Under the Boss’s Mistletoe

CHAPTER SIX

‘YOU’RE looking very fierce,’ Cassie commented, hoisting her bag back onto her shoulder. ‘You’re supposed to be deliriously happy at the prospect of spending an evening with me planning our special day together!’

She saw his mouth turn down at the corners. ‘Look, this was your idea,’ she reminded him. ‘The editor of Wedding Belles is going to be in there. If you want to promote the Hall, you’re going to have to convince her the way you convinced me the other night.’

Jake raised his brows. ‘What, I have to kiss her?’

‘You’re not taking this seriously,’ said Cassie. ‘All you’ve got to do is look affectionate and not as if you can’t decide whether to fire me or shoot me!’

She was right, Jake thought. He was the one who had insisted on doing this. He bared his teeth in a smile. ‘Better?’

‘A bit,’ she allowed, glancing around for signs to the wedding fair. A notice board pointed them down to the lower floor. ‘Come on, then,’ she said. ‘Let’s go and find the party.’

‘Shouldn’t we hold hands?’ suggested Jake.

‘Er, yes, we probably should. Good idea.’

Cassie tried to sound casual, but she was desperately aware of the dry warmth of his palm and the firm fingers closing around hers. He had lovely hands, big, strong and safe, the kind of hands that could catch you if you were falling, the kind of hands that wouldn’t let you go.

She was being fanciful, Cassie told herself as they made their way downstairs, where they found the party already in full swing. She wasn’t falling anywhere, not even off her heels, and Jake would be only too keen to let her go as soon as possible.

The editor of Wedding Belles was greeting arrivals at the door, but they managed to brush through the introductions without rousing any suspicions, and were disgorged into the party. A passing waiter offered them champagne and Cassie accepted thankfully. Holding Jake’s hand was making her jittery and self-conscious, and it was the perfect excuse to drop it and grab a glass from the tray.

Amazing how a gulp of champagne could make you feel better, she thought, looking around her and trying not to notice how tingly and somehow empty her hand felt now. She switched the glass to give it something to hold.

‘We’d better try and circulate,’ she murmured.

They were standing next to another couple, who introduced themselves after a few banalities as Mark and Michelle; it soon turned out that it was Michelle who did all the talking.

‘We’re getting married in April,’ she told Cassie and Jake. ‘Aren’t we, Mark?’

Mark opened his mouth to agree but she was already sweeping on. ‘We’ve been planning the wedding for two years. We got engaged on a cruise, so our theme is the sea.’

‘Theme?’

‘The theme of the wedding.’ Michelle looked at Jake as if he were stupid. ‘Blue is our main colour, of course, so all our favours will be blue, and we’re having blue sashes on the chair covers. We had waves on the invitations, didn’t we, Mark? And we’re naming all the tables after different seas,’ she finished triumphantly.

‘Who are you putting in the Bermuda Triangle?’ asked Jake, and Cassie nudged him.

‘That sounds lovely,’ she said quickly. ‘Have you decided on a dress yet?’

Michelle had, of course, and described it at length. Then she went on to tell them about their matching stationery, the wedding website, the special, blue fascinators she had sourced for her five bridesmaids, the first dance they were practising already, and the personalised shells that she was trying to track down as place settings.

Her monologue was punctuated with requests for confirmation from Mark, although the poor man never got a chance even to agree. Michelle had a spreadsheet she was using to keep track of her budget, and kept all the paperwork to do with the wedding in a colour-coded filing system.

Weddings were Cassie’s business, and she wouldn’t have minded listening to Michelle drone on if she hadn’t been aware that Jake was glazing over beside her.

‘We’re having a Christmas wedding,’ she interrupted brightly at last.

‘I think you mean a Christmas theme, don’t you?’ muttered Jake.

‘We’re getting married this Christmas, actually,’ Cassie hurried on, trying not to giggle.

‘Really? So, not long to go!’ Michelle looked from one to the other. ‘You must be excited!’

‘I’m beside myself,’ Jake agreed, deadpan.

‘Don’t mind him,’ said Cassie, taking his arm and leaning into him. ‘He’s thrilled, really-especially since we found him a Regency-buck outfit.’ She smiled winsomely up at him. ‘You’re going to look soooo gorgeous in those breeches!’

