Under the Boss's Mistletoe (17 page)
Read Under the Boss's Mistletoe Online
Authors: Jessica Hart
Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Man-woman relationships, #Fiction - Romance, #American Light Romantic Fiction, #Contemporary, #General, #Love stories, #Romance: Modern, #Romance - Contemporary, #Christmas stories, #Chief executive officers, #Wedding supplies and services industry
‘It was as if everything I’d spent the last ten years working for had started to crumble,’ he tried to explain. ‘I thought I needed a day or two to get a grip of myself and decide what I really wanted.
‘And I realised that I wanted
you,
’ he told her. ‘When I got to London, everything was colourless without you. That life I’d fought to keep under control was still under control, but it was flat and meaningless too. So I knew I wanted you, but I wasn’t sure how to win you. You were always telling me how incompatible we were, and you clearly didn’t need
me
to have a good time.’
Jake paused. ‘There was a little bit of me, too, that was hung over from the past, a bit that didn’t feel as if I was good enough for you. You come from such a nice, happy, middle-class family, and when all was said and done I was still one of those Trevelyans with a father in prison.’
‘But you’re more than that,’ said Cassie. ‘Your family doesn’t matter. It’s you I love, and as for my family, well, they’re going to see a chief executive, not the wild boy who used to make trouble in the village. They like high achievers, remember? They’ll approve of you much more than they do of me!’
‘I hope so,’ said Jake. ‘I suppose I just lost my nerve in London. I told myself I had to take things carefully, so I planned to ask you out to dinner as soon as you got back and
ask if you’d consider making that silly pretence of being engaged real. But Natasha turned up instead. She told me you’d admitted that it was just a pretence, and had sent back the ring to prove it.’
‘I didn’t think you’d be able to resist her,’ sighed Cassie. ‘She’s so beautiful.’
‘Well, yes, she is—but next to you she’s just a little colourless. I never laughed with her the way I laughed with you. We never talked, or argued, or lost our cool with each other. Natasha’s a nice person,’ said Jake. ‘But she was the last person I wanted to see that day. Once I’d got over my disappointment that she wasn’t you, we had a long talk. I think the fact that she was ready to have an affair with Rupert made her realise that we weren’t really right for each other. I hope she’ll find the right man one day, but it’s not me.’
‘Why didn’t you at least call me
then?
’ asked Cassie, thinking of the weeks they had wasted being miserable apart.
‘I was angry,’ said Jake. ‘With Natasha, with you, but mostly with myself—for letting myself fall in love with you, for throwing my whole life into disorder for someone who apparently didn’t care enough about me to tell me she couldn’t be bothered to carry on pretending. And then, when I
did
hear from you, it was just an impersonal email about the Hall!’
‘At least I didn’t sign it “regards”!’ sniffed Cassie, and he laughed as he hugged her closer.
‘I was trying to show you I cared as little as you did. God, I can laugh now, but at the time I was hurt and I was bitter. I was impossible to deal with for two weeks—my PA told me she was ready to shoot me, in the end—until I realised I couldn’t go on like that. I used to take myself off for long walks around the streets, and one day I passed a guy on a motorbike. It was just like the one I used to have in Portrevick, and that’s when I started to think about what you’d said about accepting the past and letting go of it at the same time.
‘I can take a risk, I thought, and I went out and bought a
bike of my own. And then I took an even bigger risk. I thought you’d be back in London, so I went round to your office and Joss told me you were still here, so I got straight on my bike and drove all the way down here,’ he said, unzipping a pocket to pull out the ruby ring.
He shifted so that he was lying over Cassie, smiling down into her eyes. ‘I came to tell you that I love you and I need you, and that more than anything in the world I want you to take this ring back and say you’ll marry me. Will you, Cassie?’
Cassie’s smile trembled as she took the ring and slid it back onto her finger where it belonged. ‘Oh yes,’ she breathed, and her eyes shone as she put her arms around Jake’s neck to tug him down for a long, long kiss. ‘Oh yes, I will.’
The short winter afternoon was closing in, but it was only the first spots of rain that forced them to move at last. ‘Have you still got that wedding dress you wore for the photos?’ Jake asked as they brushed sand off each other.
‘I took it back to the shop the next day.’
‘Why don’t you go and buy it?’ he said. ‘We can get married at Christmas.’
