by Alyssa Dean
“Not exactly,” Amanda murmured. She glanced across the room at Josh. “Although sometimes I’ve been tempted.”
“I know what you mean.” Susan eyed Josh over Amanda’s shoulder. “I...uh...went out with him a few times, you know. He’s a remarkably compelling man, isn’t he?”
Amanda didn’t want to think about how attractive Josh was. “Yes.”
“Unfortunately he’s the champion of all workaholics, isn’t he?” Susan chatted on. “I pretty much had to force him to go out with me in the first place.” She eyed Amanda with outright curiosity. “Is that how it happened with you?”
“Not exactly,” Amanda murmured. She had blackmailed Josh into going out with her...but he was the one who kept forcing the issue.
“And he never called,” said Susan. “I mean...never. I was always calling him.”
“You were?” Amanda seldom called Josh. He always seemed to be phoning her. Sometimes she wished he’d stop doing it. Every time she talked to him on the phone her mind went blank and it took her a good ten minutes to settle down after she hung up.
“He was always late for appointments, too...or else he’d forget about them.” Susan sighed. “After a while it just petered out. I got tired of chasing him, and he didn’t seem interested and...” She shrugged. “Sometimes I felt as if he’d actually forgotten I existed.”
“Really?” Amanda eyed Susan’s perfectly put-together figure. Heavens, the woman even had a bustline. And Josh...forgot about her?
She took another swallow of her drink, more convinced than ever that getting involved with Josh Larkland would be a very bad idea.
ALTHOUGH SHE WAS JUST pretending to be involved with Josh, Amanda discovered at Josh’s cousin Alaina’s that the line between pretense and reality was becoming a little blurry.
Alaina was the only one of Josh’s relations Amanda was having problems liking. She was a middle-aged woman with perfectly coiffed hair, piercing blue eyes and a manner that set Amanda’s teeth on edge. When she first met Amanda, she said, “I was so amazed to hear about you and Josh. Just astounded actually.” She eyed Amanda up and down. “It’s actually like the tenth wonder of the world.” Amanda wasn’t sure what she was more surprised at—the fact that Josh could get a date, or that the date was Amanda.
Josh wasn’t fond of her, either. “I think I already know something personal about Alaina,” he told Amanda. “She’s a pain in the neck.”
Unfortunately, he was right. Alaina had a professionally decorated house, which she insisted on showing to Amanda, and an extensive art collection, which she insisted on describing to Amanda.
Amanda was plotting her escape when she glanced over Alaina’s shoulder and noticed Josh heavily involved in a conversation with a tall, well-proportioned redhead. Alaina’s friend, Samantha, Amanda remembered. She did a quick mental run-through of her Christmas list. Sure enough, there weren’t any well-built redheads on it.
“And this is a Sudcliff,” Alaina advised, gesturing at one of the paintings hanging on the wall. “Isn’t it fabulous?”
“Fabulous,” Amanda agreed. She kept her eye on the redhead. Josh had his hands in his pockets now. The redhead was leaning forward.
She gave her own head a shake, and tried to focus on what Alaina was saying.
“I just love its primeval qualities,” Alaina continued. “Don’t you?”
“Yes,” Amanda said in a distracted fashion. Was he smiling at that woman? He was...that slow, sexy smile that always made Amanda forget what they were talking about. She felt an overpowering and very un-Christmassy urge to smack both the redhead and Josh.
Believe it or not, Amanda was jealous, which was totally irrational. It wasn’t as if she and Josh were really involved. She was here as a business associate, nothing more. So why was she consumed with jealousy by Josh’s conversation with that, that... redheaded vixen?
“Is something the matter?” asked Alaina. “I thought you would be fascinated by Sudcliff’s originality.”
Amanda realized Alaina was eyeing her curiously, and pasted a fake smile on her face. “I’m...enthralled,” she lied.
