The Christmas Sisters

“Home, so that I can demonstrate more of my talents without getting arrested.” He threw a handful of notes down on the table and she blinked.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m paying for our meal.” He clamped his hand over her wrist and propelled her to the door, dealing with the inevitable comments with a sure smile and a few well-chosen words that made it clear he didn’t give a damn about how many suggestive comments were thrown at him.

Posy stumbled through the door and into the cold. “I think you just overpaid.”

“Do I look as if I care?”

“You look as if you’re in a hurry.”

He tugged her toward him and gave her a quick, scalding kiss on the mouth. “You’re right, I am. Which is the quickest way home?”

She was breathless and as desperate as he was. “I might know a shortcut.”

Posy knew her family considered her to be bold and adventurous, and in some ways that was true, but she’d never done anything reckless with relationships.

That, she thought, was about to change.

This was one adventure she could have right here at home.

8

Hannah

“I bought gifts for your nieces, Miss McBride.” Angie had been told to call her Hannah but was too intimidated to risk it.

Seeing her boss on the phone, she put the bags on the floor of the glass corner office and slunk to the door.

Not that Hannah McBride had ever been rude or aggressive. Far from it. It was more that she was machinelike in her interactions. In a big meeting the day before, Hannah had done a complex calculation in her head while the others in the room were still hunting for calculators and scribbling on notepads. She was so smart she made Angie feel humble. What must it be like to have a brain like that?

The floor-to-ceiling glass that made up two sides of Hannah McBride’s corner office offered an enviable view of Manhattan.

Hannah sat with her back to it.

It seemed to Angie that Hannah had turned her back on a lot of things.

There had been rumors about her and Adam Kirkman, but Angie couldn’t imagine it. She was sure that any man getting too close to Hannah McBride would risk frostbite.

“Angie?” Hannah interrupted her call. “Would you wait a moment, please?”

Hannah saw her assistant freeze and felt a flash of guilt. She knew people found her unapproachable because it had been raised at her last performance review. Fortunately for her, she shone in other aspects of her work. Her outstanding financial contribution, together with the respect of her clients, meant that her job was unlikely to be at risk.

Still, as a naturally competitive person, the feedback niggled and she knew it was something she needed to address. It wasn’t that she was a bully, far from it. It was more that she approached people management in the same way she approached everything else—with an analytical style. She cared very much about the growth and development of her staff, but she wasn’t good at engaging on a personal level.

Adam, she knew, was more touchy-feely.

What was she supposed to do? Hug the staff every morning?

She returned briefly to her call. “I need those numbers by close of business.” She put her phone on the desk and smiled at Angie. “Thank you for buying the girls’ gifts.”

“You’re welcome, Miss McBride—I mean Hannah. It must be hard for you trying to choose the right gift when you don’t have kids. I hope they’re pleased.”

When you don’t have kids—

Seven days late, Hannah thought.

She still hadn’t plucked up the courage to do the test and get a definitive answer. If she carried on like this, she’d have confirmation that she was pregnant when she was pushing in the delivery suite.