All the Romance You Need This Christmas: 5-Book Festive Collection. Romy Sommer
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this way we can carry on getting to know each other,’ he added, as his longer stride brought him even with her.
Dory swallowed. That, right there, was exactly what she was afraid of.
***
She was nervous; he could tell. Lucas allowed himself a small, satisfied smile. Dory wouldn’t let herself look at him, so she’d never notice.
Any uncertainty he’d had about the conclusions he’d reached had vanished. All that was left now was to find out how far Dory was willing to push the charade. How long she’d cling to the story and keep lying to him.
‘So, is this you guys’ first Christmas together?’ Evie asked, from up ahead. Her blonde ponytail swung from side to side as she walked, but not as markedly as her hips. Obviously she hadn’t got the hint yet that he had other things on his mind than a pretty, probably underage, girl. And what he was about to do doubtless wouldn’t help. On the other hand, maybe Dory would get jealous…
‘Oh, we’re not together,’ he said. ‘Dory here is practically my sister-in-law. She’s dating my brother, and he just brought her home to spend Christmas with the family.’ He added enough emphasis to the last few words that Evie could hardly miss his meaning.
The elf spun around, walking backwards through the mud, eyes wide. ‘Wow. Do you think he’s going to propose?’
Dory stumbled over a tree root, and Lucas grabbed her arm once again to steady her. This would be hilarious if she wasn’t lying to him and his family about everything. Lucas couldn’t shake the thought that if Tyler wasn’t really dating his assistant… then the truth must be even worse. He needed to find out what it was. As soon as he got Dory to admit the lies.
‘Um, I don’t think so,’ Dory said. ‘Not yet, anyway. We’ve only been together a few months…’ Evie looked far more disappointed by this than Dory.
Lucas spotted a chance to push his advantage and went for it. ‘Actually, you never told me how you and Tyler got together.’
‘I bet it’s really romantic,’ Evie added. ‘Tell us!’ Lucas had no idea if all elves had such romantic tendencies, but he was grateful for Evie’s. She was making his mission a whole lot easier.
‘Well… Tyler’s my boss, actually,’ Dory started, and Evie gasped.
‘So you had to keep it a secret!’ Evie bounced a little on the toes of her elf boots. They’d stopped walking altogether now, not that Lucas minded.
‘Yeah. But, um, we were working together every day, taking business trips, late-night flights, that sort of thing. And we just grew… closer.’
Close enough for Tyler to persuade her to be his fake girlfriend for the holiday, anyway.
‘And then?’ he asked. ‘How did you get from that to photos of you in a national magazine with Tyler’s hand up your skirt?’
Colour flooded Dory’s cheeks as she stepped back from him. Evie’s excited expression had faded into a frown, and Lucas suspected he’d lost her support entirely.
‘I don’t think that’s any of your damn business.’ Striding forward, Dory waited for Evie to catch her up then added, ‘Now, where are these eight-foot trees? I’d like to get back to my boyfriend at some point this Christmas Eve.’
Dammit. He’d pushed too far and she’d clammed up. He’d hoped the direct approach might fluster the truth out of her. Instead it had effectively ended his fact-finding mission.
He trudged after Dory and Evie, crunching through the frozen mud and leaves, until they found a small selection of taller trees, chopped down but not net-wrapped yet. Dory stood back as he chose the one most likely not to offend his mother, then slung it on to a sledge to drag it back through the woods to Santa and the car.
Dory didn’t speak to him once. But, Lucas decided, that was okay.
It just meant it was time for Plan B.
‘Now, these decorations have been handed down through generations of Alexander women,’ Felicia said, holding one of the boxes close to her chest. ‘They’re very valuable. And fragile.’
‘Lucas and I will be very careful with them,’ Dory promised. She wasn’t entirely sure how she’d agreed to decorate, as well as fetch, the tree. After the stony silence of the drive back to Midfield House, tree bouncing on the roof, she’d been hoping to hide out in her room until it was time to get ready for the party. But Felicia had been waiting in the hallway with boxes of antique decorations, and before she’d been able to make her excuses, Lucas had volunteered her. Again.
She was getting a little bit sick of that, actually.
Dory reached out to take the box of decorations, and Felicia leant back. Dory let her hand fall, and glanced back at Lucas who, having set the ridiculously oversized tree into its stand in the hallway, was now stringing lights around it, without waiting for the branches to drop and settle. He wasn’t even looking at her, and still Dory got the impression that he was up to something. Just biding his time before he attacked again.
‘They were bought for Patrick’s great-great-aunt by an English lord,’ Felicia went on. Did she expect Dory to be impressed by her own country’s aristocracy? Clearly she hadn’t spent enough time reading the British gossip magazines.
‘I’m sure they’re beautiful,’ Dory said. ‘Do you think maybe I could see them?’ The boxes looked awfully small, even if there were six of them. Could there possibly be enough decorations in there to cover the ginormous thing Lucas had dragged in from the forest?
‘Of course.’ Felicia gave her a bright, brittle smile. ‘Let’s set them out on the table over here.’
Placing the box on the console table next to the tree with great care, Felicia lifted the lid, and Dory gave a reverential sigh. However crazy protective Felicia was over the things, Dory couldn’t deny that they were beautiful.
‘They’re incredible,’ Dory said, earning a real smile from Felicia for once. ‘They’ll look stunning on the tree.’
‘And you’ll be careful?’ Felicia asked. ‘Only, they’re a tradition in the family…’
‘We’ll be careful, Mother,’ Lucas said, putting his arm around Felicia and leading her towards the kitchen door. ‘So trust us and leave us to it. I’m sure Freya needs your supervision on something.’
The thought of what the maid might be screwing up elsewhere was apparently enough to make Felicia forget about leaving precious heirlooms in the charge of the interloper, and Lucas shut the door behind her before she could change her mind.
Leaving Dory alone with Lucas again. Just what she didn’t want. Dory didn’t know what he was playing at, but the way he looked at her, as if he could see through every lie she’d ever told, made her intensely nervous.
Where the hell was Tyler? Why couldn’t he help with this? Maybe then Lucas would stop making her feel so on edge.
Of course, it didn’t help that she really, really wanted to find out what would happen if she just told Lucas the truth.
Looking for a distraction, Dory reached into the box and lifted out the first decoration. A handblown glass teardrop, streaked with blues and silvers. ‘They’re so delicate.’
‘Don’t you start,’ Lucas said. ‘We’ll never get this damn thing decorated if you start acting like mother about them.’
‘Hey, you’re the one who volunteered us for this gig,’ she said, putting down the first decoration and picking up another. She wasn’t going to look at him. Wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing