‘You’re right; it is.’ Ethan grimaced in agreement after glancing at the clock on her fireplace, which now read fifteen minutes after midnight. ‘Young babies have no appreciation of the difference between day and night, do they?’ he added with a fond glance at the obviously alert Andrea.
‘How should I know?’ Olivia returned stiffly.
‘You shouldn’t,’ he accepted lightly. ‘By the way,’ he added softly, ‘Happy Christmas.’
Olivia opened startled grey eyes, before frowning heavily. Of course, they were now fifteen minutes into Christmas Day. She swallowed hard. ‘Happy Christmas, Ethan.’ Her voice choked on its unfamiliarity with those two words.
He gave her that spontaneous grin once again. ‘I bet I’m the last person you thought you’d be saying that to this year!’ he said, explaining his humour.
Or any other year! Ethan Sherbourne just wasn’t the type of man she wanted to spend any time with—let alone the early hours of Christmas morning.
‘I’m sure you could say the same thing about me.’
Ethan gave her a considering look, head tilted on one side, those brown eyes darkly probing. ‘Why should you think that?’ he finally asked—just when Olivia had almost got to the stage where she thought she couldn’t stand that piercing gaze on her a moment longer!
Now it was Olivia’s turn to smile. ‘I’m hardly the type of woman you would usually choose to spend time with,’ she stated derisively.
He frowned his puzzlement. ‘And how would you know what type of woman that is?’
Her smiled widened. ‘I’ve seen several of them in passing, on their way up to your apartment,’ she told him candidly.
He looked at her quizzically for several long minutes. ‘But don’t you know what I do—?’ He broke off as Andrea, having let the bottle slip from her mouth, now let out a sound of protest at being deprived her food. ‘Silly pumpkin,’ Ethan murmured indulgently as he repositioned the bottle.
Olivia stood up abruptly, unable to stand the intimacy of this situation a moment longer. They might almost have been a family. A father and mother talking softly together as the baby was fed. It was an image that was totally unacceptable to her.
‘Would you like some more coffee?’ she offered abruptly.
‘That’s very kind of you,’ Ethan said warmly. ‘But I really think Andrea and I have taken up enough of your time for one evening,’ he added with obvious regret.
From the look of the milk still left in the bottle, and the speed with which Olivia knew the baby drank, he was going to be here for some time yet. ‘It will only take me a second or so to pour it; it’s already made in the percolator,’ she assured him, and she picked up his empty mug. Once again she needed a few minutes to herself, and getting fresh coffee provided her excuse to leave the room.
‘In that case…thanks.’ He made himself more comfortable by sliding down the chair. ‘If it’s any consolation, Olivia,’ he called after her as she went through to the kitchen, ‘this isn’t quite how I envisaged spending my Christmas, either!’
Which was exactly what Olivia needed to hear to put her equilibrium back on its usual even keel!
Of course this wasn’t how Ethan had expected to spend his Christmas! No doubt he had one—or possibly several—of his harem lined up with whom to spend the hours of Christmas. But baby Andrea’s appearance had ensured that just wouldn’t happen.
And, Olivia told herself firmly before returning to the sitting room, she mustn’t ever think Ethan was doing more than playing with her, in the absence of one of those women, with his occasional flirtatious remarks to her. The poor man probably couldn’t help himself! To imagine anything else would be pure stupidity on her part.
‘Are you doing anything tomorrow—I mean today?’ Ethan asked conversationally, after glancing at the clock once again.
Olivia slowly put his coffee mug down on the table in front of him before moving decisively back to her own chair. What business was it of his how she intended spending her Christmas?
She thought longingly of the two new classical CDs she had bought to listen to during the next two days. She had no intention of even switching the television on for any of that period; the superficial, over-jolly seasonal programmes were total anathema to her. She had bought a delicious Dover sole to grill for her lunch today, knowing it would be very enjoyable with a glass of light white wine.
Yes, her Christmas—such as it was—was all taken care of.
‘It’s Christmas Day,’ she answered dismissively.
‘Exactly.’ Ethan grinned.
‘I meant there will be nowhere open,’ she said coolly.
