Page 139 of Tuxedos and Tinsel
Finally she found her words. Although she only needed the one. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I say “yes”.’
With no further ado, he slid the beautiful ring back into its rightful place. To her happy eyes it seemed to flash even more brilliantly.
‘Dominic, I love you too. I think maybe itwaslove at first sight the day I met you. I never really had to lie about that.’
She wound her arms around his neck and kissed him. They kissed for a long time. Until they were interrupted by a loud knock on the door of the pool house. Gemma.
‘Hey, you two, I don’t know what’s going on in there and I don’t particularly want to know, but we’re about to serve lunch and your presence is required.’
‘Oh, yes, of course—we’re coming straight away,’ Andie called, flustered.
Dominic held her by the arm. ‘Not so fast. There’s something else I want to ask you. What would you like for Christmas?’
His question threw her. She had to think very hard. But then it came to her. ‘All I want for Christmas is for us to get married as soon as possible. I... I don’t want to wait. You...you know why.’
Anthony would have wanted this for her—to grab her second chance of happiness.She knew that as certainly as if he’d been there to give her his blessing.
‘That suits me fine,’ Dominic said. ‘The sooner you’re my wife the better.’
‘Of course it takes a while to organise a wedding. Next month. The month after. I don’t want anything too fussy anyway, just simple and private.’
‘We’ll have to talk to the Party Queens,’ he said.
She laughed. ‘Great idea. I have a feeling we’ll be the best people for the job.’
She could hardly believe this was true, but the look in his eyes told her she could believe it. She wound her arms around his neck again. ‘Dominic Hugo Hunt, you’ve just made this the very best Christmas of my life.’
He heaved a great sigh and she could see it was as if the weight of all those miserable Christmases he’d endured in the past had been thrown off. ‘Me too,’ he said. ‘And all because of you, my wonderful wife-to-be.’
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
ANDIEFOUNDHERSELFsinging ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ as she drove to Dominic’s house five days later. She couldn’t remember when she’d last sung in the car—and certainly not such a cheesy carol as ‘Rudolph’. No, wait. ‘Six White Boomers’ was even cheesier. But the choir had been so wonderful at Dominic’s Christmas party she’d felt it had become the heart of the very successful party. The carols had stayed in her head.
It had only been significant to her, but it was the first time she’d played her guitar and sung in public since Anthony had died. She’d healed in every way from the trauma of his loss, although she would never forget him. Her future was with Dominic. How could she ever have thought he was not her type?
She didn’t think Dominic would be burdened with the Scrooge label for too much longer. One of his most relentless critics had served as a volunteer at the party—and had completely changed her tune. Andie had committed to heart the journalist’s article in one of the major newspapers.
Dominic Hunt appears more Santa Claus than Scrooge, having hosted a lavish Christmas party, not for celebrities and wealthy silvertails but for ordinary folk down on their luck. A publicity stunt? No way.
She suspected Dominic’s other private philanthropic work would eventually be discovered—probably by the digging of this same journalist. But, with the support of her love and the encouragement of Walter Burton, she thought he was in a better place to handle the revelations of his past if and when they came to light.
Dominic had invited her for a special dinner at his house this evening, though they’d had dinner together every evening since Christmas—and breakfast. She hadn’t been here for the last few days; rather, he’d stayed at her place. She didn’t want to move in with him until they were married.
But he’d said they had to do something special this evening as they wouldn’t be able to spend New Year’s Eve together—December the thirty-first would be the Party Queens’ busiest night yet.
She was looking forward to dinner together, just the two of them. It was a warm evening and she wore a simple aqua dress that was both cool and elegant. Even though they were now engaged for real, they were still getting to know each other—there was a new discovery each time they got the chance to truly talk.
As she climbed the stairs to his house, she heard the sounds of a classical string quartet playing through the sound system he had piped through the house. Dominic had good taste in music, thank heaven. But when she pushed open the door, she was astounded to see a live quartet playing in the same space where the ill-fated Christmas tree had stood. She smiled her delight. It took some getting used to the extravagant gestures of a billionaire.
Dominic was there to greet her, looking darkly handsome in a tuxedo. She looked down at her simple dress in dismay. ‘I didn’t realise it was such an occasion or I would have worn something dressier,’ she said.
Dominic smiled. ‘You look absolutely beautiful. Anyway, if all goes well, you’ll be changing into something quite different.’
She tilted her head to the side. ‘This is all very intriguing,’ she said. ‘I’m not quite sure where you’re going with it.’
‘First of all, I want to say that everything can be cancelled if you don’t want to go ahead with it. No pressure.’
For the first time she saw Dominic look like he must have looked as a little boy. He seethed with suppressed excitement and the agony of holding on to a secret he was desperate to share.
