Sealed with a Christmas Kiss (2 page)

Kate’s toes were freezing cold. Roddy’s habit of sleeping with the window open all year round was insane, and she curled herself up against his still-sleeping
form.

‘Your feet!’ He woke with a roar, jumping sideways out of bed. Kate giggled.

‘I can’t help it if you insist on behaving as if you’re still at boarding school. We could actually have a warm bedroom like normal people, y’know.’

‘Hang on, I’ll get the fire going again in a second, if you’re really that cold, darling.’

‘And shut the window?’

‘And the window.’ He strode across the bedroom, apparently impervious to the cold, clad only in a pair of cotton pyjama bottoms. Snuggling down under the covers, Kate looked on as he
bent to the fire, coaxing it back to life in moments. Living together definitely had its advantages.

‘Come back to bed. I need some good old-fashioned warming up . . . ’

Roderick turned, giving her a look of such affection and love that she hugged herself with a little smug smile. Everything really was perfect – even the bad bits, like dealing with
paperwork and making the estate books balance, didn’t seem so bad when the end result was curling up in a bedroom with turrets and a roaring log fire. And it was Saturday, and today she was
doing nothing more strenuous than driving down into Kilmannan. Bliss.

Roderick slid into bed beside her, his hands cool on her back.

‘So you’re catching the happy couple off the boat this morning?’

‘And giving them a tour of the island, yes. And then we’re coming back here for lunch, and they’re staying over in the four-poster room.’ It was hard to talk with his
fingers running up and down her spine, putting her off.

‘I’m supposed to be thinking about work, Roddy . . . ’

He kissed her shoulder, a laugh in his voice. ‘I’m not stopping you.’

‘And there’s a big lasagne to go in the Aga, we’ve got cranachan for pudding, and I’ve invited a few of the others round for a drink.’ This was said in a rush.
Working in bed wasn’t at all practical.

‘Well,’ Roddy’s voice was amused, ‘if we get them a bit merry, maybe they won’t notice their wedding venue is more dilapidated than designer.’

A couple of hours later, Kate stood by the harbour wrapped in a huge fleece, jeans tucked into wellingtons, her dark curls still damp. She’d planned to get up and make
herself suitably glamorous, but instead she’d hurtled out of bed at the last minute, jumped into the shower, and then put her foot down on the road towards town, only easing off as she saw
the ferry coming into sight. It was running a bit late, thankfully. She shivered in the cold air, flurries of snow hitting her in the face as the wind whipped in off the sea. She watched as the
ferry docked, surprised as ever by the speed and grace of its arrival as it was guided round into position. For a moment she felt herself wishing the boat doors would open and Emma would climb out,
hair blowing in the wind. The one thing she really missed about Cambridge life was her best friend, who, what with twin stepdaughters and a newborn baby, just couldn’t get away.

As if she’d read Kate’s mind, Emma’s message flashed up on her phone screen.

Seeing the harbourmen start to attach the stairs to the side of the ferry, Kate realized with a panic that she couldn’t remember who she was looking out for. Did the bride-to-be have red
hair, or was that him? Oh God.

She scrolled through emails on her phone, trying to find the message from Sian with the photograph of Maddy and Leo attached. She wanted to look confident and businesslike and in control, and
it’d help if she knew who she was looking out for.

There it was. Maddy looked sweet, her heart-shaped freckled face surrounded by long strawberry-blonde hair. She was beaming up at Leo, who was a head taller than her, dark-haired, grinning into
the camera. They looked like the perfect couple. Taking on Sian’s idea had been a huge risk – but this morning, suffused with love and full of happiness herself, Kate thought it seemed
like the perfect plan. She could just imagine the photographs of the tiny, beautiful Maddy set against the huge, imposing stone of Duntarvie House, and she’d look gorgeous sitting in her
wedding dress in the snow on one of the stone lions . . .

Lost in a daydream, Kate didn’t hear the clang of metal and rope as the ferry came in, nor the sound of footsteps as her guests approached.

‘Kate?’

She looked up, straight into the eyes of a tall, dark-haired man.

‘Ooh.’ She squeaked with surprise.
Not sophisticated, Kate
, she thought to herself.
Great start
.

He held out his hand. ‘Leo Jackson.’

He was surprisingly formal, especially in comparison to his fiancée, who was virtually bouncing on the spot with excitement.

