Free Hating Christmas (Holiday Series) by Carol Rose

glanced at her with loathing. “ Why she
said what she said is up for debate, but what she said made
sense.”
    Shaking her head, Holly mused, “Now why would an
older wife want to save her new husband’s money? I mean, what
nefarious reason could she have had?”
    He didn’t answer this, looking even more
saturnine.
    “So what did you say to your mother?” Levi’s question
was sharp. “Did you tell her to divorce my dad? Or did you try to
comfort her tears? Maybe you don’t actually want them to
break up.”
    She gasped at this sudden assault.
    Levi got up from his seat next to her on the bed,
pacing forward and then swinging back as if he were a litigator and
she was on trial. “Maybe this whole thing is a set-up and you and
your mom are working together to dig your claws into my dad.”
    “That’s ridiculous!”
    “What better way to work at that goal than to have
them fight over money with your mother looking as if she’s trying
to conserve his funds? I don’t see you doing anything to break up
this foolish marriage.” He glared at her, a muscle working in his
tight jaw.
    “That’s because you were down on the woodpile talking
your father into giving it another chance!”
    “Just admit it,” he insisted. “You both would benefit
from this marriage.”
    “Oh, now I’m supposed to be in this, too?” She
bounced indignantly off the bed to face him. “I’m plotting with my
mother to steal your father’s retirement money?”
    “Well, you’ve already shown–what with sneaking around
me to get Mac Toledo to appear in your documentary—that you don’t
mind taking the nefarious route.” His face was contemptuous.
    “The two things aren’t the same, no matter what you
say, Levi Harper. Mac is his own person and I’m sure he’ll give
your cut of his pay from my film—“
    “Probably buy my Starbuck’s for a month,” he
scoffed.
    “—but this situation between my mother and your
father has nothing to do with that! I think they were impulsive and
foolish to get married so quickly. She had no need to do anything
that silly! My mom’s not hurting financially.”
    He leaned back against the wall beside the door,
“You’re right about them getting married. They should have just
lived together and let this thing run its course.”
    She looked at him in dislike. “I think they should
have just had a shipboard fling, like anyone in their right minds,
and let it go at that.”
    “My dad’s old school.” Levi looked at her a long
minute. “He’s got this honor thing that always spells his
ruin.”
    “Well, my mother won’t be his ruin—and she isn’t
after his money—but she’s old school, too.” Holly stood brooding,
staring sightlessly at the off-white pile in front of her. “They
should have just slept together and scratched the itch without
calling a parson.”
    Levi came back and sat down on the bed, the steam
seeming to have left him. “We still need to find a way to help them
to realize this was just an itch thing.”
    “My mother,” she said, going over to sit again next
to him on the bed, “doesn’t usually succumb to itches. She’s very
level-headed normally. I don’t know what got into her.”
    “My dad’s a very sexy guy.” The glimmer of a smile
touched Levi’s lips. “Or so I’m told.”
    She glanced at him with a quick answering smile. “I
can’t imagine who would have told you a thing like that, even if
they thought it.”
    “She probably couldn’t control herself.” Levi
chuckled. “We Harper men have that effect on women.”
    Holly snorted.
    “You probably shouldn’t sit next to me,” he advised
her with a grin. “Lust might overcome you like it did your
mom.”
    Starting to chuckle at the image his words brought to
her mind, she was soon giggling. “Stop. Eww. You’re making me
picture them naked together.”
    Levi looked at her, dissolved with laughter, leaning
back on the bed next to him. “Well, it’s either that or she was
motivated by