Page 58 of The Black Trilogy

“I’m always up for you.” He paused to kiss me on his way to the stove. “Apart from an hour this morning—I’ve got a conference call at ten.”

The backdoor opened and a pleasantly plump woman in her fifties bustled in. She did a double take when she saw me.

“Nora, this is Ash. She’ll be staying here for…well, I’m not sure.”

Nora pushed a few stray strands of grey hair back into her bun, fighting a losing battle. “Pleased to meet you, ma’am.”

For crying out loud, don’t call me that. I wasn’t a flipping relic. “Ash is fine. It’s good to meet you too.”

Her eyes widened as she took in the destruction behind me. Tia had thrown eggs at the wall and swept a pile of plates off the counter.

“Didn’t the burglar alarm work?”

“It was Tia,” Luke said.

Nora’s lack of surprise said a lot about his sister’s character.

“That girl’ll be the death of everyone,” she muttered. “I’ll get the bin bags.”

Despite Nora’s protests, I lent a hand with the clean-up. By the time Luke finished his call, the house looked presentable other than the black scribbles on the dining room wall. That needed to be repainted.

“I’ll make soup for lunch,” Nora said. “We could do with a filling meal after all that work.”

“I’m sorry.” Luke apologised on behalf of his sister with the resignation of a man who did that regularly.

“These things can’t be helped. I’ll put up the Christmas tree after we’ve eaten—the delivery man left it by the front door.”

Living in a bubble at Hazelwood Farm, the run-up to the festive season had all but passed me by. Just as well, because I’d had nothing to celebrate.

But did I now?

The three of us hauled the tree inside and set it upright in the hallway. Nora produced boxes of ornaments, and soon the tree sparkled in red, green, and gold. As I wound tinsel over the boughs, I wondered what Bradley was getting up to. I never wanted to make a fuss over the festive season, but he went all out.

Every year, he did something bigger and better, and usually, I let him. It made him happy. Everyone needed a little happiness in their lives, even if my darling assistant shoved it down their throats.

Would he make such an effort this year without me there?

Yes, most likely.

I said a silent prayer that one of my friends would apply the brakes if he tried anything too wild. Last year, I’d had to veto his plan to install a life-size nativity scene on my front lawn. No way were the sheep and cows going to stand peacefully and nibble hay. They’d poop everywhere. We’d compromised, and he’d arranged for the gifts to be delivered in a sleigh pulled by reindeer. The year before, he’d insisted on using my helicopter to install a giant star on the roof. A decade of special-ops training, and I used my skills to dangle at the end of a rope while he kept changing his mind about the angle.

Luke’s tree seemed tame by comparison, but once we’d hung all the stuff on it, we stood back and admired our work.

“I’m looking forward to unwrapping my present,” Luke said, snaking an arm around my waist.

“You’ve only got a few days to wait.”

“I wasn’t talking about the one under the tree.” He kissed his way up my jaw. “It’s been purgatory keeping my hands off you. Get upstairs.”

“Nora’s still here.”

“Then you’d better be quieter than you were last night.”

“What are you going to do? Gag me?”

Without warning, he picked me up and slung me over his shoulder, caveman style. I shrieked, berated myself for being such a girl, then enjoyed the ride. When he dumped me on the bed and peeled me out of my clothes, I managed to keep the noise down until Nora slammed the front door on her way out.

Then I got loud, and I wasn’t the only one.

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