She turned back to Michelle. ‘We’re going for the Mr Darcy look, you know? But he’s worried he won’t be able to tie his cravat properly.’

‘I’m sure you can get instructions on the Internet,’ said Michelle, completely missing Jake’s expression at the very thought of a cravat. ‘So, are you going for a Regency dress as well?’ she asked Cassie.

‘I haven’t got it yet,’ Cassie admitted.

‘You’re getting married at Christmas and you haven’t got your dress?’ Michelle fell back in horror. ‘You’re leaving it very late!’

‘Maybe I’ll find something here tonight. Perhaps you’re right; I could go for a period look and wear a bonnet.’ She pretended to muse.

‘A muff’s very nice at a Christmas wedding,’ offered Michelle.

That was when Cassie made the mistake of catching Jake’s eye. ‘Now, there’s a thought,’ he said, and waggled his eyebrows at her. It would have been fine if she hadn’t just lifted her glass to her lips to hide her smile, and at that she spluttered champagne all down the front of her top and started choking.

Jake patted her none too gently on the back. ‘Here, let’s go and find you a glass of water,’ he said, taking her by the arm and bearing her off with barely time for a goodbye to Michelle and the silent Mark.

‘Look, my top is all stained,’ Cassie complained, brushing champagne from her cleavage. ‘And it’s all your fault for making me laugh!’

‘My fault? I wasn’t the one who started on the Regency bucks!’ said Jake. He had his hand on her back and was steering her firmly to the other side of the room. ‘I couldn’t stand it any longer. Poor Mark looked like he had lost the will to live, and I don’t blame him. And what the hell is a “favour”, anyway?’

‘It’s a little thank-you gift for your guests. It usually goes on the table as a memento of the day that they can take away.’

Jake snorted. ‘Well, the only favour I want is for you to get me out of here!’

‘We can’t go yet,’ said Cassie. ‘We’ve only just arrived. Besides, they haven’t opened the show. I think there are going to be some speeches first.’

Putting her empty glass down on a passing tray, she took another one and turned to see who else they could talk to. Fortunately, the next couple they met was less obsessed with weddings than Michelle. ‘We’re only here for the champagne,’ Kevin said.

‘And for the draw,’ said Victoria. ‘First prize is a weekend in Paris as a break from the stress of planning a wedding, but the others sound worth winning too. Everyone here tonight is in with a chance.’

‘Paris sounds lovely,’ Cassie said wistfully, imagining strolling around Montmartre hand in hand with Jake. Then she caught herself up. What was she thinking? They weren’t lovers. There would be no one to see them in Paris. Why would they be holding hands?

She forced a smile. ‘Not that I ever win anything. Oh, I take that back,’ she said. ‘I once won a jar of pickled onions in the tombola at the village fête.’

Victoria laughed. ‘Well, it looks as if you’ve won yourself a gorgeous guy,’ she said with a meaningful glance at Jake, who was talking to Kevin about a new sports channel.

‘Yes,’ said Cassie, stifling a little sigh.

‘Isn’t it the best feeling when you find the right guy?’

Cassie looked at Jake, deep in blokey conversation with Kevin. She remembered the feel of his hand holding hers, the devastating sureness of his lips. ‘Yes,’ she said in a hollow voice.

‘I’d almost given up on men,’ Victoria confided. ‘I thought it was never going to happen for me. Then I walked into work one day, and there he was! The moment I saw him, I knew he was the one.’

She showed Cassie her engagement ring. ‘Every time I look at it, I feel so happy I want to cry,’ she said.

Kevin obviously caught the end of her sentence as he broke off his conversation with Jake. ‘Oh no, not the “I’m so happy I could cry” line again?’ he said, rolling his eyes, but he put his arm around Victoria and pulled her close. ‘Do you get that one?’ he asked Jake.

‘Not yet,’ said Jake.

There was a tiny pause, when it suddenly seemed glaringly obvious that they weren’t touching with the easy affection Kevin and Victoria showed, but then he slid his hand beneath Cassie’s hair and rested it at the nape of her neck.

‘You don’t want to cry, do you?’

