‘BUT YOU CAN’T possibly spend Christmas on your own!’ Poppy said. ‘Rafe, darling, will you tell your impossibly stubborn brother he’s got to be with us? He won’t listen to me.’ Her bottom lip quivered as tears shimmered in her eyes. ‘I can’t bear the thought of anyone spending Christmas all alone.’
‘It’s nothing to get upset about,’ Remy said, feeling like a heel for triggering Poppy’s meltdown. ‘I just don’t feel like socialising, that’s all.’
Rafe put his arm around Poppy and drew her close. ‘Poppy’s feeling a bit emotional just now, aren’t you, ma petite?’
‘I think we should tell him,’ Poppy said with a little sniff.
‘Tell me what?’ Remy said, looking between the two of them.
‘We’re having a baby,’ Rafe said with a proud smile. ‘We found out a few weeks ago but didn’t want to overshadow Raoul and Lily’s wedding. We were going to wait until they got back from their honeymoon to announce it at Christmas.’
Remy’s smile pulled on the tight ache in his chest that had been there since he had set Angelique free. ‘Congratulations. I’m happy for you. That’s great news.’ He even managed a short laugh. ‘How about that? I’m going to be an uncle.’
‘Will you please come to us for Christmas?’ Poppy pleaded. ‘I know you don’t want to be anywhere near your grandfather just now, but we’re supposed to be a family. It won’t be the same without you there.’
It won’t be the same without Angelique there.
Remy thought of the cosy family scene Poppy was so keen to orchestrate: wonderful cooking smells and warm fires in every room. A fresh pine-scented Christmas tree decorated with colourful bells and tinsel with thoughtfully chosen and artfully wrapped presents for everyone beneath it. His brothers and their wives would be talking non-stop about brides and honeymoons and babies. The photos from Raoul and Lily’s wedding—where Angelique’s absence in them would cause him even more pain—would be pored over and he would sit there being the odd one out—along with his grandfather, of course.
He’d rather be on his own than suffer that.
‘Sorry, but I have other plans.’
‘I wonder what Angelique has planned,’ Poppy said as she handed back Rafe’s handkerchief. ‘Maybe I’ll invite her. Do you think she’d come now that you’re not going to be there?’
Remy frowned. ‘Why would you invite her?’
‘Why shouldn’t I invite her?’ Poppy gave him a haughty look. ‘I loved her the minute I met her. So did Lily.’
‘You spent all of five minutes with her!’
‘Maybe, but it was enough to know she’s a lovely person.’
‘I never said she wasn’t.’ Remy caught his brother’s look. ‘Lately, I mean.’
‘Did you know she’s cancelled the bridal wear contract?’ Rafe said. ‘It will cost her a fortune to get out of. One of the designers is threatening to sue.’
Remy felt his stomach drop. ‘Where did you hear that?’
‘Social media,’ Rafe said. ‘Where else?’
Angelique stood back and inspected the tree she had set up in the sitting room of Tarrantloch. The scent of pine filled the air with a pleasantly sharp, clean tang. It brought back wonderful memories of Christmas with her grandparents all those years ago. She had even found in the attic the decorations they had used back then—miraculously overlooked by the ruthlessly efficient removal men—including the angel she had loved so much as a child. The angel was looking a little the worse for wear with her yellowed robes and moth-eaten wings but Angelique didn’t have the heart to replace her.
The festive season was the worst time to be alone. She had spent far too many of them in hotel rooms or with people she didn’t particularly know or like to do it again this year.
Poppy had invited her to spend it with her and Rafe in Oxfordshire, with Lily, Raoul and Vittorio, but she’d politely declined, even when Poppy had assured her Remy wasn’t going to be there. Angelique hadn’t asked where he would be spending Christmas or who he’d be spending it with.
She didn’t want to know.
The sound of helicopter blades outside gave her a little start. Robert Mappleton wasn’t due to arrive until tomorrow, on Christmas Eve. She had invited him because she’d found out he had spent every Christmas alone since his wife had died.
Angelique peered out of the window, but it wasn’t Robert who got out of the helicopter. Her heart banged against her chest as Remy came through the icy wind towards the house. She dusted off the tinsel sparkles clinging to her yoga pants before opening the front door. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I want to talk to you.’
She folded her arms. ‘So talk.’
‘Aren’t you going to invite me in?’
