Free Christmas With The Billionaire by Susan Stephens Page B

never experienced anything like this before. Once he had everything back on an even keel, he swung around, reasoning Kate would be safe. She was sensible, and had always been quite open about the fact that she was only house-sitting the apartment for the holidays.  
    She must have gone home. But where was home? The North of England? Great. That was a vast area. They’d spent so much time in bed he hadn’t thought to ask for her address. There hadn’t been much conversation between them, but he should have thought to ask when she was leaving.  
    Swearing beneath his breath, he took the stairs to the penthouse two at a time. He’d been away in Paris on business and had just gotten back. He’d had to leave on short notice, and when he’d returned he’d called Kate, but she hadn’t answered. Then his mind had been wrapped around the problem of getting Woolly back safely to his estate in Scotland. A ghillie, one of the assistants to his gamekeeper, had flown to London to collect the big dog, so that problem was easily solved, but Kate disappearing had really thrown him. He’d called the agency, but they wouldn’t tell him anything. He’d texted, called, emailed, and left voicemails for Kate, who had apparently disappeared from the face of the earth.  
    Or maybe it was over between them as far as she was concerned, and she just hadn’t bothered to answer his calls, which was also possible.
    No. He refused to accept that. There was a bond between them. She felt it as much as he did. And he wasn’t going to leave it here. Kate was special, and special was in short supply. She had brought her northern warmth and sparkle to London, and now she’d gone back home. Why would she wait for him? She was an independent woman. She’d never been needy, but he’d taken her for granted like everything else—anything Jason Kent wanted, Jason Kent could have. But not this time. This time he had to fight for what he wanted. And what he wanted was Kate.
    He walked into his apartment where the silence mocked him. His sense of loss was unique and painful. He’d never take anything for granted again. Picking up the phone, he called his investigator. The woman was surprised when he gave her the brief, as she usually looked at companies for him.
    “This is more important,” he assured her.
    “I gathered that.”
    “I’m going to get in the car now and start driving north. Call me when you’ve got something.”  

    “You did like our gifts?” Kate’s mother began cautiously.  
    “I loved them—every one of them,” Kate was quick to reassure her mother. Her tension eased as she ran through the thoughtful presents from her family in her mind. “Especially the ‘grow your own sports car’ from Nathan.”
    “Someone must like you...” Her mother lifted the necklace Kate was wearing to examine the tiny hearts. “All our names are engraved here, Dad,” she called out to Kate’s father, who was sitting behind his newspaper in front of the fire, and who grunted, while Kate avoided her mother’s gaze.  
    She should have known her mother wouldn’t give up easily. “Someone nice give it to you?” she prompted.
    “It was a gift from all my new friends at the party,” Kate reported truthfully. “Santa found it at the bottom of his sack.”
    “Santa...?”  
    When she didn’t rise to the bait, her mother added, “Well, it was very nice of your new friends to think of it—very nice indeed. You did remember to bring your wooden hearts back?”
    “I would never forget them.”
    “No, I don’t suppose you would.” Her mother searched Kate’s eyes with concern. “Ah, well, we’d better get everything ready for when your brothers get back. It’s nice to have the boys home for once.”  
    “It must be,” Kate agreed, though her brothers were hardly boys now. They were all powerful men in their own right, with a number of different interests that had taken them away from the farm. She was glad for her mother’s