‘I’m Maddy, and this is Leo. I can’t believe it’s actually snowing, can you?’ Her accent was Scottish, but very slight. She was even more beautiful than her
photograph, freckles on alabaster-white skin, and lips – or lipstick – a beautiful rose red. She looked, Kate thought, like a fairy-tale heroine.

‘I know. I’m just hoping it’ll last until the end of the month so you’ll have gorgeous weather for the wedding.’ Maddy’s enthusiasm made up for his coolness,
which was fortunate. He looked around, sizing up his surroundings.

‘This place has seen better days, hasn’t it?’

Kate felt herself rising up slightly, in defence. ‘Kilmannan used to be one of the most popular holiday destinations in Scotland, back in Victorian times.’

‘And it’s not seen a lick of paint since, by the look of it.’ His smile was supercilious.

‘I prefer to think of it as faded splendour, myself.’ Kate could feel her hackles rising, but she had to get a grip.
This man is the key to your business. It doesn’t matter
how rude he is, you don’t rise to it
, she told herself.

Maddy flushed, shooting Leo a warning look, which he ignored.

‘I think it’s beautiful, Kate. I love old seaside resorts. Is that a real penny arcade?’

‘Yes, it’s been there since 1910 – the car’s parked just over there, so we can pop in for a look if you like?’

‘Sorry, ladies, something’s come up with work.’ Leo frowned down at his mobile, which was beeping insistently. ‘Give me five minutes?’

With Leo installed in the passenger seat of the car to make his calls in peace, Kate felt herself unwinding as she took Maddy for a quick wander through the little town of Kilmannan. He might be
a bit of a pompous git, but she didn’t have to marry him, after all – that was Maddy’s job.

Kate’s fingers were freezing cold as she gripped the steering wheel. The heating was on full blast in the car as they headed back towards Duntarvie House. Maddy had loved
Kilmannan as much as Kate herself had on her first visit, but Leo had seemed remarkably unmoved. He hadn’t even budged when she’d taken them the scenic route across the highest point of
the island, parking in a layby to allow them to marvel at the views of Eilean Mòr, the huge island that lay to the west of Auchenmor. It had been a bit foolish, she realized, because whilst
the snow was light, the roads were definitely slippery. She breathed a sigh of relief as they turned down the driveway towards the big house.

‘Must be hard keeping up the gardens in a place like this?’

Leo’s question was perfectly innocent, but Kate felt herself flushing as they drove along. The enormous rhododendron bushes sprinkled with snow suddenly looked unkempt and disorderly and
she found herself slowing down, trying to find the smoothest route through the remaining potholes. But doing so just gave him more time to notice that the grass verge wasn’t immaculate. She
sped up again, swerving to avoid a rabbit which leapt out from the little copse by the stream. She caught him raising his eyebrows in the mirror at Maddy. This was awful.

‘Leo, Maddy. It’s wonderful to have you here.’

Thank God for Roddy. He swept across the driveway as if to the manor born. Not surprisingly, thought Kate. It’s times like this I remember that this place is all he’s ever known.

Maddy was literally spinning in circles, a huge smile on her face, taking in the whole courtyard, the house, the stone lions, the crunch of the gravel, the sweep of garden that stretched down to
the private beach. Leo, Kate noticed with a gigantic sigh of relief, was shaking Roddy’s hand with – was that actually a smile?

‘I hope you’ll like Duntarvie as much as we do.’

‘I’m certain we will, won’t we, Maddy?’ Leo seemed to be defrosting under Roderick’s supervision.

‘I love the idea of a Christmas wedding, don’t you, darling?’ Roderick looked across at Kate, reaching for her hand.

‘Yes, very nice.’ Kate’s smile was automatic and polite.

‘Well, after our plans went up in smoke – ’ Leo paused for a moment, clearly expecting a laugh; it was a line he’d used before – ‘we both feel very lucky to
have been offered the chance to get married here.’

‘Come inside, and we’ll show you around. It’s just us today, as it’s the weekend.’ Roderick showed them in, pausing only for a second to half-raise an eyebrow at
Kate.
You okay?
it said.

Kate nodded, lips trapped in a tight smile. Leo had managed to rub her up the wrong way so many times that she was having to try hard to be polite, and not to kick him in the shins when he
wasn’t looking.

