Read Online Romancing the Holiday by Jaci Burton, Helenkay Dimon, Christi Barth - Free Book Online Page A
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had never been a fan of... “Wait, what exactly did you hear?”
Cleo dropped the cup to the counter, lipstick smudge and all, and signaled for Darla to pour a second cup. “Something about wild nights and a knock-out fight at the nursery.”
Good grief . “I’m Ned Payne’s niece. I’m running—”
“Bah, I know who you are. It’s good Spence found a hometown girl. Mitch’s Cassidy. Austin and Carrie. Those men knew not to drag one of those city types back here.” Cleo leaned back as far as her stomach would allow without tipping her over and looked Lila up and down. “Where are you from?”
“Philadelphia.”
The older woman’s face fell. “That’s not good.”
“Cleo, she’s here now and has kin in these parts.” Darla kept pouring coffee. Cleo would empty a cup and Darla would be right there with more. Clearly this was some sort of practiced dance.
At the older woman’s comment, those insecurities came rushing back at Lila. She tried to mentally duck them but the wallop didn’t stop. Being an outsider. Being in a place, in a job, where she didn’t have an ounce of experience. The newness of everything, of being a grown woman and having to make friends all over again, scared the crap out of her.
Cleo shrugged. “We’ll see.”
Lila figured she’d missed something. “See what? What is happening around here?”
“Big Spence Thomas having a serious girl is quite the news,” Darla explained.
Whoa . These people wanted to marry Spence off and were looking in the wrong direction. “I’m not that girl.”
Darla skipped over Lila and talked directly to Cleo. “It might just be sex now, but I can see it for the future.”
Lila’s stomach flip-flopped. She wasn’t ready to be left out of this conversation. Not when it was veering so far into fantasy land. If she so much as sneezed, these two might have her wedding planned by the time she blew her nose.
“That one was scarred by his momma’s leaving.” Cleo nodded at Lila then Darla as if to prove her point.
Lila wanted to walk away but they’d finally found a topic that interested her. After three days with Spence, three days of talking and touching, she knew nothing about his personal life. Oh, he’d given her the basics, along with using his brother’s name, but she hadn’t gotten a sense of Spence other than to know she was safe in that small space with him.
With a few throwaway words, Cleo had given Lila more insight than she’d gotten from all her time with him combined. “Did you say momma?”
“He’ll be tough to reel in, but you can do it.” Darla patted Lila’s hand. “I know I’m right about this.”
About what?
“She’ll be able to hook him,” Darla said.
Cleo looked Lila up and down. “Hmpf.”
That fast the women were off again. Just when the conversation got interesting, they shut it down and circled back to the commitment talk. Lila got dizzy just trying to keep up. “What makes you think I want to snag Spence?”
“Well, who wouldn’t want Spence Thomas? Under all that gruffness, he’s a catch,” Darla said.
Lila pushed that thought as far out of her mind as she could get it. Nowhere on her To Do List was an item about getting to know Spence Thomas better. “I’m not fishing.”
Not with her life in pieces. Stephen had used their firm’s client account as his gambling seed money, swearing he’d planned to reimburse it with his next big score. She’d missed the signs and trusted him to handle the bookkeeping. Everything she counseled women not to do with their money, she’d done. She trusted the wrong guy and let it all happen. That said more about her gullibility and malfunctioning man radar than she was comfortable analyzing.
With a little luck and a lack of evidence linking her to the crime, she’d escaped prosecution. She’d even paid back all the money Stephen had stolen by emptying the savings he hadn’t pissed away and running up her credit cards with cash advances. She
Cleo dropped the cup to the counter, lipstick smudge and all, and signaled for Darla to pour a second cup. “Something about wild nights and a knock-out fight at the nursery.”
Good grief . “I’m Ned Payne’s niece. I’m running—”
“Bah, I know who you are. It’s good Spence found a hometown girl. Mitch’s Cassidy. Austin and Carrie. Those men knew not to drag one of those city types back here.” Cleo leaned back as far as her stomach would allow without tipping her over and looked Lila up and down. “Where are you from?”
“Philadelphia.”
The older woman’s face fell. “That’s not good.”
“Cleo, she’s here now and has kin in these parts.” Darla kept pouring coffee. Cleo would empty a cup and Darla would be right there with more. Clearly this was some sort of practiced dance.
At the older woman’s comment, those insecurities came rushing back at Lila. She tried to mentally duck them but the wallop didn’t stop. Being an outsider. Being in a place, in a job, where she didn’t have an ounce of experience. The newness of everything, of being a grown woman and having to make friends all over again, scared the crap out of her.
Cleo shrugged. “We’ll see.”
Lila figured she’d missed something. “See what? What is happening around here?”
“Big Spence Thomas having a serious girl is quite the news,” Darla explained.
Whoa . These people wanted to marry Spence off and were looking in the wrong direction. “I’m not that girl.”
Darla skipped over Lila and talked directly to Cleo. “It might just be sex now, but I can see it for the future.”
Lila’s stomach flip-flopped. She wasn’t ready to be left out of this conversation. Not when it was veering so far into fantasy land. If she so much as sneezed, these two might have her wedding planned by the time she blew her nose.
“That one was scarred by his momma’s leaving.” Cleo nodded at Lila then Darla as if to prove her point.
Lila wanted to walk away but they’d finally found a topic that interested her. After three days with Spence, three days of talking and touching, she knew nothing about his personal life. Oh, he’d given her the basics, along with using his brother’s name, but she hadn’t gotten a sense of Spence other than to know she was safe in that small space with him.
With a few throwaway words, Cleo had given Lila more insight than she’d gotten from all her time with him combined. “Did you say momma?”
“He’ll be tough to reel in, but you can do it.” Darla patted Lila’s hand. “I know I’m right about this.”
About what?
“She’ll be able to hook him,” Darla said.
Cleo looked Lila up and down. “Hmpf.”
That fast the women were off again. Just when the conversation got interesting, they shut it down and circled back to the commitment talk. Lila got dizzy just trying to keep up. “What makes you think I want to snag Spence?”
“Well, who wouldn’t want Spence Thomas? Under all that gruffness, he’s a catch,” Darla said.
Lila pushed that thought as far out of her mind as she could get it. Nowhere on her To Do List was an item about getting to know Spence Thomas better. “I’m not fishing.”
Not with her life in pieces. Stephen had used their firm’s client account as his gambling seed money, swearing he’d planned to reimburse it with his next big score. She’d missed the signs and trusted him to handle the bookkeeping. Everything she counseled women not to do with their money, she’d done. She trusted the wrong guy and let it all happen. That said more about her gullibility and malfunctioning man radar than she was comfortable analyzing.
With a little luck and a lack of evidence linking her to the crime, she’d escaped prosecution. She’d even paid back all the money Stephen had stolen by emptying the savings he hadn’t pissed away and running up her credit cards with cash advances. She
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