Snowflakes on the Sea. Linda Lael MillerЧитать онлайн книгу.
smiled and stood up, gesturing for silence with both hands. “Now, now, Diane—no more gossip. After all, the camel isn’t here to defend itself.”
Diane flung one scorching look at Mallory and stormed out, slamming the kitchen door behind her. A moment later, the outer door slammed, too.
“Thank you,” Mallory whispered.
“Anytime,” Nathan said, sitting down again.
“Those stories about me—”
He reached out, cupped her chin in one hand. “I know, Mall. Forget it.”
Mallory couldn’t “forget it”; there was too much that needed to be said. “I was here, Nathan—right here, on the island. I spent Christmas Eve with Trish and Alex, and the next day with Kate Sheridan. I—”
His index finger moved to rest on her lips. “It’s all right, Mallory.”
She drew back from him, more stung by some of the things Diane had implied than she would have admitted. “What did you do over Christmas, Nathan?”
He looked away. “I drank a lot.”
“No Christmas tree?”
“No Christmas tree.”
Mallory sighed wistfully. “I didn’t put one up, either. But Trish had a lovely one—”
Suddenly, Nathan was staring at her. She knew he was thinking of the beautiful tree ornaments she’d collected in every part of the world, of the way she shopped and fussed for weeks before Christmas every year, of the way she always threw herself into the celebration with the unbridled enthusiasm of a child. “No tree?” he echoed in a stunned voice that was only part mockery. “No presents?”
Mallory had received a number of gifts—a silk blouse from Kate, books from Trish and Alex, a gold chain from Nathan’s sister Pat—but she saw no point in listing them aloud. The package Nathan had sent was still stored in a guest room closet at the Seattle penthouse, unopened.
She lifted her coffee cup in a sort of listless toast. “Just call me Scrooge,” she said.
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