Книга - The Yuletide Engagement

The Yuletide Engagement
Carole Mortimer


Carole Mortimer is one of Mills & Boon’s best loved Modern Romance authors. With nearly 200 books published and a career spanning 35 years, Mills & Boon are thrilled to present her complete works available to download for the very first time! Rediscover old favourites - and find new ones! - in this fabulous collection…A proposal for Christmas…When Patrick McGarth offers to take Ellie Fairfax to her company's Christmas party, she reluctantly accepts. If nothing else, she can show the world—and her cheating ex-boyfriend—that she is not nursing a broken heart!But what does a wealthy and powerful man like Patrick want with an ordinary girl like her? It doesn't take long for Ellie to find out as she tries to resist the temptation of Patrick under the mistletoe… This Christmas, will Ellie find a diamond in her stocking?







To the rescue…armed with a ring!






Marriage is their mission!

Look for more titles in this ongoing and adventurous new series.

Available only from Mills & Boon


.




The Yuletide Engagement

Carole Mortimer










www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)


For

Peter




Table of Contents


Cover (#u8f7bdb29-da59-520e-99d6-eb0f41515f9d)

Title Page (#ud92e8b7d-f477-5ac0-bdb7-07a36004ec17)

Dedication (#u3e521175-7f0e-5915-9909-86cb3ee11fad)

CHAPTER ONE (#ufbc64b3c-cb92-5717-9e72-c81690a94628)

CHAPTER TWO (#u4df4efb1-2f7c-579f-b004-ab64a5f75d12)

CHAPTER THREE (#u9ea55021-8025-5ded-bed9-e607d5414983)

CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)




CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_38dbc46a-e066-5091-a76a-a29fc94b48b9)


‘CINDERS shall go to the ball!’ Toby announced as he stood poised in the kitchen doorway, a look of triumph on his boyishly handsome face. ‘Although the first person to call me the Fairy Godmother is going to get slapped!’

Ellie looked up from the newspaper she had been reading where she sat at the kitchen table, blue gaze narrowing as she took in the pleased flush on her brother’s cheeks. ‘Toby, did you call into the pub again on your way home from work?’ she prompted suspiciously. His eyes looked overbright, and he wasn’t making much sense, either!

‘That’s all the thanks I get for getting you out of a difficult situation—accusations of inebriation!’ He grinned widely as he came fully into the kitchen, leaving the door open behind him, despite the fact that snow was forecast for later this evening.

Ellie gave an involuntary shiver as a cold blast of air followed her brother into the room. ‘At least shut the door, Toby,’ she reasoned with indulgent affection. ‘You—’

‘Didn’t you hear me, Ellie?’ He pulled her easily to her feet, swinging her round in the close confines of the kitchen.

‘Something about Cinders and a ball.’ She nodded, starting to feel slightly dizzy as the kitchen became a giddy blur; maybe intoxication was infectious? ‘Toby, will you please stop?’ she gasped weakly.

He did, holding onto her hands as she swayed slightly. ‘Ellie, I asked him and he said yes. Can you believe that?’ he exclaimed happily. ‘Didn’t I tell you he’s one of the good guys? He’s even coming round later this evening to sort out the details,’ he announced triumphantly. ‘Isn’t that just—?’

‘Toby, will you just slow down and tell me who you have asked to do what?’ Ellie cut in impatiently, but she already felt a terrible sense of foreboding as it slowly started to dawn on her exactly what Toby might have done. Surely he hadn’t—he wouldn’t have—? She had been joking, for goodness’ sake!

Toby let go of her hands, grinning at her victoriously as he reached for an apple from the bowl in the middle of the kitchen table, biting down on its crispness with complete enjoyment.

‘Toby!’ Ellie said warningly. ‘Will you just tell me exactly what it is you’ve done?’ Although she had a feeling she already knew the answer to that!

Her brother returned her gaze with guileless blue eyes. ‘I’ve asked Patrick to escort you to your company Christmas dinner, of course,’ he dismissed with satisfaction.

‘Patrick…?’ she echoed faintly.

‘Patrick McGrath. My boss,’ her brother enlarged impatiently as she just stared at him. ‘Remember? We were discussing the problem at the weekend and you said that what you really needed was someone high-powered like Patrick to accompany you. That way—’

‘But I wasn’t being serious, Toby,’ she cut in incredulously, sinking back down onto the kitchen chair, staring disbelievingly at her brother. He was the younger by only a year, but sometimes—like now—it could feel like ten!

The company Christmas dinner was quickly looming, and this year, after Ellie’s recent break-up with Gareth, a junior partner in the law firm they both worked for, it promised to be something of an ordeal for her. Not to go would give the impression she was too much of a coward to face Gareth and his new girlfriend, but to go on her own would make it look as if she were still pining for him. Which she most certainly was not!

Which was why, over the weekend, as she and Toby had lingered over their meal together on Sunday evening, she had drunk one glass of wine too many and suggested that she needed someone like Patrick McGrath, Toby’s wealthy entrepreneurial boss, to go with her to the dinner—no one could possibly think she was still interested in Gareth when she was in the company of such a man.

Tall, dark, handsome and extremely successful, Patrick McGrath was the ideal man to allay any doubts anyone might have as to her having any lingering feelings for Gareth.

But she had thought Toby knew that it had only been that third glass of wine talking, that she hadn’t really meant for it to happen!

She closed her eyes now in pained disbelief. ‘Toby, please, please tell me you haven’t really asked Patrick McGrath to take me out next week,’ she groaned desperately.

Her brother paused in the act of taking another bite of his apple. ‘I haven’t?’ he said uncertainly, some of the look of triumph starting to fade from his face as he finally noticed Ellie’s marked lack of enthusiasm.

‘You haven’t!’ she repeated firmly.

She had met Toby’s boss only once, five months ago. It had been enough. There was no doubting that Patrick McGrath was very rich, very self-assured, and very eligible. In fact, the very last person Ellie would ever want to ask her out!

Toby looked puzzled. ‘But on Sunday night you said—’

‘I had drunk too much wine, for goodness’ sake,’ Ellie stood up to pace the confines of the room. ‘I wasn’t being serious—I just thought of the most unlikely person ever to—I didn’t really mean it when I said—’

‘Patrick would make the perfect escort for your dinner a week on Friday,’ Toby finished obligingly.

She winced as she remembered saying exactly that. But it was a situation that required an extreme solution for unusual circumstances. On Sunday evening she had run the gamut of them, and had suggested Patrick McGrath being the perfect escort as the most extreme of those extremes. She certainly hadn’t expected Toby to act on it!

‘Exactly,’ she confirmed weakly. ‘Toby, please tell me you didn’t—’

‘But I did,’ Toby told her impatiently. ‘I asked Patrick to accompany you. And as he said yes I can’t see what your problem is.’ He shook his head.

He couldn’t see—! The problem was that Ellie felt totally ridiculous and completely humiliated. She had no intention of—of—

‘Toby, you can just call the man right now and tell him not to come here this evening—that you made a mistake, that your sister doesn’t need an escort next Friday or any other time, and that if or when I do need an escort I’ll find one of my own, thank you very much!’ She glared her indignation at her irresponsible brother.

