Christmas Ever After Read online

  The sweet, honest admission tugged at his heart.

  He watched as she gathered up a few more branches and twists of greenery, wondering what she was going to do with them.

  “Will you call him?”

  “No. We don’t have anything to say to each other. I’m moving on.” She glanced around, scanning the snow-covered hedges. “Do you have mistletoe in your garden?”

  He tensed, wondering exactly what she meant by “moving on.” “Why?”

  She gave him a long look followed by a sympathetic smile. “Wow. She really did do a number on you, didn’t she?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know what I mean. And giving me that look and using that chilly tone you use to silence your poor family isn’t going to work on me. I won’t walk on eggshells around my friends. Friends are always honest with each other. That’s how this goes. So don’t freeze me out.”

  “Are we friends?”

  “Well, we’ve seen each other naked.” Her eyes gleamed with humor. “And you stroked my back when I was ill. Any person who does that is a friend. You know a bunch of embarrassing facts about my parents, and I know about yours. I’ve just shared a hell of a lot I don’t normally share, and I’m guessing you’re the same. So tell me the truth. Have you dated anyone since your divorce? Had wild sex with anyone?”

  He inhaled sharply. “Sky—”

  “Oh, come on, Alec. You’re a sexy, physical guy. A million women will have put the moves on you. Are you telling me that iron self-control hasn’t been tested once?”

  He wondered what she’d say if he confessed that the biggest test had been with her. “I haven’t dated much. I don’t want the complication.”

  She lifted her eyebrows. “Sex isn’t complicated.”

  “Sex is never just sex. There’s always an agenda.”

  “You think so?” Her gaze slid to his mouth and lingered there for a long moment. Then she stepped forward and slid her hand round the back of his neck. Before he had time to react, she rose up on her toes, drew his head down to hers and kissed him.

  A shock wave of heat burned through him.

  Her lips were warm and sweet, her mouth moving over his in a slow, thorough exploration, as if answering a question he had no memory of asking.

  He stood still, hands clenched by his sides, heart pounding, desire engulfing him in brutal waves.

  Her hand moved from his neck to his cheek and he felt the warmth of her palm as she cupped his face. He opened his mouth to ask her what the hell she thought she was doing and felt the tip of her tongue trace his lower lip and glide lightly against his, smooth silk and dizzying seduction.

  He should have pulled away, but he didn’t. Instead he brushed his mouth over hers, allowing himself a single, tantalizing taste of what she was offering. That brief, intimate touch was all it took. Engulfed by a savage, sexual heat, he dragged her against him and plundered her mouth as if her kiss was an antidote he needed to survive.

  All around them was snowy silence and the raw cold of winter, but his whole world was her mouth, the jagged rhythm of his heart and the slow, relentless pumping of his blood.

  The few fleeting relationships he’d had since parting with his ex-wife hadn’t left the tiniest scratch on his emotional defenses, but if there was one thing he’d learned over the past couple of days it was how badly he’d underestimated Skylar. Or maybe he’d always sensed that she was a threat, and that was the reason he’d kept her at a distance. Either way, he knew she had the power to break down every barrier he’d ever built.

  His fists unclenched and he was about to push her away, when she eased away and stepped back.

  Her smile finished the job her mouth had started.

  Alec’s head spun. He felt as if he’d banged it on a low beam, or drunk an entire bottle of whisky in one session.

  He tried to make sense of it and failed. “What the hell was that for?”

  “That, Alec, was a kiss with no agenda. You’re welcome.” Smiling, she stooped to pick up the branches she’d piled on the ground, and walked back down toward the cottage.

  CHAPTER NINE

  SO THAT MIGHT not have gone exactly the way she’d planned, Sky conceded, trying to calm the crazy rhythm of her heart. It had been intended as a bit of fun, to prove a point, to ease some of the tension she sensed in him and to indulge a restless, reckless part of her that wanted to crush caution under the toe of her boot. Instead it had felt as if she’d lit a fuse under a sexual time bomb. It was as if every one of her sensory receptors had connected perfectly with every one of his. And he hadn’t even kissed her back, not really. Just a brief brush of his mouth, a hint of something repressed, a suggestion of something dark and erotic that had sent heat spearing through her from head to toe.

