Nick prompted when the woman’s silence became uncomfortably long. ‘Look, I’m sorry if I seemed less than polite just now, but—’ He broke off with an impatient shake of his head. ‘Surely you can understand my surprise at discovering that Bekka’s teacher, Mrs Morgan, and the woman from two days ago are one and the same?’
‘I perfectly understand, Mr Steele,’ Bethan Morgan came back softly. ‘I also accept, given the circumstances, that Bekka must have somehow forced you to make the invitation for me to join the two of you on Christmas Day.’
‘I rarely allow anyone to force me into doing anything, Mrs Morgan!’ Nick cut in; he preferred to think that Bekka had coerced rather than forced him!
‘I—Excuse me.’ Beth broke off as she was beset by a sudden fit of coughing.
‘Have you seen a doctor about that?’ Nick frowned at the realisation that this woman’s spill onto the icy wet road two days ago was probably responsible for the cold she had now.
That her huskily sore throat was the reason Nick hadn’t immediately recognised her voice on the telephone a few minutes ago…!
‘Believe it or not, I feel a lot better today,’ she dismissed gruffly once the coughing had ceased.
‘Look, I’m coming to school later this afternoon to attend the Nativity Play.’ Nick frowned his impatience, aware that the minutes were ticking by; he hadn’t expected this telephone call to take as long as it was. ‘Perhaps we could discuss this again then…?’
‘I assure you there’s nothing more to discuss, Mr Steele,’ Beth said hoarsely. ‘I’m aware of the honour you’re bestowing by issuing the invitation, of course, but—’
‘Honour?’ Nick echoed sharply. ‘What is that supposed to mean?’
Beth gave a weary sigh, longing to get back to the hot cup of tea she had left in the staffroom. ‘Bekka is a lovely little girl, with a kind heart, and I like her tremendously.’ In fact she still found it hard to believe that Bekka was this particular man’s daughter! ‘But those things don’t change the fact that your invitation is completely inappropriate.’
There was a brief, chilling silence. ‘In what way “inappropriate”…?’ Nick Steele finally snapped.
‘In that it’s totally unsuitable for a teacher to spend Christmas Day at the home of one of her pupils.’
‘I also happen to be one of the school governors,’ he pointed out impatiently.
‘Exactly,’ Beth said with feeling.
‘Miss Sheffield, your esteemed headmistress, thinks that your joining Bekka and I for Christmas Day is “a charming idea”…’ Nick Steele drawled derisively.
Beth gave an inward groan. ‘You told her the reason you needed to speak to me?’
‘I told you I had,’ he said irritably.
‘But—’ Beth gave a dazed shake of her head. She might have more of a problem getting out of this if Miss Sheffield already knew that one of the school governors, and the school’s ‘most influential parent’, was asking one of her teachers to join him and his daughter for Christmas Day. ‘You had absolutely no right to do that, Mr Steele.’
‘Bekka assured me that you don’t have anywhere else to go on Christmas Day, but maybe she was wrong…?’
Beth bristled. ‘My plans for Christmas are none of your concern, Mr Steele.’
‘Look, Mrs Morgan, I have several meetings I have to get through this morning so that I can be free to attend the Nativity Play later today. Why don’t you come out with Bekka and me for a meal afterwards and we can—?’
‘No, Mr Steele,’ Beth cut in firmly.
‘Why not?’
‘Again, it would be…inappropriate.’
‘I’ll let you pay the bill if you think that would make it more appropriate,’ he came back mockingly. ‘Or maybe you imagine that this invitation to dinner is just a preliminary to my trying to get you into bed…?’
‘Really, Mr Steele!’ Beth gasped.
‘Don’t tell me that I’ve actually succeeded in rendering you speechless!’ he taunted.
‘You’re being utterly ridiculous—’
‘No more so than the reasons you’ve given for refusing my invitation to join Bekka and me on Christmas Day,’ he retorted.
Perfectly legitimate reasons as far as Beth was concerned. Besides, she didn’t want to spend Christmas Day with Nick Steele—
She didn’t want to spend Christmas Day with Nick Steele…? Not Bekka, but specifically Nick Steele?
He unnerved her, Beth realised. All that forceful energy and sexual magnetism disturbed her in ways she couldn’t explain. In ways she didn’t want to explain!
She straightened impatiently. ‘I’m not some sort of charity case, Mr Steele—’
‘My invitation has nothing to do with charity. In fact, you would be doing me a favour if you agreed to come,’ he continued heavily. ‘This will be our first Christmas since Bekka’s mother died of cancer, and—’ Nick broke off with a self-disgusted grimace; he was starting to sound as wheedling as Bekka now!
Damn it, he hadn’t even wanted Bekka’s biology teacher to spend Christmas Day with the two of them. He’d been protesting against that happening for days now.
When he had believed he was having a complete stranger foisted on him…
When he had thought Mrs Morgan was an elderly and possibly bewhiskered widow.
Instead she was a young woman in her twenties. A young and beautiful woman in her twenties.
A very prickly young and beautiful woman in her twenties…!
‘And…?’ Beth prompted as Nick’s continued silence began to stretch awkwardly between them.
‘And having a third person around may just make it less of an ordeal for both of us,’ he finished.
Beth moistened dry lips. ‘I hadn’t realised your wife had died so recently.’
‘Ten months ago. And Janet and I had been divorced for over two years before she died,’ Nick Steele explained stiffly.
It didn’t sound as if it had been an amicable divorce, Beth recognised ruefully. Even so, it would still have been a shock to Nick, as well as to his young daughter, when Janet Steele died.
Was Beth allowing the sudden and painful death of Ben and her own parents to emotionally draw her in…?
If she was, then it wasn’t on Nick Steele’s behalf but Bekka’s, Beth told herself firmly. The arrogantly forceful Nick Steele was a man who gave every indication of being well able to take care of himself. And his emotions. If he had any…
She