Blue eyes blazed at the thought of her humiliation if she should ever meet Patrick McGrath again. Her dark, shoulder-length hair seemed to crackle with the force of her anger, every inch of her five-foot-two-inch frame seeming to bristle with indignation.

‘But—’

‘Call him, Toby,’ she repeated with cold fury. ‘Call Patrick McGrath right now and tell him!’

‘But—’

‘Now, Toby!’ she ground out forcefully.

‘I think what your brother is trying to tell you—Ellie, isn’t it?—is that there’s no need for him to call and tell me anything—I’m already standing right here,’ drawled a lazily amused voice from directly behind her.

Ellie had spun round at the first sound of that drawling voice, having to arch her neck back in order to look up into the confident face of Patrick McGrath.

If ever she had wanted the ground to open and swallow her up it was right now.

Patrick McGrath!

Tall—well over six feet. Dark—hair kept deliberately short as it looked inclined to curl. Handsome—grey eyes beneath arched dark brows, an arrogant slash of a nose, chiselled lips that were curved into a smile at the moment, an out-of-season tan darkening those distinctive features. Successful—even the casual clothes he was wearing this evening—a black silk shirt and faded denims—obviously bore a designer label, and the black leather shoes were no doubt hand-made.

‘So, Ellie,’ he drawled softly. ‘What was it you wanted Toby to tell me?’

She was trying to speak, really she was; she just couldn’t seem to get any words to come out of her throat!

‘The details for next Friday, perhaps?’ Patrick McGrath prompted interestedly, grey gaze lightly mocking.

How Ellie remembered that mocking gaze. How could she ever forget it? Toby still had no idea what had actually happened at her one and only other meeting with this man; Ellie hadn’t told him, and as the days and weeks had passed, without Toby making any reference to it, it had eventually become obvious that Patrick McGrath wasn’t going to tell her brother all the details of that meeting, either.

But Ellie was unlikely to ever forget them!

It had been an unusually hot summer this year, with everyone wearing the minimum of clothing, and Ellie, conscious of her impending summer holiday abroad and with a wish not to stand out like a sore thumb on the Majorcan beaches, had decided to spend one Saturday afternoon sunbathing in their secluded back garden.

Topless.

How could she have known that Patrick McGrath had been telephoning for over an hour, urgently trying to contact Toby? That he had decided to come over to the house in person when he’d received no reply? Or that he would stroll out into the garden when he found the house unlocked but seemingly deserted?

Ellie had made a mad scramble for her top when she’d realised she was no longer alone, but it hadn’t been quick enough to prevent that piercing gaze from having a full view of her naked breasts.

Damn it, she was sure she could see the knowledge of that memory now, clearly gleaming in those mocking grey eyes.

Despite what she might have said on Sunday evening, warmed by the unaccustomed wine, Patrick McGrath was the last man she wanted to accompany her anywhere!

She drew in a deep breath. ‘Toby has— He was mistaken when he asked—I’m sorry you’ve been troubled, Mr McGrath.’ She spoke dismissively, her gaze fixed on the second button of his black silk shirt. ‘I never meant—’

‘Toby, why don’t you make us all some coffee?’ Patrick McGrath turned to the younger man authoritatively. ‘While Ellie and I sort out whether or not I’m being stood up a week on Friday,’ he added derisively.

Toby set about making the pot of coffee and Ellie looked up at Patrick McGrath reprovingly. He might find all this funny, but she certainly didn’t. As if any woman would ever stand this man up!

But they did need to sort this mess out, and she would rather do it out of earshot of her well-meaning but unthinking younger brother.

‘Let’s go through to the sitting room, Mr McGrath,’ she suggested briskly, some of her normal self confidence returning as she led the way down the hallway to their lounge.

She was twenty-seven years old, had cared for Toby since their parents were killed in a car crash eight years ago, taking over the running of the family home as well as continuing her full-time job as secretary, eventually to one of the senior partners in a prestigious law firm. She was more than up to dealing with this situation.

Well…ordinarily she could be up to dealing with it, she conceded as Patrick McGrath stood in the middle of the sitting-room, looking at her with his laughing steely eyes.

How on earth did Toby cope with working for this man every day? she wondered frowningly. He had such presence, such confidence, that just being in the same room with him was a little overpowering. But she knew Toby thought the other man was wonderful, that her brother thoroughly enjoyed his job as this man’s personal assistant.

Maybe it was only women who found Patrick McGrath overpowering…?

Well…one woman, Ellie conceded self-derisively. Maybe if she weren’t so completely aware of the fact that this man had seen her sunbathing topless—

Stop that right now, Ellie, she told herself firmly. If she was going to sort this situation out at all then she had to put that embarrassing memory completely from her mind. Although it would help if Patrick McGrath were to do the same…

His next words didn’t seem to imply that was the case!

‘I don’t believe the two of us have ever been formally introduced,’ he drawled softly, with an emphasis on the ‘formally’, it seemed to a slightly flustered Ellie. How could she possibly have formally introduced herself while at the same time clutching a top in front of her naked breasts?

‘Probably not,’ she conceded abruptly. ‘But I’m sure you’re aware that I’m Ellie Fairfax, Toby’s older sister, and I am aware you’re Patrick T. McGrath—Toby’s boss.’

He gave an acknowledging inclination of his head. ‘The T stands for Timothy, by the way. And Ellie is short for…?’

‘Elizabeth,’ she supplied dismissively. ‘Although what—?’

‘It may come up in conversation a week on Friday.’ He shrugged broad shoulders.

‘Mr McGrath, there isn’t going to be any “a week on Friday”.’ She sighed frustratedly. ‘I have no idea what my irresponsible brother may have told you, but—’

‘He adores you, you know,’ Patrick McGrath cut in softly.

She felt the warmth in her cheeks at this completely unexpected comment. ‘I love him too.’ She nodded. ‘Although I don’t really think that’s relevant to our conversation.’ She frowned.

‘Ellie, do you think we could both sit down?’ Patrick McGrath suggested gently. ‘At the moment we look like two opponents about to face each other in the ring,’ he added dryly.

Maybe because that was exactly how he made her feel—totally on the defensive! ‘Please—do sit down,’ she invited abruptly.

‘After you,’ he drawled politely.

Ellie looked at him impatiently, finding herself the focus of Patrick McGrath’s cool grey gaze as he waited for her to be seated before he would sit down himself.

Old-fashioned good manners, as well as all those other attributes!

Ellie sat down abruptly, determinedly putting those ‘other attributes’ firmly from her mind. ‘I accept that Toby meant well when he—when he spoke to you today—’ she began huskily, stopping to look enquiringly at Patrick McGrath when he began to smile.

‘Sorry.’ He continued to smile. ‘Toby is—he’s one of the least selfish people I’ve ever met. As well as being completely honest, utterly trustworthy and totally candid.’ He sobered slightly. ‘You’ve done a lot for him, Ellie,’ he told her admiringly.