‘I meant, are you going away to see family? Or anything?’ he pursued lightly.
Olivia wasn’t fooled for a moment. By ‘anything’ he was obviously referring obliquely to the possibility that she might have a male friend she was seeing.
She thought briefly of Dennis Carter, who had casually suggested that he might call her on Boxing Day, to wish her a Merry Christmas. Somehow Olivia had the feeling his telephone call might include an invitation to spend the day with him.
‘I am spending the holiday period at home. Alone,’ she added bravely.
‘Come upstairs and spend the day with Andrea and me,’ Ethan suggested instantly, sitting forward to look at her intently. ‘Don’t refuse until you’ve thought about it, Olivia,’ he said as she would have done exactly that.
She didn’t need to think about it; the idea of spending Christmas day—any day!—in the company of Ethan Sherbourne, with or without the presence of baby Andrea, was totally unacceptable to her. Although without Andrea the invitation would probably never have been made at all…
‘I’ve been out and bought a tree, and decorations,’ Ethan added persuasively. ‘In fact, the tree still needs to be trimmed,’ he admitted. ‘I’m not sure where the time went today—yesterday—but I simply didn’t have time to do anything but put the tree in a pot.’ He looked around Olivia’s apartment, which was totally lacking in any sign that it was indeed Christmas, least of all a decorated tree surrounded by presents! ‘We could do it together later this morning, before opening our presents,’ he suggested cajolingly.
Olivia had listened with growing horror as he outlined his plans for today—for all of them! ‘I—’
‘I’ve bought you a Christmas present, Olivia,’ Ethan put in softly. ‘At least, Andrea and I have,’ he added huskily.
Olivia’s stare was now one of shocked amazement, her cheeks fiery red. What did Ethan think he was doing, buying her a Christmas present? He had no right—
She didn’t have anything to give him in return! Or Andrea either, for that matter…
‘Do come, Olivia,’ Ethan persuaded, putting the now replete Andrea into her pushchair before gathering up her things in preparation for leaving. ‘It will be much more fun. For Andrea, I mean. And you did say you don’t have any other plans…’
It was time to stop this. And stop this now! ‘Andrea is hardly old enough to care one way or the other,’ Olivia replied sharply.
Ethan looked sad as he straightened. ‘But I would know, Olivia,’ he said. ‘This is her first ever Christmas, don’t forget. I want it to be special for her.’
Olivia could hardly see how her own presence would make it that! ‘I said I was spending Christmas alone,’ she bit out harshly. ‘And that’s because that’s the way I prefer to spend it,’ she concluded rudely.
Ethan unconcernedly wheeled Andrea’s laden pushchair towards the door. ‘No one should spend Christmas Day alone,’ he said lightly. ‘We’ll expect you about nine-thirty, okay?’
No, it was not okay! Of all the arrogant—
‘Ethan—’ Olivia broke off as he stopped suddenly in front of her, bending to pick something up off the floor. ‘What on earth is that?’ She peered at the piece of green foliage Ethan now held in his hand.
Dark brows rose over quizzical brown eyes. ‘Don’t you know?’ Ethan teased, suddenly standing much
too close to her.
Olivia resisted the impulse to step back; she was a mature woman of thirty-two, not a gauche teenager!
She frowned down at the sprig of greenery, the white berries that decorated its branches making it unmistakable. Mistletoe! Now how on earth had that got here? She certainly hadn’t brought it. Maybe it had got caught up in her shopping at the supermarket earlier, and dropped to the floor as she’d carried the bags inside? However it had got here, she did not like the determined glint in Ethan’s eyes as he held the mistletoe up over the two of them!
‘It’s bad luck not to kiss under the mistletoe,’ Ethan told her gruffly.
Olivia found herself held mesmerised by the warmth in those compelling brown eyes. ‘I’ve never heard that before,’ she replied breathlessly.
‘That’s because I just made it up,’ Ethan admitted, before his head lowered and his lips claimed hers.
Olivia felt as if an electric shock had coursed through her body at the first touch of those softly sensual lips against hers, which parted slightly as she gasped in reaction. Then the kiss deepened as Ethan’s mouth took firm control of hers.
