Page 73 of A Christmas Bargain

“None whatsoever. I just wanted to see you again. To talk to you. You were the first woman since Jenna died who made mewantto talk. Naomi kept talking about you, and I knew she was curious about you. And it made me realizeIwas curious about you.”

“Then…” She furrowed her brow. “Why…?”

“It just hit me. How much I enjoyed your company and how other women seemed to be threatened by my being with you. The idea of going on a fake date hit me out of nowhere, and I thought up that deal. I duped you into thinking I’d sell some land if you’d spend time with me.”

“Without planning to let go of any of it.”

I winced. “Don’t hate me.”

“How stupid do you think I am?”

I froze, waiting for her to lash out and be furious.

“I… don’t.”

A slow but careful smile spread on her face. “I noticed how vague you were about the land.”

I nodded. “So you wouldn’t want details.”

“And you never wanted to show me around.”

“Because I want this to stay my home, not be developed.”

She huffed. “And here I thought I was just being paranoid. Iknewsomething was fishy with your ‘deal’.”

“But you still agreed to it anyway?”

She nodded.

“Yeah. Because I wanted to get to know you, too.”

I dared to hope this wasn’t over. “I hate that I lied. That I manipulated you at all. But I was so confused. That I wanted tospend time with you. That I would be so desperate to ensure we could see each other again.”

She lowered her gaze, only meeting my eye again when I took her hand and squeezed her fingers. “I wasn’t ready to date, but it was so stupid and wrong to dupe you into something like dating.”

“Yeah, sort of.”

“It didn’t take long for me to see that nothing was fake, though. It was all real for me. Every minute, Claire.”

“I know.” She bit her lower lip, almost sheepish. “I… I didn’t fake anything.”

“Can you forgive me?”

“Maybe.”

Oh, shit.

“It depends on where we’re going now.” She smiled, bracing herself to speak further. “I only went into that deal because I wanted that land to save my father’s company. Grace gambled with one of our big accounts and had a huge loss, and Dad counted on me to bring in more sales to recoup that hit. So, he suggested land around here. That was why I was so desperate for your land.”

I sank against the cushions as hope deflated. “I feel like shit.”

She laughed once.

“And I’m confused because you’re still smiling.”

“That’s what took so long tonight. The three of us talked. We really talked. She’s been under his guidance for commercial deals. She’s going into rehab for her gambling addiction. He admitted that he’d never actually expected me to clean up all her messes and let the company go down.”

“What does that mean?”

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