The warmth deepened in her cheeks at this even more unexpected compliment. ‘I’m pleased he’s working out so well as your assistant.’

‘I wasn’t just talking about him as my assistant, Ellie,’ Patrick McGrath cut in impatiently. ‘Toby is an exceptional young man. And it’s all thanks to you,’ he added firmly.

She gave a rueful smile. ‘I think my parents may have had something to do with it.’

‘Your parents were killed when Toby was eighteen.’ He shook his head. ‘A very dangerous time for a young man to be left without guidance.’

Ellie frowned. ‘You were right about Toby being candid!’ It made her wonder exactly what else Toby had confided to Patrick McGrath about their private family affairs.

He looked at her quizzically. ‘You should be proud of him, Ellie, not—’

‘Here we are.’ Toby was grinning widely as he kicked the door open with his foot and came in with the tray of coffee things.

Ellie looked up at him affectionately; she was proud of him—of the way he had carried on with his plans to go to university to study law after the accident that had killed their parents, of the way he had obtained a first-class degree, of the way he had worked doggedly in a law firm for the two years following, before applying and succeeding in getting this position with Patrick McGrath. Yes, she was very proud of him—she just wished that she had taught him to be a little less candid when it came to their own private affairs!

‘All settled?’ He sat back on his heels to look at them both expectantly after placing the tray down on the low table.

‘Almost.’ Patrick McGrath was the one to answer him dryly.

Almost nothing! Ellie was grateful to him for his praise of Toby and of the part she had played in helping to form him into the likeable young man he was—but that did not mean she was going to agree to this ridiculous plan for Patrick McGrath to accompany her to the company Christmas dinner!

‘We just have to dot the “i”s and cross the “t”s,’ Patrick McGrath assured the younger man.

‘Really?’ Toby looked pleased by the prospect as he stood up. ‘I have a date later, so if neither of you mind I’ll just go upstairs and change while you two chat. Be back in a couple of minutes,’ he added, before leaving the room.

‘You see what I mean,’ Patrick McGrath murmured softly. ‘He’s like a puppy, or a little brother that you don’t want to disappoint.’

‘He happens to be a little brother,’ Ellie reminded him frustratedly. ‘And I’m afraid this time he’s going to be very disappointed!’

‘Why?’ Patrick McGrath regarded her with cool eyes.

‘Because—because, Mr McGrath—’ she began impatiently.

‘Patrick,’ he invited smoothly.

‘Very well—Patrick,’ she bit out decisively.

‘Has something changed since Toby spoke to me this afternoon?’ he prompted interestedly. ‘Have you and the ex-boyfriend managed to patch things up after all? Because if you have—’

‘No, we haven’t managed to “patch things up”,’ she cut in evenly, her frustration increasing by the minute as she felt this situation slipping more and more out of her grasp. ‘And we never will,’ she added firmly. ‘But that does not mean—’

‘You have to go to the dinner with me instead,’ Patrick McGrath finished slowly. ‘Do you have someone else in mind?’

‘No. But—’

‘Then where’s your problem? I was asked; I said yes—’

‘You’re starting to sound like Toby now,’ she interrupted weakly. ‘Mr—Patrick,’ she corrected as he raised his brows in silent rebuke, ‘you can’t seriously want to come to a boring company dinner as my escort!’

‘Why can’t I?’

‘Because it will be boring!’ she assured him heatedly. What was wrong with the man? Couldn’t he see she didn’t want him to go with her?

His mouth twisted into the semblance of a smile. ‘Ellie, I think you underestimate yourself,’ he drawled huskily.

‘I wasn’t—’ She broke off, her cheeks fiery red. ‘Look, Patrick, Toby shouldn’t have told you any of those things about my personal life. Because they are personal. And, quite frankly—’

‘A little embarassing?’ he finished calmly, obviously having taken note of her red cheeks.

A little? This had to be the worst thing Toby had ever done to her. Honest and trustworthy were fine, candid she really needed to discuss with him!

‘Yes, it’s embarrassing.’ Ellie sighed heavily. ‘And, apart from the fact that you value Toby as your employee, I have no idea why you should even have listened to his suggestion, let alone actually contemplated going through with it.’ She was totally exasperated with both men, and she didn’t mind Patrick McGrath knowing it.

His eyes met her gaze unwaveringly for long seconds. ‘Can’t you?’ he finally murmured softly.

Ellie frowned at him. Was that a smile she saw lurking on the edges of those sculptured lips? And was that a faint knowing gleam she detected in the depths of those grey eyes?

She had an instant flashback to that scene in the garden five months ago, of her panicked grab for her top when she realized she was no longer alone, her eyes wide with dismay as she stared across the garden at the stranger standing there watching her with amused grey eyes.

The same amused grey eyes that were looking across the sitting room at her right now!

‘Besides, Ellie,’ Patrick drawled huskily, ‘why should you be the one to feel embarrassed because some man was too much of an idiot to appreciate what he had?’

There was a compliment in there somewhere—if she could only find it.

‘That’s isn’t the reason I feel embarrassed,’ she assured him dismissively. ‘My broken relationship is—was private. I just can’t believe Toby has been so indiscreet as to ask you to be my dinner partner next week.’ She shook her head disgustedly.

‘You were going to ask me yourself?’

‘Of course not,’ she answered impatiently.

What was wrong with these two men? Couldn’t they see that it was humiliating that either of them had thought she was incapable of finding a dinner partner for herself?

‘Well, as I had no idea of the dinner until Toby told me about it, I could hardly have been the one to do the asking,’ Patrick reasoned lightly.

As if he would have asked her anyway; it was obvious he had only agreed to the suggestion now for Toby’s sake.

‘Look, Toby meant well,’ Patrick insisted when he could see she was about to protest once again. ‘He’s—just concerned for your happiness,’ he added evenly.

‘But he has no reason to be,’ she protested. ‘I’m twenty-seven, not twelve.’

His mouth quirked into a teasing smile. ‘I don’t think anyone is disputing your maturity, Ellie,’ he murmured tauntingly.

So he did remember that afternoon in the garden as well as she did!

‘If anything,’ he continued frowningly, ‘it’s the opposite, I think.’

Now it was Ellie’s turn to frown. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Nothing,’ he dismissed abruptly, standing up. ‘And if you’re absolutely sure about not needing an escort next Friday…?’

‘I’m sure,’ she said firmly.

Much as she would have enjoyed sweeping into the restaurant on the arm of this attractive and successful man, if only to see the stunned look on Gareth’s face, she knew that she really couldn’t do it under these circumstances.

‘It isn’t that I’m not grateful.’ She grimaced.

‘Just thanks but no thanks?’ Patrick mused.

‘Yes,’ she sighed.

He nodded. ‘Then I’m obviously wasting our time,’ he added briskly. ‘I trust you’ll explain the situation to Toby when he comes down? Tell him that at least I tried, hmm?’

‘The coffee…’ she reminded him lamely, belatedly realizing she had made no effort to offer to pour him a cup.

