Mistletoe Magic

She would never forgive Gideon for confiding in Sam in the way that he had. Her humiliation had been complete the evening before, when Sam and Gideon had returned to the house and Gideon had ignored her. She’d sat talking to David. At least, she had been trying to talk to David—inside she’d been too disturbed to be able to think straight—before he’d made his excuses and disappeared upstairs to bed.

Molly had waited only minutes before doing the same thing, glad of the privacy of her bedroom to lick her wounds in private.

‘I know what day it is, Crys,’ Molly assured her friend lightly. ‘But the traffic will be easier today for a long drive, and I still have lots of boxes to unpack.’ She grimaced at the thought of the disorder she had left behind in her new flat in London.

Crys looked unconvinced by these arguments. ‘But it’s still Christmas.’ She frowned.

‘I’ve been here four days already, Crys,’ she reasoned cajolingly. ‘And it isn’t as if you don’t have other guests who will be staying on for several more days.’ Her voice hardened at the thought that Gideon was one of those guests.

The real reason for her abrupt departure.

‘I know that, but—Sam, talk some sense into Molly.’ She turned to plead with her husband as he strolled in from walking Merlin. ‘She says she’s leaving today,’ Crys told him frustratedly.

Molly could feel the blush in her cheeks as Sam paused in discarding his jacket to look at her with obvious surprise. But surely he more than anyone should realise that she simply couldn’t stay on here another moment longer?

‘Really?’ her stepbrother murmured slowly.

‘Really,’ Crys echoed impatiently. ‘Talk to her, Sam,’ she encouraged forcefully.

Molly wasn’t happy at breaking up everyone’s Christmas like this, and was aware of how hard Crys had worked towards it, but at the same time she knew that the increasing tension between herself and Gideon was going to ruin it all anyway if something wasn’t done to stop it. The only option appeared to be to remove one of the protagonists. And, as she doubted Gideon intended going anywhere, that only left her to be the one to make the move…

‘Molly?’ Sam prompted quietly.

‘Sam, you know why I want to leave,’ she told him exasperatedly.

‘No,’ he said slowly. ‘I don’t think I do. Crys, darling—’ he turned to her smilingly ‘—would you mind if I just took Molly into my study with me for a while?’

‘If you can persuade her into staying on you can keep her in there all day,’ Crys assured him. ‘In fact, if you can’t persuade her, lock her in there until she agrees to stay.’

Sam chuckled ruefully, and even Molly had to smile at her friend’s obvious frustration with her decision to leave today.

But there was nothing Sam could say to her that was going to make her change her mind…

‘Is someone leaving?’ Gideon questioned sharply as he walked into the kitchen.

Molly stiffened at the first sound of his voice, her expression guarded as she turned to look at him. ‘I am,’ she told him with determination.

Blue eyes looked at her calmly for several long seconds. ‘Rather ungrateful of you, isn’t it?’ he finally murmured coolly. ‘After all Sam and Crys have tried to do for us.’

She could feel the heat in her cheeks at this unmistakable reprimand. But he must know why she couldn’t stay on here any longer.

‘Don’t give that another thought, Gideon,’ Crys assured him. ‘It’s been a pleasure having you all here. It’s just…’ She grimaced. ‘Sam is going to try to talk her into changing her mind,’ she added confidently.

Molly wished they would all just let her leave and stop making such a fuss about it. After all, Sam at least knew exactly why she wanted to leave.

‘Let me talk to her,’ Gideon soothed.

That really was going too far.

‘I don’t think so, thanks,’ she bit out disgustedly. He was the last person she wanted to talk to—the last person who could possibly persuade her into staying on here another day.

‘Sam—’ Gideon completely ignored her protest as he turned to the other man. ‘—I heard Peter stirring as I came down just now. And as Crys is busy preparing lunch… Come on, Molly.’ He took a firm hold of her arm and practically marched her out of the room.

Molly tried to free herself. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

‘What do you think you’re doing?’ Gideon came back grimly, maintaining that grip of her arm. ‘Stop fighting me, Molly; you’ll only end up hurting yourself,’ he advised coldly.

‘As opposed to you hurting me?’ she accused heatedly, not giving up on trying to pry his fingers from her arm. Not succeeding, either. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to keep trying.

Gideon came to an abrupt halt, turning her to face him in the hallway. ‘Me?’ he repeated harshly. ‘What the hell have I done to hurt you?’ he demanded impatiently.

