Hating Christmas (Holiday Series) Read Online Free Page B

you insinuate that
about my mother? You don’t know her and you have no right to jump
to that kind of conclusion.”
    He sat up a little, aiming a cold smile in her
direction. “You’re right. I barely know your mother—hardly less
than my father does—but I’ve met plenty of women who screw men for
money—“
    Holly gasped. “How dare you!”
    “—and,” he went on in a voice as low as hers, “I’ve
seen men crushed by marriages they thought were genuine, loving
partnerships, but that turned out to be nothing more than an
expensive divorce in the making.”
    Recognizing the anger vibrating in his words, she
stared at him in shock, defensive words springing into her throat.
He couldn’t talk bad about her mother!
    “It’s just a reality—a sad leftover from the past
decades of male supremacy in the workplace, no doubt—that women
often attach themselves to the men they feel can provide the best
income.“
    “You think my mother married your father for his
money,” Holly said in a scoffing voice. “Does he have a lot of
money? Is he a millionaire or something? If so, it’s the first I’ve
heard of it.”
    Levi replied with obvious reluctance.
“He’s…comfortable.”
    She started to tell him hotly that through frugality
and good-handling of her father’s life insurance money, her mother
was a little better than comfortable. Holly opened her mouth
impetuously to utter the words, but stopped herself in time. What
if Michael Harper didn’t know about her mother’s nest egg? No sense
in blurting that out before the annulment was final.
    Levi leaned back on the worn couch, his arm along the
back swinging his suit jacket open to reveal a trim midsection.
“You work in Hollywood. You’ve seen plenty of women screwing men
out of money.”
    “And vice versa!” she shot back. “I’ve seen plenty of
men screwing women out of money—“
    “That may be happening more, as women earn more,
but—“
    “—and I’ve seen even more older, powerful men
screwing desperate women over just because they could.”
    Levi’s jaw tightened as he sat forward. “Let’s don’t
play around here. Lots of women have come after my father for his
money—and no, he doesn’t have that much, but it still pulls in the
vultures—“
    She gasped again, but he just went on.
    “—who want to pick his bones dry. My dad isn’t a
tough guy. He’s sweet and generous and way too giving—“
    “Unlike you!”
    Levi’s responding smile was thin. “No, I’m not sweet
or generous. I’ve learned how to get everything out of a
situation.”
    Her hands griping her knees, she said, “That’s
certainly your reputation!”
    “Just so you know. I plan to extricate my father from
this marriage as quickly and as ruthlessly as needed.”
    “Extricate him?”
    “Yes, without your mother getting a dime. He’s
already done that stint and he’s been through enough.”
    She could see a tiny muscle twitch along his jaw.
Apparently the tough negotiator wasn’t as objective when his father
was involved.
    Levi leaned back again, stretching his arms along the
top of the couch. “Dad’s got representation, of a sorts. I do the
dirty work and I’m here to make sure no woman takes him to the
cleaners.”
    “You know what? Despite the fact that I’d loved to
sock you in the face for what you think of my mother,” Holly smiled
at him thinly, “we’ve both come to this horrendous Christmas
celebration with the same goal. We’re actually were working toward
the same end. Jerk.”
    ***
    Holly trudged through the trampled snow, following
her mother as she delved further into the Christmas tree lot. With
the setting of what little sun they had here in the winter in
Minnesota, the temperature had dropped even lower.
    “Mom, are you sure you need another tree?”
    Levi and his father were parking the car in the
crowded lot and Holly wished she were with them, even as bristly as
things had been with the annoying Hollywood