* * *
Holly pulled the cashmere blanket up around her chin and snuggled deeper into the most comfortable bed human hands ever created. She refused to acknowledge that morning was even a remote possibility. Instead she burrowed deeper, grateful for the heavenly pillow that cradled her head. She could stay like this forever. She sighed contentedly.
“I don’t want to get up either,” a warm, gravelly voice whispered. A voice that was only inches away, so close it might have come from someone sharing her pillow.
Holly’s eyes flew open and she found herself staring straight at a men’s white dress shirt, complete with a live, breathing man in it. Shock didn’t begin to describe the zap of energy that shot through her. She tried to move away but the back of the couch was unyielding. She struggled to a sitting position.
“Good morning, Holly.”
“Oh, my God, what are you doing here?” She stared down at Nick. With his right arm folded behind his head, he was stretched out next to her as if their waking up together was the most natural way to start his day. Holly stared at him. Oh, heavens above, he’d been the perfect pillow she’d just snuggled into.
“This is my office,” Nick said. “And you can quit staring at me like I’m a three headed reindeer. We work together, remember?”
Holly tried to speak but no words came. She needed to move away but the only route of escape would entail climbing over Nick and there was no way she was going there.
Nick grinned. “Apparently you need coffee to function.” He flipped back the blanket they’d been under and, with a grace she begrudgingly admired, got to his feet. “How hungry are you?”
“How hungry am I?” she repeated, her shock prevented her from coming up with any words of her own. She glanced around the office wildly. What on earth had happened last night? Had they…she glanced down to see just what she was wearing.
Nick laughed. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Miss Jamison.”
Holly frowned. “What happened last night?” She glanced at the door and then at the chair beside the table. How had Nick gotten in last night without her hearing him?
“We were working on updates to the sleigh loading operations protocol and I guess we both drifted off.” Nick ran his fingers through his hair and then stretched. “Don’t you remember?”
Did she? Sleigh loading operations? What in the frozen tundra was he talking about? She closed her eyes and pressed her fingers to her forehead while she struggled to remember what they’d been doing last night.
No, no, she quickly corrected herself. They hadn’t been doing anything. What had they been working on? She’d been reading files and trying to make sense of some cryptic notes she didn’t understand. But she’d been alone, that much she remembered perfectly. “You weren’t even here.” She looked up at him. “You were off goofing around somewhere while I read-” she broke off and looked around for the stack of file folders.
“Of course I was here,” Nick shot back. “How else do you think we got so much accomplished?”
Holly scrambled off the couch but her right foot caught in the blanket. When she tried to free it she only got further ensnared in the cashmere trap. She pitched forward.
Nick reached out and easily caught her in his arms. “I knew it was just a matter of time before you’d throw yourself at me.”He sounded all too amused with himself, which only made her feel more flustered.
Holly stared up at him, his face so very near hers that she couldn’t think clearly. A five o’clock shadow covered his jaw, making him look more devilishly handsome than he had the right to be.
But the look in Nick’s eyes, a warm appreciative gleam, stole her ability to string coherent words together. She lowered her gaze but staring at his perfectly kissable lips was no better for her equilibrium. To save her life, she didn’t know if the distant chiming she heard were warning bells or cupid thinking he’d made a match. Before she could decide the door to Nick’s office swung open.
Still clinging together, only inches apart, Holly and Nick turned at the same time to see who stood in the doorway. Nick spoke first. “Good Morning, Dad.”
Chapter Seven
Despite her embarrassment at being found wrapped in Nick’s arms, Holly forced herself to muster a bit of professionalism and greet her boss. “Good morning, Santa.”
His bushy white eyebrows rose. “Well, good morning to you both.” He came further into the room, shutting the door behind him. “I’m delighted to see you young people getting along so well.”
