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

The beautiful pashmina Patrick had bought for her on Saturday was now carefully folded and placed back in its tissue paper inside the box, stashed away at the back of her wardrobe. Ellie knew she might never find the opportunity to wear such a glamorous item again.

‘Shall we go?’ she prompted lightly once she had shrugged into the jacket.

Patrick looked at her consideringly. ‘Is everything okay? Has Davies been bothering you again?’ he added hardly.

Ellie frowned. ‘Apart from a very strange conversation with him yesterday morning, no.’

‘Tell me about it while we eat,’ Patrick suggested, opening the door for her. ‘Unless you think it will give us both indigestion?’ He grimaced as he moved to unlock the car door.

It was warm and cosy as she settled inside the car, which smelt vaguely of the aftershave Patrick favoured. ‘No more than any other subject would, I don’t suppose,’ she answered Patrick dismissively as he got in beside her.

He gave her a sideways glance. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

Ellie sighed. ‘I still don’t know what this evening is about—’

Patrick shrugged. ‘How about it’s a thank-you for all the—inconvenience you’re having to go through on my family’s behalf?’

‘What about the inconvenience you’re now having to go to on my behalf?’ she came back dismissively.

He frowned his puzzlement as he drove. ‘What inconvenience would that be?’

She gave a self-derisive smile. ‘Taking me out.’

He smiled ruefully. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about, Ellie.’

She grimaced. ‘It must be the week for it!’

‘Forget Davies for the moment,’ Patrick bit out impatiently. ‘I want to know what you meant by that remark just now.’

Seeing the determination on his face, Ellie wished she had never made the remark in the first place. She was just feeling sorry for herself because she had fallen in love with a man who was completely unobtainable. Which was absolutely no reason to try and make life difficult for him on the rare occasions she saw him!

‘Forget it,’ she advised self-derisively. ‘It’s just pre-Christmas tension, I expect. It’s very kind of you to take me out—’

‘Ellie, I know you haven’t known me very long,’ he interrupted evenly, his expression grim, ‘but when you do know me better you’ll realise that, although I’m not a cruel man, neither am I someone who takes a woman out—namely you—because I am simply being kind!’

She had seen Patrick in many moods over the last couple of weeks—amused, attentive, charming, angry when it came to Gareth—but he had never been annoyed or angry with her before. At the moment he appeared to be both!

‘I’m sorry if I’ve mistaken the situation—’

‘And don’t start apologising,’ he cut in impatiently. ‘You have done nothing to apologise for. I appear to be the one who hasn’t made myself clear. A fact I am about to change right now,’ he assured her determinedly, and he turned the car into a deserted private car park on the edge of town.

‘What are you doing?’ Ellie looked about them dazedly as Patrick parked the car in the middle of the dimly lit area.

He released his seat belt before turning in his seat to face her. ‘I’m about to convince you that I asked you out this evening for one reason and one reason only. You can let me know afterwards if I’ve succeeded or not,’ he added firmly, before reaching out to pull her into his arms, his mouth coming down forcefully on hers.

Ellie was so stunned by the suddenness of the kiss that for a moment she lay acquiescent in his arms, but then the magical thrill of his lips thoroughly exploring hers warmed her body in that familiar way, and her arms moved up about his shoulders as she returned the kiss with all the pent-up longing inside her.

Patrick’s hands moved caressingly along the length of her spine, sending ripples of pleasure through her whole body. Her neck arched as his lips moved from her mouth to her cheek, and then down the creamy column of her throat, his tongue doing amazing things to the tiny hollow he discovered there.

Ellie’s eyes were closed, her head back against the car seat, her fingers entwined the thick darkness of Patrick’s hair as she held him against her.

‘Are you wearing anything underneath this jumper, Ellie Fairfax?’ Patrick murmured throatily as his thumb moved across the tip of one hardened nipple.

‘What do you think, Patrick McGrath?’ she came back huskily.

‘I think perhaps I should find out,’ he said softly.

Ellie gasped at the first touch of his hands on her nakedness. They were cool as they cupped the warmth of her breasts, the moistness of his tongue against the hardened tips causing her back to arch instinctively, and she moaned low in her throat at the pleasure that swept heatedly through her body.

