Christmas Seduction: The Twelve Nights of Christmas / His Christmas Acquisition / Caroselli's Christmas Baby

‘Now what? A cloak with a hood so that you can cover my face? A—oh—’ she gasped, and then her face lost its colour and she dropped the box containing the snowy-white fur onto the carpet. ‘I can’t wear that. I won’t wear fur.’

‘It isn’t real.’ Wondering whether every interaction was going to result in confrontation, Rio stooped and retrieved it. ‘It’s fake.’

Evie stood with her hands behind her back. ‘You’re sure?’

‘Positive.’ He draped it around her shoulders. Her skin was warm and smooth against the backs of his fingers and he felt the immediate flash of chemistry. Her breathing was shallow and fast and for a moment she stood rigid, a faint bloom of colour lifting the pallor of her cheeks.

‘Is that what you do when you offend someone? You buy them an extravagant gift rather than say sorry? Does it work?’

‘You tell me. Your hair looks amazing against the white fur.’ He saw the pulse beating in her throat and knew that she was feeling exactly what he was feeling.

‘Don’t think that just because I’m wearing this, I’ve forgiven you. I can’t be bought.’

A woman who couldn’t be bought.

Rio gave a faint smile at that concept.

‘It does feel gorgeous against bare skin.’ She wriggled her shoulders in an unconsciously seductive movement that sent his libido into overdrive.

Incredibly aroused, he drew her against him. ‘You could remove the dress,’ he suggested silkily, ‘and just wear the fur.’ Even without touching his fingers to her wrist, he knew her pulse was racing and Rio saw something in her eyes seconds before she looked away. Desire. Programmed to identify that look, he was about to suggest that the fur would be comfortable to lie on, when she shoved at his chest.

‘You just can’t help yourself, can you? We’re supposed to be stopping the photo looking sleazy and all you want to do is stay in and make the whole situation even tackier. Or is this deal suddenly not important to you?’

Rio froze, horrified by the realisation that for a few precious seconds his mind had been wiped of every thought except for one and that was the erotic possibilities of fur against Evie’s pale skin. ‘You’re right. Let’s go.’ Seriously disconcerted by the fact that she was so together while he was locked in the savage grip of rampaging hormones, he faced the lowering fact that, had she not stopped him, he would have tumbled her onto the rug in front of the fire and followed his instincts with no thought for anything except the demands of his own super-sized libido.

Exasperated with himself and seriously unsettled, Rio snagged his jacket from the back of the chair and urged her towards the elevator. ‘The premiere starts in about fifteen minutes.’

‘Great. So we’ll be last.’

‘That was the intention.’ He pressed the button for the ground floor. ‘We show ourselves in public when the crowd is at its maximum.’

‘Why not? If I’m going to humiliate myself, it might as well be in a big way.’

Evie walked gingerly up the red carpet, relieved that the silver shoes were so much more comfortable than the red ones, her fingers gripping tightly to Rio’s rock-hard biceps. Despite the falling snow, there was a huge crowd waiting in the hope of seeing the stars and Evie felt like a fraud as she heard the cheering.

‘They’re going to feel short-changed when they see me. What am I supposed to do?’ She hissed the words between her teeth, her smile never faltering as what felt like a million camera lenses were pointed in her direction. ‘Do I flash the ring? Do I look at you adoringly?’

‘Just act normally.’

Evie felt a rush of exasperation that he had so little idea how she felt. ‘I don’t normally walk along red carpets in high heels pretending to be engaged to a very rich man I barely know. Some help here would be appreciated.’

‘I’m by your side. That’s all the help you need.’ He paused to talk to a couple who seemed vaguely familiar. Relieved to see at least two friendly faces and trying to work out where she knew them from, Evie smiled and chatted, finding them surprisingly approachable. She definitely knew them from somewhere.

As Rio led her away into the foyer, she was still smiling. ‘They were nice. I know I’ve met them before somewhere—I can’t think where—I don’t know that many people in London. Do they work at the hotel? What are their names?’

When he told her, she stared at him in mortified silence. ‘Right. Both of them Hollywood stars. The reason I know their faces is because I’ve seen them both in the movies. Now I’m embarrassed. Oh, my God—they must have wondered why I was grinning at them like an idiot.’

‘You were charming and not at all star-struck. And you didn’t ask for their autograph, which is always refreshing.’

‘That’s because I didn’t actually recognise them.’ Evie tightened her grip on his arm. ‘Do you think they realised? What if I offended them?’

