A Mistletoe Proposal

by Lucy Gordon

  Scowling, he dragged himself to his feet and began to limp away, but not before turning to Roscoe. ‘You’ve been warned,’ he spat. ‘She won’t treat you any better.’

  Roscoe held up the envelope. ‘I’m just the delivery man,’ he said mildly.

  Jimmy flung him a speaking look and limped away. Roscoe waited until he was out of sight before saying, ‘I’m sorry to arrive unexpectedly, but you left this in my car.’

  She made as if to take the envelope that he held out, but snatched her hand back as the robe fell open.

  ‘I’ll take it inside,’ he said, moving past her.

  She followed him, slamming the front door, hurrying into the bedroom and slamming that door too. Roscoe wondered at her agitation. After all, she’d been the victor, conquering and subduing her foe. He would have given a good deal to know the history behind that scene.

  The apartment was what he would have expected, lush and decorative in a way he thought of as ultra-feminine. The furniture was expensive and tastefully chosen and the shelves bore ornaments that suggested a knowledge of antiques.

  In one corner of the room was a desk with a computer and various accessories, all of which were the very latest, he noted with approval. It seemed to tell a different story to the rest of her. Ditzy dolly-bird on the one hand, technology expert on the other.

  But probably the computer had been installed by her employers. That explained it.

  She came whizzing back into the room, dressed in sweater and jeans. They were sturdy and workaday, unglamorous except that they answered all questions about her figure.

  ‘Are you all right?’ he asked.

  ‘Certainly I’m all right. Why shouldn’t I be?’ She sounded a tad defiant.

  ‘Just that he seemed rather overwrought-’

  ‘And he called me Jezebel, implying that I’m a floozie, that’s what you meant.’

  ‘That’s not what I meant at all.’

  Even to herself, Pippa couldn’t have explained why she was on edge, except that she liked to stay in control, and being discovered as she had been was definitely not being in control.

  ‘Look, I just came back to return your papers,’ he said hastily. ‘Don’t blame me for finding…well…what I found.’ Too late, he saw the quagmire stretching before him.

  ‘And just what do you think you found?’ she demanded, folding her arms and looking up into his face. It was hard because he had a good six inches over her but what she lacked in height she made up in fury.

  His own temper rose. After all, he’d done her a favour.

  ‘Well, I found a girl who’d been a bit careless, didn’t I?’

  ‘Careless?’

  ‘Careless with her own safety. What on earth possessed you to get undressed if you were going to knock him back?’

  ‘Oh, I see. You think I’m a vulgar tease?’

  ‘No, just that you weren’t thinking straight-’

  ‘Or maybe you’re the one not thinking straight,’ she snapped. ‘You jump to the conclusion that I stripped off to allure him, and the true explanation never occurs to you. Too simple, I suppose. He arrived after I had come out of the shower.’

  ‘Oh, heavens, I should have thought of that. I’m sorry, I-’

  ‘I didn’t get undressed for him,’ she raged on, barely hearing him. ‘I’m not interested in him and so I’ve told him again and again, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Just like a man. You’re all the same. You all think you’re so madly attractive that a woman’s no never really means no.’

  ‘I didn’t-’

  ‘Conceited, arrogant, bullying, faithless, treacherous-’

  ‘If you’d only-’

  ‘Leave, now!’

  ‘If I could just-’

  ‘No, you can’t “just”. Leave!’

  ‘I understand that-’

  ‘Listen, the last man who came in here wouldn’t go when I told him to, and you saw what happened to him.’

  ‘All right,’ Roscoe said hastily. ‘I really only came to return your property.’

  ‘Thank you, sir, for your consideration,’ Pippa responded in a formal voice that was like ice, ‘but if you don’t leave of your free will you’ll do so at my will and that-’

  ‘I’m going, I’m going.’

  He departed quickly. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the situation, this was no time to argue. For some reason, she was ready to do murder. It was unfair, but there was no understanding women.

  From Pippa’s window, a curve in the building made the front door visible. She stood there watching until she saw him get into his car. Then she turned and glared at the photograph of her grandparents on the sideboard.

