Mills & Boon Christmas Delights Collection. Rebecca Winters

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      ‘Let’s just forget about it. Now, what’s in here?’

      ‘I never meant to upset you.’

      ‘You didn’t.’

      ‘Katie. Even I can see when I’ve made a woman cry.’

      ‘Look, I was tired, I was a bit upset about saying goodbye to the dog and I had a steaming headache. I know you meant well so let’s just leave it at that, all right?’

      He opened his mouth to say something, looked at me, then closed it again. ‘Sure.’

      ‘Now, please! What’s this big surprise?’

      Michael opened the door and I stood for a moment, shocked. I looked up at him and he couldn’t keep the grin off of his face as Rooney scooted towards us, tail wagging madly, toenails clicking on the floorboards. I dropped to my knees and he barrelled into me for a cuddle, rubbing his head on my shoulder and my cheek, making me laugh as he practically pushed me over in excitement.

      ‘Steady on mate.’ Michael eased the dog back and helped me regain my balance. Standing, he held out a hand to help me up which I took. We walked further into his office and I noticed a dog bed now sat between the easel and the desk and there was a blanket on the sofa where I assumed the dog was now also allowed.

      ‘I don’t understand. Yesterday…’

      ‘I had to be sure I could have him looked after when I have to go away, meetings I can’t take him to, etc. And I had to be sure he was good with the kids. My neighbour used to look after Monty sometimes and she was chuffed to bits when I asked her last night about the possibility of some more dog-sitting.’

      I cast my mind back to our first meeting and his neighbour flirting with him in front of me.

      ‘The…yummy mummy dog-sits?’

      He screwed his face up a moment. ‘Tamara? God no! The other side. Retired couple.’

      ‘Oh, that makes more sense.’

      ‘Yeah. To be honest, I’d rather not be beholden to Tamara for anything, if you know what I mean.’

      I could take a wild guess. Then I remembered my text from earlier.

      ‘But Mark said this morning…’

      ‘Yeah, I kind of spoke to Mark on my way out last night and explained the situation. Don’t be mad at him,’ he added, seeing my eyebrows shoot up. ‘I asked him to keep it a secret. If I’d known you were going to be so upset about it all last night, though, I’d have told you. I thought you were just upset about me slating your boyfriend.’

      ‘Let’s not talk about that. And I promise I’m not mad at Mark. I just…does Janey know?’

      ‘Of course. She and the kids came with me this morning to meet him. He was brilliant with them. So that was that. With a stop for food, bedding and, by the time the kids had finished, pretty much every toy in the place, we were done.’

      ‘Sneaky moo.’

      ‘Excuse me?’ he laughed.

      ‘Your sister. I was round there earlier! I had a break between clients close to her house so I stopped in for a cuppa and she never mentioned a thing.’

      ‘Yeah, that’s kind of my fault too. I wanted to surprise you.’

      I laughed. ‘Well, you most certainly got your wish.’

      We were sat side by side on the little sofa in the corner of the office, weakening rays of winter sunshine filtering through the window, the dog lying in the middle of them, watching us through sleepy eyes.

      ‘We had a run in the park earlier, so he’s a bit pooped.’

      ‘He looks it.’

      ‘There’s one thing though.’

      ‘What’s that?’

      ‘The name. I’m sorry. It has to go. I’ve been calling him “boy” all day. I can’t stand bloody football at the best of times, so his current name really isn’t going to work.’

      ‘He’s your dog now, call him what you want. He’ll soon get used to it.’

      ‘That’s the thing. I don’t know what to call him. I thought you might have an idea.’

      ‘Me? I can’t name your dog.’

      ‘Yes you can. You’re the reason he’s here. You have a vested interest. Come on, please?’

      I sat back on the couch, tucked my feet up beside me, then peered around Michael to look at the dog.

      ‘You know, one name does come to mind.’

      ‘What’s that?’

      ‘Have you read Jane Eyre?’

      Michael shook his head. ‘No, sorry.’

      Handy.

      ‘One of the main characters, Mr Rochester, has a dog. He’s called Pilot.’

      Michael nodded. ‘Pilot. I like that.’

      ‘You do?’

      He shifted to look at me. ‘Yeah I do.’

      The smile broke on my face. ‘Oh my Gosh! I can’t believe you have him! I’m so happy you took him after all.’ Without thinking I flung my arms around Michael’s neck and hugged him. His arms wrapped around me and pulled me closer.

      ‘I should be thanking you.’ His voice was soft near my ear, and I was suddenly aware of the hardness of his chest against mine, the warmth of his hands through my dress and the way his arms held me tight. It felt…Oh my God. It felt good! Which was bad! So, so bad! That damn dog had my emotions all over the place. I was getting all sorts of confused! I pulled back.

      ‘Right!’ I said, over brightly causing Michael to wrinkle his forehead.

      ‘You…OK?’

      ‘Uh huh! So! Let’s crack on, shall we?’

      ‘All right,’ he said slowly, standing as he did so. ‘You said before that you normally start with clothes and stuff. So I thought, especially after what you said last night, that maybe it was about time we got to work in the bedroom…on the bedroom. You know. And if you…erm…had any ideas about what you think I could do to make it a bit more…personal, then I’d be happy to hear them.’

      I smoothed my dress, remembering what had happened the last time I tried to suggest something to that effect.

      ‘I know I bit your head off last time you tried to help me. I guess I didn’t see it then. But I do now. And you’re right. You were right last night too, about some of it. But not all of it.’

      ‘No, I know. I’m sorry.’

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