Holly closed her eyes and silently wished the icebergs would shift so she could drop off the face of the North Pole but she had no such luck. So, consummate professional that she was, she instead focused on untangling her feet from the blanket they were trapped in. Once she could see her toes she pushed back from Nicholas, took a deep breath and lifted her eyes to meet Santa’s watchful gaze. “Sir, I apologize-”
“No need, my dear,” Santa laughed. “I should remember not to barge into my son’s office. Now, how are those loading plans coming along?”
Loading plans? Holly shot a worried look at Nick but his face was placid, which simultaneously unnerved and annoyed her.
“We’ve got them done,” Nick said.
We? She had no idea what he was talking about. Holly bit her lip.
Nick picked up a green binder and handed it to his father. “We stayed up all night working on them. We cut it close but they’re done, due in large part to Miss Jamison here.”
“Wait, I’d like to see the reports for just a moment please.” She took the binder from a surprised looking Santa and flipped it open. She scanned several pages quickly, pages that she knew without a doubt she’d never seen before. She opened her mouth to tell Santa just this but stopped. Nick was up to something, although just what she had no idea. But if he thought he could make a fool of her in front of his father he was sorely mistaken. Ignoring Nick, she handed the binder back to Santa. “Thank you, I just wanted to double check one small detail.”
Santa flipped through the first few pages. He nodded approvingly. “Wonderful work, you two make a good team. I’ll get this down to loading and do a quick debriefing.” He looked between them. “Unless either of you would rather cover the meeting?”
“Holly?” Nick’s voice held a note of amused challenge. “Do you want to take this one?”
She narrowed her eyes. How he managed to keep a straight face when he was so full of it boggled her mind. “If you wouldn’t mind excusing us, Mr. Claus, Nick and I have to tie up a few loose ends.” She also needed a shower and change of clothes but only after she throttled the life out of Santa’s son. Still, she kept her voice even and smooth. “We’ll both make the eleven o’clock meeting but there are a few things we need to go over here first.”
Santa nodded. “Fine, fine.” He held up the binder. “My thanks to you both for pulling a long night on this.” He turned to go but stopped at the door. “Son, can you see to setting the clock?”
“Absolutely, Dad, we’ll get to it before the meeting.” Nick crossed the room and placed a hand on his father’s shoulder. “I don’t want you to worry. Everything’s going to be fine, I promise.”
Holly watched the two men embrace, a tiny bit of her ire fading. She picked up a pillow and hugged it to her chest. She wondered if Nick knew how fortunate he was to have such a wonderful father.
“Thank you, Nicholas. I’m the luckiest man in the world to have such a fine son.” He beamed at them both as he opened the door. “Now I’ve got to dash, you two have fun.”
Fun? Holly held the pillow over her face to stifle a scream. Fun? Really? There was almost no time left until it was Christmas and she didn’t have a single clue what she was supposed to be doing. Which, she realized with a sinking heart, made her the most inefficient efficiency expert on the entire planet.
“So, shall we get back to work, Holly?”
In answer, she threw the pillow at him. “Don’t you mean get to work? We haven’t done
anything yet.” She pointed at the stack of folders on the coffee table. “Why don’t we start with you explaining what this is all about?”
The very picture of innocence, Nick glanced down at the stack. “Absolutely, let’s run over the final report while it’s still fresh in our minds.” He dropped the pillow he’d neatly caught onto the couch. “But what about some breakfast while we review?”
“Review what?” Holly struggled to keep her cool. “We didn’t work on any of this last night. You weren’t even here last night.”
“Nonsense.” He picked up the phone, his hand poised over the dial pad. “Tell me what you’d like for breakfast because I’ve ravenous.”
Holly came around the side of the desk, took the phone from him and replaced it in the cradle. “What in the world is going on here? And I want an honest answer, Nick, because I’m out of patience.”
She watched him hesitate. For one brief moment it looked as if he was going to be honest with her but then the moment passed and when he spoke it was in a carefully measured tone. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
A tense silence hung between them. Holly clenched her hands at her side. “Tell me the truth.”
He sat on the edge of his desk and folded his arms across his chest. “Truth?”