  Kissing him might have been a mistake, she decided, not only because she couldn’t walk without concentrating, but because now he wasn’t speaking to her. Far from encouraging him to open up and relax, it had had the opposite effect.

  He’d closed down, as if she’d triggered an alarm protecting him from intruders.

  After the unexpected exchange of confidences, she’d thought their relationship was comfortable enough to take a little fun. He was so bitter and damaged after his divorce, she’d thought he needed to be reminded that a kiss could be fun and flirty and his expression when she’d said the word mistletoe had made her wonder if he even remembered what fun was.

  But fun and flirty had fast turned into something else.

  Deciding that the wise move was to give him space, for her sake as well as his, she walked ahead of him into the house.

  The delicious smell of turkey filled the hallway. Keeping her head down, she gave a sigh of appreciation as she removed her boots.

  “I’d cross a continent for your mother’s cooking.” And your kiss, but let’s not talk about that right now.

  “Your mother doesn’t cook?”

  She took it as a positive that at least he was still speaking to her. “She doesn’t cook warm, cozy family meals where everyone pitches in and talks about their day.” She watched as he unzipped his jacket, keeping a safe distance from her. “Alec—”

  “I’ll take your coat.”

  His gaze met hers briefly, but long enough for her to see the raw heat in his eyes a fraction of a second before he masked it.

  Her insides melted.

  What exactly had she unleashed?

  And did he really think that not mentioning it was going to make it go away?

  She was pondering the implications of that as they walked into the kitchen. Liv was still wearing her pajamas and her feet were tucked into slippers that looked like a bear’s feet.

  “I’m a teenager. I shouldn’t have to wake up at this hour,” she grumbled. “It’s inhuman.”

  “The twins will be here soon and I want breakfast out of the way.” Suzanne Hunter bustled around the kitchen. “Thank you for taking the dogs out, Alec. Did the two of you have a nice walk?”

  Alec kept his back to his mother as he dealt with the dogs and it was left to Sky to respond.

  “It was wonderful. I picked a few things to make a table decoration.” And I kissed your son.

  She felt as if the evidence should be emblazoned on her forehead.

  Liv stared through the door at the pile of greenery on the flagstones of the hallway. “You’re going to make something with that?”

  “It will be pretty. I was going to use holly and mistletoe but then I thought maybe you wouldn’t want berries around the twins.” And she was no longer sure that having mistletoe anywhere near Alec was entirely safe. Sky smiled her thanks as Suzanne put a cup of coffee in front of her. “I’ll improvise and use red ribbon instead.”

  After breakfast and a quick change of clothes she spread the greenery over the scrubbed kitchen table. Then she took the twisted piece of wood she’d found and used it as the central feature, selecting different pieces of foliage, snipping, twisting, threading and using the ribbon
while Suzanne and Liv started on the food for lunch.

  As usual the process of creating something distracted her.

  There was no sign of Alec and she wondered if he was intentionally avoiding her or whether he was caught up with his father.

  She’d just finished the table centerpiece when her phone rang.

  This time it was Brittany, and she excused herself and took the call into the living room.

  “What’s going on, Sky? Where are you?”

  Sky stared out of the window across a landscape of snowy white and then looked back at the Christmas tree. It had slightly uneven branches, was thinner on one side and leaned slightly to the right. The less than geometric perfection warmed her. She could happily stay here forever. “I’m at Alec’s house in the Cotswolds.”

  “He has a house in the Cotswolds?”

  “It’s his parents’ house. His family home.”

  “Wait a minute—you’re telling me Alec took you home with him?”

  “He didn’t want to leave me in a hotel room on my own with a head injury. He’s chivalrous.” And he was a lot of other things, too.

  Things she didn’t trust herself to think about.

