An O'Brien Family Christmas Read Online Free PDF Page A

first step.” She shrugged. “I can understand how he might have come to that conclusion. Your father’s not an easy man, now, is he?”
    “No, he’s not, but the whole idea that I broke up with Matthew to appease my father is insane,” Laila said indignantly. “I’m not even speaking to my father, much less trying to win him over. He has nothing to do with this. I’m done trying to jump through hoops to please him.”
    “I hope that’s true,” Nell said gently. “You’re a smart, thoughtful woman, Laila. You should be deciding things for yourself, especially when it comes to choosing the man you’ll love.”
    “And that’s exactly what I did,” Laila said heatedly. “I decided Matthew was all wrong for me. He agreed.”
    “If you say so,” Nell murmured. She seemed to be fighting a smile.
    Laila couldn’t believe that Matthew was going around town psychoanalyzing her. Wasn’t that Will Lincoln’s domain? Jess’s husband was the shrink in the family.
    “I have to go,” Laila said abruptly. She stood up, pulled a twenty from her purse and left it on the table. Though she felt like storming out, good manners had her bending down to kiss Nell’s cheek. None of this was her fault, and she was only expressing whatever nonsense Matthew had fed her. “If I don’t see you before the trip, I really do hope you have a wonderful time.”
    “Happy Christmas to you, too, dear,” Nell responded.
    Happy? Laila couldn’t imagine anything less likely, but at the moment she wasn’t concerned with holiday spirit. No, what mattered to her right now was straightening out the infuriating and apparently very chatty Matthew O’Brien before he managed to turn the whole town against her.
     
     
    The last person Matthew expected to find on his doorstep on a frigid December night was Laila. She was shivering, either from the cold or indignation. Judging from the sparks flashing in her eyes when he opened the door, it was probably the latter.
    “How dare you!” she said as she walked right past him, took off her coat and tossed it in the general direction of a chair. It missed, but she left it where it had landed.
    When she whirled to face him, her eyes were blazing. He hadn’t seen that much heat in them since the last time they’d made love. In full fury like this, she reminded him of some kind of mythical goddess—statuesque, strong and wildly desirable. He jammed his hands into his pockets so he wouldn’t reach for her.
    “Something I can do for you?” he inquired mildly. “You look upset.”
    “I just had a fascinating conversation with your grandmother,” she announced. “It seems she, and probably everyone else in town by now, is under the impression that I dumped you, that poor Matthew did nothing to deserve such a thing.”
    “You did dump me,” he replied reasonably.
    “We agreed,” she insisted, her agitated pacing starting to make him a little dizzy.
    He shook his head. “Sorry to contradict you, sweetheart, but you said it was over, tossed me out of your apartment and told me never to darken your door again.”
    She frowned, probably annoyed by his depiction of what had happened.
    “It was hardly that dramatic,” she said.
    “Pretty much,” he insisted, amused despite himself that she’d somehow turned herself into the victim here.
    “But you agreed we were over,” she countered.
    “No, I said it was pointless to try to argue with you when you were being irrational. Then you slammed the door in my face.”
    “Well, of course I did,” she retorted. “Who wants to be accused of being irrational by some condescending man? And just so you know, I am never irrational. I thought the whole thing through and came to a sensible conclusion.”
    “Not from my perspective, but you certainly did sound convinced about what you were saying. It’s little wonder I took you at your word and stayed away.”
    She looked taken aback by his response, as if she’d never considered that, by avoiding