“See? That’s why I asked you.”
He hugged her and kissed the top of her head, and Charlie made exaggerated barfing noises and went to turn off the stove and look around the house a little more before they left. This left Sam and Maggie alone in the foyer for some intense lip-locking, which they proceeded to do.
“You know, as much as I’m looking forward to lunch when we get back,” Maggie panted, with Sam’s hands in her hair.
“Yeah?”
“I think I’m looking forward to getting up close and personal with the hot tub in the honeymoon suite. If its current occupants don’t mind, that is.”
Sam looked down at her with his eyes blown out, dark with desire. “I’m pretty sure that can be arranged.”
A search party on snowmobiles showed up about an hour later. They brought extra winter gear for the riders, and Bar had told them to expect four people. Maggie went around the house doing a little last-minute tidying, picked up a scrap of wrapper, made sure they hadn’t left anything behind. The last thing they did was lock up, and she tried to push the plywood panel over the window by the door back into place. They would need to tell Bar to fix it, she thought.
The ride to the lodge seemed astonishingly short, and also much less sexy when she was sitting behind Doreen instead of Sam. She was tired, hungry, uncomfortable, and starting to wish for an end to this particular stage of her Christmas adventure.
Seeing the lodge from a distance, capped with snow, made her think of her first sight of it in all its wintry glory, which felt much more than just a few days ago. Rather than lying in still white solitude like Bar’s mansion, the lodge was bustling. A truck with a snowplow was actively clearing the parking lot, a shuttle bus idled in the already cleared area in front of the steps, and animal-form shifters cavorted on the back lawn, while those in their human forms were gathering for ski tours.
Amid all this activity, the snowmobiles went nearly unnoticed as they pulled up. But not unnoticed by everyone. When Maggie dismounted, she noticed that Hester had come out to talk to the head of the snowmobile party, a large scar-faced man who Maggie had gathered was Doreen’s husband.
Maggie took a steadying breath. Sam was looking at her with concern, and she knew she would have his support if she needed it. But this had to be done on her own.
She went over to Hester.
“Well,” the smaller woman began, wearing her habitual slight frown as Maggie approached her. “I see you found her.”
Maggie squared her shoulders and looked Hester in the eyes. “I did. I also broke my word to you. I did the thing I said I wouldn’t do, and I’ll pack my things immediately if you want me to.”
Hester stared at her, the concentrating frown dissolving in shock. “Why would I want that?”
“I promised you I wouldn’t shift while I was here.”
“Maggie, you went out in a storm to rescue a kid. What kind of monumental jerk do you think I am?”
“I—I didn’t mean—” Maggie stammered.
Hester firmly clasped Maggie’s hand. “You did a brave thing. I’m not blaming you for it.”
Sam had been whispering to Charlie, who bounced up to Hester, pulling the chain out of her collar. “Ma’am, look, I found my necklace. Dad says he reported it missing. I actually lost it on the ski trail. It was my fault, and I’m so sorry for the trouble.”
“I ... see.” Hester’s gaze returned to Maggie. “Well, I also didn’t keep all my promises, you know. I have been known to jump to unfounded conclusions a time or two.”
It wasn’t quite an apology, but it was good enough for Maggie. She nodded back.
Hester turned her attention to Sam and Charlie. “I also have good news, which is that no one has to double up tonight. We have a few guests leaving this afternoon, as soon as the roads are clear, which means we’ll have plenty of space tonight. Each of you can have a room of your own. I can get you the keys once housekeeping is done.”
“How does that sound, sweetheart?” Sam asked Charlie. “No more sharing with Dad?”
“Dad, I don’tcare, I just want a shower and lunch, not necessarily in that order.”
Maggie heartily concurred, though in her case it was more like a shower, lunch, and Sam.
But it turned out to be a hot lunch first—a rarity for the hotel, which usually offered a grab-and-go sandwich and muffin buffet. For Christmas, they laid out a lavish spread, with roast beef and ham, buttered potatoes, casseroles and hot rolls, and a selection of vegetarian and vegan dishes as well. Maggie loaded her plate twice, too hungry to care that she looked and probably smelled like she’d spent the previous day out in the snow and then slept on the floor overnight. Her faint guilt about not having been there to help out in the kitchen was overwhelmed by a weary relief to just a guest for a change.
Maggie hadn’t had a chance to talk to Cara since she got to the hotel, but she noticed the unicorn shifter seemed to have been adopted by the Swedish moose family, all of them sitting together at one table. So that was apparently going all right for now. Sam came back from discussing it with Hester, and reported that Cara would be staying at the hotel for a little while, maybe a similar informal arrangement to the one Maggie had used to pay off her debts both monetary and otherwise.
And then Charlie was hustled off to her new room for a shower and a nap, while Maggie retrieved her things from the employee dorm and followed Sam at his unsubtle invitation into the honeymoon suite. The cot, she noticed, was gone.
“Hester said there are clean sheets on the bed,” Sam said. He grinned. “I think she’s still trying to make up for certain things.”