Actually, right then, Cassie did. Her throat had tightened painfully, watching Victoria and Kevin so obviously in love, and now the warm, comforting weight of Jake’s hand on her neck only made her eyes sting with tears. She blinked them firmly away and mustered a smile. ‘I probably would cry with happiness if I had a lovely ring like Victoria’s!’ She pretended to joke.

‘Hasn’t he bought you a ring yet?’ Victoria tutted.

‘We haven’t been engaged very long.’ Cassie excused him, and then sucked in a breath as Jake caressed the nape of her neck.

‘Besides,’ he said. ‘I’m waiting to find something really special for her.’

The more couples they talked to, the more wistful Cassie felt. The others were all so happy, so much in love, so excited about their weddings; the happier they were together, the more conscious she was that she and Jake were just pretending.

‘Doesn’t it make you feel a bit sad?’ she asked him when they found themselves alone for a moment.

‘Sad? No. Why?’

‘Oh, I suppose I’m just envious,’ she said with sigh. ‘Everyone else here is in love, and we’re just promoting the Hall.’

Over Jake’s shoulder, she could see a couple laughing together. Unaware that anyone was watching them, the girl hugged her fiancé’s arm and lifted her face naturally for his kiss. They looked so comfortable together that Cassie’s heart twisted and she jerked her eyes back to Jake.

‘It must be even worse for you,’ she said, and he lifted his brows.

‘For me?’

‘You might have been here with Natasha,’ Cassie said. ‘It’s never easy, seeing everyone else all loved up when your own relationship has just fallen apart.’

And she ought to know, she thought glumly. Her relationships had a nasty habit of crashing and burning after a few weeks, and she had almost given up on meeting someone she could fall in love with, someone who would love her back.

‘I can’t imagine Natasha here,’ said Jake, looking around him with a derisive expression. ‘We didn’t have that kind of relationship. If we had decided to get married, she wouldn’t have had much time for all of this.’

‘All of what?’

‘All this lovey-dovey stuff isn’t a good basis for a strong marriage.’

He had given her that line before, Cassie remembered. She didn’t buy it any more this time round. ‘I would have thought love was the only real basis for a marriage,’ she said.

‘I don’t agree with you,’ said Jake coolly. ‘Love is too random. It’s a hit and miss affair, and even if you do get a hit it soon runs out of steam. How many times have you seen friends wild for their new partner, only to end up complaining about how they never put the top back on the toothpaste barely weeks later?’

All too often in her own case, thought Cassie.

‘It doesn’t always run out of steam,’ she said. ‘Sometimes it gets stronger. OK, the red-hot passion may not last, but it can change into something better, something that will last. When you love someone completely, you accept their little quirks as part of who they are. You certainly don’t throw away a good relationship because they squeeze the toothpaste in the middle instead of rolling up the ends neatly!’

‘Are you talking from your own experience?’ asked Jake, and she lifted her chin.

‘Not personally, no,’ she said with dignity. ‘But I’ve seen plenty of other relationships where both partners learn to compromise because they love each other. It can work.’

‘Not often enough.’ Jake shook his head. ‘Marriage is too serious a business to be left to love,’ he said. ‘It should be about shared interests, shared goals, about practicalities and the things that can’t change. If you can add in sexual attraction as well, then you’ve got yourself a winning formula.’

‘You can’t reduce love to a formula, Jake.’

‘What else is it?’

‘It’s-it’s finding someone who makes your heart beat faster. Someone who makes your senses tingle.’

Hang on, that sounded alarmingly like the way Jake made her feel, Cassie realised uncomfortably.

‘Someone who makes the sun shine brighter.’ She hurried on into unfamiliar territory. Jake didn’t do that, did he?

‘That’s just chemical attraction,’ said Jake dismissively.

‘It isn’t chemistry that makes someone the first person you want to talk to in the morning and the last person you want to see at night,’ Cassie said hotly. ‘The person who believes in you, however bad things are, who will take you in their arms and make you feel that you’ve found a safe harbour.’

Her voice cracked a little. She had never found that person, but she wasn’t giving up on the belief that he was out there somewhere, whatever Jake Trevelyan said. ‘It’s got nothing to do with chemistry,’ she said, recovering.

