Читать книгу All the Romance You Need This Christmas: 5-Book Festive Collection - Romy Sommer, Georgia Hill - Страница 12

‘Martini or a champagne cocktail?’ Patrick barely looked up from the drinks cabinet as he asked.

‘Beer?’ Lucas figured it was worth a try.

‘Not before dinner, Lucas,’ his mother said from the doorway. ‘Mix him a martini, Patrick.’

That, Lucas reflected, was one of the many things he had been positively joyous to leave behind him when he called time on his career as the Alexander Dynasty Heir. On his farm, away from his family, there was no one else to make better choices for him, regardless of what he actually wanted himself.

Lucas decided, there and then, that he was ditching the martini for a beer at the first possible opportunity. A minor rebellion, but it felt important. If a man couldn’t pick his own drink at the age of thirty-three, what was the point of it all anyway?

‘Tyler and… Dory, was it? All settled in, are they?’ Patrick handed Lucas his unwanted martini. Lucas glared at it.

Felicia sighed, that sad, disappointed sigh that Lucas remembered too well from his childhood. The one that said, ‘I’ve done all that I can, and still the world lets me down.’ He hated that sigh.

‘I hope so. I think Dory is, perhaps, a little… overwhelmed. Not used to… well, you know.’ The Alexanders’ ridiculous standard in opulence, Lucas assumed she meant.

‘What?’ Patrick asked, obviously less able to make the mental leap. ‘Beds? Indoor plumbing?’

‘Patrick,’ Felicia said, censoriously, although Lucas was sure she’d been thinking exactly the same thing.

‘She’s a long way from home at Christmas,’ Lucas said, thinking of Dory’s homesick Christmas playlist. ‘And presumably giving up the holidays with her family to be here, because you insisted that Tyler bring her. I don’t think you can blame her for feeling a bit out of place.’

Felicia’s eyebrows raised, more in surprise than anything else. ‘Why, Lucas, I hadn’t realised you’d grown so close to your brother’s girlfriend.’

‘We just spent two hours in a car together, Mother.’

‘And she said she didn’t want to be here?’ Patrick asked. ‘A little rude, don’t you think?’

‘She didn’t say anything of the sort,’ Lucas said, wondering how he’d ended up defending her. Except, perhaps, that having escaped the general Alexander effect, he was loathe to let anyone else suffer. ‘But she’s in a new country, for heaven’s sake. It’s fairly obvious.’

‘To you, maybe,’ Felicia said. ‘Personally, I expect her plans for the holidays are going exactly as she’d hoped.’

‘Meaning?’

‘Darling, really. You know what these girls are like.’

So that was it. Felicia had assigned Dory the role of gold-digger, and she’d twist every single thing that happened over the next three days to fit that assumption. Poor Dory.

‘I think you’re wrong about Dory,’ he said. ‘And about my drink. I’m going to go see if there’s any beer in the kitchen fridge.’

‘Not so fast, Lucas.’ Patrick, standing in the doorway, gave him a steady look. ‘First off, I’m not happy about you talking to your mother that way.’

‘What way?’ God, it was as if he were sixteen again, getting in trouble for the tone of his voice.

Patrick continued without answering the question. ‘And secondly, I have some other things I want to talk to you about before your brother joins us.’

‘In that case, I’m definitely going to need that beer.’

‘Duncan!’ Felicia snapped and, as if by magic, the butler appeared.

‘Yes, Mrs Alexander?’

‘Could you please fetch Lucas a beer. In a glass.’

‘Of course.’ Duncan disappeared as quickly as he’d arrived.

Lucas considered. On the one hand, he’d got his beer. On the other… whatever his father wanted to talk to him about must be more important than drinks decorum. Not a great sign.

Dropping into one of the leather armchairs beside the fire, Lucas placed his still-full martini glass on the nearest side table. Apprehension twisted in his gut. Why couldn’t he have just insisted on spending Christmas alone on the farm? He could even have skipped the God-awful Alexander Christmas Eve Party. Next year…

‘Regardless of Dory’s… suitability,’ Patrick started, looking as awkward at the conversation as Lucas felt. ‘At least Tyler has brought someone home to meet us. Someone serious. Whereas, as far as we can tell, you haven’t dated anyone since…’

‘Since Cheryl,’ Lucas finished for him, a little confused. This wasn’t at all the way he’d expected this conversation to go. ‘Well, you know, divorce…’ he trailed off, unable to explain to his parents that after what happened with Cheryl it was hard to trust that any woman wouldn’t behave exactly as she had, when they realised that this really was who he was these days. He wasn’t playing at opting out until he decided it was time to take his rightful place in the Alexander dynasty again. He was done.

