Claiming Bella For Christmas Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Epilogue

  From Ally

  Newsletter

  Claiming Bella For Christmas

  The DuPont Holiday Series

  Ally Prince

  Copyright © 2018 Ally Prince

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, persons or locales, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Chapter 1

  Bella

  “Welcome to DuPont Pediatrics,” I push my glasses up my nose a little and grab a pen with the other hand ready to take notes. I always take notes when I answer the phone regardless of the query, I guess it’s a habit.

  “Oh, so you do know how to answer a phone?” my mother huffs down the line, the tone of her voice tells me how pissed she is. This is the third call this week, and it is only Tuesday. Christmas is a week away, so the clinic is busy. Being shut for a week makes people assume the doors might never open again because everyone wants in to see the doctors and they want in now.

  “What can I help you with today?” I give her the same sugary sweet voice I use on clients and she huffs. Julie reaches over my shoulder to move the mouse of my computer, so I awkwardly lean away.

  Julie doesn’t know the deal with my parents, but she knows there is tension and thankfully she isn’t one to gossip or ask questions. It makes working with her a great deal easier.

  “It would be nice to have my daughter home for Christmas.” I shuffle so the wheels on my chair move and Julie can access Dr. Nathan’s schedule. I shoot her a thankful smile and turn to try to have this conversation in what little privacy this wide open office has.

  “Is Riley going to be there?” She sighs at my question, it is a little louder this time.

  “You know he is.”

  “Well, then you know my answer.”

  It doesn’t seem like that long ago, but it is nearly six months now. I worked at my father’s dentist office, it was, still is a family practice, I just didn’t work there anymore. I never went to college, my mother trained me, and I had had a solid job since senior year high school. It was hard to walk away after three solid years, but I didn’t have a choice.

  My father, Jeff Pembroke, gave me a look that still chills me to the bone when I approached him with the issue that I had. He didn’t believe his daughter and his respect for me that day disappeared. Riley Sanford worked with my father, he was a great dentist and seemed well liked by all his clients. He sadly did not know how to take no for an answer. He followed me to the gym one night, followed me to the change rooms and took photos of me naked. He said he would shame the whole family and broadcast them if I didn’t sleep with him.

  I hadn’t slept with anyone, like ever. I sure as hell was not going to sleep with a man who thought he could get what he wanted anyway he could.

  He blackmailed me for weeks. Months. He groped me when he could, he sent me pictures of his pleasuring himself. It was a nightmare and my father gawked at me like I was a thorn in his side. The shame he made me feel for speaking up was indescribable.

  I left, I told Riley to publish the photos if he felt the urge and who knows one day he might. But as of right now he hadn’t, and I wasn’t going to be anywhere near that man for as long as I lived. So, Christmas at home with my parents was a no go because Riley and his girlfriend would be there. How he got a girlfriend I had no idea?

  “I think you are being unreasonable.” Her tone was all professional not even a hint of a caring mother to be heard, and I could hear a small echo in the background which told me she was at the clinic in a room. Riley was probably listening, smirking, knowing he was once again winning. Asshole.

  “Mom, he has naked photos of me. He sent me a dick pic. He groped me several times and I am being unreasonable.”

  “Well, he’s moved on.” Like that mattered, he could marry and have ten kids and I still would not want anything to do with the man.

  “Not the point. I do not even want to be in the same room as that man, if that means we never spend Christmas together because Dad can’t bring himself to pass up an opportunity to flaunt his wealth, then I guess we just won’t do Christmas anymore.” Or birthdays or any event really, Riley was always there. Just hovering in the background like the creeper he turned out to be. I shuddered at the thought.

  “See how unreasonable that is? He is a partner…”

  “What? Since when?” This was news to me and not news I wanted to hear.

  “Oh, well you see if you rang more often, we would have told you the good news.” I bit down hard on my bottom lip, tears filled my eyes and I had to pray for patience or something a lot stronger. This was not a good thing for my life, he would forever be linked to my family now. I would never be free from him.

  “Mom, I am really busy, I’ll call you back later.” She began to protest, but I pulled my headset off and reached over to end the call. I took off my glasses and set them on the desk, in case my eyes leaked and they began to fog.

  This is what my life had come to. I was secluded in another city. I didn’t even know anyone when I moved to Austin. I found a job online I thought I might be able to do and applied. Thankfully Nathan DuPont was hiring. He hired me on the spot barely even glancing at my poorly constructed resume with no references because my mother wouldn’t provide me with one.

  He had looked at me with those dark brown eyes, a small crease between his brows and seemed to contemplate something for a moment before he said, “start Monday, do not be late.” I felt safe enough from him because he looked at me with something other than lust and I refused to spend my life thinking all men were like Riley. Plus, Nathan had to be at least ten years older than my twenty years, maybe even more.