‘I’ll take you up, Maddy, and show you your room.’

Relieved to be no longer sharing air space with Leo, Kate felt her shoulders sink down to their normal level. As uncomfortable as Leo made her, Maddy felt like someone she could easily be
friends with. She was funny, warm, and genuine.

‘So how did you meet Roderick, then? At a ball, or something?’

Kate burst out laughing. ‘Not quite, no. I got dumped, moved up here for a change, and we ended up together. I’m definitely not Roddy’s sort of posh.’

‘But you live together here? And work together? That must be hard.’

‘Actually, no – it’s lovely. There’s so much to do that we aren’t in each other’s pockets, and we have quite a few other people who work alongside us all the
time. Things are pretty much perfect, just as they are.’

‘You’re so lucky. Leo’s a total workaholic. He’s never got that phone out of his hand. Keeps promising me that once we get married things will be different.’ Maddy
sighed, twisting her long red hair into a coil in her hand.

Kate was lost for words. With a friend, she’d have had something comforting to say, but she didn’t know Maddy, and her choice of life partner was – well, he’d definitely
be ‘avoid’ if she was playing one of her old university drinking games. Certainly not ‘snog’, and absolutely not ‘marry’.

She changed the subject, offering to show Maddy around Duntarvie House before the embarrassing silence lingered in the air too long.

Kate opened the door into her favourite room in the house: the old nursery, which was still waiting to be renovated. She liked to think that it echoed with the memories of
long-grown children. In years gone by, Roddy’s father and his sisters would have played up here whilst the adults went off shooting and fishing.

‘Ooh, this is gorgeous.’ Maddy ran her hand across the back of a dappled grey rocking horse, smoothing her fingers through the long hair of its mane. She looked up at the alphabet
frieze stretching along the mantelpiece and the stack of wooden letter blocks on the fireplace. ‘I love this sort of thing. It’s funny – I only entered the competition on a whim
because I was looking at Handmade Heaven, trying to find some design ideas for our new place.’

Kate looked at her sideways, cautiously. She’d always wondered what sort of person would enter a wedding competition. The idea of being that much on show, of the pressure of having
everything perfect, was her idea of hell.

‘Leo wasn’t that keen – he seemed a bit dubious about us being all over the newspapers. Said it might make business a bit complicated. But once I told him it was only going to
be on a wedding website, he calmed down a bit.’

Kate felt her eyebrows rising, and pulled them down in a frown of mock-concentration as she pretended to adjust the curtains, shaking out a cloud of dust.

‘I suppose as long as he’s happy now . . . ?’ she said, dubiously.

‘Oh, yes,’ said Maddy cheerfully, apparently oblivious. ‘He’s been quite happy to just let me get on with everything. He’s not really that bothered.’

She stacked the wooden blocks up in a neat pile before turning back to Kate, smiling.

‘Men, huh?’

Kate made a faint noise of agreement, and held open the door for Maddy to make her way out of the nursery and finish their tour of Duntarvie House.

By the time they made it downstairs, Leo and Roddy were already halfway down a bottle of red, chatting happily about business forecasts and the plans for Duntarvie House.

‘Leo’s a business development analyst, Kate.’ Roddy got another two glasses out of the dresser, passing them to Kate and Maddy.

‘Oh, Leo, not work. We’re supposed to be talking weddings, not financial forecasts.’ Maddy looked at him with a grimace. Kate pulled a similar face at Roddy, and both men,
chastened, pulled themselves up.

‘Sorry.’ Roddy gave them both a rueful grin. ‘Right, weddings. So, how are your plans coming along, Maddy?’

Kate, opening a bottle of white wine, noticed a fleeting glance pass between Maddy and Leo.

‘Great. Sian has been so clever, she’s had loads of ideas.’

An unmistakable frown from Leo. ‘Yes, she’s certainly one of a kind, our Sian.’

‘She just wants everything to be perfect, Leo, that’s all – and doesn’t everyone want that on their wedding day?’

Leo rolled his eyes heavenwards, finishing his glass of wine and crashing the glass down onto the table.

‘I just want to get married, Maddy. I don’t need all this performance.’ He seemed to gather himself for a second, rearranging his expression from disapproval to an ingratiating
smile. ‘I can’t help thinking you’re getting a bit Bridezilla about all this, babe.’