Christmas at Candlebark Farm by Michelle Douglas Read Free Book Online Page A

was…’
    â€˜Rude?’ she supplied. ‘Churlish?’
    â€˜Out of order,’ he ground out.
    He cast another glance at her. She really was turning very pale. His hands clenched. She was having a baby. On her own. She didn’t deserve attitude from him. ‘Rude and churlish,’ he admitted.
    He pulled out a chair. He’d meant to plant himself in it, apologise like a man, but his spine bowed under the sudden weight that crashed down on him and he found himself slumping instead. ‘This kitchen hasn’t had a woman in it for a long time. Coming in last night and seeing you so at home, with dinner on and the table set…’ He dragged a hand down his face. ‘It…’ He didn’t know how to go on.
    â€˜Oh!’ The word left her in one soft exhalation. ‘Oh, I didn’t think of that. I’m sorry, Luke. I didn’t mean to rake up ghosts from the past.’
    The problem was his past had never been like that—it had never been that inviting, that tempting. Fate was laughing at him, deriding him—showing him with one hand all he could have had, and then taking it away with the other.
    Which was as it should be.
    â€˜I lost the plot for a moment. I’m sorry.’
    Keira reached out and placed her hand over his. ‘Why don’t we just forget all about last night?’
    He eased out a breath. The scent of vanilla rose up all around him. ‘I’d like that.’ He studied her face. Her colour still hadn’t returned. He’d gestured towards his abandoned sandwich. ‘Have you eaten?’
    For some reason that made her laugh. With a self-conscious glance at her hand on his, she drew back and nodded. ‘I ate earlier, thank you.’
    Good. He couldn’t help noticing how she flicked a glance across to the cheese, though. He reached across and relocated the breadboard from the bench to the table. He cut more cheese—far more than he’d need—and made a show of making sandwiches. ‘Want one?’
    â€˜No, thank you.’ But she flicked another glance at the cheese.
    He pushed the breadboard towards her and bit into his sandwich. ‘I always cut too much, and then it goes to waste.’
    â€˜Waste?’
    He nodded. Then nearly grinned when she reached out and seized a slice and popped it into her mouth. She closed her eyes in what looked like ecstasy. Luke stopped chewing to stare. She opened her eyes, registered the expression on his face, and pale cheeks suddenly became pink.
    Luke forced himself to start chewing again. He swallowed. ‘You want to tell me what you want with a builder?’
    She snaffled another piece of cheese. ‘I…’ Her lips trembled upwards in a smile that made something in his chest tighten. ‘I’ve inherited a house in the town.’
    He lowered his sandwich.
    She nodded. ‘I know—amazing, huh? My Great-Aunt Ada—whom I’d never met, mind—left me her house in her will.’ She popped the second piece of cheese into her mouth. ‘Yum!’ She pointed. ‘This is really good!’
    â€˜Just regular cheddar.’
    She grabbed another piece. ‘Apparently my great-aunt had no other living relatives. She died back in September, but it took her solicitor a couple of months to track me down.’
    That smile of hers slipped and his heart dipped right along with it.
    â€˜I wish she’d tried to contact me.’ She stared down at the table, one finger tracing the grain of the wood. ‘ I should’ve contacted her .’
    â€˜Why?’ If the woman had never been a part of her life…
    â€˜I was her last living relative. She must’ve been lonely towards the end.’ She lifted one slim shoulder. ‘And…well…she was my last living relative too. I’d have liked to have known her.’
    Luke tried to hide his dawning horror. Not only didn’t she have a partner—the