A Marriage Proposal For Christmas. Carole Mortimer

he most certainly was! Cally found her pulse was beating rather faster than it should be, that blush having stayed in her cheeks as she became fully aware of his mere physical presence—mere? There was nothing ‘mere’ about this man!

      Everything about him was overpowering, from the way he looked, to the way his height and size just dominated the room. And the people in it!

      Well, they would see about that, Cally decided, giving herself a mental shake. Okay, so the man was good-looking and rich as Croesus, but that didn’t mean that every woman he met had to fall down worshipping at his feet. Even if, that little voice taunted inside her again, her real anger towards him was based on the fact that he had never followed up on that dinner invitation…!

      ‘Hmm, I should have guessed.’ Noel Carlton gave Pam a smile warm enough to melt the flesh from her bones.

      Something her elder sister welcomed, Cally realized disgustedly as she saw Pam return that smile and look at him from beneath lowered lashes.

      Really, her sister had been happily married to Brian for the last eight years, had two little boys of school age, and yet here Pam was blushing like a schoolgirl herself just because Noel Carlton had smiled at her!

      ‘I can’t imagine why you should,’ Cally dismissed. ‘And while I appreciate that you went to some trouble to find me, I really have no intention of continuing our earlier conversation here.’

      ‘That’s very good,’ he mocked, turning to smile at Pam once again. ‘Your sister seems to be—the more emotional one of the two of you, shall we say? Has she always been that way?’ he enquired.

      ‘Always,’ Palm confirmed, grinning at Cally’s obvious discomfort at being discussed in this way. Her sister had patently decided it was the least Cally deserved after not telling her that she had actually met this man earlier this morning.

      But there was a perfectly good reason why she hadn’t told Pam about that meeting. In fact, there were several reasons. Firstly, losing her temper was never something she was particularly proud of. Secondly, even as she had been losing her temper with Noel Carlton she had found herself once more attracted to him. Thirdly, she had been able to tell by the warmth in his gaze that he returned the attraction…

      ‘Hmm,’ Noel Carlton murmured now appreciatively, at the same time giving Cally a look that it was impossible to see as anything else but a totally male assessment, taking in the rich redness of her long hair, the wide green eyes, her heart-shaped face dominated by those freckles, her determinedly raised chin, her slenderness in the black business suit, the long length of her legs.

      Really, Cally thought crossly, did this man ever switch off his playboy mode?

      ‘Could you just say what you want to say, Mr Carlton, and then leave?’ she encouraged impatiently.

      ‘Of course. I’m sure we’re all busy people.’

      ‘Nice of you to realize that,’ she drawled.

      ‘Cally,’ Pam began warningly.

      ‘Oh, don’t be concerned, Pam,’ she assured her sister lightly. ‘Mr Carlton is perfectly well aware of my opinion of him!’

      ‘Now, let me see…’ Noel Carlton paused for dramatic effect. ‘“A rich, overindulged, totally selfish, egotistical idiot” was the phrase you used earlier, I believe. Did I miss anything out?’ he asked, eyes openly laughing at her now.

      ‘You know that you didn’t!’ Her cheeks were burning with indignation at the realisation that she had obviously amused him. And something else. It was that ‘something else’ that caused her to look away from him in some confusion.

      She simply couldn’t still find this man attractive! Oh, of course he was good-looking, but as far as she was concerned, after inviting her out and then not even bothering to call her, he had nothing else to recommend him, and she had no intention of being taken in by looks alone. That had already happened in her life once, and look what a disaster that had turned out to be…!

      ‘Actually—’ he glanced at the name on the badge attached to the lapel of her jacket ‘—Mrs Turner—’

      ‘Miss,’ Cally corrected. ‘Miss Turner,’ she enlarged almost defensively as he looked at her enquiringly, at the same time waiting for some cutting comment from him. One of the things she had thrown at him this morning in their heated exchange—well, to be honest, hers had been heated, Noel Carlton had looked as if not too much made him exert himself at that time of the morning!—had been that he had woken not only her up with the arrival and departure of that helicopter but her young daughter too. It wasn’t true, of course. Lissa had still been fast asleep, but it had sounded good at the time.

      His brows rose slightly before he spoke again, ‘Miss Turner,’ he acknowledged with an inclination of his head. ‘Well, I hate to disappoint you, Miss Turner, but I’m afraid my being here today has absolutely nothing to do with you, and everything to do with the unfortunate predicament I find myself in.’

      Cally blinked, staring at him in disbelief. Was he seriously expecting her to believe his coming to her workplace was just a coincidence?

      ‘What predicament would that be, Mr Carlton?’ Pam was the one to ask. ‘I did detect a certain element of desperation in the telephone messages you left earlier,’ she added sympathetically.

      ‘Desperation!’ He gave a huff of grim laughter. ‘I’m beginning to wish I could just scrap Christmas altogether.’

      ‘Bah, humbug,’ Cally murmured tauntingly.

      ‘Just call me Ebenezer,’ Noel Carlton conceded. ‘Not that I have anything against the present giving, or the decorations, or the fact that we get in more food and drink than we will ever be able to consume in two days—’

      ‘Then what do you object to?’ Cally queried with a puzzled smile. ‘You seem to have got Christmas more or less covered there!’

      ‘That’s the problem—I haven’t.’ He sighed heavily. ‘I don’t object to any of it—I just haven’t done any of it!’ His voice started to rise in agitation. ‘My parents and my two siblings are due to arrive from the States in two days’ time, and I haven’t done a damned thing towards providing them with the English Christmas they’re all so looking forward to!’

      ‘Ah,’ Cally breathed as understanding slowly began to dawn. ‘And you thought Celebrations may be able to do it for you?’

      After all, it was what she and Pam did; arranged parties and weddings, and even Christmas, for people who were too busy, or just too disorganized, to be able to manage it for themselves, organizing decorations, food, drink, staff if they were needed—in fact anything a client needed to make the celebration a success.

      The two sisters had started out quite small five years ago, working from Pam’s home, as a way of them both earning some money, with the added bonus that they could arrange their jobs around the demands of their young children. During that five years they had built up a solid reputation, but unfortunately only locally, with other parents from school, or recommendation from them by word of mouth. And so they had discussed it with Pam’s husband, and decided that, although it would be a struggle financially for a while, the only way for them to make a real success of the business—to eventually make money!—was to enlarge the business by moving into premises in town.

      Something they had done only six months ago…

      Cally just hadn’t thought that Noel Carlton would be one of those disorganized people they were called in to help.

      She smiled. ‘Well, I’m really sorry about this, Mr Carlton.’ the brightness of her tone telling him that she wasn’t sorry at all ‘.but I’m afraid that we’re fully booked this week—’

      ‘Actually, we’re not,’ Pam admitted softly.

      Cally turned sharply to her sister. ‘What do you mean, we’re not?’

      Her