Her Christmas Fantasy & The Winter Bride by Lynne Graham, Penny Jordan Read Free Book Online Page B

white Christmas—a long-held childhood wish of hers which she had so far never had fulfilled. Mary Hanford had been scornful of her excitement.
    As she gathered up her belongings Lisa suddenly paused; the clothes she had bought with such pleasure and which she had held onto with such determination lay on the bed in an untidy heap.
    Beautiful though they were, she suddenly felt that she knew now that she could never wear them. They were tainted. Some things were just not meant to be, she decided regretfully asshe stroked the silk fabric of one of the shirts with tender fingers.
    She might have paid for them, bought them in all good faith, but somehow she had never actually felt as though they were hers.
    But it was her borrowed clothes, like the borrowed persona she had perhaps unwittingly tried to assume to impress Henry’s family, which had proved her downfall, and she was, she decided firmly, better off without both of them.
    Ten minutes later, wearing her own jeans, she lifted the carefully folded clothes into her suitcase. Once the Christmas holiday was over she would telephone the dress agency and explain that she no longer had any use for the clothes. Hopefully they would be prepared to take them back and refund most, if not all of her money.
    It was too late to regret now that she had not accepted Alison’s suggestion that she join her and some other friends on a Christmas holiday and skiing trip to Colorado. Christmas was going to be very lonely for her alone in her flat with all her friends and her parents away. A sadly wistful smile curved the generous softness of her mouth as she contemplated how very different from her rosy daydreams the reality of her Christmas was going to be.
    â€˜You’re going to the north of England—Yorkshire. I know it has a reputation for being much colder up there than it is here in London, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get snow,’ Alison had warned her, adding more gently, ‘Don’t invest too much in this visit to Henry’s family, Lisa. I know how important it is to you but things don’t always work out the way you plan. The Yorkshire Dales are a beautiful part of the world, but people are still people and—well, let’s face it, from what Henry has said about his family, especially his mother, it’s obvious that she’s inclined to be a little on the possessive side.’
    â€˜I know you don’t really like Henry…’ Lisa had begun defensively.
    But Alison had shaken her head and told her firmly, ‘It isn’t that I don’t care for Henry, rather that I do care about you. He isn’t right for you, Lisa. Oh, I know what you’re going to say: he’s solid and dependable, and with him you can put down the roots that are so important to you. But, to be honest—well, if you want the truth, I see Henry more as a rather spoiled little boy than the kind of man a woman can rely on.’
    It looked as if Alison was a much better judge of character than she, Lisa acknowledged as she zipped her case shut and picked it up.

CHAPTER THREE
    L ISA WAS HALFWAY down the stairs when Henry walked into the hallway and saw her.
    â€˜Lisa, why are you dressed like that? Where are you going?’ he demanded as he looked anxiously back over his shoulder, obviously not wanting anyone else to witness what was going on.
    â€˜I’m leaving,’ she told him calmly. It was odd that she should be able to remain so calm with Henry who, after all, until this evening’s debacle had been the man she had intended to marry, the man she had planned to spend the rest of her life with, and yet with Oliver, a complete stranger, a man she had seen only twice before and whom she expected…hoped…she would never see again, her emotions became inflamed into a rage of gargantuan proportions.
    â€˜Leaving? But you can’t… What will people think?’ Henry protested. ‘Mother’s got the