She had never felt so happy, so very much alive, and even the last-minute Christmas shoppers couldn’t put her in a bad mood the next day as they pushed and shoved her about.
She had done her own shopping weeks before, had bought Logan an expensive aftershave set, but a prospective husband warranted something a little more personal. She found a beautiful pair of cufflinks, paying double for the engraving of Logan’s initials, knowing that with the Christmas rush the man didn’t really have the time to do them. They looked beautiful in their brown velvet box, and she only hoped Logan would like them.
‘You’re looking very pleased with yourself,’ Mike remarked when she got back from her successful lunch-hour.
She wished she could tell him the real reason for her-ecstatic happiness, but she understood and respected Logan’s wish that his mother be the first to be told their news. She would have plenty of time after Christmas to tell all her own friends the happy news.
‘It’s Christmas,’ she excused.
He grimaced. ‘I suppose that means you want to go home early.’
The idea hadn’t even occurred to her. Although it would be nice, there were still a few little presents she would like to get Logan, stocking-fillers. ‘I hadn’t thought about it…’ She looked at Mike hopefully.
‘But now that I’ve mentioned it…’ he said dryly.
‘Well . .’
‘Okay,’ he laughed. ‘Tidy your desk and you can go. Oh, and call your boy-friend before you leave. It sounded urgent.’
Her eyes widened. ‘Logan called?’
‘About half an hour ago,’ he nodded. ‘See, I didn’t forget this time.’
‘Thanks, Mike,’ she grinned, and went to her own desk to put the call through to Logan. Audrey Harris put her straight through to his office. She had met the other girl a couple of times when she had met Logan at his office if he was working late, and from the way she spoke about Logan it was obvious the infatuation was continuing. Callie had teased Logan about it only last night, claiming that perhaps it would stop when he was a married man. Logan had scowled, saying the stupid girl would probably just find him more intriguing. Stupid was the last thing Callie would have called Audrey Harris; the black-haired blue-eyed beauty was very intelligent, and made no secret of her envy of Callie.
‘Hello, darling,’ Logan interrupted her wandering-thoughts. ‘Good news—my mother gets back this evening.’
‘That’s wonderful!’ And indeed it was, it meant she wouldn’t have to keep her engagement to Logan a secret much longer.
She spared a thought for the poor Spencer family. What a shock they were going to get when they knew she was to marry Logan, that if Donald hadn’t taken her to that party she would never have met him. How furious they would be if they knew Donald was responsible for losing the chance to get their hands on her shares. Poor Donald would probably have to leave the country!
‘I wanted to meet you for lunch,’ Logan continued. ‘But your employer said you’d already left.’
‘Last-minute Christmas shopping,’ she smiled to herself, sure that he was going to like the cufflinks.
‘My mother wants you to join us for the Christmas holiday.’
‘You told her about me?’ Callie gasped.
‘No,’ he chuckled. ‘Much to her chagrin. She’s bursting with curiosity, and all I would tell her was that I wanted her to meet a friend of mine.’
‘Oh, Logan,’ she chided, ‘your poor mother!’
‘She’ll be overjoyed when I tell her the friend is to be my wife,’ he said with satisfaction. ‘Telling her over the telephone isn’t what I had in mind at all. I have to go and meet her at the airport. Do you want to come along?’
‘What time?’
‘Seven-thirty.’
‘I can’t,’ she refused regretfully. ‘Bill is calling round this evening, and he said it would be between seven and eight.’
‘I see,’ he seemed to think for a moment. ‘Well, never mind,’ he dismissed. ‘It’s better if you meet her tomorrow anyway. She’ll probably be tired after her flight.’
‘I’ll see you tomorrow, then?’
‘You’ll see me tonight,’ he told her firmly. ‘After I’ve dropped my mother off I’ll be back in London to see you.’
‘You don’t have to—’