Page 75 of Christmas with the Elkin Billionaires

The other man turned and stalked off, mumbling furiously to his girlfriend. Good. Let him. A man like that deserved to be put in his place occasionally. Arrogant jerk.

Gabe turned to Anna and reached for her, but she ducked away at the last moment, wiping at her eyes.

“Gabe,” she choked out. Gabe felt a sick dread wash over him, unlike anything he’d ever felt before. “Your family.”

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“No, I’m obviously not all right.” She took a shuddering breath in and let it out again, then turned around to face them.

No one had moved. Jonas glared at them; his eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Let’s step into the back office, okay?” Her voice shook, but she put on a determined smile anyway. “We can talk about what happened.”

They filed into the back office, his grandmother easing into a chair, and putting a hand to her eyes. Seconds later, she sat up and stared straight at him, the confused look on her face making Gabe falter. He’d hurt her with his lies.

He’d misled them all—and it had been hisidea, not Anna’s. He took her hand in his, and this time she didn’t look away. His heart beat fast, pumping adrenaline through his veins that left him with a sick feeling in his gut.

“First...” Gabe tried to imagine himself at the head of a table at one of his company meetings, aiming for a note of confidence. Something that didn’t exist. He squared his shoulders and began again. “First, please don’t blame Anna for the scene that just happened in the lobby. It wasn’t her fault.”

“Were you two having an affair?” The words came high and thin, his grandmother’s eyes glistening with tears. “Did that man have any reason to be angry?”

“No, of course not,” Anna said firmly. “We—” She put a hand to her throat. “We weren’t truthful about our engagement.”

“It happened suddenly, didn’t it?” Tana asked, a hopeful expression on her face. “If it happened suddenly and that’s why you didn’t want to tell us—”

“It didn’t happen at all.” The words were forced from between his lips. This was it—this was Gabe’s worst nightmare. “We’re not really engaged.”

Jonas’s eyes darkened, and Chase looked up toward the ceiling.

“What?” his grandmother exclaimed. Her eyes traced a path to Anna’s hand, where she still wore her engagement ring. Her eyes came back to Gabe’s. “Not engaged?”

“The relationship was a setup. I got the call from Jonas about the holidays, and I couldn’t—I couldn’t come home alone. I wanted you to know that I would be okay no matter what happened with your illness. I’m so sorry, Gran.” He couldn’t stop the words from spilling out, and now that it was happening, he didn’t want to stop them. As painful as it was, it was also a relief. “I asked Anna if she would agree to pose as my fiancée for the holidays, and she said yes. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision that happened just before we left town.”

“What were you thinking?” Jonas shouted. “That’s the sickest thing I’ve ever heard. You honestly thought it would be better to lie to us all? Then what, Gabe? What were you going to do later? Fake a breakup, too?”

“Yes.” Gabe wanted to shout back but he didn’t. “Thatwaswhat I was going to do. Because at least for a little while, Gran would be happy. That’s what was most important to me.”

“Well,that’snot going to happen,” Jonas thundered. He turned away, putting his hand to his forehead.

Chase still hadn’t said anything. He looked at Tana and shook his head ever so slightly.

Gabe squeezed Anna’s hand, and it seemed to shake her out of her shock—at least a little. Her eyes met his, dark and powerfully sad, and she brushed a hand against his wrist. Then she let go and stepped away.

He could see her gathering herself for what had to be the biggest effort of her life. In her line of work, she’d dealt with stressful situations many times—even in front of him. She took a deep breath, straightened and lifted her chin.

“I’m so sorry.” Anna’s voice shook, but she clasped her hands together in front of her and kept going. “It was wrong to deceive you. Of course it was. And there’s no excuse for it. I just wanted to—I wanted to thank all of you for being so welcoming, despite everything that happened.” A tear slipped from her eye and glistened on her cheek. “I’ve never had a chance to experience a holiday like this before. It was wonderful,” she said, her voice breaking on the last word.

Except they hadn’t hada holiday together—Christmas hadn’t come yet. “I’ll be going now.” Anna dipped her head, and then she ran for the door, but not before he caught what sounded like a sob.

Wait,he wanted to shout.Don’t do this. We can figure this out.But he couldn’t force the words from his mouth, and she was gone. He looked around the room at his family. Elin’s eyes were red, her mouth pinched, and Jonas wasn’t looking at him at all.

“Gabe,” Chase said quietly. “We can talk about this, if—”

“No,” he snapped. Part of him didwant to stay and work this out. To confess all the fear he’d had about his place in the family for as long as he could remember. But Anna had to come first. He knew she was hurt and would think they all hated her. But she’d be wrong. Gabe didn’t hate her, and neither should his family. It was his doing, after all. “This wasn’t her fault.” He pointed a finger at the door Anna had disappeared through. “Don’t you dare blame her for this. If you blame anyone, blame me.”

“No problem,” Jonas said, his acid tone sending a clear message.

“Jonas,” his grandmother warned.

Gabe had to fix things. With his family, yes. But first with Anna, who hadn’t done anything but try to help him. To make him happy. Gabe turned on his heel and went after her, his heart squeezing painfully in his chest. He couldn’t lose her.

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