Free Sweet Inspiration by Penny Watson Page A

Watson
    seat, with a scrabble board game on the cushions between them. Light poured through the tall windows, highlighting Lucy's copper curls, glowing from her pearly skin. She's alive, she's here with me, and...uh oh, she looks pissed off.
    "You cannot spell 'deception', my dear. You used the last 'i'
    for 'liar', remember?" Markus was studying the scrabble board with intense concentration.
    "Hm. How about 'underhanded' or 'hurtful'? I still have some u's and a's left." Lucy glanced up and her eyes narrowed as she spied Nicholas.
    "Good morning. You're finally home." Lucy collected the game pieces and sorted them into the box. "Markus and I have been getting to know each other. He's very charming."
    Markus blushed.
    Nicholas held his hand out to Lucy and pulled her off the bench. He began to wrap his arms around her, but she pushed him away.
    Markus cleared his throat. "I think I'll head to work. We have a lot of orders to fill before Christmas Day. Nice to meet you, Miss Lucy. You call me if you need anything at all. And Oda is dying for you to come by and have a spot of tea."
    Lucy turned to Markus and beamed. "Yes, thank you, Markus. Please tell Oda I would love to stop by later today."
    Then she looked at Nicholas and scowled. "After Mr. Klaus and I have talked."
    "Markus, thank you for entertaining Lucy. Could you please contact the council and schedule a time for me to meet with them? I want to get this over with as soon as possible."
    "Yes, sir, of course."
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    Sweet Inspiration
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    Nicholas smiled at Lucy. "Mr. Klaus? I thought we had moved onto a first-name basis."
    "It's funny. We spent a lot of time together in Eston.
    Baking, enjoying a delicious meal and, well, you know ..." she whispered the end of the sentence as she glanced at Markus heading out the door.
    "Making love, Lucy? Is that what you're referring to? Yes, I remember every second you were naked in my arms, love..."
    "Oh, no you don't! Don't distract me, Nicholas Klaus! We talked about our families and our lives, but I think you neglected to mention a rather important fact, didn't you?"
    Nicholas sat on the back of a leather sofa. "And what might that be, Lucy Anne?"
    "You know exactly what I mean! Let's see, you live in the North Pole, I mean Glasdorf. You ride around in a sleigh. Your assistant is an elf! And, oh yeah, your dad is the Weihn...the Weihn..."
    "The Weihnachtsmann, Santa Claus."
    "Yeah! Santa Claus. Hmmm, did I leave anything out?"
    Lucy cocked her head and raised an eyebrow accusingly at Nicholas.
    "And what, pray tell, do you think would have happened if I had enlightened you of these facts when we were in Eston?
    You would have dialed 9-1-1 and had me carted off to a psychiatric facility."
    "That's not true. You didn't even give me a chance, did you?"
    "Lucy, did Markus tell you what happened yesterday?"
    Nicholas asked softly. He reached for Lucy's hand and 81
    Sweet Inspiration
    by Penny Watson
    squeezed it, bringing her fist up to his mouth as he started to nibble on her knuckles. He needed to touch her, to taste her.
    "You understand that no one is supposed to know that Glasdorf exists. My brothers and I are very careful not to reveal its existence to anyone in the Sudenwelt."
    "I can understand that, but I thought you trusted me more than the average person."
    "I do. Eventually I would have gotten around to telling you, but we were just getting to know each other. I wasn't going to screw up my chances with the most incredible woman I've ever met by telling her Santa is alive and well and living in the North Pole. And he's my dad!"
    Lucy's pale blue eyes blinked up at Nicholas. "You think I'm the most incredible woman you've ever met?"
    "Absolutely. Not to mention impressed that you're so calmly accepting where you are and what's going on around here."
    Lucy wrapped her arms around Nicholas and tilted her head back to gaze up at him. "It's hard not to accept when it's right in front of my eyes. I just played