Free A Thunder Canyon Christmas by RaeAnne Thayne

week. Staying busy will help.”
    â€œGood. That’s great. I’ll be there, too. Marlon has demanded—I mean, asked me in no uncertain terms—that I help out at the party.”
    Apparently she wouldn’t be able to completely avoid him during the rest of her stay. She didn’t know whether to rejoice or be depressed by that.
    Elise glanced inside the dining room where the rest of her family members looked to be finishing up their meal. Stephanie was already gesturing for Marcos to take away her plate. “I should go. And you probably need to return to your date.”
    â€œRight.”
    He followed her gaze to the other diners, then shifted his attention back to her. He seemed strangely reluctant to leave her company, but she must be misinterpreting things. He was here with a date. A beautiful, vivacious date. Why would he want to hang around in a hallway with her when he could be sitting out there with a pretty brunette? She knew the thought shouldn’t depress her so much.
    â€œI guess I’ll see you around ROOTS, then,” he said.
    â€œEnjoy your evening,” she answered, then hurried back inside the restaurant to rejoin her family, trying hard not to wish she were the one sharing that bottle of wine with him.
    Â 
    â€œSo that’s Elise.”
    Matt returned his napkin to his lap, careful not to meet Christine’s gaze. She was entirely too perceptive. For some reason, he was hesitant to let her see the depth of his attraction for Elise. Even though he and Christine were strictly friends, showing such blatant interest in another woman seemed rude.
    â€œYes. Grant’s little sister.”
    â€œBut she’s not really, right? Grant’s sister, I mean. She’s the one who was switched at birth with Erin Castro.”
    â€œThat doesn’t make her any less Grant’s sister,” he answered, more curtly than he intended. He couldn’t shake the memory of her anguish the night before as she had sobbed out her confusion in his arms.
    Christine raised an eyebrow but said nothing and he squirmed. Yeah. Entirely too perceptive. So much for concealing his growing feelings for Elise.
    â€œShe’s very pretty,” Christine said after a moment. “Has she moved back to Thunder Canyon for good?”
    He was wondering that same thing. “Not sure yet.”
    She was quiet for a moment then she touched his forearm. “Whenever you want to stage a breakup, you only have to say the word. You’ve been wonderful these last few months but this arrangement of ours was never supposed to be open-ended.”
    â€œWhy do we need to change anything?”
    She smiled. “I don’t know. Maybe because you haven’t stopped sneaking glances over at the Clifton table all night.”
    He took a sip of the delicious wine Grant had sent over to thank him for doing what any decent man would do. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.
    â€œWhy are you sorry? This isn’t a real date, Matt. You’re not breaking any unwritten rules here. I’m just saying, I’ll step out of the picture whenever you want me to.”
    He mulled her offer, not sure exactly how to respond. How was it possible that one crazy evening with Elise seemed to have changed everything?
    â€œWhat about Clay?”
    Christine shrugged. “I’ll deal. If he hasn’t gotten the message by now that I’ve moved on, the man needs serious help. I don’t know what more I can do.”
    He had thought more than once that Christine was too softhearted. From the moment she broke up with Clay Robbins, she should have been clear that she was breaking up with him because he was clingy and obsessive. Instead, she had tried to let him down gently. When that didn’t work, she had enlisted Matt’s help to convince the other man she had moved on.
    In Matt’s opinion, the man needed somebody to knock him ass over teakettle until he clued in