A Christmas Date

Copyright
2012 by L.C. Zingera

No
part of this book may be reproduced without

 
the
written consent
of the copyright owner.

This
is a work of fiction.

Any
resemblance to persons living or dead

 
is purely coincidental.

Chapter One

Catching
sight of himself in the mirrored elevator, Lucas Hart knew he didn’t appear to
be in the Christmas spirit at all, in fact he realized, he was almost foreboding
looking in his long grey winter wool coat and black boots, with a long burgundy
scarf hung around his neck. He’d been too busy getting settled back into his
native New York City after years away in Europe to think about the holiday
season. He sighed, he’d returned home only a month ago, and had agreed to
attend dinner this evening at his friend Sean’s house.

Sean
had gone from being a confirmed bachelor like him, to head over heels in love
and married within the space of a few months. He and Lillian had married while
he’d been away and Lucas had been unable to take the time off work to fly home
to attend their wedding. The least he could do was to show up for dinner at
their new home.

He’d
been warned that they had an unfortunate habit of wanting all their friends to
be as happy as they were, and setting up blind dates for everyone they knew. It
was unwise, he was told, to show up at Sean and Lillian’s home without a date
on one’s arm. He just hadn’t been home long enough to meet anyone yet. Christmas
was looming on the horizon and he’d brought a bottle of Christmas spiced wine
and a set of crystal glasses in lieu of a housewarming present for them.

He
rang the doorbell and Sean threw it open, grasping his hand with a cheerful
grin he shook it heartily. Lillian hurried forward to take his coat, a warm
fire raged in the stone fireplace, the homey atmosphere shutting out the winter
chill. He looked around and sighed in relief. Thank God he’d been wrong, no set
up, no blind date.

Angelina
Makepeace pushed the button for the elevator in the plush lobby of her friends’
apartment building. They’d invited her over for dinner, she knew there would be
another surprise visitor sprung on her tonight, and sighed. They had an
irresistible need to continually set her up on blind date after blind date. She
crossed her fingers as she exited the elevator on their floor and prayed he
wasn’t another jackass. She’d tried hard to politely tell them that just
because their friends and acquaintances acted like good guys around them, the
way they behaved when on a date with her, was often a different matter
entirely. Some guys had a tendency to think if she was willing to be set up,
she must be desperate, therefore easy pickings. Even though she hadn’t
consented to the set up in the first place! Sean and Lillian just shrugged it
off and kept on setting her up. She should have cried off, she knew it, she
thought with a groan. She’d been so busy the past couple of years setting up
her own business, she hadn’t had time to get out and meet anyone. Sean and
Lillian were newlyweds, and so happy, they wanted everyone they knew to feel
the same. It was pure torture. Hopefully in time they’d quit making her their
pet project and realize their matchmaking skills left a lot to be desired. They
were her best friends, she was trying her best to be patient and tough it out,
but it wasn’t easy. She crossed her fingers and prayed as she rang the
doorbell.
Please God, no more blind
dates!

Lucas
was just beginning to relax, standing in front of the warm winter fire enjoying
the twinkling colorful lights of the Christmas tree, the soft background music,
and the aroma of the warm glass of mulled wine he’d been handed, when the
doorbell rang. Oh, hell! Here we go. He groaned and barely pushed aside the
urge to grab his coat and make a run for it.

Sean
hurried to answer it. A small round looking female hurried in out of the winter
chill, bundled up from head to toe in a warm wooly coat and scarf, her head
covered in a soft knit cap, her cheeks were a rosy vibrant red and so was her
nose. A cold blast of air came in with her, even the hallway of the building
was ice cold now, and the temperature was dropping rapidly. Lucas looked her up
and down with a disdainful eye. If they even thought he would give this odd
little round woman a second glance they were wrong. How could they possibly
think she was his type?

Angelina’s gaze
connected instantly with the tall dark stranger as she warmly greeted Lillian
and Sean and hurried toward the fire, noting not only the quick dismissive up
and down glance he threw her way, but also the roll of his ice blue eyes.
Annoyed at his rudeness, and stung by his attitude, Angelina decided to spend
the evening baiting him.

Lillian took Angelina’s
coat and scarf, and she removed the woolly hat allowing a cascade of riotous
chestnut curls to tumble out as Sean handed her a warm glass of mulled wine.

“Hi! I’m Angelina, you
must be Adam?” Her big green eyes assessed him coldly.

“Lucas,” he said
gruffly.

“Oh
sorry, you look just like the description of Adam. Tall, dark, moody looking,
hook nose…”

Sean
almost choked on his wine and hurried into the kitchen to help Lillian. “You
stay here, keep Lucas company, and get warm,” Sean called as he went. “We’ll
have dinner ready in a jiffy!”

“I
do not have a hook nose!” Lucas retorted, turning to glare at her as their host
left the room.

“Sorry? Oh, no, you’re
right, I don’t suppose you do. Roman maybe, not quite hook, but close.”
Angelina, her pride still stinging from the cold reception his unkind gaze had
thrown her way as she entered her friend’s home, simply shrugged. “It hardly
matters anyway, does it? At least not to me.”

“What the hell is that
supposed to mean?” he ground out.

“I saw that disdainful
look when I walked in here Mister. I’m not interested in you either by the
way,” she informed him under her breath. She knew she was no great beauty, but
did he have to make her feel like he’d been handed the proverbial Christmas
lump of coal instead of a gift?

