Margaret Mayo - Her Husband's Christmas Bargain

She ought to have been strong; she should have said no, but how could she deny her daughter what she so obviously wanted? It would be purgatory, she was sure of that. And there was no way on this earth that he could persuade her to move in permanently.

The next four days were sheer hell. She finished her Christmas shopping, not even entertaining the idea of buying Luigi a gift. Why should she? She truly and deeply resented the fact that he was forcing them to spend the festive period with him.

It looked as though another move might be in the cards because she most definitely didn’t want to live the rest of her life with a man who hadn’t an ounce of love in the whole of his body. It wouldn’t even be fair on her daughter to be thrust into such a situation.

Jenny and her fiancé were flying to Paris for Christmas, another reason why Megan had been looking forward to Christmas alone with her daughter, and on Christmas Eve morning it was chaos as they all got ready at once. Finally Jenny and Jake left but Megan had only a short period of breathing space before the car arrived.

She was expecting a polite but indifferent driver and was annoyed to discover that Luigi himself had come to pick them up. Charlotte had been looking through the window and she gave a hoot of delight, though when Megan let him into the house she became suddenly shy again.

‘Are you ready?’ he asked. He was wearing a suit this morning, an immaculate dark grey with a crisp white shirt and a patterned mustard tie. He was the epitome of the successful businessman, gorgeously handsome to boot, and Megan couldn’t stave off a brief flash of the old feelings that had once filled her with such excitement. Had he taken time off work to fetch them? Would he be shooting straight back? It would be good if that were the case because then she and Charlotte could explore his house on their own.

She couldn’t help being curious as to where he now lived. Had he sold the house in Derbyshire or did he still own that as well? He had always said how much he loved the Peak District with its beautiful countryside and interesting little villages.

‘I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,’ she admitted.

‘So you’re still not happy about spending Christmas with me?’ he asked, his eyes hard and enquiring on hers.

‘No, I’m not.’

‘Perhaps I should take Charlotte on her own? Leave you here to—’

‘Not on your life!’

He gave a faint smile of satisfaction. Not the sort that reached his eyes and made them crinkle at the corners, not the sort that had once made her reach out to him and kiss him soundly. Nothing like that. It was a getting-his-own-way kind of smile.

‘Good, then let’s go. Are these your things?’

There wasn’t much, two small suitcases. One with their clothes and one with the presents she had bought for her daughter, already wrapped and hidden away from her prying eyes. She saw him look at them doubtfully. ‘We’ll be coming back for the rest of your stuff after Christmas, I take it?’

‘We won’t be staying,’ she answered evenly. ‘Didn’t I make myself clear?’

‘Perfectly, but I thought you might have changed your mind.’

‘I never will,’ Megan muttered, keeping her tone low for Charlotte’s sake. She didn’t want her daughter to hear her sniping at her new-found daddy. But Luigi heard the determination in her tone and his mouth compressed grimly.

He picked up the two cases and headed out to the car. They looked ridiculously small in his hands and as he tossed them into the boot Megan wanted to cry out that she had changed her mind. She had the strongest feeling that if she went with Luigi now it would change her life for ever.

MEGAN gasped when she saw Luigi’s house. They’d left the city behind and headed into the Sussex countryside. He had paused at a set of heavy iron security gates to press a remote control and then driven up a winding drive before coming to a halt in front of a mansion that was perched imposingly at the top of a hill. It was a huge grey stone building with massive Ionic columns forming the front portico, and generous wings flanking the main house on either side.

‘This is where you live?’ she asked incredulously. Charlotte was awestruck too, sitting on the edge of her seat and gazing at the building with wide blue eyes.

‘Impressed?’ he asked, a dark eyebrow rising expectantly.

‘It’s not what I imagined,’ Megan admitted, but if he thought she was impressed enough to want to move back in with him he was wide of the mark. ‘And a little bit grand for one man on his own, wouldn’t you say? Unless of course you don’t live here alone?’

Her thoughts immediately turned to his very beautiful PA. Was Serena still with him? Was she a permanent part of his life now? When she had first started working for Luigi he had almost constantly sung her praises. So much so that Megan had begun to get suspicious, especially when his long working hours went on late into the night. He had denied it, of course, but her fears had never gone away and it had been part of the reason she had left him.

‘I’m alone,’ he admitted, much to her relief, because if Serena had been here she would have insisted he take her straight back home. ‘For the moment,’ he added ominously, looking deeply into her troubled eyes.

Megan ignored it and as they approached the house one of the pair of carved oak doors opened and a dark-suited, white-haired man appeared.

‘William, meet my wife, Megan,’ said Luigi with a smile. ‘And Charlotte, my daughter.’

The man inclined his head. ‘Megan, Charlotte,’ he acknowledged gravely. ‘Shall I show them to their rooms, sir?’

‘I’ll do it,’ said Luigi. ‘Tell Cook we’re here and we’d like tea in the drawing room.’

Megan was dumbstruck. This was a rags to riches tale in one giant leap. She’d always known he had excellent entrepreneurial skills, but for him to be able to buy Gerards, as well as a house like this in such a short space of time was beyond her comprehension. How had he done it?

And she couldn’t help wondering what else he had in mind. A top ranking football club? A luxurious yacht? Exotic holiday homes? It seemed as though the world was his oyster these days. Perhaps he even had these things. But she wasn’t disgruntled that she’d missed out because she knew that he would have worked all the hours God gave to get where he was, and that wasn’t the sort of lifestyle she wanted.

She and Charlotte were content in their little house, there was always a sense of satisfaction when she paid her bills and cooked and cleaned and provided a happy, carefree environment for her daughter. She wouldn’t like to live here, not permanently. It wasn’t a home; it was a showpiece.

There wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere in the enormous entrance hall, or the shallow, wide staircase they were now ascending. Nothing was out of place. Urns of flowers spilled their heady perfume into the air, while marble statues stood in alcoves and paintings by old masters adorned the walls.

They followed Luigi through long corridors, finally coming to a halt at a suite of rooms, which she presumed to be in one of the wings. He pushed the door open and Megan walked into a blue carpeted room with a four-poster bed draped in matching blue and two armchairs near the window upholstered in cream damask. The curtains at the tall windows were in a cream and blue fabric. It was all very elegant but not her style and Megan felt a faint shudder run through her.

Luigi appeared to be waiting for her to say something, but when she didn’t he opened an adjoining door, revealing a further bedroom filled with every imaginable toy possible. Charlotte’s eyes widened and she ran inside. ‘Are these for me?’ she asked in wonderment.