One-Click Buy: November Harlequin Presents (54 page)

She'd got pregnant.

She'd lied to him.

Those were the sins that had damned the woman. And those were the very same sins of which Tegan herself was guilty. Her heart plummeted to new depths.

There was no hope now.

S
HE
sidled out of bed to retrieve her clothes. She'd get dressed and be ready when Maverick finished his call to tell him straight, to tell him the simple truth she should have managed to spit out before now.

‘You've been away!' barked his gran's outraged voice.

‘To Italy, yes,' he replied, leaning with one elbow against the window frame and gazing out into the night, feeling guilty that he hadn't visited her today on his return. Hadn't given it a thought. ‘I told you I was going before I left.'

‘Well, that doesn't matter now,' she reasoned, as if she didn't believe him for a minute. ‘What does matter is I've sorted out the Christmas problem!'

Maverick sighed. If she banged on again about his parents coming for lunch, he was likely to put his fist through something, most likely the window.

‘So, what have you got in mind?'

‘And I don't know why you didn't think of it yourself. Or maybe you did, and you were keeping it for a surprise? That would be nice. I like surprises.'

‘What are you talking about?' he said, rubbing his brow, rapidly losing patience.

‘Vanessa. We'll ask that lovely Vanessa. She'll come to lunch. She'd love to.'

He squeezed his eyes shut, pinching the bridge of his nose. ‘You don't think she might already have plans?' He turned around, surprised to see her fully dressed and reaching for her sandals. He frowned. What was that all about? He'd expected she'd stay the night.

‘You haven't asked her already, then? I told you you should have thought of it yourself.'

‘Gran, she's my PA.'

Tegan looked up at him then, sandals in her hand, a question in her eyes, and he shrugged.

‘And that means she doesn't celebrate Christmas? What codswallop!' Nell continued. ‘Besides, I've seen the way you look at her, like a rutting elk. It's high time you settled down. You'd be mad to let this one slip through your fingers.'

He had to hand it to Nell, she sure had a fertile imagination. But maybe she had a point. Morgan would be a good distraction on the big day, and maybe it would even cheer her up. She seemed a bit tense about something.

‘Okay, Gran,' he soothed. ‘But I've got a better idea. We've got a big lunch planned for Christmas Eve with the Royalty Cove team. It'll be a real party—you'll love it. And I know Vanessa's going to be there—yes, I'll make sure of it.' He promised he'd call by tomorrow, then snapped his phone closed and looked over at Morgan. She looked worried about something, no doubt wondering what Nell had been on about.

She took a shaky step closer. ‘Maverick, I have to—'

‘This Christmas Eve lunch with the Royalty Cove team—you are coming to that?'

She blinked. ‘Pardon?'

‘Christmas Eve. Nell wants a real Christmas lunch this year, so this is the best solution, so long as you're there. She probably won't even realise it's not Christmas Day. She'll just have a ball.'

Her head shook slowly from side to side. ‘I don't think…'

‘You'd be doing Nell a huge favour. She's been worried lately about my parents being missing from Christmas. Your presence will be a welcome distraction.'

She screwed up her face, turned it ceilingwards. ‘You can't keep doing this!'

‘Doing what? Nell likes you. And you'll be at the lunch anyway.' He raised a hand to her shoulder and pulled her close. ‘And I wouldn't mind you being there too, if that makes a difference.'

Yes, you would
, she thought, given his previous speech about how little she meant to him—and how he sure as hell wouldn't want her there when she revealed the truth.

She shook her head. ‘I don't know if I can make it.'

‘Of course you will. It's a work function.'

‘Christmas Eve is on a Saturday! I don't have to be there.'

‘I want you there. And so does Nell. And I warn you, she won't give up. She doesn't find it easy taking no for an answer.'

‘It obviously runs in the family,' she snapped, while all the time she was thinking,
Oh God, am I ever going to be able to come clean?
Were her plans always to end in disarray and get her deeper and deeper into this quagmire?

‘Making my grandmother happy means a lot to me,' he added.

And her sanity didn't?

She huffed in a breath. ‘Okay,' she said, but still shaking her head—knowing she'd regret it, knowing it was only putting off the inevitable, knowing it could only make things so much worse, but unable and unwilling to turn the invitation down. ‘I'll come.'

It wasn't all bad news. Two more weeks she got to live the life she'd have chosen if given the choice. Fourteen more days and nights she'd get to spend with Maverick as his mistress, being wined and dined like someone special, like she mattered.

As a child she'd counted down the days before Christmas with relish, marking each and every one off the calendar with boundless excitement and anticipation. This year she scratched the days off the calendar of her heart with dread, as the relentless passage of time brought her closer and closer to the end.

When Morgan finally returned home the day before Christmas Eve, it was hard not to be excited even though she knew it was the final stroke and that there could be no more delays. Tomorrow after the Royalty Cove lunch she would tell Maverick. It wouldn't be much of a Christmas for him—for
either
of them—but at least his grandmother would have her Christmas lunch and at last the air would be cleared.

Morgan was wheeled off the plane in a wheelchair and the sisters greeted each other with tears, one with relief to be home, one with what she was about to lose, but both with love for each other.

Watching the pain twist her twin's face as she manoeuvred her battle-scarred leg into and out of the car was too much for Tegan.

‘I thought you were supposed to be better,' Tegan said as she carried her sister's baggage into the apartment. ‘I know the office doesn't reopen until New Year's, but do you think you'll be fit enough to resume work by then?'

Morgan smiled wanly, looking weary from the flight, as she gave up the battle with crutches and flopped onto the living room sofa. ‘I was going to talk to you about that.'

A new wave of panic skittered down Tegan's spine. ‘What do you mean? I thought once you came back you were going to take over your job again.'

