Gift Wrapped for Christmas: A Contemporary Romance (11 page)

“And by doing this, you’re
encouraging them to be physically active.”

Chase grinned. “Exactly.”

Was that respect in her eyes? He
didn’t know, but there was definitely a change. “So what were you wondering about?”
she asked.

“We’re having one of our big
annual fundraisers in a couple of weeks. It’s a fashion show and silent
auction. It’s short notice, but if I can arrange it, would you be interested in
showing some of your resort wear?”

“Absolutely.” He could see her
mind working. “We could offer to custom make the pieces.” She twirled a piece
of hair around her finger. “I’ll probably sew them myself, but we don’t have to
say that.” She looked at Annie. “What do you think? Good idea?” She held up her
hand, and Annie gave her a high five.

Chase tried unsuccessfully to
hide a smile. “Okay. I’ll check with Nate as soon as I get back to the office.
His wife is co-ordinating the fashion show.”

“Great.” Lily turned to Annie
again. “Which pieces do you think I should show? That was my entire line in the
fashion show the other week.”

The child didn’t miss a beat. “All
of them.”

“Yeah. That’s what I was
thinking.” She looked directly at Chase. “This is an opportunity for me, as
well. The type of people who attend something like that will be great for
word-of-mouth advertising.”

“Then it’s win-win.” Chase’s
expression softened as he looked at her. “Will you come with me? As my date?”

She hesitated for a moment, then gave
him a smile that almost stopped his heart. “Yes, I’d enjoy that.”

Annie looked from one to the
other, grinning widely. “Cool.”

* * *

Lily was surprised to see Maddie
curled up on the couch when she got home. Her roommate looked flushed and was
wrapped up in one of the soft throws they kept in a basket in the corner.

“Are you all right?” She strode
across the room and placed a hand on her friend’s forehead. “You don’t seem to
have a fever.”

Maddie shook her head. “No, I’m
not sick.” She threw off the blanket, stood up and paced back and forth in
front of the full-length windows. “I’m just upset. Allan called me today.”

“Allan! What did he want?” Lily
had never made a secret of her dislike for Allan.

“Apparently he’s not engaged
anymore and he had the nerve to ask if he could come here.” She stopped and
stared out the window without seeing the view. “He wants to be friends again.”

Lily made an un-ladylike sound.
“I hope you told him what he could do with his friendship.”

Maddie gave a weak smile. “I
think I made myself pretty clear.” She stopped and looked at her friend. “You
look different...oh my gosh, Lily, I’m sorry. I was so wrapped up in myself
that I forgot to ask you. Did Chase and Annie come out this afternoon?” She
smiled as Lily nodded. “You should have seen the look on his face when I told
him about going out to your studio.” She pulled her friend over to the counter
and sat down. “Tell me all about it.”

Lily shrugged. “It was okay. I
showed Annie around and then the three of us went out for tea.”

“Oh no you don’t! I know you too
well, Lily Hsu. Don’t play the inscrutable Asian with me.” Maddie made a “gimmee”
motion with her fingers. “Come on, tell me everything.”

“...and so I’m going to go to the
auction with him. As his date.” Lily lowered her head. “I hope I don’t regret
this.”

Maddie sucked in a breath.
“Sometimes I don’t understand you, you know that? Anyone can see that the man
is seriously interested in you.” She leaned forward and spoke firmly but
gently. “He’s not that creep who used you, Lily. I don’t pretend to know Chase,
but give him a chance. Okay?”

Lily nodded.

Maddie continued. “What was it
like between you? Did you feel that same connection?”

“Oh, yeah.” Lily’s eyes took on a
faraway look. “There’s definitely something there.”

Maddie sighed. “Then let it
happen, Lils. Just let it happen.”

Lily smiled. “You haven’t called
me that in a long time.” She looked across the table at her friend. “You’re
right, I know that. What’s frightening me is that maybe I like him too much.”

Maddie shook her head. “There’s
no such thing as too much.” She thought of Brent. “Trust me.”

“Lily.” The receptionist’s voice
came through the speaker phone. “I have Nancy Somerville on the line for you.”

“Nancy Somerville?” Lily pushed
back from the cutting table. The name wasn’t familiar.

“She says she’s calling about the
charity auction.”

