A Marriage Proposal
for Christmas
Carole Mortimer

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

‘I KNOW NO one is available to take my call at the moment, and no, I will not leave a message after the tone!’ the man’s voice snarled. ‘I’ve already left four messages, and I’m sick of talking to this damned machine. I intend coming round there in person in the hopes that I can talk to a human being!’

Cally stood arrested in the doorway of the office as she heard the disembodied voice on the message her sister Pam was playing back on the answering machine. ‘Not a dissatisfied customer, I hope?’ She raised questioning brows as she came fully into the office and closed the door behind her, instantly shutting out the cold December wind blowing outside.

‘Not yet.’ Her sister looked up and smiled as she switched off the answering machine. ‘So far he’s just another person who seems to have forgotten that this is the season of peace and good will to all men.’

‘I’ve always wondered what happened to “and all women” in that particular phrase,’ Cally murmured as she slipped out of her thick outer coat, moving to hang it on the stand in the corner of the room. She appeared small and slim in the black business suit she wore, the thin green jumper beneath the jacket a perfect match for her eyes, long red hair loose about her shoulders.

Her sister, at twenty-eight the elder by three years, shrugged philosophically. ‘Different century, darling,’ she said dryly.

‘You mean we were even less equal then than we are now?’ Cally snapped irritably, moving to sit down behind the second desk in this cosily welcoming room that constituted the sisters’ base for their business.

Pam chuckled. ‘What’s upset you this morning? Or should I say, who?’ she corrected knowingly. ‘Playboy of the West been keeping you awake all night again, has he?’

Cally raised auburn brows. ‘Would you care to rephrase that?’

Pam’s grin widened. ‘Not particularly. But I will if it makes you happy,’ she added teasingly as Cally’s scowl deepened. ‘Let’s see.’ She paused for thought. ‘Has your neighbour been keeping you awake all hours of the day and night again with his noisy arrivals and departures in that gorgeous red vehicle that is just too glamorous to be called a mere car?’

‘It’s a Ferrari,’ Cally supplied disgustedly. ‘And that was at midnight last night. This morning—at six-thirty, would you believe?—it was a helicopter!’ And she could still clearly remember being startled awake by the noise of its engines as it flew over the gatehouse where she lived, before landing on the lawn of the main house—where the ‘Playboy of the West’ lived!

‘A helicopter.’ Pam nodded, suitably impressed.

‘It landed on the front lawn of the main house, continued to run its engines for ten minutes or so, and then flew off again. I was not amused, I can tell you,’ Cassie growled, not willing, at this moment, to tell her sister just how unamused she had been—she was still too angry about the whole affair!

‘Did he wake Lissa, too?’ Pam looked concerned.

‘No,’ Cally allowed grudgingly, sure that her young daughter would sleep through an earthquake.

‘Have you managed to meet Noel Carlton yet?’ her sister asked eagerly.

Pam had been fascinated by the comings and goings of Cally’s neighbour since he had moved into the main house almost a year ago. Cally didn’t share the interest; she wished he would just take his Ferrari, and his helicopter, in fact, his whole over-the-top lifestyle, and go back to wherever it was he had come from!

The fact that he had flirted with her when she’d gone up to the house to complain about the noise a couple of months ago hadn’t exactly endeared him to her, either. Especially as he hadn’t followed up on the flirtation but had suddenly become coolly aloof! a little voice taunted inside her.

‘No,’ she fibbed. She felt guilty not telling Pam the truth, but couldn’t face the grilling Pam would insist on giving her if she knew Cally had met the man twice now.

‘Still think it was a good idea to move out to the “peace and quiet” of the country?’ Pam teased as she saw Cally’s frowning look.

Until Noel Carlton had moved in next door it had been a brilliant idea. The gatehouse she rented from the Parker Estate was just perfect for her and her young daughter, Lissa. Added to that, Lissa loved her new school, and was also able to indulge her interest in horse-riding at weekends. Even the forty-minute drive into work for Cally had been worth it just to see the happy smiles on her young daughter’s face.

But Noel Carlton had moved in almost a year ago and since then it had all become a bit of a nightmare. Even complaints to the agent for the estate that she had arranged to rent the gatehouse from initially had not elicited any satisfaction.