‘They enjoyed talking to you and the fact that you were so natural with them suggests that our relationship is an already accepted fact in some circles. You did well. There’s no need to make holes in my arm.’

Evie slackened her grip. Determined not to make the same mistake again, she spent the next ten minutes glancing furtively around her, trying to put faces to names. The foyer was crammed with glamorous people, all of whom seemed completely comfortable in their equally glamorous surroundings. They looked like elegant swans, she thought gloomily, whereas she—she felt like an emu. Tall, conspicuous and horribly out of place amongst so many delicate, beautiful birds.

Watching her face, Rio sighed. ‘You look as though you’re about to visit the dentist. Try and relax.’

Finding the mingling in the foyer desperately stressful, Evie was relieved when they moved into the cinema for the showing of the film. Her spirits lifted still further when she discovered that it was a Christmas movie.

More comfortable in the dark, she slipped off her shoes and settled down in her seat, looking forward to a couple of hours of seasonal entertainment. Watching elves dance across the screen, she was just starting to feel Christmassy when she became aware that Rio was emailing someone on his BlackBerry.

‘You’re supposed to switch off your mobile.’ The moment she said the words she realised how stupid she sounded. This wasn’t a commercial showing. It hadn’t escaped her notice that the other guests had been vying with each other in an attempt to exchange a few words with him. It was obvious that he was the most powerful, influential guest here. Who was going to tell him off?

Trying to block out the distracting sight of him ploughing through endless emails, Evie turned her attention back to the screen and soon she was lost in the film, sighing wistfully as Santa started putting presents in his sack. ‘This is a lovely story,’ she said dreamily, ‘you really ought to watch it. It might help put you in the Christmas mood.’

The change in him was instantaneous.

Sliding his BlackBerry into the pocket of his dinner jacket, Rio rose to his feet in a purposeful movement, indifferent to the people around him trying to enjoy the film. ‘Put your shoes back on. We’re going.’ Barely giving her time to slide her toes back into the silver shoes, Rio grabbed her hand and led her out of a door at the rear of the cinema.

‘They’re all looking at us—this is so embarrassing.’ Breathless, Evie tried to keep up without twisting her ankle. ‘Why are we leaving? I was enjoying myself.’

‘I wasn’t.’ Talking into his phone again, he pushed open a fire door and Evie saw his limousine parked right outside.

‘But I only watched about twenty minutes!’

‘And that was twenty minutes too long. I can’t stand sappy Christmas movies.’

‘It hadn’t even got going. Santa was about to be set upon by the bad guys determined to ruin Christmas,’ Evie gasped, bending her head as he bundled her inside the car. ‘Thanks to you, I won’t ever find out how it ended.’

‘How do you think it ended?’ His handsome face was a mask of frustration and tension. ‘Happily, of course. It’s a Christmas movie. They only ever end happily.’

‘I know it ended happily but I wanted to know how it ended happily. There’s more than one route to a happy ending, you know. It’s how they do the happy ending that makes it worth watching.’

He shot her a look of exasperation before turning his attention back to the screen of his BlackBerry. ‘I would have thought you were too old to believe in happy endings—’ he scanned, deleted, emailed ‘—especially after your recent experience.’

‘Just because you haven’t encountered a happy ending personally doesn’t mean you stop believing in them.’

‘If you go through life waiting for a happy ending then you’re setting yourself up for permanent disappointment. If you’re really that deluded then it’s no wonder that you’re currently single. No man could hope to live up to your ridiculously high levels of idealism. I almost feel sorry for Jeff.’

Digesting that cynical take on her approach to life, Evie stiffened. ‘I gather you don’t believe in happy endings. Just don’t tell me that you don’t believe in Santa or you’ll completely ruin my evening.’ Intercepting his incredulous glance, she gave him a mocking smile. ‘You don’t believe in Santa? Careful. If you don’t believe, he won’t come.’

Shaking his head in despair, Rio turned his head to look out of the window. ‘How do you survive in the real world? I thought women like you were extinct.’

‘There are some of us still flourishing in the wild.’ Evie leaned her head against the seat and closed her eyes. ‘But we’re an endangered species. We have to keep our distance from cynics like you who appear to have lost all hope, otherwise we become contaminated.’

‘What are you hoping for?’

She kept her eyes firmly shut. There was no way he’d understand and he’d just laugh at her. ‘Oh, this and that—the usual sort of stuff.’