Mills & Boon Christmas Delights Collection. Rebecca Winters

flicked my glance up to meet his for a moment.

      ‘Admittedly friends that don’t always agree but that’s OK too.’ He gave that twitch of a smile I’d seen the first day when I’d called him out for being an arse. ‘But I’d hoped we’d got to a point where you could at least have told me you’d split up with your boyfriend. I would have made an effort to try and say the right thing. No guarantee I would have said it but I would have tried.’

      ‘I couldn’t,’ I said, softly.

      His brow creased. ‘Am I really that bad?’

      I shook my head and automatically moved my hand. He caught it and held it.

      ‘What then?’ his voice was soft, and when I looked up his face was creased with concern, the green eyes that entranced me held my gaze, demanding an answer.

      ‘Because I thought we…might be able to be friends too. But I knew that once you knew this about me…you wouldn’t want anything to do with me.’ I let my gaze drop. ‘Even though you are the only client who has driven me to distraction, made me lose my temper, and self-control, for some reason, I didn’t want you thinking badly of me.’

      ‘And why would I be thinking badly of you?’

      ‘You know why.’

      ‘Because he was married?’

      I closed my eyes and turned my head, bile rising again just at the thought of it all.

      ‘A fact you had no idea of.’

      I shook my head.

      ‘So in what complicated little scenario would that make me think the worst of you?’

      Calum’s words bounced off the walls of my mind.

      ‘He told me that I must have had some inkling, some idea that everything wasn’t…as it should be.’

      ‘Did you?’ Michael’s tone wasn’t accusatory.

      ‘No.’ Finally I looked at him. ‘I stupidly just swallowed every lie he told me.’

      Michael studied me for a moment, before his fingers reached out to tuck a wayward piece of hair back behind my ear.

      ‘Katie, just to be clear, I do not think badly of you. Him? Well, let’s just say I was right when I said you deserved better.’

      ‘I just felt the whole thing might be a little close to home for you, and I wouldn’t have blamed you for feeling…something towards me.’

      ‘I do feel something towards you, Katie…and don’t look so worried.’ His gentle laugh relaxed his face and body, and it was hard not to respond in kind. And I might have done, if I hadn’t suddenly felt so tired. Knowing that Michael didn’t hate me or think I was some sort of destroyer of families had released a knot of tension I’d been carrying since that night. Like I’d said, I hadn’t even known why his opinion of me mattered so much. What other people thought of me wasn’t usually high on my priority list. Unless I cared about them.

      ‘You look exhausted.’ Michael gently tipped me forward enough to whip out the extra pillow he’d used to prop me up to eat. ‘Why don’t you get some rest? We can talk some more later.’

      I made a half-hearted effort to nod, my eyelids already closing.

      ‘You’re not alone any more Katie.’ The deep lilting voice drifted into my dream as I felt a large, gentle hand softly stroke the hair from my face.

      Some time later, my eyes still closed, I became vaguely aware of the sound of snoring at exactly the same time as realising that there was someone else in the room. As, in theory, I was the only one asleep it led me to conclude two things: that the noise was emanating from me and that I wasn’t alone to hear it. These things all declared themselves in my brain at roughly the same time, culminating in me waking up, sitting bolt upright and announcing that ‘I wasn’t snoring’. Even though clearly I had been.

      The figure in the room moved. Michael. He was folded into the nearby chair reading, one long leg dangling over the arm, a lamp beside him providing enough illumination without keeping me awake. Unfortunately. He leant forward, swinging his leg down and over Pilot who was sprawled out on the floor in front of the chair.

      ‘You know, it’s not a big deal. Women worry too much about that sort of thing.’

      I must have looked even more horrified than I felt. Although, admittedly, that might have been hard.

      Michael began laughing. ‘Relax. It wasn’t you.’ I realised then that I could still hear the snoring. Michael pointed at the dog. ‘It’s him. You and the rescue centre conveniently forgot to tell me he snores like a hippo with a head cold.’

      Having flopped back down, I now rolled onto my side to look at the dog.

      ‘I can’t say I ever noticed it before. Maybe it’s just when he goes into a deeper sleep, and he wasn’t relaxed enough in the kennels to do that. It’s not unusual.’

      ‘The snoring?’ Michael grinned. ‘It might not be unusual, but it’s loud.’

      ‘It’s not that bad. We can’t all be perfect.’ I reached down and stroked Pilot’s ear.

      ‘That’s true. It did at least drown your snoring out, so there’s that.’

      My hand stilled and I shifted my eyes to him. He was rubbish at keeping a straight face and it was written all over his beautiful features.

      ‘You’re not supposed to be mean to the afflicted.’

      ‘I know. I’m sorry. Couldn’t resist.’

      ‘But you could give it a try Mikey,’ Janey said, entering the room and flicking his ear as she passed him.

      ‘Ow!’ He frowned, but it did nothing to cover the laughter dancing in his eyes.

      ‘How are you feeling sweetheart? Apart from being irritated by this lummox.’ She thumbed at Michael who mumbled something like ‘charming’ before bending down to stroke the dog. Pilot groaned, stretched, opened one eye briefly and then went back to snoring.

      Janey placed the thermometer on me again.

      ‘That’s good. It’s not back to normal yet but it is lower.’

      ‘Does that mean I can go home?’ I asked. The truth was, it wasn’t the thought of sitting alone in my flat still feeling decidedly rough that held appeal for me. It was that I desperately wanted a shower. Having apparently sweated out most of the bug I’d picked up, I now felt decidedly icky.

      ‘Nope. But you can have a shower or a bath if that’s what you’re thinking.’

      Oh God. I ponged! I surreptitiously tried to give a sniff but Janey caught my eye. ‘I just thought you might feel better for it. That’s all. Don’t go getting all wobbly in there though.’

      ‘I promise.’

      ‘I can give you a hand and make sure if you like. For safety reasons only. Obviously.’ Michael winked at me as Janey turned to leave.

      She rolled her eyes at me, ignoring him. ‘You know where everything is. There’s a towel, toothbrush and some clean jammies waiting in there for you.’

      ‘Thanks Janey.’ I took her hand and reached up for a hug, my eyes unexpectedly, and inexplicably, filling with tears. Janey wiped a rogue one away as she stood.

      ‘You’re very welcome.’ Her smile was soft and said so much more than her words. ‘Right,’ she said. ‘We’ll leave you to it.’ She looked at Michael meaningfully. He got the hint and I could see he was about to wake the dog too.

      ‘Pilot can stay. I mean, if you don’t mind. It seems a shame to wake him. Unless you’re leaving, of course.’ I loved the feeling of having the dog lying there contentedly, keeping me company. And I knew it