Which was why she had paid Noel Carlton a visit herself two months ago. At that visit she had found the man absolutely charming, a fact he’d obviously picked up on as he had suggested they go out to dinner together some time to discuss the problem further.

To say she had been stunned by the invitation would be putting it mildly.

She had been disappointed when he hadn’t bothered to call her, but had seemed to look through her the next time he’d seen her. And had continued to do so ever since.

Although, she recalled with a grimace, she hadn’t exactly given him the opportunity to ignore her this morning!

Cally set her shoulders. ‘It was an excellent idea,’ she stated firmly. ‘I’m determined that he will tire of country life before I do!’

Her sister chuckled, shaking her head. ‘I wish you luck. I—uh-oh.’ Her hazel-coloured gaze moved to the huge window that looked out on the busy high street from where they ran their business.

‘What—?’ Cally’s attention was also caught by the grim-faced man striding determinedly past the window, the colour draining from her face as she realized he was coming here. ‘It’s him!’ she squeaked breathlessly, at the same time coming sharply to her feet.

Pam turned back with a frown. ‘What—?’

‘It’s him!’ Cally repeated frantically.

‘I—where are you going?’ Pam demanded as Cally made a quick exit in the direction of the back room where they made hot drinks and kept the stationery.

‘To make some coffee. I—get rid of him!’ she pleaded before disappearing behind the open door.

But she made no effort to go and make coffee, or indeed anything else, as she heard the outer door open before being closed with suppressed violence. Nothing had changed there, then!

‘Can I help you?’ she heard Pam offer politely.

‘I certainly hope so,’ the man rasped.

Noel Carlton!

There was no doubt about it, Cally accepted with a wince after taking a surreptitious peek from behind the slightly ajar door and easily recognizing her nearest neighbour.

She couldn’t mistake that handsomely chiselled face, or the dark hair he wore much longer than was fashionable. His suit, even from that brief glance, looked expensively tailored, as did the handmade black leather shoes.

Not that any of that mattered just now. There could be only one reason for this man turning up here: her comments this morning had obviously elicited some sort of response, after all!

‘A human being at last,’ he continued scathingly. ‘You are a human being, aren’t you?’

‘Indeed I am,’ Pam answered in her most soothing voice, always the calmer one of the two sisters—a fact Cally had always blamed on her own vibrantly red hair as opposed to Pam’s more muted auburn. ‘Would you be the gentleman who rang earlier?’ she queried.

‘Five times!’ he confirmed indignantly.

Noel Carlton was the angry man on the answering machine?

‘We don’t actually open until nine o’clock, I’m afraid, Mr…?’

‘Carlton,’ he snapped.

‘Mr Carlton,’ Pam acknowledged smoothly—giving no indication of having recognized the name at all. ‘I’m sorry there was no one here to take your calls earlier, but, as I said, we don’t actually open the office until nine o’clock. However, I’m obviously more than happy to offer you any assistance that I can now.’

No, don’t say that! Cally mentally tried to communicate with her sister. Noel Carlton was the last person either of them even wanted to talk to. Until they had consulted a lawyer, at any rate. Not that Cally thought she was even slightly in the wrong with her complaints, but that didn’t mean that her neighbour saw it that way, too.

Cally took another peek around the door, just in time to see the man lowering his long length into the chair opposite Pam’s desk, his back towards Cally now as she frantically tried to attract her sister’s attention over one of his broad shoulders.

Pam shot her a questioning glance, obviously still none the wiser as to why Cally had disappeared so swiftly.

Cally quietly opened the door a little wider, raising her hands to make a movement as if she were holding the steering wheel of a car.

If anything Pam just looked even more perplexed!

Cally gave her sister a frustrated frown, pointing at Noel Carlton’s broad back, then at herself, before repeating the action of holding a car’s steering wheel.

Nothing.

Her sister looked completely puzzled now, at the same time staring at Cally as if she had gone slightly insane.

And maybe she had, Cally conceded heavily. She might have been extremely upset this morning, and told him exactly what she thought of him—but having Noel Carlton turn up at her place of work was the last response she had expected!

‘The thing is that I need—Do I have your full attention… Mrs Davies?’ Noel Carlton prompted, having paused briefly while he read the name on the front of the desk.