She felt mindless, every bone in her body fluid as the warmth of Patrick’s mouth closed erotically over one hardened nipple. Her own hands moved restlessly up and down the long length of his back as she wished the pleasure to go on for ever.

Patrick’s hands encircled her waist as he held her against him, his lips travelling down the flat slope of her midriff now, pausing to explore the dip of her navel revealed by the low-waisted denims.

Even that felt wonderful, Ellie realised with a surprised gasp, leading her to wonder what other parts of her body would respond to Patrick’s slightest touch.

Patrick raised his head to look at her, his eyes bright in the semi-darkness. ‘I’m not hurting you?’

‘Oh, no,’ she breathed weakly, feeling as if she must have died and gone to heaven.

‘And do you know now why I invited you out to dinner?’ he prompted huskily.

‘Er—yes, I think so.’ She nodded; it was a little disconcerting looking at him over her bared breasts!

‘You only think so?’ he murmured teasingly, eyes glinting with intent. ‘Perhaps I wasn’t convincing enough—’

‘Oh, yes—you were!’ She reached down and raised his head as he would have commenced kissing her breasts again. ‘Patrick—’

‘I know.’ He grimaced self-derisively as he gently pulled her jumper down to cover her nakedness. ‘This isn’t the ideal place for lovemaking. In fact—’ he straightened, running his hand restlessly through hair already tousled by Ellie’s own hands ‘—I think I’m a little old to be making love in a car park. But later, Ellie, when I get you home…!’

‘Promises, promises,’ she teased self-consciously.

‘Be warned, Ellie,’ he told her decisively, ‘I always keep my promises.’

Had Patrick really just made love to her? Had he really just paid homage to her body as if he found her beautiful and desirable?

He most certainly had!

And, what was more, he’d said he was going to do it all over again once they returned from their evening out!

The rest of the evening—the Italian restaurant, the delicious food they ate there, the easy flow of conversation—all passed in a dream for Ellie.

She learnt that Patrick had gone to university, eventually leaving with a first class degree in Business Studies, and that instead of going into industry working for someone else had put his knowledge to use on a personal basis, building up a varied and successful business over the last fifteen years. It was a challenge he obviously still enjoyed.

She also learnt that his was a very close family, that his sister Teresa was fourteen years younger than his thirty-eight, also that she was the cherished baby of the family.

What Ellie still hadn’t established by the time Patrick drove her home was whether or not he had a woman in his life; it didn’t seem the sort of thing she should ask him after their intimacy earlier this evening!

‘Damn,’ he muttered as they arrived at Ellie’s home and saw Toby’s car was already parked in the driveway.

Ellie felt warmth in her cheeks as she guessed the reason for his irritation: Toby’s presence meant that they wouldn’t be able to carry on where they had left off earlier after all.

Patrick turned to look at her ruefully after parking the car behind Toby’s. ‘Have you never thought of getting a home of your own?’ he said dryly.

Until this moment, quite honestly, no. It had always seemed the natural thing for her and Toby to continue living together after their parents’ death. But at this moment Ellie had to admit she was disappointed that they weren’t to be alone again, too.

‘Never mind.’ She squeezed Patrick’s arm lightly. ‘It can’t be helped,’ she added ruefully.

‘You’re right. There will be other occasions.’ He nodded before getting agilely out of the car to come round and open her door for her.

Ellie felt as if she were floating on air as they walked over to the house; Patrick had said there would be other occasions. That must mean he was going to ask to see her again.

To her surprise, Toby was nowhere to be found once they were inside the house.

‘He must have gone to bed.’ Ellie shrugged dismissively.

Patrick moved so that he was standing very close to her. ‘Does that mean we’re alone after all?’

‘I suppose it must do. I—’ Ellie broke off as she heard the sound of feet descending the stairs. ‘Perhaps not,’ she added ruefully, turning expectantly towards the doorway that led out into the hallway.

Except it wasn’t Toby who came into the kitchen!

But Ellie had no trouble placing the other woman as the one who had looked so interestedly at Toby at the party on Saturday evening. And if she had been upstairs with Toby…!

‘Thank goodness you’re here,’ the other woman burst out agitatedly.

Although it wasn’t to Ellie that she spoke…

‘What is it?’ Patrick was instantly alert and left Ellie’s side to go to the other woman, the languid intimacy that had existed between the two of them all evening instantly broken.

