Free A Winter Flame by Milly Johnson Page A

Douglas,’ he said, so close to her ear that she felt his stubble brush her lobe. She moved
away and scratched at it as if it had just been touched by an irritating insect – which wasn’t too far away from what she thought about her mysterious business partner. Then she moved
her scratching attentions down to her side and stuck her nails into her skin because the itch there was still driving her mental. She was going to write to Procter and Gamble when she got home and
complain that they shouldn’t mess around with their lemon shower gel formulas without informing the public.
    The grotto had a protective fence around it so they couldn’t even see the outside, never mind the inside of it. Not that Eve was anxious to. Santa held no attraction for her. It was a
stupid thing to believe in anyway.
    ‘What do you think we should call the ice-cream parlour?’ asked Violet. ‘Santa’s Ices, Santa’s Pantry . . .’
    ‘Why should it be Santa’s anything?’ Eve replied with a weary snap in her voice. ‘It’s Winterworld, not Christmasworld. We should concentrate primarily on the
season, not the holiday.’ Why was everyone so obsessed with it being all about Christmas?
    ‘So you’re just going to cut out all references to Christmas?’ said Jacques, doing a very French-like shrug. ‘Who would you prefer to have running the grotto then? A
child catcher?’
    ‘Don’t be silly,’ said Eve. ‘Of course, we’ll have to have a Santa. But we need to emphasize the winter aspect more than the Christmas aspect. It’s commercial
sense. No one would want to come to a Christmas theme park in July.’
    ‘I would,’ said Violet, raising her hand as if she were in class. Then she realized that she probably shouldn’t have said that from the withering look Eve gave her.
    ‘I beg to differ also,’ said Jacques. ‘Some people have Christmas in their heart all year round. Your Aunt Evelyn for instance.’
    ‘Who was quite obviously more unhinged than I’d thought, looking at all this,’ said Eve under her breath. Well, she’d get her way in the end. She had years of business
experience behind her and only an idiot would try to convince her that she was wrong in wanting to adhere strictly to the ‘winter’ theme. But she was thinking more and more that she was
going to have a battle on her hands with Jacques Glace. He was a Christmasphile and he’d have the park full of festive tat given half the chance. Well, he wouldn’t get that chance. When
Eve found out what his dubious connection to Aunt Evelyn was, she would use it to drive him out of her business.
    The track for the miniature railway had been laid already at the side of the path through the forest.
    ‘This is going to be so pretty,’ trilled Violet. ‘What a shame you couldn’t get the reindeer to pull a sleigh too, along here.’
    ‘There won’t be any reindeer,’ Eve returned. She thought she had said that under her breath but Jacques heard it.
    ‘No reindeer?’ he boomed, making Brian Blessed sound like a horse whisperer. ‘Of course there will be reindeer. You can’t have a Christmas park without a
reindeer.’
    ‘It’s not a Christmas park,’ Eve clung desperately onto her calmness.
    ‘Oh yes it is,’ Jacques laughed.
    ‘Oh no it isn’t,’ Eve replied.
    ‘Oh yes it is,’ Jacques said again, and Eve was just about to argue when she realized he had deliberately dragged her into a pantomime exchange. The man was incorrigible.
    ‘It is a
winter
theme park, Mr Glace. There is a marked difference. And though there is a crossover, there must have been a reason why my Aunt Evelyn called it
“Winterworld” and not “Christmasworld”. Trust me, she will have thought of that. You must see my point.’
    ‘I do see your point,’ Jacques nodded sagely. ‘But Evelyn called it Winterworld because the name Christmasworld had been taken by a company who threatened to sue her if she
used it. Trust
me,
I know what she wanted. Santa,