‘And how long does that feeling last?’ Jake countered. He gestured around the room with his head. ‘How many of these loving couples are going to feel like that a year from now, let alone in ten years, twenty years? Relying on how you feel is too random a way to choose a partner for life. Call it a formula, if you like, but if you’re interested in the long haul you’re better off sticking to what you know works.’

‘The formula didn’t work for you and Natasha, though, did it?’ Cassie retorted without thinking.

There was a short, not entirely pleasant silence. ‘No,’ Jake said just as she opened her mouth to apologise. ‘The formula isn’t foolproof, sure. But if you find someone who fits your specifications I’d say your chances of a successful marriage are much greater than investing all your happiness in someone you don’t really know.’

‘Well,’ said Cassie, draining her glass of champagne defiantly. ‘I couldn’t disagree with you more. It looks as if we’re completely incompatible on that front, anyway. It’s just as well we’re not really getting married!’

‘Just as well,’ Jake agreed dryly.

At the front of the room, a microphone was spluttering into life. The editor of Wedding Belles was up on the little stage, making a speech and announcing the winners of the prize draw to much ooh-ing and aah-ing from the crowd. The happy couple who had won the trip to Paris was called up and had their photo taken, beaming from ear to ear.

It gave Cassie a chance to get a grip. There was a time, when they’d been chatting to other couples, when it had felt quite normal being with Jake. It had felt more than normal, in fact. It had felt strangely right to have him at her side, talking, laughing, being able to catch his eye and know that he would find the same comments amusing. For a while there, she had forgotten how different they were.

But the conversation just now had reminded her. Jake, it seemed, had a completely different idea of love. He was looking for someone who fitted his specifications the way Natasha had.

The way she never would. Cassie didn’t need to ask what kind of woman Jake wanted. She was fairly sure the answer wouldn’t be someone scatty, messy or with a poor timekeeping record. No, he would be looking for someone poised, quiet, elegant. Someone who would slot into the carefully controlled life he seemed to have built for himself since he’d left Portrevick.

And why is that a problem, Cassie?

It wasn’t; Cassie answered her own question firmly. It wasn’t as if she wanted a man like Jake either. Control freaks weren’t her style. It didn’t matter that they were completely incompatible. It wasn’t as if they were actually having a relationship. This was just a pretence, and the less seriously they both took it the better.

Clutching their tickets to Paris, the winners of the first prize were leaving the stage, and more prizes were announced. Cassie was getting tired of clapping politely, and her thoughts were wandering so much that when she heard their own names called she hadn’t even heard what they had won.

Perhaps her luck was changing at last, she thought buoyantly.

She dug Jake in the ribs with her elbow. ‘Come on. We’re on. Don’t forget to smile!’

Together they climbed the stage; Cassie accepted a voucher from the editor, and they posed obediently for the camera.

‘A bit closer,’ called the photographer, and after the tiniest of hesitations Jake put his arm around Cassie, who had little choice but to snuggle in to his lean, hard body.

‘Perfect,’ said the photographer, and for a dangerous moment there it felt perfect too. Jake was warm and solid, and his arm was very strong. It felt wonderfully safe, being held hard against him, and Cassie found herself wishing that he would hold her like that for ever.

The moment the shot was taken, she straightened and pushed the treacherous thought aside, cross with herself. There was no point in thinking like that. Hadn’t she just decided that they were incompatible?

‘What have we won?’ Jake asked out of the corner of his mouth as they left the stage and the next winners were called up.

Cassie opened the envelope and started to laugh. ‘It’s vouchers for a his ’n’ hers day at a luxury spa, including treatments.’

‘Treatments?’ he asked nervously. ‘What sort of treatments?’

‘Oh, you know, pedicures, massages, waxing.’

Jake paled. ‘Waxing?’

‘I believe a certain wax is very popular with men nowadays,’ said Cassie naughtily, enjoying his expression of horror. ‘You want to look your best for our wedding photos, don’t you?’

‘Not if it involves wax of any kind anywhere!’

‘Oh well, if you’re going to be such a baby…’

‘Why don’t we just give the voucher to someone else?’

‘We can’t do that. Wedding Belles might want photos of us enjoying our prize for the article.’

‘If they think they’re getting a photo of me having any hairs ripped out, they’ve got another think coming!’ said Jake firmly.

