Mills & Boon Christmas Delights Collection. Rebecca Winters

Чтение книги онлайн.

       Chapter Twenty-One

      Several hours later we returned to the house, each of us laden like a mountain mule with Christmas decorations and various items for the house itself, including a clutch of goodies to make the master bedroom into the retreat it should be. We also had a list of items being delivered tomorrow, including decorative cushions for nearly every room, another couple of throws, plus a few scented candles for the bathrooms which, although gorgeous, had weighed a bloody tonne so we’d opted to test the courier’s muscles on those rather than ours.

      ‘What about the tree?’

      ‘Emmet promised he’d saved me a good one for you. When do you want to get it?’

      Michael looked at the clock in the hall. ‘Is now any good? Or do you have to be somewhere?’

      ‘No, I booked out the whole day for you today.’

      A smile spread on his face. ‘Great.’

      ***

      Emmet, my contact, had been true to his word, picking out a huge, gorgeously thick pine that let out its delicious scent as Michael manoeuvred it into the back of the pickup.

      ‘This brings back memories.’ I could hear the smile in his voice, even though he was mostly hidden by the tree.

      ‘Good ones by the sounds of it.’

      ‘Very good ones. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed all the little things like this.’ He came around the tree and gave it another shake to make sure it was secured.

      ‘Despite your initial worries, I think you’re looking forward to hosting Christmas now, aren’t you?’

      He stopped beside me. ‘I really am. We try and get together pretty often but Christmas was the one time everyone ensured they were there…until I met Angeline, of course.’

      I felt his mood change a little. ‘But before? Tell me about your Christmases.’

      He moved and I felt him relax again. ‘They’re full of noise, but in a good way. Lots of laughter, banter, catching up. We eat way too much, play board games, have crossword puzzle races with boys against girls, and there’s probably the odd glass of booze or two.’ I could see him grinning at the last part.

      ‘Just the odd one.’

      ‘Obviously.’

      ‘It sounds wonderful Michael. I’m so glad you’ll all be getting that again this year.’

      ‘Me too. Do you know, I even made some mince pies last night as a trial run, now that I can find everything in my kitchen. Even more amazingly, they’re actually pretty edible.’

      I wrapped my arm around his automatically and gave it a squeeze. ‘That’s great. And this,’ I turned and pointed at the tree, ‘is going to look beautiful in your living room. I’m so excited to see it when it’s done. Will you send me a picture?’

      He stopped tying the rope. ‘You realise that leaving me alone with this and all the stuff we bought today is going to result in a tree looking like the decoration fairies went on a bender and threw up on it, don’t you?’

      ‘That’s not exactly the image I was hoping for in my mind.’

      ‘It’s the one you’ll be getting if you leave me unsupervised.’

      ‘I think you probably have more skills than you think you do.’

      I heard the low laugh in the darkness. ‘Oh, I’ve got skills, just not in this department.’

      I was playing with a branch that had fallen off another tree, and at his comment, gave him a tap on the side of the thigh with it. ‘Behave.’

      He СКАЧАТЬ