do I have this fear of not fitting in, but I have to try and impress them with a pink face and peeling skin and no makeup, so it’s not like I can even put my best face forward for this introduction, which makes me very, very anxious.”
I stop talking. Xander says nothing.
“Well?” I ask.
“I was waiting to see if this narrative had another paragraph or so left before I began speaking.”
I can’t help but smile.
“That’s much better,” Xander says, smiling down at me. Then his face grows serious. “Are you going into this thinking my friends and family are all stuck-up, arrogant arses who spend their free time polishing tiaras and counting wads of cash?”
I furiously shake my head. “No, of course not.”
“Then I guarantee they aren’t thinking you are uncivilised for being a biscuit artist from Wales who has never attended the Chelsea Garden Show.” He runs his fingers through my hair. “They don’t give a shit about any of that. It didn’t matter with Clementine, and it won’t matter with you. We’re people. Normal people—when we’re not a part of the show, that is. We care about each other. And because they care about me, they want to see what you are about. What makes you the first woman I’ve brought to meet the squad. And I promise they are going to like you as much as I do.”
His words seep into me, causing a feeling of adoration for this man who is so tenderly stroking my hair and gazing down at me affectionately.
And there’s something special, something wonderful, about being the first girl he’s brought into this exclusive world that he so fiercely protects as his.
“You’re right,” I say. “Thank you.”
A wicked grin appears on his handsome face. “Well, if you don’t win them over with your charming personality, they’ll definitely love you for what is in this box,” he says, lifting up the box he’s carrying for me.
I playfully push him on the arm and giggle. I made up a box of delights from The Biscuit Cutter as my gift for tonight. I selected lemon bars for Liz and iced biscuits for Clementine, and the rest is an assortment from today’s counter selection.
“I hope so,” I say, picturing what is tucked inside the bakery box. “I just wanted to show my appreciation for being invited here, you know?”
“I do know, and that’s what makes you special,” Xander says, smiling warmly at me.
I’m melting. Again. How can this man touch me in so many ways? With a look. A smile. The words he chooses to describe me.
Oh, there are so many ways Xander Wales is reaching my heart.
And I plan to discover all of them.
“What did you put in here, anyway?” Xander asks, interrupting my thoughts.
I tell him about what I picked for Liz and Clementine, and how I added banoffee tarts, rocky road bars, custard tarts, and miniature elderflower and lemon cakes for everyone else to choose from. Hopefully, it’s enough. I found out after I left that Camden Tremblay is going to be here, as he and Christian went to work out together this afternoon, and he was added to the guest list of this spontaneously thrown party.
Xander wrinkles his nose as soon as I say the word elderflower.
“Does anyone really like elderflower?” Xander muses out loud. “I’ve never met anyone who enjoys it. It’s like eating a bunch of flowers.”
“Yes, people do like it,” I say, laughing. “It sells out all the time. It has a lovely, subtle floral and fragrant scent that I adore in a cake.”
Xander makes a face. I laugh some more.
“I can see the culinary brilliance of flowers is completely lost on you.”
“And it shall stay lost,” Xander says decisively, pressing his finger on the doorbell.
I chuckle. “You are not one to change your point of view easily.”
He grins wickedly. “Once I set my mind on something, I stick with it. I can be very determined that way, you know. Like I was with getting you to say yes to dinner.”
I hear the door being pulled open before I can reply. The ease that had momentarily come back to me evaporates the second I see Clementine standing at the door.
She smiles warmly at me. “Hello, Xander. Hello, Poppy, so lovely to have you here this evening.”
I blush. This is so weird. Earlier this week, Clementine was my client. Now, she’s my client and the future sister-in-law of the man I’m seeing.
And this future duchess is looking very casual this