The Christmas Wife Read Free

told you.”
    She smiled at the woman as she continued to dangle in
Deacon’s grip.  “I’m fine, mama.”
    “Oh, Hattie.  What have you done?”  Claire stared in dismay
at the broken pieces of statue.
    “It was an accident,” Hattie said.  “My feet slipped out
from under me and I fell down.”
    “I told you to stay in the library,” Claire said as Deacon,
bits of statue crunching under his feet, stepped away from the mess and set
Hattie down on the floor.
    Claire put her arm around Hattie and gave him a tentative
smile.  “I’m so sorry, Mr. Stone.”
    He looked her up and down and she flushed at his silent
judgement. 
    “Ms. Brooks, is it?”
    “Yes, Claire Brooks.” she said quietly.
    “Tell me, do all maids bring their children to work now or
is this a new thing?”
    She flushed again.  “I’m so sorry, there was an emergency
with my babysitter and – “
    He held his hand up and cut her off, “I don’t care.  But
there is the issue of my broken statue.”
    “I’ll pay for the damages,” she said quickly.
    He frowned at her.  “Will you?”
    “Yes,” she said before glancing at Hattie.  “Just please, if
you could keep this quiet with the cleaning service, I’ll personally pay for
it.”
    “Can I assume that your boss won’t be pleased to hear that
you’re bringing your child to work?”
    She nodded.  “Yes.  We can do an insurance claim, the
company is bonded and insured, but if they find out that I brought Hattie here,
I’ll lose my job.  And I really need my job, Mr. Stone.  I’m a single mother
and I – I don’t have a lot of extra cash.” 
    She tried to smile winningly at him but it withered and died
under his hot gaze.
    “If you just let me know how much the statue cost, I’ll
write you a cheque.”
    “That statue cost seventy-five grand, Ms. Brooks.”
    Claire’s mouth dropped open as Hattie said indignantly, “You
paid seventy-five dollars for that?  It’s not even pretty.”
    “Hattie, shush!”  Claire said weakly.  “Mr. Stone, I – I
don’t have that kind of money.”
    “Then I guess you’ll have to speak to your boss about this
after all,” he said.
    Her face paled and she couldn’t stop her squeak of dismay. 
Hattie took her hand and gave her an anxious look.  “I can help you pay for it,
mama.  You can have my birthday money.”
    “Thank you, honey, but you keep your birthday money.”  Claire
tried to smile at her.
    “I’m saving up for one of your toys,” Hattie informed him. 
“I have ten dollars and I only need another,” she frowned in thought, “ninety
dollars and then I’ll have enough.  It’s the – “
    “Hattie, hush, please,” Claire said. “Mr. Stone, could we
work something out?”
    “Like what?”  For some reason his gaze dropped to her
breasts and he could feel his own cheeks reddening when she crossed one arm
over her chest.
    “I could pay you a weekly amount,” she said, “until the
statue is paid for.”
    He didn’t reply and she cleared her throat.  “Um, I could pay
you a hundred dollars every Friday.”
    His snort of laughter died away at her look of shame.  She
blinked rapidly, he was suddenly horrified to realize that she was on the verge
of tears, and cleared her throat again.  “I’m sorry, that was stupid.  I’ll let
the company know what happened and fill out an insurance claim.  They’ll
contact you with the details.”
    He nodded and she glanced at the shattered statue.  “I’ll
just, uh, clean this up and then go.”
    “Leave it,” he said.
    “No, I can’t do that.  I’ll clean it and then be out of your
hair.”
    He shook his head.  “I think you’ve done enough damage for
one day, Ms. Brooks.”
    “Right,” she said.  She gave him a final apologetic smile
before leading Hattie toward the door.
    “Good-bye, Mr. Stone,” Hattie said.  “I’m very sorry I broke
your statue.”

Chapter 2
     
    Deacon drummed his fingers restlessly on the top of his