British Black Sheep - Lauren Smith Page 0,29
glanced at his brother, trying to hide a flash of panic. Morgan couldn’t possibly have guessed that he’d slept with her.
“Mum, she’s in her matchmaking mode. I suspect she plans to set me up with Ms. Honeyweather. The woman is rather attractive, I admit. Not my usual type, but she has a nice smile, warm and open. From what mum says, she’s quite intelligent, too. I can’t imagine why she ever got divorced.”
Alec blinked. “You know about that?” How did his brother know but she hadn’t said anything to Alec? It was clear she’d told Morgan when they’d only known each other a handful of minutes. She’d spent two nights with Alec and never said a word. That bothered him more than he wanted to admit.
Alec folded his arms over his chest. “I don’t think you should seduce mum’s ghostwriter.”
“Who said anything about seduction?” Morgan pretended to look affronted, but Alec knew better.
“Just leave the woman be.”
Morgan grinned. “Hardly seems sporting. If anything, it would disappoint mum. Or perhaps you want in? Best brother wins the girl?”
“If that’s the rules, you’ll never stand a chance.” Alec socked his brother in the arm, just hard enough to make Morgan wince.
“Hey.” Morgan started to say something but voices in the hall warned them their mother and Brie were coming back.
“Back so soon?” Morgan took a step toward the two women, but Alec swung his arm out, effectively halting his brother with one dark look.
“Yes, we had a quick cup of tea.” Their mother shared a smile with Brie. “Now, you boys can stay or go, but Brie and I must talk Christmas trees.”
“We’ll stay.” Both Alec and Morgan replied at the same time.
Julia walked over to the base of the vast tree with Brie trailing behind her. Brie was still wearing the same cream-colored sweater and jeans she’d worn this morning. Her curves were hinted at but not overly displayed and Alec’s hands itched with the sudden need to grip her hips and hold her close so he could press a kiss to her ear. But that was the very last thing he could do right now.
“Martin Luther is the one credited for the tradition of lighting trees,” Julia explained to Brie, who scribbled notes in a brightly striped colored notebook. Julia adjusted a few ornaments’ positions on the tree as she continued. “The word tinsel is derived from the Latin word scintilla, which means spark.”
Alec moved closer, drawn in by his mother’s history lesson. He’d never realized she knew so much about Christmas.
“They used to use actual shredded silver to make silver leaves as the first tinsel, which must have cost a fortune. Let’s see, what else…oh! I’m sure you know that when Queen Victoria married Prince Albert, that’s when Christmas trees became popular in England.”
“I’d heard that,” Brie replied as she wrote down more notes. Alec joined her and Morgan followed too close behind.
“Now, we have a Norway spruce for the salon tree, the same kind Prince Albert chose for Queen Victoria.” Julia looked up at the massive tree and Brie did the same. “We can’t help but find the tallest one each year. We like it to be tall enough that the people in the balconies above can almost touch it.”
“It’s such a lovely tree,” Brie said. “My mother used to take me to The Nutcracker ballet as a kid and I remember being in awe of the tree on stage. There’s a scene where Clara starts to fall asleep and dream of the toy soldier and the mice. During that scene the tree is supposed to grow larger to show that Clara is shrinking to the size of her toys. The ballet company had an actual tree that was made to grow larger from under the stage. You can imagine the effect this had on the kids. I was convinced it was magic how the tree stretched higher and wider while mice peered into the frosted windowpanes.” Brie’s eyes lit up. He could hear love and affection for the memory so clearly it made his throat tighten.
“I love that ballet too,” Julia confessed, then glanced at Alec. “But try convincing my boys to see it? Impossible.”
Morgan laughed. “There’s no way I would’ve seen that as a boy, but I would now if someone wished me to.” Morgan looked at Brie a little too openly.
“Morgan, why don’t you tell Brie about the rope and pulley system we use to get the tree in the place?” Julia suggested.
“I would be