The Twelve Nights of Christmas by Sarah Morgan Page A

should see us.’
    Evie hurried alongside him, conscious of the strength of his fingers locked with hers as they were led towards the back of the store. ‘Rio—’ she hissed his name ‘—don’t we have to pay or something? I don’t want to set the alarms off and have to spend Christmas in custody, if it’s all the same to you.’
    He didn’t slacken his stride. ‘It’s been dealt with.’
    â€˜How? Where?’
    But he simply propelled her to the back of the store. Moments later, Rio’s driver was speeding through the back streets of London’s most exclusive area.
    Evie flopped back against the seat, twisting the ring on her finger. She tilted her hand, admiring it from every angle, watching as it sparkled and glinted. ‘I still don’t understand why you went to all that trouble to buy a ring if you’re not going to let anyone see it. You didn’t even let them see you leave the shop.’
    â€˜They know I’ve left. The fact that I’m being secretive will make them more interested.’
    â€˜I hope you don’t have an over-inflated idea of your ownimportance. Otherwise, this whole idea is going to fall flat on its face.’
    Rio’s response to that was to hold out his phone. ‘Call your grandfather.’
    â€˜What, now?’ Evie had been putting off that moment and her stomach plummeted as she anticipated what her severe, principled grandfather would say about her current situation. ‘What am I supposed to say? Hi, Grandpa, you may be seeing a picture of me naked in today’s papers so I just wanted to tell you that I’m not starting a career as a glamour model—’
    â€˜It won’t be in today’s papers. It’s too late for that. There’s a strong chance it will make tomorrow’s editions, but it may already be up on the Internet. Call.’
    â€˜My grandfather doesn’t surf the Internet. He’s eighty-six,’ Evie squeaked but her observation merely earned her a lift of an eyebrow.
    â€˜What does his age have to do with anything?’
    â€˜You wouldn’t be asking me that if you’d been to the Cedar Court Retirement Home. They celebrated when they got a decent TV picture. They probably think high speed broadband is another type of dressing for varicose veins.’
    He didn’t withdraw the phone. ‘Call.’
    â€˜I can’t.’ Evie’s voice was a whisper and she shrank back against the seat as she tried to delay the inevitable. ‘This is the guy who took me on my first day at school. He taught me to ride a bike. He doesn’t believe in holding hands or kissing in public. I’m all he has in the world and he thinks I’m a really decent, old-fashioned girl… In fact, I am a decent, old fashioned girl, or I was until I met you.’
    â€˜All the more reason to call him before he hears it from someone else.’
    Running out of excuses, Evie took the phone reluctantly. Her hand shook as she keyed in the number. As she waited for him to answer, she pressed her fingers to the bridge ofher nose and tried not to think about how disappointed her grandfather was going to be.
    After all he’d done for her, after all his love and affection, he didn’t deserve this…
    â€˜Grandpa? It’s Evie…how are you doing?’ Her voice sounded false to her and she wondered how long it would take her grandfather to pick up on the fact that something was wrong. ‘Are you staying warm there in all this snow?’ Maybe that was a good link, she thought desperately as she listened to his cheerful response— I was a bit too warm, Grandpa, so I thought I’d take my clothes off…
    â€˜No, nothing’s wrong; I just thought I’d ring you for a chat.’ Aware that Rio was watching her, Evie carried on making small talk about the weather and listening to her grandfather’s observations about