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Jake rubbed his jaw, his blue eyes bright with humour. ‘I’d say you’re pretty good at defending what’s yours.’ The smile faded and he looked at both of them. ‘You two were meant to be together. Always. Remember that.’
And with that he turned and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
Christy turned to Alessandro. ‘The turkey is cooked and the roast potatoes are on the point of burning. We ought to serve dinner.’
He gave her a wicked smile. ‘When are we going to mate?’
‘Later.’ She couldn’t remember ever feeling so happy and she flung her arms round him and held him tight. ‘Oh, Alessandro, this is the best present. All I wanted was for you to love me. For us to be a family.’
‘And all I wanted was you, querida.’ His voice was husky as he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it, his eyes holding hers. ‘Always. Merry Christmas.’
Miranda
Sarah Morgan
CHAPTER ONE
SHE’D MADE SUCH A MESS of her life.
Sodden with misery, Miranda sat on the rock, staring at the frozen lake, oblivious to the fact that she was slowly losing the feeling in her fingers and toes.
Around her the mountains rose, wrapped in their lethal covering of snow and ice, but she was as indifferent to their beauty as she was eager for their sanctuary. They offered refuge from glittering tinsel and other symbols of festive cheer.
It was Christmas Day, but up here in the icy wilderness of the Lake District, Christmas Day was just another span of daylight hours without meaning or significance.
And she really shouldn’t be crying.
It had been six months. Six long months. Time enough to accept the situation and move on. Time enough to forgive herself for being unforgivably stupid and naive.
She was supposed to be streetwise. Independent. She was supposed to know everything there was to know about the dark side of human nature. Well, apparently she didn’t. She gave a cynical laugh. Apparently even she could be duped.
She’d been stupid and gullible and she just hated herself for having been taken in so completely.
With a sniff, she rubbed her numb cheeks with equally frozen fingers. Crying was pointless and was something she rarely indulged in. Struggling to hold back the tears, Miranda searched inside herself for the fierce strength that she knew she possessed, but all that happened was that more tears welled up in her eyes and spilled down her frozen cheeks. Oh, for goodness’ sake! She brushed them away with an impatient hand and wondered what was happening to her. She was never usually this pathetic! It was just because it was Christmas. Christmas made everything feel different. At Christmas, everything was focused on the image of the perfect family, but for her to be seduced by that image was completely laughable because she knew better than anyone that families were entirely imperfect.
She didn’t want one!
She was better off on her own.
But she’d managed to forget that fact. Briefly, she’d lost all sense of judgment. She, of all people, who had learned long ago that the only person you could truly depend on was yourself. She never leaned on people. Never. And yet she’d—
Gritting her teeth, she pushed the thought away. That was in the past now. Whether she liked it or not, it was over and the past didn’t matter. All that mattered was the future. And remembering not to make the same mistake again.
She straightened her spine and lifted her chin.
It was time to grow up. That was going to be her New Year’s resolution. She was going to stop being such a romantic dreamer and get to grips with the realities of life. Princes didn’t ride up on white chargers or horses of any other colour, come to that. Ordinary people didn’t win the lottery and families were entirely dysfunctional and not to be envied in the slightest. And Christmas was just one day out of three hundred and sixty-five and it would pass soon enough.
There was absolutely no point in sitting on a rock in the middle of nowhere, feeling sorry for herself for not having something that just didn’t exist.
She needed to pick herself up and make the best of the situation.
Feeling something cold brush her hand, she glanced up and realised with a flash of surprise that it was snowing. Suddenly aware of just how cold she was, she turned her head and noticed with a stab of alarm that she could no longer see the top of the mountains.
The weather had been perfect when she’d left her miserable, cramped, rented flat.
What had happened to the blue sky and the sunshine?
With a flash of panic, she realised that she actually had absolutely no idea where she was. She’d been so desperate to get away from the rows of houses with Christmas trees and fairy-lights—so desperate to escape from the glaring taunt of happy family gatherings—that she’d just climbed onto her rusty, secondhand bike and ridden out of town until the houses had been far behind her and all that had lain ahead had been the mountains. She didn’t even know the area because she’d only moved here a week ago.
