Under the Boss’s Mistletoe

with wet lips and clammy hands. As it was, well, she might as well enjoy the perks, mightn’t she?

So she was in high good humour when she bounced into the office the next morning. She had never been engaged before. OK, she wasn’t really engaged, and she probably ought to be feeling more cross about having been effectively blackmailed into it, but at least it meant that she didn’t have any choice in the matter. If anyone-for example her super-achieving family-ever asked her how she came to do such a crazy thing, she could hold up her hands and say, ‘Hey, I was forced into it.’

Or perhaps it would be better to put a more positive spin on it. She didn’t want to look like a victim. She could narrow her eyes, look serious and explain that she was someone who was prepared to do anything-anything!-to get the job done.

‘Well, I hope you know what you’re doing,’ said Joss doubtfully when Cassie tried this line on her. Joss, like Tina, had to know the truth. ‘This Jake Trevelyan is a tough character. It was bad enough negotiating the terms of the contract with him!

‘Don’t get me wrong,’ she said as Cassie’s face fell. ‘I’m delighted about the contract. But I’d hate to think you got hurt trying to save Avalon. I just think you should be careful about getting too involved with someone like that.’

‘I’ll be fine,’ said Cassie buoyantly. ‘Anyway, I’m not involved with Jake,’ she said, firmly pushing the memory of last night’s kiss away. ‘Pretending to be engaged is simply a way to promote Portrevick Hall as a wedding venue. I’m just doing my job.’

She was still in a breezy mood when she rang Jake at his office later that morning.

‘Hi!’ she said when his PA put her through. ‘It’s me. Your brand-new fiancee,’ she added, just in case he needed his memory jogging.

‘Hello,’ said Jake. He sounded cool and businesslike, and it was hard to believe that it was only a matter of hours since his lips had been warm and sure against hers.

‘I think you mean “hello, darling”, don’t you?’ Cassie prompted. ‘We’re engaged, remember?’

Jake sighed. ‘Hello, darling,’ he said ironically.

‘OK, the darling is good, but you might want to work on your tone,’ said Cassie, enjoying herself. ‘You know? A bit lower, a bit warmer…a bit more like you’re counting the seconds until you can see me again!’

‘Darling,’ Jake repeated obediently, and this time his voice was deep and warm and held a hint of a smile. Cassie’s heart skipped just a little, even though she knew he was just pretending.

‘Very good,’ she approved.

‘It’s not that it’s not wonderful to hear from you,’ he said, reverting to his usual sardonic tone. ‘But I’ve got a meeting in five minutes.’

‘I won’t keep you,’ she promised. ‘I just thought I’d tell you that I’ve spoken to Wedding Belles and broken the news that I’m the bride-to-be. I made up some story about being too shy to admit it before. I’m not sure if they believed me, but they’re not asking too many questions, which is a relief.’

‘Presumably they don’t really care as long as they get a decent story.’

‘Yes, that’s right.’ Cassie could feel his impatience to get off the phone. Just as well they weren’t really engaged, or she would have been hurt. ‘Anyway, we’re committed now.’

‘So what happens next?’ asked Jake without much interest. Cassie imagined him scrolling through his emails while he listened to her with half an ear.

But she could do businesslike, too. ‘I was just coming to that,’ she said. ‘It turns out that Wedding Belles is hosting a wedding fair at some fancy hotel this weekend. The opening party is on Friday night, and they want us to go. Apparently they’re inviting all the couples who are going to be featured in the magazine next year, and we’re getting a special preview of the show.’

She could practically see Jake grimacing at the idea. ‘Do we have to go?’

‘Yes, we do,’ said Cassie briskly. ‘This is the first part of the story. The photographer will be there, and we’ll meet the editor, so we’ll have to be on our best behaviour.

‘Besides,’ she said, ‘the theme of the fair is Winter Wonderland Weddings, so we’ll be able to pick up some ideas. Joss and I always go to the shows, but I’ve never been to the preview or the party before. It should be great.’

