‘We were busy,’ he said gruffly, and she looked at him blankly.
‘Busy.’ She cleared her throat. ‘Right.’
‘Not everyone does Christmas, Louisa,’ he said, his tone irritable. ‘It’s just another day of the year.’
‘Well, this year you’re going to be here,’ she said firmly. ‘You’ve got the day off. Josh is working and I need you to carve the turkey. I’m hopeless at carving, remember? I’ve checked the rota and I’ve worked it all out. We’re going to have turkey and presents round the tree and Josh can join us later.’
Mac tried to think of the last time he’d eaten proper turkey at Christmas and gave up. ‘I’m not that wild about turkey—’
‘That’s because you’ve never tasted mine.’ She grinned at him and smacked her lips. ‘It’s not to be missed.’
‘In that case, I’d better not miss it.’
It was just lunch, he told himself. And he didn’t need to be sociable. He could just eat lunch and then disappear to the beach with his surfboard. If Louisa wanted a crowded, noisy Christmas full of people then she could have one. It didn’t mean he had to be part of it.
‘There’s something else I wanted to ask you...’ She kept her tone casual and he felt himself tense in readiness.
‘Now what?’ His tone was dry. ‘You’ve invited the whole of the English rugby team along with everyone they’ve ever met in their lives?’
‘Am I that bad?’ She laughed and shook her head. ‘No, I haven’t invited anyone else. But I want to invite you—to the hospital Christmas party the day after tomorrow. Will you go?’ She blushed prettily and brushed a strand of dark hair out of her eyes, ‘Well what I mean really is, will you go with me? You’re going to say no, I know you are.’
He opened his mouth to say exactly that. ‘Yes, all right. Why not?’
There were a thousand reasons why he shouldn’t, but looking into her shining dark eyes he suddenly couldn’t remember any of them.
‘You’ll go? Truly? Fab!’ She jumped up, sending more pine needles flying, clearly as astonished as he was by his decision. ‘I’m so pleased.’
Mac shook his head.
He must be losing all good sense. ‘It will be cold sausage rolls and limp mince pies,’ he warned gruffly. ‘You could cook better yourself.’
Damn. He shouldn’t have said yes. He didn’t want her getting the wrong idea.
She clasped her hands together. ‘I don’t care about the food, Mac, I just want to dance.’ A huge smile spread across her face. ‘And you’re going to dance with me.’
Something stirred inside him and he squashed it down ruthlessly.
‘It isn’t a date, Louisa.’
‘Of course it’s a date.’ She winked at him. ‘You’d better get some serious rest, Dr Sullivan,’ she drawled, her eyes twinkling, ‘otherwise I’m likely to exhaust you.’
Mac bit his lip and refrained from pointing out that there were other ways that she could exhaust him that he’d find far more satisfying.
And then his eyes drifted to the tree and he remembered that all she wanted was a family.
And that was the one thing he wasn’t going to be able to give her.
* * *
Feeling daring, Louisa applied a touch of glitter to her hair and cheeks, put the finishing touches to her make-up and tried to control the churning of her stomach. There was nothing to be excited about. It wasn’t even a proper date, she reasoned. All right, so they were going to the party together, but they weren’t really together.
But at least he’d agreed to go with her so that was a start.
And his house was decorated and she’d ordered the turkey.
Louisa smiled at her reflection in the mirror. This year, like it or not, Mac Sullivan was going to do Christmas. And she was going to make sure that he enjoyed himself. Maybe then he’d stop shutting everyone out.
Maybe he’d even talk about his wife.