Free The Unexpected Holiday Gift by Sophie Pembroke Page B

silly for you to go by train when I’m driving up myself. We’d get up there with much more time to spare. Why don’t you come with me?’
    Clara glanced across at Merry, wondering how exactly to explain without words that driving to Scotland with her ex-husband sounded like the worst idea anyone had ever had in the history of the world. From the wideness of Merry’s eyes, she suspected her friend already knew that.
    And she didn’t even know about Ivy being Jacob’s daughter.
    Oh, this was just a nightmare.
    * * *
    Jacob watched as Clara and Merry appeared to undertake some sort of lengthy conversation without actually saying anything. He wished he was adept at translating the facial expressions and eye movements they employed but, as it was, he couldn’t follow at all.
    Still, he could probably guess the gist of it. Clara would be begging her friend to help her get out of driving to Scotland with him, and Merry would be asking how, exactly, she wanted her to do that.
    He was still the client, after all. And the client was always satisfied when it came to Perfect London.
    The idea of asking Clara to drive up with him hadn’t occurred to him until he was halfway home from his parents’ house the day before. Once it had, it had all seemed astonishingly simple.
    His father wanted Clara there for Christmas. And, if he was honest, so did Jacob. This was a last-chance family Christmas and, whether she liked it or not, Clara was still family. She was still his wife.
    But not for much longer. He was ready to let her go. But if keeping her by his side one last time made his dad feel like all was right with the world, then Jacob would make it happen.
    He’d spent the last fifteen years trying to win back his father’s pride and love through the family business. It was time to try something new—and marrying Clara had been one of the few decisions Jacob had made outside business that his dad had ever approved of.
    Besides, Clara owed him. She’d walked out, left him alone on the day after Christmas with barely a word of explanation. Well, there’d been a letter, but it hadn’t made any sense to him.
    All he’d understood was that he’d failed. Failed as a husband, as a partner. Failed at the whole institution of marriage.
    And Fosters did not fail. That one universal truth had been drilled into him from birth and even now it rang through his bones, chastising him every time he thought of Clara.
    Jacob had failed once in his life—just the once that mattered—before he’d met Clara. And after that he’d vowed that it would never happen again.
    This Christmas, fate had given him a chance to keep that vow. To prove to his father that he was still a success.
    He just needed to convince Clara to go along with it.
    Eight hours trapped in a car with him should do it, he reckoned.
    â€˜So?’ he asked, breaking up the silent discussion going on before him. ‘What do you think? Drive up with me? You can choose the music.’ Which, given what he knew of Clara’s musical taste, was quite the concession indeed.
    â€˜I can’t,’ she said, sounding apologetic even though he knew she wasn’t. ‘I’ve already got a seat booked on the train up with Merry, and we’ll have a few last-minute items to bring up with us...’
    â€˜I’m sure she can manage that alone, can’t you, Merry?’ Jacob turned his best smile onto the petite redhead. Merry, flustered, turned to Clara, her hands outspread.
    â€˜I don’t know,’ she said. ‘Can I?’
    â€˜Well, there’s that...um...extra special thing that needs...transporting,’ Clara said, the words coming out halting and strange.
    Interesting. Given that he was paying for and had ordered everything that needed to go up to Scotland, what exactly was she trying to hide from him?
    Merry knew, it seemed, and caught on instantly. ‘Exactly. I mean,