ISBN: 978-1-474-03378-7
A CHRISTMAS BLESSING
© 1995 Sherryl Woods
Published in Great Britain 2015
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
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Version: 2018-04-18
Chapter One
Getting Consuela Martinez out of his kitchen was proving to be a much more difficult task than Luke Adams had ever envisioned. His housekeeper had found at least a dozen excuses for lingering, despite the fact that her brother was leaning on his carâs horn and causing enough ruckus to deafen them all.
âGo, amiga,â Luke pleaded. âEnjoy your holidays with your family. Feliz Navidad!â
Consuela ignored the instructions and the good wishes. âThe freezer is filled with food,â she reminded him, opening the door to show him for the fourth time. Though there were literally dozens of precooked, neatly labeled packages, a worried frown puckered her brow. âIt will be enough?â
âMore than enough,â he assured her.
âBut not if you have guests,â she concluded, removing her coat. âI should stay. The holidays are no time for a good housekeeper to be away.â
âI wonât be having any guests,â Luke said tightly, picking the coat right back up and practically forcing her into it. âAnd if I do, I am perfectly capable of whipping up a batch of chips and dip.â
âChips and dip,â she muttered derisively.
She added a string of Spanish Luke felt disinclined to translate. He caught the general drift; it wasnât complimentary. After all this time, though, Consuela should know that he wasnât the type to host a lot of extravagant, foolish parties. Leave that sort of thing to his brother Jordan or his parents. His brother thrived on kissing up to his business associates and his parents seemed to think that filling the house with strangers meant they were well loved and well respected.
âConsuela, go!â he ordered, barely curbing his impatience. âVaya con Dios. Iâll be fine. I am thirty-two years old. Iâve been out of my playpen for a long time.â
One of the dangers of hiring an ex-nanny as a housekeeper, heâd discovered, was the tendency she had to forget that her prior charge had grown up. Yet he could no more have fired Consuela than he could have his own mother. In truth, for all of her hovering and bossiness, she was the single most important constant in his life. Which was a pretty pitiful comment on the state of his family, he decided ruefully.
Consuelaâs unflinching, brown-eyed gaze pinned him. Hands on ample hips, she squared off against him. âYou will go to your parentsâ on Christmas, sÃ? The holidays are a time for families to be together. You have stayed away too long.â
âYes,â he lied. He had no intention of going anywhere, especially not to his parentsâ house where everyone would be mourning, not celebrating, thanks to him.