One Christmas Knight Read Online Free PDF

Max Devlin’s SUV parked in the driveway. Striding up the path, expecting the worst, he spotted his friend waiting at the front door.
    “I was about to call,” Max said. “We still on for tonight?”
    Damon shoved the key into the lock. “On for what?”
    “Our weekly pool night at Cue On Dan ’s is what. Our last for the year. Scott and Nick have got a Secret Santa lined up.”
    Scott and Nick were great guys, but, “I don’t need any more surprises.”
    As Damon swept inside his house, Max’s puzzled voice followed. “Hey…you look like you want to punch a hole in a wall.”
    Flicking on the lights, Damon conveyed the story while both made their way to the tiled kitchen area that led to a laundry room and its busted pipe.
    His feet sloshing through the wet, Damon dragged a hand through his hair. “Just what I need.” Max was already in recovery mode, wading toward the laundry broom closet.
    “We need mops, buckets,” he said, “old towels.”
    Damon groaned. “What I need is to get out of this place.”
    Then he thought of Emma and Shelley and looked around again. Yesterday, this would’ve been one more reason to leave Point St. Claire far behind. Now…
    Well, he had a few weeks left yet.
    He and Max worked together. Adequate overflow floor drainage had already taken care of the worst of it.
    Finally finished, they flopped down onto a couple of kitchen tools. Damon exhaled heavily, gripped his friend’s arm.
    “I’m in your debt.”
    “If that effort doesn’t deserve a drink with the boys, I don’t know what does.”
    “You go on without me.”
    Max turned to him. “What’s wrong? Aside from the flash flood, I mean.”
    Damon relayed what had transpired over the previous thirty-six hours, starting with his visit to Emma’s realty office and finding her upset, to leaving her and the baby to clean up this mess.
    Max had retrieved a couple of beers from the refrigerator. “Forever the shining knight,” he said, handing a beer over.
    “From what I’ve seen, her sister’s not the most responsible type. She’s supposed to be back tomorrow but…I just don’t know.”
    About to tip back his beer, Max froze. “Hold on. You think she might leave the baby with Em permanently ?”
    “I only know that Emma would sell her soul to make sure that baby is well cared for.”
    “And you?”
    Damon opened his beer. “What about me?”
    “Where do you fit into the equation?”
    “I don’t. I’ve resigned, remember? That position in L.A. is locked in.”
    “And your family’s expecting you Christmas Day.”
    He always had a great time with family. Being with Emma and Shelley held a different enjoyment factor. But…
    He thought, and then knocked back a mouthful of beer.
    Nah.
    “Emma wouldn’t want me hanging around Christmas Day.”
    “Sounds like you two are getting on though.” Max swirled his beer. “Attraction is a weird and wonderful thing.”
    “You and Olivia… You never forgot her, did you?”
    “Not in the all years I was away from the Point. Best thing I ever did was come back. As my grown-up son likes to tell me, it was meant to be .”
    Damon thought of Kyrstal showing up early at Emma’s place. If she’d arrived on Christmas Eve as scheduled, he’d have been gone.
    Meant to be…
    “Have you spoken to her?” Max asked.
    “Emma knows how I feel.”
    “Where women are concerned, never assume.”
    “On the flip side, she let me know point blank. She doesn’t want to get involved.”
    “So, guess you’ll ride off into the sunset alone.”
    That was the plan.
    Damon checked the time. “I wonder how the baby’s doing?”
    “Why don’t you go find out? Emma can only tell you to back off.”  Max grinned over his beer. “But I’ll bet Rudolph his red nose that she won’t.”

Wednesday, December 22
     
    When Damon knocked softly on Emma’s door the next morning, she greeted him with a smile that exuded quiet confidence. Deep-seated contentment. She was literally