But he wasn’t looking at the table when he said that.
That betraying warmth scalded her cheeks and she looked back down at the paper serviettes. Truth was she’d started off slow purely to give Ellen time with Alvaro, but she’d truly lost track of time. It had been a bigger job than she’d realised.
When she eventually went back to the kitchen she found Alvaro standing, his jacket already on, and teasingly tapping his watch.
‘Are you finally ready to leave?’ she teased and met his stare limpidly.
‘As if it’s my fault we’re leaving late?’
As Jade walked ahead to the car she heard Alvaro’s soft query to the older woman.
‘You’re okay?’ he asked her.
‘I’m always okay. But I’m always better for seeing you.’
Jade knew just how she felt.
Alvaro couldn’t bear to look at Jade, yet couldn’t tear his gaze away—his damn body betrayed him every time. Her stunning hair hung in those half-curls down her back and that emerald jacket with its warm, woolly lining brought out the sparkle in her eyes and the roses in her cheeks. He wanted to grab the lapels, tug her close and taste her again. She looked like a fresh-baked treat—glitter-dusted by all those ludicrous decorations. He wanted to haul her to his hideaway and keep her all to himself like a selfish treasure-hoarding dragon.
And, for just a few nights, he was going to.
He got into the car and waited for her to fasten her seat belt. At least the darkening sky was doing him a favour—he wouldn’t be able to see her as she sat beside him. Leaving Ellen’s almost two hours later than planned shouldn’t matter. He should be relieved to have less time completely alone with Jade and be pleased to have spent more time helping out Ellen. But Jade had had more time with Ellen too and her super-polite reticence had almost instantly melted, revealing her innate warmth and humour.
‘Thanks for being so patient with Ellen,’ he said gruffly.
‘Why wouldn’t I be?’ Jade sounded surprised. ‘It was a privilege to meet her.’
He found he couldn’t say anything to that. Ellen was the most important person in his life. But he was deeply private and protective towards her. So someone seeing, someone knowing? But Jade wasn’t just someone. And she was precious too. Even when he didn’t want her to be.
‘Did you think I would find it a chore?’ Her voice cooled.
An ache bloomed in his chest. He’d not meant to offend her. ‘I figure you have to meet people all the time. It must get tiring.’
‘I might not find it naturally easy, but I do try.’
Oh, she did. And whether she found it easy or not, she was good at it. She listened and set people at ease. ‘You were lovely with her.’ He forced himself to smile and lighten the mood. ‘But dressing the Christmas table, Jade?’
‘I thought you and Ellen might like some time to catch up without me.’
Yeah, he’d suspected she’d fiddled about with those decorations as a stalling tactic so Ellen could talk with him longer—asking everything but those questions that really mattered. They both knew to avoid those. But Jade had wanted more time for them. Because Jade was very sweet.
‘You didn’t need to do that,’ he muttered, a little hoarse. ‘Ellen and I understand each other perfectly well.’
‘It was fun,’ she parried lightly.
Yeah, she had enjoyed it. He’d seen that when he’d gone to find out what was taking her so long—he’d been unable to resist quietly spying on her. She’d taken such care and such sweet joy, becoming self-conscious only when she’d realised how long she’d taken. She’d joked about making origami animals from paper towels, but he’d seen the pleasure she’d found in setting out gaudy dollar-shop decorations and hanging tinsel as if she’d never touched it before. And she possibly hadn’t—not up close, not to play with herself. Even in their poorest moments Ellen had found a string of tinsel from somewhere and Alvaro never let her go without yards of it now. Ellen had struggled on her own for so long and he owed everything to her. And for once it was easier to talk about her rather than think about the other woman currently sitting beside him.
‘I’ve tried to get her into a new place,’ he said. ‘But she won’t move. I changed her appliances though. Haven’t heard the end of it. Her baking has suffered ever since, apparently.’
Jade chuckled.
‘She’s useless at accepting help.’ He smiled fondly. ‘Fiercely independent, to the point of frustration. But she worked so hard for so long and never got ahead. It wasn’t her fault. There just weren’t the hours in the day and by the time she took me on, she was tired. In my early teens I realised that getting her out of that hand-to-mouth cycle was down to me. She was worn down from all those years working all those hours to support others. Her own family. Her mother. Her brother. Then me.’
She should’ve had someone who’d helped her long before him. And he’d been part of the burden holding her down for too long already.
‘And you did that, right? She doesn’t have to work any more if she doesn’t want to.’
She still did, of course. He nodded.
‘You keep her house maintained, you stock her pantry.’
‘She gives most of it away. She takes in all manner of waifs and strays and I worry she’ll get taken advantage of again.’
‘Again?’
That ‘family’ of hers had more than taken advantage. They’d used her up, literally worn her out. It had only been when she’d taken Alvaro that she’d finally fully escaped them. When she’d seen what they’d done to him.
‘She gives too much,’ he said in vague explanation.
‘Is that possible?’
‘When it’s at your own expense—yes.’ It had cost Ellen—her youth, her time, her health, her own future.
‘So you only see her on Christmas Eve,’ she said softly. ‘You don’t go to her dinner on the day?’
‘I don’t want to add to her load. It’s really just another job for her, only this time the restaurant is at her home. I don’t understand why she still does it when she doesn’t have to. Why she wants all the work of cooking for a bunch of people she doesn’t really know. You’d think she’d want a break.’
‘Maybe she appreciates the break from the financial stress, sure. But perhaps there are other things she gets out of it? Being needed...caring for someone or something. That’s important to a lot of people.’
‘Not to me,’ he muttered. He refused to allow it to be. ‘I owe Ellen and I’ll always support her and I’ll support my employees. But beyond that?’