* * *
Louisa stared at her plate and suddenly realised that she wasn’t hungry. Her insides were too churned up to eat.
Why had Mac come home?
And what had he meant by that comment about carving the turkey from now on?
Nothing, she told herself firmly. He meant nothing. And she wasn’t going to fall into the trap of imagining a fondness that wasn’t there.
She glanced out of the window.
Beyond the conservatory windows the garden was white from a new fall of snow and beyond that the sea stretched, gunmetal grey, into the distance.
Next week she’d be back in London.
Back to her anonymous life in an anonymous city.
The thought depressed her beyond belief.
‘Louisa...’ Alice’s voice came from the far end of the table. ‘You haven’t pulled your cracker, dear.’
Louisa gave a determined smile. She had to join in. She didn’t want to spoil anyone else’s Christmas Day by being a misery. She glanced around her. ‘I can’t find my cracker—that’s weird. I’m sure I put one out for everyone.’
‘It’s here.’ Mac lounged next to her, his dark gaze intent on her face. He was holding her cracker.
Louisa took the cracker and forced a smile. ‘All right—who is going to pull this one with me. Poppy?’
‘Not Poppy.’ Mac’s voice was deep and his eyes held hers. ‘Me.’
She hid her surprise. He wanted to pull a cracker with her? He really was getting into the Christmas spirit.
‘All right but I ought to warn you that I hate the bang.’ She curled her fingers around the cracker and instinctively closed her eyes. Then she pulled.
There was a bang and a metallic clatter as something fell onto her side plate.
Everyone around the table fell silent and Louisa opened her eyes and glanced around her. ‘What’s the matter with you lot? Have you—?’ She looked down at her plate and gave a gasp.
A beautiful diamond ring lay on her plate, sparkling like the decorations on the Christmas tree.
She stared at in stunned silence.
In disbelief.
Hannah gave a gasp and Alice gave a sigh. ‘It’s amazing, the quality of crackers these days. For a moment I thought that ring was real.’
Louisa reached out and touched the ring hesitantly, as if it might disappear at any time. A huge diamond twinkled and glinted and she stared down at it in fascination.
What did it mean? She didn’t dare hope...
‘Are you going to look at me, Louisa?’ Mac’s voice was rough and gentle at the same time, and suddenly she couldn’t breathe properly.
‘Mac...’ She knew she shouldn’t hope and yet she couldn’t stop herself. And she couldn’t look at him in case he saw that hope and killed it.
‘I’m sorry I wasn’t here to carve the turkey,’ he said softly, taking her shaking hand in his and holding it firmly, ‘but next year I will be and for every year after that unless I’m required at the hospital. But if that happens, we’ll cook our turkey on Boxing Day instead.’
She lifted her eyes to his, oblivious to the fact that they had an audience. ‘What are you saying?’
He smiled and picked up the ring, sliding it onto her finger. ‘I’m saying that you’re the best Christmas present that my brother has ever given me, and I intend to keep you. I’m saying that I love you.’ His voice was husky and there was a smile in his eyes. ‘I think I’ve probably loved you since the moment you fell through my toilet window, but I was too blind to see it.’