“Yes, start with telling me what B.C.E. is and don’t stop talking until you tell me why you wanted your father and me to believe that we worked all last night when in fact you weren’t anywhere near this office.”
Holly watched as Nick ran his hands over his face. He looked exhausted but she didn’t have an ounce of sympathy for him. If he’d been out gallivanting all night then that was his choice. But if he thought he could lie straight to her face and convince her she didn’t know what was what, well, he had another thing coming. “I’m waiting.”
With a suddenness that surprised her Nick got to his feet and grabbed his tablet and a stylus. “I don’t have a clue what this BFMC thing is but I do know that I just promised my father I’d set the countdown to Christmas clock and so that’s what I’m going to do.” He grabbed his tuxedo jacket from the chair. “But first I’ve got to get out of this penguin suit and you’re going to want to change too. Let’s go.”
Despite feeling exasperated, Holly knew she’d gotten as much out of Nick as she was going to get
. He obviously had no intention of telling her the truth, if he was even capable of it. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t discover the truth some other way. “Where to?”
Nick grinned as he waited for her by the door. “Setting the countdown to Christmas clock is an important tradition and everyone looks forward to it. Ready?”
Holly scooped up her left shoe but didn’t see the right one. “You go ahead, I need to find my other shoe.” When he hesitated Holly waved him away. “Just tell me where to meet you and I’ll be there.”
“Fine, forty-five minutes then. Meet me just outside the double doors to the center courtyard.” He smiled. “It’s going to be cold and I noticed yesterday you didn’t have the proper kind of coat for this weather so I had one sent to your room.”
Before she could thank him he was gone. Holly looked around the office. Maybe she was just exhausted and losing her mind. Where was her other shoe? She looked under the coffee table and chairs but didn’t see it. Could she have only dreamt she read those files? It was possible. But how could she have forgotten working on the sleigh loading operations manual? That wasn’t like her, she’d certainly never blacked out an entire night’s work before. Uttering a sigh of exasperation, she knelt down on the plush carpet and reached under the couch. Her hand closed around her shoe. And something else.
Holly pulled out both items, tossing her shoe aside to focus on what looked like a business card. It was printed on an impressive heavyweight stock and the black lettering was simple but elegant. Her eyes quickly scanned the card. Nick Kane, BCE Director. Ha! She knew it. He was up to his neck in something. And she was going to find out what it was.
Chapter Eight
A blast of cold air hit Holly as she stepped out onto the balcony overlooking Christmas Square. She burrowed her gloved hands further into the pockets of her new silver snow parka. It fit perfectly and the hood and cuffs were trimmed in white faux fur, something she’d always wanted. Holly had to give Nick credit where it was due, his gift was both deliciously warm and stylish, not to mention a total surprise. When she’d returned to her room she’d found a gaily wrapped box with an enormous purple bow on her bed. Tucked into the layers of tissue was a card that simply read ‘Hope you like this – N’.
Holly liked it very much indeed but she hoped he didn’t think he was getting off the hook for lying about last night.
From high atop Santa’s balcony she surveyed the main North Pole Square below. It was deserted. Not a single elf was in sight. She’d expected to see a throng of elves for the clock setting ceremony. A quick glance at Nick assured her he was neither surprised nor disappointed by the low turnout.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Nick said.
“It’s empty,” Holly replied.
“I know, isn’t it grand?” Nick leaned forward and rested his elbows on the balcony rail. “It’s going to be the last peaceful moment until at least the twenty-seventh.” He turned to look at her, an appreciative smile on his face. “You look absolutely lovely in that color. I knew you would.”
Despite the arctic cold, Holly felt her cheeks flush. “Thank you, for the coat I mean.” The scene before her could have come straight out of a Hallmark snow globe. A statue of Santa claimed the center of the square and from there brick sidewalks linked a series of wooden storefronts with doors painted in bright, cheerful colors. The light poles were painted in a red and white stripe pattern and the lights themselves were shaped like snowflakes. Holly sighed.
