LITMIR.BIZ

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‘Hi, Molly,’ she said with a smile as she glanced around Gideon. ‘Crys didn’t actually specify a time when she invited me to come and spend the day with you all.’

      ‘I’m sure you aren’t too early.’ Gideon opened the door wider for the doctor to enter. ‘Especially as you seem to have arrived bearing gifts,’ he added lightly, as the bag that Diana carried chinked tellingly.

      ‘I couldn’t possibly have accepted Crys’s invitation without contributing in some way,’ Diana Chisholm assured them, and laughed huskily. ‘Besides, one of my partners has offered to be on call today—he has two aged aunts and his mother-in-law staying with him over the holidays,’ she added pointedly. ‘Which means I have an unexpected day off,’ she said happily.

      ‘That’s good,’ Molly told her sincerely, having a genuine liking for the pretty doctor. ‘And I’m sure that if you do happen to have too much wine then Crys and Sam will be only too happy for you to stay here tonight,’ she added.

      ‘Oh, I doubt that I shall do that, but thanks,’ Diana answered lightly. ‘I noticed on my drive over here that there seem to be an awful lot of police cars in the area—no doubt on the lookout for drunk drivers going home from the pub.’ She grimaced.

      ‘Actually, you’ve arrived just in time to add your weight to the argument for Molly not to return to London today,’ Gideon told the other woman lightly, and the gleam of challenge in his eyes was for Molly alone as he glanced across at her.

      It was a glance Molly deliberately didn’t meet as she turned to smile at Diana.

      ‘Oh, no, you can’t possibly,’ Diana told Molly concernedly. ‘I moved here from London three years ago.’ She shook her head. ‘It has to be the loneliest place on earth at Christmas-time if you aren’t with family.’

      Any place was lonely if you weren’t with people you loved—the man you loved. Molly already knew that. But being here with Gideon, when her love wasn’t returned, was painful, too.

      ‘Do stay, Molly,’ Diana encouraged warmly. ‘I did so want to have a chat with you. I’m an avid fan of the Bailey series, you know.’

      Molly smiled. ‘In that case it’s David you should be talking to, not me.’

      Diana looked nonplussed. ‘Oh, but he mentioned that you’re going to be in the new series with him?’

      ‘Did he, indeed?’ Molly laughed exasperatedly. ‘David!’ She turned to open the library door—she had seen David disappear in there an hour or so earlier. He was still there, sitting in the window, gazing out at the snow-covered landscape, a book lying untouched in his lap. ‘And they say women gossip!’ she teased as she preceded Diana and Gideon into the room.

      David looked slightly surprised to see Diana, putting the book down on the table to slowly stand up. ‘What did I do now?’ He gave a quizzical smile, that smile not quite reaching the sadness of his eyes.

      ‘Never mind,’ Molly dismissed lightly, moving to link her arm with his, instinctively sensing that he had spent enough time alone with obviously unhappy thoughts. ‘As there’s no sun today, I have no idea whether or not it’s over the yard-arm yet—but let’s all go and join Crys and Sam in the kitchen and open up a bottle of wine while we help prepare lunch.’

      ‘Sounds like a good idea to me.’ David nodded. ‘Lead on, MacDuff,’ he invited lightly.

      Somewhere between opening the red wine Diana had brought with her, pouring it into glasses, and helping Crys prepare the vegetables for lunch, Molly’s decision to leave was forgotten by all of them.

      Deliberately so by the others, Molly was sure. But with Diana’s arrival it seemed churlish to pursue her plans to leave. Besides, Crys had prepared her delicious trout dish for lunch—a culinary experience that no one should miss.

      ‘It was a pity you didn’t get back the other evening to join us in going to church.’ Gideon spoke lightly to Diana as the six of them sat around the dining-table, eating their main course.

      Diana, sitting to his left, grimaced slightly. ‘I don’t know what it is, but babies always decide they want to be born on Christmas Day. This one also decided it couldn’t wait for the ambulance to arrive and take its mother to hospital, and I ended up delivering it myself, just after midnight. A healthy little boy, I’m glad to say, and mother and baby nicely tucked up in bed shortly after one o’clock. A home birth has to be the most wonderful experience,’ she added softly.

      Molly gave Gideon a sharp glance, sure that he had deliberately mentioned Christmas Eve in an effort to see whether or not it had been Diana’s car in the driveway that night. From what the doctor had just told them, it obviously hadn’t.

      But if that had been Gideon’s intention Molly could see he certainly wasn’t going to share that knowledge with her—unless she was very much mistaken, once again he was deliberately avoiding meeting her gaze.

      In fact, he had been noticeably aloof towards her during the whole meal as she’d sat across the table from him, while at the same time warmly considerate to Diana Chisholm.

      Encouraged by Crys, she had to acknowledge. Her friend, having taken Molly’s uninterest in Gideon literally, now appeared to be deliberately encouraging a friendship between Gideon and Diana.

      Jealousy wasn’t an emotion that Molly had known for a long time, and never as she felt it now—aware of every word spoken between Gideon and Diana, every laugh they shared.

      ‘What are you up to now?’ she demanded of Crys as she followed her friend into the kitchen to help carry in the desserts.

      ‘Sorry?’ Crys looked at her blankly.

      Deliberately so, Molly was sure, when she saw the mischievous twinkle in her friend’s laughing grey eyes. ‘Don’t play the innocent with me.’ She grimaced wryly. ‘Gideon and Diana?’ she said pointedly as Crys continued to look at her blandly.

      ‘Oh, that.’ Crys nodded slowly.

      ‘Yes—that!’ Molly snapped tersely.

      ‘Aren’t you being a little dog in the manger, Molly?’ Crys came back knowingly.

      Molly could feel the blush in her cheeks at her friend’s correct assessment of the situation. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Crys,’ she bit out shortly.

      Crys gave a husky laugh. ‘Is that what I’m being?’ She raised blond brows as she moved briskly about the kitchen, preparing the whisky cream to go with oranges that had been marinading in liquor overnight.

      Molly sighed heavily. ‘You know that you are. Gideon is—Crys, you simply can’t be this blind—you must know it’s you Gideon loves!’ she burst out forcefully.

      Crys came to an abrupt halt, giving Molly a stunned stare. ‘Now who’s being ridiculous?’ she finally said incredulously. ‘Of course Gideon isn’t in love with me.’ She shook her head. ‘He’s James’s brother,’ she added dismissively.

      ‘So?’ Molly returned exasperatedly. She couldn’t believe her friend was unaware of how Gideon felt about her.

      ‘So he’s James’s brother!’ Crys repeated impatiently, her smile rueful. ‘Really, Molly, I don’t know how you came to such a conclusion, but I can assure you—’

      ‘Gideon himself,’ Molly cut in frustratedly.

      ‘What?’ Crys gasped incredulously.

      ‘From watching Gideon whenever he’s with you,’ Molly said tersely. ‘He adores you, Crys—’

      ‘I hope that he does,’ Crys cut in. ‘Because I adore him, too. After James died, and then my parents six months later, Gideon was the only family I had left. But that’s all it is, Molly,’ she added frowningly. ‘All it’s ever been.’

      She shook her head with certainty. ‘Not on Gideon’s side.’

      ‘Yes,

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