It had taken Cheryl six months after the accident to realise that. And when she had… she’d packed and left the next day. And then she’d taken him for everything she could get in the divorce.

His mother came and perched on the arm of his chair, looking suddenly intent and almost frighteningly maternal. Lucas tried not to flinch as she leant in to pat his shoulder. ‘You can’t let it knock you back like this, Lucas. It’s time for you to get back in the game.’

‘The… dating game?’ Lucas’s voice squeaked a little as he spoke the words. Duncan, who’d finally reappeared with his beer, raised his eyebrows a little at the sound. Lucas suspected he was going to get mocked later, when he got together with the butler and Freya, the maid, for poker, as per their private tradition.

‘The game of life, if you will.’ Patrick took the glass and handed the drink to Lucas, who took a quick, desperate gulp.

Then his father’s words registered. Suddenly, everything made a lot more sense. ‘This isn’t just an intervention in my love life, is it?’

‘Of course not.’ Felicia slipped off the arm of the chair and stood by her husband. ‘There are far more important things at stake than who you bring home to meet the family.’

‘Like the family business,’ Patrick said.

Lucas shook his head. ‘I’ve told you before. I’m happy where I am, doing what I’m doing. And Tyler wants to be CEO. We’re both happy with how things are.’

‘It’s not all about being happy, though, is it,’ Felicia said, and Lucas felt a sudden pang of sadness for his parents.

It didn’t last long, though.

‘You need to think about your legacy,’ Patrick said. ‘About your contribution to the family, and its place in this world. In society, in business. You are part of something important. You were born into privilege, and that has its obligations.’

Lucas thought about Henry, dead at thirty-one because of his obligations to family and legacy. Because he thought it meant living up to the illusion of having everything, doing everything better, being everything that someone else wanted to be. That wouldn’t happen to him.

‘Not anymore, I don’t. I gave back the place on the board, my position. I don’t owe anyone anything any longer.’

‘That’s not how it works.’ Felicia’s voice was stern, unwavering.

Lucas drained the rest of his beer. ‘It is now.’ Getting to his feet, he headed for the door. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to see if Duncan’s hiding any more of this in the fridge before I get changed for dinner.’

‘This conversation isn’t over,’ Felicia said, following him.

‘Yes.’ Lucas turned to her, quick enough that she had to take a step back. ‘It is.’ Then, he made his way to the kitchen. Clearly this weekend was going to need a lot of beer. He just hoped that Duncan had stocked up.

***

‘Am I presentable?’ Dory asked, giving Tyler a little twirl as he came out of the bathroom, decked out in a shirt, tie and jacket.

He flashed her a smile. ‘Ravishing.’

She didn’t feel it. In fact, she felt kind of frumpy, but she had a feeling that the pearls and boring dress were probably what the Alexanders were looking for in Tyler’s girlfriend, anyway. Silently, she thanked the last-minute impulse that had made her pack them.

‘Guess we’d better go face the music, then,’ she said.

Tyler took her arm. ‘Don’t worry. They’ll love you.’

Dory couldn’t help the burst of laughter that came out at that. ‘Tyler, they’re going to hate me. They were always going to hate me. There is pretty much nothing I can do to change that, and the only thing that could make it worse is if they found out I’m actually your assistant.’

‘Good job you’re not actually dating me then, huh?’

Dory shuddered. ‘A very good job.’ Just the thought of a future of Christmases spent at Midfield House made her feel faintly sick.

‘They’re not so bad, you know,’ Tyler said, more seriously.

‘To you, no,’ Dory replied. ‘But I don’t belong here, and they know it. That’s all.’

Tyler opened the door. ‘Come on. At least the food should make up for everything else.’

‘And the wine?’

‘The wine, I promise you, will be superb.’

It was, too. Dory took a sip, and reminded herself to go slow with it. The last thing they needed was her getting tipsy and saying something she shouldn’t.

