Free Once Upon a Christmas by Lauraine Snelling, Lenora Worth Page A

surely you’re not…I mean, is it a gas range?” I knew she was feeling overwhelmed, but surely she isn’t depressed to that point.
    Her chuckle warmed him clear to his toes. And relaxed his shoulders.
    “It’s electric and self-cleaning, but I was wiping out the ashes from running the clean cycle. Did you think I…?” Her laugh trilled.
    “Just being cautious. And now that I’ve given you your laugh for the evening—I wanted to thank you for all your help today.”
    “You did look on the verge of panic. Be right back, Harley wants in.”
    He closed his eyes while he waited, the better to picture her. She wasn’t the type he usually dated, as if there’d been any “usually” for more than the last year.
    “Sorry for the interruption.”
    “Dogs don’t wait. Nor do little girls.” He sighed.
    “Hard day?”
    “You were here, but let me tell you, it is easier with two people.”
    “I can guess.”
    “I think I owe you an apology.” He cleared his throat. “You know when we met in the park?”
    “Yes.”
    “You were pretty frosty at first. I got to thinking later that perhaps you were upset that I disappeared for four days without calling.”
    “Five.”
    “Ah, yeah. Well, I got caught in a hurricane named LynnEllen. She’s my sister and ever since Mom and Dad died, has been either drunk or high most of the time. Fortunately she’d been clean and sober for several months before she conceived Amie, so we don’t have a fetal alcohol baby on top of the rest. She called last week to invite me down to San Diego for Christmas, said the last rehab was working and she wanted Amie to know that she does have a family.” He leaned back and propped his feet up on the desk. “Then last Sunday night I got a call from her again. She’d been picked up, violated her parole and was back in the slammer. Could I come down and get Amie? LynnEllen swears the crack found in her car wasn’t hers, but she’s been a liar for so long, I can’t believe her. She’ll be in for life due to the three strikes law if she is convicted. So I hired a moving van to take her things to storage for now, packed up Amie and brought her here. You know the story from there.”
    “Oh, Thane, how awful.”
    “I was so angry at her, at the whole mess she’s madeof her life, I couldn’t lay that on anyone, least of all you. And as you can see, Amie takes up all the time I have. I get furious all over again every time she cries for her mommy. And on top of that, she and Matty are not hitting it off. She’s afraid of dogs, she’s afraid of the dark, she screams if I leave the room.”
    “It’s called separation anxiety. Harley had a bad case of it when I first got him.”
    “Working on a computer with a child sitting on your knee just doesn’t work.” He sighed again. This seemed to be a night for sighing.
    “Did you call my sister?”
    “Not yet. I will in the morning. I made an appointment with a Realtor to go looking at houses.”
    “You were serious.”
    “Of course, there’s no yard for her to play in here and if I decide to find a nanny, I’ll need a bedroom for her, too.” He glanced over to his inviting bed. “Having my office in my bedroom reminds me of my college days.”
    “Where did you go to school?”
    “Stanford. Got my MBA at Berkeley. What about you?”
    “California College of the Arts at the city campus.”
    “In San Francisco?”
    “Yes. I loved it there. My wild and free days.” Blythe drove her fingers through her hair, now gelled to stand upright.
    “I can’t picture you wild. Free, yes, because you are.”
    “You think I’m free?” Her laugh made him smile in return.
    “Free enough to change your hair color. That was a bit of a shock.”
    “Not to those who know me well.”
    I want to be one of those. I want to know you better than anyone does. “I’m learning.”
    “Yeah, you are.” The tone of her voice made him smile. He stroked his chin with one forefinger.
    “I’ve been