He smiled humourlessly. ‘We both know that was just a ploy to keep Toby busy while the two of us talked.’

‘Yes.’ Ellie sighed again, moving to accompany him from the room.

Patrick paused in the open doorway. ‘Don’t be too hard on Toby, hmm?’ he encouraged softly. ‘He feels a certain—responsibility where your happiness is concerned.’

‘I’ll try to bear that in mind,’ she assured him dryly.

‘Ellie…?’

She looked up, her breath catching in her throat as she found herself the focus of Patrick’s McGrath’s enigmatic grey gaze.

He really was the most gorgeous-looking man, she acknowledged weakly. All six foot two inches of him!

‘You know where I am if you should change your mind…’ he told her pointedly.

Yes, he was gorgeous, and there was no doubt that having him as her escort would have salvaged her damaged pride—just as there was no doubt she had no intention of taking him up on his offer!

‘I won’t,’ she assured him with finality.



How could Ellie have known, how could she possibly have guessed, that something disastrous would occur during the following week—something that would necessitate her not only changing her mind, but having to go to Patrick McGrath herself and ask him if he would consider coming to the company dinner with her after all?




CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_0c679526-e14d-5b3c-9b3f-6c39c0922830)


‘HOW do I look?’ She grimaced at Toby questioningly as she entered the kitchen where her brother sat eating the dinner she had prepared for him before getting ready for her evening out.

‘You look great,’ he assured her enthusiastically. ‘New dress?’ he observed teasingly.

Of course it was a new dress; she couldn’t go out with Patrick McGrath wearing the old trusty little-black-dress that she had worn to last year’s company Christmas dinner. No, as Patrick’s dinner date she wanted to wear something much more stylish. And noticeable.

She had known as soon as she saw the knee-length figure-hugging red dress in the shop that it would ensure, once and for all, that Gareth was no longer under any misapprehension concerning her having fully got over him. Especially with Patrick McGrath as her dinner partner!

‘Do you like it?’ she asked her brother uncertainly.

Trying the dress on in the shop and actually putting it on at home were two different things, she had realised a few minutes ago. Seen in this homely setting, the dress was much more revealing than anything Ellie had ever worn before, clinging to her slenderness in a bright red swathe, the low neckline and sleeveless style showing arms and throat still lightly tanned from her holiday in the summer.

Her hair was swept up loosely from the slenderness of her neck and secured with two gold combs. The change in hairstyle seemed to enlarge her eyes and the dark sweep of her lashes. Blusher highlighted her cheeks, and the bright red gloss on her lips was the same colour as the dress.

Ellie had noted all of this in her bedroom mirror a few minutes ago, sweeping out of the room and down the stairs before she had time for second thoughts and settled for the familiar black dress after all.

‘You look wonderful, sis,’ Toby told her, sitting back to look at her admiringly. ‘You’re going to knock him off his feet!’

She frowned. ‘Toby, the idea isn’t for me to attract Patrick McGrath—’

‘I was referring to Gareth,’ he murmured pointedly.

‘Oh…Gareth,’ she acknowledged weakly, feeling the colour warming her cheeks at her mistake. In all honesty she had totally forgotten about Gareth as she prepared for her evening out. Which was ridiculous when he was the reason she had gone to all this trouble in the first place.

The reason she had swallowed her pride and gone to Patrick, and told him she had changed her mind after all!

To give the man his due, he hadn’t batted an eyelid when she had turned up at his office three days ago—without an appointment—and asked him if he was still agreeable to going out with her on Friday evening.

She had acted instinctively, knowing that if she gave herself time to think about whether or not she should go and see him she would change her mind. Although she had been a little thrown by his opening comment!



‘I’ve been expecting you.’ He put his gold pen down on top of the papers on his desk before smiling across at her as she stood just inside his office, his secretary having closed the door behind her as she left.

‘You have?’ Ellie frowned; how could he possibly have been expecting her when until half an hour ago she hadn’t expected to be here herself?

‘Call it a hunch.’ He nodded. ‘You can sit down, you know, Ellie,’ he added mockingly. ‘There’s no charge!’

He seemed different today, Ellie realized, more the thirty-eight-year-old successful businessman that he was. He was dressed formally too, in a dark grey suit with a white silk shirt, a light grey tie knotted meticulously at his throat.

She made no move to sit in the chair he indicated, knowing that she had made a mistake in coming here today, that she should have taken the time to think after all, that—

‘I still have Friday evening free, if you’re interested,’ he told her huskily.

Her eyes widened. ‘You do?’

He nodded. ‘Are you interested?’

She swallowed hard, wishing she could say no but knowing that, after what she had learnt today, she badly needed this man’s presence at her side on Friday evening—for moral support if nothing else.

‘Ellie…?’ he prompted at her continued silence.

‘I’m interested,’ she admitted abruptly.

‘Has something happened?’ he asked shrewdly.

Had something happened! Gareth, that selfish, unthinking, uncaring—

‘Something’s happened,’ Patrick acknowledged ruefully, standing up to pour her a cup of coffee from the hot percolator that stood on the side. ‘I’m sorry it’s nothing stronger,’ he apologised dryly as he handed her the cup and saucer. ‘You look as if you could do with a double whisky!’

‘I don’t drink whisky,’ she said vaguely, taking a sip of the hot coffee. Not because she thought it would make her feel any better, more for something to do with her shaking hands.

Cold hands, she realised belatedly as she wrapped them about the cup; the snow that had been threatening to fall all week had finally come tumbling down this morning. And in her agitation Ellie had completely forgotten to collect her outer coat and gloves before leaving the office earlier.

‘Is it anything I should know about?’ Patrick gently urged.

‘Anything…? It isn’t Toby, if that’s what you’re worried about,’ she hastened to reassure him.

‘I didn’t think for a moment that it was; as far as I’m aware Toby is in York today, with—with another of my employees,’ Patrick dismissed lightly. ‘I wish you would sit down, Ellie,’ he said softly.

Of course. He wouldn’t sit down if she didn’t. Ellie sat, the cup rattling precariously in the saucer as she did so.

Patrick moved back to sit behind his desk. ‘Take your time,’ he invited. ‘I don’t have any appointments for a couple of hours.’

‘It isn’t going to take me that long to—!’ She broke off, her face pale as she brought herself under control. ‘My ex-boyfriend intends announcing his engagement at the dinner on Friday evening,’ she bit out reluctantly.

‘Ah,’ Patrick murmured comprehendingly.

Ellie looked across at him sharply. ‘It doesn’t bother me,’ she assured him.

He raised dark brows. ‘It doesn’t?’

‘Look, Mr—Patrick,’ she amended as he raised those brows even higher. ‘I don’t know what Toby told you about the end of my relationship with Gareth, but—’

‘Nothing at all, as it happens,’ he assured her dryly. ‘Toby can be discreet when he needs to be,’ he added at her sceptical look. ‘He wouldn’t have lasted long as my assistant if he couldn’t!’