His arms moved about the slenderness of her waist and he pulled her against the hard length of his body, his hands trailing down the length of her spine.
Olivia wanted to scream, and shout, to push him away—but more than any of those things she wanted the kiss to go on and on for ever!
Her body felt on fire, her limbs fluid, her only reality Ethan and the erotic exploration of his lips against hers.
He was finally the one to break the kiss, his breathing shallow as he rested his forehead against hers. ‘Wow!’ he murmured throatily.
Wow, indeed. Olivia could never remember being so aroused by just a kiss. And from Ethan Sherbourne of all people…!
‘Nine-thirty in the morning?’ he prompted, his arms still firmly about her waist.
She moistened dry lips, hardly daring to breathe. ‘Yes.’
‘Good.’ He nodded his satisfaction as he stepped away from her. ‘You don’t need to bring anything—just yourself,’ he said warmly.
Olivia was still standing where he had left her as he quietly closed the door behind him and Andrea as they left. She didn’t dare move yet, in case her legs didn’t hold her when she did!
Worst of all, despite her earlier protestations, she now seemed to have agreed to spending Christmas Day with Ethan and his young charge!
‘The mistletoe was a nice touch,’ Mrs Heavenly praised Faith warmly.
Faith made no response. Arranging for that piece of mistletoe to be there in front of the door, where Ethan would easily find it as he left, had been a brainwave on her part. But she didn’t want to sound as if she were feeling too self-satisfied; there was still a long way to go on this assignment.
Although that kiss under the mistletoe had resulted in Olivia agreeing to spend Christmas Day with Ethan and the baby…
‘This evening alone with Andrea was very hard on Olivia,’ Faith said instead. ‘Are you sure she’s up to spending Christmas Day en famille?’
Mrs Heavenly smiled sadly. ‘I have a feeling it will either be the making or the breaking of her.’
That was what Faith felt too. ‘I’m not sure—’
‘Olivia lacks faith in herself, as well as in other people, my dear,’ Mrs Heavenly pointed out gently. ‘One day, in order to start living again, rather than just existing, she has to make a leap of faith. I believe Ethan Sherbourne has been chosen for her to leap to.’
‘Which is where I come in,’ Faith put in. ‘But I do wish Ethan had had the chance to finish explaining to Olivia about those other women in his life.’
Was it her imagination, or did Mrs Heavenly’s cherubic gaze suddenly not quite meet her own? Surely she hadn’t—?
No, of course not. She was being silly. This was Faith’s assignment. Mrs Heavenly wouldn’t have given it to her if she hadn’t thought she could handle it.
‘All in good time, my dear. All in good time,’ Mrs Heavenly dismissed brightly. ‘Now, if I were you, while Olivia is sleeping I would take a few earthly hours’ rest myself.’ She beamed up at Faith. ‘This promises to be a very busy day for you.’
It certainly did. Faith only hoped Olivia wouldn’t change her mind later that morning, and cancel spending the rest of the day with Ethan and Andrea…
CHAPTER SIX
SHE must have changed her mind about the sensibility of spending the day with Ethan and Andrea at least a hundred times since early that morning! After Ethan had left, during the long sleepless early hours, and again after she’d got up and showered. But, despite all that indecision, it was now nine-thirty and she was standing outside Ethan’s apartment, preparing to ring the doorbell in order to announce her presence.
It was all the fault of that piece of mistletoe, of course; Olivia still had no idea where it could possibly have appeared from. But without that Ethan would never have kissed her—and she wouldn’t have responded!
She still felt a fluttering sensation in her chest every time she thought of that kiss they had shared. Her only consolation was that it probably hadn’t meant a thing to Ethan; he probably viewed kissing her as having done his good deed for the day!
‘Merry Christmas!’ Ethan greeted as he opened the apartment door and kissed her lightly on the cheek. ‘Come in.’ He clasped her arm to pull her inside. ‘You’re just in time to watch Andrea open her presents.’