Pam broke her gaze away from Cally, a blush in her cheeks now. ‘Of course you do, Mr—I’m sorry, what did you say your name was?’ she encouraged in a slightly hushed voice, her eyes widening now with sudden recognition.

At last! Maybe there wouldn’t be any need to hit her sister over the head with a book later, after all!

‘Carlton,’ he supplied again through clenched teeth. ‘The thing is that I need—Mrs Davies?’ he bit out impatiently as he obviously sensed her attention wandering again.

Not surprisingly really; Pam’s gaze had returned to Cally as she stood behind him. The look in Pam’s eyes was a mixture of recognition and excitement, tinged with wariness as to what he was actually doing here.

Cally had a pretty good idea as to the answer to the latter, although she hoped not to have to discuss that with her sister in front of her neighbour.

‘What the—?’ Noel Carlton, having followed Pam’s gaze and glanced behind him, stood up abruptly as he saw Cally standing there. ‘You!’ he accused.

Her.

And Noel Carlton looked no more pleased to see her again than she was to see him!

CHAPTER TWO

THE TWO OF THEM continued to stare at each other, Cally challengingly, Noel Carlton’s expression now completely unreadable as he looked at her with those deep blue eyes.

In Cally’s opinion, it wasn’t fair that one man should be so good-looking. As well as that overlong hair being thick and darkly waving and his eyes being a beautiful deep cobalt-blue, his nose was straight and arrogant, his lips perfectly sculptured—the lower lip sensually fuller than the top—his jaw was square and determined, and his body tall and muscular, totally belying the thirty-five years or so that Cally guessed him to be. All that and rich too, Cally dismissed scathingly.

‘Er—do you two know each other?’ Pam was the one to break the chilly silence that had descended after Noel Carlton’s initial outburst, her gaze accusing as she shot Cally a pointed glance.

Completely deserved, Cally accepted with an inner wince. But she simply hadn’t had a chance yet to calm down enough to be able to rationally discuss the full events of this morning with her sister. Not that she thought Pam would be too impressed with that explanation, but it was the only one she had.

‘No!’

‘Yes.’

Noel Carlton and Cally spoke at the same time, Cally in the negative, Noel Carlton in the positive.

But if he thought having invited her out to dinner two months ago, and then promptly forgetting he had ever made the invitation, along with the argument this morning, gave him any right to claim an acquaintance with her then he was sadly mistaken; in fact, it was the opposite!

Pam gave the two of them a gleeful smile. ‘Come on, now, which one is it?’ she taunted.

‘We most certainly do not know each other,’ Cally answered before he even had chance to do so.

‘Oh, come on, Cally,’ Noel Carlton drawled, those deep blue eyes mocking now as he looked at her challengingly. ‘That’s not the impression I had earlier this morning.’

Cally’s eyes widened indignantly, a blush creeping into her freckle-covered cheeks as Pam repeated, ‘Earlier this morning, hmm?’

‘Don’t take any notice of him, Pam.’ Cally glared at her infuriating neighbour. ‘He’s just trying to be clever!’

‘And succeeding,’ Pam pointed out. ‘Dare one ask how it is the two of you happened to be together earlier this morning?’ The look she gave Cally clearly said, You certainly didn’t tell me that!

Cally drew in a sharp breath at her sister’s speculative expression. ‘It’s really quite simple—’

‘Oh, very,’ Noel Carlton agreed mildly. He folded his arms across the width of his chest now as he looked at the two women. ‘Tell me, are the two of you related? I seem to see a certain resemblance in the colouring and bone structure…’

‘Sisters,’ Cally supplied economically, not seeing what possible interest that could be to this man; if he had come here to cause trouble, then why didn’t he just get on with it instead of standing there looking so damned irresistibly attractive?

Because he most certainly was! Cally found her pulse was beating rather faster than it should be, that blush having stayed in her cheeks as she became fully aware of his mere physical presence—mere? There was nothing ‘mere’ about this man!

Everything about him was overpowering, from the way he looked, to the way his height and size just dominated the room. And the people in it!

Well, they would see about that, Cally decided, giving herself a mental shake. Okay, so the man was good-looking and rich as Croesus, but that didn’t mean that every woman he met had to fall down worshipping at his feet. Even if, that little voice taunted inside her again, her real anger towards him was based on the fact that he had never followed up on that dinner invitation…!

