“The sleigh looks great. I’m a little early, but I thought Kieran and Sara would be out here helping. I didn’t want to sail in like some princess when all the work was done.”
She delivered the words fast, the way she did when she was nervous. The cold air kissed her cheeks and turned them pink while sunlight caressed her hair, teasing out the multiple shades of brown.
Pulling a red knit hat from the pocket of her coat, she tugged it on while looking everywhere but at him. “Should I go up to the house and get them?” She took knit gloves from her otherpocket. “I can imagine Sara oversleeping, but Kieran’s not the type to?—”
“They’re not coming.”
That got her to look at him, her hazel eyes narrowing. “Why not?”
“Because… they were never supposed to go. I set this up so I could?—”
“You ratfink!” She clenched her gloved hands.
He almost laughed. Who said that anymore? “I have a good reason.”
“No, you don’t.” Her cheeks flushed to a deeper pink. “Whatever lamebrained excuse you come up with will never be good enough to justifythis.” She swept a hand toward Thor and the sleigh. “You got me out of bed for nothing. You got this poor horse out of bed for nothing.” She spun on her heel.
“Lani, wait.”
“No chance.” She stormed off toward the yellow truck, her arms swinging at her sides.
He followed her. “I have something for you. It’s your favorite thing in the world.”
She paused but didn’t turn. “That’s impossible.”
“Is it?” He stopped a few paces away, giving her space.
“You don’t even know my favorite thing.”
“I do, because you told me.”
“I did not.”
“Technically you told my mom, but I was there. You said your favorite thing was getting a manuscript from a promising writer. You said it was like opening a present on Christmas morning.”
She turned. “You have Oksana’s next book?”
“No.”
“Then whose?”
“Mine.”
CHAPTER TWO
For a few seconds Lani lost her balance as the world shifted under her feet. Rance wrote a book? Impossible. He wouldn’t be able to sit still long enough.
He had to be pranking her. Yeah, that was it. “I can’t imagine where you’re going with this nutty conversation but count me out.” She headed for her parents’ truck.
He hurried after her, his long strides catching her easily. “You don’t believe me?”
“I do not.”
“Wait here. I’ll fetch it.”
Her pesky curiosity got the better of her. Might as well find out what constituted a book in his mind. She turned around and sure enough, here he came carrying a rectangular package wrapped in festive paper topped with an elaborate velvet bow.
If he’d tied that bow then she was Elmer Fudd. But the box was more than two inches thick. If it contained a manuscript, it wasn’t just a few pages. What the hell was he up to?
