An Affair To Remember: A Ludlow Hall Christmas (12 page)
Read An Affair To Remember: A Ludlow Hall Christmas Online
Authors: CC MacKenzie
They dropped Marc's mother and sister at Heron's Rest, and then drove back to the cottage.
Marc took her hand, placed it on his thigh as he drove and she was happy to leave it there.
It was a beautiful night.
A clear night.
The sky twinkling with millions of stars and constellations.
As the car slowed, crunching through ice, to park before the cottage, he switched off the engine and turned to her.
"Our families blended well tonight. We're a good fit," he said.
He was right.
Her brothers had been merciless the way they'd teased the lovely Nina. The girl had been pink cheeked by the end of the night, her blue eyes, so like her brother's, dancing as she'd given as good as she got. And Marc's mother had got on with Elena's dad like a house on fire. Christmas was the time for family.
Now Elena turned to him and found Marc's eyes fixed on her face.
"Are we okay?" he wanted to know.
And the fact that he wasn't quite sure of her was a good thing, she decided.
However, Elena was, when she wasn't being stubborn, a fair-minded person, too.
"We're good."
He got out, jogged around the car to open her door.
Hand in hand they walked her up the path to the door of the cottage.
When she stepped into the hall, the scents of pine, Christmas and the wood burner told her she was home. Once their coats were hanging on the coat hooks, they padded into the sitting room and Elena stopped dead.
Someone had placed a real Christmas tree in front of the French windows. The six foot fir was decorated with gold and red baubles and hundreds of fairy lights.
"Like it?" he whispered in her ear.
Elena turned to him grinning from ear to ear.
"Did you do this?"
"It was a team effort. I carried it in and set it up. My mum and Nina did the decorating."
She wandered over to study the fragile glass baubles, some of them had tiny snow men and Santa's inside. They were gorgeous. Then she fell to her knees to check out the presents all beautifully wrapped in gold paper with red velvet ribbon under the tree. And her heart fell, Marc's presents were still at her family home.
She heard him pop a bottle of champagne and turned to him.
Her eyes went wide when she read the label on the bottle.
Nothing but the best, it cost a fortune.
"My presents to you are at home," she said.
With his eyes on hers, Marc strolled around the breakfast bar, placed the drinks on the coffee table, before joining her on the floor. His mouth took hers so fast her head spun. It spun even more when his tongue slipped in to dance with hers.
When he eased back her mouth was tingling, along with another part of her anatomy.
His hand reached out to pick up a small box wrapped in gold with a red velvet bow on the top. He rose and took her with him, towing her to the sofa, where he sat her on his knee.
He handed her the box.
"Open it."
Elena's heart was racing so fast against her ribs she was amazed he couldn't hear it.
Her eyes met his and she read an excitement clouded by anxiety.
Taking her time, she carefully removed the ribbon, placed it on the coffee table and then she peeled off the gold paper, placed it next to the ribbon. The black velvet box was square. Her eyes met his as she pressed the little gold button and the lid popped open. When her eyes saw the diamond, princess cut, set in a slim band of white gold, her eyes swam, even as her heart soared.
She couldn't speak.
Marc cleared his throat.
"Like it?"
She nodded.
"Marry me, Elena? Be a mother to my babies? Be my best friend? Be the love of my life?"
He took the box out of her nerveless fingers, removed the ring and placed it on the third finger of her left hand. It fit perfectly. She was blinking rapidly, trying to stop the flood of stupid tears pouring down her face. He caught her hands in his, brought them to his lips and kissed her fingers one by one. And all the while his eyes never left hers.
"Yes, I'll marry you. Have your babies. Be your best friend. I love you, so much, Marc."
They sealed the deal with a kiss.
*****
The afternoon of Christmas day found the Kennedy clan and their friends and the Jones family all sitting down at a vast table in the dining kitchen of Heron's Rest.
There was a lot of laughter, fun, good natured teasing of the women by the men as everyone tucked in to enough food to feed an army.
Elena dropped into a chair next to Marc who grabbed her to plant a hot kiss on the mouth.
"For the love of God, would you two stop with the lip-locks," Liam moaned.
"I think it's lovely," Nina said, digging a sharp elbow into Liam's ribs.
Liam pretended the elbow dig hurt.
Marc watched the by-ply between his sister and Elena's brother.
His eyes narrowed.
"I'm not sure Nina's old enough to handle your brother. How old is he anyway?" he muttered to Elena who was watching the way Liam whispered in Nina's ear, the words making the girl blush to the roots of her hair.
She patted Marc's cheek, twinkled into his eyes and gave him a smile a great white would be proud of.
"He's twenty-nine. Worry not. He's all talk."
