The Mills & Boon Ultimate Christmas Collection - Kate Hardy Mills & Boon e-Book Collections

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I remembered getting letters from Micah and putting them aside to read later, but later had never come; there had always been somewhere to be, someplace to get ready for. “I’m sorry, Micah. I should have made more time. I don’t know what happened to me when I left. It was like I had blinkers on.”

      “Happens to the best of us,” he shrugged. “You can’t live in two worlds at the same time. We understood.”

      “I wish I’d been at their wedding.” How could I have switched off friendships that meant a lot to me? In the early days they’d made efforts to stay in contact but I’d snubbed them, always excusing my behavior as a side effect of my job.

      Stars twinkled overhead as we drove back to the lodge. The closer we got, the more I felt I was returning home, not in the literal sense – obviously the lodge was my actual home – but more in the sense that I was returning to where I was always meant to be. The thought was a comfort.

      “It was a small wedding held at her parents’ farm,” Micah recalled. “They’d been strapped for cash because of his knee surgeries, but Ben insisted on getting married then and there despite their lack of funds. I did wonder at the time if Sherri was happy with such rushed nuptials. Doesn’t every bride want all the bells and whistles?”

      “Not always. I bet it was perfect. Hey, why didn’t you invite Isla tonight?”

      He tutted. “I was going to but then I thought about her sitting to one side not getting the jokes, or the references to our high-school days, and thought I’d rather save her from that.”

      “Yeah, good point.”

      “But she was a little standoffish, so I really don’t know. I’m just going to keep my distance and see…”

      Micah was such a gentle soul he’d never push a point with someone, but surely he could approach her and ask? “Why don’t you talk to her about it?” I wanted to shake them both. I thought after the fire they’d jumped down the rabbit hole together and it would all fall into place.

      He shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”

      “But it is! You adore her.”

      With a long sigh he said, “Let’s see what tomorrow brings.”

       Chapter Twelve

      With just over a week until the party, things were looking grim at Cedarwood. Autumnal rains had made work slower, especially in the garden. Everyone had worked double time, pulling together, and they were bone-weary. The ballroom ceiling was still bare, replacement chandeliers hadn’t arrived – they were lost in transit – and the overall feeling was of hopelessness. We’d got to the point of sheer exhaustion, despite our very best efforts. Instead, I worked on plan B, which was hosting the party in the lobby. It wouldn’t have the grand exit to the deck, which we’d planned to string up with fairy lights, but it was still a beautiful space, and I could decorate it enough to pass muster.

      Gripping my coffee mug tight, I went outside, hoping the view of the mountains would cheer me up, so I could try and rally the troops, and spur them on when they arrived.

      My cellphone buzzed. Amory.

      “And to what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked. Amory would be walking to work, sipping takeaway coffee from Starbucks, newspapers bundled under her arm.

      “Clio, darling. Now don’t be alarmed.”

      “Oh, this sounds ominous.”

      “There’s an article in today’s paper saying Flirty McFlirtison is considering suing you. I’m sure it’s just an attempt to scare you into hiding further in the middle of nowhere to keep you quiet, but I thought you should know.”

      “What? They can’t sue me? What for?” My heart raced so fast I thought my chest would explode. Could she sue me? Take Cedarwood?

      “For damages. For the cost of the wedding and all the accoutrements.”

      “What? You’re kidding!” Amory’s early-morning phone call was enough to send me into a tailspin. I had so much to do at the lodge, and now this disaster to deal with.

      She made soothing noises. “I know, I know, but she’s filed a motion saying there were other costs. Emotional as well as financial. Their honeymoon, for example, and her mental health… there’s doctors involved.”

      I cupped my head and wailed. “So, she is filing the suit against me, or they both are?”

      “It doesn’t say. Maybe you could call the fiancé, and find out? He could probably convince her to drop the charges if he wanted to.”

      Light rain sprinkled. “I don’t have his number. Some stalker I am – allegedly. God…” I ran a hand over my face. “This couldn’t come at a worse time.”

      “I’ve got his number. There’s ways and means, if you know how… well, OK, I just opened up the database with their file, but I’ll text it to you.”

      “What am I supposed to say?”

      “Say you’re sorry, you meant no harm. Mention you’re practically living in the wilderness and they won’t hear a peep out of you. And also say they can sue you but all you own is a rundown old lodge – no, say cabin, in said wilderness. They don’t need to know the grand scale of Cedarwood. And I doubt they’ll check.”

      I let out a half-wail, half-groan. “OK.”

      “Report back.”

      “Will do, love you.”

      “Kisses.”

      My phone pinged with a message containing the groom’s number. Johnny was a ridiculously famous actor. Older now, but still working sporadically, and popular despite his provocative not-so-private life. I’d spoken to him briefly at one of the planning meetings, and then woefully on the wedding night to tell him she’d gone.

      Would he hold a grudge? Why wouldn’t he! Run, I’d told his fiancée, run!

      I dialed, hoping it would go to voicemail and I’d be given a stay of execution. And really, I hadn’t prepared anything to say.

      “Yeah?” A husky male voice answered.

      “Johnny?”

      “Do you know what time it is?” he grunted.

      Celebrities and their beauty sleep! “I do, I’m sorry.”

      “If this is about the fireworks, it wasn’t me.”

      Fireworks? “No, it’s not about that. It’s Clio. Your… wedding planner,” I said, my toes curling.

      “Oh. You.”

      The disdain in his voice was apparent.

      “It’s me. I’m so sorry to have woken you. But you see, this whole… saga, well I wanted to discuss it with you. I know I made a mistake, a huge mistake, but I was working off the information given to me at the time.”

      “You told my fiancée to run. To go marry some other guy!”

      “Well, yes, and I can see how that might come across…”

      “Come across? You can see, can you? I’m a laughing stock!”

      I swallowed a lump in my throat. “I thought… she told me she loved someone else. So the romantic in me, the normal sane person in me, thought fleeing was the only option. You wouldn’t want to have married someone who didn’t love you, surely?”

      “None of them love me. They love the idea of me.”

      I reared back. “And that’s enough?” Alarm bells clanged in my head – I was doing it again, saying things I shouldn’t. But settling for someone who clearly didn’t love you? It was outrageous.

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