The Yuletide Engagement & A Yuletide Seduction Read Online Free PDF Page A

flutter, her knees feel weak, her insides as if they were turning to jelly!
    â€œEllie is feeling a little—tense this evening, Patrick,” Toby excused her lightly, picking up his jacket from the back of the chair before walking over to the door. “Have a good evening. Want me to wait up for you, Ellie?” he added mischievously, dark brows raised teasingly.
    â€œNo, thank you!” She shot him a reproving look as he ducked out of the doorway, grinning widely as he raised a hand in farewell before disappearing into the darkness.
    â€œWe aren’t going to be late back this evening, are we, Ellie?” Patrick looked down at her mockingly. “Only I’m usually in bed by ten-thirty.”
    Ellie would hazard a guess that the only reason this man would be in bed by ten-thirty at night would be because he wasn’t there alone!
    â€œYou’re late,” she told him sharply, more flustered that she had just had such a thought about Patrick’s nocturnal habits than she actually was by his tardiness.
    â€œOnly a few minutes,” he dismissed unconcernedly. “I stopped along the way to buy you this.”
    â€œThis” was a corsage, a single red rose, newly in bud, made even more beautiful by the melted snowflakes clinging to the dewy petals.
    Ellie blinked hard before looking up at Patrick, hastily looking down again as he returned her gaze with slightly challenging eyes. Bringing her a rose, red or otherwise, was not very businesslike. And they both knew it. But then Patrick had warned her three days ago that he intended doing this his way…
    â€œThank you,” she accepted huskily, taking the rose and the pin he held out to her.
    â€œWould you like me to—?”
    â€œNo! No, thank you.” She tried to refuse his offer of help less abruptly, at the same time giving him a sceptical glance. “I can manage.” And to prove it she attached the rose to her dress at the first try.
    â€œI thought you might,” he murmured ruefully. “I suppose we should be on our way, then.”
    â€œI suppose we should,” she echoed dryly, inwardly chiding herself for the fact that she was a little disappointed he hadn’t mentioned her new dress, or anything else about her appearance.
    Not that she had mentioned how gorgeous he looked either; it simply wasn’t in keeping, she accepted, with their arrangement.
    â€œWhat a pity,” Patrick murmured as he watched her pull on her long black winter coat. “You look absolutely stunning in that dress; it’s a shame to hide it beneath that coat,” he explained as Ellie looked up at him questioningly.
    â€œThank you.” She felt an inner glow now rather than the outer warmth of the coat.
    â€œHmm.” Patrick nodded as they went out to the car, opening the door for her to get in. “Gareth can just eat his heart out,” he added with satisfaction.
    â€œThat’s what Toby said!” She laughed to cover her flushed pleasure at his compliment.
    â€œAnd, as we both know, Toby wouldn’t tell you a lie,” he reminded her teasingly.
    No, Toby wouldn’t tell her a lie—at least, not a major one—but she had a feeling this man was more than capable of practising the subtle art of subterfuge if he thought the occasion warranted it. There was a steely edge to Patrick McGrath, a ruthlessness that obviously made him such a success in business.
    But Ellie dismissed both Patrick’s compliments and thoughts of that steely edge as they neared the restaurant where all the other Delacorte, Delacorte and Delacorte staff would already be gathered. No doubt all believing, with the lateness of the hour, that she had decided not to attend after all.
    â€œEverything is going to be just fine, Ellie.” Patrick reached out in the warm confines of the car and gave her restless hands a reassuring squeeze before returning his own hand to the steering wheel of his