Page 129 of The Duke Who Saved Christmas
“You have a hickey on your neck, darling,” Mum said.
I clapped my hand over the side of my neck and glared at Thomas.
Gramps cleared his throat. “This and that indeed.”
Oh, my God.This was the worst day of my life.
“I’m going to kill you,” I said, pinching Thomas’ arm and twisting it until he winced. “It’s six days until the wedding!”
To his credit, he at least had the balls to look ashamed of himself. “It was an accident.”
“Accident? I’ll show you an accident, you bloody vampire!”
“Here.” Mum handed me a silicone ice pack from the freezer. “I think your grandmother uses this for her arthritis, but it’ll work for a hickey, too.”
“You are far too blasé about this, Mother,” I said, pressing the cold pack against my neck.
She shrugged. “You’re an adult. You can make your own choices.” She looked at Thomas. “But if she’s pregnant, you’re marrying her.”
“I’m not pregnant and I won’t be.”
Thomas smiled as he sipped his tea. “Does that mean I have permission to keep seeing your daughter, Mrs Harding?”
“Hey.” I pinched him again. “I just told Gramps it’s not the seventeen hundreds. What do you mean, permission? You’ve never cared about my permission every time you popped up in front of me, so why are you asking for hers?”
And who said we were seeing each other?
“Shh, I’m trying to make my future mother-in-law love me,” he said, leaning in. “Everyone knows you charm the mother-in-law first.”
“It’s true,” Dad said. “That’s how I was able to marry your mother.”
Gramps nodded. “He charmed your grandmother to the point I thought she’d leave me for a younger man.”
I didn’t need to know that.
“Future mother-in-law my arse,” I said to Thomas, my cheeks flushing. “Who said I’d marry you even if you asked?”
Thomas propped his chin up on his hand and grinned at me. “You’re so cute when you’re embarrassed.”
I glared at him. “Don’t you have anything better you should be doing today? Like, oh, managing your massive-arse estate or your tree farm one week before Christmas?”
“I’m spending my time well right now. I’m having morning tea with you, your parents, and your grandfather. What could be better than that?”
“You’re a suck-up,” I shot back.
He shrugged. “Call it what you want.”
“What are you even sucking up for?”
“I told you. I’m charming my future in-laws.”
“Don’t you need to charm me first for there to be any chance of them being your in-laws?”
He grinned. “Is that an invitation?”
I blinked at him. “It’s a bit late for that, don’t you think?”
“Please stop flirting this early in the morning,” Dad said, turning the page of his newspaper. “You’re putting me off my tea.”