‘Yes. Well.’ Ellie grimaced. ‘I was the one to end my relationship with Gareth.’

Patrick frowned. ‘Then why—?’

‘He told everyone at the office that he was the one to end it,’ Ellie recalled disgustedly. ‘And when he was seen with someone else only a few days later…!’ She shook her head. ‘If I had tried to contradict his story then I would have just looked like “a woman scorned”,’ she reasoned heavily.

‘Hmm. Just out of interest—why did you stop seeing him?’ Patrick asked interestedly.

‘Because—’ She drew in a deep breath, shaking her head. ‘I think that also comes under the heading of “Private”,’ she told him stiffly.

‘Okay,’ he conceded reluctantly. ‘But if you aren’t bothered by his engagement…?’

‘I’m really not,’ she insisted firmly. ‘At least, only so far as… I have to work with all these people, Patrick.’ She grimaced. ‘Gareth informed me a couple of hours ago about the engagement announcement.’

‘Big of him,’ Patrick bit out scathingly.

It had been more out of spite, actually, but she was way past caring about anything Gareth did or said to her. ‘If I turn up alone on Friday evening and the announcement is made—’

‘All your work colleagues are going to end up feeling sorry for you,’ Patrick acknowledged hardly.

Her eyes flashed deeply blue. ‘Yes!’ And the pity of people she worked with on a daily basis—even misplaced pity—was something she just couldn’t bear to think about.

Even if it meant coming to this man and admitting she had made a mistake in so arbitrarily refusing his offer to act as her escort at the dinner!

‘If you agree—if you’re still willing—it will be a purely business arrangement if you consent to accompany me on Friday evening,’ she told him coolly. ‘I will, of course, be paying any expenses you may incur—including the petrol to get us there, any drinks we have to buy, the—’

‘Stop right there, Ellie,’ Patrick cut in firmly. ‘When I take a woman out for the evening I do the paying. Okay?

‘No, it is not okay,’ she came back, just as determinedly. ‘I’m taking you out. That means I pay. What do you mean, no?’ She frowned as he shook his head.

‘I’ll only agree to go if I take you. Otherwise the deal is off, Ellie,’ he added decisively.

‘But this isn’t one of your business deals—’ she broke off as she realised she had been the one to say Friday evening was to be treated on a businesslike footing.

Patrick laughed softly. ‘Ellie, isn’t the important thing here to show this Gareth that you’re more than capable of attracting a man other than him? Which, of course, you obviously are,’ he continued, his grey gaze sweeping over her with slow appreciation.

Ellie was dressed in one of the suits she wore to work, a fitted black one today, teamed with a blue blouse. Slightly damp from the snow still falling outside!

Ellie was under no illusions as regarded her looks; at best they could be called pleasant. She was neither fat nor too thin, and her hair—her one good feature as far as she was concerned—was always kept clean and well-styled. Her eyes were a clear blue, her lashes thick and dark, her skin smooth and creamy, but other than that her features were nondescript.

Which was why, when Gareth had joined the company six months ago—a blond Adonis with warm blue eyes and a charm that drew women to him like bees around honey—Ellie had been completely bowled over by his marked interest in her.

But she had definitely learnt her lesson where that sort of flattery and attention were concerned, which was why she knew that Patrick McGrath was just being polite now.

He was watching her with narrowed eyes. ‘How long is it since the two of you broke up?’

‘What does that have to do with anything?’ she came back stiffly.

Patrick shrugged. ‘I was merely wondering why you don’t already have a new boyfriend.’

She gave a humourless smile. ‘Because after my experience with Gareth I have no interest at the moment in finding myself a new boyfriend!’

‘This gets more and more intriguing by the minute,’ Patrick murmured interestedly.

Ellie shot him a reproving look. ‘Believe me, it really isn’t,’ she assured him dismissively.

‘So it’s easier to ask me, a complete stranger, to go to your company dinner with you than it is to complicate matters with a genuine new boyfriend?’ Patrick murmured consideringly. ‘It makes a certain sense, I suppose.’ He shrugged.

Ellie frowned. ‘It does?’ It sounded rather cold and contrived to her, but other than not going to the dinner at all—which was impossible now that Gareth had told her of the pending announcement of his engagement; she simply wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of just not turning up!—she couldn’t see any other way round the problem.

‘It does,’ he assured her enigmatically. ‘Well, as I’ve already said, Ellie, I still have the evening free on Friday.’

She drew in a deep breath. ‘Then you’ll go to the Delacorte dinner with me?’

He gave a sudden grin, looking years younger, his grey eyes warm. ‘I thought you would never ask!’

She wouldn’t have done ordinarily, and they both knew it. But nothing about this situation was ordinary.



Which was why she was standing here, wearing a revealing red dress and more make-up than she had ever worn before, feeling decidedly like the overdressed Christmas tree that adorned their sitting room—waiting for Patrick McGrath to arrive…

He was late.

It was already seven forty-five, and before Ellie had left his office three days ago they had agreed that he would pick her up at seven-thirty, in order for them to drive to the restaurant and arrive a polite ten or fifteen minutes late for pre-dinner drinks. At this rate they would be lucky to arrive in time for the serving of the first course!

‘Is he always this unpunctual?’ She frowned at Toby as he cleared away his dinner things, before getting ready to go out himself.

‘He’ll be here, sis,’ Toby dismissed assuredly. ‘But I have to leave now.’ He glanced up at the kitchen clock. ‘I told Tess I would pick her up just after eight,’ he added apologetically. He was going to the cinema this evening with his girlfriend of the last two months. ‘Do you want me to try reaching Patrick on his mobile before I leave? Maybe the car broke down or something.’

‘Do Mercedes break down?’ Ellie came back dryly, wondering if she was going to get to ‘the ball’, after all!

‘Mine doesn’t,’ drawled a familiar voice.

Ellie gasped, spinning round to face Patrick as he stood in the doorway. She was glad she had already gasped—otherwise she would have done so now; he looked absolutely breathtaking in a dinner suit!

‘I wish you wouldn’t keep creeping up on me like that,’ she complained, to cover up the confusion she felt at his appearance.

Was anyone supposed to be this handsome? This suavely sophisticated? This—this breathtaking? There really was no other word for Patrick’s appearance this evening.

‘Will I do?’ He arched mocking brows at her as she continued to stare at him.

Would he do as what? As a more than adequate replacement for Gareth? Certainly. As a means for making every other woman in the room jealous of her good fortune in having him as her partner for the evening? Assuredly. As a calm and soothing balm to her already battered emotions? Definitely not!

He was a one-evening-only companion—just a shield for what promised to be a very difficult evening for her. He wasn’t supposed to make her pulse flutter, her knees feel weak, her insides as if they were turning to jelly!

‘Ellie is feeling a little—tense this evening, Patrick,’ Toby excused her lightly, picking up his jacket from the back of the chair before walking over to the door. ‘Have a good evening. Want me to wait up for you, Ellie?’ he added mischievously, dark brows raised teasingly.

‘No, thank you!’ She shot him a reproving look as he ducked out of the doorway, grinning widely as he raised a hand in farewell before disappearing into the darkness.

