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“Need some help?” a voice asked smoothly. Before she could do anything, the tree was lifted off her shoulder. Turning around, she saw Kashif hefting it up easily and carrying it inside. “I had that,” she called after him. “You don’t need to help me.”
Inside, he set the tree down and grinned at her. “Of course you can do it by yourself, but why not use me while I’m here?”
“Christmas tree!” Arella yelled excitedly. “Momma, can we make it pretty?”
Kristy froze as Kashif turned around to stare at the child. “Momma?” he asked softly. “You have a daughter?”
Feeling the need to protect her daughter, she quickly reached out and took Arella’s hand. “I do. Arella, can you say hi to our new guest? His name is Sheikh Kashif.”
Arella’s face screwed up a little as she tried to repeat the foreign name but ended up blurting out “Kashy” before erupting into giggles. Kristy opened her mouth to apologize, thinking that no one had ever called him that before. She was surprised when he bent down to the floor and studied her while Kristy held her breath. “Aren’t you beautiful? You’re just like…a princess.”
A princess? My God, he knew. Arella’s eyes widened. “A princess?”
Kashif nodded. “And I should know, because I’m a prince. Arella is a lovely name. How old are you?”
When Arella held up two fingers, Kristy bit her lower lip. Although she was closer to her fourth birthday, Arella still didn’t understand the concept of aging. Given her size, it was ludicrous to think that Kashif would believe that she was two, but if he wasn’t around children much…
“Two, huh? That’s a good age to be.”
“Arella,” Kristy said suddenly. “Why don’t you go to the kitchen to see if Aunt Julia has that hot chocolate ready?”
At the promise of hot chocolate, Arella immediately abandoned her ideas of princes and princesses and took off for the kitchens. “Thank you for helping with the tree,” Kristy said tensely.
“I didn’t know you had a daughter. It must be a lot of work to raise a child and run a farm.”
“What’s your point?” she snapped. Her tone was harsher than she’d intended, but she didn’t want his pity. She got enough of that from the townspeople.Poor Kristy. Single mother and owner of a dying business.She didn’t want it from them, and she certainly didn’t need it from him.
Looking around the lodge, “This place used to be filled to capacity, especially near the Iditarod. Clearly, business hasn’t been good, and it’s obvious you have a lot on your plate. Why don’t you let me help? I would be happy to give you some money.”
What?Her blood ran cold as she stared at him. “You want to help by throwing money at me? To what end? Do you think I’ll be so grateful that I’ll fall back into bed with you? Must be nice to have so much money and power that you can simply hand someone a check and believe that it fixes everything.”
“Wait. What? Kristy, I’m only trying to help. I—”
“Save it, Kashif, I’m not for sale. You are here for the Iditarod, and once it’s over, you’ll leave again, and we’ll still be here.”
“You hate me.” It wasn’t a question, and she didn’t bother replying. She tried to walk past him, but he reached out to grab her arm. “I don’t want you to hate me, Kristy.”
She clenched her jaw. “After what you did, I don’t really care what you want.”
“After what I did?” he challenged her. “Youwere the one who shut me out. I know I left abruptly, but you were told why. You knew that I didn’t have a choice, and yet every time that I tried to reach out to you, you refused to speak to me.”
Unable to help herself, she laughed. “Really? Now you have the audacity to lie to me? I know exactly why you left, Kashif. I believe your man’s exact words were, ‘He takes a few weeks and pretends to be someone new. He enjoys a woman, and when he tires of them, he leaves,’” she said as she tried to mimic the man’s deep voice. “Then he tried to make me feel better about myself by complimenting my talents in bed since I’d made you stick around for so long.”
“Kristy, no!” Kashif gasped.
She frowned. “I was there, Kashif. You weren’t. You were long gone. And still that wasn’t enough to convince me that I was an idiot. It took twenty unanswered letters and a plane ride where I was barred from entry at the airport and paid to leave before I realized just what kind of man you were. Looking back now, I can’t even believe how I humiliated myself over you.”
“Kristy, I left because my father was ill. Melka was supposed to inform you that I’d contact you when I was able, but I never heard from you. You didn’t return my phone calls. I must have left fifty messages with your father. I never got any letters from you, and I certainly didn’t know you tried to visit. I made reservations a few months after I left and came back, but you weren’t here. Your father said that you’d moved in with another man, that you were in love, and I needed to leave it alone.”
Kristy stared at him. Either he was lying, or they had both been played. The problem was, she wasn’t all that inclined to trust him. She’d been far too hurt by the rebukes, and she was not prepared to put her heart out there again. Possibly not ever. And she certainly wasn’t going to tell him why she’d tried so hard to reach him—the news that she’d wanted to share back then. Heartbreak was hard enough; she wouldn’t survive if he took her daughter away.
He’d yet to deny his bodyguard’s claim of the other women. There was no way she could be with a man who thought it was okay to lead women on like that. And there was no way she wanted her daughter associating with someone like that—father or not.
“It really doesn’t matter what happened,” she said finally. “It was only a fling, and now it’s over. I appreciate you wanting to help, but like I said, the farm is doing fine, I don’t want your money.”
“It was more than a fling, and you know it,” he said darkly. “And if things are fine, why am I the only guest here?”
Before she had to answer, Julia came around the corner. “Kristy, darling? Sue had to take off. Apparently there was an emergency with her father in Rhode Island, and she’ll be gone for a few weeks. I’ve got lunch ready. I thought I’d fill in until she got back.”
