CHRISTMAS MORNING AT the lodge was always chaos, but Isla didn’t mind.
She sat on the couch next to Orion, while their twins, Ava and Molly, squealed with delight as they opened their presents.
Orion had their new son in the crook of his arm, rocking him absently as he talked to Luke, who had joined them for Christmas this year.
It had taken Orion at least a few months to get in contact with Luke, but after Isla had fallen pregnant with the twins, Orion had finally taken that step and emailed him. Isla had been worried, desperately hoping that Luke would in fact want to get in contact and afraid that for all her confidence, he wouldn’t.
Yet she needn’t have worried. Luke was ecstatic to meet his father and the two had hit it off immediately, getting on like a house on fire. The relationship they’d built together over the past few years had healed the wound in Orion’s heart, as had the birth of his children.
It had healed Isla too.
David would never be a father to her, but after she’d returned from Iceland with Orion, she’d realised she didn’t want him to be. She had the acceptance and love she’d craved from her husband, and she didn’t need it from him or from the board of Kendricks’.
Certainly she didn’t need it after Orion bought Kendricks’ and Isla became CEO. Orion had decided he was done with corporate raiding and wanted to try growing a company instead of taking it apart, and so he’d become her CFO instead, the two of them deciding to channel much of Kendricks’ profits into charitable enterprises. Luke had even offered to design some special Christmas ornaments they could use as fundraising items.
Molly was kneeling in a sea of wrapping paper and demanding Luke’s help with building the plastic brick spaceship that he’d given her for Christmas, and when he got off the couch to help her, Isla glanced up at her husband. Only to find him looking back, his wolf-gold eyes gleaming.
‘You look happy, Snow White,’ he said, the special smile he saved just for her playing around his mouth.
‘Yes,’ she said simply. ‘I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.’
Orion’s smile deepened into something so hot it could have melted all the ice in Iceland. ‘That sounds like a challenge to me.’
Then he set about proving that, while she might be the happiest she’d ever been in that moment, there could be moments when she was even happier.
And as it turned out he was right.
If you got lost in the passion of His Innocent Unwrapped in Iceland then you’re sure to love these other Jackie Ashenden stories!
Stolen for My Spanish Scandal
The Maid the Greek Married
Wed for Their Royal Heir
Her Vow to Be His Desert Queen
Pregnant with Her Royal Boss’s Baby
Available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from The Convenient Cosentino Wife by Jane Porter.