Christmas Holiday Husband Read Online Free

minute back. I made it out of your wretched bog under my own steam.”
    “I mean safe enough with me .” He gave her a small shake to emphasise the word. “You seem—edgy?” he said, reluctantly setting her down next to one of the other farm buildings. He turned on a tap with a garden hose attached.
    “I’ll do it,” she insisted, but he quickly squatted beside her, rinsing the mud away, running his hands over her ankles and feet. Loving the excuse of having his hands on her again.
    So fast, so easily, after all this time.
    “This little piggy went to market...” he said, tweaking her smallest toe.
    “And this little piggy got none,” she snapped.
    “ Had none,” he corrected, glancing up at her, knowing full well what she’d meant, and not intending to let her get away with it. She’d felt fantastic in his arms. He’d drawn in the scent of her hair and skin ... enjoyed the same sweet fragrance that had turned him on so long ago.
    She’d plummeted back into his life like a stone into a still pond, causing ripples—ripples of longing to recapture their time together. Ellie had excited and challenged him, and messed with his mind far more than he’d been willing to admit back then.
    And she has no husband in the way .
    Was she his reward for enduring the last two bitter years of marriage to Julia? Followed by the months of guilt-ridden regret as he watched her slowly die?
    Did he deserve such a prize after ruining Julia’s life?
    He sighed deeply as he finished smoothing his hands over Ellie’s fine-boned ankles, and turned his attention to her sandals. Eventually he handed them back to her. “They’ll get you back to the house, anyway. Put them somewhere warm to dry out and they might recover.”
    xxx
    Ellie eased the damp straps back over her feet. No doubt Tony had seen they were the cheapest of the cheap. It was humiliating to be reduced to this; the minimum of possessions, and none of them beautiful.
    Even before the fire, she’d had very little. Now she had even less. She felt the embarrassment keenly, assuming his wife owned European shoes, designer clothes, and expensive jewellery. Wharemoana was huge and superbly maintained. Money was plainly available in generous quantities. Even the twins’ everyday clothes had labels she’d seen only in the glossy magazines of the school staffroom. Another world—not hers.
    She shook her head in an attempt to clear such thoughts away. Why was she worrying about her appearance all of a sudden? The last thing she wanted was to attract Tony. There was plenty on her plate already. “Thank you,” she said ungraciously, and hurried inside to collect other shoes from her meagre selection.
    Her bedroom mirror told the tale all too clearly. She was flushed and huge-eyed. Tousled and trembling. And he’d only been washing her muddy feet and disgusting old sandals...
    How would she survive if he decided to seriously turn his potent charm in her direction? But of course he couldn’t. His wife had died quite recently. He’d have no interest in the temporary teacher.
    What had his words been? Something about not jumping her in front of his mother-in-law and daughters? Of course he’d ignore her. So why had some vicious knife-blade peeled ribbons of disappointment off her heart?
    She flopped down on the bed for a moment and reached for Callum’s photograph. He grinned back at her with the same smile as the man who’d been crouched at her feet just minutes before. She ran an affectionate finger across her son’s face, caressing his skin and soft thick hair. His father in every respect. Even his dark brown eyes had Tony’s golden flashes of mischief.
    She’d been away from him for only one day, and already it was breaking her heart not to be able to see him, touch him, and ask about his day at school. She’d known it would be a long heart-rending summer without him, but to be aching unbearably so soon was much worse than she’d been expecting.
    Sighing, she