‘Christmas!’ said Cassie, startled. ‘That’s only a month away!’
‘It’s enough time for the banns to be read.’
‘Just!’
‘And the wedding’s already planned,’ he pointed out as they headed back to the car park. ‘We’ve got the table decorations and we know the menu. We’ve even had the photos done already. Tina’s got her bridesmaid’s dress, and I’ve got my tuxedo—unless you want me in breeches and a cravat, of course! So all you need to do is buy the dress and tell your family.’
‘Are you sure you don’t mean next Christmas?’ asked Cassie. ‘What happened to Mr Sensible? I thought you’d be saying it was crazy to rush into marriage!’
‘It is,’ said Jake with a smile. ‘But let’s do it anyway.’
A gleaming, mean-looking motorbike had the car park to
itself. Jake handed Cassie a helmet when they got back to it and put on his own. ‘Hop on the back,’ he said, kicking the machine into gear. ‘And we’ll go and see if the vicar can fit us in for a Christmas wedding.’
Christmas Eve
C
ASSIE
woke on her wedding morning to a glittering world. Under a thin, blue winter sky, a hard frost rimed every twig and every blade of grass. But by lunchtime the clouds had blanked out the meagre December light, hanging so heavily they seemed to be muffling the slightest noise, and Portrevick was enveloped in the stillness and strange, expectant silence that comes before snow.
In the pub, they were taking bets on a white Christmas at last, and the children were wild with excitement at the prospect of bulging stockings and presents under the tree. Cassie had always loved Christmas, too, but this was her wedding day, and all she was dreaming about was the moment she stood in front of the altar with Jake. Until then, she hardly dared let herself believe that it wasn’t just all a dream.
At four o’clock it was already dark, but there were flares lining the path to the church, and the trees were strung with fairy lights. Tina took the
faux
fur stole Cassie had worn on the brief journey from Portrevick Hall with her father and laid it on the porch seat.
Cassie’s father offered her his arm. ‘You look beautiful, darling,’ he said. ‘Your mother and I are very proud of you,
you know.’ His voice cracked a little at the end, and he had to clear his throat.
‘Thank you, Dad.’ Cassie’s eyes stung with tears. ‘Thank you for everything.’
‘Promise me you’ll be happy with Jake.’
‘I will.’ It was her turn to swallow a huge lump in her throat. ‘I know I will.’
‘In that case,’ said her father, reverting to his more usual, reassuringly brisk manner. ‘Let’s go.’
And then they were walking up the uneven aisle of the old church.
How odd,
Cassie found herself thinking with a strange, detached part of her mind. She had spent so long planning weddings for other brides, so many years dreaming about her own, that she thought she would know how it would feel.
Everything looked exactly as she had always imagined it. Lit only by candles, the little church looked beautiful, and was filled with the people she loved. Her mother was there, trying not to cry. Liz had started already, and was wiping her eyes with a handkerchief as she smiled tremulously. Her brothers were doing their level best to look as if they weren’t moved, and not quite succeeding.
The flowers were simple, stunning arrangements of white, and tiny wreaths hung at the end of every pew. Cassie had a blurred impression of warmth and colour as everyone turned to smile as they passed. Yes, it was just as she’d imagined it.
What she had never imagined was that none of it would really matter. The only thing that mattered was that Jake should be there, waiting for her at the altar.
And there he was. Cassie’s heart gave a great bound of relief as she saw him turn. He was looking serious, but as she got closer she saw that he was not serious so much as anxious, and she knew with a sudden, dazzling certainty that he had been afraid she wouldn’t come, that all that mattered to him was that
she
was there.
Her father lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it, and
Cassie smiled at him brilliantly before he stepped back to join her mother. Then she turned to face Jake at last.
He smiled at her as he took her hand, and she smiled back, twisting her fingers around his. All at once it was just the two of them in the warm candlelight. They had forgotten the church and the watching congregation, and Cassie could feel herself beginning to sway towards him, turning her face up for his kiss already.
The vicar cleared his throat loudly, and they turned to him with identically startled expressions. He smiled. ‘If you could spare us few minutes of your attention…?’ he murmured.
‘Sorry,’ they whispered back, and he raised his voice.
