The Unexpected Holiday Gift by Sophie Pembroke

grand tour?’
    â€˜Absolutely.’ Clara nodded and, leaning her suitcase against the wall, disappeared down a passageway.
    Jacob followed, wondering whether medieval castles also came with central heating.
    * * *
    Clara headed for the kitchen, her heart racing. Okay, so maybe she’d underestimated quite how... castley this place was. Still, she could already see it, decorated for Christmas, with the scent of turkey wafting out from the kitchen, presents under the tree...and a couple of glasses of something down everyone’s throats. Then it would be perfect.
    But first she had to convince Jacob of that.
    He’d said that the original perfect Christmas had been spent in a cottage in the Highlands, so she started with the kitchen. She knew from the photos the owner had sent over that it had a large farmhouse-style kitchen table that would be ideal for breakfasts or board games or just chatting over coffee. Between that and the Aga, hopefully Jacob would start to get the sort of feel he wanted from the place.
    â€˜This is nice,’ he said as he ducked through the low doorway behind her. Rows of copper pots and pans hung from the ceiling and the range cooker had been left on low, keeping the room cosy and warm.
    â€˜The owner did the whole place up a year or so ago, to hire out for corporate retreats and the like. It must have cost him a fortune to finish it to this kind of standard but...’ She remembered the rates that she—well, Jacob—was paying, and why she’d been so desperate to fill the castle and not have to pay her cancellation charge. ‘I guess he figures it’s worth the investment.’
    â€˜He’s done a good job,’ Jacob admitted, running his fingers across the cascade of copper on the ceiling. ‘So, what is he—some sort of displaced laird, trying to make money from the old family pile?’
    â€˜Something like that,’ Clara replied. ‘Do you want to see the rest?’
    Jacob gave a sharp nod and Clara took off through the other door into the next part of the castle. That was another reason why she really wished she’d been able to get up here first and alone. She’d have been able to get the lie of the land, get her bearings. She had a feeling that studying the castle floor plans the night before might not totally cut it.
    Still, Jacob seemed impressed by the pantry, already filled with the food she’d ordered for the festivities. And, once they found their way back into the main part of the castle, the banqueting room, the snug, the parlour and sunroom all went down well. Whilst Jacob managed to make a cutting comment about each, Clara could tell that he was secretly impressed.
    So was she. And relieved.
    â€˜I still say that nowhere in Scotland needs a sun anything,’ Jacob grumbled as they made their way back through the grand hallway to the staircase.
    â€˜Ah, but imagine the views from the sunroom if the sun did actually come out,’ Clara said. ‘And I know you think the banqueting hall is too large—’
    â€˜It has a table that sits thirty,’ Jacob interjected. ‘There’s going to be four of us. Five if you agree to stay. You should, you know, just to make the numbers up.’
    â€˜But it won’t feel big once I’ve finished decorating it. Well, not so big, anyway,’ Clara said. ‘And I’m not staying.’ He was joking, right? The last place she wanted to spend Christmas was here with her ex-in-laws.
    But the look Jacob gave her told her that she was missing something. What on earth had he got planned now? He couldn’t really be expecting her to stay, could he? If so, she really needed to nip that idea in the bud.
    â€˜We’ll see.’ Jacob started up the stairs before she could reiterate her determination to head back to the hotel for Christmas Day.
    Oh, he was infuriating. Had he been this infuriating when they’d been married? Most likely;