Her Christmas Fantasy & The Winter Bride Read Online Free PDF

did.
    In the hallway the grandfather clock chimed the hour. In a few minutes the Hanfords’ supper guests would be arriving.
    Henry had already explained to her that his family hadlived in the area for several generations and that they had a large extended family, most of whom would be at the supper party, along with a handful of his parents’ friends.
    Lisa was slightly apprehensive, aware that she would be very much on show, which was one of the reasons why she had chosen to wear the cream trouser suit.
    Henry, however, hadn’t been any more approving of her outfit than his mother, telling her severely that he thought that a skirt would have been more appropriate than trousers.
    Lisa had no doubt that Oliver Davenport would have been both highly amused and contemptuous of her failure to achieve the desired effect with her acquired plumage.
    Oliver Davenport. Now what on earth was she doing thinking about such a disagreeable subject, such a contentious person, when by rights she ought to be concentrating on the evening ahead of her?
    â€˜Ah, Lisa, there you are!’ she heard Henry exclaiming. ‘Everyone will be arriving soon, and Mother likes us all to be in the hall to welcome them when they do.
    â€˜I see you didn’t change after all,’ he added, frowning at her.
    â€˜An Armani suit is a perfectly acceptable outfit to wear for a supper party, Henry,’ Lisa pointed out mildly, and couldn’t help adding a touch more robustly, ‘And, to be honest, I think I would have felt rather cold in a skirt. Your parents—’
    â€˜Mother doesn’t think an overheated house is healthy,’ Henry interrupted her quickly—so quickly that Lisa suspected that she wasn’t the first person to comment on the chilliness of his parents’ house.
    â€˜I expect I’m feeling the cold because we’re so much further north here,’ she offered diplomatically as she followed him into the hallway.
    Cars could be heard pulling up outside, their doors opening and closing.
    â€˜That’s good!’ Henry exclaimed. ‘Mother likes everyone to be on time.’
    Mother would, Lisa thought rebelliously, but wisely she kept the words to herself.
    Henry’s aunt and her family were the first to arrive. A smaller, quieter edition of her elder sister, she was, nevertheless, far warmer in her manner towards Lisa than Henry’s mother had been, and Lisa didn’t miss the looks exchanged by her three teenage children as they were subjected to Mary Hanford’s critical inspection.
    Fifteen minutes later the hallway was virtually full, and Lisa was beginning to lose track of just who everyone was. The doorbell rang again and Henry went to answer it. As Lisa turned to look at the newcomers her heart suddenly stood still and then gave a single shocked bound followed by a flurry of too fast, disbelieving, nervous beats.
    Oliver Davenport! What on earth was he doing here? He couldn’t have followed her here to pursue his demand for her to return Emma’s clothes, could he?
    At the thought of what Henry’s mother was likely to say if Oliver Davenport caused the same kind of scene here in public as he had staged in the privacy of her own flat, Lisa closed her eyes in helpless dismay, and then heard Henry saying tensely to her, ‘Lisa, I’d like to introduce you to one of my parents’ neighbours. Oliver—’
    â€˜Lisa and I already know one another.’
    Lisa’s eyes widened in bemused incomprehension.
    Oliver Davenport was a neighbour of Henry’s parents! And what did he mean by implying that they knew one another…by saying her name in that grossly deceptive, softly sensual way, which seemed to imply that he…that she…?
    â€˜You do? You never said anything about knowing Oliver to me, Lisa,’ Henry said almost hectoringly.
    But before Lisa could make any attempt to defend herselfor explain, Oliver Davenport was