‘So, Dory, I trust you’ve recovered from your motion sickness?’ Felicia looked pointedly at Dory’s empty plate and she realised, too late, that everyone apart from Lucas was still only halfway through their starters.

‘I’m feeling much better, thank you,’ she said, giving Tyler’s mother a tight smile. She took another tiny sip of her wine. Felicia’s frown deepened, and Dory thought, Screw it, and took a bigger gulp. As she put the glass down, Lucas reached across the table and topped up her wine. The smile she gave him, at least, was genuine. Anyone who took care of her wine needs without judgement was definitely on her side.

As the maid cleared their starter plates, Patrick leant back in his seat at the head of the table. Feeling his eyes on her, Dory looked up. Tyler’s father made her a little uncomfortable, she had to admit. Maybe it was just that while Felicia’s disdain was evident from a mile away, Patrick tried to exude more of a friendly vibe – but she still got the feeling he was just waiting for her to trip up.

‘So, Dory,’ he said, lifting his own wine glass. ‘Where would you be spending Christmas this year if my son hadn’t brought you home to share the season with us?’

A wave of homesickness hit Dory in the chest. Except she wouldn’t have been at home, would she? And Tyler’s girlfriend certainly wouldn’t have been abandoning Manhattan for Liverpool. ‘Oh, I’d still be in New York,’ she said, hoping her bright smile didn’t look as fake as it felt. ‘Probably spending the day with my girlfriends, I suppose. Drinking champagne and eating truffles.’ Or, in reality, shivering under her duvet with a cup of tea and a turkey ready-meal for one, watching the Doctor Who Christmas Special and listening to Cliff Richard.

Across the table, Lucas gave her a disbelieving look. Apparently he thought her taste in Christmas music had given him some sort of insight into her real festive plans. Damn. She was going to have to be careful with Lucas.

‘Not with your family?’ Felicia asked, and Dory tried to quickly figure out exactly what she was being disapproved of for now. Was it for not spending Christmas with her family? Or for having a family who didn’t demand she spend the holidays with them or that she didn’t want to be with over the festive season? If only they knew the truth…

‘I’m going home to visit over New Year,’ Dory explained, as the maid brought their main courses out. Some sort of fancy duck dish with a berry sauce. It smelled wonderful. ‘It worked out better with my work commitments, and I can stay longer then.’ The total truth. She intended to make sure Tyler honoured his promise to give her a full two weeks off with her family, starting with her flight out on the 27th December. It was only when she saw Lucas wince across the table that she realised what she’d done.

‘So, you work, then?’ Felicia asked. Dory took a large bite of duck to help resist the urge to reply that, yes, of course she worked! Almost everybody did, these days. Except, of course, in Felicia Alexander’s world. ‘What is it that you do?’

Dory glanced at Tyler before she answered. Lie, he mouthed. Dory took a breath. She could do that. She’d been lying to her parents about it for six months, after all.

‘I’m in PR,’ she said, and watched Lucas’s eyebrows rise. ‘I was brought over from the UK to work on a number of very high-profile campaigns.’ That much was true, anyway. When she’d told her boss that her fiancé was moving to New York and wanted her to go with him, Melanie had been thrilled. Apparently she’d been trying to decide between Dory and two of her colleagues to go on a secondment over at the Manhattan office of their company anyway. Dory had been her first choice, but she’d been uncertain whether she’d want to go, having just got engaged. This way, Dory could make her mark in the States and then, hopefully, secure a permanent role over there once the secondment was up. In one fell swoop, Dory had fixed Melanie’s problem and changed her whole life.

Of course, neither of them could have predicted that, by the time the three-month secondment ended, the company would have restructured and there wouldn’t be a job left for Dory, or Melanie, in the US or UK offices.

‘That sounds very interesting,’ Patrick said, between mouthfuls, although he didn’t sound particularly interested. ‘We have an excellent PR team at the Alexander Corporation, you know.’

‘So I understand,’ Dory said. In fact, she knew first-hand. She knew exactly how much effort went into making sure that Tyler appeared at the right events, with the right person, doing the right things.

She wondered how much the PR team would scream if they knew what she and Tyler were doing this weekend. Who would cry, if and when, they found out.

‘You should see if Tyler can get you a job there,’ Lucas said, and Dory narrowed her eyes at his smirk. Wasn’t he supposed to be on her side?

