Be Mine at Christmas by Brenda Novak Read Free Book Online

pills.”
    “ Sleeping pills?”
    “They were strong. Because of her aches and pains, the doctor prescribed some sedatives. Stephanie simply stole a few from the medicine cabinet and mixed them in when she frosted a couple of the brownies she brought to the party.”
    “The ones she made for me.”
    “Yes.”
    He considered Angela for several long moments. He was relieved to finally have his suspicions confirmed, to know he really wasn’t the callous jerk everyone had thought he was.
    But that raised another question, one that seemed far more important now than it ever had before. “Did you know what she was planning before you went to the party? Did you help her?”
    “No. I only knew that she had hopes of getting with you. She said you’d ‘be hers’ by morning. But she always talked like that. I didn’t realize, until she admitted it the next day, that she’d drugged you.”
    He sighed. “I’m just glad she didn’t get pregnant. Can you imagine? It would’ve ruined my life.”
    She said nothing.
    “Angela?”
    “That would have been terrible,” she said quietly.
    He chuckled without mirth. “I don’t know many guys who’ve had to worry about being seduced against their will, especially at sixteen. Do you?”
    “Stephanie was determined. When she wanted something, she stopped at nothing to have it.”
    He studied her carefully, wondering why she was keeping him at arm’s length. “What about you?” he asked.
    “What about me?”
    “What do you do when you want something?”
    She gazed up at the tree. “I try to think about how it’ll affect others.”
    He knew her answer was significant. He just didn’t know in what way.

CHAPTER FIVE
    “S O…DO YOU LIKE HIM ?” As soon as they reached their room, Kayla sat cross-legged on the end of Angela’s bed and smiled eagerly, obviously expecting a girl-to-girl chat.
    “He’s nice,” Angela replied, trying not to sound too enthusiastic.
    “Just nice? ”
    Angela stepped into the bathroom to undress. “No, he’s cute, too.”
    “Oh, my gosh!” she called back. “Cute? He’s like…Jake Gyllenhaal. Are you blind? I sat in there watching stupid television shows so you could be alone, and now you’re telling me he’s cute? ”
    “When I said he had a nice butt, you told on me,” Angela accused, trying to put Kayla on the defensive.
    But when Angela emerged in her pajamas, she found Kayla stretched out on the bed, grinning unrepentantly. “Yeah, but he liked hearing it. He hasn’t been able to keep his eyes off you since.”
    Angela’s head hurt from all the conflicting emotions. When she’d first decided to return to Virginia City, she’d expected to find Matt happilymarried with a few kids. She couldn’t show up on a man’s doorstep, a man who had a wife and children, and tell him he had another daughter he’d never even heard about. Not when the child had been conceived the way Kayla had. He wasn’t responsible for what had happened, so how could she justify disrupting his life and the lives of those he loved? Knowing she couldn’t do that had made her feel safe. She’d come here to put to rest the unsettling “what if” scenarios that had plagued her, even before she’d read Kayla’s essay. She’d wanted to validate the decisions that had been made in the past and gather more strength and determination to continue with things as they were.
    Now she didn’t know what to do. She’d never bargained on Matt’s being single. Neither had she guessed that she’d be so attracted to him. Their interest in each other confused an already difficult issue. But with or without Kayla, she saw little chance that what they felt would ever turn into a committed, long-term relationship. They were both single at twenty-nine. That had to say something about them. Her life and her business were in Denver; his were here in Virginia City.
    She wouldn’t tell him, she decided. Not yet. She didn’t know him well enough. Besides, as much as