Page 73 of A Winter Wish

Theo sighed. “Fine, we’ll go.” He looked at Lexie. “But please remember that I warned you.” He turned his attention to Kieran. “And that pint better be on you, mate—you owe me.”

—

Lexie couldn’t stop her mouth from quite literally falling open as Theo parked the car in front of his parents’ place. It had to be the most gorgeous redbrick house she’d ever seen—and was about five times the size of her mum’s cottage. The front lawn was perfectly manicured, complete with pruned bushes. Four turreted chimneys stretched up above the roof, and from the windows she could see, Lexie was sure it must be three floors.

“You’re rich!” she hissed at Theo as they got out of the car. She hung back until he started making his way toward the porch, feeling uncertain all of a sudden.

“My parents are rich,” Theo said. And like he could sense her nerves, he took her hand, laced his fingers with hers. Even out here, in front of his parents’ house, her pulse flared with the contact, and she had to try very hard to stop her mind flashing to how it had felt to have him inside of her last night.

“Isn’t that the same thing?” she asked, as they crunched across the gravel. There were another two cars in the enormous driveway—a BMW and a Mercedes.

“Well, definitely not in my case.”

But Lexie was still staring at the house, craning her neck back as they approached, feeling a combination of awe and trepidation.

“Damn, I never should have brought you here,” Theo said wryly. “Now if I ever ask you to marry me, you’ll only be in it for the money I might one day inherit.”

She could tell he was joking, but her heart immediately gave a panicked thump at the word marry, and she stumbled a little as they came to a stop.

He squeezed her hand. “Lex?”

She looked up at him.

“I’m kidding.”

She licked her now-dry lips. “Right. I know that.” She gave a weak, very unconvincing laugh.

Theo pressed the doorbell, and Lexie heard it echo inside the house. A woman came out almost immediately, and Lexie knew this had to be Theo’s mother. She had the same eyes—dark with amber highlights, though on first glance they seemed more static than Theo’s, which were constantly changing. Her tan skin was flawless, her lips painted peach, and her hair was a little lighter than Theo’s, with honey highlights neatly streaked through. She smiled, showing impressively white teeth, and leaned in to kiss Theo’s cheek. Theo, Lexie couldn’t help but notice, held himself a little stiff as he returned the gesture.

“This is my mum, Lexie,” Theo said. “Shauna.”

“Hi, Shauna.” Lexie’s smile faltered a little under Shauna’s assessing gaze. Shauna then looked away, back to Theo, like she was reserving judgment.

“Your father’s in the living room,” she said to Theo. “He’ll be pleased to see you.”

“Doubtful,” Theo muttered, so quietly that Lexie was sure his mum hadn’t heard.

She squeezed his hand as Shauna led them into the hallway, her heels clacking on the wooden floor. Lexie felt underdressed—not just in comparison to Shauna, who was wearing a flowery dress that looked like it must be designer, but in the face of the interior. The whole place was flawless. The off-white walls were spotless, the beige carpet leading up the impressive spiral staircase pristine. There was a fireplace in the hallway, of all places, with a rug in front of it and two reading chairs, and above them a chandelier hung from the high ceiling. There was artwork dotted throughout, in that way most people could only dream of. She wondered what it must be like to keep a place of this size as clean and tidy as it was—though surely somewhere like this would have a cleaner. It was so at odds with what she’d seen of the flat above the shop where Theo lived that she couldn’t get her head around the fact that he’d grown up here.

The walk through the house felt oddly hushed—if it had been her mum, they’d have been talking from the word go. Theo’s dad was reading The Irish Times when the three of them entered the living room and he only looked up when Shauna spoke his name.

“Patrick? Theo’s here. And his friend Lexie,” she added, after the briefest of pauses. There was a piano in the corner of the living room, for God’s sake. She glanced up at Theo, wanting to ask if he played, but he was looking at his dad, his posture stiffening by the second. She pulled her hand from his, tugged at her curls self-consciously.

Patrick peered over the paper. His hair was steel gray, to match his eyebrows, and his eyes were bright blue. He was wearing a suit, despite the fact that it was just the four of them. Lexie decided that Theo’s parents must take the concept of “Sunday best” literally. She and Theo definitely looked underdressed.

“So you’re visiting for the weekend, then?” Patrick asked, not bothering to say hello to Lexie.

“Lexie and I are here for work,” Theo said, and he said her name a little pointedly, like he was reminding his dad she was here. It worked, and Patrick glanced at her.

“You work with Theo, do you?”

Jesus, Patrick’s eyes were intense. But not in the way Theo’s were—his gaze was cold and calculating. “Ah, yes. I’m Richard’s daughter.”

Patrick’s gray eyebrows pulled together.

“My old boss,” Theo explained, and Patrick grunted, before folding his newspaper.

“Lunch ready, then, is it?” he asked Shauna.