Elena turned her attention on her brother, gave him a cheery grin.
"Marc's worried you'll lead Nina astray, Liam. I told him he's got nothing worry about. I told him about your no sex rule," she yelled to be heard over the noise.
The whole table went quiet as Daniel Kennedy looked at Liam and frowned.
"Rule?"
By Liam's look of utter confusion, it appeared he didn't know what Elena was talking about.
Excellent.
"Yeah, the promise he made to Jesus."
The Kennedy boys were regarding Liam's burning face with interest.
A pack of wolves were always quick to sense weakness in another.
"Elena," Liam said in a warning growl.
Her smile grew wider as she held his eyes and ignored the threat.
"What promise?" Adam wanted to know.
"The promise of celibacy," Elena said.
The whole table erupted in howls of derision as Liam sat back in his chair and folded his arms. He was not a happy bunny. But Elena wasn't finished, not by a long shot. She held up her hand for silence.
"Until marriage. Isn't that right Liam? Weren't you the one who told good old Tom that I had made a promise to Jesus to keep myself pure until I married?"
Her brothers now howled with laughter as Mary and Nina stared at Liam as if he'd grown two horns and a forked tail.
The way Liam scowled at her, if looks could kill, Elena would be six feet under by now.
Ahh, Karma, Karma, you are such a bitch.
At her side, Marc choked on a Brussels' sprout and Joe helpfully banged his back.
"Liam?" Daniel Kennedy eyed his son. "Have you been sticking your nose into your sister's affairs... again?"
"When did this happen?" Adam wiped streaming eyes with his napkin.
"The night I had dinner at Ludlow Hall with Tom. The night Tom dumped me because of my 'no sex' rule. You might imagine my surprise, since I'd never heard of it."
Nina Jones now turned to give Liam big eyes.
"Really? You did that to your sister?"
Now Liam glared at Nina as if she was the enemy.
"I was only protecting her. Keeping her safe."
Nina turned her laughing gaze on Elena.
"How old are you again?"
"Twenty-six."
Nina sat back and stared at Liam for a couple of beats.
Liam wriggled in his seat.
"Seriously?" Nina said. "You do realise you have control issues?"
Liam turned to Marc.
"Help me out here. I bet you vet Nina's boyfriends, too?"
Marc shrugged.
"Nope. I trust her to use her common sense." Marc winked at his sister. "However, you might have done Elena a better favour by warning her of the dangers of After Shock."
Liam shook his head.
"Nah, Elena wouldn't touch the stuff, she's not got the head for it."
"You're telling me," Marc muttered, ignoring Elena's death stare.
Now Joe entered the fray as he grinned down the table at his baby sister.
"You did not drink After Shock. When did this happen?"
"The night we got together," Marc said, oblivious to a fiancée who kicked him under the table. "That was after the crazy guy who'd escaped from the psychiatric hospital and exposed himself to Elena in the restaurant. We had to restrain him. Then Tom dumped her. And then she decided to drown her sorrows with flaming After Shocks. It was a night to remember."
Elena realised there was a lot more to this relationship thing that met the eye. She'd need to have a little chat to her beloved about what happens at Ludlow Hall, stays at Ludlow Hall.
Nina just shook her head and gazed at Elena with something like admiration.
"Wow, never a dull a moment with you, is there?"
Elena topped up Nina's wine.
"You've got that right." Then she studied Nina's lovely face, the intelligence in her blue eyes. And the germ of an idea entered Elena's mind. "You're doing a communications and marketing degree?"
Nina nodded.
"I'm taking a sabbatical until mum's feeling better. Why?"
Elena took a sip of wine, watching Nina over the rim of the glass.
"How do you fancy doing a bit of work experience at Ludlow Hall? I've an opening in my department. Pay's good and it'll give you credits for your degree. What do you say?"
Nina's eyes flicked to her brother.
Marc nodded, turned to look at Elena. "Good thinking, and thank you."
"If you're absolutely certain you want me. I'd love to do it," Nina said.
Elena lifted up her glass and dinged it with a teaspoon, asking for order and silence.
"Merry Christmas!"
In response everyone yelled,
"MERRY CHRISTMAS!"
THE END
Actually, it's not The End. It's just the beginning of a whole new off-shoot series to my Ludlow Hall series called Ludlow Nights. For more information and the first part of the story, HIS RULES, free, coming at the end of December 2014, please
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Want to read where it all began? Reckless Nights In Rome is the stormy tale of how Nico and Bronte got together. It's the story that kicked off the Ludlow Hall series and it’s normally available as a perma FREE. Grab it now!
From my family to your family, MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Christine
Available Now by CC MacKenzie
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