However, when they stopped at a coffee shop on the way home, she was still feeling a little put out with both Josh and his cousin. So when Josh asked, “Did you find out anything personal about Alaina?” Amanda snapped, “No, I did not, except that she’s a pain in the neck.”
“I told you that,” Josh agreed. His eyes sparkled. “What do you say we get her a book on how the pretentious really live. Or would that be too personal?”
“I think it would.” Amanda waited for a moment. “How about you? Do you have a brilliant gift idea for her?” She narrowed her eyes. “Or were you too busy finding out something personal about Samantha?”
“Samantha?” Josh looked blank. “Who is Samantha?”
Amanda’s spirits lifted. At least she didn’t stand out in his mind. “She’s the woman you were talking with—you know, the redhead.”
“Oh, her.” Josh shrugged. “I was wondering who she was.” He rolled his eyes. “The only thing personal I found out about her is that she is the most boring woman I have ever met. She’s an artist of some sort. She kept talking about the surreal aspects of deep-sea diving or something of that nature. I wasn’t really paying attention.”
“Good,” Amanda murmured under her breath.
Josh leaned his elbows on the table and took a sip of his coffee. “You know, I think she was the woman Alaina was trying to set me up with.”
“Really?”
“Uh-huh.” He smiled across the table at Amanda. “Thank goodness I’ve got a Christmas elf around, or I’d probably have had to go out with her.”
Amanda suddenly felt better. Then she was annoyed with herself for feeling better.
This Christmas elf stuff was starting to drive her crazy.
8
“DON’T TELL ME, let me guess,” Mable said when Josh walked passed her desk a couple of days later. “You are leaving early. Again.”
“Uh-huh,” Josh said.
“Another family party?”
“Uh-huh.”
Mable eyed him thoughtfully. “You know, for someone who hated going to family get-togethers, you’re sure going to a lot of them.”
Josh shrugged. “I’m just giving Amanda a hand.”
“Really?” Mable’s eyes twinkled. “I don’t know, Josh. It almost seems as if you’re starting to enjoy them.”
“I think I might be,” Josh said thoughtfully. He shoved his hands into his pockets and strode out the door. Mable was right. He was enjoying these parties a lot more than he used to. Of course, that was because he had Amanda. He had no idea how he’d ever coped without her.
Over the past weeks he’d discovered a lot of great things about having his very own Christmas elf. The “I’ll have to check with Amanda” excuse was one of them. It was a wonderful way of getting out of things he didn’t want to do without getting anyone mad at him.
He enjoyed using it, too. He liked the way it felt to be part of a couple—that there was another person who was involved in his schedule outside of work. And it was the truth. He always checked with Amanda. She had easily and seemingly effortlessly taken over all the mundane details of his social life. She handled his relatives. She took care of the invitations, and thought up wonderful reasons for refusing.
They didn’t refuse that many. In spite of his token objections, and the chance of being fed something he didn’t like, Josh looked forward to attending family gatherings. For a long time, he’d felt as if his relatives lived in an alien world that he wasn’t a part of. Now he felt like he was becoming part of it again. He’d forgotten how much he liked most of his family, and he was becoming increasingly fascinated by finding out personal things about them.
That wasn’t the only reason he enjoyed those parties. Probably the biggest reason was Amanda. He looked forward to the time they spent together. It wasn’t like being with other women, where he had to make an effort
at conversation and usually pretend an interest he didn’t feel in what they were saying. He never felt that way with Amanda. He enjoyed everything about her...except the way she scampered out of his car when he took her home. He was finding that increasingly frustrating.
He’d told himself that a business relationship with Amanda was fine with him. However, he was starting to think that an exclusively business relationship was the last thing he wanted with his Christmas elf.
“DO WE HAVE ANYTHING on that Christmas list for Tom yet?” Josh asked Amanda as they drove to Louise and Franks’s place later.
Amanda did a quick mental run-through of her list. “No, we don’t. Why?”