Olivia stared in astonishment at the tiny baby as she lay on the thickly carpeted floor, surrounded by more Christmas presents than Olivia had ever seen before!
‘Do you think I went a bit overboard?’ Ethan said uncertainly as he saw her expression. ‘This is such a completely novel experience for me,’ he explained. ‘I almost bought the toy store out!’
She wouldn’t be at all surprised. And some of the things he had purchased were obviously way beyond Andrea’s age range—the tricycle, for example. But no doubt Andrea would grow into it.
As for the novelty factor; no doubt finding out he was a father was a novel experience for him!
‘They must have loved you,’ she teased, before going down onto the carpet next to Andrea. She was dressed smartly but comfortably today, in black trousers and a red jumper, as Christmas was being foisted on her anyway, she had decided she might as well enter into the Christmas spirit! ‘Happy Christmas, poppet.’ She kissed Andrea on one creamy brow. ‘I brought you a present too.’ She held up the gift wrapped in pink tissue paper.
‘That’s really kind of you,’ Ethan said admiringly as he watched her unwrap the present for the baby.
Having Ethan tell her earlier that he had a Christmas present for her had initially put her in rather an awkward position—because she didn’t have one for him. Or Andrea. But then she’d thought hard…Ethan hadn’t been too difficult to sort out; she had simply wrapped up the two CDs she had originally bought herself for Christmas. Andrea had been a different matter altogether…
‘Christmas is for children,’ she answered Ethan distractedly, holding up the brightly coloured rattle that she had just unwrapped. As with all young babies, Andrea was transfixed.
‘You know something,’ Ethan said slowly as he watched Andrea excitedly waving her arms as Olivia gently shook the rattle. ‘I think I should have saved myself the trouble of buying all this—’ he waved his arm over the pile of unwrapped presents ‘—and just bought her one of those!’
‘It’s a little like when we were children and found the boxes more interesting than the contents!’ Olivia laughed in agreement. ‘But don’t worry; she’ll grow into all of these,’ she assured him lightly.
But her mood wasn’t in the least light as she waited for his next question, which was sure to be where, exactly, had the rattle come from? Because it obviously wasn’t the sort of thing one had just lying around in case a baby came to visit. If Ethan asked, she had decided she was going to tell him that she had been out yesterday and bought the small gift for Andrea
…
‘This is for you.’ She held out the other slender parcel she had brought with her.
He frowned at the present. ‘Olivia, you really didn’t have to—’
‘I was always taught to say, “Thank you very much. It’s very kind of you”,’ she rebuked gently.
He looked decidedly uncomfortable. ‘Thank you very much. And it is very kind of you. I just—’
‘You don’t know what it is yet,’ she interjected, relieved when he at last took the present, and turning away to play with Andrea while he unwrapped it, suddenly feeling embarrassed. What if he didn’t like classical music? What if—?
‘I can’t believe this!’ Ethan burst out incredulously seconds later. ‘It’s amazing. I actually went out yesterday intending to buy myself this particular CD.’ He held up the Mozart. ‘I just didn’t have time after going to the toy shop.’
‘You probably wouldn’t have been able to carry it, either.’ Olivia looked at the pile of presents under the tree still to be opened, slightly incredulous herself that Ethan should have the same taste in music as herself. Incredulous that they should have anything in common at all!
‘Probably not.’ He chuckled. ‘Is it okay with you if I put this on now?’
‘It’s your gift,’ she replied.
‘In that case…’ He suited his actions to his words, then came back to sit with Olivia and Andrea under the enormous tree, the beautiful sound of Mozart’s music filling the apartment. ‘This is for you.’ He picked up a parcel, the red shiny paper adorned with gold ribbon and a bow. ‘I’m useless at wrapping gifts, so I had the woman in the shop wrap it for me,’ he admitted.
Olivia’s hand shook slightly as she accepted the present. It was light, and soft to the touch, making her wonder what could possibly be inside. She was almost afraid to open it and find out!
‘It won’t bite.’ Ethan grinned at her obvious hesitation, brown eyes warm with humour. ‘I told the saleslady that you were probably a 32D, but you can always take it back and change it if I got the size wrong—’
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