Christmas Ever After

“But you want a sick warning.”

“Because it’s a bad sign with a head injury,” he said patiently, “and if that happens I’m taking you to hospital.”

“Oh. I thought—” She didn’t tell him what she’d thought. She was starting to wonder if her time with Richard had twisted her view on the world. “I don’t need to go to the hospital, but thank you.” She lifted her palm to her mouth but her hand was shaking and one of the pills slid onto the floor and vanished under the bed. “Sorry.”

He said nothing. Simply disappeared for a moment and returned to face her. This time he put a fresh pill in her palm and guided her hand to her mouth. Then he handed her the water. “What happened, Sky? Why did he leave you there like this?”

“Because he’s a jerk. Because he cares more about the media and his public image than he does about me. Because I didn’t do and say what he wanted me to do and say. Because he’s in love with my father.” It was all so ridiculous she started to laugh.

Alec looked bemused. “Your father?”

“Never mind. It’s complicated. You have no idea how complicated.” Even she couldn’t unravel what was real and what wasn’t. How many of their conversations had been false? If their relationship had been a movie, she would have watched it again with subtitles to see what she’d missed. “Do we have to talk about this?”

“No. Stay there. I’m going to clean up your head.”

She closed her eyes, heard the sound of running water from the bathroom, and then he was back with a washcloth and a towel.

“I’ll try not to hurt you.”

She didn’t tell him that most of the hurt was on the inside. Trying not to wince, she sat still as he gently cleaned her forehead. “I bet I look good. Black and red are my colors, and so is blue.”

He smiled. “Scalps are extremely vascular. They always produce more blood than they should and it looks worse than it is.”

It was rare to see him smile and she found it hard to look away. It was like catching a glimpse of the sun on a dark, stormy day.

“You should smile more. You look less intimidating when you smile.”

The smile vanished. “You have dried blood in your hair, but I can’t do anything about that. If we wash it, it will open the wound.”

The awkwardness was back.

She wanted a shower, but she wasn’t sure she could manage that without help and there was no way she was stripping naked in front of Alec Hunter. She’d suffered all the humiliation she could handle for one day. “Do you have my purse? I’ll call a cab and get out of your way.”

“Where are you going?”

“Back to my fancy hotel room. There’s a bottle of champagne waiting for me. Shame to waste it.”

“Champagne?” His voice sharpened. “He’s staying with you?”

“That was the plan, but I’m guessing I’ll be drinking it alone.” She thought about her plan to make the most of London at Christmas. Ice-skating alone. The London Eye alone. Yay. Fun times ahead.

“You can’t go back to your room. There’s a chance he might show up, and if he doesn’t it would mean you being on your own and you can’t be on your own. Not after a head injury. Someone needs to be with you.” He removed his tie and loosened a few buttons of his shirt.

She noticed the hint of dark chest hair through the gap in his buttons and averted her eyes quickly.

She didn’t need to know more about Alec Hunter than she already did.

“Relax. That ‘someone’ isn’t going to be you so don’t change your plans for me.”

“I don’t have plans.”

“You’re wearing a tie. I assume you had a date.”

“I gave a lecture earlier today.”

The reminder of his standing in the academic world did nothing to rescue her flagging spirits.

Here was someone else with a “proper job.”

She was the joker in the pack.

Feeling truly horrible, she flopped back on the bed and covered her eyes with her forearm. The pain in her head and the tiredness threatened to overwhelm her. She knew she should leave, but she couldn’t bring herself to move. “As soon as these painkillers have worked, I’m going back to my hotel.”

Somewhere in the distance she heard a phone ring and then the sound of a deep, male voice—Alec.

Whatever his faults, there was no denying his voice was almost hypnotically sexy.

She lay there, eyes closed, thinking she could happily listen to his British accent forever.

“Yes, I made it … No, not really. There were complications.” And then a pause. “Yes. Well, you were right.” Another pause. “She’s here with me now … My hotel room … No, she’s sleeping.” Another pause. “No, don’t do that … I know how close you are but you don’t need to come. I’ve got this … Yes, I promise I won’t leave her on her own. I’ll call you, Brittany.” His voice grew distant and she realized that he’d moved into the bathroom so that he didn’t disturb her.

And now she knew who he was talking to.

Brittany and Emily, no doubt calling to see how her exhibition had gone. Judging from the half conversation she’d overheard, they now wanted to fly over, which is what she would have done if it had been one of them in trouble. Only this time it wasn’t necessary.

I’ve got this.

Funny how people could surprise you.

The last person she would have expected to bail her out of a mess was Alec Hunter.

With that thought in her head, she drifted off to sleep and woke to the sound of heavy rain.

It took her a few seconds to realize it was the shower, not rain, and a few seconds more to realize her stomach was churning. She was going to be sick.

Hoping Alec hadn’t locked the door, she staggered off the bed, groggy and dizzy.

Shrugging off the coat he’d draped around her, she swayed into the bathroom just as he stepped out of the shower, gloriously naked.

“Holy crap.” For a moment she stared, distracted by his tough, muscular build and the shadow of hair on his chest. Through the haze of pain she registered that Alec Hunter might be a hardened cynic, but he had a seriously hot body. Her eyes followed the dusky trail lower and her eyes widened. He was fully, impressively erect. She heard him swear under his breath and then he reached for a towel just as her own body reminded her who was in charge.

She made it to the toilet and threw up, her humiliation complete.

If she’d lived through a worse day in her life, she couldn’t remember it.

EXASPERATED AND CONCERNED, Alec knotted the towel firmly round his waist and hunkered down next to her. He tried to forget those few pulsing seconds when her bleary gaze had fastened on his face and then drifted lower to other, more intimate parts of his anatomy. Parts that seemed keen to independently express just how attractive he found her.

“Sky?” Keeping his voice and his hands gentle, he drew her hair back from her face and muttered what he hoped were reassuring words. “I’m going to call a doctor.”