A Marriage Proposal For Christmas

The perfectly sculptured mouth firmed, his eyes narrowing to angry slits of dark blue. ‘I did think of it. It’s just—a series of—unexpected events have unfortunately made it impossible for me to complete my plans,’ he explained.

‘Oh, yes? And just what sort of “unexpected events” could a man like you—?’

‘A man like me?’ he interrupted in a softly, dangerous tone of voice.

‘I think Mr Carlton has already told us as much of his predicament as we need to know, Cally,’ her sister declared, standing up decisively. ‘Mr Carlton has come here to ask for our help. Because of a last-minute cancellation, we are in a position to provide that help. I may be wrong, but I thought that was what we were in business for?’ She gave Cally a pointed look.

They were. Of course they were. There was nothing more rewarding, after days, possibly weeks, of hard work, than to see the look of happiness on a client’s face when their particular celebration passed off successfully because of Pam’s and Cally’s efforts. Cally just wasn’t inclined to see that look on Noel Carlton’s face. Unfortunately she could see by the stubborn set to Pam’s mouth that her sister, quite rightly, was thinking of the overdraft on their bank account rather than whether or not Cally was comfortable with this commission.

‘We still have the Neilsons’ deposit,’ she tried halfheartedly, knowing it wasn’t enough. ‘Besides, you’re completely tied up at the moment with the arrangements for the Gregorys’ wedding on Christmas Eve,’ she reminded her sister hopefully.

‘Yes, I am,’ Pam confirmed, glancing down at her wristwatch. ‘In fact, I have an appointment at the florist’s in fifteen minutes,’ she realized. ‘But you, Cally, on the other hand, are totally free for the next three days.’

‘I’m more than willing to pay extra, petrol money, whatever, if you will just agree to help me out,’ Noel Carlton enticed.

‘Bribery and corruption usually work, do they?’ Cally snapped.

He grinned. ‘Every time.’

‘I thought so.’ Cally gave a disgusted shake of her head.

‘Cally!’ Pam gasped reprovingly.

‘Sorry,’ she muttered, feeling as if she were swimming upstream—and rapidly losing the battle. Besides, a part of her knew that Pam was quite right to grasp this replacement commission with both hands. If only it weren’t Noel Carlton’s hands they were grasping!

‘There’s the added benefit that you’ll be working close to home,’ Noel Carlton encouraged, his smile one of false brightness when Cally gave him another frown for reminding her that he was her neighbour from hell. As if she needed any reminding of that!

But, in actual fact, it would be a benefit, more so than this man probably realized, if she agreed to arrange Christmas for him and his family.

She would be able to pick Lissa up from her sister’s house much earlier in the day. Brian was looking after the children, school having finished for the Christmas holidays. It didn’t happen very often that either Pam or herself couldn’t care for the children during the holidays, but Christmas was such a busy time that it invariably ended with Lissa staying with her uncle Brian, a self-employed accountant who worked from home, for part of the Christmas holidays. Not that Lissa didn’t enjoy being with her cousins, because she did, but it was a lot to expect Brian to cope with three children instead of two for long hours.

‘I really do have to go now, so I’ll leave you two to discuss it,’ Pam stated briskly, moving to collect her outer coat. ‘But, whatever the outcome, I do sincerely wish you a happy Christmas, Mr Carlton.’ She gave him a warm smile.

In other words, Pam was leaving the decision completely up to Cally as to whether or not they took pity on the man and agreed to work for him.

More to the point, her sister was leaving her with the knowledge that if she didn’t agree to do this because of present—and past!—resentments towards Noel Carlton, then they probably wouldn’t even have enough money in their bank account to cover their monthly rental on the shop premises.

Great.

Just great!

CHAPTER THREE (#u9e09ead0-1765-54b8-b83f-d2aaa5eb55f1)

‘I WANT YOU TO KNOW that I really do appreciate—’

‘Fine,’ Cally cut Noel off rudely, busy unloading the boxes of decorations from the boot of her car, not in the least mollified by the fact that her newest client had been waiting outside Parker Hall when she’d arrived ten minutes ago, with the obvious intention of helping her carry the boxes inside.

She hadn’t wanted to do this job at all, but at the same time she was well aware of what Pam’s reaction would be if she returned to the office and found that Cally had refused to help him after all. That, she told herself firmly, was the only reason she was here at all. That, and the thought of his poor mother’s disappointment when she arrived to spend Christmas in England and found her son had done nothing about arranging it. No, she certainly wasn’t doing this for Noel Carlton.

He straightened, arms folded across his chest as he gave her a considering look. ‘Tell me, is that heavy?’

She frowned, looking at the box in her arms. ‘Not particularly, no.’

‘I wasn’t referring to the box,’ he drawled.

Cally blinked; she really didn’t have the time to play word games with this man. In fact, she didn’t have a lot of time at all, and would have preferred it if he hadn’t been here! ‘Then what were you referring to?’ she asked distractedly.

‘The monumental chip you have on your shoulder,’ he said dryly. ‘Can I take a guess at that having something to do with the fact that it’s Miss Turner instead of Mrs?’

Cally stiffened. ‘I beg your pardon?’

Noel Carlton drew in a deep breath. ‘I said, does that monumental chip on your shoulder—?’

‘I heard what you said,’ she snapped.

He nodded unconcernedly. ‘I thought that you did.’

She scowled at him. ‘I was just giving you the opportunity to retract the question!’

He shrugged. ‘An opportunity I have no intention of taking. Look, I really am sorry you were woken up by the helicopter this morning—’

‘I can assure you, your insulting remark just now certainly hasn’t helped the situation!’ she assured him.

‘I can see that.’ He grimaced. ‘Look, Cally—may I call you Cally?’

‘I believe you just did.’

‘And I’m Noel,’ he told her unnecessarily, giving an impatient sigh as she looked unimpressed. ‘Cally, I want you to know that Celebrations comes highly recommended—you organized my secretary’s wedding last week,’ he enlarged as she looked at him questioningly. ‘Debra Hayes,’ he supplied as she still looked blank.

‘Oh, yes.’ She smiled as she remembered the glowingly lovely bride she had spent months consulting with to make absolutely sure the elaborate wedding plans worked out successfully, that smile fading as she also remembered that Debra and her husband, Giles, were supposed to be honeymooning in Barbados right now. ‘Exactly when did Debra recommend us to you?’

‘I telephoned her last night, if you must know,’ Noel Carlton revealed reluctantly. ‘I was desperate, okay?’ he added irritably as Cally raised incredulous brows.

She bit her lip in an effort to stop herself from laughing, finally giving up as she realized she was fighting a losing battle. ‘I’m sure she and her new husband really appreciated that!’ She chuckled gleefully.

Noel gave a rueful smile. ‘I don’t think Giles was best pleased.’

‘Would you have been, in the circumstances?’ Cally shook her head in disbelief as she continued to walk inside the house, depositing the box with the others in the huge hall at the bottom of the wide staircase. ‘They’re on their honeymoon, for goodness’ sake!’ She turned to grin.

‘Yes. Well. I was desperate,’ he muttered.

‘So you already said.’

In actual fact, Cally had been slightly thrown off her guard when she’d arrived at Parker Hall and found Noel Carlton waiting for her, no longer wearing his business suit, shirt and tie, but dressed in faded denims and a rugby top that looked as if it might be a relic of his university days ten years or so ago. If anything, he looked more lethally attractive in these casual clothes than he had in his suit!

He raised a hand to sweep back that overlong dark hair. ‘Ordinarily I could have asked Debra to help me out with this little problem—’

‘Oh, so now it’s a little problem, is it?’ Cally teased.