  I sunk my hands into my dark brown hair and rested my elbows on the desk letting my fingers massage a little. Why was my life like this, what had I done to deserve this?

  “Bella?” a deep rumbly voice I knew well spoke softly from behind. I quickly turned to see Dr. Nathan standing at the door to the small filing room, he tilted his head. I stood and followed him inside the small space. He moved, so he was out of sight from those in the waiting room and waited until I was too before he spoke again. “What’s wrong?”

  I frowned a little, I was expecting to be in trouble for being a bad first point of contact. I was hired for my smile and cheery face, well that is what Julie told me. She said I freshened the front office up.

  “Sorry, it was my mother, I won’t let it bother me.” Nathan had on dark trousers today and a light blue shirt with the arms rolled up to his elbows, it was a very good look on him. I swallowed and looked away, my face heating.

  “Bella?” his voice was so rich it felt like chocolate syrup, though that is not at all possible.

  I lifted my eyes to his and sucked in a breath. Nathan was indeed a good-looking man but that expression on his face right now was something else, something that made me think he wanted something more from me.

  “Come find me if you need me?” I nodded but was confused. “I don’t want you retreating on me Bella, it’s taken me a long time to get you this far. I won’t let her undo al
l my hard work.” He took a step closer and lifted my chin with his finger. Electricity raced through my veins and my breath caught.

  “I’ll always look out for you.” With that and one last long meaningful glance, Nathan stepped back and left me alone in the small room.

  What the hell did he mean by, ‘it took him this long?’

  I was almost afraid to find out.

  Nathan DuPont was a man well out of my league.

  Chapter 2

  Nathan

  I had lost my mind, there was no other reason for what has fallen out of my mouth. I had probably scared the girl half to death. She was flighty, and I wanted her to stay, needed her to stay. I had since the moment she walked in for a job interview, unqualified and trembling with fear. I wanted to see her trembling with desire.

  My original goal had been to have Bella by Christmas and with that just around the corner it was looking unattainable and that fucking sucked. Bella Pembroke was all dark hair and bright green eyes. Her skin flawless and a figure that I dreamed about often. She had curves, and I fucking wanted to see her naked so bad, but I respected her and knew that it might not happen, but I wasn’t giving up.

  I knew enough from an Internet search to know that her family were wealthy. I had no idea what made her flee the nest and move to Austin all alone. Why had her parents let her go? She lived alone in a crappy fucking apartment and I hated that. I had thought about buying it a few times, but I figured I should concentrate on getting her out of there first, I didn’t need an apartment building but I did need Bella.

  I wanted Bella safe and the easiest way to do that was to have her with me. I wanted her to fill my house with a family but mostly I wanted her there to turn it into a home. Bella would make an amazing mother and wife, I had thought about the possibilities more times than I could count over the past few months. I just had to get my act together and but my plan into place before it was too late.

  I closed the door to my office and glanced at my schedule and sighed. I was fully booked and in a couple of spots double booked. I needed to keep my mind in the game today and I would worry about Bella when knock-off time rolled around. I knew from observations that her car hadn’t moved from it’s place in her apartment complex for over a week. I had witnessed her walking down the street one morning, so I was assuming Bella was catching the bus to work. That was something else I was not overly fond off. There were to many things that could go wrong with a beautiful young woman taking the bus alone. I’d probably offer her a lift, so she didn’t have to catch the bus and she’d refuse and possibly lie by telling me she drove. Shaking my head at my thoughts, I turned to my next patient file and began to read up a little before I asked them in. I needed to get through today, fast.

  If I had any hope of getting Bella to be mine in such a short space of time I needed to not show my hand too soon or scare the girl. She needed to know she could trust me, she needed to see me for me. I hated the flighty look she often had in her eyes when we were alone in a room. And lets not talk about the look she gets when single dads attempted to flirt with her. Someone had done Bella wrong and I was going to fix it.

  Bella would be mine.

  Bella

  I glanced at the time on my cell once more and my heart rate spiked yet again. I was seriously late. I was actually surprised that Julie or Dr. Nathan hadn’t called me yet. I was waiting for the super of my apartment building to arrive.

  The longer I stood here to more my shoes were being ruined from standing on the wet carpet.

  By some sick kind of fate, last night the ceiling in my kitchen exploded with built up water from a leak in the floor above. I didn’t hear a thing. I didn’t notice a thing until I stepped out of bed and my feet squelched in the gross carpet.

  My hair was a mess because I was too scared to use my blow dryer when standing on a wet floor. The place stank and all my cheap furniture was swelling like I did after I ate too many carbs. I would need to replace things, like everything.

  I didn’t have the money to do so. My father made it clear if I left, I would not get a dime from them. Not that I did anyway. I had a paycheck, and I paid my own bills but the move and the rent and everything else I needed here had cost me. Then there was my car. I had thrown thousands into and was starting to think the mechanic was just taking me for a ride. It just stopped the other week and I can’t afford to get it running. I didn’t even know the bus schedule for this time of day. Ugh, my day sucked.

