A Puppy for Christmas: On the Secretary's Christmas List / The Patter of Paws at Christmas / The Soldier, the Puppy and Me

Bree eyed him warily. ‘It’s only nine o’clock …’

‘And?’

She shrugged. ‘And I very much doubt that Roger has even seen nine o’clock in the morning for some years, let alone been compos mentis enough to make a telephone call!’

‘You have a point there,’ Jackson muttered, straightening up—and in doing so accidentally knocking over the pile of Christmas cards that had arrived in the post that morning.

‘Damn!’ He sank down on his haunches to gather them up from the floor.

‘It’s okay. I’ll do it!’ Bree rushed across the room, eager to help him pick up the cards. Well, one card in particular: the same card she had been looking at when he’d first come into the room.

‘No problem.’ Jackson continued to gather up the dozen or so cards. ‘I don’t suppose any of these are remotely interesting. I don’t know why—Hello, what’s this?’ He frowned as he read the inscription inside the card he had just picked up. ‘“To Bree, with love from David …”’ He turned to look at her enquiringly.

Bree’s face had paled when she’d seen Jackson picking up the one Christmas card she hadn’t wanted him to see—and her silent prayer that he wouldn’t look inside had obviously gone unanswered!

‘No one important.’ She made a grab for the card and missed as Jackson lifted it tantalisingly just out of her reach. ‘Give it to me, Jackson.’

‘Not until you tell me who David is.’ He stood up slowly, keeping the card out of Bree’s grasp. ‘I don’t know what’s happened to you, Bree.’ He shook his head mockingly. ‘Dinner with Roger Tyler last night. A Christmas card from another man called David today. I had no idea you had such a hectic social life!’

Bree winced inwardly, noting that Jackson had missed out the part in between dinner with Roger and the card from David—namely, the part where he had kissed her!

She hadn’t been able to believe it herself either, when she’d opened the envelope addressed to her and found a Christmas card from David inside!

The day that Bree had found him and Cathy in bed together David had come to her parents’ house and tried to speak to her. He’d done the same thing again and again for days, and each time Bree had refused to see him. There had been absolutely nothing she wished to say to him after seeing him with Cathy, both naked in her bed—the same bed she and David had planned to share after their wedding!

The Christmas card that Jackson now held out of reach so tormentingly was the first communication Bree had received from David since she had written to him a year ago, informing him that she had cancelled their wedding and never wished to see him again.

Bree knew from visiting her parents that the affair between David and Cathy—now divorced from her husband—was over. Her parents had told her about David’s frequent visits to their house to ask how Bree was. No doubt, she thought bitterly, her parents had seen nothing wrong in supplying him with her new address so that he could send her a Christmas card. And if Jackson hadn’t read the card Bree might have just accepted it as the olive branch it was obviously meant to be before dismissing it completely from her mind.

‘Bree?’ Jackson prompted sharply, deeply concerned at how pale her face had become. ‘Who is David?’

He wasn’t in the least reassured by the haunted expression in those smoky-grey eyes as Bree looked up at him.

CHAPTER SEVEN

A SHUTTER came down quickly over those expressive grey eyes as Bree moved sharply back towards her seat, putting the width of her desk between them.

‘And would your lunch today with Miss Greaves be business or pleasure?’ she enquired icily, looking up at Jackson in a direct challenge.

His eyes narrowed to sky-blue slits. ‘I don’t see what that has to do with anything.’

‘No?’ Bree raised cynical brows.

‘No,’ Jackson bit out sharply. ‘It isn’t the same thing at all.’

‘It is in as much as your lunch today is no more my business than David’s role in my life is any of yours,’ she spat, her slender hands flat on the desktop.

David’s role in Bree’s life?

The two of them had worked together in harmony for almost a year now, though in the past two days Jackson knew that harmonious relationship had been blown completely and utterly to pieces. Some of it was his own fault; Jackson freely admitted that. He had been totally out of line last night in kissing Bree—let alone what followed.

But where the hell had all these other men in her life come from so suddenly? Roger Tyler was obviously a relatively new acquaintance, but had this David been around all the time and Jackson just hadn’t known about it?

And what if the other man had been in Bree’s life for some time? Why should that matter to Jackson?

It didn’t! Or at least it only mattered in as much as it showed him that he didn’t know Bree as well as he’d thought …

‘I really don’t want to talk about this, Jackson,’ Bree said with finality.

He continued to look at her searchingly for several long seconds before slowly lowering his arm to place the Christmas card down on the desk in front of Bree.

‘You’re right. It’s none of my business.’ He took a step backwards, exhaling deeply.

‘Thank you,’ she murmured huskily.

Jackson nodded tersely. ‘I won’t be back here today until after I’ve picked Danny up from school.’

In other words, Bree guessed dully, Jackson’s lunch with Jennifer Greaves was going to last way beyond the time they spent in the restaurant together …

And just what had Bree expected? Had she imagined that Jackson might cancel his lunch date with the beautiful supermodel after what had happened last night? Had Bree really thought there was even a possibility of that happening?

If so, why had she been so determined—even more determined than Jackson—to put the whole of last night behind them?

The disappointment Bree felt at the very thought of Jackson spending the early afternoon in bed with Jennifer Greaves was totally illogical!

Inexplicable …

And it was certainly something she didn’t want Jackson to notice!

She straightened determinedly. ‘In that case I won’t be here when you get back,’ she announced, adding in response to Jackson’s frown, ‘I’m taking the afternoon off to go Christmas shopping, remember?’

Jackson had forgotten that earlier in the week Bree had asked whether she could take this afternoon off. As he had no appointments on this particular Friday afternoon, Jackson had been only too happy to agree to the half-day holiday. Following Bree’s reaction to his having seen her Christmas card from David, Jackson couldn’t help wondering if Bree intended to spend all of the afternoon Christmas shopping …

‘I seem to remember your saying yesterday that you would look after Beau during the day,’ he reminded her tersely.

‘This afternoon off was arranged before I made that agreement,’ she came back impatiently. ‘I’m sure Mrs Holmes won’t mind having Beau in the kitchen with her while I’m out.’

‘It would seem to be irrelevant whether she does or not,’ Jackson muttered bad-temperedly.

Bree gave a sigh. ‘I’ll try to get back as quickly as I can, okay?’

‘I suppose it will have to be.’

She grimaced at his unreasonableness. ‘You’ll be late for your appointment with Lord Caxley if you don’t leave now,’ she said softly when Jackson made no move to go. ‘And don’t forget to take the Christmas present for Danny’s teacher with you.’

Jackson frowned down at her in frustration for several long seconds, aware that he had to leave now or, as Bree said, he’d be late for his appointment with Caxley. He knew he was only delaying because he still felt unsettled by the strained atmosphere that now existed between himself and Bree. He felt as if there ought to be something he could do or say to take away that tension. But he had no idea what that something might be!

Oh, to hell with it! He would talk to Bree again later this evening and try to sort the whole mess out then.