Once Upon a Fiery Christmas (Return to Avalore Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

dark hues of blue and burgundy weighing her energy down.
    “If you don’t mind, I’ve developed a bit of a headache. I was going to have a rest.”
    More than anything, he wanted to explain, to tell her how much he wanted her, to wipe the uncertainty from her eyes, but he couldn’t. Hurting her was never his intention, and he’d regret it for the rest of his days, but maybe this was for the best. With a deep sigh, he headed for the door. “Sure,” he paused with his hand at the knob before leaving. “I’m sorry, Chantelle.”

Chapter 4
    Katie paused, fork halfway to her mouth. “So he just left?”
    Chantelle groaned, shoving a big bite of chocolate cake into her mouth and savoring it before answering. “No, he didn’t just leave. He waited for me to change into different clothes and then asked if we could talk.” She stabbed her fork into her cake with enough force to cause her friend to wince. “I’m the one who asked him to leave. I was so embarrassed. I mean, the only way I could have made it worse was to have done my gardening in the nude. I could tell he felt horrible about the whole thing, but what was there left to be said?”
    “Oh, honey, you could have let him explain. I’ve seen how he looks at you.”
    Katie’s soothing power seeped into Chantelle’s skin, easing the suffocating ache in her chest.
    “There’s something more going on here. You can’t tell me that man isn’t head over heels for you. I’d never believe it.” Katie waved her fork around in the air. “There’s probably a really good explanation, or at least a reasonable one.”
    “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” She forced a smile onto her face. “Tell me more about what you found out about Santa Day.”
    Just as she knew it would, one mention of the surprise they were preparing for Rhia had Katie’s eyes brightening and excitement pulsing all around her. “First of all, it’s not Santa Day. It’s Christmas Day. Santa is just an old tale told to bring joy to children on that day.” She pulled a notebook out of her bag “On Christmas Eve, they’d get together with family and friends. Most people have their tree up by then, but if not, then they decorate it together. In the past, people would string popcorn and drape it all over the tree. Some people still do, but for the most part, they use these store-bought garlands. They come in all kinds of colors and are made of synthetic materials. The ornaments are fragile little balls of glass that hang on tiny wire hooks from tree limbs. Oh, and string lights. They make these special lights on a string of some sort to go into the tree so it can be lit up. Rhia says it’s very pretty. I wish we could see them.”
    Katie kept talking, telling her about a massive tree in a park, and Chantelle tried to concentrate, but her thoughts kept drifting back to Sebastian. Maybe she should have let him say what he needed to say. Of course, at the time she’d been too embarrassed to even look at the man, much less carry on a conversation with him, but sending him on his way hadn’t been right. It wasn’t his fault she’d tried to seduce him and failed. Her heart thudded as horror struck through her. Maybe he hadn’t enjoyed their kiss as much as she’d thought. It wasn’t like she was very experienced with kissing men. The fact that his body had reacted didn’t mean a thing. He could have just been thinking of someone else. No . She shook her head at her own thoughts. He’d said he hadn’t kissed her because he was afraid he’d not be able to stop. She might be inexperienced, but she wasn’t an idiot. He’d enjoyed the kiss. She took a deep breath, calming her racing pulse.
    When she finally realized the room was quiet, she looked at her friend. Eyebrows raised, Katie looked at her as though she’d sprouted another head. “What?”
    “Are you okay? You’ve been lost in your own thoughts for a while. I haven’t said a word in over a minute, and you didn’t