‘Hmm, I should have guessed.’ Noel Carlton gave Pam a smile warm enough to melt the flesh from her bones.

Something her elder sister welcomed, Cally realized disgustedly as she saw Pam return that smile and look at him from beneath lowered lashes.

Really, her sister had been happily married to Brian for the last eight years, had two little boys of school age, and yet here Pam was blushing like a schoolgirl herself just because Noel Carlton had smiled at her!

‘I can’t imagine why you should,’ Cally dismissed. ‘And while I appreciate that you went to some trouble to find me, I really have no intention of continuing our earlier conversation here.’

‘That’s very good,’ he mocked, turning to smile at Pam once again. ‘Your sister seems to be—the more emotional one of the two of you, shall we say? Has she always been that way?’ he enquired.

‘Always,’ Palm confirmed, grinning at Cally’s obvious discomfort at being discussed in this way. Her sister had patently decided it was the least Cally deserved after not telling her that she had actually met this man earlier this morning.

But there was a perfectly good reason why she hadn’t told Pam about that meeting. In fact, there were several reasons. Firstly, losing her temper was never something she was particularly proud of. Secondly, even as she had been losing her temper with Noel Carlton she had found herself once more attracted to him. Thirdly, she had been able to tell by the warmth in his gaze that he returned the attraction…

‘Hmm,’ Noel Carlton murmured now appreciatively, at the same time giving Cally a look that it was impossible to see as anything else but a totally male assessment, taking in the rich redness of her long hair, the wide green eyes, her heart-shaped face dominated by those freckles, her determinedly raised chin, her slenderness in the black business suit, the long length of her legs.

Really, Cally thought crossly, did this man ever switch off his playboy mode?

‘Could you just say what you want to say, Mr Carlton, and then leave?’ she encouraged impatiently.

‘Of course. I’m sure we’re all busy people.’

‘Nice of you to realize that,’ she drawled.

‘Cally,’ Pam began warningly.

‘Oh, don’t be concerned, Pam,’ she assured her sister lightly. ‘Mr Carlton is perfectly well aware of my opinion of him!’

‘Now, let me see…’ Noel Carlton paused for dramatic effect. ‘“A rich, overindulged, totally selfish, egotistical idiot” was the phrase you used earlier, I believe. Did I miss anything out?’ he asked, eyes openly laughing at her now.

‘You know that you didn’t!’ Her cheeks were burning with indignation at the realisation that she had obviously amused him. And something else. It was that ‘something else’ that caused her to look away from him in some confusion.

She simply couldn’t still find this man attractive! Oh, of course he was good-looking, but as far as she was concerned, after inviting her out and then not even bothering to call her, he had nothing else to recommend him, and she had no intention of being taken in by looks alone. That had already happened in her life once, and look what a disaster that had turned out to be…!

‘Actually—’ he glanced at the name on the badge attached to the lapel of her jacket ‘—Mrs Turner—’

‘Miss,’ Cally corrected. ‘Miss Turner,’ she enlarged almost defensively as he looked at her enquiringly, at the same time waiting for some cutting comment from him. One of the things she had thrown at him this morning in their heated exchange—well, to be honest, hers had been heated, Noel Carlton had looked as if not too much made him exert himself at that time of the morning!—had been that he had woken not only her up with the arrival and departure of that helicopter but her young daughter too. It wasn’t true, of course. Lissa had still been fast asleep, but it had sounded good at the time.

His brows rose slightly before he spoke again, ‘Miss Turner,’ he acknowledged with an inclination of his head. ‘Well, I hate to disappoint you, Miss Turner, but I’m afraid my being here today has absolutely nothing to do with you, and everything to do with the unfortunate predicament I find myself in.’

Cally blinked, staring at him in disbelief. Was he seriously expecting her to believe his coming to her workplace was just a coincidence?

‘What predicament would that be, Mr Carlton?’ Pam was the one to ask. ‘I did detect a certain element of desperation in the telephone messages you left earlier,’ she added sympathetically.

‘Desperation!’ He gave a huff of grim laughter. ‘I’m beginning to wish I could just scrap Christmas altogether.’

‘Bah, humbug,’ Cally murmured tauntingly.