Nick looked over. “Feeling nostalgic for Christmases past?”
“Oh, no, nothing like that,” Holly answered. “I was just thinking that this looks like a happy place to live.”
“It is. Happiest place on earth I’d wager.” Nick turned to face her. “Which shouldn’t surprise anyone, after all, that’s what Christmas is all about. Joy.”
Holly shrugged. “I suppose.”
“You suppose?”
“I know Christmas is joyous for your family,” Holly said. “But it’s not for everyone. It can be a hard time of year for many people.” She stopped, this probably wasn’t the best time or place to air her jaded view of the holiday. What would Nick Claus, lover of leisure and good times, know about hardship and loneliness? Next to nothing would be her guess. Besides, having this moment alone would be a perfect time to have another go at getting information out of him. “Why do you go by the name Nick Kane if your last name is Claus?”
In what had to be the worst timing ever recorded in human history, a marching band blasting a rendition of Sleigh Bells entered the square before Nick could respond. Following the twenty member band were dozens and dozens of elves. Holly’s eyes widened as they continued to fill the square. Surely there were hundreds of elves in the square below. They erupted into a cheer when Nicholas moved to the front of balustrade and waved.
He pulled a cordless microphone from his pocket and switched it on. “Who is ready for Christmas?”
The assembled elves erupted into a thunderous applause. Holly stared at them in absolute awe of their enthusiasm, of their spirit, but mostly in awe of their joy. For that’s what the crowd radiated. Pure joy. She glanced at Nick and could clearly see that he shared the same sentiment. A tiny glint of envy sparked within her.
“It’s time,” Nicholas called to the crowd below, “to start the countdown to Christmas.” He held up one hand for silence and continued speaking again when it grew quiet. “To help me with the honors is the lovely Miss Holly Jamison.”
To Holly’s utter surprise the crowd went wild.
Nick motioned for her to come forward. He leaned in close enough that she could hear him above the din.
“Go ahead, wave.”
Tentatively Holly lifted her hand and wiggled her gloved fingers. Nick laughed. “Higher so they can see you,” he instructed her. But her next effort apparently didn’t meet with his approval because he slipped his left arm around her waist and nudged her arm higher. “Come on, Holly. Time for you to get into the Christmas spirit.”
She waved again and this effort was rewarded with loud cheers. She laughed and turned to Nick. “I can see why you love this so much,” she said.
He shook his head and pointed to his ear. He couldn’t hear her.
Holly leaned in toward him just as he leaned toward her. Their faces ended up only inches apart. She found the crisp scent of his aftershave slightly intoxicating. Mesmerized, Holly stared into Nick’s blue eyes. They sparkled with a vitality that she suddenly, and very desperately, wanted to experience herself. “Nick?”
His eyes were focused on her lips. “Yes?”
A sudden jolt of reason shot through Holly. This was ludicrous. Insane. Hundreds of pairs of eyes were watching them. Not to mention, this was a man who had been dishonest with her about what had happened last night. Add to that, he’d flat out lied to his father, her boss, without the outward appearance of a qualm.
“What is it Holly?” he asked, so close she could feel the warmth of his breath.
“Who is Nick Kane?”
Nick pulled back. “Nick Kane?” He shook his head. “Someone I should know?” He glanced down at the elves below. “We’d better get back to work.”
He followed his audacious, bold-faced evasion of her question with a playful wink before he turned back to work the crowd. And work them he did. His speech was full of energetic rhetoric that would whip the Grinch himself into a holiday frenzy. Holly was immune to his charisma though. She stood beside him, her hands shoved in her jacket pockets even though she was no longer the least bit cold. Now her blood simmered at a slow boil.
“Let’s start the count down.” Nick held up a remote control for those gathered below to see. “Join with me. Ten, nine, eight….”
Mrs. Saint Nick : A Christmas Central Romantic Comedy Novella Page 5