  “Alec? We are talking about the same Alec? Shipwreck Hunter, proof-that-it’s-possible-to-be-smart-as-well-as-sexy Alec? Mr. Dark, Brooding and Silent Alec.”

  “Yes.”

  “He took you home with him. Well, that’s—” Brittany cleared her throat. “Good for him. So you’re with his family? What are they like?”

  “Adorable. You know that dream family Christmas I always wanted? This is it.” She glanced at the tree with the gifts stacked haphazardly beneath it. “They’re just so normal.”

  “Where are you sleeping?”

  “His granny and his uncle are here so they’re short on space.” Skylar hesitated. “I’m sleeping in his room.”

  “And he’s downstairs on the sofa, right?”

  “No. He’s in the room, too.”

  “Holy crap.”

  “Yeah, it’s been kind of tense, particularly as his family assumed we were romantically involved.”

  “You two?” Brittany was laughing. “Sorry, but the thought of the two of you—”

  “Yeah, I know. Crazy.” Except that after the past couple of days it didn’t seem so crazy anymore. And it certainly hadn’t seemed crazy when she’d kissed him. “Are you about done laughing?”

  “Nowhere near. So are you keeping each other warm at night?”

  “No. And if you can’t at least pretend to listen, this will be the last time I call you.”

  “I called you.” Brittany chortled and then cleared her throat. “Okay, I’m under control. And you know I’d love to see you having a rebound relationship, I just hadn’t thought about Alec when I was drawing up a list of suitable candidates.”

  She hadn’t thought about Alec, either, but since that moment he’d walked out of the shower, she’d thought about nothing else.

  “He wouldn’t be interested. He’s very guarded.”

  “Yeah, well, from what I can gather the divorce wasn’t a whole load of fun. Ryan’s the only one who knows the details.”

  You didn’t need details, Sky thought, you only needed to see the result.

  “So how is everything with you and Zach?”

  “It’s good. How is your poor head? When are you coming home?”

  Brittany’s choice of words warmed her. It was true that Puffin Island was the place that felt most like home. “I don’t know. My flight to New York is next Sunday. I’ll try to squeeze in a visit to the island before Christmas.” She hadn’t thought that far ahead.

  She knew she had things to think about, decisions to make, but they could wait.

  “You shouldn’t be on your own in the city. Come straight here. You can stay at Castaway Cottage with us, or at Harbor House with Em and Ryan if you prefer.”

  It was tempting. “I don’t want to cramp your style.”

  “Oh, please—you didn’t just say that.”

  She smiled. “You’re a good friend, Brittany Forrest. Even when you laugh at me.”

  “I’m not laughing. Come to Puffin Island. We miss you.”

  Feeling a hundred times better, Sky hung up and was still smiling as she walked back into the kitchen.

  Her table decoration sat as she’d left it. Looking at it critically she could see that it needed a little more height, and added a few more leaves and pinecones, twisting them together with florists’ wire and spritzing them with water.

  “That’s truly beautiful.” Suzanne watched her in astonishment. “Is there anything you can’t do?”

  “Plenty of things.”

  Liv vanished from the room and returned with a big photo album under her arm. “Where’s Alec?” she asked her mom.

  “Talking to your father and Harry, why?”

  “Because I wanted to show Skylar these and I want to live to eat my turkey.” Grinning, Liv opened the book.

  “Oh, look at that—” Suzanne put down the knife she was using to peel sprouts and studied the photo. “That was his first and last day at scout camp. I should have known it wouldn’t work out for him. He hated being regimented. Whatever he did, he wanted to do it by himself.”

  Liv turned the page. “This is the best one. He played the rear end of a camel in the school production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Whenever I see him on TV looking authoritative and a little bit intimidating, I pull this one out.”

  The contrast between serious grown-up Alec and young Alec made her smile. “So he was a camel’s butt. I’ll remember that.”

  Liv flipped through the book, pointing out other photos and then one slid from the back and fell on the floor.