‘We aren’t going to be late back this evening, are we, Ellie?’ Patrick looked down at her mockingly.

‘Only I’m usually in bed by ten-thirty.’

Ellie would hazard a guess that the only reason this man would be in bed by ten-thirty at night would be because he wasn’t there alone!

‘You’re late,’ she told him sharply, more flustered that she had just had such a thought about Patrick’s nocturnal habits than she actually was by his tardiness.

‘Only a few minutes,’ he dismissed unconcernedly. ‘I stopped along the way to buy you this.’

‘This’ was a corsage, a single red rose, newly in bud, made even more beautiful by the melted snowflakes clinging to the dewy petals.

Ellie blinked hard before looking up at Patrick, hastily looking down again as he returned her gaze with slightly challenging eyes. Bringing her a rose, red or otherwise, was not very businesslike. And they both knew it. But then Patrick had warned her three days ago that he intended doing this his way…

‘Thank you,’ she accepted huskily, taking the rose and the pin he held out to her.

‘Would you like me to—?’

‘No! No, thank you.’ She tried to refuse his offer of help less abruptly, at the same time giving him a sceptical glance. ‘I can manage.’ And to prove it she at tached the rose to her dress at the first try.

‘I thought you might,’ he murmured ruefully. ‘I suppose we should be on our way, then.’

‘I suppose we should,’ she echoed dryly, inwardly chiding herself for the fact that she was a little disappointed he hadn’t mentioned her new dress, or anything else about her appearance.

Not that she had mentioned how gorgeous he looked either; it simply wasn’t in keeping, she accepted, with their arrangement.

‘What a pity,’ Patrick murmured as he watched her pull on her long black winter coat. ‘You look absolutely stunning in that dress; it’s a shame to hide it beneath that coat,’ he explained as Ellie looked up at him questioningly.

‘Thank you.’ She felt an inner glow now rather than the outer warmth of the coat.

‘Hmm,’ Patrick nodded as they went out to the car, opening the door for her to get in. ‘Gareth can just eat his heart out,’ he added with satisfaction.

‘That’s what Toby said!’ She laughed to cover her flushed pleasure at his compliment.

‘And, as we both know, Toby wouldn’t tell you a lie,’ he reminded her teasingly.

No, Toby wouldn’t tell her a lie—at least, not a major one—but she had a feeling this man was more than capable of practising the subtle art of subterfuge if he thought the occasion warranted it. There was a steely edge to Patrick McGrath, a ruthlessness that obviously made him such a success in business.

But Ellie dismissed both Patrick’s compliments and thoughts of that steely edge as they neared the restaurant where all the other Delacorte, Delacorte and Delacorte staff would already be gathered. No doubt all believing, with the lateness of the hour, that she had decided not to attend after all.

‘Everything is going to be just fine, Ellie.’ Patrick reached out in the warm confines of the car and gave her restless hands a reassuring squeeze before returning his own hand to the steering wheel of his Mercedes sports car. ‘Trust me, hmm?’ he encouraged as she glanced at him with troubled eyes.

She wasn’t sure, after Gareth’s duplicity, that she would ever completely trust another man again. But Patrick wasn’t asking her to trust him in that way…

‘I don’t believe I’ve ever thanked you for agreeing to help me out like this,’ she murmured ruefully. Mainly because she had been too embarrassed by her need for him to be here to actually get around to thanking him!

‘I believe you did mention the word gratitude once,’ he drawled. ‘But that was last week—when you were turning me down.’

Before she’d had to go back and tell him the situation had indeed changed!

‘Ellie, why don’t we wait until the end of the evening and see if you still want to thank me then, hmm?’

Ellie shot him a sharp look; that sounded a little ominous.

‘Don’t look so worried, Ellie.’ He chuckled after a brief glance in her direction. ‘I promise to be the soul of discretion this evening.’

‘You do?’ She eyed him doubtfully.

After all, what did she really know about this man? Only what Toby had told her. Which, now that she thought about it, really wasn’t much. Maybe Toby could be discreet if he needed to be! At least as far as Patrick McGrath was concerned…

Thirty-eight. Extremely successful. Single—which was probably all she really needed to know. Except…For all she knew the man might be a terrible flirt, or become terribly loud after a couple of drinks. In which case having him as her escort could prove more of a liability than a plus!

‘Of course, Ellie,’ he answered blandly. ‘I’ll try very hard not to mention to anyone that you occasionally like to sunbathe topless in the back garden—weather permitting!’ He grimaced as snow slowly began to fall on the windscreen.

‘You—!’ Ellie gasped, feeling the sudden heat in her cheeks as she turned to stare at him. ‘Patrick—’

‘Ah, here we are,’ he informed her lightly, turning the Mercedes into the car park of the restaurant, parking it beside the green Rolls Royce owned by Ellie’s boss before getting out of the car and coming round to open Ellie’s door for her. ‘Was it something I said?’ he prompted innocently as she made no move to get out of the car.

He knew very well that it was!

‘Come on, Ellie. I’m getting wet out here,’ he encouraged briskly.

Of course he was; the snow was coming down in earnest now. Ellie wrapped her coat around her and pulled up the collar about her neck as they hurried over to the entrance to the restaurant.

‘We’ll leave this here, I think,’ Patrick said firmly as they entered the foyer, removing Ellie’s coat and handing it to the receptionist before Ellie even had time to realise what he was doing.

She suddenly felt self-conscious again as she looked down at the eye-catching red dress. Maybe it was too much. After all, this was only a company Christmas dinner. Instead of looking eye-catching, as she had hoped, was she going to look ridiculously overdressed?

‘Ellie, you look beautiful,’ Patrick told her firmly—before his lips came down gently on hers and his arms moved about her waist to mould her body against the hardness of his.

The kiss was so unexpected that Ellie responded, her lips parting beneath his even as her arms moved up about his shoulders.

She totally forgot where they were, why they were there—who she was, even—as those warmly sensual lips continued to explore the softness of her own. The tip of Patrick’s tongue was now moving erotically against her lower lip, turning her body to liquid fire, her legs to jelly.

His eyes were dark with query as he finally lifted his head to look into the flushed beauty of her face. ‘Better.’ He nodded, his thumb running lightly across her slightly swollen lips. ‘Now you actually look like a woman out for the evening with her lover!’ he added with satisfaction.

Of course. That was the reason Patrick had kissed her. The only reason.

‘Perhaps next time you could give me some warning of what you’re about to do,’ she bit out abruptly, covering her confusion—and her blushes!—by opening her evening bag and searching through its contents. ‘Lipstick,’ she told him abruptly, and held out a tissue for him to wipe his mouth.

‘You do it,’ Patrick encouraged huskily. ‘I can’t see what I’m doing,’ he reasoned before she protested.

She swallowed hard, willing her heart to stop pounding, her hand not to shake as she reached up to wipe the smears of lipstick that he now had on his mouth.