Kissed her until her head spun. Made love to her. Made her fall in love with him.

She was breathing hard in her agitation. ‘I have absolutely nothing to say to you—’

‘Too bad—because I have a few things I want to say to you!’ he ground out, pulling her into the sitting-room and finally releasing her as he closed the door firmly behind them.

The room where they had almost made love. The sofa where they had been so close. Too close.

Molly turned her back on the sofa, on those disturbing memories, glaring up at Gideon. ‘Say away!’ she challenged, her chin held defensively high.

Gideon looked down at her exasperatedly for several seconds, and then he gave an impatient shake of his head. ‘You are, without doubt, the most stubborn person—’

‘It takes one to know one.’ Molly scorned.

‘Doesn’t it just?’ he accepted ruefully, moving away to thrust his hands into his pockets. ‘Molly, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to leave here just now—’

‘Surprise, surprise—I don’t care what you think!’ she told him incredulously.

His mouth twisted humourlessly. ‘Do you think I don’t already know that?’

Her eyes widened. ‘Then why—?’

‘Molly, there’s something…’ He paused, sighing exasperatedly at the situation. ‘I really would rather not explain at this juncture.’ He shook his head.

‘Because there’s nothing to explain,’ Molly assured him scornfully. ‘I already know you made a mistake kissing me the other night.’

‘Is that what you think this is all about?’ His eyes were narrowed to glittering blue slits, a nerve pulsing in his tightly clenched jaw.

‘What else?’ she said derisively. ‘But you really don’t have to worry about the other night, Gideon. I can assure you that I, for one, would much rather forget that it had ever happened at all!’ She was breathing hard in her agitation.

‘Do you think I don’t know that?’ Gideon drew in a sharp breath. ‘You’ve made that all too damned obvious by the way you’ve been avoiding my company ever since,’ he ground out accusingly.

‘What did you want me to do?’ Molly scorned. ‘Fall all over you like some lovesick idiot?’

Again he gave that humourless smile. ‘That would be asking too much.’

‘Too right it would!’ Her vehemence was all the deeper because that was exactly what she would rather have done.

It was what she wanted to do now…

Looking at him, being with him, brought home to her how much she loved this man, how much she wanted to throw herself into his arms and have him tell her that it was all right, that he was in love with her, too.

But she had stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago, and was well aware that Gideon didn’t love her. Oh, he might find her desirable—after the other night he really couldn’t deny that—but it was against his own wishes to feel that way, was something he fought against all the time. And most of the time he succeeded…

‘Okay.’ He gave a heavy sigh. ‘I accept that you want as little to do with me as possible. But do you have to leave to achieve that? I thought we had been managing to avoid each other quite well the last twenty-four hours?’

Oh, they had. She had. And so, from his comment just now, had Gideon. She just wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep up this bravado, pretend not to give a damn.

But would she love Gideon any less for being alone in London? The answer to that was a definite no.

‘I don’t want to stay on here.’ But even as she said it she knew her voice lacked the conviction it had had a few minutes ago.

‘That isn’t true, and you know it.’ Gideon sighed. ‘You don’t want to stay here with me as a guest, too. So the question is, do you want me to be the one to leave?’

Her eyes widened. ‘Are you seriously offering?’

His mouth thinned. ‘Yes, I’m seriously offering.’

Molly stared at him. Would he really do that? More to the point, could she ask him to do that?

Three days ago, when she had first learnt that he and David were to be guests here, too, over Christmas, she had considered Gideon to be an interloper, an intrusion on what should have been a family Christmas. But over those last three days she had come to realise that he wasn’t an interloper at all, that he was as much a part of Crys and Sam’s family as she was.

She moistened dry lips. ‘I—’ She broke off as she heard the doorbell ring. ‘Are we expecting anyone today?’ She frowned.

‘I have no idea,’ Gideon answered grimly. ‘Wait here while I go and see,’ he instructed abruptly, before striding from the room.

Wait here while I go and see, Molly’s thoughts echoed resentfully; like hell she would.

Gideon had reached the door by the time she came out of the sitting-room, turning to give her a reproving glare as he heard her in the hallway behind him.

‘It’s okay, I’ll get it.’ He spoke to someone over Molly’s shoulder.

Molly turned in time to see Crys shrug before returning to the kitchen.

