Married By Christmas

‘Oh, very funny!’ Her father, a staunch Conservative voter, wasn’t in the least amused at her continued levity.

‘Look, Father, I don’t—’

‘And will you stop calling me “Father” in that judgemental tone?’ he bit out tautly.

‘I’m sorry, but you just don’t seem like “Daddy” to me at the moment,’ she told him in a pained voice, unable to look at him at that moment, too.

Her father had always been there for her in the past, she had always been ‘Daddy’s little girl’, and now he suddenly seemed like a stranger...

‘I’m really sorry you feel that way, Lilli.’ He spoke gently. ‘It wasn’t meant to be this way.’

‘I’m not even going to ask what you mean by that remark,’ she said scathingly, turning towards the door once again.

‘I haven’t finished yet, Lilli—’

‘But I have!’ She swung round, eyes flashing deeply green. ‘To be honest, I’m not sure I can listen to any more of this without being sick!’ This time she did turn and walk out the door, her head held high.

‘He’s Geraldine’s brother,’ her father called after her. ‘Patrick Devlin is Geraldine’s older brother!’

She faltered only slightly, and then she just kept on walking, her legs moving automatically, that numbness she had known the night before thankfully creeping over her once again.

‘Where are you going?’ Her father now stood at the bottom of the stairs she had half ascended.

‘To bed,’ she told him flatly. ‘To sleep.’ For a million years, if she was lucky!

‘This mess will still be here when you wake up, Lilli,’ her father told her fiercely. ‘I’ll still be here!’

She didn’t answer him, didn’t even glance at him, continuing up to her bedroom, closing the door firmly behind her, deliberately keeping her mind blank as she threw off the clothes she had worn last night, not even bothering to put on a nightgown before climbing in between the sheets of her bed, pulling the covers up over the top of her head, willing herself to go to sleep.

And when she woke up maybe she would find the last twelve hours had been a nightmare...!

Geraldine Simms’ brother!

She didn’t know what time it was, how long she had slept, only that she had woken suddenly, sitting up in the bed, her eyes wide as that terrible truth pounded in her brain.

Patrick Devlin wasn’t a past or present lover of Geraldine Simms, but her brother!

No wonder he had been so familiar with the house, with where the wine was kept. And he hadn’t been going to spend the night there with Geraldine, but was obviously her guest at her house during his visit to London.

Lilli had thought she was being so clever, that she was walking away with a prize taken from under Geraldine’s nose. But all the time Patrick was the woman’s brother! No wonder Geraldine had tried to stop the two of them leaving together; considering her own involvement with Lilli’s father, any relationship between Lilli and her brother was a complication she could well do without!

Lilli had been to bed with the enemy...!

But she wasn’t involved with Patrick Devlin, had no ‘relationship’ with him; one night in bed together did not a relationship make!

One night in bed...

And she didn’t even remember it, she inwardly groaned. But Patrick had been singing quite happily to himself in the shower this morning, so he obviously did!

With the exception of her ex-fiancé, she had spent the majority of the last four years ignoring the obvious advances of the ‘beautiful men’ she met at parties, not even aware of the less obvious ones. But in a single night she had wiped all of that out by going to bed with the one man she should have stayed well away from.

Her father was right—this was a mess!

She fell back against the pillows, her eyes closed. A million years of sleep couldn’t undo what she had done last night.

Her only consolation—and it was a very slight one!—was that she was sure Patrick had been involved in a conversation with his sister this morning very similar to the one she’d had with her father. She wouldn’t be ‘Just Lilli’ to Patrick any more, but Elizabeth Bennett, daughter of Richard Bennett, of Bennett International Hotels, the current man in Geraldine’s life. No doubt her identity as the daughter of his sister’s ‘ageing lover’ had come as much of a shock to him as it had to her to realise he was Geraldine’s brother.

Lilli opened her eyes, her expression thoughtful now. Patrick hadn’t seemed any more pleased than she was at his sister’s choice of lover, which meant he wouldn’t be too eager ever to meet the lover’s daughter again, either. Which meant she could forget the whole sorry business.

End of mess.

Of course it was.

Now if she could just make her father see sense over this ridiculous involvement with Geraldine Simms—

She turned towards the door as a knock sounded on it. She hadn’t left instructions that she wasn’t to be disturbed, but even so she was irritated at the intrusion. ‘Yes?’ she prompted impatiently, getting out of bed to pull on her robe.

‘There’s someone downstairs waiting to see you, Miss Lilli, and—’

The young maid broke off in surprise as Lilli wrenched open the door. ‘There’s someone to see you,’ the maid repeated awkwardly.

‘What time is it?’ Lilli frowned, totally disoriented after her daytime sleep.

‘Three-thirty,’ Emily provided, a girl not much younger than Lilli herself. ‘Would you like me to serve tea to you and your visitor?’

She wasn’t in the mood to receive visitors, let alone sit and have tea with them. ‘I don’t think so, thank you,’ she replied distractedly. ‘Who is it?’ She frowned.

‘A Mr Devlin,’ Emily told her chattily. ‘I asked him to wait in the small sitting-room—’

‘Devlin!’ Lilli repeated forcefully, causing the young maid to look alarmed all over again. ‘Did you say a Mr Devlin, Emily?’ Her thoughts raced.

Patrick was here? So much for her thinking he wouldn’t ever want to see her again either once he realised who she was!

‘Yes.’ The young girl’s face was alight with infatuation—all the evidence Lilli needed that indeed it was the handsome Patrick Devlin downstairs.

Thinking back to the way he had looked last night—tall, and so elegantly handsome—she found it easy to see how a woman’s breath could be taken away just to look at him. And she had just spent the night with him!

Lilli drew in a sharp breath. ‘Please tell him I’ll be down in a few minutes.’ Once she was dressed. His last memory of her must be of her wearing only cream lace panties; she intended the memory he took away of her today to be quite different!

It took more than the few minutes she had said to don a black sweater, fitted black trousers, apply a light makeup to hide the pallor of her face, and to braid her long hair into a loose plait down her spine. But at least when she looked in the mirror at her reflection she was satisfied with the result—cool and elegant.

Nevertheless, she took a deep breath before entering the room where Patrick Devlin waited for her. She had no idea what he was doing here—didn’t a woman walking out on him without even a goodbye, after spending the night with him, tell him that she didn’t want to see him again—ever? Obviously not, if his presence here was anything to go by...

He was standing in front of the window looking out at the winter garden when she entered, slowly turning to look at her as he became aware of her presence.

Lilli’s breath caught in her throat. God, he was handsome!

She hadn’t really registered that last night, but in the clear light of day he was incredibly attractive, ruggedly so, his hair so dark a brown it almost appeared black, with those distinguished wings of silver at his temples. His skin was lightly tanned, features so finely hewn they might have been carved from stone, his eyes a light, enigmatic grey.