‘I was hoping to. But the doctors tell me I'll need physio, and weeks of it, before I'm back to normal. I thought about asking you if you could keep filling in…'

Tegan's heart lurched to a standstill before pounding back into life.

‘But I thought I'd asked you to do enough. Maybe it's just time I resigned.'

‘But you love this job!'

‘And you've done your utmost to keep it going for me, I know. But I can't expect you to do any more. I know how you feel about Maverick. You've been desperate to get away.'

Guilt wrapped around Tegan like a shroud. ‘Morgan, it's not quite like that. In fact, I guess when it all comes down to it, he's not really that bad.'

Morgan homed in on the comment like a heat-seeking missile. ‘He's not that bad? Are we talking about the same Maverick you couldn't wait for me to rescue you from?'

Tegan stalled. ‘Oh God, Morgan, I've made such a mess of this! You're going to hate me when you find out what I've done.'

‘Why, what have you done? Blown the expense account? Forgotten to pick up Maverick's dry cleaning? What does it matter?'

Tegan just shook her head. ‘It's worse,' she said. ‘Much worse.'

Morgan wrapped an arm around her sister's back. ‘You really are worried. What is it that's happened?'

Tegan dragged in a breath and looked at her sister uncertainly. ‘Just that I think I've fallen in love with your boss.'

‘With Maverick!' It wasn't really a question. It was a shocked response that told her twin just how unlikely she found the prospect. ‘That's impossible.
He's
impossible. How could you?'

Tegan chewed on her cheek. ‘I don't know. It just happened. He got under my skin so much, and I irritated the hell out of him, and it just happened. And then we started the affair.'

‘What?' Morgan recoiled like she'd just received a shotgun blast. ‘You're having an affair—with
my
boss?'

‘Guilty,' Tegan said, dropping her head into her hands. ‘I didn't want to.'

‘Don't tell me,' Morgan interrupted with disbelief. ‘It
just happened
.'

‘I'm sorry. Why do you think I wanted you to come back so soon? I knew I was in trouble. You were only supposed to have been gone a week.'

‘I know, but an affair! With my boss! What were you thinking?'

I was thinking I'd take all I could get, while I could get it.

‘It wasn't that simple. Maverick and I rubbed each other up the wrong way. And it was like you said—he was pushy and demanding and unreasonable as anything. But he was also as sexy as hell.'

‘Fine, but he doesn't date PAs! I told you that.'

‘Yeah. Maybe you should have reminded him of that. I sure tried. Look, I'm sorry, sis. I didn't want it to come to this. He said whatever it was between us would burn out, and I thought it would be dead and buried before you came back. But it hasn't, and now I'm set to have a big Christmassy lunch tomorrow with him and his grandmother, and the whole Royalty Cove team. And now you're back and he still thinks I'm you, and I've been lying to everyone and I don't even know who I am any more…'

Tears welled up in her eyes, tears fat with hopelessness and anticipated loss and future disasters. Morgan leant over and pulled her into her arms, resting her chin against her twin sister's head.

‘Hey, Tiggy, don't worry. I'm sure it will work out somehow. And maybe falling in love and having an affair with him wasn't a great idea, but you just have to look on the bright side.'

‘You mean there's a bright side?'

‘Yeah,' Morgan assured her, giving her sister a squeeze. ‘It could always be worse, silly. At least you're not pregnant.'

Tegan stiffened in the hug and her sister slowly released her enough to look into her eyes, only to do a double take at what she saw there. ‘Oh, Tiggy,' she said, pulling her into her arms again. ‘Please, no, not that.'

Christmas Eve bloomed bright and beautiful, with a bank of fat white clouds hovering over the hinterland that gave promise of a sticky summer's day to follow.

The sisters sat quietly subdued, Morgan enjoying her first latte for weeks, Tegan sipping gingerly on a cup of weak tea after the eggs and toast her sister had just about had to force feed her. Her stomach had just started to feel unsettled in the mornings, but how much was due to the baby and how much was sheer dread with what lay before her she wasn't sure.

‘I think I should come with you,' Morgan said suddenly. ‘You can't face Maverick on your own. Not like this.'

‘No. I made this mess. I need to sort it out.'

‘But I got you involved in the first place. You were only doing me a favour.'

‘Hey, you didn't force me to have an affair with your boss, and you sure as hell didn't get me pregnant.'

‘But, Tiggy—'

She held up a hand. ‘Thanks, but every time I've tried to tell him the truth something has happened, and it's ended up getting more involved. This is something I have to unravel. Besides, you're hardly up to taking on Maverick right now.'

‘He'll want to see me eventually. Probably just to sack me. But I need to talk to him too, if only to apologise for everything.'

Tegan squeezed her sister's hand. ‘I know. But let me be the one to break the news, okay?'

Morgan nodded. ‘You know, maybe it won't be as bad as you think. If he was attracted to you enough to break his mantra never to get involved with his staff, maybe he won't be so upset about a baby.'

‘Nice try, but no. I asked him about Tina—about what she'd done that was so bad. He told me himself—she'd got pregnant and she'd lied to him. I don't think he's going to be too happy about another woman committing the same crimes.'

‘So what's the plan?'

Tegan took their empty cups to the sink. ‘I told Maverick I'd meet him at his house at twelve. I didn't want him coming here.' She glanced over at the wall clock. ‘Which gives me two and a half hours to work up a smile. Do you think I'll make it?' It didn't seem anywhere near enough time, given it felt more like she was heading for the executioner than to a Christmas lunch.

Maverick stashed the shop-wrapped presents on the back seat and eased into the driver's seat, feeling good as he set the powerful Mercedes into action. For the first time in what seemed like for ever he felt good about Christmas. For the first time in years he was actually looking forward to lunch with Nell.