Page 121 of Christmas with the Elkin Billionaires

Rachel’s shoulder disagreed with the new plan as she awkwardly pulled a sweatshirt over her head and a pair of Jonas’s sweatpants on. Her hands fumbled on the drawstring. In the end, she abandoned the effort, going down the stairs as quickly as she could, the raised voices unsettling.

Jonas faced off with her mother in the foyer, the door shut behind them.

“Mother,” Rachel said, feeling like a teenager who’d been caught after curfew. “What are you doing here?”

“I took a chopper to the resort as soon as I figured out where you disappeared to. A car accident, Rachel? Did you even think of your son?”

“How did you learn about the car accident? I’m in a different state.” Rachel swallowed down the nausea and tried to blow the fuzzies off her brain. She needed to be able to think.

Her mother ignored her questions and kept speaking. “Who would drive at such a dangerous time with Scott in the car?” Her mother’s face had gone pale, with high pink spots on her cheeks, and her blue eyes—exactly like Rachel’s—had narrowed, piercing her with a combination of anger and disappointment.

“How did you know about the accident?” she asked her again and her mother, finally, blinked. “Did you—” Rachel took a deep breath and tried to appease the throbbing in her temples. “Did you install some sort of tracking device on my car?”

The outsized presence of her mother seemed to fill the foyer even more. How did she always manage to take up so much space even when she was caught doing something like this?

“It was a security issue, nothing more. You’re the daughter of a senator. Of course I would keep track of you since you can’t be bothered to check in with your own mother from time to time.”

A thousand arguments sprang to mind, all of them scrambled by her still foggy brain.

“Mrs. Alexander—” Jonas interjected on her behalf, trying to take control.

“Lincoln, as in remarried,” her mother snapped, not even bothering to look in Jonas’s direction.

“Mrs. Lincoln, my name is Jonas Elkin. Your daughter has been safe with me since Christmas.” Jonas angled his body between the two women and stuck out his hand.

Angry as she was, self-righteous as she was, Susan Lincoln was still a politician. She took Jonas in, no doubt calculating the value of his last name along with the surroundings. She must have determined that he was financially worthy because her back straightened and a photo-ready smile graced her face. Even in her winter coat, Rachel’s mother looked ready to step off Air Force One and greet the press.

“I’m glad to hear it,” she said primly, a tendril of warmth coming into her voice. “But I’d rather have gotten holiday plans directly from my daughter.”

“Oh, stop,” Rachel said, drawing their attention back to her. “You knew we weren’t going to spend the holidays together. Don’t put on a show.”

“I’m not putting on a show.” Susan lifted her chin. “I came here because it’s clear you’re in over your head, Rachel. You need someone to care for you. It’s time for you to come home to Montana, where I can look after you and my grandson.”

Rachel’s shoulder ached, and the rest of her body was still exhausted. It would be much nicer to go back up the stairs and crawl into bed. She could lie on her good shoulder and sleep a while longer. Instead, she was trapped in a nightmare in which her mother was demanding to take her home.I’m thirty. This shouldn’t be happening.

She opened her mouth to say so, but Jonas cut in. “That won’t be necessary. Rachel will be staying here with me. When we met up recently during a photography job I contracted her for, it didn’t take long for me to realize Scott is my son.”

Susan’s eyes went wide.

“And, as his father, I have rights,” Jonas said lightly but with a hint of unabashed determination. This was how he was when dealing with difficult guests, Rachel realized. “I want her here with me. We’re going to be getting married. If not now, then soon.”

Married. Where did that come from?He’d never even mentioned anything of the sort to Rachel. There had been no proposal. They weren’tthereyet. Waves of shock pushed themselves through the haze of the situation.

“I don’t know that it’s entirely up to you,” Susan countered shifting slightly to look toward her, but Jonas followed her movement and blocked her view again. With a glare, she continued. “I know my daughter. I know this behavior is a sign she’s in need of guidance. A steady home. People who know her.”

“I know her.” Jonas crossed his arms over his chest. “I know her quite well. And she’ll be perfectly cared for here at my home. They both will be. We have all the staff we need to attend us if she’s in need of anything.”

It took everything for Rachel to stay on her feet. This was her life under her mother’s thumb all over again. People talking about her instead of to her. People using her as a pawn. Even Jonas’s confession about wanting to marry her struck her as false. Did he only want to marry her because her mother was here or out of some false sense of obligation?

There’d been no mention of love.

This was all wrong.

As they bickered on, the cold truth set in. Everyone’s need for control would spill over until it engulfed Rachel, and she suffocated. Scott would suffer for it, too. She couldn’t save him from that if she stayed here. The truth was staring her in the face as she listened to the conversation going on about her. Her stomach twisted.

“Enough,” Rachel snapped. “Mother, if you don’t back off right now—and I meanright now—I’llblock you from my life, and you’ll never see your grandson again.”

Her mother’s eyebrows shot up; her mouth parted in shock.

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