‘Just call me Ebenezer,’ Noel Carlton conceded. ‘Not that I have anything against the present giving, or the decorations, or the fact that we get in more food and drink than we will ever be able to consume in two days—’

‘Then what do you object to?’ Cally queried with a puzzled smile. ‘You seem to have got Christmas more or less covered there!’

‘That’s the problem—I haven’t.’ He sighed heavily. ‘I don’t object to any of it—I just haven’t done any of it!’ His voice started to rise in agitation. ‘My parents and my two siblings are due to arrive from the States in two days’ time, and I haven’t done a damned thing towards providing them with the English Christmas they’re all so looking forward to!’

‘Ah,’ Cally breathed as understanding slowly began to dawn. ‘And you thought Celebrations may be able to do it for you?’

After all, it was what she and Pam did; arranged parties and weddings, and even Christmas, for people who were too busy, or just too disorganized, to be able to manage it for themselves, organizing decorations, food, drink, staff if they were needed—in fact anything a client needed to make the celebration a success.

The two sisters had started out quite small five years ago, working from Pam’s home, as a way of them both earning some money, with the added bonus that they could arrange their jobs around the demands of their young children. During that five years they had built up a solid reputation, but unfortunately only locally, with other parents from school, or recommendation from them by word of mouth. And so they had discussed it with Pam’s husband, and decided that, although it would be a struggle financially for a while, the only way for them to make a real success of the business—to eventually make money!—was to enlarge the business by moving into premises in town.

Something they had done only six months ago…

Cally just hadn’t thought that Noel Carlton would be one of those disorganized people they were called in to help.

She smiled. ‘Well, I’m really sorry about this, Mr Carlton.’ the brightness of her tone telling him that she wasn’t sorry at all ‘.but I’m afraid that we’re fully booked this week—’

‘Actually, we’re not,’ Pam admitted softly.

Cally turned sharply to her sister. ‘What do you mean, we’re not?’

Her sister gave a shrug. ‘I haven’t had chance to tell you yet, but the Neilsons telephoned early this morning and left a message on the machine too.’ She gave Noel a smile. ‘Apparently they have had some sort of emergency in Sweden, have had to return home unexpectedly, and don’t expect to return to England until after the New Year.’

‘But I was due to go and put all the decorations up today! And what about all the food we have stored in the freezer?’ Cally gasped her dismay, having been working exclusively on the Neilsons’ Christmas for the last week. ‘What are we supposed to do with all of that?’ She groaned at the thought of all that work wasted.

And the fact that they weren’t going to get paid!

‘Excuse me,’ Noel Carlton put in pointedly.

Cally shot him a narrow-eyed glare as she easily caught his meaning. ‘Forget it,’ she bit out, at the same time knowing that she and Pam couldn’t afford to lose all the money they had expended on the Neilsons’ Christmas; the deposit paid by the Neilsons wasn’t refundable, but by the same token it in no way covered what had already been spent.

‘But, Cally, it would seem to be the perfect solution to everyone’s problems,’ Pam reasoned, a worried frown furrowing her brow as she also thought of the money they were going to lose.

‘This is my mother’s first visit to England since she remarried and moved to America twenty years ago,’ Noel Carlton argued persuasively. ‘The last thing I want to do is disappoint her and my stepfather by not giving her the sort of Christmas she remembers.’

‘Shouldn’t you have thought of that earlier?’ Cally frowned, not at all impressed by his attempt at emotional blackmail—even as she felt a faint stirring of concern for a woman she had never met.

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

‘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.

It was Noel’s turn to grin. ‘It is now that you’re here to help!’

‘Don’t expect miracles,’ she warned. ‘I’ll do my best, but this is rather a big house.’ She looked pointedly at the huge hallway they stood in, half a dozen doors leading off it, and this was only the ground floor; there were two more of them up the wide staircase.

Parker Hall was the old manor house to the local village of Axton, and had once housed the rich and influential family of Parker. But as with many of these old families, death duties and lack of interest in succeeding generations had almost brought about its ruin, the hall now rented out to whoever could pay the exorbitant fee being asked. Which Noel Carlton obviously could…

‘As long as the Neilsons weren’t going to eat smorgasbord for Christmas, or something equally unsuitable, I really don’t care!’ he assured Cally now.

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