She reached for the remote and turned on the television.

There was a shot of a weather reporter standing outside in a fierce snowstorm. The weather hadn’t changed. Which meant they were stuck here until at least tomorrow. Christmas Eve.

“I think I’m going to call everyone and cancel our plans,” Allyson said. She knew that they were about to decorate the villa and make the place look more festive, but it was hard not to feel glum. Christmas in New York was all she wanted. It would have been perfect. And all the magic of spending a holiday with her family had been taken away from her.

Dane nodded. “That’s probably for the best.”

After she went upstairs to get freshened up, she contacted the caterers. Then she called her family members, Dane’s parents, and family friends to make sure they were safe during the snowstorm. Everyone was disappointed that the Christmas plans were cancelled, but with the storm grinding New York to a halt they more than understood.

When she headed back downstairs, she found her husband putting up the large plastic Christmas tree. She was used to having real trees, but she had to admit the plastic tree looked pretty realistic. And it was absolutely huge. Almost as big as the ones in department stores.

“Honestly, despite the cancellation, you and I might end up getting the better end of the deal here,” she said.

Her husband turned to her and smiled. “I know I got the better end of the deal. I get to spend Christmas with the most beautiful girl in the world.”

His words made her heart flutter. “I meant we don’t have to deal with the bad weather. But being here with you is nice.”

“Is it? Because you don’t look all that happy,” he pointed out.

She sighed. “I’m trying to enjoy this. But it’s still so hard having to accept that I won’t be spending Christmas with my family. I’ve never missed a Christmas with them. Not once. And now I’ll be missing my first Christmas as a Prescott.”

He reached for one of the sparkling blue Christmas ornaments on the coffee table and handed it to her. “Why don’t we at least try? I know your mind is elsewhere right now, but maybe if the place looked more festive you’d come around.”

“Okay,” she said. “I can’t promise a lot, but I can promise to try.”

First, they put white lights on the tree. Then they got to work decorating the tree with blue and silver ornaments. The ornaments were mostly nautical-themed and probably tacky, but there was something oddly charming about them. There were sparkly anchors, iridescent seashells, seahorses, and regular round ornaments that were silver or blue. Finally, Dane put the giant starfish on the top of the tree.

He caught her gaze and frowned. “You don’t like the tree, do you?”

“It’s pretty,” she said. “Just not what I’m used to.”

“It reminds me of our wedding,” he said. “Anything nautical-themed reminds me of the day we got married.”

“Really?”

Dane nodded, his eyes focusing on the tree. “Do you remember the day we met?”

“How could I forget?” She smiled. “I’d never been so nervous on a job interview in my life. My hands were shaking so much. Not just because I wanted the job so badly, but because you were so handsome. And so smart. Plus, I’d read all about you.”

He turned to her. “You looked me up?”

“Didn’t have to,” she said with a laugh. “I used to read the gossip rags, you know.”

“Ah. Well, you can’t believe everything you read.” He paused for a moment. “Didn’t you almost spill coffee on me?”

Her cheeks flushed at the embarrassing memory. “Yes. You didn’t have an assistant, so you handed me the coffee yourself. Your hand touched mine and I nearly knocked over the coffee cup. Honestly, I thought I wouldn’t get the job after that.” She laughed.

“I probably fell a little in love with you when you almost drenched me with hot coffee,” he said.

She gasped, her eyes widening. “You didn’t.”

“I did,” he said. “But I had to put my feelings aside. You were the best candidate for the job and I had to hire you. Even if it meant we couldn’t be together.”

“But we’re together now.”

He stared at the tree again, and lightly touched one of the seashell ornaments. “The sea will always remind me of you. Of the time we spent in Rhode Island—”

“Lying to your parents,” she pointed out.

“Lying, and secretly wishing it was all true,” he said. “And then it did come true. By the sea.”

She blinked. It wasn’t like him to be so openly romantic. Returning to the villa must have brought back so many memories for him. But while Dane wanted to hold on to memories from the past, she wanted to make new memories. New memories with their new family.

“I’ll never forget how you looked that day,” he continued. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”

Warmth spread through her. He always knew how to make her feel like the most gorgeous woman in the world.

“It was a beautiful day,” she agreed. “But we didn’t have family with us that day.”

“Do you regret that?” he asked. “Do you regret not having family at our wedding?”

“No,” she said. “Not at all. Because I thought we’d have plenty of time for family later.”

“We still have time for family.” He approached her and reached for her hand. “As long as we’re together.”

“Our wedding will always be one of the best days of my life,” she said.

He frowned. “Only one of? Not the best?”

She hesitated. How could she tell him? Allyson lowered her eyes. “On the day we got married, I couldn’t believe it was possible to be that happy. Our wedding was like a dream.”

