Read Online A Score to Settle by Kara Lennox - Free Book Online Page B

estate, her life would be more normal.
    He made a mental note to consider the possibility further. For the first time in years, he really didn’t want Jillian around, not if she was going to judge what he did—or didn’t do—with Jamie McNair.

    J AMIE WAS SURPRISED , and not quite prepared, when Daniel himself answered the door with Tucker at his heel.
    “Come in, Jamie.” He offered a brief smile, but his eyes were solemn.
    “Thank you. Did your butler take the day off?”
    “You know, you’re going to have to get that boulder-size chip off your shoulder if we’re going to work together.”
    “Sorry?”
    “Your resentment of my wealth. Would you like me better if I gave it all away and lived in a cardboard box under a bridge?”
    She stepped past him over the threshold, her heels clicking on the marble floor. “You aren’t going to tell me your money is a curse, are you?”
    “Far from it. I am grateful every day of my life for the circumstances I was born into. My parents gave me every opportunity, every advantage. If not for money, frankly, I’d be dead right now. Because legal skills alone would not have gotten me a pardon. It took money, too—for publicity, for lawyers, for scientific tests. My father made it his full-time job to exonerate me.”
    Jamie took a mental step back. When she’d fired off her crack about the butler, she hadn’t expected this impassioned speech.
    Did she resent his wealth? Maybe a little. As a prosecutor, she had a limited budget and limited resources. Maybe she did bristle at the fact he had unlimited supplies of both.
    “The extent of your wealth overwhelms me,” she said in all honesty. “I can’t wrap my mind around it. But I didn’t intentionally malign your father.” She squatted down to greet Tucker and give him a little scratch behind the ears. It was easier to look into his sweet brown eyes than face Daniel’s challenging gaze.
    “No, you didn’t. And maybe I overreacted. Let’s go sit down. Dinner should be ready in about an hour, is that okay?”
    “That’s…that’s fabulous.” Whatever he served was sure to beat the dinner she would have had on her own—probably something frozen popped into the microwave.
    She thought he’d take her down to the basement again. Instead, he led her down the same hallway as before, stopping before reaching the stairs where he entered a different room. It was a large library, probably larger than the public library she’d checked out books from as a child. The room was a symphony of warm wood and leather and stone, very masculine yet somehow cozy and inviting. An enormous stone fireplace dominated the room, smack in the center and open on two sides. Though it was only in the sixties outside, a low flame burned, giving the room more intimacy than it otherwise would have had.
    Tucker headed straight to the fireplace and flopped onto a rug in front of the raised hearth.
    The walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves stuffed with all manner of books, from ancient-looking leather-bound volumes to current bestselling novels. At the opposite end of the room was a carved oak bar, which appeared fully stocked with bottles and bottles of liquor lined up on mirrored shelves.
    Jamie was drawn, though, to a Christmas tree. The thing had to be fifteen feet tall, a lovely, lacy cedar whose top brushed the vaulted wood-beamed ceiling.
    She looked up at a string of lights, only half strung. The tree was in progress. “I’d almost forgotten that the holidays were coming.”
    “They’re not my thing, either, but Jillian always makes a big deal about the decorating. She seems to enjoy it.”
    “Maybe if I had a place like this to decorate, I’d get more excited.” She could almost picture a Christmas morning here, stockings hung on that enormous hearth stuffed with goodies, shiny packages under the tree, a cheerful fire—never mind that Houston Christmases were often downright balmy.
    Then she imagined children squealing