The Magic of Christmas

Lara was still trying to catch her breath. She didn’t appear to notice anything amiss so he just smiled at Chloe. ‘I had a good day, thanks, sweetheart. How about you?’

‘Very good. Lara’s a great cook. We made nuggets together and she’s made you casserole.’

Aggie bounced in his arms. ‘And she’s going to decorate the whole house and Chloe’s bedroom, and, if I help unpack the last of the boxes, can we go and get a huge tree on Sunday?’

Christian’s eyes slid to Lara. Her cheeks were still pink from the dancing, her blonde hair kicked up at the edges and her full mouth was curved in a wide, happy smile.

‘Sorry. Hope I haven’t overstepped the mark,’ she said breathlessly, waving a hand in front of her face in an attempt to cool herself down. ‘You’re working on Saturday so I thought the girls and I could spend the day transforming the house into something Christmassy. But if you’d rather we didn’t…’

‘That sounds like an excellent idea. I have a decorator that I used when we first moved in. I’ll call him. The whole house used to be red.’

‘I loved it,’ Aggie sighed. ‘It was like living inside a fire engine.’

‘How relaxing.’ Lara laughed, exchanging a look of sympathy with Christian. ‘If your decorator is free, that would be great. He could do Chloe’s room and that would leave us free to concentrate on the rest of the house.’

‘Lara made you dinner.’ Aggie jiggled in his arms. ‘Will you read to me now or do you have to go and eat?’

His eyes slid to Lara in a silent question but she shrugged, completely relaxed.

‘Dinner can wait. It’s just a casserole. I didn’t want to make anything elaborate because I didn’t know what time you’d be in or whether you would have eaten. Read to Aggie. It’s much more important. You can eat when she’s asleep. Chloe—why don’t you and I finish that design for your bedroom?’

Christian tried not to remember the number of times that his wife had lost her temper when he’d wanted to relax with the children after a day at work.

But Lara wasn’t his wife, he reminded himself. ‘Have you eaten?’

‘Not yet.’ She pulled the antlers from her head and dropped them onto the sofa. ‘I’ll grab some casserole later. Or make some toast. Whatever.’

‘We’ll put the girls to bed and then eat together.’ Like one big happy family. He almost laughed as he listened to himself, wondering with cynical amusement which of his suggestions sounded more intimate. Eating together or putting his children to bed? He lowered Aggie to the floor, wondering why on earth he’d agreed to Lara’s offer to move in with them. ‘Go and get into your pyjamas, clean your teeth and I’ll come and read to you.’

And then he was going to pour himself a large drink and try not to think about Lara’s legs.

* * *

Lara emptied the bath, cleared up the toys, checked on Chloe, who was reading a book on her bed, and then returned to the kitchen.

She lifted the large casserole dish out of the oven and placed it in the middle of the table, then added warmed plates, baked potatoes and a bowl of broccoli.

She’d considered serving dinner in the formal dining room and had then thought better of it. It didn’t take a genius to know that Christian wasn’t entirely comfortable with the situation so it would be more sensible to eat in the kitchen. It would look less as though she was trying to be romantic.

She was humming to herself and removing a bottle of mineral water from the fridge when Christian strolled into the room.

‘You’re always singing.’

‘Sorry. I like singing.’

His eyes slid to the bottle of water. ‘Given that neither of us are working this evening, I think we can do better than that.’

It was so much easier to resist him when he was dressed in a blue scrub suit, Lara thought desperately, flattening herself against the fridge door as he crossed the room towards her.

He’d showered and changed into jeans and a chunky roll-neck jumper. His hair was still slightly damp but he hadn’t bothered to shave and his jaw was dark with stubble. He looked impossibly sexy and for a distinctly unsettling moment she felt her stomach roll over, as if she were on an extreme ride at a theme park.

She contemplated crawling inside the fridge in order to cool herself down but opted instead for clutching the chilled water against her chest.

Apparently oblivious to the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm her, he reached past her and pulled out a bottle of wine. His arm brushed against hers and the contact was like an electric shock. Lara gritted her teeth and closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them it was to find him looking at her, and the fire blazing from his blue eyes made her realise that she wasn’t the only one who was struggling with the situation.

She waited for him to speak but he said nothing. He just looked at her and awareness exploded between them.

‘Is it me or is it getting hot in here?’ She gave a weak smile. ‘We’d better move before we defrost the fridge. Let’s open that wine and drink it.’