Merry Christmas, Daddy

“I’m sorry, too,” Gabe said, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck. “I shouldn’t have burdened you with my troubles, but it just hit me like a ton of bricks today and I couldn’t seem to stop myself from taking my anger out on you.” He paused and caught her gaze. “In fact, that’s probably why I yelled at you about not appreciating my help. I’m sorry for that, too.”

“That’s okay,” Kassandra said quietly.

A strange, uncomfortable silence settled over them. They’d never had a civil conversation before, and it appeared to Kassandra that neither one of them knew what to do or say next.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Kassandra finally asked, filling the awkward pause.

Gabe shook his head. “Not unless you’d like to go to Georgia with me and pretend to be my fiancée through the Christmas season.”

The absurdity of the suggestion made Kassandra laugh. They couldn’t get along for the five minutes it took to gather her groceries. There was no way they could spend three weeks together—particularly not as two people in love. She almost laughed again. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Yeah,” Gabe agreed. Evidently following her line of thinking about the absurdity of the situation, he smiled. In fact, he smiled at her.

She found she rather liked it.

He realized it didn’t kill him.

They’d actually made some progress.

Ill at ease, he rubbed his hand across the back of his neck again. “So, your roommates are leaving, huh?”

She nodded, regretting that she’d revealed so much to him. Then she realized it didn’t matter. She didn’t have a fairy godmother. There was no gold at the end of the rainbow. And she wasn’t going to be able to keep this apartment. Period.

“I’ll probably be turning in a request to get out of my lease.”

“That’s too bad,” he said, and Kassandra could tell he genuinely meant it. “This is a good building, a safe building.”

“I know,” she agreed. “That’s why I liked living here. To tell you the truth, I’m not quite sure where I’m going to go….” Kassandra trailed off, watching as a curious expression crossed Gabe’s face.

He looked her up and down, from her feet to her head, then from her head to her feet.

He smiled wickedly, handsomely. “You know, if you think about this, we could be the answer to each other’s problems.”

Kassandra shook her head. “I don’t think so. Unless you’d be willing to let me live here rent free until I get my degree, there’s nothing anyone can do to help me.”

“But I would be willing to let you live here rent free while you get your degree. I’d even be willing to help you with your other expenses, if you would go to Georgia with me for the holidays.”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” Kassandra said, thinking distress had driven him just slightly delirious and he didn’t realize what he was offering.

“Don’t say no so quickly,” he insisted, this time sounding as if he were getting a little desperate. “I’m serious about this. Rent and help with your other expenses. Figure out how much money it would take for you to finish school and give me a number. I don’t care. I really need this favor.”

“You must,” Kassandra agreed, overwhelmed by his generosity. “But whether you’re serious or not doesn’t matter, because I can’t do it.” First, she knew she couldn’t impose on her parents to take care of Candy for the better part of a month. Second, she didn’t want to miss Candy’s first Christmas. Third, she didn’t think Gabe Cayne would appreciate her bringing her daughter on a holiday visit with his family—particularly since she didn’t know if Gabe knew Candy existed.

And, fourth, his proposition was just a little too good to be true. She’d been around long enough to know there had to be a catch. There was no way she’d hungrily jump at this chance and make a fool of herself.

“You have to do it,” Gabe said. “There is no other way out for you.”

“Of course there is,” Kassandra argued casually. “I might have to adjust my schedule and put back graduation, but I’ll get there.”

She set some more things in the refrigerator. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Gabe staring at her, clearly thinking she was crazy. “I know what you’re thinking,” she told him as she busied herself with storing some canned goods. “That I’m nuts. Well, I have a news flash for you. For every bit as much as you might think I’m crazy to turn down such a lucrative offer, I think you’re equally crazy for making it.”

“Why?”

“Because people who don’t have money are always suspicious of people who offer it so freely.” Smiling smugly, she tossed a can into a cupboard. “There’s a catch. I know there is, so I’m not buying into this.”

“What if I told you there was no catch?” he asked.

“There’s always a catch.”

“Not this time.”

His quietly spoken statement stopped her. “You’re kidding? You’d let me live here for eighteen months and you’d shell out enough money to take care of my other expenses?”

“I have money. You need it. And you’d be giving up your holiday. Two-thirds of December and a few days into January. To me it’s worth it.”

Flabbergasted, she shook her head. “You rich people kill me.”

“Why?” he countered. “I’m offering you a simple way out of this and you’re too…too…”

“Stupid?” she inquired, her eyebrows raised questioningly.

“Stubborn,” he corrected her, “to take it. Why?”

“For a million reasons,” she said. “First of all, I don’t know you.”

“Ah, come on. Everybody in this city knows me, at least by reputation—good reputation, I might add. Even you, if you’re honest. In spite of the fact that you think my parties are too loud and too long, you know I’m basically a person of integrity. So, saying you don’t know me is no excuse.”

What he said was true. She did know him by reputation, but more than that she knew his family. Everybody knew his family. They weren’t merely pillars of the community. Until a few years ago when they retired in Georgia, they were the community. The most generous, most benevolent people in town…

Which made his offer even more than tempting. Knowing the family she’d be visiting were such likable, easygoing people made his offer possible. Very possible. Rent and expenses for eighteen months. She could actually quit her job as a waitress. Study full-time. Graduate early.

Suddenly he turned and strode toward the door. “I’ll tell you what, since this was a spur-of-the-moment idea, I’m going to give you some time to think about it. I’m leaving in my family’s private plane Friday afternoon at two, municipal field. If you’re not there, I’ll understand.” He paused and faced her again. “But if you want to come with me, pack for three weeks.”

Kassandra watched the door close behind him, then fell into her chair. She could tell from the way he issued that last order that he expected her to be at that airport at two o’clock on Friday.

He’d made an incredibly generous offer—one she could hardly walk away from—and he knew that.

But, then again, he obviously didn’t know about Candy….

Chapter Two (#ulink_a7d8b6a9-2895-517f-a8ff-1544757abc1b)

At twenty minutes after two on Friday afternoon, Gabe’s plane was fueled and had been moved to the boarding area of the small airstrip. Gabe stood in the biting December wind, arms crossed on his chest, as he studied the parking lot of the municipal field. Kassandra was now late enough for him to officially assume that she wasn’t coming and had turned him down.

Which seemed impossible. Short of throwing in a block of Cayne Enterprises stock, Gabe didn’t know how he could have made her a better offer. Yet, obviously, his very lucrative, very generous proposition wasn’t good enough.

On the verge of giving up, Gabe saw Kassandra jump out of a late-model car someone else was driving. Though Gabe felt a burst of relief, followed by a stirring of guilt since he never thought to offer her a ride to the airport, he didn’t want to weaken. Couldn’t weaken. This trip had to be on his terms, because this was his family. He couldn’t have Kassandra calling the shots, or running the show, or even being smart with him.

Not in front of his family.