She put her chin up. ‘I’m expecting company.’
He flinched as if she’d just struck him. ‘Who?’
Angelique saw his throat move up and down. His eyes looked tired. He needed a shave more than usual. ‘Robert Mappleton.’
His expression turned to stone. Unreadable stone. ‘I guess I should’ve guessed that.’
Angelique unfolded her arms. ‘Why aren’t you spending Christmas with your family?’
He gave her a brooding look. ‘I don’t trust myself in the same room as my grandfather. Every time I see him I want to punch him.’
‘I told my father I would punch him if he came anywhere near me.’
Remy stood looking at her for a beat of silence. ‘So...I guess I should leave you to it...’ He raked a hand through his windblown hair. He was too late. He’d left it too late. His gamble hadn’t paid off. She had moved on with her life. Robert Mappleton was far too old for her but she was probably searching for a father figure, given hers was so appalling.
He was too late.
‘Why are you here?’ Angelique asked.
Remy was sick of all the game playing, the pretence and subterfuge. He decided to take one last gamble. His pride was on the table but it was a small price to pay.
It was the price he was prepared to pay.
‘I wanted to tell you I love you.’
Her eyelids flickered. ‘You...love me?’
Remy gave her a self-deprecating look. ‘You looked shocked.’
‘But you never said a word... You sent me away.’ She narrowed her gaze at him, her cheeks firing up with red-hot anger. ‘How could you do that to me?’
Remy took umbrage at her cutting tone. ‘I thought that’s what you wanted. For God’s sake, I asked you straight out what you wanted. You said you only wanted Tarrantloch.’
‘I was pretending!’ Angelique said. ‘How could you think I would want a big old, draughty castle instead of love?’
Now it was his turn to look shocked. ‘You want love?’
Angelique felt tears prickling at the back of her throat. ‘I want love and marriage and...and a baby.’
Remy blinked. ‘You want a baby?’
She brushed at her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘I know you’re going to think this is utterly ridiculous, but I was bitterly disappointed when that pregnancy test was negative.’
‘Why?’
‘Because without it I had no reason to stay with you.’
‘But what about your modelling contract?’
‘You just don’t get it, do you?’ Angelique said. ‘You don’t get me at all. I hate being a model. I hate having to look perfect all the time. I only ever got into it because I knew it would annoy my father. I want to design clothes, not parade around in them.’
Remy took her by the shoulders. ‘You want to stay with me? Is that what you’re saying?’
Angelique looked up into his dark brown eyes. ‘I’ve wanted to stay with you since the night you put on The Lion King when I was fifteen and watched it with me.’
Remy’s fingers tightened. He was frightened to let go of her in case this was all a dream. ‘You love me?’
‘Desperately.’
‘Then why the hell didn’t you say so?’ He glared at her. ‘Do you realise the torture you’ve put me through? I could put you over my knee and spank you.’
Angelique gave him a cheeky smile. ‘Is that a promise?’
He clutched her to his chest, almost crushing her in the process. ‘I thought I’d lost you. I thought it was too late. I thought I was too late. When Rafe told me he’d heard a rumour you were trying to get out of your contract I started to think...to hope...it was because you weren’t happy with your life.’ He pulled back to look at her. ‘Tell me I’m not dreaming this.’
She smoothed away the frown between his brows with her fingertip. ‘Do you think we’re always going to fight?’
He captured her finger and kissed its tip. ‘I hope so. It’s so much fun making up.’
Angelique’s eyes sparkled. ‘Do you think Robert Mappleton would mind if we have a slight change of venue for Christmas?’
‘What did you have in mind?’
She toyed with his shirt collar. ‘Well...it sounds like Poppy’s gone to a lot of trouble and it would be really nice to have a proper family Christmas for once. And I really want to see Raoul and Lily’s wedding photos and hear all about their honeymoon.’ She lifted her gaze to his. ‘Would you mind?’
‘For you, mon amour, I would agree to anything. But first I have something to give you.’ He took out a box from his anorak pocket and handed it to her.
Angelique opened the box to find an engagement and wedding ring ensemble that was so exquisitely and yet so simply crafted it took her breath away. She blinked away a sudden rush of tears and looked up into his gaze. ‘It’s perfect! It’s absolutely gorgeous! How did you know I would love this so much?’
He gave her a twinkling smile as he scooped her up into his arms. ‘I took a gamble.’