Page 24 of His Innocent Unwrapped In Iceland

She was sharp, he’d give her that. ‘A gift once presented cannot be refused.’

‘That goes for you as well?’

‘Of course.’ He gave her another smile. ‘Except the gift of your absence is not acceptable. Once you agree to this, we’ll both be bound to remain here for the twelve days of Christmas.’

For a second she said nothing, studying him, clearly turning the idea over in her head. It was good she was thinking it through. He didn’t want her to dismiss it out of hand, especially because now he’d thought of it, he wanted it. He wanted it badly, and that was a dangerous thing to allow. He couldn’t let it mean anything. This was just a silly game he’d proposed, nothing more, and if she refused then he’d simply figure out something else.

‘And if I say no?’ she asked. ‘If I want to go home in a couple of days?’

Orion ignored the way his gut tightened. ‘You’re not a prisoner here, Isla. You can leave whenever you like.’

‘Twelve days,’ she mused. ‘That’s a long time. It’s Kendricks’ busy period.’

‘That didn’t seem to bother you when you scheduled a December wedding,’ he pointed out, trying to mask his impatience. ‘And a honeymoon afterwards that you were going to go on.’

She didn’t say anything to that, merely chewed on her bottom lip.

Had he given away how much he wanted this? Was she drawing this out deliberately?

He didn’t like that idea, not at all, so he put out a finger and touched her lip gently. ‘Make a decision, Snow White,’ he murmured. ‘I will not wait all day.’

Her eyes went wide and she stilled, her mouth opening a little. And this time the sparks in her eyes were flames.

Oh, she wanted him all right. She could deny it all she wanted, but they both knew the truth. For a second, he debated pushing her, because her mouth was very soft and he wanted to keep touching it, but then he decided against it, taking his finger away.

He wanted a present. A gift. Christmas had never meant anything to him because he’d had no family of his own, and the foster families he’d been placed with either hadn’t cared about it or only in a minimal way. No one had ever thought of giving him a Christmas gift, for example.

But if she agreed to this then she would. She would give him little presents every day, things he didn’t have to ask for, things he didn’t have to take. Things he wanted.

He almost couldn’t bear the thought of her refusal.

To cover his impatience, he turned and went back behind his desk and sat down. He didn’t look at her, directing his attention back to his email instead and continuing to work as if she wasn’t still standing there and he wasn’t waiting for her to agree to his terms.

There was no point pressing her. Either she said yes or she didn’t. It was up to her.

After a few moments, she finally let out a breath and said, ‘Fine. Twelve days.’

Orion very carefully kept the triumph from his expression and ignored completely the relief that nearly made him catch his breath. ‘Good. Why don’t you go and have some breakfast and think about your first gift to me? I have to finish up some work.’

CHAPTER SIX

ISLASPENTTHErest of the day wondering what she’d got herself into. Orion didn’t emerge from his office all day, which was fine because quite frankly she needed a break from his overwhelming presence, not to mention some time to think.

Despite Orion’s assurances that he’d ‘dealt with it’, she used her phone to email David to tell him that she was okay, though she couldn’t quite bring herself to confront him about the deal he’d made with Orion and why he hadn’t told her about it. After all, she was the one who’d agreed to marry for the sake of the company and for David. She could hardly complain about a change of groom when she didn’t have any feelings for said groom either way.

She was annoyed however when she got his reply that the board were pleased about her marriage to Orion, regardless of the impulsive nature of the wedding. They had been unsure about her being kept on as CEO, but Orion’s assurances that he’d keep the company intact for the next year at least had allayed some fears.

That did not help Isla’s temper. Of course the addition of a man made her being CEO much more palatable and it rankled.

She wanted to do right by David, to prove that he’d made the right choice when he’d adopted her, but his lack of support only added to the feeling that what she was doing was making things worse not better.

One thing was clear to her though; she couldn’t just leave. If the board thought her marriage to Orion was a good thing, then throwing a tantrum and flying home today wouldn’t help her cause. Thatwouldbe letting her anger get the better of her and she couldn’t do that.

Also, she could hardly refuse the idea of Christmas presents, since that was what Kendricks’ was all about. Except Christmas for her wasn’t about family—David for all that he was the ‘Christmas magnate’ didn’t celebrate it. Not when Christmas was the busiest time work wise for them. In fact, she couldn’t remember a time where he had celebrated it with her. Usually, Christmas meant donating her time to work in a homeless shelter or something similar. She didn’t mind that, having come from nothing herself, but she didn’t much like the cynical way David always turned it into a media circus.

Yet that was the way he ran things and she couldn’t argue. She wasn’t any blood of his, only the girl he’d adopted because his wife before she died had wanted him to find a daughter to leave the company to.

Not a daughter to love.

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