All the Romance You Need This Christmas: 5-Book Festive Collection. Romy Sommer

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СКАЧАТЬ His idiot, distracted, undeserving brother.

      He really should try harder to remember that.

      Tearing his eyes away from Dory, who was staring at the oblivious Tyler’s chocolate pistachio gateau, Lucas focused on his own dessert. In and out. That was the plan. He wasn’t going to get involved. Not with his family’s issues, not with the business, and not, most definitely not, with Dory and Tyler’s relationship. In and out. In three days he’d be back on his farm, checking in at the restaurant, working on his own dreams, and he could forget about the obligations and expectations of the Alexander name for another year.

      Just three more days until he got his real life back.

      ***

      Relief washed over Dory as the maid cleared the last of the dessert plates and Felicia stood, ready to leave the room. Dory followed suit, and it wasn’t until she’d tucked her chair back under the table that a truly horrible thought occurred to her. What if this was that thing she’d read about it books – the ladies retiring to another room to do cross-stitch or something while the guys drank brandy? She did not want to be left alone with Felicia. She’d have sent Dory for an extreme makeover before Tyler had even had his first sip.

      ‘Well, I need to go check through some final party prep with Freya,’ Felicia said. Dory hoped her answering sigh of relief wasn’t too obvious. ‘So I’ll see you all in the morning.’

      ‘And I need to…’ Dory tried to think of something that wasn’t ‘get the hell out of here, quickly.’ ‘Get some sleep,’ she finished. ‘So I’m going to head up to bed.’

      She gave Tyler a meaningful look, one that she hoped he interpreted as ‘give me ten minutes to get changed, then come up to bed so they think we’re crazy about each other,’ but she suspected he’d probably take as ‘stay and enjoy some brandy with your father and brother!’ He’d never been all that good at the secret signals thing. It had caused problems a couple of times at important charity events, usually when Tyler hadn’t read the briefing documents she’d put together for him beforehand.

      Still, at least that meant she could get some quiet alone time, without anyone suggesting that she was so fat and uncultured that she’d be a positive embarrassment at the traditional Alexander Family Christmas Eve party.

      Upstairs, the Green Room felt positively serene compared to sitting around the dining table. Letting the door fall closed behind her, Dory leant back against it, just enjoying breathing without criticism.

       God, I want some of that chocolate cake.

      Too late now, though. Felicia had pretty clearly closed the cake avenue to her. With a sigh, Dory pushed up from the door and grabbed her pyjamas from the pillow. On the vague off-chance that Tyler had picked up the correct signals, she wanted to be changed and in bed by the time he came up for the night. Just in case he forgot about their sofa deal.

      A while later, face scrubbed of make-up, pyjamas on and curled up on the bed, Dory finished her book and tossed her e-reader aside. Clearly, Tyler hadn’t understood the meaningful look. Again.

      And she still really wanted cake.

      She should get some sleep.

      Snuggling down under the absurdly comfortable duvet, Dory closed her eyes. Pointed her toes and stretched her legs. Pulled her arms out and put them on top of the duvet. Tucked them back in again.

      Opened her eyes and sighed. Then she sat up.

      Felicia be damned. She was getting cake.

       Chapter 5

      ‘Brandy, boys?’ Patrick already had the bottle in his hand and three glasses set out on the table, so Lucas assumed this was a rhetorical question. Still, his father’s distraction with the perfect quantity of ice per glass gave him the opportunity he needed to talk to Tyler.

      ‘Aren’t you going to go and check on Dory?’ He was not getting involved, Lucas told himself. He was just… nudging Tyler into decent human behaviour. Too much time as an Alexander tended to strip people of that, and Lucas liked to think that there was still a glimmer of hope for his brother.

      ‘Dory? Why?’ Tyler placed his phone screen-down on the table. ‘She’s probably asleep by now.’

      ‘After that dinner? I doubt it.’

      Tyler’s brow crinkled up. ‘What was wrong with dinner? She said she was feeling better after the car ride, right?’

      Was his brother really that obtuse? Or had he just not been paying attention that evening? Lucas watched as Tyler picked up his phone again, tapping at the screen.

      ‘How about a cigar?’ Patrick asked. ‘I’ve got some special ones put aside in the study. I’ll fetch them. One moment.’ He strolled out of the room towards the other end of the hall.

      Lucas grabbed the brandy closest to him and pushed it across to Tyler, then selected another glass for himself. ‘So. When are you going to tell them?’

      ‘Tell them what?’

      ‘The truth about Dory.’

      Tyler’s gaze jerked up from the phone screen. ‘What do you mean?’

      ‘That she’s your assistant. Remember?’

      ‘Oh. That.’ Tyler’s head dipped back down and his fingers started moving over the screen again. ‘Hopefully never.’

      ‘So you’ll… what? Shift her to the PR department before anyone finds out?’

      ‘Something like that, yeah.’

      Lucas watched him for a moment. This was not his business. He did not care what Tyler did about Dory. Hell, he’d deserve it if she walked out on him for being a stupid, inattentive bastard.

      Except… Lucas couldn’t help remembering the way Dory had bossed Tyler around at the office. The way she’d stood her ground against him. How she’d seemed like she might actually be a match for his stubbornness and confidence – at least until she came up against Felicia Alexander.

      Nobody deserved that. Especially not Dory.

      ‘And you’ve… spoken to Dory about the plan?’

      Sighing, Tyler put his phone down again. ‘Look, don’t worry about it, okay? Dory knows the score.’

      Somehow, that totally failed to make Lucas feel any better at all.

      Taking a gulp of his brandy, Lucas pushed the glass across the table and got to his feet. ‘Okay, I know I’m not the world’s best advisor on women. And quite honestly, I really don’t want to get involved in your relationship, or the craziness that will follow if our mother figures out what’s actually going on here. But if you have any sense at all, you’ll go up to your room now and apologise to Dory for our parents.’ Piece said, he made his way to the door, until one final thought made him pause. ‘And Tyler, I’d take cake.’

      Tyler’s СКАЧАТЬ