The Christmas Children Read Online Free Page A

I arrived in Yuletide,” she said, “because it didn’t have the Christmas atmosphere I had expected, but this area looks like the winters I used to know. There are lotsof lakes in Minnesota, although we don’t have mountains.”
    While Paul showered and shaved, Carissa moved the furniture back into place and put the pots and pans she’d scattered on the floor in the dishwasher. She surveyed the room to be sure it looked as it had when she’d arrived. Something seemed to be missing, but she didn’t know what until she realized that the stuffed bear she’d seen on the fireplace ledge wasn’t there. She knew she hadn’t moved it.
    Paul returned at that time looking refreshed and more handsome than ever, in spite of his black eye and the bruise on his forehead.
    â€œDid you move a teddy bear off the fireplace ledge?” Carissa asked.
    â€œNo,” he said, adding with a mischievous smile, “I stopped playing with toys a long time ago.”
    â€œSurely at forty-five, I’m not having a “senior” moment—as some of my friends say. But I know when I arrived last night there was a stuffed bear lying on the hearth. It isn’t there now.”
    â€œMaybe Justin or the medics moved it out of the way when they came for me.”
    â€œMaybe. But I had the strangest feeling that someone had been in the house before I arrived. That’s why I barricaded the door last night. The house was warm, although Justin told me that Naomi had lowered the thermostat before she left.”
    â€œMaybe Naomi was having a senior moment, too, and forgot to lower the temperature.” He looked outthe back door. “I’m going over to check my apartment and put my rental truck in the garage.”
    Still brooding over possible intruders, Carissa walked to the wide glass door and stood beside Paul. Behind the house was a three-car garage with an apartment on the floor above it.
    â€œWe inherited this property from our parents,” Paul explained. “When Naomi and her husband decided to build the chalet, I built the garage and apartment. I’m never in the States more than two months at a time, but when I’m here, I want my own place to stay in.”
    â€œIt’s a nice place.”
    â€œGood enough for what I need,” he agreed. “Want to go with me and check it out?”
    â€œSure. I’m still your overseer for a few hours.”
    She grinned pertly at him, and Paul thought how fetching she looked. Carissa had intense blue eyes fringed by dark lashes, and a spray of freckles across her nose, which only added to the beauty of her delicate oval face. Carissa seemed young and untouched. Paul found it hard to believe that she was forty-five.
    â€œI’ll put on my boots and coat,” Carissa said, wondering at the speculative gleam in her companion’s eyes.
    His apartment consisted of a large living room and kitchen combination with a spacious bathroom and bedroom in the rear. The absence of nonessential decorations proclaimed the apartment a man’s. Carissa wondered at his age, judging that he was several years younger than she was. He’d said Naomi was his only family—but had trouble with a woman been the unpleasant experience that had caused him to leave Yuletide?
    The apartment was chilly, and Carissa insisted that Paul go back to the house with her. “It’ll be several hours before the apartment gets comfortable. By that time, you’ll be ready to take a long nap.”
    â€œThanks, I’ll do that. But I wanted to point out the intercom system between my apartment and the house.” He pointed to a speaker on the living room wall. “Just flip the switch and call if you need me. The one in the house is on the wall between the kitchen and the living room.”
    He yawned, and Carissa said, “Let’s take a walk before we go back to the house. If you sit down, you’re going to