Ask Her at Christmas Read Online Free Page B

everything to their father that Kyle wasn’t. After graduating top of his flight school class at the Air Force Academy he became a combat pilot. Innumerable incursions later, as well as one memorable crash where he parachuted down behind enemy lines, Craig came back home a genuine military hero. If Kyle didn’t love him so much, he’d hate the guy.
    “I don’t know. Maybe because Craig’s too busy running the airplane division?” Or because Dad preferred to delegate the crappy jobs to Kyle. God knows he’d made no secret of playing favorites.
    “You’re just as busy.” Caitlin’s voice rose to an offended shriek that almost drowned out the carols. He loved how fiercely she leapt to his defense.
    “I’m not going to fight with you. Am I thrilled about a marriage on paper? Of course not. But Monica Selford is a perfectly nice woman. We like each other well enough. And though it may sound morbid, it doesn’t have to last forever. We’ll sign an ironclad pre-nup. If we aren’t happy together, once Dad is gone we can get a streamlined divorce.”
    Caitlin bent to unlace her skates, but had trouble through her mittens. “Is Monica in on this big plan you two have hatched?”
    Using his teeth, Kyle stripped off her gloves and took over. “No.”
    “I know you’re a big sexy stud, but why would she agree to marry you? Marriage is a big deal—well, to a woman, it is,” she said in an arch tone.
    “Her family’s pressuring her to settle down. Monica’s been in a bit of hot water lately.” Talk about an understatement. She’d been splashed across the covers of three magazines, and countless websites. It was weird reading about the girl you were dating, even casually, as a hashtag on Twitter. “Instead of being Selford’s public relations guru, she’s developed a reputation as a serious party girl. Their board of directors isn’t pleased.”
    “Why sugarcoat it? Monica has a man in every city where there’s a Selford hotel. Sometimes more than one. And weren’t the last three in high-profile marriages, which have all fallen apart, thanks to her?”
    Whoops. He’d forgotten about Caitlin’s cold last week. She’d spent a couple of days in bed catching up on gossip rags. Guess she’d run across the worst of the stories about Monica. Too bad, because he wanted them to get along. “Monica doesn’t have your romantic streak. Her entire life is caught up in promoting the Selford Chambers. She’ll do whatever it takes to keep their profit margin in the black.”
    “Really?” Caitlin drew out the word like a piece of saltwater taffy being pulled to its limits. “How did her affair with that congressman in California help Selford’s bottom line?”
    The last time she’d whisked through town, Monica had told him about it. Kyle admired her honesty. Many of the women he’d dated over the years played games, rattled off dating rules he neither knew nor cared about. Monica always played it straight with him. He never had to wonder what she was thinking. It made her easy to be around. Well, that and how easy she was on the eyes. The woman was a dead ringer for Marilyn Monroe.
    He didn’t care that men flocked to her. She’d always been upfront about dating other men. Monica saw the male smorgasbord as a perk of her whirlwind travel. A psychologist friend of his claimed she used the high-profile affairs to try and get her father’s attention. Well, if anyone could understand that motivation, it was Kyle. “Like I said, she’s being pressured to project a more wholesome image. What’s more wholesome than marrying a computer geek? At least, in theory. Which is why I need a kick-ass proposal to seal the deal.” He rubbed her foot, warming it between his palms.
    “You’re absolutely sure this is what you want?”
    “Marriage? No.” But it wasn’t a prison sentence. It was an opportunity, and one he refused to overlook. “What I want is to finally hear my dad say he’s proud of me.”
    Caitlin