  ‘All right, all right. I behaved terribly. He came to return my things and I was rude to him. I didn’t even thank him. Why? Why? I don’t know why, but I was suddenly furious with him. How dare he see me naked! Yes, I know it wasn’t his fault; you don’t have to say it. But you should have seen the look on his face when he saw me on display. He didn’t know whether to fancy me or despise me, and I could strangle him for it. Grandpa, stop laughing! It’s not funny. Well, all right. Maybe just a bit. Oh, to blazes with him!’

  Down below, Roscoe took a quick glance up, just in time to see her at the window before she backed off. He sat in his car for a moment, pondering.

  He’d gained only a brief glimpse inside her bedroom, just enough to see a double bed and observe that it was neatly made and unused. He’d barely registered this but now it came back to him with all its implications.

  So she really had refused him, which meant she was a lady of discrimination and taste as well as beauty and glowering temper. Excellent.

  Later that night, before going to bed, he went online and looked up Mata Hari:

  Dutch, 1876-1917, exotic dancer, artist’s model, circus rider, courtesan, double agent in World War One, executed by firing squad.

  Hmm! he thought.

  It was a word that occurred to him often in connection with Pippa. With every passing moment he became more convinced that she would fit his plans perfectly.

  The two men regarded each other over the desk.

  ‘Not again!’ David Farley said in exasperation. ‘Didn’t he promise to reform last time?’

  ‘And the time before,’ Roscoe sighed. ‘Charlie’s not really a criminal, he just gets carried away by youthful high spirits.’

  ‘That’s your mother talking.’

  ‘I’m afraid so.’

  ‘Why can’t she face the truth about Charlie?’

  ‘Because she doesn’t want to,’ Roscoe said bluntly. ‘He looks exactly like our father, and since Dad died fifteen years ago she’s built everything on Charlie.’

  The door opened and Roscoe tensed, but it was only a young woman with a tea tray.

  ‘Thanks,’ David Farley said gratefully.

  He was a burly man in his late forties with a pleasant face and a kindly, slightly dull manner. He cultivated that dullness, knowing how useful it could be to conceal his powerful mind until the last moment. Now he poured tea with the casual skill of a waiter.

  ‘Has your mother ever come to terms with the fact that your father committed suicide?’ he asked carefully.

  Roscoe shook his head. ‘She won’t admit it. The official story was that the car crash was an accident, and we stuck to that to discourage gossip. Now I think she’s convinced herself that it really was an accident. A suicide would have been a rejection of her, you see.’

  ‘Of all of you,’ David ventured to say. He’d known Roscoe for years, right back to the time he’d been a young man who admired and loved his father. He too had suffered, but David doubted anyone had ever considered this.

  Now, much as he’d expected, Roscoe shrugged aside the suggestion that he actually had feelings and hurried to say, ‘If I can pull Charlie through this without a disaster I can get him onto the straight and narrow and stop her being hurt.’

  ‘Do you know how often I’ve heard you say that?’
David demanded. ‘And it never works because Charlie knows he can always rely on you to rescue him from trouble. Just for once, don’t save him. Then he’ll learn his lesson.’

  ‘He’ll also end up with a criminal record, and my mother will have a broken heart,’ Roscoe said harshly. ‘Forget it. There has to be a way to deal with this, and I know what it is. It’s important to put the right person on the case.’

  ‘I shall naturally deal with this myself-’

  ‘Of course, but you’ll need a good assistant. I suggest Miss Philippa Jenson.’

  ‘You know her?’

  ‘I met her yesterday and was much impressed by her qualities,’ Roscoe declared in a carefully colourless voice. ‘I want you to assign her to Charlie with instructions to give him her full attention.’

  ‘I can give Pippa this case, but I can’t take her off other cases. She’s much in demand. Don’t be fooled by her looks. She’s terrifyingly bright and one of the best in the business. She qualified with some of the highest marks that have ever been seen, and several firms were after her. I got her by playing on her sympathies. She did her pupillage here and I managed to persuade her that she owed me something.’

  ‘So she really is qualified? She looks so young.’

  ‘She’s twenty-seven and already becoming well known in the profession. This lady is no mere assistant, but a formidable legal brain.’

