She sighed and leaned against him. He kept his arms around her, and his dragon imagined wrapping its wings around them both.
“Well, if you didn’t sleep all night and you’restilllooking happy about whatever you have planned… it must be a good thing, right?”
There was a hint of uncertainty in her voice. Jasper and his dragon both froze up.
“It’s going to be a real party,” Hardwick interjected. “Don’t worry. We’ll make it happen.” He checked his watch. “Delphine dropped you off?”
Abigail nodded.
“Then I have just about enough time to grab us dinner and head home while she hides my present.” He grinned. “I’ll let the others know about the tree decorating plan. Catch you later.”
Jasper fought not to let his jaw hang open as Hardwick let himself out. His dragon curled its tail in distress. The Christmas-tree-decorating-town-takeover washisidea. If he didn’t carry it out, then it wouldn’t behimmaking Christmas the best Christmas ever. It wouldn’t be…
He swallowed hard, again unable to put into words what was clear in his heart. Abigail looked up at him, a crease between her eyebrows.
“Jasper?”
“My love?”
“I was wondering—” She bit her lip. “Never mind. Tell me about the plan! Or is it a surprise?”
It turned out to be a surprise—for Jasper.
The next morning, they headed out early, but not early enough. By the time they reached the Christmas village in the square, Delphine, Olly, Jackson and Hardwick must have been up for hours.
“Have I got this right?” Abigail murmured to him as Ruby ran ahead to be the first to tackle-hug everyone. “It’s a tree decorating competition, but it lasts the whole week, and the challenge is to decorateliterally every pine tree they can reach?”
“Well, if you say it like that, it sounds unhinged,” he joked.
She raised both eyebrows. “Does it?”
“Hardwick thought so.” He forced his shoulders not to drop as, inside, his dragon flopped bereft to the ground. “I expect he’s managed to turn it into something far more sensible and well-hinged. I’m surprised he took it over, to be honest. I know I asked the guys to help this Christmas—”
“You asked them to help?”
“But—well—there’s helping and there’s taking over, you know?”
Abigail’s mouth moved silently. “Um—maybe I should tell you…”
“There they are!” Meaghan waved them over.
“I’ll tell you later,” Abigail said quickly, sounding kind of… relieved? “Let’s go find out how much they shrunk your original plan.” She squeezed his hand, as though she knew he needed comforting about that.
Of course she knew. She was his mate.
“Mommy! Daddy!” Ruby cried out as they got closer. “We’re going to decorate EVERY TREE IN THE WHOLE VALLEY!”
Jasper stopped. “Every tree?”
“Every tree!”
Hardwick cleared his throat. “Within a specified perimeter that excludes any area further than twenty feet from an accessible roadway or marked trail,” he growled. “Other than that… every tree.”
Next to him, Delphine clapped her hands. “And each competing team gets a different theme!”
5
Abigail