‘Toby,’ the woman choked emotionally. ‘I think it must be something he’s eaten—I had to drive him here. He felt too ill even to drive home.’ She looked distraught. ‘Oh, Patrick, I’m so worried about him!’ She launched herself into Patrick’s arms, the tears starting to fall down her creamy cheeks.

Ellie looked at the two of them in total stupefaction. The other woman appeared to have spent the evening with Toby, and yet she and Patrick obviously knew each other rather well too. Of course, this woman had been at the party on Saturday evening, so the two might be related. Even so…

But for the moment she was too concerned about Toby herself to try to puzzle this one out, turning wordlessly to hurriedly leave the room and run upstairs to her brother’s bedroom.

Toby looked awful. He lay weakly back against the pillows, his face waxen, his eyes dull with discomfort and pain as he looked up at Ellie.

‘I’m going to call the doctor,’ she told him decisively.

‘Fine,’ he nodded. ‘Tell him to bring something with him to put me out of my misery!’ he called after her as she hurried from the room.

Ellie turned to give a strained smile at his attempt to joke. At least, she hoped he was joking! ‘I’ll tell him.’ She nodded before running down the stairs again. The fact that her brother hadn’t argued about her calling in the doctor told her just how ill he must feel; Toby, like most men, absolutely hated the necessity of ever seeing a doctor.

‘Food poisoning, do you think?’ Patrick prompted economically as he came out into the hallway where she stood telephoning.

‘I think so.’ She nodded, frowning as she waited for her call to be answered. ‘I—perhaps you could make some coffee for all of us?’ she suggested distractedly.

‘Teresa is already doing that,’ he informed her grimly. ‘Who are you calling?’ he added frowningly.

Ellie stared him speechlessly. Teresa? The young woman who was at this very moment making coffee in the kitchen, the woman Toby had obviously spent the evening with, was Patrick’s young sister, Teresa?

What—?

‘Ellie, who are you telephoning?’ Patrick repeated firmly.

‘The doctor—’ She broke off as Patrick shook his head grimly.

‘I’ll ring my own doctor and get him to come out.’ He took the receiver from her hand, disconnecting her call and putting through one of his own.

Ellie could only stand by dazedly as Patrick spoke decisively with whoever had answered his call, not asking the doctor to come out and see Toby, but giving him the directions to do so.

The young woman in the kitchen—the same woman who had looked so interestedly at Toby on Saturday evening—was Patrick’s sister, Teresa. Teresa? Tess…? That was a shortened version of the name Teresa, wasn’t it? Could Patrick’s sister possibly be the Tess that Toby had told Ellie he’d been dating the last couple of months?

And, if she was, why hadn’t Toby ever told her that it was Patrick’s sister he was dating?

Why hadn’t Patrick told her?

Because she was absolutely positive, from the fact that Patrick hadn’t looked in the least surprised to see his sister here, that he had known about the relationship before this evening!

What did it all mean?

Chapter Nine

‘WOULD you like one or both of us to stay with you for the rest of the night?’ Patrick asked Ellie some time later. The doctor had been to see Toby, and diagnosed—as they had all suspected he might—that her brother had food poisoning.

It had been an extremely traumatic couple of hours for Ellie, worried about Toby and completely puzzled by his relationship with Teresa/Tess.

But the idea of either Patrick or his sister staying for the rest of the night did not appeal to her. It also wasn’t necessary. The doctor had given Toby an injection to stop him vomiting, and although her brother was still pale, he was now fast asleep.

‘That won’t be necessary,’ Ellie answered Patrick distantly. None of the tension she had felt earlier, at discovering Toby’s girlfriend Tess was in fact Patrick’s sister Teresa, had evaporated.

In fact, if anything it was worse, all sorts of suspicions and conclusions having popped into Ellie’s head over the last couple of hours. Most of them too depressing to contemplate for long!

‘I’m very grateful for your help in getting a doctor here so promptly,’ she added as she realised she probably sounded less than polite.

‘But now you want us to leave?’ Patrick guessed ruefully.

It was almost one o’clock in the morning. She was incredibly weary from the worry over Toby, and her head ached from the circles her thoughts were going round and round in. So, yes, she wanted him—and his sister—to leave now.

