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‘Doesn’t he?’ For a moment, Jake’s expression was thoughtful. Then he smiled. ‘Hang in there, babe. Everything is going to be fine.’
She rolled her eyes, touched by his comment but lacking his optimism. ‘It’s sweet of you to say so, but how can everything possibly be fine, you great dope?’
He treated her to the smile that had women lusting after him in droves. ‘Because this is Christmas, my angel. Peace on earth and goodwill to all men. The time for miracles and forgiveness. Why don’t you just be patient and see what special gift Santa brings you this year?’
‘I don’t think Santa does marriage rescue, does he?’ She still didn’t see how any of it could be fine, but she appreciated his efforts to make her feel better, so she smiled. ‘Thank you,’ she said softly, touching his arm with her hand, ‘for being a good friend.’
He stared down at her thoughtfully. ‘You’re a beautiful, sexy woman, Christy,’ he said quietly. ‘If I’d seen you first, you would have been mine. But Alessandro fell in love with you on sight and there was no contest. You never even noticed me.’
She stood in stunned silence, her eyes wide. She’d never realised that he felt that way. She didn’t know what to say. How was she supposed to respond? ‘Jake, I—’
‘Fight for him, Christianna,’ Jake said quietly, a lopsided smile on his face. ‘I stepped aside because I could see the strength of what you shared. I’ve always seen it. Always envied it. Why do you think I haven’t married before now? Because I’ve seen what love can be and I won’t settle for anything less. Fight for it, babe.’
She stared up at him. ‘But if I’m right that Alessandro doesn’t love me any more then…’
Jake shrugged. ‘Then all you’ll be left with is damaged pride, and what’s pride when the love of your life is at stake? Live up to the promise of your furious, angry hair, sweetheart, and fight.’
She stood in silence with the snow falling all around her and the temperature dropping to well below freezing. There was a shriek of a siren as the ambulance took off towards the hospital and the slamming of car doors as the various members of the mountain rescue team sorted out their equipment.
He was right, of course, she thought, feeling the snow flutter past her cheeks. Instead of playing these silly games, she should be fighting for her man. Trying to win him back. She’d never been one to give up when things got tough. That wasn’t how she was.
Alessandro was the only man she’d ever loved. The only man she ever could love.
A smile spread across her face and, on impulse, she stood on tiptoe and kissed Jake on the cheek.
‘Thank you,’ she whispered. ‘For being the very best friend to both of us.’
Then she turned and walked back to the car and didn’t notice Alessandro staring after her, the expression in his dark eyes bordering on the dangerous.
CHAPTER SIX
‘MUM, can we go to the forest to choose our tree tomorrow?’
Christy looked up from injecting brandy into the Christmas cake. ‘I—Yes, why not? We usually get it the week before Christmas.’
‘And is Dad coming, too?’
Christy inhaled sharply. How was she supposed to know? Alessandro had hardly spoken to her since they’d returned from the mountain rescue the day before. At work he’d been cold and distant and he’d arrived home late and come to bed long after her.
‘Well…’
‘Of course I’m coming.’ Alessandro strolled into the room, still bare-chested after his shower, his jaw dark with stubble. ‘Family ritual—choosing the biggest tree in the forest.’
Christy felt her insides drop with longing. She wanted to slide her hands over his bronzed, muscular body—wanted to feel his hands on her. Suddenly she had a disturbingly vivid mental picture of his hard body coming down on hers and—
‘Christy?’
She snapped out of her erotic daydream and realised that he was watching her with a slumberous expression on his handsome face. Did he know? she wondered. Did he know that she’d been imagining the two of them together?
‘Sorry.’ The croak in her voice betrayed her. ‘Did you say something?’
‘I said that we are both going to the Snow Ball tomorrow night,’ he said in that slightly accented drawl that always sent her pulse racing. ‘Your mother has offered to babysit.’
‘Oh…’ Her heart fluttered. She couldn’t remember the last time they’d gone out together, let alone to the Snow Ball. It was held every Christmas for all the hospital staff but usually Alessandro was working.
Her heart lifted at the prospect of a proper evening out.
It would be her chance to dress up.
