Page 7 of His Christmas Gift

When all needed was the flowers to finish it, she headed back to the sitting room to get those tables arranged. She loved the gold silk she’d found for them that matched the table runner perfectly, tying both rooms together and into the flowers on order.

Once all arranged she knew it would be stunning. The golds of the material would draw out the orange of the soup and salad, giving it a little more pizzazz than normal and the autumn theme should make everyone happy, and if not, at least she would be, especially with Callum there for the evening.

Just after four-thirty, she saw Jasper coming into the house behind Arthur and his grandson to deliver the wine personally. It put a smile onto her lips, and she greeted the elderly man with kisses to the cheeks. His grandson followed Keith to the kitchen area with the cases of wine.

“For your enjoyment, my dear,” Arthur said handing over a wrapped bottle making her curious. “After a night like this, you certainly deserve a little more decadence than the ’82 will give you, on the house granted you come back to see an old man now and then.”

“Thank you,” Melissa said kissing his cheek again spying the ’85 on the Chalet Fraye bottle.

It truly was one of her absolute favorites and to get it for nothing was beyond incredible, a normal bottle of it would sell at auction for at least a thousand dollars due to its rarity.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, my dear, if you weren’t already taken I’d be talking my grandson into pursuing you. A shame that I’m far too old for it myself,” he teased putting color into her cheeks as Jasper stepped up beside them to avoid the florist moving into the entryway with the arrangements.

Arthur gave him a long look and nodded, smiling as he stated, “You’d be smart to get her a ring soon, son, or else you might just lose her and that would be a shame. Anyone as intelligent about wines at such an age is a rare find and any man incredibly lucky to have her.”

“I agree,” Jasper said taking in the bits he could see from their spot.

“I’ll see you soon, I promise,” Melissa stated hugging the bottle to her chest as Arthur moved towards the doors with his grandson who sent her a smile and wink that had more color hitting her cheeks.

“Apparently, it is dangerous to allow you near both coffee and wine,” Jasper said as they moved towards the stairs allowing the florists to finish bringing in their pieces. “This is remarkable, Melissa. I am in awe with it all, even more so with the limited time to arrange it.”

“Thank you,” she said with a smile before glancing down at the bottle she held. “You should take this though; after all you are paying for the rest.”

“Nonsense, he gave it to you, so I will put it with your things. I’ll head up now to change so I can take over any last-minute bits giving you plenty of time to get ready yourself,” he stated taking the item to see precisely what it was. His brow lifted in surprise at the gift, and he looked back to her in wonder asking, “And what are we enjoying tonight?”

“The ’82 red and ’97 white from the same vineyard,” she answered. “You did say cost wasn’t an issue, after all.”

“Certainly not when it comes to wine like this,” he assured her with a smile. “One of these days you’ll have to tell me how you came to be such an expert at twenty-two.”

“For tonight, you should probably change now; I’ll get the flowers arranged and be up myself shortly,” Melissa stated, watching him disappear up the steps enjoying the view of his backside immensely.

She quickly settled the flowers in with the rest of her chosen décor. Then took a few moments to step back and survey everything before moving to make sure Jenny had everything she needed. “All set?”

“We’re good to go with appetizers starting at six-thirty,” Jenny agreed glancing at the time before looking her over with a smile. “You should get dressed; it’s already five-fifteen.”

“I’m heading that way now; the tables are ready for glasses, and you have the wine, right?” she stated glancing around the space looking for it.

“Zack and Keith have it in the back room making sure it’s all ready for use. We’ve got this Missy, go get dressed to wow them,” Jenny said comforting her enough to move up the stairs to the room Mrs. Nelson showed her to earlier.

Her things were laid out neatly on the vanity in the bathroom, her dress hanging ready on the door, with her shoes on top of a cedar chest. She glanced through her bag for her underwear and laughed softly seeing the tissue paper lying on the bed.

She slipped over to it and discovered her items between the layers. Mrs. Nelson certainly gave her father’s housekeeper a real run, not even Barbara settled a guests’ undergarments like that to ensure their privacy. It calmed her completely as she spotted the wine bottle sitting on the table just inside the room, telling her that Jasper had been in it.

She moved into the bathroom, settling in at the vanity and went to work on her long baby brown hair, it honestly didn’t seem to know if it’d rather be blonde or brown for the most part, but in the winter, the richness of the brown began to stand out more than the blonde from the sun. It was so dimensional that she had no need to dye or add highlights to it, despite several hairdressers’ attempts in order to raise her salon bill.

She braided a couple sections around the crown of her head before pinning the rest up to softly frame her face and neck.

“Thank you for your tutorage, Devon,” she said to her reflection as she used a handheld mirror to take in the back of it. She was happy with the outcome no matter the time it took to accomplish it. It was nearly five-fifty but at least her makeup wouldn’t take so long. Her complexion was naturally dewy, letting her use the lightest base possible, mostly consisting of a primer rather than a heavy foundation.

She focused more on her eyes, using techniques her makeup artist at home taught her to up her everyday style into evening. She rarely wore fake eyelashes, hers were naturally long and with a nice coat of a deep brown, they popped fuller than any number of false ones possibly might. Leaving the rest of her makeup soft to compliment the dress, she moved to get her things to change into the dress.

Melissa settled the dress around her, easily managing the zipper that stopped on her lower back just below the mesh of the illusion netting and she closed the hook and eye to keep it in place with a grin. No one here could possibly guess that she was, pretending or not, to be a simple intern at Jasper’s company or living in a rundown building such as she was. Nor were they likely to realize that she was Ethan Hannover’s daughter, at least this group shouldn’t. Others closer to her father’s industry might, but she should be safe enough tonight.

She settled back at the vanity to double-check her hair then makeup, smiling at the look before moving to get her shoes and the bracelet from her father for her eighteenth birthday. The soft gold was luminous against her skin, and she headed down the hall to the stairs with ease.

She could handle tonight. The people she didn’t know and the tedious turn to business that was likely to come wouldn’t bother her. She’d been attending events with her father since she was thirteen, been his hostess since then.

She kept well abreast of current events, news, and such to keep the conversation going, no matter if she were home or not. Actually, she enjoyed reading the Wall Street Journal, discovering little bits here and there that were interesting, despite not wanting to live her life for business.

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