“Why can’t it be like that now?” he asked. “This past year, no matter how many times I think I’ve lost you, Allyson, you’ve come back to me. All I want is for you to come back. To not be so distracted. To be present with me now. Why can’t you come back to me?”

~~*~~

SHE STILL WASN’T LOOKING at him. Even though he held her hands in his, her eyes were trained on the floor.

“Allyson, look at me,” he said. “Please.”

“I’m trying,” she said in a shaky voice. It sounded like she was on the verge of tears. He’d give anything in the world to ease whatever pain she was choosing to go through. “Really I am.”

“I don’t want to push you,” he said. “But now that I know you’re keeping something from me, I want you to tell me the truth.”

Decorating the tree hadn’t brought him closer to her. If anything, it had driven them further apart. Reminded him that there was this wall between them and that his wife was keeping something from him. Allyson didn’t trust him enough to tell him her secret. Knowing that hurt more than anything.

“I know it’s hard for you to be patient. It must be so hard for you to understand, but I promise I will tell you,” she said.

“When?”

“When the time is right.” She lifted her head to look at him, her green eyes glistening with unshed tears. “Soon.”

The fear that she had been unfaithful to him was coming back. Dane could forgive a secret. After all, he was keeping a secret from her. She had no idea what it had really taken to get her out of prison. Some secrets were necessary. But one thing he couldn’t forgive was cheating. Because he would never do that to her. The thought of her doing it to him was like a cold knife in his heart.

“I’m going to hold you to that,” he said firmly.

She nodded. “I understand. How about we finish decorating and then have dinner?”

“Sounds good,” he said. “Chef Durand left a ton of food for us, so we’ll have more than enough food for the next several days.”

With the Christmas tree up, they focused on the other decorations. In less than an hour they had put up a whole bunch of wreaths, garlands, and tinsel. Allyson even got the bright idea to put out a bowl of candy canes, which made the living room look more festive. Finally, his wife discovered the potted poinsettias Mrs. McKenzie had brought earlier in the day and she set them up right outside the villa’s back entrance.

When their work was done, they headed into the kitchen to find something to eat for dinner.

“What should we have for dinner?” Allyson asked.

“We’ve got seafood,” Dane said.

“I have an idea,” she said, suddenly sounding excited.

“What’s your idea?”

“I know the villa looks great with all the decorations up, but how about we have a picnic outside?” She smiled. “We can eat right at the spot we got married.”

He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “That’s a great idea.” When he had talked about their wedding earlier, he didn’t think she seemed to care all that much. As if her mind was focused on something else. He didn’t know what could be more important than their wedding, and her distracted response had unnerved the hell out of him. But now, it looked like she wanted to revisit the memories of the wedding, and he wanted that more than anything.

“I can warm up the food,” she said.

He nodded. “Okay. While you do that, I can get stuff ready outside on the beach.”

After he helped Allyson take some food out of the fridge and the freezer, he hunted for items to take down to the beach. He got a cooler and filled it with drinks. Then he packed a bag and included blankets, towels, utensils, and other items.

By the time he got to the beach, night had fallen. The moon was out and the villa’s outside lights automatically came on. All he had to do was set up their picnic and turn on the lights that had been set up for the palm trees.

Once everything was ready he headed back to the kitchen and grabbed some of the food his wife had heated, while she took up the rest of the food and followed him.

When they stepped out onto the beach, she gasped.

“Dane!” she cried. “The palm trees are so beautiful!”

They were. Earlier in the day he had helped the gardener, Mr. Bell, wrap strings of Christmas lights around the trunks of the palm trees on the beach. It was a Christmas tradition for locals to string up lights around trees outside, and the way the white lights glowed really was breathtaking.

Row after row of palm trees swaying in the breeze, covered in dazzling white lights. Illuminating everything. Including her. Especially her.

Beneath the lights of the palm trees, she looked like she was glowing. Watching her now, he knew that he had never seen his wife look more beautiful. The look of wonder on her face as she stared at the lights reminded him of the day they had gotten married on this beach.

Despite the happy memories they had made here on their wedding, Allyson hadn’t looked happy since they had returned to the villa this time around. But she looked happy right now.

“Do you like it?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“I love it,” she breathed. “Everything looks so magical.”

“We’re almost at our spot,” he said. “We can sit under the lights soon.”

They headed to where he had set up the blankets and started setting up for the picnic. Dane poured out some cranberry juice while she piled their plates with food. They ate together, talking about their childhood Christmas memories.

The food was delicious. Chef Durand really had outdone himself, with grilled fish and coconut-flavored shrimp.

“I’m glad we came out here,” she finally said. “It really is beautiful.”

“Not as beautiful as you,” he said.

She smiled at him shyly and then let out a happy sigh. “It would be so nice to sleep out here tonight. Together. Under the stars.”

He reached for his glass of juice and took a gulp. “Why don’t we?”

“Where on earth would we sleep?” she asked. “I don’t know if sleeping on sand that could get wet is a very safe idea.”

