she could indeed be frigid. But she only had to be in the same room with Patrick to be completely aware of him, and when she was actually in his arms like this…!

No, she wasn’t frigid. She was just a woman who only responded to the right man. The right man for her. Because, although he was unsuitable in every other way—rich, powerful, successful, completely removed from her own lifestyle—she knew she had fallen in love with Patrick McGrath.

She had been fighting that knowledge for some time now, refusing to allow the thought to even enter her head. But alone here with him in the silence of her kitchen, held in his arms, their two bodies moulded perfectly together, she could no longer deny how she felt about him.

To herself, at least.

To Patrick it was another matter!

‘Well, I’m relieved to hear it,’ she told him lightly, at the same time moving determinedly out of his arms. ‘Maybe there’s hope for me after all,’ she added with deliberate self-derision.

Patrick’s gaze followed her frowningly. ‘Ellie—’

‘I just heard a car in the driveway, so I think Toby must be home,’ she told him with a certain amount of relief.

Her mother used to say something else to her, about ‘jumping from the frying pan into the fire’. Well, she had certainly done that where Patrick was concerned; he was a more unsuitable man for her to have fallen in love with than Gareth had ever been!

Chapter Eight

‘DID you enjoy yourself on Saturday?’

Ellie gave a startled glance towards the open door of her office, her gaze narrowing as she focused on Gareth standing in the doorway, looking incredibly cheerful. As well as self-confident.

The latter instantly made Ellie more wary than she would normally have been in his unwanted presence, and she glanced towards the door that connected hers to George’s, to make sure it was firmly shut, before replying. ‘The Delacortes gave you and Sarah a wonderful engagement party,’ she answered noncommittally.

Gareth grinned, coming fully into the room before closing the door behind him. ‘That didn’t exactly answer my question, now, did it?’ he reproved derisively, moving to sit on the edge of her desk as he looked down at her with mocking blue eyes.

Ellie sighed. ‘I didn’t think it really needed an answer,’ she dismissed, still eyeing him warily, sure his pleasantness wouldn’t last for long; nowadays it usually didn’t.

Besides, she remembered all too well his nastiness on Saturday evening. Still had the bruises to prove how angry he had been then.

He shrugged. ‘Thanks for the cut-glass crystal vase, by the way. Sarah will be writing to everyone formally, of course, but I thought I would come and thank you personally.’

Cut-glass crystal vase? Ellie had been aware that Patrick had carried a gift-wrapped present into the house on Saturday evening, of course, but even if it had been a cut class crystal vase, what did it have to do with her…?

‘"Congratulations, love from Patrick and Ellie",’ Gareth continued tauntingly. ‘You’ve been “Patrick and Ellie”; for how long?’ he added scathingly.

A matter of days. Except they weren’t ‘Patrick and Ellie’ at all.

She’d had no idea that Patrick had put her name beside his on the gift card that had accompanied the engagement present he’d given to his cousin on Saturday. She realised why he had done it, of course, but he might have warned her!

She gave Gareth a stony look. ‘Gareth, I have no idea why you should be in the least interested,’ she scorned.

‘I’m not. Not really.’ He still looked incredibly pleased with himself. ‘It will be quite a coup for the Fairfax family if you and Toby manage to pull this off.’ He gave her an admiring look. ‘I must say, Ellie, you’re something of a surprise. Especially after your holier-than-thou attitude before.’ He shook his head. ‘Those people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, you know.’

Ellie gave him a suspicious look. Could he possibly have been drinking? Admittedly it was only eleventhirty in the morning, but she couldn’t think of any other explanation for the fact that what he was saying made absolutely no sense to her.

She shook her head, not wanting to prolong this unwanted conversation any further by asking him for an explanation. ‘I’ll bear your advice in mind, Gareth,’ she dismissed. ‘Now, if you wouldn’t mind, I have some work to do…?’ She gave a pointed look at where he sat on some of the papers on her desk.

Gareth grinned, making no effort to move. ‘Don’t you see, Ellie? There’s no longer any need to be all coy with me. The truth is, you and I are more alike than I would ever have guessed.’

She stiffened defensively. ‘I don’t think so!’ she snapped distastefully.

‘But of course we are,’ he contradicted happily. ‘It’s a pity you came on so prim and proper six weeks ago; you and I would have made a great team. And Toby, of course.’

He had been drinking; there was no other explanation for this completely puzzling conversation!

‘What on earth does Toby have to do with any of this?’ She looked at him impatiently.

The two men had met on several occasions, when Gareth had come to call for her at the house, but as far as she was aware Toby hadn’t particularly taken to the other man then, and he certainly didn’t like him now. As for Gareth, he hadn’t seemed particularly interested in Toby either.