‘What goes on at a wedding show?’ Jake asked, not at all sure that he was going to like the answer.

‘Oh, they’re fantastic,’ Cassie assured him. ‘There’s everything you could ever need to plan a wedding under one roof. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking for a chocolate fountain or a tiara: you’ll find someone who specialises in providing just what you want for every stage of getting married, from the engagement party to the honeymoon. Oh, and there’s always a fashion show too. We don’t want to miss that.’

‘A fashion show,’ Jake echoed dryly. ‘Fabulous!’

‘It’ll be fun,’ Cassie told him.

Jake thought that it sounded as much fun as sticking pins in his eyes, but he was the one who had insisted that they go ahead with the article, so he could hardly quibble now.

Since the hotel was almost exactly halfway between their offices, they agreed to meet in the lobby at six-thirty on the Friday.

‘OK, I’d better go,’ said Cassie in the same brisk tone. About to switch off the phone, she paused. ‘Oh, nearly forgot,’ she said, and cooed, ‘Love you!’ in an exaggeratedly saccharine voice before spoiling the effect by laughing.

Jake put the phone down and sat looking at it for a long moment, her gurgling laugh echoing in his ears. Then he smiled unwillingly, shook his head, and pushed back his chair to go to his meeting, where everyone would be sane and sensible and dressed in shades of grey.

Jake looked at his watch as Cassie came tumbling into the hotel’s ornate lobby through the revolving door. ‘You’re late,’ he said.

‘I know, I know, I’m sorry,’ she panted, struggling out of her coat. ‘I spent all afternoon trying to track down a carriage for one of our clients. It wouldn’t be a problem, except that she wants four horses-all white, naturally-and the carriage has to be purple to fit the colour theme. Oh, and did I mention she wants it for next weekend? I finally found someone who was prepared to paint the carriage, but by the time we’d negotiated how much it would all cost it was nearly six…’

Still talking, she managed to get rid of her coat and checked it into the cloakroom, which gave Jake a chance to get his breathing back under control. It had got ridiculously muddled up at the sight of Cassie spilling through the doors, her cheeks pink, her eyes bright and brown, and the wild curls even more tousled than usual. She was like a crisp autumn breeze, swirling into the stultifyingly grand lobby, freshening the air and sharpening his senses. For a moment there Jake had forgotten whether he was supposed to be breathing in or breathing out.

How had he come up with a crazy idea like pretending to be engaged to her? Jake had spent the day wondering if Giovanni’s wine had gone to his head. It wasn’t the plan that bothered him, it was Cassie. It was that aura of turbulence that always seemed to be whirling around her, that sense that everything might tip into chaos at any moment. Jake, whose life now was built on rigorous order and control, found it deeply unsettling.

If only she could be more like Natasha, who was always calm, always neat, always predictable.

Except when she was running off with Rupert, of course.

The memory of Rupert was enough to make Jake’s jaw tighten with resolve. He might not like muddle and chaos, but he disliked Rupert more. He mustn’t lose his nerve about the plan now, he told himself. It made perfect sense. Pretending to be engaged to Cassie would deprive Rupert of his triumph and achieve his most pressing objective, which was to get the Hall up and running. If a little pretence was required for the purposes of promotion, well, Jake could handle that.

It wasn’t as if anyone in London would ever know anything about it, either, he reassured himself. No; everything would be fine.

It had been fine until that damned kiss.

Natasha’s defection had been a blow to his pride, true, but he’d had a plan. Life had been back under control. And then Cassie had leant forward in the candlelight, that dimple deepening enticingly as she smiled. Darling, she had called him, and then she had kissed him.

The moment her lips had touched his, control had gone out the window. Jake had forgotten everything but warmth, softness and searing, seductive sweetness. He’d forgotten Rupert, forgotten Natasha, forgotten the