Page 37 of His Christmas Wife

“You made sure everyone else is going.”

“Family matters,” she said simply.

To honorable people, it did.

“At any rate, it means a lot that I get to be there as well. She wants me to be her maid of honor. So thank you.”

No matter what cost she had to pay?

“Since I’ll be meeting your grandmother, I want to know all about her.” She tipped her head to one side. “Especially why you need to lie to her.”

It was the second time she’d used that word to describe his actions. And it annoyed the fuck out of him now too. But since his gran would no doubt ensure no details of his life were left unexplored, he figured he’d give Kaylee a heads-up. “I was engaged once.”

Though she blinked, she said nothing.

“Greta. From a good family. My parents were friends with another couple, and she was their daughter. We grew up together. Everyone assumed we’d get married, including us. After college, I proposed. She accepted.”

Focused on him, Kaylee stirred her straw in her drink.

“You haven’t done a web search on my life?”

“Why would I? When I get off work, I try not to think about it again.”

“Then you don’t know about the scandal?”

“Scandal?”she echoed.

For a time, he believed it was the only thing people talked about. But maybe she wasn’t as obsessively focused on gossip rags.

Because he still didn’t like to talk about the event, he kept the details vague. “Dad lost his company and the family fortune.”

“Oh my God.”

“The stress of having her home foreclosed on and having their vehicles taken away—not to mention artwork and heirlooms—destroyed my mother, and she had a heart attack.”

“Oh, Mr. Frost…”

Waving off her sympathy, he took a long drink of his ale. Memories rankled and burned when he allowed them to surface, so he preferred to keep them buried where they couldn’t cause further damage.

“Did your fiancée leave you over this?”

“Once the money was gone, so was she.” But Kaylee, with her fierce protectiveness, would no doubt have stood by his side. “No loss, in retrospect.”

“And what about your father… Will he be at the dinner?”

He shook his head. “No invitation has been extended.”

“So you’re estranged?”

Her question was an assumption with no judgment in it, which he appreciated. “Yes. Gran has not forgiven him for her only child’s death.”

“That has to be difficult for her. And for you.”

“If he showed remorse, it might be different.” He shrugged. “But he expects me to continue to provide for him.”

Her mouth opened before she quickly shut it again.

“I bought him a cabin in Alaska, and he never leaves it. Instead he spends most of his time with a bottle of whiskey and blaming everyone else for his troubles.” Frost had little sympathy for cowards.

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