Page 11 of Her Christmas Harem

She peered up at Xander’s grim face, then quickly tucked her head into his shoulder and decided discretion was the better pair of valor.

She didn’t blame him for being mad. She’d almost gotten his son injured... or worse.

If Alexander Bartholomew wanted to take a strip out of her hide as a result, she couldn’t really blame him.

Chapter Seven

WHEN THEY GOT BACK to the estate, Em as the passenger in Xander’s SUV with the twins in the back, and Coll and Ky following with their own children, Xander insisted on carrying her into the house, despite Em’s protests.

He deposited her on the huge leather couch in the family room, unzipped her coat and helped her out of it, like she was one of the children, then left her with a stern warning after removing her boots and propping her injured leg up on a couple of cushions.

“Sit there and stay still while I get the twins washed up for dinner. If I find you’ve moved so much as an inch, you won’t be able to sit for a week, which won’t be much fun when you’re having to rest up.”

He gave the threat so matter of factly that Emalee was still trying to get her head around it when the children all filed into the room to give her a hug, then back out again .

Was he serious?

Em found herself almost wanting to disobey just so she could test that theory.

But she hadn’t meant to; not really. It was just that when she heard the children playing up, it was simply second nature to jump up so she could help calm things.

Although, in reality there was less jumping and more hobbling.

It wasn't until she arrived in the kitchen, where the men were trying to get the kids settled into the dining nook, and Xander narrowed his eyes at her with a face like thunder that Emalee truly believed she might have made a mistake.

“I told you not to move!” Xander snapped. “What are you doing on your feet?”

“I... but... the children...” Em stuttered as the room fell into silence around her.

The children were suddenly as good as gold, recognising Xander’s far too quiet ‘angry’ voice. While she caught Coll and Ky exchange a smirk and a look she couldn’t quite decipher.

“I warned you of the consequences, did I not?” Xander asked, in an eerily calm voice like there weren’t two other men and four children watching the exchange.

“Well... I... yes... but...” She still couldn’t string a coherent sentence together. He really couldn’t have been serious.

Could he?

For the third time that day, Emalee found herself scooped up in Xander’s arms like she weighed nothing. But this time he marched into his office.

His soundproofed office.

And kicked the door closed behind him.

Xander wasted no time lowering himself into one of the plush leather wingback chairs and flipping Em, so she was over his knee.

“Xander? What...” She tried to push up so she could twist and look at his face, but a heavy hand between her shoulder blades prevented that from happening.

Before she could properly assimilate what was going on, his big hand crashed down on her backside.

“You scared me almost as much as Axel when you ran in front of that truck,” he grated as he peppered her backside with spanks. “I swear you took a decade off my life between the pair of you.”

Em gave a squeak and thanked the fates that she was wearing heavy Denim jeans.

“You will not put yourself in danger, Emalee,” he stated gruffly. “And if I tell you to sit and rest, then that’s exactly what you do. And while I think you’ve more than earned this spanking, if you tell me to stop, I will.”

He paused then and waited.

Em closed her eyes and bit her lip, wondering what the hell had gotten into her... or what she had gotten herself into.

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