She glanced at the younger woman, Teresa, sitting dejectedly at the kitchen table staring into a cup of cold coffee, her face pale.

Ellie could see a faint family resemblance between the brother and sister now—both were dark, with those magnetic grey eyes—but where Patrick’s face was all ruggedly sharp angles Teresa’s was softened into gamine beauty.

Why hadn’t she seen that resemblance on Saturday evening?

Because she hadn’t been looking for it! Because no one had told her that Toby’s girlfriend Tess was Patrick’s young sister!

That was what really bothered Ellie about all this; why had no one told her of the relationship?

Until she had the answer to that, she felt the more distance she put between Patrick and herself the better.

‘If you don’t mind,’ she answered Patrick evenly. ‘I wouldn’t expect Toby in to work tomorrow either, if I were you,’ she added dryly; she doubted her brother would be strong enough to get out of bed in the morning, let alone anything else!

‘I wasn’t,’ Patrick dismissed impatiently, looking down at her frowningly. ‘Ellie—’

‘Patrick, I don’t think now is either the right time or place for the two of us to talk,’ she bit out abruptly, moving sharply away from him, at the same time giving a pointed look in the direction of his sister.

Not that Teresa looked as if she were taking any notice of their conversation. She was completely wrapped up in the misery of her worry over Toby. Which probably meant that the affection Toby obviously felt for ‘Tess’ was reciprocated.

Why had no one told her that Toby was dating Patrick’s sister?

But perhaps someone had, Ellie realised slowly, as she recalled Gareth’s enigmatic conversation of yesterday…

Gareth had seemed to be under the impression that Toby, as well as herself, was no better than he was. Because he believed them both to be dating the McGrath brother and sister for the same reasons he had become engaged to Sarah—wealth and ambition? He was totally wrong, of course—on both counts. But—

‘Ellie?’

She looked up to find Patrick watching her concernedly. ‘Perhaps you should take your sister home now,’ she suggested stiffly. ‘She looks as if she’s had enough for one evening,’ she added, with a rueful glance at the younger woman.

‘I think we all have.’ Patrick nodded grimly. ‘I’ll call in tomorrow and see how Toby is.’

And continue this conversation, his words seemed to imply. Well, Ellie needed time and space to form her tangled thoughts into some sort of order. She wasn’t sure twelve hours was long enough for that!

‘Of course,’ she accepted smoothly. ‘Now, it really is late…’

He gave her another searching look before turning abruptly to his sister. ‘It’s time to go, Teresa,’ he told her briskly. ‘I’m sure Ellie will call us if she needs us,’ he added as Teresa looked about to protest.

Considering the only telephone number she had for Patrick was his business one, that wouldn’t really do a lot of good. Although Toby would have Patrick’s mobile number.

‘Of course I will,’ Ellie assured the younger woman as Teresa gave her a distressed look.

Teresa stood up, very tall and slender. ‘I’m really sorry we’ve had to meet for the first time under these circumstances.’ She grimaced.

Yes, it might have been better—it definitely would have been better for Ellie!—if the two of them had met before now.

‘I don’t suppose Toby will feel like this for long, and then perhaps he can bring you here for a drink one evening,’ she consoled.

Once he had given Ellie an explanation as to exactly what was going on! Because something was going on—Ellie was just too tired at this moment to be able to make sense of it all.

‘Maybe the four of us could go out to dinner together at the weekend,’ Patrick put in smoothly.

Ellie turned to give him a cool look. ‘I think it would be better if we took one step at a time. Besides,’ she added firmly as she saw Patrick was about to argue the point, ‘I doubt Toby will feel up to eating anything for several days.’ It was a valid point—one she could see Patrick would have a problem arguing with.

Thank goodness. She didn’t want to tie herself down to a definite time for seeing Patrick again. Not until she had some answers to a few pertinent questions. Answers that only her brother could give her.

‘I’ll ring you in the morning, if that’s okay,’ Teresa McGrath told her a few minutes later as she stood in the doorway preparing to leave.

‘Of course,’ Ellie accepted, deliberately avoiding looking at Patrick as he stood at his sister’s side. ‘Brr, it’s cold out here.’ She shivered from the icy wind blowing around them.

‘Yes, it does seem to have turned a little icy,’ Patrick murmured softly.

