A Christmas Seduction

Laura was fully aware that she had just done herself no favours, but the man had rubbed her up the wrong way right from the beginning and she did not regret what she had done. In fact she would do it again, with as much satisfaction.

‘His assumption annoyed me,’ she pointed out testily, and he snorted.

‘You don’t say!’

She frowned at him. “There’s no need to be sarcastic. You know very well I couldn’t tell him the truth,’ she argued reasonably.

Jonathan jammed his hands in his pockets as if to keep from strangling her. ‘Maybe not, but you didn’t have to tell such a bald-faced lie, either.’

Her still tingling palm was annoying her, and she rubbed it over her coat to ease it. ‘I didn’t say a thing!’ she protested, and he laughed humourlessly.

‘Trust me, your implications were eloquent. Quinn now thinks you’re the very worst kind of gold-digger.’

‘I wasn’t aware there was any good kind of gold-digger,’ she riposted facetiously, and drew a quelling look for her pains.

‘Laura.…!’

She held up her hands in defeat. ‘Oh, all right, I admit I was at fault. I just couldn’t help myself. It was either that or punch him on the nose.’

That finally brought a smile to Jonathan’s pursed mouth. ‘All in all, I think I’d rather you’d hit him,’ he admitted drolly.

Laura laughed, but soon sobered again. ‘What was he doing here, anyway? It gave me the shock of my life to find him with you.’ Although she knew of all the close members of Alexander’s family, and had hoped to meet them, she had never expected to do so in such a fashion.

Jonathan moved away and began clearing up his desk. ‘Actually, he was delivering a message from Maxine,’ he informed her, mentioning Alexander’s wife.

‘That must have been nice for you,’ she said dryly, and Jonathan shot her a mildly reproving look. ‘Sorry,’ she apologised quickly, knowing her response had been left over from her run-in with Quinn. She had no reason to dislike Maxine Harrington.

‘I happen to be a close friend of the family and, as such, I was being invited to spend Christmas with them in the usual way.’

Her surprise was genuine. ‘I had no idea you knew the family that well.’

‘As it happens, the law firm of Ames and Ames have been legal advisers to the Harrington family for several generations. Christmas has become something of a tradition. I could hardly refuse,’ he said apologetically, as if she would think it disloyal of him.

‘No, of course not,’ she concurred readily. ‘I don’t imagine it will be much fun this year.’

‘Grim would be the word I’d choose to describe it. It will be the first holiday without Alexander. Speaking of which, you know that Philip and Stella wanted to contest the will?’

‘No! How could they?’ The suggestion that Alexander had been in less than full control of his faculties made her mad enough to spit nails. ‘What about Maxine?’

Jonathan smiled at her angry tone. She sounded like a she-bear defending her cubs. Alexander would have been pleased to know he had one of his staunchest defenders in the guise of his eldest daughter.

‘She would have none of it. Maxine is a very classy lady. She might resent like hell who she thinks you are, but if Alexander wanted to leave you money she is not about to challenge it. You’d like her.’

Laura let out a puff of air and relaxed again. ‘I want to like them all. I want to know them all. They’re my family, but how can I tell them? I can’t baldly come out with it. For heaven’s sake, the shock could kill her and then where would I be? Everything is such a mess.’

‘I agree, but the time will come when you can tell them.’

Laura shook her head, her eyes filling as they had a habit of doing whenever she thought about Alexander. She was constantly surprised by how much she missed her father, when she’d hardly known him. ‘He was a good man, wasn’t he?’

‘One of the best,’ Jonathan agreed, slipping an arm about her shoulders and giving her a hug.

Laura made a determined effort to chase the blues away. ‘I seem to remember Alexander telling me that the family always spend Christmas at the house in Vermont.’

‘That’s right. We all travel up a day or two before Christmas and stay until New Year,’ Jonathan confirmed.

She sighed. A genuine family gathering. She would have given a lot to be there. As a child she had always longed to be part of a large family, but there had been only herself and her mother. She had thought it might be different this year, but with Alexander gone…She was on her own again.

‘I don’t suppose you’re allowed to bring a guest, are you?’ she asked wistfully, then caught her breath as an audacious idea came to her out of the blue.

‘I could if I wanted,’ he acknowledged cautiously, something in her expression making him distinctly uneasy. ‘Why do you ask?’

‘Dare I?’ Laura asked herself out loud, still lost in thought. ‘Dare you what? Why am I beginning to feel very uneasy?’ Jonathan muttered dryly, and she grimaced.

‘Probably because you’re getting to know me too well,’ she quipped, then, taking the bull by the horns, sent him a beguiling smile. ‘I really do want to meet them, Jonathan,’ she said huskily.

Jonathan suddenly felt like a man on the way to his own execution. ‘What exactly are you suggesting?’

She took a deep breath, then blurted it out. ‘How would you like some friendly company for Christmas?’

He blinked. ‘You’re not serious!’

‘I wouldn’t say a word, honestly,’ she insisted, intent on persuasion. ‘All I want to do is get to know them, and give them a chance to get to know me.”

Jonathan held up his hands to ward her off. ‘Oh, no. No way!’

‘Please!’ she begged. ‘I’ll be good. You’ll never know I’m there!’

He dragged a hand through his hair. ‘It’s not me I’m worried about. The family won’t like it,’ he warned.

She bit her lip. He had a point. Yet she knew she had to do this. ‘They can hardly turn me away if I’m with you,’ she declared, though she wasn’t entirely sure if that was true.

‘True, but. Good Lord, Laura, have you considered everything? It won’t be pleasant for you.’

Laura shrugged that off, warming to the idea more and more. If she could just get them to see she wasn’t some sort of monster, they might be more receptive to the facts she hoped to tell them. Besides, she would be better able to gauge Maxine’s possible reaction. Was it really so much to ask?

‘I know it, but I can take anything they throw at me.’

Jonathan shook his head. ‘I’ve got to be out of my mind,’ he murmured, and the oblique agreement made Laura fling her arms around him.

‘Oh, thank you. You’re a wonderful man.’

‘Don’t overdo it,’ he advised, and shook his head again. ‘I know I’m going to live to regret this.’

‘No, you aren’t. This is the opportunity we’ve been waiting for. When are they expecting you?’

‘Next Wednesday evening,’ he revealed, and tried one last time to dissuade her. ‘Are you sure you’re doing the right thing?’

Laura pressed a hand over her anxiously beating heart. ‘No, but I’m going to do it anyway.’