  The last three words affected Roscoe strangely. The world vanished, leaving only a young, perfect female body, glowing with life and vigour, dainty waist, generous breasts partly hidden by the luscious hair that tumbled about them, beautiful face glaring at him with disdain.

  A formidable legal brain!

  ‘What…what did you say?’ he asked with an effort.

  ‘Are you all right?’

  The vision vanished. He was back in the prosaic offices of Farley & Son, facing David Farley across a prosaic desk, drinking a prosaic cup of tea towards the end of a prosaic afternoon.

  ‘I’m fine,’ he said quickly. ‘I just need to settle things with Miss Jenson. Can I see her?’

  ‘She’s in court this afternoon, unless perhaps she’s returned. Hang on.’ He seized the phone, which had rung. ‘Pippa! Speak of the devil! How did it go?… Good…good. So Renton’s pleased. You made his enemies sorry they were born, eh? I knew you would. Look, could you hurry back? I’ve got a new client waiting for you. Apparently you already-’

  He checked, alerted by Roscoe’s violent shake of the head. ‘You’re already known to him by repute,’ he amended hastily. ‘See you in a minute.’

  Hanging up, he stared, puzzled. ‘Why didn’t you want me to say you’d already met?’

  ‘Best not. Start from scratch,’ Roscoe said. Inwardly, he was musing about the name Renton, which he’d glimpsed on the papers he delivered last night, plus a mountain of figures.

  ‘So she has a very satisfied client?’ he mused.

  ‘One of many. Lee Renton is a big man in the entertainment field, and getting bigger. There were some grim accusations hurled at him by someone who’d hoped to take advantage of him, and failed. Financial stuff, all lies. I knew Pippa would nail it.’

  ‘So her adversary is sorry he was born?’ Roscoe queried.

  ‘Nasty character, up to every trick. But then, so is she. Great on detail, reads each paper through thoroughly. Nothing escapes her. She’ll be here in a moment. The court is just around the corner.’

  ‘Solicitors don’t usually appear in court, do they? I thought that was the role of barristers.’

  ‘The old division still exists,’ David agreed, nodding, ‘but its lines are getting blurred. These days, solicitors can act as advocates more often than in the past, and when they’re as good as Miss Jenson we encourage it. You’ve made a good choice.’

  ‘Yes,’ Roscoe murmured. ‘I have.’

  ‘Luckily for you, she’s a workaholic or she might be reluctant to add to her workload so close to Christmas.’

  ‘Close to Christmas? It’s only November.’

  ‘Most people start planning their schedule now so that they can grab some extra days off when the time comes. Pippa does the opposite, comes in earlier, works later. The nearer to Christmas it gets, the more of a workaholic she becomes. I could understand it if she was alone, but she’s got plenty of family. It’s as if she’s trying to avoid Christmas altogether.’

  ‘You make her sound like Scrooge.’

  David grinned. ‘Well, I think I really have detected a touch of “Bah! Humbug!” in her manner.’

  His phone rang. He answered it and made a face. ‘Don’t send him in or I’ll never get rid of him. I’ll come out there.’ Rising, he said, ‘Stay there and I’ll be back in a minute.’ He hurried out.

  While waiting, Roscoe went to stand by the window, looking down on a part of London that spoke of wealth and manipulation, people in control, sophistication-rather like one aspect of Pippa Jenson. But not all of her, he thought, remembering the unselfconscious way he’d seen her joking with the headstone yesterday.

  The door opened. Somebody flew into the room, speaking breathlessly. ‘Oh, my, what a day! But it was worth everything to see the look on Blakely’s face when I had all the figures-’

  She stopped as Roscoe turned from the window.

  ‘Good afternoon, Miss Jenson,’ he said.

  CHAPTER THREE

  FOR a moment Pippa’s face was full of shock. ‘You,’ she murmured.

  Then shock was swiftly replaced by a smile. ‘So prayers do get answered after all,’ she said.

  ‘I’m the answer to your prayers?’ he queried. ‘Now that I wasn’t expecting.’

