A Heart of Stone Christmas Read Online Free PDF Page B

me now, he walked forward to stand in front of me. “Is there any reason I shouldn’t know where my wife is at all times? Yes, I can think of one. Maybe things like today wouldn’t happen if someone knew where you were.”
    “Don’t talk to me like I’m a child. I gave you three children. I think I deserve the respect accorded to their mother.”
    “This has nothing to do with that. I worry about you, and you seem to have an issue with me caring where you go. No one treats you like a child. I treat you like the most important person in my life. I don’t understand why you don’t see that I’d be lost without you, so I want to keep you safe. What’s wrong with that?”
    I hated when he looked like I injured him. His brown eyes had a way of seeming like they were taking the brunt of my words and reflected how hurt he felt. Turning away, I mumbled, “I thought you were having an affair with Cara.”
    “What?” he asked, his voice full of amazement.
    Spinning around, I said in a loud voice, “I saw you whispering to her all this week, and I thought you were having an affair with our children’s nanny.”
    Tristan’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “You thought I was sleeping with Cara? Why would you think that? What have I done to make you think there’s any woman on earth I want other than you?”
    Looking down at the floor, I answered his question. “Nothing. I didn’t say it was logical. It’s just what I thought.”
    He walked toward me and pulled me into his arms, pressing his lips to the top of my head. “Nina, I’ve loved you since that first night. You’re the mother of my children, and I wake up every day happier than the next. That’s because of you. But if you really believe I would want another woman, maybe I need to figure out another way to show you how much I love you.”
    I took a deep breath and looked up at him to see those gorgeous brown eyes full of love for me. “It’s not you. It’s me. I thought I’d be okay after the post-partum depression was over, but then I just felt uncomfortable in my own skin. You’re still the stunning man the whole world adores, and I feel like I’m not good enough. That’s why I haven’t attended one of your events since the babies were born. I look at the pictures of you in your tux on Page Six and all those beautiful people around you and think I don’t belong there.”
    Tristan kissed me so sweetly I wanted to cry. In all the months I’d been dealing with these feelings, I’d never told him the whole truth. After all that time, it felt like an enormous weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
    “Nina, I knew you were feeling self-conscious about the baby weight, but I didn’t know it was like this for you. I’m sorry. But you don’t have to change for me or anyone else in the world. You are as beautiful right at this moment as you were when I met you.”
    “I just don’t feel beautiful. I wish I did.”
    “I thought you were tired from dealing with the kids all day and didn’t want to be bothered with my work. I was hoping to change that with a surprise for you, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen today because of the storm.”
    “I know about the trip to the new villas. That meant a lot to you, and I’m sorry this happened. If I hadn’t gone out to get you another gift to surprise you, we would have been on the plane already instead of stuck in this farmhouse in a blizzard. I’m so sorry, Tristan. This is all my fault.”
    He pulled me close and whispered, “I knew you went to buy me another present. I may not know much about women, but I do know something about my wife.”
    With my head pressed to his chest, I listened to his heartbeat so sure and steady and said, “I just wish your surprise for me had worked out. I wanted to see the new villas.”
    “It’s okay. We’ll just fly out tomorrow. In fact, I’ll call the pilot and arrange that right after I call Jensen to tell him where we are.”
    He kissed me