The Yuletide Engagement. Кэрол Мортимер

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СКАЧАТЬ 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, СКАЧАТЬ