No Christmas Like the Present Read Online Free

managed not to jump. “You know, dear, I owe Lindsay a trip to the punch bowl. Catch up with you later?”
    At Jeanne’s glowing nod, he steered Lindsay toward the refreshment table. “What kind of a name is ‘Fred,’ anyway?” he murmured to her out of the corner of his mouth.
    â€œYou weren’t helping. It was the first thing I could come up with.”
    â€œBut ‘Fred’?” He ladled punch into her cup, smiling at her through his teeth.
    â€œScrooge’s nephew.”
    â€œOf course. I should have known.” He shrugged. “Well, I like the ‘holiday’ part, anyway.” He handed a crystal cup of punch to her.
    So now he had a name. Every move she made seemed to draw Lindsay deeper into the quicksand. Her head started to hurt.
    A headache. That could actually come in handy. A quick ticket out of here, before “Fred” could do anything strange. “You know,” she said, “we should—”
    â€œLindsay.” The sound of her name was like having manacles slapped on her wrists. This time it came from her boss, Phil. No chance for a quick or gracious exit here. “Who’s your friend?”
    Behind his bifocals, Phil regarded Fred with the same open curiosity. Lindsay opened her mouth, but Fred was already offering his hand with a hearty smile. “Fred,” he said. “Fred Holliday.”
    â€œIt’s nice to meet you, Fred,” Phil said. “Where are you from?”
    A sinking feeling of inevitability settled in her stomach. As Fred cheerfully held forth with her boss, Lindsay felt the chance for escape dwindle away. She tried to interject, but Phil was already saying, “Let me show you my hobby room.”
    That did it. Phil separated the world into two groups of people: the ones he’d already subjected to his collection of ships in bottles, and those he hadn’t. Everyone else in the room had already gotten the tour before, but Fred was fair game. A fresh victim. Before she knew it, Phil was steering Fred out of the room, and Evelyn—Phil’s wife, Lindsay’s other boss—was greeting her.
    â€œWho’s your friend?” Evelyn asked. Lindsay couldn’t remember when she’d been the object of so much attention in such a short time. It might have a little to do with the fact that she’d never brought a date to the company party before, but she knew Fred would have drawn plenty of curiosity no matter what.
    As she stammered out a response, Lindsay cast a last desperate glance over Evelyn’s silk-clad shoulder at Fred, who turned away from Phil long enough to give her a solemn wink.
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    Word about Fred spread quickly, and Lindsay discovered that having a handsome British stranger for a party date provided her with an instant conversation piece. She couldn’t even get to the brie. Every time she tried, someone else flagged her down with eager questions. Trying to ad-lib the answers didn’t do anything for her headache. Neither did her cup of punch, a heady mixture of pineapple juice and 7UP. It didn’t contain any alcohol, but it made up for that with its lethal double dose of sugar.
    When Phil brought Fred back from the tour, Lindsay tried to get to him. But no. Matt the accountant blocked her way, and over his shoulder, she could see Fred captured by Jeanne.
    Fred caught her eye, shrugged, and turned to hear whatever Jeanne was saying. Lindsay felt her blood sizzle, and reminded herself that she’d always liked Jeanne. The point was to get Fred out of here before he said or did something outrageous.
    A moment later he started toward her again, but this time Evelyn accosted him.
    It went on that way for about twenty minutes. Lindsay wouldn’t have guessed a large room with twenty-odd people in it could seem this crowded. Every time she tried to catch up with him, or Fred with her, there always seemed to be a knot of people between them. At