Page 70 of A Christmas Bargain

“Yours?” Grace teased, smiling as she lifted the toy.

“Mine to give as a gift,” I said.

“Sorry.” Grace handed it over. “I was expecting something too, and I thought it was mine. I hope, uh, Naomi likes it.”

“Naomi?” Dad asked.

“Derek’s daughter.” I wasn’t overly upset that Grace opened it. With our last names the same and both of only using our firstinitial for shipping, it was easy to mix a G with a C. She’d caved and had contacts to excuse herself for not reading it correctly, but it seemed that she was using her glasses today. She slipped them on now.

“Derek…” Dad’s brows shot up. “Wait a second. DerekScott?”

I nodded as I sat, uninterested in the chips and dip they were snacking on. “Yeah. I met him when I went into Preston to look at land.”

“Hisland?” Dad asked. “He’s the owner of most of that property along the river.”

“Yeah, I didn’t know that at first,” I groused.

“Huh?” Grace looked between us, lost.

“I told her about some prime land that could be sold for development in Preston,” Dad said.

“Yeah.” Grace wiped her mouth clear of crumbs and swallowed. “At Thanksgiving. I remember. But how does that connect to your getting his daughter this?” She held up the toy again.

I looked at her. Then him. Tears burned behind my lids, and I lowered my head to hide my face in my hands. “Oh, I screwed up.”

Grace laughed. “Ha! That’smyline.”

“Claire? What’s going on?” Dad asked. He rubbed my back.

“I screwed up.”

“How?”

I sat up, sniffling as all the emotions I'd tried to bottle up burst out. The dam broke. I was mad at my sister for putting the company at risk. I was mad at myself for stepping in to fix it all. I was sad that I would lose Derek and Naomi when I explained I couldn’t live with the deal we struck. And I was worried that I’d never find another decent man to love again.

Because I did.

Ithadhappened fast. Like I told Derek, an end could come so swiftly that it was jarring. A start, a beginning like the love that bloomed between us, could be just as sudden and quick.

“Start from the beginning,” Grace said.

I blew out a deep breath and did. It probably wasn’t smart to ramble it all in one go, but that was how it came out.

“At Thanksgiving, Dad told me about some land to look at. I went to Preston to check it out and I saw Naomi and Derek. We started talking—well, Naomi accused me of being blind, but we met. Then when I told Derek that I was looking at land, he arranged a meeting with me after I emailed him. I didn’t know it was him. Or that he owned all that land. But we met. And when I saw how women were all over him and gaga about his being this sexy, eligible widower, he admitted that he was tired of his sister playing matchmaker and he wanted peace and quiet. Then he said why don’t we pretend to date so women stop bothering him and in return, he’d sell me?—”

“Oh, no…” Grace interrupted. “You didn’t. Don’t tell me you agreed to date him and?—”

“Fake date,” I hurried to explain. “We were just going to pretend. I don’t have time to really date anyone. You know that. Especially not now with you both expecting me to save the company and recoup the losses from your gambling. I wasn’t in a position to date anyone. Of course I took his offer.”

Dad sighed heavily, shaking his head. “Claire…”

I held my hand up. I wasn’t going to stop until I got it all out. Maybe I’d feel empty and better then. “So we started to pretend to date, and that was all a lie. It was real. It felt real. And I liked him. I do like him, and her. Naomi is so sweet and she just tugs at my heart. And now I feel like a fraud and I hate that we ever made this dumb deal.”

Before they could speak, I sucked in another deep breath and continued, on a roll. “Now I want to confess. That I love him andher and Idowant to be a mother. Now, not someday. Not later. I want to be her mom if she’d accept me. I want to be his woman and partner. He’s the end of all the bad dates. It’s like Karma is finally giving me a break from all the stupid guys I’ve met in the city.”

Grace smiled. Dad raised his brows.

“I want to go for whatIwant. I want to do more residential work, not the corporations. I don’t want to feel like the end of the world is coming if I don’t clean up after your mistakes. I don’t want to feel like I’m only worthy if I work harder and harder and harder and keep the three of us as a family because we have the company together. Ever since you retired, Dad, it’s been nagging me that I don’t want to be the one in charge.”

---