  ‘Meeting you again is the answer to prayer,’ she said. ‘It gives me the chance to say thank you, otherwise I’d have had to search for you all over London. You came to my rescue three times last night-towing me to the garage, taking me home, bringing my papers over-and then I was rotten to you. I can’t forgive myself.’

  ‘No, that’s my job,’ he agreed. ‘Let’s forget it now.’

  ‘That’s kinder than I deserve. When I think-’

  The door opened. It was David with the man he’d been trying to get rid of, and who was now talking nineteen to the dozen, causing David to make a face of resignation.

  ‘We’re in the way,’ Roscoe said. ‘Let’s have a bite to eat. Cavelli’s is very good, and it’s nearby.’

  ‘Great. I’m famished.’

  Cavelli’s was a small restaurant over the road, just opening for the early evening. They found a table by the window.

  ‘I’d toast you in champagne,’ Roscoe said, ‘but I’m driving. What about you?’

  ‘I’m afraid my car’s still on the sick list. I came in by taxi.’

  ‘Champagne, then.’

  ‘Not on my own. What I’m really dying for is a cup of tea.’

  He placed the order and sat regarding her for a moment. Her hair was pinned back again, as he’d first seen it, but the rich honey colour still had a luxuriant appearance. She was dressed for business in a dark blue trouser suit of decidedly mannish cut. But if she thought for a moment that it masked her vibrant sexual allure, she was deceiving herself, Roscoe thought.

  He pulled himself together. This was a time for business. The ‘other’ Pippa, the one he’d seen last night, must be firmly banished. He did his best to achieve that, but it was hard when all around them people were turning to look at her in admiration.

  They toasted each other in hot tea, and Pippa sighed theatrically with relief.

  ‘You don’t know what I owe you,’ she said. ‘Those papers won the case for me. Without them, it would have been a disaster.’

  ‘Yes, you couldn’t have made Frank Blakely sorry he was born, which I gather you did.’

  She gave a triumphant chuckle. ‘I reported the figures, he disputed them, I produced the papers that proved them, he demanded to know how I came by those papers, I said my lips were sealed-’

  ‘That sounds a bit dodgy,’ Ro
scoe said, grinning, pleased.

  ‘Do you mind?’ she demanded, mock-offended. ‘I am not “a bit dodgy”.’

  ‘I beg your pardon-’

  ‘I’m very dodgy-when I have to be. It depends on the client. Some need more dodginess than others. Some don’t need any.’ She added wickedly, ‘They’re the boring ones.’

  ‘I see you believe in adjusting to their requirements,’ he said appreciatively.

  ‘That’s right. Ready for anything.’ She chuckled. ‘It makes life interesting.’

  ‘Miss Jenson-’

  ‘Please, I think we’ve passed the point where you could call me Pippa.’

  She didn’t add, After the way you saw me, but she didn’t need to.

  ‘Pippa-I’m sorry if I embarrassed you last night. I only wanted to return your property.’

  ‘It wasn’t your fault. It was just unlucky that you turned up…well…at that moment.’

  ‘He seemed to feel very strongly about you.’

  She sighed. ‘He’s a nice boy but he can’t understand that I don’t feel the same way. We went out for a while, had some fun, but there was nothing in it beyond that.’

  ‘Not on your side, but surely his feelings were involved?’

  For a moment Roscoe fancied a faint withered look came over Pippa’s face.

  ‘And if it had been the other way around, do you think he’d have cared about my feelings?’ she asked quietly.

  ‘Perhaps. He seemed to have really strong emotions about you.’

  The look vanished so fast he couldn’t be sure he’d seen it. ‘Life’s a merry-go-round.’ She shrugged. ‘You have to look forward to the ups but always be ready for more downs.’

  ‘So there’s nobody special in your life at the moment? Or are there a dozen like him ready to spring out like last night?’

  ‘Possibly. I don’t keep count. Look, I just wanted to apologise for the way I flew at you. After what you did for me, you deserved better. Today was a triumph. I had two job offers as I was leaving the court, and without those papers I’d have got nowhere. So I owe you, big time. I meant what I said. I’d have hunted you down through all London to tell you that.’