He cleared his throat. “Thank you all for coming. First, I want to wish you all a merry Christmas. And I want to thank the residents of the Stirling because if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be here at this wonderful party. I pride myself on setting business goals and surpassing them, but when it came to planning a holiday party, well, I must say that I dropped the ball. And the residents of the Stirling quite literally came to my rescue. Thank you each and every one of you.”
And then his gaze spotted Alina standing at the back of the room. The breath caught in his throat. He forgot that he was giving a speech. All he could think was Wow! His gaze took in her striking beauty from her golden curls to the figure-hugging sky-blue dress that shimmered like it was covered in
jewels.
Suddenly he didn’t care that she was late or that he’d been worried about what might have happened to her. Right then all he wanted to do was to drink in her beauty. She was magnificent. As his gaze rose, he noticed the small smile pulling at her lips. When his gaze once again met hers, there was amusement in her eyes.
He wanted to go to her, but he suddenly recalled that he was still standing on the stage and people were looking at him expectantly to finish his speech.
He swallowed hard. “Please give a hand to Alina Martin and the wonderful people of the Stirling.”
Graham stepped back from the microphone to lead a rousing round of applause. Cheers rose as the joyous sound of appreciation reverberated throughout the room.
He stepped back to the mic and signaled for everyone to quiet down. “There’s some amazing food in the back. Please help yourself because if you don’t, I might eat it all. No, I will eat it all. It’s so good.” Laughter filled the room. “And make sure you dance. You know, it’ll help make room for more of that delicious food.” There was more laughter. “Again, I hope you all have a very merry Christmas.”
He turned to the band and Mr. Jackson beamed as he nodded, and then with his saxophone in hand, he turned back to his band and signaled for them to start playing “White Christmas.”
As the piano started to play, Graham exited the stage. He made a beeline for the back of the room—for the spot where he last saw Alina—but when he got there, she was gone. But that couldn’t be right. He turned in a circle, his gaze searching the crowd.
And then he spotted her. She was surrounded by a group of his associates—his male associates. Intense discomfort came over him as he watched her smile and chat with the men. It took him a second to identify the feeling. It was jealousy—something he’d never experienced where a woman was concerned. But it was most definitely the green-eyed monster.
“You aren’t just going to stand here and let one of them get the first dance, are you?”
Graham glanced over to find Merryweather standing next to him, dressed in a black suit and white dress shirt. He didn’t look anything like the man that had Graham fixing nonexistent leaks and had used a cane to get around. Tonight, there was no cane and the man looked fit as a fiddle. How was that possible?
Graham turned his attention back to Alina as she laughed at something one of the men had leaned in close to say. Graham’s body tensed.
His instinct was to march over there and sweep Alina away from all of them, but did he have the right to do that? Because when it came down to it, he still had a job to do. And Alina wasn’t going to be happy with what his engineers and inspectors had uncovered about the Stirling.
Merryweather said, “Graham, don’t let tomorrow ruin tonight. Sometimes dreams really do happen.”
“I... I don’t know.” All the while Graham couldn’t take his gaze off Alina.
“She didn’t get all fancied up for those men. You’re the one she talked about on the way over here. You’re the one she wanted to impress.”
“She’s certainly done that.”
“Then why are you standing here talking to me instead of her?”
Merryweather had a good point. Why bother with the possibilities of tomorrow when there was tonight to live?
With that thought in mind, Graham headed for Alina. He bypassed people wanting to speak with him, putting them off until later. And then, at last, he was standing in front of her. His group of associates parted.
“Graham, the party is wonderful.” Alina smiled at him, causing a warm fuzzy feeling in his chest. He was certain there was a name for that feeling, too, but he didn’t want to delve too deeply into his feelings. Right now, he just wanted to live in the moment.
“You are absolutely breathtaking.” He couldn’t take his gaze off her. “But you’re missing one thing.”
“I am?”
He smiled as he withdrew a small velvet box from his pocket. “Here.”
When her gaze zeroed in on the box, her eyes widened. “Graham, what have you done?”
“It’s just a little something that made me think of you.” He held it closer to her. “Go ahead and take it. I promise it won’t bite.”
He just hoped she’d like it. The salesclerk in the jewelry store assured him that any woman would love it. He hoped she was right.
Alina accepted the box and opened it. She gasped as she stared at the necklace. “It’s beautiful.” Then she closed the box and tried to hand it back to him. “I can’t accept this. It’s too extravagant.”