Misfortune: Christmas With Scrooge Read Online Free PDF Page A

path.
She caught sight of the Christmas star and uttered in sorrow. What
I would wish for, you could never grant, she thought, casting her
eyes away instead.
    She shivered, realizing the open window was
leaving her numb with cold. Shaking herself out of yet another
spasm of self-pity, she pulled her blanket closer and rubbed her
nearly naked legs, trying to put some stimulation back in them.
    Shivering horribly in the front seat, she
glanced behind to her rescuer. He was huddled into the warm tweed
coat he wore, curled up in the small confinement of the back seat.
His large body appeared cramped and uncomfortable, yet his
breathing indicated he had fallen asleep. She momentarily marveled
at his ability to act calm under such horrific circumstances. Then
she remembered he wasn’t the one who actually hurdled over Suicide
Point.
    At last she was relieved to feel sleep creep
into her bones. She allowed her eyelids to droop until at last
exhaustion took over and darkness closed in.
    In her nightmare she is falling. Down, down
into a black abyss. She is screaming, her arms and legs flaring. No
one is there to hear her cries. She is alone. Fear is coursing her
veins at a swift pace. And then. . . .
    Her eyes flew open. Laura stared frozen up at
the bleak ceiling of her car. A startling fear so intense had a
tight grasp on her heart. She was incapable of moving. Gradually,
her chest began to rise and fall as reality slowly penetrated her
senses. I'm still alive, she acknowledged to herself with relief.
Reaching over to the back seat, she touched another human arm. And,
thank goodness, not alone.
    Her hand stilled. I'm not alone, she repeated
to herself. The acknowledgement startled her. Rolling over, she
looked down at him. He was still asleep. Except for the rising of
his chest, he lay completely still. The man was as cold and rough
as the night around her, and yet made of flesh and bone as any
other human.
    A certain promise echoed in her brain. “You
won't be alone.” Her father kept his promise, even tonight when the
impossible seemed unlikely. He brought her someone to share this
first Christmas without him. She actually smiled. True, he was no
Santa Claus, but he was her very own Scrooge.
    Below her, the man of her thoughts released a
sudden and violent shiver. The cold had finally crept beneath his
warm tweed coat, reminding Laura how terribly cold she was also.
Without hesitating, she crawled over the back seat and lied next to
him, pulling her blanket over them both as she did. She couldn’t
bear the cold any longer, desperately needing the warmth of another
human being.
    He let out a groan as her weight nudged him
accidently in the side. Still partially asleep, he gruffly mumbled
something incoherent.
    She raised her chin and whispered, “It’s
gotten very cold.”
    He grumbled again, shifting slightly to allow
her body a more comfortable fit against his, and then went back to
sleep. Laura smiled to herself as she rested her cheek against his
chest and felt his shivers subside. At that moment, she felt an
overwhelming sense of safety and warmth, thanks partly to the cold
man beneath her.

CHAPTER 2
    She was woken the following morning by a
rough voice somewhere above her head. “Do you mind getting off
me?”
    She was awake in a flash. “Sorry about that,”
she mumbled embarrassed.
    Laura attempted, unsuccessfully, to
straighten herself from the intimidating closeness of his large
form. Suddenly, all awareness of this man as being of the opposite
sex had her blushing hotly.
    In her struggles, her knee slipped between
his legs causing her thigh to rub against his male form.
Immediately, her breast responded instinctively. Beneath her winter
coat, under the smooth silk of her evening dress, her nipples
hardened against the soft material.
    Below her, Dexter's mouth set in a hard grim
line as the rest of his body went completely rigid. Laura’s cheeks
burned with humiliation. She wanted nothing more than to get