Gideon was still glaring at her when she turned back. ‘I thought I told you—Oh, never mind,’ he snapped impatiently as Molly stood her ground, and reached out to wrench the front door open. ‘Diana!’ he greeted, his voice containing none of the ice of a few seconds before, when he had spoken to Molly.

‘I hope I haven’t arrived too early,’ Diana apologised ruefully. ‘Hi, Molly,’ she said with a smile as she glanced around Gideon. ‘Crys didn’t actually specify a time when she invited me to come and spend the day with you all.’

‘I’m sure you aren’t too early.’ Gideon opened the door wider for the doctor to enter. ‘Especially as you seem to have arrived bearing gifts,’ he added lightly, as the bag that Diana carried chinked tellingly.

‘I couldn’t possibly have accepted Crys’s invitation without contributing in some way,’ Diana Chisholm assured them, and laughed huskily. ‘Besides, one of my partners has offered to be on call today—he has two aged aunts and his mother-in-law staying with him over the holidays,’ she added pointedly. ‘Which means I have an unexpected day off,’ she said happily.

‘That’s good,’ Molly told her sincerely, having a genuine liking for the pretty doctor. ‘And I’m sure that if you do happen to have too much wine then Crys and Sam will be only too happy for you to stay here tonight,’ she added.

‘Oh, I doubt that I shall do that, but thanks,’ Diana answered lightly. ‘I noticed on my drive over here that there seem to be an awful lot of police cars in the area—no doubt on the lookout for drunk drivers going home from the pub.’ She grimaced.

‘Actually, you’ve arrived just in time to add your weight to the argument for Molly not to return to London today,’ Gideon told the other woman lightly, and the gleam of challenge in his eyes was for Molly alone as he glanced across at her.

It was a glance Molly deliberately didn’t meet as she turned to smile at Diana.

‘Oh, no, you can’t possibly,’ Diana told Molly concernedly. ‘I moved here from London three years ago.’ She shook her head. ‘It has to be the loneliest place on earth at Christmas-time if you aren’t with family.’

Any place was lonely if you weren’t with people you loved—the man you loved. Molly already knew that. But being here with Gideon, when her love wasn’t returned, was painful, too.

‘Do stay, Molly,’ Diana encouraged warmly. ‘I did so want to have a chat with you. I’m an avid fan of the Bailey series, you know.’

Molly smiled. ‘In that case it’s David you should be talking to, not me.’

Diana looked nonplussed. ‘Oh, but he mentioned that you’re going to be in the new series with him?’

‘Did he, indeed?’ Molly laughed exasperatedly. ‘David!’ She turned to open the library door—she had seen David disappear in there an hour or so earlier. He was still there, sitting in the window, gazing out at the snow-covered landscape, a book lying untouched in his lap. ‘And they say women gossip!’ she teased as she preceded Diana and Gideon into the room.

David looked slightly surprised to see Diana, putting the book down on the table to slowly stand up. ‘What did I do now?’ He gave a quizzical smile, that smile not quite reaching the sadness of his eyes.

‘Never mind,’ Molly dismissed lightly, moving to link her arm with his, instinctively sensing that he had spent enough time alone with obviously unhappy thoughts. ‘As there’s no sun today, I have no idea whether or not it’s over the yard-arm yet—but let’s all go and join Crys and Sam in the kitchen and open up a bottle of wine while we help prepare lunch.’

‘Sounds like a good idea to me.’ David nodded. ‘Lead on, MacDuff,’ he invited lightly.

Somewhere between opening the red wine Diana had brought with her, pouring it into glasses, and helping Crys prepare the vegetables for lunch, Molly’s decision to leave was forgotten by all of them.

Deliberately so by the others, Molly was sure. But with Diana’s arrival it seemed churlish to pursue her plans to leave. Besides, Crys had prepared her delicious trout dish for lunch—a culinary experience that no one should miss.

‘It was a pity you didn’t get back the other evening to join us in going to church.’ Gideon spoke lightly to Diana as the six of them sat around the dining-table, eating their main course.

Diana, sitting to his left, grimaced slightly. ‘I don’t know what it is, but babies always decide they want to be born on Christmas Day. This one also decided it couldn’t wait for the ambulance to arrive and take its mother to hospital, and I ended up delivering it myself, just after midnight. A healthy little boy, I’m glad to say, and mother and baby nicely tucked up in bed shortly after one o’clock. A home birth has to be the most wonderful experience,’ she added softly.