“There are some hammocks out here,” he said. “We could sleep in those.”

Her entire face lit up. “Really? I’ve never slept in a hammock before.”

He chuckled. “An entire luxury villa all to yourself, and you get most excited about sleeping in a hammock.”

“It sounds like fun,” she said. “We can sleep out here by the ocean. Under all these beautiful lights.”

She looked up at the lit palm trees, the smile on her face reaching her bright green eyes.

“Okay,” he said. “When we’re done eating, we can sleep out here for the night.”

After eating, they cleared everything away and headed upstairs to change. Allyson put on a short, silky nightgown while he got into some swim trunks.

As she reached for her handbag, she raised an eyebrow as she looked him up and down. “You’re not seriously going to sleep in that, are you?”

He crossed his arms over his bare chest and looked down at her. “It’s warm out. Besides, if you share a hammock with me you’ll get to sleep next to this all night long.”

Allyson laughed. “In that case, come on.” She grabbed his hand and they headed back down to the beach.

Dane led her to a crowd of palm trees where several hammocks had been attached to trees. Still holding her hand, he helped her onto one of the hammocks and then lay beside her. Wrapping his arm around her, he pulled her close, the hammock swaying underneath them.

She gasped. “Oh wow, this is so much more comfortable than I thought it would be. It’s like floating on air.”

“We got married right there.” He stretched his hand out and pointed down the beach to where they had just picnicked.

Allyson snuggled up to him. The sensation of her soft, warm body was making his blood run hot. “Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.”

“Yes, it is,” he murmured. “How would you like to spend it?”

She bit her lip. “I’d like to spend it trying to get back home before Christmas Day.”

His heart started to pound. Whatever it was that had been troubling her these past few days, the answer was in New York. That was why she was still so focused on going home. That was why she could be back in the place they had gotten married and be barely present.

As much as he wanted to figure out what was going on, starting another argument right now wasn’t going to work. She had promised to tell him the truth. Somehow, that had to be enough. He was determined to trust her. Even if it meant he couldn’t confront her tonight.

Planting a kiss on the top of her head, he said, “I know you’d rather be in New York. But let’s try to get some sleep right now, and focus on getting home in the morning.”

“Thank you for being so understanding,” she said softly. “This can’t be easy for you.”

It wasn’t. But trusting his wife was the right thing to do.

Dane held her close until he slowly drifted off to dreamless sleep.

A loud ringing sound make him jerk awake. He stared down at his wife, still confused by the sound. Allyson stirred beside him, but didn’t open her eyes.

The ringing was coming from inside her handbag, which she had set on the sand under the hammock. Swinging out of the hammock, Dane reached for her bag to retrieve the ringing cell phone. It was probably one of her family members.

Stifling a yawn, he answered the phone. “Good morning.” Night was fading, and the early morning rays of the sun had turned everything into a hazy gold.

“Hello...is Allyson there?” A man’s voice. Not Cameron’s. One he didn’t recognize.

Suspicion made Dane narrow his eyes. “Who’s this?”

“Phillip Beckford,” the man replied, annoyance in his tone. “Could you put Allyson on the phone please?”

Dane sauntered away from the hammock, tension making him clench his fist. “Look, pal, I don’t know who the hell you think you are but I’m her husband. You’re calling a married woman early in the morning.”

“I see,” Phillip muttered. “So, she hasn’t told you. The way I see it, she’s the one who’s been calling me non-stop for the past few days. I understand why she wants to see me so urgently, but there are rules about these sorts of things. This is a very delicate matter, and now that I see she hasn’t told you I’d rather not come between a man and his wife. You understand, don’t you?”

He gritted his teeth in rage. “No, I don’t understand. What hasn’t she told me?”

“Speak to your wife first, and we can discuss this later.” Phillip hung up.

Dane was gripping the cell phone so tightly he thought he might break it. So, she had been unfaithful. Allyson had gone behind his back and betrayed him.

There had been so many betrayals this year. But the one person he had never expected to knife him in the back was her. At least he could trust her. Or so he thought. Now he knew better. What a fool he had been.

Hadn’t his mother warned him? Hadn’t she told him that all Allyson wanted was his money and nothing else? Allyson didn’t love him. How could she when all he had to offer was wealth and status? His wife had probably gotten bored with him.

What was left of his heart squeezed so painfully he thought it might stop beating. The anger was impossible to contain. Underneath the volcanic rage was something else. Humiliation. Shock. Sadness. Never in a million years would he have thought their marriage would turn out this way.

It didn’t matter that she had never loved him. Because he still loved her. Even now that he knew what she had done, he still loved her more than he loved himself.

Despite his love for her he walked away from the beach. Left her behind without a backward glance. Dane didn’t know if he would ever have the heart to sell the villa. All he knew was that he was going to pack his bags. Pack his bags and never come back.