The Billionaire's Christmas Son - Leslie North Page 0,35

money. She wouldn’t take it. Rachel is proud and strong, and if anything—she’s trying to keep her distance from me.” The weight on his chest pressed deeper. Each minute that passed took Rachel further from him.

Regret lodged deep in his heart that he’d let her walk out without a fight. Even if he left now, it would be impossible to catch up with her, not to mention more dangerous as the temperatures dropped toward freezing, and the roads became less manageable. “Are either of you planning to tell Grandmother what’s going on?”

Silence.

Gabe shifted in his seat. “Not yet.”

“What does that mean?” Jonas snapped.

“It means we’re not going to tell her just yet,” Chase said, shaking his head. “We won’t tell her until you’re ready.”

“But?” Jonas could hear the unspoken word in his brother’s comment.

“You’ve got a week. Don’t keep secrets from her too long, Jonas. She—” Chase looked away, and Jonas’s stomach twisted.

Another long silence took over the office. The computer hummed in the background, and Jonas felt the way he had after they’d heard the news their parents were dead. Adrift.

“Have you eaten?” Gabe asked.

“What?” Jonas was bewildered by the question.

“Did you have dinner?” Gabe rubbed a hand over his face. His concern came a little too late. Not to mention that if he was so concerned, then he shouldn’t have butted in at all. Rachel had driven away, and nothing was bringing her back. “You can’t work all night. It’s not good for a person.”

The last thing Jonas wanted was to go to dinner with his brothers and act like there wasn’t anything wrong. But the computer screen glared at him, taunting him with emails that he’d read three times but couldn’t make sense of. There was a strange pit in his stomach. Hunger. Except it wasn’t food he wanted. He wanted Rachel.

“I haven’t had dinner.” He stood up from his desk and switched off the monitor. “I’m going down to the restaurant to eat and if you’re coming with me, I don’t want to talk about this. And try not to make fools of yourselves.”

Scott had been fussy since they pulled away from the Elk Lodge. Rachel knew it was her fault. They’d left past his bedtime, and he didn’t want to be in the car seat. She’d passed back toy after toy but had run out only thirty minutes into the drive.

Scott started screaming. Apparently, dropping his stuffed elk was the last straw. Her head hurt from the intensity of his sobbing complaints. “Hey, buddy.” He wasn’t paying her the least bit of attention, but she had to try. “I’ll get you your elk as soon as I can find a place to stop.” There was no way she was stopping on a remote roadside in the dark and with the snow coming down way heavier than it had been when she first left the lodge.

She’d gone just far enough that it made no sense to turn back. Especially given the tension and situation she’d left behind. Her only hope was to drive slowly.

Scott’s screams dissolved into furious howls. Rachel turned on the radio, hoping to find a station that would soothe him. Just get through the drive—one mile at a time. Rachel tried to focus on something other than Scott.

Something like her future. She still had her photography business and her son, and that would be enough to keep her going for years. What she didn’t have was Jonas. What she didn’t have was a concrete plan for keeping her son’s father in his life.

She let out a laugh that sounded more like a cry. Had it felt this anguished to drive away from Montana, where she’d grown up? Rachel couldn’t remember. The future loomed ahead of her in the dark—more like ahead and behind. In front of her was a mother, disapproving and wanting her to be someone she wasn’t. And her studio. Behind her was Jonas and all hope of a family and a normal life—something she’d begun to crave while staying at the Elk Lodge.

Scott had started to wear out from his incessant cries.

A love song came on. “Ugh.” Flipping to the next station, she nodded. Hard rock wasn’t her favorite, but it would do. Except the hard rock disagreed with Scott, who started screaming again, pained and shrill.

Her phone rang on the center console, vibrating crazily. The call could wait. The call would have to wait. She couldn’t help Scott calm down and answer the call, and anyway, she had no