All the Romance You Need This Christmas: 5-Book Festive Collection. Romy Sommer
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Название: All the Romance You Need This Christmas: 5-Book Festive Collection
Автор: Romy Sommer
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Зарубежные любовные романы
isbn: 9780008125943
isbn:
He frowned at the memory. ‘You know, I was thinking. You never said anything about you and Tyler when I called that day.’
‘Oh. Well. It wasn’t really… I mean, I didn’t know I would be coming for Christmas until later. Until your mother demanded that Tyler bring the woman in the photos home to meet them. You know?’
She was talking too fast, too sure, and her fingers kept twirling the fork around and around. He was definitely missing something here.
‘But you knew it was you in the photos,’ he pressed. ‘And you didn’t say anything.’
‘Well, yeah, sure. But it was kind of a delicate situation, right? I mean, I hadn’t even seen them until you called. And Tyler didn’t want people to know about us, I guess.’
Dory knows the score. That was what Tyler had said. But Lucas was starting to suspect that ‘score’ wasn’t what he’d imagined it to be.
‘That makes sense,’ he said, because it did. Even if he was almost certain it wasn’t the whole truth. ‘But I’m kind of surprised. I’d have thought, given everything… Well, I’d have expected him to be a little more protective of you this weekend. Or at least more attentive.’
‘You mean, protect me from your mother?’ Her hands finally stopped moving, dropping the fork to the wood of the table. ‘Well, you know Tyler,’ she said, with a small smile. ‘He probably doesn’t even realise what she’s doing.’
‘Maybe not,’ Lucas conceded.
‘Is she like this with every woman you guys bring home?’ Dory asked.
Lucas thought back to his conversation with Tyler in the car. ‘Not every woman,’ he admitted.
‘Just me, then,’ Dory said. ‘It’s the accent, isn’t it?’
‘I like the accent.’
That earned him a real, wide smile. ‘You do? Good.’
For a long moment, they just looked at each other, and Lucas wondered how he’d got here, sitting in the kitchen with his brother’s girlfriend, desperately trying to think of something more to say, anything to keep her there with him. To stop her going to bed with Tyler.
But he couldn’t. He had to let her go. Whatever his suspicions and hopes, he had to let Dory go for tonight.
‘I’d better go to bed,’ she said. Was that reluctance he heard in her voice? Or was that just wishful thinking? ‘Tyler will be wondering where I am.’
He nodded. ‘Good night, then. You’d better rest up for more family fun tomorrow.’
‘Can’t wait!’ Dory pushed her chair back and padded to the door, giving him an excellent view of her faded pyjama bottoms curving over her ass. ‘Night, Lucas. Sleep tight.’
He nodded, but he knew he wouldn’t. Not least because, before he could think about sleep, he had some photos to look at. And some suspicions to resolve.
Tyler still hadn’t made it back to their room by the time Dory, full of cake and apprehension, finally fell into bed. She spared a brief thought for where he might have disappeared to, but mostly she was just grateful for the solitude. She needed to think.
She shouldn’t have got so chatty with Lucas. But he’d started sharing about his life, and why he’d pulled away from the Alexander family, and it just seemed natural to let him see a bit of her life too. Even if it wasn’t an entirely truthful picture.
But Lucas wasn’t stupid. The questions he’d been asking… he had suspicions, she was sure. And she was a lousy liar. If he pressed her any further, she’d cave, she knew she would.
And would that be such a bad thing? Dory tried to mentally shush the devil on her shoulder, but she was a persuasive little creature. In her head, she sounded just like her little sister Molly…
If Lucas found out the truth – that she and Tyler weren’t really dating – what would it change? He already knew she was his assistant. What was one more little secret between friends? Especially since Lucas seemed more of a friend to her in this hostile environment than her fake boyfriend did. If Lucas was in on the whole masquerade, he could help her, maybe. Somehow.
She sighed and turned on to her side, burrowing deeper into the duvet. She was making excuses for herself. The truth was, if Lucas knew she wasn’t really dating Tyler, maybe he’d stop holding himself back.
Dory might not have the best track record with men, but she knew enough to know when a guy was interested. She’d seen Lucas’s eyes linger on the neckline of her camisole top – and seen him yank his gaze away again. She’d felt the connection in the moments of silence, known when he said more than he meant to just because he couldn’t help himself.
She knew that, in other circumstances, he might make a move. Or she might. Not that night, maybe, but one night, and soon.
But not if he thought she was dating his brother.
The problem was, of course, that even if she told him the truth, she couldn’t do anything about the attraction between them. She was there with Tyler, that was the deal. And if somebody stumbled across her and Lucas… well, the jig would be up and her ticket home was sure to be cancelled.
Flipping on to her back, she stared up at the ceiling again. There was only one thing for it – she just had to wait it out. Eventually, Tyler would have to come clean about who the woman in the photos really was. Or, even if he didn’t, he’d fake break-up with her, or vice versa, and she’d be free of all this. And maybe then, just maybe, she could call Lucas up and ask if he had a table free at that restaurant of his…
When she finally dozed off, imagining a farmhouse kitchen and another chocolate cake, Tyler still hadn’t come to bed.
He was there when she woke up the next morning, though, passed out on the sofa with a blanket tugged over his t-shirt and a bare, hairy calf sticking out the end. Dory stared down at him, wondering how on earth he’d managed to sleep in such an uncomfortable position. His arm lolled off the edge of the sofa, his phone on the floor just below. It must have slipped out of his fingers when he dropped off. Knowing he was bound to stand on it when he woke up – and then blame her for it somehow – Dory picked it up to put on the table. As she did, the screen lit up, and she couldn’t help but read the notifications. Three missed calls and eight text messages. All from one person – someone Tyler had stored in his phone as ‘Angel.’
Was that a name or an endearment, Dory wondered? Not that it mattered. It had to be the woman in the photos, right? And Dory had no interest in finding out her identity until after her trip home. No questions. That was Tyler’s rule.
Placing the phone securely on the coffee table, she headed for the shower, only to freeze when the phone started ringing.
Holding her breath, Dory stood in the middle of the room, waiting for Tyler to wake up and answer it. But the only sign that Tyler СКАЧАТЬ