“Marilla gave me the title of a book he wants. It’s a Hungarian philosophy book. I don’t know if that’s personal, but...”
“It’ll do,” said Amanda. She waited for a moment. “You saw Marilla today?”
“Uh-huh. I dropped by her office to take her to lunch.”
Amanda stared at him. “You did?”
“Yes, I did.” He slowed for a light. “She’s my sister, Amanda. I should know where she works.” He was silent for a moment. “She also asked me what I thought she should get you for Christmas.”
“Oh, no,” Amanda said. She hadn’t thought of his family wanting to exchange presents with her. “I don’t want...”
“You never told me you could do that,” Josh accused. “I thought you had to be subtle about this. I didn’t know you could just ask someone what they wanted!”
“You can’t just ask! However, it’s all right to ask one of the couple if they have any suggestions for the other.”
“Okay,” Josh said. “In that case you’d better tell me what you want so I can pass it on.”
“I don’t want anything,” Amanda said. “You can’t let your family get me presents, Josh. You just can’t.”
“Why not?” Josh asked, his familiar puzzled-looking expression on his face.
“Because you can’t. The only reason they’d get me presents is because they think you and I are involved in a relationship and we aren’t!”
“Sure we are,” said Josh comfortably. “You’re my elf. Isn’t that a relationship?”
“It’s not the one they have in mind,” Amanda said. “I’m serious about this. I don’t want presents from your family. I’d feel terribly guilty about it. Just tell them that I don’t feel I know them well enough to exchange presents with them.”
Josh started to argue, then, taking one look at her face, he held up a hand. “All right. I’ll tell them. But what do you want, by the way?”
“Josh!”
“I’m just curious, that’s all. What does an elf want for Christmas? Besides an office, I mean.”
“An office?” Amanda repeated.
“Well, you could certainly use something,” Josh explained. “Your apartment seems to get smaller and more cluttered every time I pick you up.”
Amanda was touched that he’d noticed. “You’re right, it does. My apartment was fine as a make-do office when we didn’t have much business. But now that we have business, it’s not big enough. We’ve also hired a couple of temps to help out, so there always seem to be people around. Sometimes I can’t even find a private place to change my clothes.”
“You can change your clothes at my place if you like.” He glanced over, grinning. “After all, we are supposed to be living together.”
Amanda imagined herself undressing in his place and shivered. Steady Amanda, steady. You don’t want to get involved, remember? “Thank you, but I’ll manage somehow.”
“Why don’t you just rent yourself an office?” Josh asked after a moment.
“We can’t afford it right now. But someday we’re going to.” Amanda closed her eyes and pictured it. “Someday I’m going to have an office with my name on the door. Permanent. So you can’t erase it.” She chuckled. “I’ve been downsized, and right-sized, and then I was a temp. It’s no fun. You just get attached to something and they take it away. That’s why I’m doing this. I want my very own office with my very own name carved on the door, so the only person who can kick me out is me.” She hesitated. “And it’s not going to have the word elf anywhere on it, either.”
IT WAS JOSH’S IDEA to go to Charmaine’s cosmic connection meeting. “She’s my sister,” he’d explained. “I think I should know what weird thing she’s into.”
Charmaine was clearly delighted they’d come.
She led them around her beige and green living room, introducing her to the other guests, who, Amanda was amused to discover, mostly did seem to be from Detroit. Then she proudly showed them a large crystal pyramid that was sitting in the middle of the dark oak coffee table. “For meditation later,” she explained.
Josh’s eyes widened and for a moment Amanda was afraid he was going to announce she had another headache. Instead he produced a heroic smile, said “I’m looking forward to that,” and wandered over to check out the buffet.
Charmaine turned to Amanda. “I’m so thrilled about you and Josh,” she confided. “I can just feel the connection between you two.”
“Can you?” Amanda glanced across the room, where Josh was heavily involved in studying the food. He caught her eye, grinned and mouthed “No fish” before turning away. She could almost feel the connection herself.