So engrossed was she in not betraying how shaken she felt that she didn’t even see the man walking past, a dark scowl on his handsome features as he stopped to stare at the two of them.

‘Ellie…?’ he questioned uncertainly—as if he couldn’t quite believe the woman in the red dress, a woman who had obviously just been very thoroughly kissed, was actually her.

She stiffened before looking at him. ‘Gareth,’ she greeted him distantly, feeling rather than seeing Patrick as he moved to stand beside her, his arm curving possessively about her waist. She glanced up at him, a shiver running down her spine as she saw the narrow-eyed look he was giving the younger man. ‘Patrick, this is a work colleague—Gareth Davies,’ she dismissed with deliberate lightness, glad of that lightness as she saw Gareth’s scowl deepen. ‘Gareth—Patrick McGrath,’ she added economically, still too shaken by that kiss to think how to describe him to the other man.

‘The Patrick McGrath?’ Gareth questioned abruptly as he looked frowningly at the other man.

Patrick smiled—a smile that didn’t reach the cold grey of his eyes. ‘I very much doubt there’s only one Patrick McGrath in the world,’ he answered the other man tauntingly.

‘We really should be going in, Patrick,’ Ellie put in determinedly as she saw the light of challenge that had now appeared in both men’s eyes. ‘If you’ll excuse us, Gareth?’ she added dismissively, not giving him a second glance as she turned and walked in the direction of the main restaurant, Patrick at her side, his arm still firmly about her waist.

Not quite the way she had envisaged the evening beginning!

But then she hadn’t expected Patrick to kiss her either…

Why on earth had he kissed her? Just for effect, as his words afterwards had seemed to imply? Well, he couldn’t even begin to imagine the effect his unexpected behaviour had had on her!

She could still feel the sensuous touch of his lips against hers, still feel the hardness of his body as she moulded perfectly against him, the warmth that had coursed through her, that totally not-knowing-where-she-was-and-not-caring-either feeling.

As for Gareth! Amazingly, she had felt absolutely nothing as she’d looked at him just now. Except perhaps a vague disbelief that she had ever been taken in by his overt good looks and charm…

What did it all mean…?

But as they walked into the restaurant and Patrick was greeted effusively by her boss, George Delacorte, Senior Partner at Delacorte, Delacorte and Delacorte, Ellie knew she would have to get back to that particularly puzzling question later!




CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_cb910cc9-c8de-5cd5-a67e-8a2dd0114a7c)


‘I HAD no idea you were going to be here with Ellie this evening, Patrick.’ The older man greeted him warmly and the two men shook hands. George Delacorte was a tall, distinguished-looking man with iron-grey hair and twinkling brown eyes that belied the shrewd trial lawyer he actually was. ‘You should have told me, Ellie,’ he chided teasingly.

Told him what? Until a few seconds ago she hadn’t even known that he and Patrick were acquainted! Patrick certainly hadn’t mentioned that he knew the older man.

‘How are Anne and Thomas?’ George smiled.

‘Very well, thank you, sir,’ Patrick replied smoothly, his arm still lightly about Ellie’s waist, almost as if he weren’t aware that she was staring up at him in amazement.

Why hadn’t he told her he knew George Delacorte? It was obvious from the easy way he was talking with the older man that Patrick had been perfectly well aware that he would be seeing the other man this evening! In fact, she knew that he had; she had told him herself that it was the Delacorte Christmas dinner!

‘And Teresa?’ the older man continued lightly. ‘Breaking hearts, as usual?’

Patrick shrugged. ‘I think she might finally have met “the one’,” he answered indulgently.

‘Good for her.’ George chuckled.

Who on earth were Anne and Thomas—let alone Teresa? Ellie realised she really should have asked Patrick for a few more personal details. And maybe she would have done if she had known they would be relevant to this evening!

‘I must just go and tell Mary you’re here; she’ll be so pleased to see you,’ George said happily. ‘Sarah is here too—somewhere.’ He frowned. ‘You’re coming to the family party tomorrow?’ he prompted abruptly.

‘Of course,’ Patrick assured him.

‘Bring Ellie, too,’ George went on with a smile in her direction. ‘If you would like to come, my dear?’ he added gently.

She had no idea what party either of these two men were talking about!

‘I’m not sure what Ellie’s plans are for tomorrow.’ Patrick was the one to answer smoothly. ‘We’ll let you know.’

‘Of course,’ George accepted briskly. ‘I’ll just go and find Mary.’ He gave them another smile before going off in search of his wife.

‘So that was the infamous Gareth,’ Patrick murmured thoughtfully once the two of them were alone. ‘I have to say, Ellie, I wasn’t very impressed.’ He shrugged.

‘Never mind Gareth for now—who are Anne, Thomas and Teresa?’ Ellie hissed explosively. ‘And how is it that you know George Delacorte?’

‘He’s my uncle,’ Patrick told her dismissively, at the same time looking interestedly at the forty or so other Delacorte staff in the room. ‘As for Anne, Thomas and—’

‘Your uncle?’ Ellie spluttered incredulously, gaping up at him unbelievingly.

‘By marriage.’ Patrick nodded. ‘Mary Delacorte is my father’s sister.’

‘Why on earth didn’t you tell me?’ she demanded indignantly.

Patrick turned to look at her, dark brows raised over slightly mocking grey eyes. ‘I didn’t think it was relevant.’

‘You-didn’t-think-it-was-relevant!’ she repeated disgustedly.

‘Ellie, why do you keep repeating everything I say?’ he taunted derisively.

‘Because I just can’t believe this!’ The colour was high in her cheeks, blue eyes sparkling. ‘Is Toby aware that my boss is your uncle?’ she asked suspiciously as that idea suddenly occurred to her.

‘I’m really not sure.’ Patrick shrugged. ‘But I would have thought so. Do you think we ought to mingle?’ he added consideringly. ‘Several of your work colleagues have looked curiously across at us in the last few minutes.’

She didn’t care who had looked at them in the last few minutes; she intended getting to the bottom of this if it took all night. If Toby knew that Patrick was related to George Delacorte, then he must also be aware—

‘Patrick!’

Ellie turned just in time to see Sarah Delacorte, George’s daughter and only child, throw herself into Patrick’s arms, kissing him enthusiastically.

Ellie felt her heart plummet as she looked at the beautiful young woman laughing up into Patrick’s face, her pleasure at his presence obvious.

Sarah Delacorte was beautiful, there was no doubt about that, with her tall, slender figure—shown off to advantage now in a slinky black knee-length dress—her long silky blonde hair and delicate child-like features.

Unfortunately she was also the woman Gareth had been dating for the last six weeks and was about to announce his engagement to!

And she was, Ellie realised with dismay, Patrick’s young cousin…

‘What are you doing here?’ Sarah demanded, still holding onto Patrick’s hands as she gazed up at him in obvious delight.

Patrick looked no less pleased to see his cousin, grinning broadly. ‘Ellie brought me,’ he explained lightly, releasing one of his hands to turn and firmly clasp one of Ellie’s, to bring her forward to stand at his side.

