Page 30 of The Sheikh’s Christmas Present

“He is not your responsibility.”

“The hell he isn’t,” Jarik growled. He didn’t even let his security guard respond when he disconnected the call. His fight with Maria had him on edge, and he could feel the anger brewing inside him.

He wanted to hit something. Barring that, he wanted to make sure that Kivi never saw the light of day again. Halil may not understand his desire to ensure justice came calling for his old friend, but Jarik didn’t care.

His relationship with Maria may be over, but that didn’t mean he was going to turn around and head home. Kivi was going to get what he deserved, and he intended to be the man to make it happen.

14

“Morning, sunshine.”

Maria looked up warily from her table at the familiar voice. Sebastian, dressed in a gorgeous silk shirt and black pants, lifted his designer sunglasses and winked at her. “Look alive. You have company.”

She opened her mouth to yell at him when she noticed the twenty people, armed with cameras and microphones, standing behind him.

The press. Oh, God, he didn’t.

“Sebastian!” she gasped. “What the hell are you doing?”

He flashed her a cocky grin and turned to the press. “This is my sister, Maria Walken. She’s an integral part of the charity,.”

Integral part? The charity was hers! As she stood to refute him, the reporters started throwing out questions.

“Have you already doled out the gifts?”

“Did you do all of this?”

“Can you comment on the discrepancy in your funds?”

Sebastian put up his hands. “One question at a time. Maria only arrived yesterday, so I’ve done most of the setting up. We’ll be giving out the gifts tonight, and you’re welcome to join us and watch the joy on all the children’s faces.”

Maria’s mouth dropped open when she watched the press practically melt at his words. Grabbing his sleeve, she yanked him down to her level. “Get rid of them. Now.”

Nonplussed, Sebastian eased from her grasp. “Why don’t you all take a walk around and get some footage of the camp. I’m going to talk with my sister about tonight, and we’ll get back to you.”

As they dispersed, Sebastian started walking away. Jumping up quickly, she scurried after him. “Where the hell do you think you’re going? Where have you been? What are you doing?”

“Maria,” he said as he slung an arm around her. “You worry too much. I’m late because I thought that rather than provide a press release this year, we’d invite the press to join us. It’s what you want, right? To do whatever possible to help these people? More publicity can only help with that, right?”

“So you thought that you’d walk in at the last minute and take credit for everything Tessa did? Everything thatIdid? Are you out of your mind? How much did it cost us to get the press here? It’s not like they’d pay for the trip themselves.”

He waved off the questions. “Flying them out here was a perfectly legitimate business expense. Maria, you’ve been the driving spirit behind Christmas Crates since its inception, but you don’t know the first thing about handling our donors or the press. Since you’ve been gone, I’ve been trying to shake things up, and I think we need to rebrand our image. I’m more approachable than you are, and I think I need to step up and take over handling our media from here on out. Don’t take offense.”

“Don’t take offense?” Filled with fury and still hurting from her fight with Jarik, she was more than ready for Sebastian. “Are you out of your mind? This is a charity. It’s not a business. We don’t have a brand. There’s nothing wrong with how I handle donors or the press. We’ve had some great cash donations this year, and that’s something else that we need to talk about. Where did that cash go?”

Sebastian whirled around and narrowed his eyes. Normally, her brother was such a fun-loving guy, but right now, he looked cold and hard. “Are you accusing me of stealing funds?”

“I don’t want to, but I know that something is going on. You didn’t ignore me for days because you were talking to the press. There is something very wrong, and you need to tell me what it is, right now.”

She pushed him into the nearest tent and closed the flap behind them. “I need you to come clean, Sebastian. What are you not telling me?”

“You’re reading too much into things. I spent the cash on toys. You should know that. You went and picked up the crates!”

“Yes, I did. I picked up two crates, and I know there’s no way in hell that those two crates were filled with enough toys to require all the donations! Where is the rest of the money?” She knew she was getting louder, but she couldn’t help herself. Maria wasn’t letting her brother go until she found out what was going on.

Sebastian tried to sidle over to the tent opening, but Maria blocked him. Crossing his arms, he tried to look down on her, but she wasn’t having it. “Sebastian! Answer me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Everything is fine.”

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