“Oh, okay.” She walked to the old-fashioned
wall phone and lifted the receiver. “Hello, Nancy, this is Lily.”

“Lily.” The woman’s words were
clipped. “It’s Nancy Somerville. I’m the co-ordinator for the fashion show portion
of the upcoming fundraiser, and I understand we’re going to include some of
your clothes. I need to know how many items, and what they are.”

Lily sensed the undercurrents
beneath the other woman’s words. Nancy Somerville was in charge of the fashion
show and did not like the last minute addition of some ‘new’ designer, even if
it resulted in more money for the cause.

Lily took a calming breath.
Getting into an argument with this woman would serve no purpose. She put a
smile in her voice and answered, “It’s resort wear, Nancy.” She gave what she
hoped was a small, friendly laugh. “And if it throws your show out of synch,
you don’t need to include me. At this late date, I’d understand.”

Silence greeted her words.
Evidently Nancy had expected a confrontation, but Lily wasn’t about to give her
the pleasure.

“Oh, well...” Nancy stammered.
“No, we couldn’t do that.” Lily could hear her rifling through some papers.
“Chase said to include you, and this is his event, so I certainly wouldn’t want
to go against his wishes.”

Lily glanced around the fashion
department. She’d pulled out all the stops and was in the midst of producing
each outfit in several sizes as there was little time available for fittings.
After the fashion show, she planned to offer the extra outfits to Chase for
additional fundraising.

“I have ten items,” she said.
“And if you like, I’ll e-mail you a photograph of each one with details. Would
that help?”

The other woman seemed to have
run out of bluster. “That sounds good.”

Lily pressed on. “Just let me
know when you want to do the fittings, and I’ll be there. We’re producing a
variety of sizes for each item.”

“You make them here?”

“Yes. I don’t believe in shipping
my work offshore.” She wasn’t about to tell Nancy that her production was too
small and too immediate to be sent to offshore manufacturers.

“Oh. I just thought...” Nancy’s
words trailed off, but Lily got the message loud and clear. She was tempted to
say that she was as much of a Canadian as the other woman but managed to bite
her tongue.

“All right then.” Lily could
picture the co-ordinator consulting her schedule. “I’ll call you some time next
week about the fittings. Is that okay?”

“Sounds good. Thanks for
calling.” Lily quietly placed the handset in the receiver. It was clear that Nancy
Somerville didn’t like Chase Drummond interfering in her fashion show. Lily
thought briefly about discussing it with him, then brushed that notion aside.
He had enough to do without getting in the middle of a catfight.

Lily had a sudden thought. Maybe it
wasn’t the last minute addition of the resort wear that was ruffling feathers.
Perhaps it was the fact that Chase Drummond had insisted that Lily’s items be
included. Hmmm...

“No sense speculating about that
now,” she said aloud, and returned her attention to the brightly coloured
fabric.

* * *

“Huh.” Nancy Somerville put down
her cell phone and stared at it for a moment. “That was interesting,” she said,
meeting the eyes of the woman across from her.

“So what did you think?” Laurel
Carmichael tried not to appear too anxious, but Nancy knew better. From the
moment she’d heard about Chase’s involvement in the fashion show, her friend
had been on full alert. She’d been pursuing him for a year and a half, and in
that time, Chase had been remarkably skillful at eluding her.

Nancy felt sorry for her friend
as a kaleidoscope of emotions flashed across the other woman’s face. The
trouble was, Laurel had been kidding herself for so long she’d started to
believe her own fantasy.

“She offered to withdraw her
clothes from the show.”

Laurel dismissed the comment with
a wave of her hand. “That was just a power play. She knew you couldn’t do
that.”

Nancy acknowledged her friend’s
comment with a nod. “I suppose so.” She thought back to the conversation. “She
was nice, but I get the feeling she can be tough.”

“It’s that damned kimchee they
eat. That would toughen up anybody.”

Nancy shook her head. “That’s
Korean. This woman is Chinese or something like that. Audrey from Draper’s worked
with her a few weeks ago and she told me she’s gorgeous.”

Laurel pushed the papers aside.
“Well, she hasn’t got him yet.” She pulled out a compact and checked her
appearance in the mirror. “I’ve got a lot invested in this relationship, and
I’m not going to give up without a fight.”