Lucas stared at her,
rolled his ice blues heavenward again and sat down opposite her on the couch.
“Truce?” he asked suddenly, “For our hosts’ sake?”

“Sure.”

Sean and Lillian walked
into the room to find their two best friends seated in silence. Not good. They
shared a worried glance but Sean didn’t expect anything else, knowing the pair,
but they were far better suited than either of them could ever guess. They were
two very headstrong and volatile personalities, sooner or later tonight there
might be a fireworks display. Sean rubbed his hands in front of the fire and
winked at his wife. She rolled her twinkling eyes heavenward.

***

Dinner
was good, crisp salad with homemade garlic bread sticks, and lasagna, followed
by warm caramel cake drizzled with melted chocolate and topped with whipped
cream for dessert. Lillian was the very best cook she knew and Angelina said
so, she always complimented her cooking. Lillian just smiled her thanks. Mr.
Cranky was watching her out of the corner of his eye, she wanted to kick him
under the table, the very least he could do was thank his host, the ungrateful
grouch. The man looked like he’d just stepped off the front page of a fashion
magazine, tall and broad shouldered but wearing an impeccably tailored dark
blue suit, she’d bet it was Armani. And with his jet black hair, icy blue eyes
and cold arrogant attitude, he was obviously aware of his own good looks and
quite fond of himself. How on earth did someone as warm as Sean know such a
stuck up pencil pusher? That epithet was probably way out of date she knew, but
it suited him nevertheless. He looked like he had a giant stick up his...
well,
she’d wasted enough time on him already.

When Angelina drew her
gaze away from their snooty guest to look at him questioningly, Sean’s lips
twitched and he was apparently having such a hard time keeping his amusement to
himself, she watched him fake a cough, then hurry off into the kitchen to hide
his laughter and choke down another drink. He’d pay for this later.

The evening was still
young, despite the fact they’d had dinner, dessert and coffee. Angelina caught
Lucas surreptitiously looking at his watch, about to make his excuses, she beat
him to it.

“It’s
still early!” Lillian complained
,
looking from one to
the other in disappointment, though why, it was hard to imagine, as far as
Angelina knew, none of her matchmaking had ever worked out well.

“I’d better be going
too, I have a ton of work to catch up on,” Lucas added, not wanting to miss an
opportunity to get the hell out of there.

“Then
maybe you could give Angelina a ride home?” Lillian suggested.

Lucas shot an
uncomfortable glance in Angelina’s direction, and she did her best not to roll
her eyes. He nodded curtly. Though it was obviously for their hosts’ sake that
he’d agreed, Angelina fully intended to tell him it wasn’t necessary the
instant they were outside and out of ear shot.

Sean pulled back the
curtain as Lillian went to retrieve their coats from the other room where she’d
laid them out to dry, after the minor snow flurries they’d encountered on their
way over here.

“Wow!” Sean exclaimed.
“We may as well put those coats away. It’s a winter wonderland out there. You
two aren’t going anywhere!”

Angelina and Lucas
almost knocked each other over in their haste to dash to the window to ensure
it really wasn’t true, snowed in here, together? Hell no.

Sean
and Lillian grinned knowingly at each other. This date had been a long time
coming. They’d known from the start that the one who best suited their friend
Angelina was Lucas, even if he didn’t know it yet, and they had gleefully
awaited news of his return from Europe to set them up. Despite his newly
polished European style, he was still the same old Lucas on the inside.

Chapter Two

Angelina and Lucas
gazed down in dismay on the source of their imprisonment. The snow was almost
to the top of Lucas’s car.

“Snowball fight!” Sean
and Lillian exclaimed in unison.

Lucas was looking at
them like they’d lost their minds and for that reason alone Angelina was
looking forward to hurling a snowball or two at his perfect pouty kisser. He
was as cold as a picture perfect mannequin and she couldn’t wait to ruffle his
haughty feathers a little. They all donned their coats and gloves and traipsed
outside. Lucas looking like he was going to the guillotine in Armani style.

Samson Dinsdale, the
building super gave them a cheerful wave as he pushed the snow blower down the
courtyard path creating perfect banks of light fluffy snow at the perimeter,
despite the fact the flakes were still falling in an ongoing blanket of white.

They’d
barely made it to the partially cleared courtyard when Lucas felt a softball
sized chunk of wet snow hit him in the back of the head. He swiveled around and
nearly slipped, arms
windmilling
. Angelina wrapped
her arms around his middle to keep him from falling. He steadied himself and
tried to peel himself away from her, and nearly slipped again. These boots
weren’t made for walking, let alone traipsing through the snow. Milan had all
been about style. As a marketing executive in the fashion industry it had been
important for him to look the part. Here, he needed to be practical, speaking
of which, despite his uncharacteristic rudeness, Angelina hadn’t let him fall.
He cleared his throat as she slowly stepped back, certain now that he had his
balance. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”
Another snow ball hit him in the shoulder, this time it was Sean who was the
culprit. Giving in, he scooped up one of his own and tossed it back at Sean.
Angelina and Lillian were exchanging hastily made snowballs and giggling like
schoolgirls. Lucas and Sean grinned and pelted the girls in rapid succession.
Lucas found himself laughing at Angelina’s outraged expression at his rapid
fire volleys as she struggled to return fire. When they finally made it upstairs
they were all cold, wet, shivering, red-cheeked and happy. Lillian went into
the kitchen to start the hot chocolate and Angelina peeled off her soaking wet
coat.