Molly gave Gideon a sharp glance, sure that he had deliberately mentioned Christmas Eve in an effort to see whether or not it had been Diana’s car in the driveway that night. From what the doctor had just told them, it obviously hadn’t.

But if that had been Gideon’s intention Molly could see he certainly wasn’t going to share that knowledge with her—unless she was very much mistaken, once again he was deliberately avoiding meeting her gaze.

In fact, he had been noticeably aloof towards her during the whole meal as she’d sat across the table from him, while at the same time warmly considerate to Diana Chisholm.

Encouraged by Crys, she had to acknowledge. Her friend, having taken Molly’s uninterest in Gideon literally, now appeared to be deliberately encouraging a friendship between Gideon and Diana.

Jealousy wasn’t an emotion that Molly had known for a long time, and never as she felt it now—aware of every word spoken between Gideon and Diana, every laugh they shared.

‘What are you up to now?’ she demanded of Crys as she followed her friend into the kitchen to help carry in the desserts.

‘Sorry?’ Crys looked at her blankly.

Deliberately so, Molly was sure, when she saw the mischievous twinkle in her friend’s laughing grey eyes. ‘Don’t play the innocent with me.’ She grimaced wryly. ‘Gideon and Diana?’ she said pointedly as Crys continued to look at her blandly.

‘Oh, that.’ Crys nodded slowly.

‘Yes—that!’ Molly snapped tersely.

‘Aren’t you being a little dog in the manger, Molly?’ Crys came back knowingly.

Molly could feel the blush in her cheeks at her friend’s correct assessment of the situation. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Crys,’ she bit out shortly.

Crys gave a husky laugh. ‘Is that what I’m being?’ She raised blond brows as she moved briskly about the kitchen, preparing the whisky cream to go with oranges that had been marinading in liquor overnight.

Molly sighed heavily. ‘You know that you are. Gideon is—Crys, you simply can’t be this blind—you must know it’s you Gideon loves!’ she burst out forcefully.

Crys came to an abrupt halt, giving Molly a stunned stare. ‘Now who’s being ridiculous?’ she finally said incredulously. ‘Of course Gideon isn’t in love with me.’ She shook her head. ‘He’s James’s brother,’ she added dismissively.

‘So?’ Molly returned exasperatedly. She couldn’t believe her friend was unaware of how Gideon felt about her.

‘So he’s James’s brother!’ Crys repeated impatiently, her smile rueful. ‘Really, Molly, I don’t know how you came to such a conclusion, but I can assure you—’

‘Gideon himself,’ Molly cut in frustratedly.

‘What?’ Crys gasped incredulously.

‘From watching Gideon whenever he’s with you,’ Molly said tersely. ‘He adores you, Crys—’

‘I hope that he does,’ Crys cut in. ‘Because I adore him, too. After James died, and then my parents six months later, Gideon was the only family I had left. But that’s all it is, Molly,’ she added frowningly. ‘All it’s ever been.’

She shook her head with certainty. ‘Not on Gideon’s side.’

‘Yes, on Gideon’s side,’ Crys insisted evenly. ‘Molly, is this the reason you’ve been staying clear of Gideon? Because if it is—’

‘I’ve been “staying clear of Gideon”, as you put it, because he doesn’t like me,’ she came back impatiently.

‘Rubbish!’ Crys came back, just as firmly. ‘If you want my opinion, Molly, then you haven’t given him a chance to like or dislike—’

‘I don’t,’ she cut in firmly.

‘Okay.’ Crys shrugged. ‘In that case, carry the oranges and cream through for me while I bring the crème brûlées.’ She gave an exasperated shake of her head. ‘I really don’t know what you were thinking of, Molly,’ she added reprovingly as she picked up the tray. ‘Gideon is the big brother I never had.’

But just because that was the way Crys felt about the relationship, it still didn’t mean that Gideon felt the same way…

‘Move, Molly,’ Crys ordered determinedly. ‘And if I’m wrong, and you do want Gideon, then I advise you to start showing it a little more,’ she advised. ‘Otherwise Diana may just pip you to the post,’ she added wryly.

If she wanted Gideon…

She wanted Gideon more than she had ever wanted anything or anyone in her life before. But—

There was always a ‘but’ in her dealings with Gideon.

And Molly still thought Crys was wrong in her dismissal of Gideon’s feelings towards her…

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

‘YOU never did answer my question earlier.’