‘Dearly beloved…’
The familiar words rang like a bell in Cassie’s heart. This was what her wedding was about. It wasn’t about the beautiful dress she was wearing, or the gasps when the guests saw the great hall. It was more than an excuse for a party. It was about Jake and about her, about the love they shared and the life they would build together.
Her eyes never left Jake’s dark-blue ones. She was intensely aware of his hand, of his voice making his responses steadily, of the smooth coolness of the ring he slid onto her finger. At last she was in the right place at the right time. It wasn’t a dream. This was where she was meant to be, and this was the man she was meant to be with.
Cassie’s heart was so full, she could hardly say ‘I do’. Even when she thought it couldn’t possibly be any fuller, it kept swelling, and swelling until the vicar declared them man and wife, and then she was afraid it would explode altogether. Giddy with happiness, she smiled as Jake took her face between his hands and kissed her.
‘You look beautiful,’ he said.
Cassie had seen how radiant other brides looked, and now she knew exactly how they felt. She was brimming with joy. It felt as if it were spilling out of her, shimmering away into the candlelight.
In a blur, she dropped the pen twice before she managed to sign the register, and then she was sailing back down the aisle, Jake’s fingers wrapped firmly round her own.
The church doors were thrown open and a magical scene awaited them. Great, soft snowflakes were drifting steadily to the ground, blurring the warm, flickering glow of the flares and glimmer of the tiny lights in the trees.
‘Oh Jake, it’s perfect!’ gasped Cassie, and promptly tripped over the porch step. ‘Just as well we decided not to have a video,’ she muttered out of the corner of her mouth as Jake hauled her upright, and behind her she heard Tina smother a fit of giggles. ‘Thank goodness I had you to hang on to, or I’d have gone flat on my face!’
Jake’s hand tightened and he smiled down at her. ‘That’s the thing about being married,’ he said. ‘We’ll always have each other to hang on to now.’
Cassie’s smile widened. ‘So we will,’ she said, and then stopped, catching sight of a carriage drawn up outside the lych gate. In the light of the flares there, she could see that it was pulled by two white horses.
A car would be more sensible,
Jake had said once, and it was a car she had expected to take them back to the great hall. But Jake, her sensible husband, must have remembered her fantasy and arranged the carriage for her instead.
Her eyes shone as she looked up at him. ‘It’s my dream!’ she breathed, but Jake shook his head and smiled.
‘It’s not a dream,’ he said. ‘It’s real.’
This season we bring you
Christmas Treats
For an early Christmas present,
Jessica Hart would like to share
a little treat with you…
- Invite all your neighbours as well as your friends, even if you don’t know them very well. Everybody loves to be invited to a party—and it’s a great way to meet that person you smile at in the street every day but whose name you don’t know…
- It’s much more fun if everyone is jammed in together, so put your guests in a room that’s not quite big enough for them all. Don’t let anyone sit down, either! It makes it easier for your guests to mingle and meet each other if everyone is standing up.
- Don’t forget to introduce guests to each other—it can be daunting to walk into a room full of people who all seem to know each other, and it makes a big difference if the hostess makes sure everyone has someone to talk to when they arrive.
- At Christmas you can go to town on the decorations—a Christmas tree is a must, but fairy lights look wonderful strung around the room too. Keep the lighting flattering with candles and soft lamps, and put out piles of pine cones and crackers. A room fragrance scented with cinnamon, oranges and cloves will get everyone in the mood the moment they step through the door.
- Greet guests with a glass of mulled wine and a mince pie as soon as they arrive, or impress them with a real Christmas cocktail—see below!
- Cheese biscuits to nibble on are easy to make, and if you buy a box of Christmas pastry-cutters you can have holly,
stars, angels, Christmas trees and all sorts of other Christmassy shapes, or use letters to spell Noel or Happy Christmas on a plate. They can be made in advance, and will make it look as if you’ve gone to masses of effort even when you haven’t. - Have a Secret Santa. Give all your guests a (very low) price limit and get everyone to bring a present to put beneath the tree. That way everyone will have a gift to take home—but much more fun will be had watching their reactions as they open their present!
- Make sure you leave yourself enough time to make yourself look fantastic. It won’t matter if nothing else is ready as long as you’re there to greet people when they arrive.
- Don’t forget the music—the cheesier, the better. Bring out all the old Christmas favourites and your guests will dance the night away.
- Have a good time and everyone else will too!