Page 87 of His Christmas Wife

How could she admit this to herself, let alone her sister? “I fell in love with Frost.”

She wasn’t sure what reaction to expect from her sister, but Loree exhaled a soft, sympathetic sigh. “Oh, Kaylee. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s—”

“Don’t make light of it. I know you. When you care about someone, you invest your entire soul. So now I understand your reaction to the tiara. You couldn’t accept it because it belongs to the woman he will marry. And that’s not you.”

Kaylee pressed her lips together, trying to keep the sudden anguish from overwhelming her.

“Did you sleep?”

“Not a wink.”

“And that makes it worse.”

By at least a thousand times. But she’d spent another night tossing and turning. She hadn’t gotten any good rest since she’d seen his name on the program at the Quarter.

“How did he react?”

“Not well.” With curse words and that terrifying tic in his temple and worse, by wanting to tenderly wipe away a tear. “But he did tell me to keep the ring.”

“Let me guess, even though it would pay for the airline ticket and solve a lot of your problems, you didn’t.”

It wasn’t even a consideration. “Would you have?”

“Unlike you, I’d at least be tempted. But in the end, probably not. Damn us and our consciences anyway, right?” After a moment, she went on. “Where are things now? Have you talked to him?”

“He called more than ten times.” She’d finally turned off her phone because seeing the screen light up with his name made her heart race, and it lured her into temptation. “But no. I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

With the way she responded to him, there was a remote possibility that he’d be able to convince her to continue with the charade through the New Year’s party. But that would only mean going through this same exhausting devastation again a second time. And maybe it would be even worse, because no doubt she’d surrender to him in a moment of weakness.

As much as she yearned to talk to him, it was smarter this way.

Her sister’s voice brought her back to the present. “How are you planning to keep working with him? I know you’re super focused and determined, but still…”

That was another thing tormenting her. “I heard from Sylvia. She’s got a new job, and she’ll be hiring for her management team. I mean, I don’t have an MBA—”

“Pish. You’re amazing. If you weren’t, Frost would have fired your ass on day one. He knows he’s lucky to have you, and so did Sylvia. At least she appreciated you more than he does.” In the background, it sounded as if Loree took a bite out of something. “Your red wine truffles are to die for.”

“You got them?” Earlier in the month, she’d whipped up a few of her sister’s favorites and used her lunch break to head to the company’s mail room to ship the package, hoping it would arrive in time for Christmas.

“Saturday. But, shh. Don’t tell Joshua!” She laughed. “I hid them in the back of the cabinet behind a box of cereal he’d never be caught dead eating.”

“With marshmallows in it?” That had been an occasional treat growing up. Most of the time, they’d had buttered toast or whatever pieces of puffed corn or wheat came in a big plastic bag.

“He makes fun of my eating habits until your goodies arrive. Then suddenly he’s all Mr. Sweet Tooth. But anyway, if I stuff your tin behind bagels and cereal and then stack tubs of cake frosting on top, they’re safe.”

“Next time I’ll send twice as much.”

“No! I still won’t share, and that will mean I eat twice as much.”

“But anyway, candy for breakfast.”

“It’s Christmas.” She said the words simply, as if that explained everything. Which pretty well, it did. “Anyway, back to Sylvia. Are you going to take the job?”

“I’m thinking about it.” For her sanity, she needed to be away from Frost. And Sylvia had already agreed to allow the time off.So why haven’t I accepted the position?

She rationalized that it was because she could continue to advocate for the employees and make a difference at Christoff. But the truth was, despite it all, she hated to sever the relationship with Frost entirely.

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