‘Don’t worry; I’m sure we can find you something less painful,’ Cassie soothed him as she flicked through the brochure that had come with the voucher. ‘Maybe you could have a facial-or, I know, a seaweed wrap! That wouldn’t hurt.’

Jake was looking aghast. ‘A wrap?’ Then he caught Cassie’s dancing brown eyes, realised that she was teasing and relaxed into a laugh. ‘If you dare book me in for anything like that, Cassie…!’

‘What, and risk you cancelling our contract? No way-although it would be almost worth it to see your face.’

It was a good thing they had had that discussion about love earlier, Cassie decided. She had been in danger of forgetting that theirs wasn’t a real relationship for a while, but now that she’d remembered she could relax and enjoy herself again.

She tucked her hand into his arm. ‘Worry not,’ she said. ‘I wouldn’t do anything like that to you.’

‘So, can we go now?’

‘Go? We haven’t even started yet!’ Cassie pointed to where a set of doors was swinging apart to revel a huge ballroom crammed with stalls. ‘The show’s just opened, and we’ve got a whole winter-wonderland of weddings to explore…’

‘Have you got a moment?’

‘Jake!’ Cassie looked up in astonishment as he appeared in the doorway. It was the following Tuesday, and she was sitting on the office floor surrounded by fabric samples. She scrambled to her feet, ridiculously breathless. ‘What on earth are you doing here?’

He was looking uncharacteristically hesitant. ‘I wanted to ask a favour. In the circumstances, it seemed only fair that I should come to you, but I can go away if you’re busy.’

‘No, no. It’s fine.’ Cassie swept a pile of magazines off a chair. ‘Sit down. I’m sorry it’s all such a mess.’

She grimaced, looking at the office through Jake’s eyes. They really ought to tidy up some time. Every surface was piled high with magazines, fabric books, photographs, brochures, and samples of everything you could think of from thank-you cards to lip salves to artificial flowers. A wedding dress in a protective bag hung from a door, and the walls were covered with photos of all the weddings Avalon had planned. It was a colourful, cheerfully chaotic place, but, coming from his immaculately cool and contemporary office, Jake was unlikely to be impressed.

‘Coffee?’ she offered, and then wished she hadn’t. They only had chipped mugs, and the milk was probably off.

‘No. Thank you.’

Phew. Cassie lifted a pile of cake-design brochures off another chair and sat down. A favour, he had said. ‘So, what can I do for you?’

She was rather proud of how normal she sounded, not at all as if her heart was bouncing around in her ribcage and interfering ludicrously with her breathing. She was disconcerted, in fact, by how pleased she was to see Jake.

In the end, they had had a good time at the wedding fair, and the weekend had seemed, well, a bit empty without him. Jake had said goodnight as they parted, but hadn’t mentioned meeting again. Why would he? It was her job to get things going at the Hall, and she had that well in hand. They would need to arrange a photo session at some point, but the Hall wasn’t ready for that yet.

As it was, the week stretched drearily ahead. Cassie had even caught herself wondering if she could invent an excuse to call him, and had had to give herself a stern talking-to, reminding herself about key words like ‘contract’, ‘professionalism’, and ‘incompatibility’.

Jake seemed to be having trouble deciding where to start. ‘Remember that voucher we won on Friday?’ he said at last.

He had taken so long that Cassie had begun to worry that he was about to give her bad news. Relief made her laugh. ‘Look, there’s no need to worry,’ she assured him, relaxing. ‘I won’t book anything.’

‘It’s not that.’ Jake wanted to get to his feet, but the office was so crowded with stuff that there was nowhere to step, let alone pace. How on earth did Cassie manage to work in all this clutter?

He brought his attention back to the matter in hand. ‘It turns out that one of the accountants at Primordia is getting married next year, and she was at the Wedding Belles party.’

‘Ah,’ said Cassie, seeing where this was going at last.

‘I didn’t recognise her, but she thought she recognised me, apparently, and when our names were announced as winners of that bloody voucher that just confirmed it. So she trotted in to work yesterday and mentioned to someone she worked with in finance that I was engaged.’

‘And word went round faster than you can say “seaweed wrap”?’

