Sophie Pembroke - The Unexpected Holiday Gift

Reunited for Christmas?

When Jacob Foster walks back into Clara’s world, her heart races. She won’t, can’t, allow herself to hope it could lead to something more. But when her soon-to-be ex-husband hires her to create a perfect Christmas for his family, she simply can’t afford to refuse.

Yet Clara has a secret...one she thought Jacob would never be ready to hear. Until she is snowbound with her husband, and their bond is rekindled... Dare she hope that Jacob could be there for her—and their daughter—not just for Christmas, but forever?

‘I remember.’

The heat in Jacob’s voice surprised her after all this time. Did he still feel that connection? The one that had drawn them together that night and seemed never to want to let them go.

She bit her lip. She had to know. ‘Do you? Do you remember how it was? How we were?’

‘I remember everything.’

Clara’s body tightened at his words.

‘I remember how I couldn’t look away from your eyes. They mesmerised me. I remember I was supposed to go home for Christmas the next day, but I couldn’t leave your bed. Couldn’t be apart from you no matter what day it was. I thought I might go insane if I couldn’t touch your skin…’

So he did remember. She’d thought she might have embellished the memory of that connection over the years, but he described it just the way she remembered it feeling. Like an addiction, a tie between them. Something she couldn’t escape and didn’t even want to.

The Unexpected Holiday Gift

Sophie Pembroke

www.millsandboon.co.uk

SOPHIE PEMBROKEhas been reading and writing romance ever since she read her first Mills & Boon romance at university, so getting to write them for a living is a dream come true! Sophie lives in a little Hertfordshire market town in the UK with her scientist husband and her incredibly imaginative six-year-old daughter. She writes stories about friends, family and falling in love—usually while drinking too much tea and eating homemade cakes. She also keeps a blog at www.sophiepembroke.com.

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For Auntie Barbara and Uncle Viv, for so many perfect Christmas days!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text Reunited for Christmas? When Jacob Foster walks back into Clara’s world, her heart races. She won’t, can’t, allow herself to hope it could lead to something more. But when her soon-to-be ex-husband hires her to create a perfect Christmas for his family, she simply can’t afford to refuse. Yet Clara has a secret...one she thought Jacob would never be ready to hear. Until she is snowbound with her husband, and their bond is rekindled... Dare she hope that Jacob could be there for her—and their daughter—not just for Christmas, but forever?

Introduction ‘I remember.’ The heat in Jacob’s voice surprised her after all this time. Did he still feel that connection? The one that had drawn them together that night and seemed never to want to let them go. She bit her lip. She had to know. ‘Do you? Do you remember how it was? How we were?’ ‘I remember everything.’ Clara’s body tightened at his words. ‘I remember how I couldn’t look away from your eyes. They mesmerised me. I remember I was supposed to go home for Christmas the next day, but I couldn’t leave your bed. Couldn’t be apart from you no matter what day it was. I thought I might go insane if I couldn’t touch your skin…’ So he did remember. She’d thought she might have embellished the memory of that connection over the years, but he described it just the way she remembered it feeling. Like an addiction, a tie between them. Something she couldn’t escape and didn’t even want to.

Title Page The Unexpected Holiday Gift Sophie Pembroke www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author SOPHIE PEMBROKE has been reading and writing romance ever since she read her first Mills & Boon romance at university, so getting to write them for a living is a dream come true! Sophie lives in a little Hertfordshire market town in the UK with her scientist husband and her incredibly imaginative six-year-old daughter. She writes stories about friends, family and falling in love—usually while drinking too much tea and eating homemade cakes. She also keeps a blog at www.sophiepembroke.com .

Dedication For Auntie Barbara and Uncle Viv, for so many perfect Christmas days!

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Extract

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

CLARA TUGGED THE candy-striped ribbon just a millimetre farther out, then leaned back to admire the neatly wrapped present with beautifully tied bow. Really, it was a shame to give it away.

‘Are we done?’ Her business partner, Merry, added one last gift to the pile and looked hopefully at Clara. ‘That was definitely the last one, right?’

‘For this client, yes.’ Clara grinned. ‘But I’m fairly sure we’ve got another three Christmas lists to work through before the big day. Not to mention the five decorating projects, three last-minute requests for tickets as presents and two Christmas dinners we need to arrange.’

‘And a partridge in a pear tree,’ Merry grumbled. ‘Whose stupid idea was this business anyway?’

‘Yours,’ Clara reminded her cheerfully. ‘And I know you love it, really.’

Clara hadn’t been sure there was a market for this sort of thing when Merry had first suggested it. Did Londoners really need another concierge and events service? Would people really pay them to organise their lives, buy their gifts, arrange special access and perks, plan their parties and family gatherings, their holidays and so on? Merry had been adamant that they would.

With your magic at making things perfect and my business knowledge, we can’t fail, she’d insisted over a bottle of wine at Clara’s tiny rented flat one evening.

So Perfect London had been born and, four years later, business was booming. Especially at Christmas.

‘I suppose it’s all right,’ Merry said, the smirk she threw Clara’s way showing her real feelings. ‘Pays the bills, anyway.’

And then some. Clara was still amazed at just how successful they’d been. Successful enough that she’d been able to move out of that tiny flat into her own house two years ago. Successful enough that she no longer lay awake at night, panicking about how she would provide for her daughter, Ivy, alone.

Clara stared at the mountain of presents again, then turned her attention to the Christmas tree standing in their shop front office window. Gazing at the star on top, she made a wish. The same wish she’d made every year since Perfect London had taken the city by storm that first Christmas, when media mentions and word of mouth had seen them triple their income in a month and the numbers had held at that level for the following year.