Christmas Eve Read Online Free Page B

company?"
    "Only you." His look warmed her toes far better than the flickering log.
    While she mulled over his reply, he excused himself for a moment, then returned with a heavily-laden tray.
    "My goodness." She stared at the bounty, inhaling the delicious aromas rising from each dish.
    He shrugged off her astonished response. "I had help."
    A wife?
    A lover?
    A roommate away on holiday ?
    He lifted the lid of a soup tureen and offered her the ladle, then sat opposite her. "Help yourself."
    "Mock turtle soup?" She filled her bowl.
    He nodded. "A bit of sherry?"
    Eve swallowed her grin. A five star restaurant on the top of Mt. Charleston? Great place to get her car stuck. "Sure."
    Nick broke apart a round, partially-sliced loaf of dark bread, placed a piece on her bread plate, then slathered butter on his slice.
    He scooped up some soup in his spoon. "Have you lived in Las Vegas long?"
    Eve tensed. No personal queries. I can't abide anyone digging into my affairs.
    "Long enough. Why?"
    "I have the feeling Las Vegas hasn't always been home to you."
    Where was he going with this? Prying questions she could do without. "I came here to attend college and decided to stay."
    * * * * *
    Which proved Nick right. Eve had the self-assured mannerisms of a New England socialite. But even if she had worked her way through college on her back, why keep at it now? With a college degree in hand, she could turn to other things and forget turning tricks.
    Unless she had a child to raise.
    Still, with a college education, there was no need for a well-put-together woman like Eve to continue her trade. At one time only the direst of circumstances led a woman this beautiful to sell her body. And her soul.
    But the glamor of Las Vegas had turned many a young woman's head.
    Nick tried not to think about the other men Eve might have been with. For tonight, she belonged to him.
    Reaching across the table, he filled her wine glass, then his. "What made you decide to settle here?"
    "The booming real estate market."
    Of course. The desert metropolis was growing by leaps and bounds and...
    She was back to playing that silly game of hers again.
    "Real estate?"
    She swallowed a sip of wine and smiled broadly. "Newcomers move here every day. Someone has to help them find homes."
    Yeah. And my name is George W. Bush . "And that someone is you?" Nick asked.
    Eve casually broke off a piece of buttered bread. "It puts food on the table," she said proudly. "Selling real estate means I’m no longer dependent on my father. What about you? What brought you west?"
    The slow-moving freight train he'd hopped. And not all that long ago.
    Nick admitted that to no one. He let them wonder about his past. He'd come a long way from the one-horse town of Lost Coin, Texas, most of those steps sweating blood.
    "The lure of easy money," he said, truthful up to a point. "The hope of striking it rich." He stood to remove their empty bowls.
    Noticing that Eve's mood had lightened when she turned the conversation to him, Nick drifted past the CD player to select more soft jazz and assure Eve's attitude adjustment.
    He returned to the table with stuffed salmon, curried asparagus and mashed potatoes with just a hint of garlic. His favorites foods. Eve's too, he hoped, and set a temptingly arranged plate before her with a flourish worthy of a maître d'.
    "Heavens. I couldn't possibly eat all this." Her eyes danced as she looked across at him.
    He could gaze into those startling eyes all day, losing himself in their mysterious depths.
    Like the smoothest of waiters, he offered her the bread. "Try."
    While Eve spread butter on the crusty slice, she asked, "So, did you? Strike it rich, I mean?"
    "No," he said, his tone brusque.
    No, to my car keys. No, to my money. No, to the notion you can become a permanent part of my life .
    His pleasure in the fine meal before them ebbed away. He gritted his teeth, convinced the lady had her hand poised to reach into his pocket. In record time, to