‘Don’t I?’ he interrupted quietly.
‘No.’
‘And if I want to?’ he drawled.
‘Oh, that’s different,’ she said eagerly. ‘If you aren’t too late you can help me decorate the tree.’
‘You haven’t done that yet?’ Logan sounded surprised.
‘It’s traditional in our family to decorate the tree on Christmas Eve.’
‘I see. And is it going to be traditional in our family too?’ He chuckled at her sudden silence. ‘Callie, are you blushing?’
She was, deeply so. The prospect of having Logan as a husband was still so new to her that the idea of a family, of Logan’s children, had co
me as something of a shock to her.
‘Callie?’ he laughed.
‘I think you do it on purpose,’ she said irritably.
‘Do what?’ he teased.
‘I’m not going to humour you,’ she told him haughtily. ‘I’ll see you later tonight.’
‘It’s traditional in my family to give presents on Christmas Eve. Would you like your present tonight?’
‘That depends what it is,’ she said guardedly.
‘You’re learning, Callie,’ he chuckled. ‘You’re learning. But I guarantee you’ll like this. I love you,’ his voice lowered seductively.
‘Me too,’ she returned softly.
‘Can’t talk, hmm?’ he guessed.
‘No.’ She was very conscious of Mike sitting at his desk a few feet away from her, this being one of the open-plan style offices that are so popular nowadays—and which offered no privacy for its occupants.
‘But I can,’ said Logan with obvious enjoyment. ‘Tonight, when we’re alone, I’m going to—’
‘Behave yourself,’ Callie warned.
‘Or I’ll make you blush again?’ he mocked.
‘Logan—’
‘Okay, okay, I’m being unfair. But I will be back tonight, although it could be late. And tomorrow we’ll drive to my mother’s together.’
Callie quickly tidied her desk after ringing off, and hurried to the shops to buy a present for her future mother-in-law, choosing a beautiful cut-glass vase and buying some roses to put in it.
Bill arrived at twenty past seven. ‘For you,’ he handed her a gaily wrapped parcel.
‘For you,’ she laughingly handed him the presents she had bought for him, Marilyn, and Paul.
‘I think we came out best in that exchange,’ he grinned.
‘You haven’t seen what I bought you yet!’ She thought gleefully of the lurid underpants she had bought him.
‘I can imagine,’ he grimaced, sitting down to undo his briefcase. ‘That report on Spencer Plastics I’ve been promising you—’ He handed it to her, a brown folder that looked as if it would take some reading.