Page 6 of Husband for the Holidays

“Something has come up.” Konstantin didn’t introduce Eloise or even look at her, only told Gemma, “I can’t take you to the party tonight.”

Gemma’s incredulous laughter was aimed directly at Eloise in her crooked ears and ugly hat.

Where were catastrophic events when you needed them? Or even just a clear path of escape? A dog walker was behind her, the mesh of leashes hemming her into this curbside carnival act.

“Konstantin,” Gemma said in a purr of sensual warning. “If you don’t take me to that party tonight, you won’t take me anywhere. Ever.”

“Fair.” It was one of the most dispassionate responses Eloise had ever witnessed and she’d seen the complete lack of pity in the eyes of the landlord when he’d informed her and her roommate that rent would double on January first.

Konstantin withdrew his phone and brought it to his ear, saying to Gemma, “I need my car right now, but I can send it back for you if you like.”

“Oh, don’t bother,” Gemma said with subdued fury and spun to reenter the building.

The dog walker and the doorman and two passersby were all witnessing this drama. Eloise wanted to die. She truly did.

While Konstantin was on the phone, however, she seized the chance to call her supervisor—who was not paid nearly enough to care about the details of what had happened.

“So you’ll miss the last five deliveries?” she summed up briskly. “I’ll contact the customers and reschedule. You know I can’t use you again?”

“I know. I’ll turn in my uniform tomorrow. Oh. Except I lost the shoes.”

“I’ll tell head office you were hit by the car. That way they won’t take the cost of the gifts out of your pay.”

Wow. The Christmas spirit was alive and well. “Thanks. Merry Christmas.”

“You, too, hon.”

As she pocketed her phone, a gleaming SUV pulled up to the curb. Konstantin stepped forward to open the back door himself, waving her to climb inside.

“I think you’ve mistaken me for your date. I’ll head to the subway—”

“Get in.”

She curled her cold hands into fists, suspecting her gloves were in the lost sack since they weren’t in her pockets.

“You want to know what happened to make me take a job like this? I refused to buckle to an overbearing man.”Take that, she added with a lift of her chin that made the bell on her hat give a muted tinkle.

“How’s that working out for you?”

Not great, obviously. That didn’t mean she should buckle to him.

“Get in, Eloise. Or I’ll put you in.”

She held his I-mean-it stare and to her eternal shame, frissons of excitement curled through her abdomen. She wanted his hands on her. The sparks of attraction she’d always harbored for him continued to smolder inside her.

“Do I have to count to three?” His patronizing tone called her a child. It was the ultimate insult, considering the very adult things she’d had to deal with lately.

Somehow, she channeled the privileged socialite her mother had taught her to be.

“Since it’s your fault I lost my job, you may buy me dinner.” She held his gaze as she passed under his nose, then clambered into the vehicle with a musical rattle of the bells on her skirt.

CHAPTER TWO

KONSTANTINWALKEDAROUNDto the door that his driver opened for him, taking these few seconds to shake off the last of the adrenaline that had punched through him when Eloise had almost stepped into traffic. That had been the most terrifying—

No. He never let emotions of any variety sweep over him. When things didn’t go as planned, he took control of himself and the situation, made adjustments and carried on.

This was quite the unexpected detour, though. Not that he’d wanted to attend tonight’s soiree. Gemma had insisted. Since he had invited her to accompany him to the Maldives, Konstantin had relented, but the party wasn’t even raising money for a good cause. It was purely a see-and-be-seen thing, something he loathed and typically avoided.

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