  Finally, a knock on the door sounded, and I tiptoed across the wetland that was once a lounge room to open the door.

  “About time,” I snarled as I pulled the door wide. My breath caught when my eyes landed on familiar dark brown ones.

  “Did you even check the peephole?” Nathan frowned his eyes going to the door, I followed. Oh, look at that, I had a peephole, who knew.

  “What are you doing here? You have another overbooked schedule.” A small weird sensation churned in my stomach. Maybe he was here to fire me? Oh God, that would suck. On today of all days, maybe I could convince him to give me one more day to gather my nerves and after that, he could be done with me.

  “I’m aware, Bella. I came to find you.” His eyes raked down my body slowly. He was wearing dark jeans today. I loved him in jeans. Okay, no I did not love my boss. I really didn’t need a dose of unrequited love to screw up my life any more than it already was. His arms also looked great in those tight thermal shirts he wore sometimes. But today I would have to settle for a black button down and jacket. My face heated as he appraised me. He would find what most people found. He would find me fat. I didn’t have a thigh gap. My boobs bounced when I walked no matter how expensive my bras were, and I jiggled a little because I liked food and only hadn’t worked out since the incident with Riley.

  “What the hell Bella, why are you standing in water?” He moved forward and kind of shouldered his way into my cheap ass apartment. I instantly regretted it because he would see how sad my life really was. The carpet made this gross noise under his foot and he looked down with sheer disgust, it was kind of funny. I chuckled, and he shot me a glare that did not hold any weight behind it.

  “My apartment flooded, I should have called, sorry.” I didn’t mention I was nearly out of credit, I would save the despair. I could moon over my misfortunes later, right now I had to figure out what the hell I was going to do and where I was going to stay.

  “What is that stench?” His face wrinkled, emphasizing the creases by his eyes, he really was handsome. I laughed this time. “This is not funny Bella; this place is close to being condemned.” I frowned and looked around, it wasn’t that bad, was it?

  A weird foamy substance dripped from the ceiling in the kitchen and the smell had indeed gotten worse in the last hour while I waited for the super. There is no way I could live here.

  “Shit. What the hell am I going to do?” I sunk my hands into my hair and stared around. I have nowhere to live. My vision blurred a little and my chest grew tight.

  “You can stay with me,” Nathan said as if it was obvious. I spun to face him and stopped dead. He had the most intense expression on his face. One that I had not witnessed before, my breath caught and a sense of safety settled over me. Nathan made me feel safe and I wasn’t sure who I felt about that. I shook my head about to protest but he stepped into my space and cut me off.

  Chapter 3

  Nathan

  She was not staying here. There was no fucking way I could allow it, I wouldn’t let a dog stay here at the moment. Some sort of toxic shit was oozing from her carpets because this place stank worse than raw sewage. Her eyes filled with tears and she tried to hide it, but I saw enough to move toward her.

  “How about we get your stuff packed up? Anything you want to keep we will take, or I can have it picked up if you have too much to fit in my truck.” I scanned the place, and I doubted any of her furniture was savable. Her bookcase looked like wet cardboard very close to toppling over. But if she wanted it, I would orga
nize storage for her. I tried to hide the small smile that was sneaking onto my lips, because Bella was so close to being mine, this little accident as awful as it is, was my saving grace.

  “I can’t let you do that.”

  “I don’t care what you think right now, Bella. This needs to happen.” She wobbled a little looking down at the floor and wincing. I knew this was my moment. “Let’s go to your room, pack up your clothes. I doubt you’ll be allowed back in here anytime soon.” I wanted to pull her to my chest. Fuck it. I stepped up to her and wrapped my arms around her, squishing her arms between us and I squeezed her tight. She was soft and warm and smelled amazing considering her environment. I lower my nose to the nook of her neck and inhaled deeply. Now that is a scent I wanted to wake up to every day. She shuddered in my arms and my body sprang to life. Before I could scare her, I stepped back and headed to what I assumed was the bedroom. “You got a suitcase or something, baby,” I called over my shoulder, catching her jaw drop. But mine dropped too when I caught how tiny her room was. This place was a dive and had I knew how bad the inside was five months ago I would have made my move a lot sooner, now I felt like shit for letting her stay here so long. But I had my moment now and Bella would be with me.

  We spent a total of about fifteen minutes packing up everything she owned and wanted to keep. It was a sad little pile out in the hall. Her super finally arrived and was not at all helpful until I decided he needed some help and I offered to call the city and the health department along with owners of the building. Turns out with a few phone calls he managed to get Bella released from her contract and she would receive her bond back too. How helpful? At least it made her smile and appear a little thankful for the events so far today.

  When I had everything loaded into my truck, she thanked me.

  “You really don’t have to thank me, Bella. I told you I would always look out for you.”