‘Oh, I don’t think that would be very appropriate,’ Felicia said, which Dory interpreted as meaning ‘she’ll be so much harder to get rid of then.’ ‘After all, what would the press make of Tyler dating a colleague?’

Tyler choked on his wine.

‘This duck is delicious, Mrs Alexander,’ Dory said, in a desperate attempt to change the subject.

‘Well, thank you, Dory. How nice of you to say.’ She made it sound as if she’d been slaving over a hot stove all afternoon cooking it, when everyone around the table knew full well that their chef was responsible. Dory supposed it was one of those pretensions the rich liked to keep up. ‘I can see you’re certainly enjoying it.’

Dory paused, forkful of meat and berries halfway to her mouth. And then she ate it anyway, because what was there to say to that, really? At least they weren’t talking about her working for Tyler any longer.

It was only for three days. She could endure any amount of rudeness and pretension for three days, right? And at the end of it, she’d be home where she belonged for two whole weeks.

Dory looked down at her plate, wishing she could ask for seconds. But that would just give Felicia more ammunition against her. And for the next three days, she needed to be, if not the perfect girlfriend, at least a believable one.

Just three days. Then she would be eating every leftover mince pie in Liverpool.

***

Lucas studied Dory as the others finished up their main courses. So far, she seemed to be holding up under his mother’s passive-aggressive condescension. Good for her. Of course, she’d probably be dealing with it better if her boyfriend helped out…

He let his gaze drift over to his brother, sitting next to Dory. For all the attention he was paying her, he could be at an entirely separate dinner. The only time he’d looked up at her was when their mother had asked what Dory did for a living. And then, Lucas had seen Dory check with Tyler before answering. Had he told her to lie? Probably.

Not for the first time, Lucas wished he wasn’t in on this secret. All three of them knew that it was a potential media disaster. The press were still trying to find out who the woman in the photos was. Suddenly Lucas was glad he’d driven them north. Someone would have got a photo on the train and it would have been all over the Internet in seconds.

Even without that, what were the chances of their parents not figuring it out? Lucas didn’t like to weigh them up. They weren’t stupid people. All it would take would be one slip from Dory, or Tyler, hell even himself, and the rest of the Christmas holiday would be spent in crisis meetings with the PR team. Nobody’s idea of a dream weekend.

But still, Lucas couldn’t help but wonder just how long Tyler intended to keep up this charade. If he and Dory were serious – and the fact he’d actually brought her home for Christmas, even if it was only because Felicia had nagged, suggested that they were – then eventually the truth would have to come out. Even if they had plans for her to leave her job, maybe even move into the PR department like Patrick had suggested, someone would put it together eventually. Hopefully far enough down the line for no one to really care. After all, breaking the story that the CEO of the Alexander Corporation was actively sleeping with his assistant, potentially on company time, was one thing. Discovering, a couple of years down the line, that they’d actually got together while she was working as his assistant, then she’d moved on so they could pursue a relationship, was something entirely different.

Lucas shook his head. He was thinking like a businessman again. Like the Alexander family heir. Like all those things he’d given up. What did he care what the papers said? Or the board, for that matter? They weren’t part of his life anymore.

But Dory might be. Tyler had been talking marriage in the car. Hypothetical marriage, of course, and disturbingly involving his ex-wife in the conversation, but still. He’d never heard his brother even mention himself and marriage in the same sentence before. Was he planning on making Dory a more permanent fixture in all their lives?

Across the table, she ducked her head over her empty plate, as Felicia started recounting the guest list for their traditional Christmas Eve party. Designed, no doubt, to intimidate Dory and make her nervous. Every year, they invited ‘everyone who is anyone, darling,’ in upstate New York, and every year, to Lucas’s ongoing amazement, they all came. Didn’t they have anything better to do with their holidays? Or did they just fear what might happen if they skipped it? Lucas had never been sure, but he suspected the wrath of Felicia might have a lot to do with it.

‘I do hope Tyler warned you about our little get together in time for you to arrange an appropriate dress, Dory,’ Felicia said.

Dory looked up, a flash of a smile on her painted red lips. She was almost a Christmas decoration herself, Lucas thought.

‘I’m certain I have something suitable in my bag,’ Dory said.

‘Are you sure?’ Felicia’s concern was completely feigned, Lucas knew. ‘I know how hard it can be when you’re not used to this sort of society.’ Another lie. Felicia Alexander had never known anything but this sort of society.