* * *

A dozen times a day, Maddie was
glad she’d hired Zelda. The young woman brimmed over with original ideas and
was cheerfully professional when dealing with the customers. She seemed to know
precisely which ones to handle herself, and which ones should be passed to
Maddie.

She waved the spiral binder under
Maddie’s nose even before she could get out of her coat. “The orders are coming
in fast and furious.” She slipped Maddie’s coat off her shoulders and hung it
up, talking the entire time. “Did you know your business was going to be this
successful?”

“I’d hoped it would work, but I
didn’t think it would take off like this.” Maddie leafed through the notes.
They jotted down every call that came in, and the habit had already proven
useful several times. Those inquiries that resulted in orders were formally
written up and filed. It was a simple system, and it worked.

“Wait a minute, what’s this?”
Maddie’s heart lurched as she came to an entry. “It says ‘Brent called.’” She
looked at her assistant. “Is that all?”

Zelda grinned. “Well, he seemed
disappointed that you weren’t in, but that’s all the message he left.” She
frowned. “He was someplace noisy; it sounded like there was a lot of equipment
in the background. Maybe that’s why he didn’t leave a longer message.”

Maddie’s shoulders fell, but she
soon recovered. “At least he called,” she said. “That’s something.”

“Is he special?” Zelda’s tone
softened.

Maddie closed her eyes for a
moment. “Very special.” She gave herself a little shake. “Now let’s go over
these orders.”

It was late in the day, and Zelda
had gone home when Maddie’s phone rang. She was tempted to let it go, but it
could be a new order. “Good afternoon, Maddie LaRocque speaking.”

“Maddie, I caught you.”

“Brent!” This time there was no
question. She closed her eyes and pictured his face. “I’ve missed you.”

He chuckled. The low, sexy sound
made her pulse speed up. “I’m glad to hear it. I’ve missed you, too.”

“It’s not the same over at the
skating rink without you.” It was a silly thing to say, but she’d spent so
little time with him...

“You’ve been watching over our
girl.”

She smiled at his words. “Yeah, a
couple of times. She loves it there.”

“I know.” He paused. “I wish I
could tell you when I’ll be back, but things are happening fast here, and I
need to stick around.”

“Have you made a new discovery or
something?” She had no idea what he did.

“I wish I could tell you, but I
can’t.”

She was glad he couldn’t see her
blush. “I’m sorry. I was only making conversation.”

“I know, love, but I really can’t
tell you.” She heard him let the air out of his lungs. “I just miss you,
Maddie. Is everything going all right?”

“Did you just call me ‘love?’”
She pressed the phone to her ear.

“I guess I did.” There was that
low chuckle again. “Is that all right?” He didn’t wait for her response. “You
are
a love, Maddie. I knew that the first moment you fell into my arms.”

Maddie relived the moment and
smiled to herself. “I did, didn’t I? I mean fall into your arms.” She lowered
her voice. “Something I’d like to try again, by the way. Except maybe not from
a ladder.”

He groaned. “Maddie, you’re
killing me here.” Some machinery clanged in the background. “Just a sec.” He
must have pressed the phone against his jacket because for a few moments, there
was no sound. Then he was back. “Sorry, love. I have to go. Have you looked for
the dog yet?”

“I thought you wanted to go with
me.”

“I did, but with things the way
they are, maybe you should go ahead and choose one. Listen, I really do have to
run. I’ll try to call you when I’m on my way home, okay?”

“Okay, Brent. Thanks for
calling.” He didn’t hear the last few words; he’d already disconnected.

* * *

“Do you want to go for a drink
after work?”

The question took Maddie by
surprise. Lily rarely wanted to go out for a drink. But tomorrow was the
fashion show, and her friend had been increasingly nervous the past few days.

“Sure. Where would you like to
go?”

“I’ll stop by, and we can go to
one of those small places near you. Okay?”

“Sure. Give me an extra half an
hour though. It’s been crazy here today.” She glanced at the colourful gift
baskets on the shelves. Every one of them was now sold; Zelda was already
working on putting some replacements together.

The beginnings of an idea had
been taking root in her mind over the past couple of weeks. She’d opened in the
middle of November, and here she was, well into December and her business was
already taking her in directions she hadn’t anticipated.