  Skylar stooped to pick it up and her breath jammed in her throat.

  It was Alec, looking like James Bond in a dinner jacket. Clinging to his arm like a piece of bindweed was the most delicate, fragile-looking girl Sky had ever seen. She looked as if a strong breeze was all it would take to snap her in two.

  “Who’s this?”

  Suzanne glanced at the photo and made a sound in her throat. “How did that get in there? I thought we’d got rid of all of them. For goodness’ sake, don’t let Alec see that.” Flustered, she took the photo from Sky. “All the others are safely locked in a drawer in Simon’s study. I don’t know how this one escaped the net.”

  “That,” Liv said slowly, “is the reason Alec hasn’t brought a woman home for three years.”

  Skylar stared at the photo. “That’s his wife?”

  “Ex-wife.” Suzanne lowered her voice and glanced toward the door. “You probably think we’re ridiculous to be dancing around the topic, but it was such a horrible time and he’s seemed a little more himself lately so none of us want to risk opening that wound again. We don’t want to say the wrong thing. She wasn’t the right woman for him.”

  “She was unhinged,” Liv said. “She chased him. She’d ring here, sometimes twenty times a day. I was glad we didn’t have rabbits or we might have had a bunny boiler moment. Thank goodness Boris the donkey was too big to go in the pot.”

  “She wasn’t very happy, poor thing,” Suzanne said quietly. “Her parents divorced when she was young and she was desperate to find a sense of security.”

  Skylar could see what someone like that might see in Alec, especially if he’d stepped in and rescued her. “She was drawn to his strength.”

  “And his public profile.” Liv tipped cranberries into a saucepan. “She wanted to be invited to premieres and lots of glittering events. But Alec hates all that. He’d rather be alone in a dark corner of a dusty library or shivering in a tent in the Arctic eating whale blubber.”

  Suzanne glanced guiltily toward the door. “We shouldn’t be talking about this. But it’s good for you to understand why he’s the way he is. Selina wasn’t the easiest to deal with.”

  “She was a bitch.”

  “Liv!”

  “I’m sorry, but
it’s true. She hurt him,” Liv said flatly. “It’s fine for me to hurt him, that’s my role as sister, but no one outside the family can.”

  “You can’t meddle in someone’s marriage. Add some fresh orange juice to those cranberries. And then have a look outside. I heard a car. Your sister and the twins must be here. For goodness sake put those knives out of reach.”

  “I’m allowed to meddle when she screws my brother up.” Liv reached across and grabbed an orange from the fruit bowl in the center of the table. “And she tried to kill Nelson by feeding him a chicken bone.”

  “I’m sure that was an accident. She didn’t understand dogs.”

  “Didn’t understand Alec, either.” Liv shot to the door to greet her sister and Suzanne sighed.

  “I’d have to agree with that.”

  Sky made the finishing touches to her table decoration, her fingers not quite steady.

  She’d often wondered what she’d done to make Alec behave with such hostility toward her.

  And now she knew.

  She’d done nothing except bear a striking resemblance to his ex-wife.

  THE KISS HAD meant nothing, so why the hell hadn’t he been able to stop thinking about it all day?

  He felt as if he’d been wired to a generator, with power pumping through him.

  “I had so much fun today.” Sky strolled into the bedroom ahead of him. “Tom is going to be a real heartbreaker. Only four years old, but those eyelashes—” She stopped as she noticed Alec standing just inside the door. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing is wrong.” Nothing except that he didn’t trust himself to be in a room alone with her.

  “Alec, you’re so tense I could snap you in two.”

  And she was the reason for that. “Family gatherings are stressful.”

  “Some family gatherings.” She gave him a long look. “Not yours. Yours are fun, warm, supportive, occasionally a little intrusive but overall friendly and loving. No stress. If anyone is stressed it’s them, by tiptoeing round you and trying not to mention she-who-must-not-be-named.”

  He inhaled sharply. “Enough.” But the tone he adopted that worked like a stop sign with everyone else didn’t work with her.