Lucas looked over at his brother. Was Tyler really just going to sit there while their mother spoke to his girlfriend this way? He frowned. Tyler didn’t even seem to be paying attention to the conversation. Instead, he stared down at his lap… Lucas narrowed his eyes. Was Tyler on his phone at the dinner table? Checking his email, no doubt, or the share price.

Not paying attention to the beautiful woman he’d brought into the lions’ den.

‘I’m sure Dory knows her wardrobe best, Mother,’ Lucas said. Then he spotted Freya, the maid, in the doorway. ‘Fantastic. Dessert.’

Dory looked up too, obviously eager, but Felicia got there first.

‘Thank you, Freya, but I won’t be having dessert tonight.’ She gave Dory a flat smile. ‘And I’m sure Dory feels the same. After all, we have dresses to fit into!’

Anger bubbled up in Lucas’s gut as he watched Dory’s smile stiffen. For a moment, he thought that she might tell Felicia where to stick her dresses, but she obviously swallowed it down. ‘Good idea, Felicia,’ was all she said.

Freya took the unwanted plates back to the kitchen. Lucas wondered if they’d still be in the fridge later. He could smuggle one up to Dory’s room for her… except he couldn’t. Because she’d be in bed with his brother. His idiot, distracted, undeserving brother.

He really should try harder to remember that.

Tearing his eyes away from Dory, who was staring at the oblivious Tyler’s chocolate pistachio gateau, Lucas focused on his own dessert. In and out. That was the plan. He wasn’t going to get involved. Not with his family’s issues, not with the business, and not, most definitely not, with Dory and Tyler’s relationship. In and out. In three days he’d be back on his farm, checking in at the restaurant, working on his own dreams, and he could forget about the obligations and expectations of the Alexander name for another year.

Just three more days until he got his real life back.

***

Relief washed over Dory as the maid cleared the last of the dessert plates and Felicia stood, ready to leave the room. Dory followed suit, and it wasn’t until she’d tucked her chair back under the table that a truly horrible thought occurred to her. What if this was that thing she’d read about it books – the ladies retiring to another room to do cross-stitch or something while the guys drank brandy? She did not want to be left alone with Felicia. She’d have sent Dory for an extreme makeover before Tyler had even had his first sip.

‘Well, I need to go check through some final party prep with Freya,’ Felicia said. Dory hoped her answering sigh of relief wasn’t too obvious. ‘So I’ll see you all in the morning.’

‘And I need to…’ Dory tried to think of something that wasn’t ‘get the hell out of here, quickly.’ ‘Get some sleep,’ she finished. ‘So I’m going to head up to bed.’

She gave Tyler a meaningful look, one that she hoped he interpreted as ‘give me ten minutes to get changed, then come up to bed so they think we’re crazy about each other,’ but she suspected he’d probably take as ‘stay and enjoy some brandy with your father and brother!’ He’d never been all that good at the secret signals thing. It had caused problems a couple of times at important charity events, usually when Tyler hadn’t read the briefing documents she’d put together for him beforehand.

Still, at least that meant she could get some quiet alone time, without anyone suggesting that she was so fat and uncultured that she’d be a positive embarrassment at the traditional Alexander Family Christmas Eve party.

Upstairs, the Green Room felt positively serene compared to sitting around the dining table. Letting the door fall closed behind her, Dory leant back against it, just enjoying breathing without criticism.

God, I want some of that chocolate cake.

Too late now, though. Felicia had pretty clearly closed the cake avenue to her. With a sigh, Dory pushed up from the door and grabbed her pyjamas from the pillow. On the vague off-chance that Tyler had picked up the correct signals, she wanted to be changed and in bed by the time he came up for the night. Just in case he forgot about their sofa deal.

A while later, face scrubbed of make-up, pyjamas on and curled up on the bed, Dory finished her book and tossed her e-reader aside. Clearly, Tyler hadn’t understood the meaningful look. Again.

And she still really wanted cake.

She should get some sleep.

Snuggling down under the absurdly comfortable duvet, Dory closed her eyes. Pointed her toes and stretched her legs. Pulled her arms out and put them on top of the duvet. Tucked them back in again.

Opened her eyes and sighed. Then she sat up.

Felicia be damned. She was getting cake.