A Christmas Affair Read Online Free PDF Page A

don’t think you ever noticed any other girl in town.”
    “He sure in the hell didn’t,” Hennessey said.
    Lyfe gave his brother a hard glare that served as a final warning.
    “What?” Hennessey asked, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s the truth.”
    Only Tess picked up on his discomfort. “So where is the rest of the litter?” she asked. “Everybody knows that the Alton six-pack travels together.”
    Lyfe shook his head as he looked her over again. “Like everything else, times change.”
    Tess settled her hands on her hips as she tossed him a flirtatious wink. “Indeed.” She started to say something more when her gaze suddenly cut toward the suspended television set. “Is that—”
    “Yep,” Hennessey said. “Looks like your older sister is still doing big things up in New York.”
    “Parker, can you turn this up?”
    “You got it!” Parker said, hitting the volume on the remote until people outside were likely able to hear the television set.
    Lyfe groaned. But instead of leaving, like he should’ve done, his attention returned to the screen. Why not? He was a glutton for punishment, wasn’t he?
    “Tess, honey. What the hell is taking you so long in here?” Rufus Banks thundered and then added to his old friend, “Yo, Parker, what’s up?”
    “Nothing much. Just running your tickets through the machine here.”
    Lyfe stiffened. He couldn’t help it. Things between him and Mr. Banks had never healed since the night he’d walked in on him and his daughter naked in their living room. Bullets flying at you in the middle of a snowstorm generally tended to have a lasting negative effect on a person.
    The men’s gazes crashed.
    “What the hell are you doing back here?” Rufus barked.
    “You’ll never believe who’s on television, Daddy,” Tess said, interrupting a potential war.
    Rufus grudgingly shifted his attention away from Lyfe and followed her finger that was pointing to the television. A millisecond later, a genuine smile carved its way into the center of his gray beard while he, too, strolled over to stand beneath the screen. “Well, look at Corona Mae all gussied up. What’s going on?”
    Hennessey shrugged. “It appears you’re finally about to get yourself a son-in-law.”
    “Say what?” Rufus squinted up at the screen.
    “I’ll give you a hint,” Tess said, folding her arms beneath her small breasts. “Guess who’s coming to dinner.”
    Rufus’s eyes bugged out. “What? That white boy right there?”
    Lyfe gave him a lopsided smile. “Well, look at it this way. It’s not me.”
    The men’s gazes locked again and another layer of tension was added between them. When Lyfe was younger, the look Rufus Banks was giving him would’ve been enough for him to trip over himself and scramble home. But fourteen years later, Lyfe was an intimidating man himself.
    “Come on, Hennessey. Let’s get out of here.”

Chapter 4
     
    T he minute their wedding announcement segment ended on the entertainment channel, Corona powered off the television then jumped out of bed and raced toward the bathroom. “Oh, God. I think that I’m going to be sick.”
    “Hey!” Rowan said from his side of the bed, as he lowered the script that he was reading. “I thought it was a very nice interview.”
    Corona ignored him and dropped onto her knees next to the toilet bowl and waited for her dinner to make an encore appearance. But instead her stomach bent and turned like it was playing its own private game of Twister.
    “Are you all right in there?”
    She gagged and coughed but still nothing came up. “Yeah.” She sniffed and hung her head low so that her voice echoed in the porcelain chamber. “I’m fine.” Inher mind, she replayed the syrupy sweet interview and felt another violent jerk in the center of her stomach.
    What if my family saw it?
    “You’re worried about your family,” Rowan said.
    Corona jerked her head up to see her freshly minted fiancé leaning against the bathroom