‘That must have been nice for you,’ she said dryly, and Jonathan shot her a mildly reproving look. ‘Sorry,’ she apologised quickly, knowing her response had been left over from her run-in with Quinn. She had no reason to dislike Maxine Harrington.
‘I happen to be a close friend of the family and, as such, I was being invited to spend Christmas with them in the usual way.’
Her surprise was genuine. ‘I had no idea you knew the family that well.’
‘As it happens, the law firm of Ames and Ames have been legal advisers to the Harrington family for several generations. Christmas has become something of a tradition. I could hardly refuse,’ he said apologetically, as if she would think it disloyal of him.
‘No, of course not,’ she concurred readily. ‘I don’t imagine it will be much fun this year.’
‘Grim would be the word I’d choose to describe it. It will be the first holiday without Alexander. Speaking of which, you know that Philip and Stella wanted to contest the will?’
‘No! How could they?’ The suggestion that Alexander had been in less than full control of his faculties made her mad enough to spit nails. ‘What about Maxine?’
Jonathan smiled at her angry tone. She sounded like a she-bear defending her cubs. Alexander would have been pleased to know he had one of his staunchest defenders in the guise of his eldest daughter.
‘She would have none of it. Maxine is a very classy lady. She might resent like hell who she thinks you are, but if Alexander wanted to leave you money she is not about to challenge it. You’d like her.’
Laura let out a puff of air and relaxed again. ‘I want to like them all. I want to know them all. They’re my family, but how can I tell them? I can’t baldly come out with it. For heaven’s sake, the shock could kill her and then where would I be? Everything is such a mess.’
‘I agree, but the time will come when you can tell them.’
Laura shook her head, her eyes filling as they had a habit of doing whenever she thought about Alexander. She was constantly surprised by how much she missed her father, when she’d hardly known him. ‘He was a good man, wasn’t he?’
‘One of the best,’ Jonathan agreed, slipping an arm about her shoulders and giving her a hug.
Laura made a determined effort to chase the blues away. ‘I seem to remember Alexander telling me that the family always spend Christmas at the house in Vermont.’
‘That’s right. We all travel up a day or two before Christmas and stay until New Year,’ Jonathan confirmed.
She sighed. A genuine family gathering. She would have given a lot to be there. As a child she had always longed to be part of a large family, but there had been only herself and her mother. She had thought it might be different this year, but with Alexander gone…She was on her own again.
‘I don’t suppose you’re allowed to bring a guest, are you?’ she asked wistfully, then caught her breath as an audacious idea came to her out of the blue.
‘I could if I wanted,’ he acknowledged cautiously, something in her expression making him distinctly uneasy. ‘Why do you ask?’
‘Dare I?’ Laura asked herself out loud, still lost in thought. ‘Dare you what? Why am I beginning to feel very uneasy?’ Jonathan muttered dryly, and she grimaced.
‘Probably because you’re getting to know me too well,’ she quipped, then, taking the bull by the horns, sent him a beguiling smile. ‘I really do want to meet them, Jonathan,’ she said huskily.
Jonathan suddenly felt like a man on the way to his own execution. ‘What exactly are you suggesting?’
She took a deep breath, then blurted it out. ‘How would you like some friendly company for Christmas?’
He blinked. ‘You’re not serious!’
‘I wouldn’t say a word, honestly,’ she insisted, intent on persuasion. ‘All I want to do is get to know them, and give them a chance to get to know me.”
Jonathan held up his hands to ward her off. ‘Oh, no. No way!’
‘Please!’ she begged. ‘I’ll be good. You’ll never know I’m there!’
He dragged a hand through his hair. ‘It’s not me I’m worried about. The family won’t like it,’ he warned.
She bit her lip. He had a point. Yet she knew she had to do this. ‘They can hardly turn me away if I’m with you,’ she declared, though she wasn’t entirely sure if that was true.
‘True, but. Good Lord, Laura, have you considered everything? It won’t be pleasant for you.’
Laura shrugged that off, warming to the idea more and more. If she could just get them to see she wasn’t some sort of monster, they might be more receptive to the facts she hoped to tell them. Besides, she would be better able to gauge Maxine’s possible reaction. Was it really so much to ask?
‘I know it, but I can take anything they throw at me.’
Jonathan shook his head. ‘I’ve got to be out of my mind,’ he murmured, and the oblique agreement made Laura fling her arms around him.
‘Oh, thank you. You’re a wonderful man.’
‘Don’t overdo it,’ he advised, and shook his head again. ‘I know I’m going to live to regret this.’
‘No, you aren’t. This is the opportunity we’ve been waiting for. When are they expecting you?’
‘Next Wednesday evening,’ he revealed, and tried one last time to dissuade her. ‘Are you sure you’re doing the right thing?’
Laura pressed a hand over her anxiously beating heart. ‘No, but I’m going to do it anyway.’
Realising she was not about to change her mind, Jonathan bowed to the inevitable. ‘I’ll pick you up at your apartment around seven.’
‘You’re not going to tell them I’m coming, are you?’ she asked as the thought struck her, but Jonathan shook his head.
‘I think I’d prefer to surprise them. They might shoot the messenger for bringing bad news,’ he told her dryly, rounding his desk and locking away in a drawer the file he had been reading. ‘Are you ready for supper now?’ Collecting his overcoat from the stand by the door, he draped it over his arm.
‘Won’t our table have gone?’ Laura reminded him, but he grinned.
‘Nope. I remembered what happened the last time I took you to an opening and ordered the table for an hour later. If we hurry we should just about make it,’ he revealed, taking her arm and guiding her from the office.
‘My, what a clever boy you are!’
‘If I was that clever, I wouldn’t be letting you persuade me to set the cat among the pigeons.’
‘I’ma very docile cat,’ Laura murmured sweetly.
‘Hmm. Tell that to the pigeons!’
‘WARM enough?’
Laura sighed and stretched her toes towards the warm air coming from the heater. The car was a luxury model. Jonathan never drove anything but the best.
‘Mmm. It’s sending me to sleep,’ she murmured. It had been a long day, and the traffic leaving the city for the holiday season had made it seem endless. They had left it behind now, though, and progress was quicker.
‘Why