“Josh and I used to be connected, too,” said Charmaine. “In a platonic way, of course. When we were younger, we were very close.”
“You were?” Amanda had a hard time imagining that. There was something so otherworldly about Josh’s gorgeous stepsister that she couldn’t imagine her having much in common with Josh.
“Yes.” Charmaine’s dark eyes lit up with mirth. “I used to get into terrible trouble because of him. He could talk me into almost anything. It would be his idea, and I’d get the blame.”
“I can believe that,” Amanda murmured.
“Oh, and he was always doing the most dreadful things to my boyfriends. I don’t think there was one he liked. He’d wire up their car so the horn wouldn’t stop. And he once set up some kind of system so when my date walked me to the door, this deep voice said, ‘Touch her and you will be liquidated’ over and over.” She rolled her eyes. “You can imagine what that did for my social life.”
“Not a whole lot?” Amanda said, with a smile.
When Charmaine went to greet some guests who had just arrived, Amanda chatted with Edwina, Marilla and Shelby. There weren’t many other relatives present. “Not many of us can understand Charmaine,” Shelby explained tactfully. “However, Marilla and I always come. After all, Charmaine is our sister. If it’s important to her, it’s important to us. I hope you can persuade Josh to come to a few more... for moral support.”
But I won’t be here, Amanda thought. And it wasn’t just Josh she was going to miss. It was his entire family, as well.
She was just pondering this depressing thought when a smooth young man dressed entirely in beige came up to her. “Hi,” he said. “Maurice. From Detroit.” He rested an outstretched arm against the wall and looked down at her with obvious admiration. “I don’t believe I’ve seen you around here before.”
“I wouldn’t think so,” Amanda said. Was it her imagination or was this guy coming on to her? “I’m Amanda,” she said. “From...the North Pole.”
“Perhaps I ran into you there, during one of my cosmic journeys,” Maurice suggested. He looked deeply into her eyes. “Don’t you feel that we’ve met on another plane?” He took her hand and squeezed it tight.
“Not really,” Amanda said. “Actually, I’m... uh...a little afraid of flying, so I usually take the bus.” She tried to extract her hand and failed. She glanced over her shoulder. Josh was deeply involved in his discussion with Charmaine, and Shelby and Marilla had joined him. Amanda heaved a mental sigh. She’d wanted him to communicate with his family. She just wished right now he’d communicate with her.
She focused back on Maurice and gave him a tentative smile. “We
ll, it’s been great talking to you, but I really should...”
“It’s wonderful talking to you, too,” Maurice said. “But words aren’t necessary between connected individual minds. Don’t you feel the same way?”
She was certainly feeling something. “You’re so right about that,” said Amanda. “Will you excuse me, please? I have to go check on Josh. I have a feeling he’s getting a terrible headache.”
“THAT WAS CERTAINLY an expedience,” Amanda said as they left Charmaine’s party a few hours later.
“It was certainly something.” Josh made a face. “And I seemed to have missed the point. Why were we sitting there in the dark, staring at that plastic pyramid?”
“I think it was a crystal pyramid,” said Amanda, hiding her smile. “We were supposed to be getting in touch with our inner self to form a cosmic connection to the universe. You seemed to be getting right into it.”
“I wasn’t,” Josh grumbled. “I was trying to figure out how I could wire up the thing.”
“Wire it up?”
“So it would say something. Just imagine the expression on all those people’s faces if that plastic pyramid had made a sudden announcement. Something like ‘Josh Larkland, you left your lights on.’” He chuckled. “That would have cleared the room in a hurry and given us an excuse to leave.”
Amanda laughed along with him. “I guess it was a rather bizarre experience.”
“Bizarre isn’t the word.” He stepped on the gas a little too hard. “Some of those people were more than a little off-the-wall. One of them kept asking me how I was feeling.”