‘Goodness, Ellie, I haven’t seen you for ages!’ Sarah greeted her warmly. ‘You look wonderful!’ she added with genuine warmth.

It was true the two women hadn’t met for some time. Sarah had been in Paris for the last year, initially working with one of the fashion designers over there. But her career in modelling had taken a meteoric rise over the last six months, with her photograph appearing on the front page of all the popular women’s magazines.

Sarah’s absence abroad was also the reason she had no idea Ellie had still been dating Gareth until six weeks ago!

Ellie very much doubted that Gareth had told the other woman anything about her, or the fact that they had still been dating after he and Sarah met. And Ellie certainly had no intention of telling the other woman any of that either. Although the fact that she now knew Patrick was the other woman’s cousin certainly made things more than a little awkward in that direction!

‘I understand congratulations are in order?’ Patrick looked down teasingly at his young cousin.

Ellie noted that the warmth was no longer in his eyes, and his smile lacked some of its earlier spontaneity…

‘Isn’t it wonderful?’ Sarah said dreamily, suddenly looking a very young twenty-one-year-old. ‘One moment I was young and fancy-free, and the next—I was just swept off my feet the moment I looked at him!’ She laughed self-consciously.

Patrick’s hand tightened about Ellie’s fingers as he felt her stiffen beside him, although his narrowed gaze remained fixed on his cousin’s glowingly lovely face. ‘Love at first sight, hmm?’ he prompted dryly.

‘Something like that.’ Sarah gave another happy laugh. ‘Wait until you meet him,’ she enthused. ‘You’re going to love him!’

Considering what Patrick had said to Ellie about Gareth a few minutes earlier, she somehow doubted that very much!

Although how much of Patrick’s opinion had been formed by what Ellie might have said or implied about the other man and what Patrick had actually decided for himself she had no idea!

Not that it mattered; this was just a very awkward situation all round.

What on earth had Toby been playing at when he originally organised this date for her with Patrick? Because Toby, of all of them, was well aware of the connection of all the key players in what was turning out to be a fiasco!

Patrick gave a slight inclination of his head. ‘I’m sure you’ll have a chance to introduce the two of us later. For the moment, I think Ellie wants to introduce me to some of her friends,’ he added lightly.

‘Of course,’ Sarah instantly accepted. ‘It really is lovely to see you again, Ellie,’ she added warmly. ‘We must go out and have coffee together some time, like we used to.’

When Sarah, no doubt, would want to wax lyrical about Gareth! No, thank you!

It was true the two women had occasionally had coffee together before Sarah’s departure for Paris, but they had lost touch with each other during the last year. In the present circumstances Ellie thought it better if it remained that way!

‘We must,’ Ellie agreed non-committally.

‘Catch up with you later, Sarah,’ Patrick told his cousin, before strolling away, Ellie very firmly pinned to his side. ‘Save it for later, hmm?’ he told her between barely moving lips.

‘But—’

‘Ellie, this is not the place to discuss it. Okay?’ he prompted as she came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the crowded room.

No, it was not okay. She had no idea what was going on—how could she when the whole evening had been turned upside down by Patrick’s family connection to the Delacortes?

He sighed at the mutinous expression on her face. ‘I know how this must look to you—’

‘You can have no idea how this looks to me,’ she assured him derisively.

‘Probably not,’ Patrick conceded with a grimace. ‘But we do have the rest of this evening to get through,’ he reasoned. ‘And your ex-boyfriend’s engagement is still going to be announced before the end of it.’

‘Gareth’s engagement to your cousin,’ Ellie bit out pointedly.

‘Yes,’ he acknowledged heavily. ‘It probably escaped your notice earlier, but George isn’t exactly thrilled at the prospect of having Gareth Davies as his son-in-law!’

Ellie blinked. ‘He isn’t?’

Of course George had known that Ellie was dating Gareth until a couple of months ago—everyone at Delacorte, Delacorte and Delacorte had been aware of it. But when the older man had approached the subject of Sarah’s involvement with the other man with Ellie she had dismissed her own relationship with him as a mere friendship. After all, she did have her pride…

She hadn’t realised that George was talking to her about Gareth because he didn’t exactly trust the younger man’s motives regarding his daughter!

‘No,’ Patrick confirmed grimly.

She frowned. ‘Then why doesn’t he do something about it?’

Patrick smile derisively. ‘Such as what? Tell Sarah he’s nothing but a fortune-hunter? Because he is, isn’t he?’ he drawled scathingly. ‘A man with an eye to the main chance. A man who fancies the name Davies being added to the end of Delacorte, Delacorte and Delacorte!’

Yes, that was exactly what Gareth was. Handsome, charming—but totally mercenary. Ellie, as George’s much-valued secretary, had seemed like a good prospect to him six months ago. But Gareth had dropped her like a hot coal when Sarah had returned from Paris and he’d realised George had a marriageable daughter.

‘Yes,’ Ellie confirmed miserably, feeling totally humiliated by her own past gullibility.

Patrick nodded abruptly. ‘And how do you think Sarah is likely to react if anyone should tell her that about the man she believes herself madly in love with?’

How would Ellie have reacted if someone had told her those things about Gareth three months ago? Even two months ago? Would she have believed them if she weren’t now the one with the knowledge of just how mercenary Gareth could be?

She gave a derisive grimace. ‘She’ll tell them to mind their own business!’

‘In one.’ Patrick nodded in mocking confirmation.

Ellie shook her head dismissively. ‘But if George really distrusts his motives—’

‘He does,’ Patrick bit out grimly.

‘Then why doesn’t he just sack him?’

‘For the same reason, wouldn’t you think?’ Patrick derided.

Yes, Ellie did think. It was obvious from Sarah’s behaviour earlier, from the things she had said about Gareth, that the other woman was completely taken in by him.

As Ellie had once been…

But, as Ellie had learnt only too well—and obviously Patrick and his uncle knew too—Gareth’s charm was all a front for his calculating brain, to create Delacorte, Delacorte, Delacorte, and Davies!

At only thirty-two Gareth had ambitions that he had no intention of working at if they could be achieved by a simpler route—such as marrying the senior partner’s daughter!

It had taken Ellie almost two weeks to realise that Gareth was dating someone else besides herself—he hadn’t wanted to give up on one option before making absolutely sure of the second one! Once she had realised what he was doing she had told him precisely what she thought of him. And what he could do with the relationship he had tried to offer her as consolation prize.

If she had thought he was genuinely in love with Sarah then it would have been a different matter; she would have just accepted the inevitable. But by that time her eyes had been wide open where Gareth was concerned, her illusions shattered.

But she still had no idea what Patrick was up to…

Because he was up to something. She was sure of it!

‘So, Ellie, what do you think?’ Patrick looked at her consideringly now. ‘Do you want to help us prove to Sarah what an absolute bas—What a calculating mercenary her new fiancé actually is?’ he amended harshly.

Ellie glanced across the room to where she could see Gareth, now talking to Sarah, a superior smile curving his lips as she looked up at him with absolute adoration, obviously enthralled by his every word.





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