Merry Christmas, Daddy by Susan Meier

Author:Susan Meier [Susan Meier]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459280250
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-07-16T17:40:07+00:00

Chapter Eleven

The next morning, when Gabe kissed Kassandra goodbye, she was very careful to be cheerful and happy. She didn’t know what he’d seen in her expression the night before, but whatever it was, she wasn’t giving him the chance to see it again. First, because he was right. She should be more aware of her reactions around his family. Second, because she was afraid that if he discovered that look was a cover for the fact that she was panicking over having to kiss him, he’d know his kisses affected her a great deal more than she’d led him to believe.

After accepting Gabe’s chaste kiss on her cheek, Kassandra faced the breakfast table again and found Emma gazing at her shrewdly. “Because Loretta’s got to be fussing with her Christmas party this morning, you and I are on our own.”

“Oh,” Kassandra said, not quite sure why she had a feeling being alone with Emma wasn’t good news. “What are our plans?”

“This and that,” Emma said with a shrug. “Loretta would kill us if we made any actual wedding arrangements without her. So, I directed one of the staff to go out and buy all the bridal magazines he could find.” With that she bent and retrieved the stack of magazines. “I figured we could take these into the family room and work on the nonessentials like china patterns.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Kassandra agreed, rising from her chair. “We’ll settle Candy in the playpen with some toys and go over those things with a fine-tooth comb.”

“Hmm-hmm,” Emma said, as she, too, rose from her seat.

The tone Emma used wasn’t insulting, but it wasn’t exactly friendly, either. The hairs on Kassandra’s nape began to prickle, and she got the same feeling she got every time she was alone with Emma—the feeling that Emma didn’t believe this charade. As quickly as she got that impression, though, Kassandra remembered Emma’s euphoria from the night before and she told herself she had to be imagining things.

Kassandra gently pulled Candy from her high chair. Once she was securely in her mother’s arms, Candy wrapped her legs around Kassandra’s waist and her arms around Kassandra’s neck. This morning Candy wore a white turtleneck sweater beneath multicolored print overalls, something Loretta had chosen only the day before, and she looked especially cuddly.

“She’s such an adorable little thing,” Emma said, walking over so she could tweak Candy’s cheek. “Aren’t you, button?”

Candy giggled and Emma rose to kiss her forehead. “You are just what this family’s been waiting for.”

Hearing the tender affection in Emma’s voice, Kassandra breathed a silent sigh of relief and mentally scolded herself for imagining things. Emma was too brass and too bold to keep it to herself if she disapproved of Gabe’s marriage. If she didn’t like what was going on, or—more to the point—if she didn’t believe what was going on, she’d flat out say it.

Feeling somewhat comforted, Kassandra followed Emma to the family room. After settling Candy in the playpen, she pulled it closer to the sofa where Emma and Kassandra would be perusing the bridal magazines.

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