Molly tensed at the sound of Gideon’s voice, turning slowly to find that he had joined her where she sat on the hearthrug in the sitting-room, playing with baby Peter’s toes while the other adults all sat in chairs—or lay on the sofa in Crys and Sam’s case—dozing after the filling lunch they had all eaten. Until this moment she had thought Gideon asleep in a chair, too.

‘You like babies, don’t you?’ Gideon murmured huskily before she had a chance to answer his initial statement, gently touching Peter’s hand as he sat on the rug beside them.

She frowned, keeping her voice low so that they shouldn’t disturb the others with their conversation. ‘Doesn’t everyone?’

He shrugged. ‘I haven’t always found that to be the case, no,’ he answered ruefully. ‘For instance, my own mother wasn’t particularly maternal.’ He grimaced.

Molly’s eyes widened. ‘But she had you and James.’

He nodded. ‘I was the necessary “heir”. James’s arrival, ten years later, as the “spare”, was an accident she never let anyone forget. Including James himself,’ he added grimly. ‘She walked out on all of us, taking most of my father’s money with her, I might add—when James was only four. I was fourteen.’

Molly blinked, surprised by this confidence coming from a man she knew to be completely sufficient unto himself. But maybe this was an insight into the reason he was like that…?

Gideon gave a humourless smile as he glanced up and saw the expression on her face. ‘Not exactly what you expected, was it?’

What had she expected? From his obvious wealth and self-confidence now, yes, she had assumed that Gideon had always led a charmed life—as had James seemed to. But these revelations seemed to point towards a completely different sort of childhood from the one she had imagined for them.

But why should Gideon assume she had expected anything? That she had even given his past life a second thought…?

‘My father did the best he could, of course. He sent me to university, engaged nannies and then found a boarding-school for James,’ Gideon continued softly. ‘But unfortunately he died from a heart attack when I was twenty and James only ten.’

Not the background she had imagined at all for this often seemingly arrogant man!

She frowned slightly. ‘Why are you telling me these things, Gideon?’ she asked slowly, voicing her puzzlement.

He gave a husky laugh. ‘Truthfully? I have no idea!’ he admitted self-derisively. ‘Perhaps it was watching your gentleness with Peter just now. Or to explain why a family Christmas like this is special to me.’ He gave a rueful shake of his head. ‘Or, more probably, I just drank too much wine with lunch!’

Molly stared at him for several seconds—at the way his hair fell endearingly over his forehead, the softness in his eyes; even his mouth was not set in that forbidding line as he gazed down at Peter.

‘Which question were you referring to a few minutes ago?’ she prompted huskily.

Gideon glanced up at her. ‘About my being the one to leave here. Because if you want me to go—’

‘I don’t,’ she hastily assured him; it would be cruelly insensitive of her to even suggest he leave this place where he obviously felt so much at home, when he had no other family to go to.

That could have been the reason he had told her those things about his childhood, of course—although somehow she very much doubted that Gideon was a man who would ever play upon another person’s feelings in that way; he was simply too emotionally aloof to ever welcome an emotion in others that might be interpreted as pity.

He seemed to guess some of her thoughts, his mouth twisting scornfully. ‘Don’t feel sorry for me, Molly,’ he rasped harshly. ‘I can assure you I’m actually doing very nicely, thank you!’

Yes, he was. He was obviously financially secure, and had a career that made him much in demand. It was only in the area of having a family of his own that Gideon seemed lacking, but Molly felt sure that had to be from personal preference; she didn’t doubt for a moment that there were dozens of women who were attracted to his blond, arrogant good looks, who would willingly have married him and shared their life with him.

Herself, to name but one…

She straightened, knowing she must never let him guess that. ‘And I can assure you I don’t feel in the least sorry for you, Gideon,’ she told him briskly, keeping her face averted as she bent down to pick Peter up, at once feeling more relaxed as she held his scented softness against her. ‘He’s adorable, isn’t he?’ she murmured indulgently as the baby nuzzled into her neck and promptly fell asleep.

Gideon gave a brief smile. ‘He’s certainly found a comfortable place to sleep!’

Molly gave him a searching glance, frowning slightly. Had there been a slight edge of wistfulness in Gideon’s tone, or had she just imagined it?

You just imagined it, she told herself firmly, knowing from the way he had virtually ignored her during lunch that there was absolutely no reason why Gideon should ever want to fall asleep on her shoulder.