His Secret Temptation

Along with adults, many of whom Caroline recognized from the black-and-white gala, tonight’s crowd also included a handful of rambunctious munchkins that ran from room to room, chasing each other through the interconnecting rooms. She had no trouble seeing the three Holcroft children engaged in the same activity. With all the antiques and expensive accessories scattered about, it was a wonder Elizabeth kept her composure. In truth, the Holcroft matriarch watched the antics with a fond smile and the patience of a saint.

Gone was the steel-eyed party planner snapping commands in three directions at once. In her place was the consummate hostess, relaxed, gracious, and artlessly organized. Caroline could only marvel.

“Aren’t they adorable?” Elizabeth said, her eyes on the children as Simon strolled over to kiss his mother on the cheek and wish her a Merry Christmas.

“Adorable?” Simon echoed skeptically. “They’re nothing but a bunch of hooligans.” He snagged one particularly rowdy child by his collar, stopping him from putting a sticky candy cane into a little girl’s cascade of sable ringlets. She had on a festive dress of red velvet and looked ready to spit nails at her tormentor. “They are the most ill-behaved vermin I’ve had the displeasure to share a room with.”

Elizabeth cocked her head. “Well then, you make sure you do better with your own children, won’t you?”

Simon held the sputtering boy, oblivious to his complaints, and stared after his departing mother in blank astonishment. Apparently he hadn’t contemplated himself as a father. Caroline was torn between melancholy and mirth. Never one to dwell on the negative for long, she thought her humor had picked a stellar moment to return.

“Oh, Simon, please let that poor boy go. He’s not going to bother any more little girls tonight, are you?”

The boy glowered at her, but when Simon glowered at him, he shook his head reluctantly and was released. But not before Caroline had plucked the sticky sweet from his hand and told him to go wash.

“Would you like to continue policing our junior party guests or should we search out a glass of wine and some food before it’s all gone?”

Caroline looked up into his bright blue eyes and sighed at the way her pulse took off. “Given the size of this crowd, we may already be too late for the refreshments. Are your mother’s Christmas Eve open houses always this well attended?”

“Invitations to the Holcroft estate are selectively extended during most of the year and my mother is notorious for her redecorating. Thus, on Christmas Eve, the curious arrive in droves to witness what my mother has done.”

“Clever woman, your mother.”

“She does know how to work the angles.”

Simon tucked Caroline’s hand in the crook of his arm as they strolled among the guests, slowly making their way toward the dining room and the food. Simon snagged two glasses of wine from a passing waiter as they went. They found Sarah filling a plate from the overflowing buffet table. She explained that Hannah had found a free chair in the back parlor and wasn’t going to give it up. Simon and Caroline followed Sarah through the throng to where Hannah waited.

“Isn’t this crowd ridiculous?” she complained, looking lovely in a black skirt and red sweater sparking with sequins and beads. “We should have gone to the party at the Chandlers’. At least then we could breathe.”

“We still could,” Sarah said. “I don’t think we’d be missed.”

“Let’s sneak off to midnight Mass,” Hannah suggested. “That way we could sleep late tomorrow.”

“You mean you’re not going to be downstairs at dawn to see what Santa brought you?” Simon teased.

Hannah pushed out her lower lip. “I haven’t done that since I was eight and my big brother told me there’s no such thing as Santa.”

“Simon, you didn’t,” Caroline exclaimed in dismay.

He adopted an injured frown. “Why do you assume it was me? She has two big brothers.”

Hannah laughed. “No, it wasn’t Simon. He was never one to spoil someone’s fun.”

The siblings traded childhood memories, replacing some of Caroline’s blue mood with holiday cheer. By the time Dane joined them, she was wiping away tears after Hannah spun yet another outrageous tale.

“It’s good to see you smiling,” Simon said, dropping onto the couch beside her.

It would be easy to snuggle against him and surrender her resentment over his lies, but he’d hurt her too deeply for her to forgive him based on a few charming smiles. “It’s hard to do anything else with your family around.”

At midnight the party began to show signs of winding down. Hannah and Sarah had given up a half hour earlier and gone to bed. Caroline kept her own yawns locked behind her teeth. She wasn’t ready to face Simon alone in their bedroom. Already this evening she had demonstrated her weakness when in his arms. He had a way of sweeping away her doubts with his charm and kisses. He’d caught her under the mistletoe three times in the last two hours. Each time his lips claimed hers, her defenses suffered another crushing blow.

Around one in the morning, Elizabeth walked the last of her guests to the door and Caroline knew there would be no more delays. She tore a page from Simon’s earlier playbook and decided her course of action.

“Do you think I could borrow the computer in your father’s study to check my email?” she asked Simon as he held out his hand to lead her upstairs. “I just remembered that they promised to let us know how we did on our exams.”

He paused in the hallway. “Sure. But it could wait until morning.”

“It could, but I won’t be able to sleep until I find out how I did.” The excuse sounded weak, but she kept her chin high and her gaze steady on his.