Ellie looked at him sharply as she sensed his double meaning, and those raised dark brows told her she hadn’t been mistaken. ‘The forecast is for snow,’ she returned, deliberately meeting his gaze.

‘Luckily it never settles for long in our climate,’ he came back, just as deliberately.

Ellie shrugged. ‘The forecast is for a long-term cold front.’ Two could play at this game. And, until she knew exactly what was going on, a cold front was exactly what she intended showing Patrick McGrath.

He shrugged broad shoulders. ‘Ice and snow eventually melt.’

‘Eventually,’ she echoed evenly.

‘Patrick, you can discuss the weather another time; we really should go, and let Ellie get back inside out of this biting wind,’ Teresa prompted her brother, obviously having no idea of the double-edged conversation that had been taking place between her brother and Ellie.

To Ellie they had sounded like a couple of secret agents in a B-rated movie, talking in a code only the two of them understood!

‘So we should.’ Patrick nodded abruptly before bending his head and lightly brushing Ellie’s mouth with his own. ‘But I will be back in the morning, Ellie.’

A threat if ever she had heard one, Ellie decided irritably. Well, if, as the doctor had implied, Toby was better by the morning, Patrick would arrive here to find Toby recovering on his own and Ellie at work!

But not before she had spoken to Toby herself…

‘I have no idea what you’re talking about, sis.’ Toby shook his head, his face still very pale as he lay back on the pillows. He had slept well through what had been left of the night, and the nausea seemed to have completely abated, although he had been left with a severe headache.

Join the club, Ellie thought, and gave a deep sigh before sitting on the side of her brother’s bed. ‘Okay, let’s start this off simply: why did you omit to tell me that the Tess you have been dating the last few months is actually Teresa McGrath, Patrick’s young sister?’

‘I—’

‘Please, don’t tell me that you didn’t think it was important,’ Ellie advised him dryly—she sensed he was about to tell her exactly that. ‘Because you know very well that it is. That it always was. That it still is,’ she concluded pointedly.

‘I’m not sure you should be badgering a sick man in this overly strident way.’ Toby shook his head before lying back to close his eyes, having just risked consuming a cup of weak tea and a dry piece of toast, both of which seemed—so far—to have stayed down.

‘It could get worse, Toby,’ she warned him. ‘If what I suspect is true, I could actually end up strangling this “sick man”—and so put everyone out of their misery!’ Her eyes glittered dangerously.

She had had plenty of time to think during a rather sleepless night—and some of the conclusions she had come to had been less than reassuring!

Toby opened one eye to look at her with obvious reluctance. ‘Why don’t you tell me what you suspect—and then I’ll tell you if it’s right or not?’

‘There’s little point in doing that if you aren’t going to answer me honestly!’ she bit out sharply.

Both Toby’s eyes opened innocently wide now. ‘My big sister taught me to always tell the truth.’

‘Very funny!’ Ellie gave a humourless smile, getting up from the side of the bed to move impatiently about the room, her narrowed gaze fixed on her brother the whole time she did so. Finally she gave a heavy sigh. ‘Are you and Teresa McGrath serious about each other?’

‘Yes,’ Toby answered unhesitatingly.

Ellie nodded; it was the answer she had expected. ‘Why did Patrick McGrath agree to take me to the company Christmas dinner?’

Her brother frowned his puzzlement at this sudden change of subject. ‘I told you—’

‘I know what you told me, Toby,’ she cut in impatiently. ‘But now I want the real reason.’

He shook his head, wincing as it obviously caused him a certain amount of discomfort. ‘But that was the real reason. Wasn’t it?’ he added uncertainly as Ellie looked unconvinced.

To Ellie’s relief, her brother’s answer told her one thing at least; whatever Patrick McGrath had been up to this last couple of weeks, Toby had obviously played no part in it. Which meant it had all been Patrick McGrath’s own doing!

She had thought about several of the puzzling remarks Patrick had made this last week, about how much Toby cared for her, how her young brother felt a responsibility towards her, and all those questions about why she didn’t have someone else in her life after Gareth—questions that all seemed to lead to the same unpleasant conclusion.

She was even more convinced about it now she knew from Toby that his relationship with Teresa McGrath was a serious one: Patrick was desperately trying to clear the way—clear Ellie out of the way, if only temporarily—in order to secure his young sister’s happiness with Toby.