Free His Christmas Rose by C.M. Steele Page A

reaction earlier but was not certain until now.
    “I have only known for about a month, but I didn’t tell Spencer. It has been a lot to take in. My mother and father married because of the financial gain. They could not stand each other by the time I was three and that was when according to my father, that your mother had stopped by after finding Mitch with another woman. One thing led to another and you were conceived. My father apparently could never understand why she hadn’t left Mitch. She had used him that night for revenge.” He had started pacing around the room, having a hard time looking at the sister that had been left to deal with the brunt of their parents’ mistakes.
    “About two years ago your father had a business venture with the Kane family. My father had been angry at Mitch for not letting him in on the deal, and they got in to a huge argument. That was when Mitch said that he had been screwing my mother for a decade and that I was his son. It had been a lie, but that was when my father returned the insult and admitted he had an affair with your mother and that you were possibly his child. Out of fear of being humiliated, Mitch hadn’t told anyone or outright rejected you. Mitch had secretly done DNA testing on you and realized you were not his daughter.” The agony and pain that radiated across her face as she sat on the chaise lounge in the center of the room had torn at his insides.
    He reached down and kneeled next to Rose, holding her hands in his and continued, “He threatened to sue my father, who had been struggling financially since the divorce, for the years of the lavish lifestyle you had been living if he divulged the truth. He wanted to tell you but couldn’t. It was only revealed to me by accident one day after going through my father’s business dealings and helping him out. He tried to snatch the file from me but couldn’t because I was too fast and too curious. I was shocked to see the results of the test. I was so mad that he had not told you, but he tried to explain and well, I hope that you can one day forgive us for that. I love you, Rose. You are my cousin, sister, whatever you want to be to me.”
    She rose from her seat, telling him to follow her lead, and wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his chest.
    “Reed, thank you for explaining this to me. Over the years we have not been that close, but I always thought of you as more than my cousin. You have been looking out for me. Don’t think I haven’t noticed, and I am happy to call you my brother.” They held each other for a long time before Reed tried to break the tension and pretend to be a big threatening brother.
    “Seeing as you see me as your brother, do you mind telling me what you are doing with my best friend’s arm around you?”
    “We are dating.” Reed was confused. He knew about Spencer’s problem, had it returned to normal? He didn’t want to think of that, this was his little sister here.
    “Wait, I talked to him and asked if you were okay and if he would take care of you and protect you from his brother. The lying bastard.”
    “He did take care of me and if you had been here earlier this morning, you would have seen that he did stop Matt from making his move on me.” She was smiling, something he hadn’t seen her do in a long time.
    “Well, he better treat you well or I am going to have to kick his ass.”
    Just as he said that in walked Spencer, “You don’t have to worry about her. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her. Although I am going to have to get her to transfer to a school in Boston because I can’t up and quit my own company and I will not be away from her for that long, ever.”
    “Well then, I guess that is settled. When is the wedding?”
    “Do you mind if I am asked first?”
    “Baby, you already know I am not letting you go. So I will ask just for the sake of asking, but it is a done deal. Understood, woman?”
    “Thank you for pretending