Jake nodded heavily. ‘That’s about it. The next thing I know, Ruth, my communications director, is congratulating me and saying I must bring you to some fund-raising event we’re sponsoring on Thursday.’ He sighed. ‘I can’t believe how quickly it’s all got out of hand. I didn’t think anyone in London would need to know about our so-called engagement,’ he confessed. ‘I obviously didn’t think things through properly.’

‘You weren’t to know anyone from work would be at the wedding fair,’ Cassie pointed out consolingly.

‘No.’ Jake brooded, trying to work out where it had all gone wrong. He wasn’t used to his plans going awry. He spent so much of his life keeping things under rigid control; this was way out of his comfort zone.

‘Perhaps I should have laughed it off when Ruth first mentioned it,’ he said. ‘But it seemed humiliating to admit that my engagement was just a marketing exercise. Ruth knew Natasha, too. She would have felt sorry for me.’

He didn’t need to tell Cassie how much he would have hated that.

‘The upshot is that I let her believe that you and I really were engaged,’ he went on, looking directly at Cassie. ‘I’m sorry about this, but I wondered if you would mind putting on an appearance at this do on Thursday, and any other similar events in the next couple of months?’ He took a breath. ‘If you don’t want to do it, I’ll understand, of course.’

‘What, no more blackmail?’ said Cassie, brown eyes dancing.

Jake set his teeth. ‘No. This wasn’t part of our agreement. I’m just asking you to help me.’

‘Of course I will,’ said Cassie, regretting now that she’d teased him. He so obviously hated the whole situation. ‘It’ll be fine. Honestly, I don’t mind.’

‘It’s not likely to be a big deal,’ Jake said. ‘Just a couple of outings.’

‘There you go, then. No problem.’

‘Well…thank you.’

Jake was taken aback by how relieved he was, and he had a nasty feeling it wasn’t just because Cassie was prepared to save his face at work. It was barely two weeks since she had-literally-tripped back into his life, and already she had changed things more than Natasha had in six months.

That wedding fair on Friday…Jake had thought about it all weekend. Cassie had dragged him round every stall. She had tried on tiaras and sampled cupcakes. She had sighed over shoes and chatted to other brides-to-be about make-up and hen parties and how to keep children entertained at a reception.

It should have been Jake’s worst nightmare, but oddly he’d found that he was enjoying himself. He’d liked watching Cassie’s animated face as she talked and waved her arms around, her intent expression as she’d studied the dizzying array of goods and services on offer, and the way she’d licked her fingers after trying a piece of fruit at the chocolate fountain.

They had wrangled over table decorations, pretended to choose a honeymoon destination, dodged behind stalls to avoid Michelle and the ever-silent Mark, and generally laughed more than Jake could remember since…Well, he couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed like that. And all the time he had been aware of Cassie, of her bright face and her warm smile, and the memory of her kiss was like a hum underneath his skin.

So when Ruth had congratulated him on his engagement, instead of quietly admitting that it was all a mistake he had imagined seeing Cassie again, and he had found himself playing along.

It was only after Ruth had gone that he’d realised how much he had taken it for granted that Cassie would agree. He had blackmailed her into this charade, for goodness’ sake! That didn’t happen to nice middle-class girls like her. Jake wouldn’t have blamed her if she had told him to stuff his pretence.

After all, it wasn’t as if she could like being with him. They’d got on well enough at the wedding fair, but in lots of ways being there had just pointed out the differences between them. Cassie was ridiculously romantic, he was rigidly practical. She was warm, vibrant and spontaneous, he was cool and controlled. The only thing they could agree on was that they were completely incompatible.

Jake had told himself he would deserve the humiliation of admitting to Ruth that he had lied if Cassie didn’t agree.

But she had agreed. ‘It’ll be fine,’ she had said easily, and Jake had felt his heart lift.

‘Thank you,’ he said again.

‘When do you want me?’

Now. I want you now. Unbidden, the words hovered on the tip of Jake’s tongue. He clamped his lips together, aghast at how close he had come to opening his mouth and letting them spill out without any idea of where the thought had come from.

Cassie misunderstood his silence. A blush unfurled in her cheeks. ‘On Thursday, I mean.’

‘Can you come to my office at six?’ said Jake, recovering. ‘The reception starts at half past. We may as well go together and look like a proper couple.’