Christmas Star (Contemporary, Romance) Read Online Free PDF

breasts.
    Clay shivered. No, he couldn’t completely blame Harrison. As if from a distance Clay heard himself ask, “This check plus how much?”
    “Pardon?”
    He gestured with the check, then forced it into her hand. “You know, what will it take?”
    “Take to what?” He was talking in riddles. She gripped the check, finding the crinkle of paper comforting.
    “Help me out, please,” he asked nicely, then felt foolish. “Hell, I’ve never done this before. I’ll offer the same deal you have with Harrison. Better,” he hastened on seeing her frown.
    He looked so boyishly embarrassed and sincere that Starr wanted to smile. She and the senator hadn’t discussed salary. But no way was a week of research worth this kind of money.
    “Do you two have a contract or what?” he asked.
    Starr felt the term contract like a slap in the face. What was she doing? Maybe this man was killing the sheep. She shoved at him and was appalled when she accidentally scratched his face.
    Clay touched a finger to the welt. “Wildcat, huh? Look, if that was too blunt, I’m sorry. I don’t know the protocol for relocating a mistress.”
    Mistress? Suddenly the truth dawned. Starr didn’t know when she’d felt so murderous toward another human being—if indeed he was human and not some subspecies. She’d thought this was about the senator’s project. Surely this dolt didn’t think that she and Harrison...that they.S.. Her mouth dropped open. That was exactly what he thought.
    Purple with rage, she waved the check beneath his arrogant nose before she ripped it to shreds and flung the pieces in his face. “Get out!” Her body shook. “You’re despicable. No, you’re worse than despicable.” Her voice rose hysterically right before it cracked. “Get out!”
    Pieces of the check drifted over him like snowflakes before Clay gave vent to his frustrations, caught her arms and pinned her slender body to his.
    Both were breathing hard. “Dammit, woman, when I tell Harrison everything I know, he’ll leave you cold. You’d be wise to listen to me.”
    Before Starr could kill him, or at least do him major bodily harm, the door flew open and in rushed SeLi Lederman on a whirlwind of motion. Her long-sleeved plaid shirt was only half-tucked into slim jeans, and her twin, jet black braids snapped against the shirt’s hem like whirling dervishes.
    The man abruptly released her.
    Starr read a host of questions in SeLi’s lively almond eyes. Eyes that took in her normally conservative adoptive mother’s disheveled state, then moved quickly to assess every inch of the tall dark stranger who’d had her mother wrapped in his arms.
    Starr knew how it must have looked. Her choked protest was lost, however, in SeLi’s unladylike whistle.
    Clay flinched and took several steps back.
    Starr made haste to escape. “Ah, SeLi, you’re home,” she said inanely, giving a nervous toss of her auburn curls.
    The child skidded to a halt near one of the blue chairs, where she nonchalantly dropped her bright purple book bag. She continued to regard the male in their midst with frank curiosity.
    Clay refused to be intimidated. Instead, he challenged the girl’s amused gaze. She was, after all, just a kid.
    “Totally awesome.” SeLi tipped her head to gain a new perspective. Another low whistle. “I don’t know where you found him, but this dude beats Stanley Stud hands down. It’s okay by me if you keep him, Mom.”
    Mom. Clay did a fast double take and said aloud, “Mom?”
    Starr rushed to stand protectively beside her child. Of SeLi’s two pet names for Stanley, Starr couldn’t help wishing the girl had chosen Stanley Stupid this time. Not that either was acceptable, but they were working on the problem. It would’ve been nice if SeLi had kept quiet altogether. Lord only knew why, but this stranger already labored under a mountain of misconceptions. And somehow, some way, he was tied to Harrison’s proposed project.
    “You have a