Gareth grinned. ‘You can stop the pretence now, Ellie,’ he teased. ‘The game is up, so to speak. Maybe the three of us should form some sort of club? We could call it—’

‘Gareth, I have no idea what you’re talking about.’ Ellie lost all patience with him. ‘Besides which, you’re sitting on my desk when I want to get on with some work. Now, would you please go?’ She glared at him.

He stood up slowly. But looked no less confident. ‘Okay, play it that way if you want to.’ He shrugged. ‘But just remember that if you keep my little secret then I’ll keep yours. And Toby’s, of course,’ he added enigmatically. ‘Fair’s fair, after all.’

‘Gareth—’

‘Ellie, I’m just going across to—Gareth…?’ George came to a halt in the doorway that connected his office to Ellie’s, his gaze narrowing suspiciously on the younger man as he saw him standing there.

Gareth looked completely unconcerned by the interruption. ‘I just popped in to tell Ellie how much Sarah and I loved the crystal vase she and Patrick gave us for an engagement present,’ he told his future father-in-law lightly.

‘Well, now you’ve told her might I suggest you leave her to get on with her work?’ George nodded abruptly, continuing to look at the younger man with narrowed eyes.

‘Of course,’ Gareth accepted smoothly, moving unhurriedly to the door. ‘I believe I’m seeing you and Mary for dinner this evening,’ he added with a smile.

‘I believe you are,’ George acknowledged noncommittally.

‘See you later, Ellie,’ came Gareth’s parting shot.

Not if she saw him first! She had found him obnoxious enough before. Now she not only disliked him intensely, she didn’t understand a word he said!

George gave a shuddering sigh. ‘No matter how hard I try, I simply can’t bring myself to like that young man.’ He shook his head sadly.

Ellie gave a wan smile. ‘I wouldn’t worry about it, George; you’re in the majority rather than the minority!’

He grimaced. ‘I wouldn’t worry about it at all if Sarah hadn’t decided to marry the man! I had just about decided that he wasn’t suitable for Delacorte, Delacorte and Delacorte when Sarah dropped the bombshell of her engagement to the man. Her mother and I simply don’t know what to do for the best,’ he added heavily.

Ellie gave him a sympathetic smile. ‘I think the two of you are doing very well. Very often seeming to do nothing is the right thing to do,’ she added encouragingly.

George gave her a grateful smile. ‘A word of advice, Ellie. Never have daughters; it plays the very devil with your heart.’

She felt so sorry for him. Especially as there was nothing she could say or do to make him feel any better.

He straightened, seeming to shake off his despondency as he glanced down at the file he held in his hand. ‘I’m just going across to Gerald’s office for a few minutes. My next appointment is at twelve-thirty?’

Ellie nodded after a brief glimpse at the appointment book on her desk, breathing a sigh of relief when she was finally left alone in her office.

Gareth’s conversation was still a complete puzzle to her. But then, the man himself was a complete enigma to her; how could he possibly be contemplating marrying someone he so obviously didn’t love? As beautiful as Sarah was.

And how could she be in love with a man when she stood absolutely no chance of him ever feeling the same way about her?

Ellie had pondered that question several times over the weekend, and she still had no answer. Only knew that she was counting the hours until she saw Patrick again!

‘Oh, good, you got the message and aren’t dressed up,’ Patrick said with relief as Ellie opened the door to him at eight o’clock on Tuesday evening.

She raised dark brows. ‘It would serve you right if I said that I was dressed up.’ She opened the door wider to let him in, wearing a fitted blue jumper with faded denims.

He shook his head, grinning. ‘I knew Toby wouldn’t let me down!’

Her brother had dutifully passed on Patrick’s message earlier that they were going to eat at a pizzeria, and Ellie had dressed accordingly. Although Patrick looked as ruggedly handsome as ever in the black sweater and black denims that he wore.

‘We always seem to be going somewhere formal,’ Patrick dismissed. ‘I thought it would be nice if we could completely relax this evening.’

There was also no possibility of them running into anyone Patrick knew in some out-of-the way pizzeria!

Ellie had had plenty of time to think once Toby had passed on Patrick’s message to dress casually because they were going to eat informally. Patrick had never said, and she hadn’t liked to ask Toby, but there was always the possibility that Patrick actually had a woman in his life at the moment. Perhaps not someone he had wanted to introduce to his family, as in accompanying him to the party on Saturday evening, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t involved in a relationship. She had never thought to ask…

But she wanted to ask now—wanted to know everything there was to know about Patrick McGrath. Especially if there was already a woman in his life!

Not that Ellie didn’t already know she was wasting her time feeling about him as she did; she just didn’t like the idea of Patrick having to explain these dates with her to another woman. In fact, she just didn’t like the thought of there being another woman at all!

‘I hope you like Italian food?’ Patrick prompted ruefully.

‘I like it fine.’ Ellie nodded, picking up her fleecy blue jacket from the kitchen chair—if only to show him that she didn’t always wear the unattractive long black coat.