For Christmas, Forever: The Yuletide Engagement / The Doctor's Christmas Bride / Snowbound Reunion. Barbara McMahon

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СКАЧАТЬ the same expectation, what choice did she have? Absolutely none.

      Which was why she was sitting here now, dressed warmly in jeans and a thick sweater, waiting for Sarah to pick her up so they could drive into town together.

      ‘I remember,’ she answered Toby heavily. ‘Until Patrick told me last night I had no idea how worried George and Mary are by the relationship.’ She shook her head.

      ‘Strange how these things come around in circles, isn’t it?’ Toby said ruefully. ‘Your dastardly exboyfriend engaged to Patrick’s cousin,’ he explained, at Ellie’s questioning look.

      Ellie winced at having Gareth described as her exboyfriend; she just wanted to forget she had ever known him. Which was impossible in the present situation.

      Although she had felt slightly warmed by Patrick’s comment last night—‘He doesn’t deserve Sarah, Ellie—let alone you!’ Quite what he had meant by that she wasn’t sure, but again it had sounded as if there might be a compliment in there somewhere.

      A compliment she would be wise to ignore, if she had any sense. And, after her recent disappointment over Gareth, she ought to have a lot of sense!

      Except…

      She had felt quite shy as Patrick had driven her home last night, wondering exactly how they were going to say goodnight to each other. Not that they had been out on a genuine date or anything—even less so than she had initially realised!—but Patrick had kissed her earlier in the evening.

      She hadn’t known whether to be disappointed or relieved when, having walked her to the door, he’d bent to kiss her lightly on the cheek before telling her he would call for her at eight o’clock the following evening.

      ‘There’s no point in getting there too early,’ he had added grimly.

      ‘None at all,’ she agreed with a grimace.

      ‘And don’t worry about the shopping expedition with Sarah tomorrow,’ he told her with a grin. ‘Just be yourself and nothing can go wrong.’

      Which was okay for Patrick to say—but Ellie did not relish the thought of having to listen to several hours of Sarah telling her how wonderful Gareth was. It promised to be a very trying afternoon.

      ‘Buy something blue, Ellie,’ Patrick had added huskily. ‘The same blue as your eyes.’

      Once again Ellie felt warmed by the fact that he had even noticed what colour her eyes were!

      ‘Oh, and by the way—’ he turned before getting into his car ‘—Anne and Thomas are my parents; Teresa’s my younger sister.’

      Oh, great. She was going to meet all of Patrick’s family tomorrow evening, too.

      ‘That dress is perfect on you, Ellie,’ Sarah told her admiringly as Ellie came out of the changing room.

      It might be, but a brief glance at the label whilst in the changing room had shown Ellie that the price was perfect too—for bankrupting her!

      She should have known the other woman would want to go to a designer shop for her own outfit. In fact, Sarah had already picked out a gown—an emeraldgreen sheath that perfectly matched the emerald in her engagement ring—and had only returned to try the dress on after alterations.

      The dress she had persuaded Ellie to try on was indeed the blue that Patrick had suggested, its material pure silk, with a fitted, mandarin-style collar and short sleeves.

      ‘With your dark hair swept up like it was last night, and some kohl around your eyes, you’ll look positively exotic, Ellie,’ Sarah enthused.

      The gown was beautiful, it was also more glamorous than anything Ellie had ever worn before. Dared she buy it?

      ‘Patrick is going to be bowled over when he sees you in this,’ Sarah added encouragingly.

      She wasn’t sure she wanted Patrick ‘bowled over’ when he saw her. Where could any relationship between the two of them ever go? Nowhere, came the resounding answer. And yet a part of her so wanted the dress—if only to see if she could bowl Patrick over…!

      ‘Why don’t you think about it while the two of us have a cup of coffee?’ Sarah proposed as she saw Ellie’s uncertainty.

      ‘Good idea,’ Ellie accepted with a certain amount of relief.

      Although she wasn’t so sure it had been a good idea once the two women were seated in a coffee-shop further down the street and the conversation naturally turned to Sarah’s engagement!

      ‘It was all a bit—sudden, wasn’t it?’ Ellie suggested lightly as she stirred sweetener into her coffee.

      ‘Mmm,’ Sarah acknowledged thoughtfully. ‘I’ve quite enjoyed this last year—the modelling and having my photograph on the cover of magazines but you know, Ellie, it’s a very lonely sort of life too. I missed my friends, the family,’ she added wistfully. ‘Most of all the family. Marriage, the possibility of having my own family, suddenly seemed the right option.’

      But, as Ellie knew only too well, Gareth most certainly wasn’t the right man to share that option!

      ‘You’re only twenty-one, Sarah,’ she teased. ‘There’s plenty of time for that once you’ve done all the other things you want to do with your life. Didn’t you once mention that you wanted to do some fashion designing of your own?’

      ‘I’ve already done some,’ Sarah told her excitedly. ‘I had totally forgotten in the excitement of the last few weeks,’ she went on ruefully, ‘but I’m waiting for Jacques, the designer I worked with in Paris, to tell me what he thinks of them.’

      Ah. So Sarah hadn’t completely given up on her life in Paris after all…

      ‘That sounds interesting,’ Ellie encouraged. ‘Do you think that will affect your engagement to Gareth?’

      Sarah looked startled. ‘I must admit I hadn’t given that much thought.’ She grimaced. ‘This being engaged and having to think of another person is all new to me,’ she added self-derisively. ‘But I would really like to follow it through if Jacques thinks I have any talent at all.’

      Again, this was encouraging, Ellie thought; it showed the other woman wasn’t yet quite so tied up in her relationship with Gareth that she had given up on her own ambitions.

      ‘I’m sure Gareth will understand if we have to wait a while before getting married,’ Sarah added dismissively.

      Ellie thought the other woman was being slightly optimistic concerning Gareth’s patience in that direction—after all, the sooner Sarah was his wife, the sooner his position at Delacorte, Delacorte and Delacorte was secured—but wisely she didn’t voice any of those doubts to Sarah.

      She did, however, relay the conversation to Patrick when he arrived to collect her that evening.

      ‘You look wonderful, Ellie.’ He stood back to look at her appreciatively.

      Ellie felt warmth in her cheeks at his praise. ‘Patrick, didn’t you hear what I said? Sarah—’

      ‘Still СКАЧАТЬ