Free Christmas with her Boss by Marion Lennox

to buy you perfume.’
    â€˜He wants to go Christmas shopping. I promised I’d take him to Curalo. That’s our closest major shopping centre—twenty miles from here.’
    â€˜But you have things to do here, right?’
    â€˜Right,’ she said cautiously.
    â€˜So could I take him?’
    â€˜You,’ she said, stunned, and he thought about whether he should take personal affront at the thought that she obviously thought him—and the rest of the male species—useless, and then he caught another glimpse of that angel and thought maybe not.
    â€˜Would he mind if I took him?’ he asked. ‘I could find an Internet place in town and do my contacting—kill two birds with one stone.’
    â€˜That’d be fantastic,’ she breathed. ‘Craig here says we should have signed the contract for our milk quota before Christmas. The manager’s still at work, so Craig says I can get a lift back in with him. He can bring me back when he does the next farm. But then I promised Letty I’d help do the pudding. I need to check on Millicent. I need to see to the water troughs. I’m having trouble making everything fit.’
    â€˜So it’s a good idea?’
    â€˜It’s a fabulous idea,’ she said admiringly. Her eyes were twinkling… Maybe she was manipulating him and it was such an odd experience…
    People didn’t manipulate him. Had she just manipulated him?
    Who knew? This was one clever woman.
    â€˜Would you be confident driving Letty’s car?’ she said. ‘I know you can drive on our side of the road.’ More admiration?
    â€˜Yes, but…’
    â€˜Scotty would love to go with you. Christmas shopping with his sister, or go Christmas shopping with a guy, someone who won’t make him wait outside lingerie shops? What a choice.’
    â€˜You don’t!’
    â€˜He’s always scared I might.’ She hesitated, and the laughter died. ‘I… he’s had a tough time. He’d enjoy going shopping with you rather than with me.’
    â€˜His leg…’
    She glanced across at Craig but Craig was bending down to pat Killer and was obviously not in too great a rush. She turned back to William and he realised he was being assessed. She held his gaze for a long moment and then gave a decisive little nod. Whatever test there’d been, it seemed he’d passed. Manipulation was past. It was time for honesty.
    â€˜Scott’s been through hell and back,’ she said bluntly. ‘His leg was so badly smashed they had to put in a rod instead of bone. It healed but then they had to insert another rod because he grew. That got infected.’ She swallowed. ‘He almost died. Again. The leg still hasn’t completely healed but it will and he’s okay to get around. He’s really good on crutches. If you could…just do what he wants. And if you can think of anything he’d like, I’d appreciate that too. I’ve bought him so many computer games he surely must be over them but I’m hopeless at thinking of what a teenage boy wants. He’s so restricted—but he needs a manly present.’
    Her frankness was working as manipulation never could. But he could do this. He even puffed his chest a little. ‘Soyou’d like me to take your kid brother Christmas shopping for manly presents? I can do that.’
    â€˜Ooh, you’re not my boss, you’re my hero,’ she said and before, he could begin to guess what she intended, she stood on tiptoe and kissed him. It was a feather kiss, almost a mockery, but not quite. It was a kiss of laughter and of sudden friendship, and why it had the capacity to make him feel…
    How did it make him feel?
    He didn’t know and it was too late to find out. Craig was replacing his hoses and yelling, ‘Are you coming or not?’
    â€˜I’m coming,’ she called. ‘I’ll just go lose my