Mary stared out at the raging blizzard. “She’ll be stuck in Fairbanks until this storm passes and the roads are clear.”
Chris bit down on his lip. “Think I should open on my own tomorrow? Your dad would have let me.”
“You better let Jasmine call the shots. It’s her store in Dad’s absence. She’s the wife, I’m just the daughter.” Jasmine had made that pretty clear from the time her father brought her home after their surprise elopement.
Chris nodded. “Yeah.”
“Where are you headed now?” Mary asked.
“I needed to talk to Miss Betty.” He looked away. Too quickly.
Chris’s parents had ditched him, headed for the lower forty-eight, leaving him without food or money in the trailer they’d rented. He’d taken to stealing from the local grocery store to survive until Santa had caught him in the act of stuffing a package of hot dogs in his jacket.
Mary could tell when Chris was hiding something. Normally when she asked him questions, he looked at her with an open, curious expression. Now he dodged her gaze and ducked around her and Nick. “Gotta go. See ya later.”
Mary moved to follow him, but a hand on her arm held her back.
Nick leaned close, the scent of his aftershave filling Mary’s senses. “If Jasmine’s stuck in Fairbanks for the night, it’s our chance to try that key.”
A thrill of excitement flashed through her, heating her skin. “I know where my father kept a spare key to get in.”
“I have a few things I want to check on back in my room. Then we can head over to Christmas Towne. You still have the key your father left under your pillow, don’t you?”
Fear lodged in her throat. They’d been through hell in the tumble down the hillside. Mary shoved her hand in her pocket. When her fingers scraped against contoured edges of metal, she breathed a sigh. “Yeah. I also want to call Ed about the snowmobile and let him know we want to keep it a little longer.”
“Are you going to tell him it’s been wrecked?” The edges of Nick’s lips twitched, his eyes shining.
The look had her face flushing with heat. “No, no. I think I can wait that bit of news.” Darn, she was letting his deep brown eyes and wicked grin get to her. She walked back to the table, gathered her winter coat and gloves and handed Nick’s to him. “Let’s go.” The sooner they were in their own rooms, the better off she would be. By herself, back in control.
She almost volunteered to walk back to the B and B rather than tempt herself all over by sliding her legs around Nick on the snowmobile. Granted there were several layers of clothes between them but having him that close only made her weak in the knees and lose track of her main goals: to find her father and never fall for a guy with more secrets than she could shake a stick at.
Nick St. Claire wasn’t just any guy passing through. Every inch of him was lean, defined muscles down to the ripples across his abdomen. What girl wouldn’t be attracted?
The man was good eye candy. She found movie stars attractive and she didn’t get all jelly-legged over them. What was it about Nick?
Maybe it was his innate toughness, his ability to take charge of a situation. Or the way he protected her from harm. No, she was avoiding the real reason. The kiss. She’d never before been kissed the way Nick had kissed her today. He had tapped into every one of her female fantasies and erogenous zones in the two long, sexy slides of his lips against hers.
Nick made short work of slipping into his coat and gloves. “Ready?”
Boy was she.
Mary jerked out of her lust-induced stupor and slung her jacket over her shoulders, shoving her hands into the sleeves while ducking to hide her burning face. “Yeah.” No, she wasn’t ready for another dose of the super sexy secret agent, but what choice did she have?
Outside the full force of the icy wind stung Mary’s cheeks, chilling them in a second. Good. Cool was good. Maybe she could make it back to the B and B without succumbing to Nick’s killer magnetism.
The two blocks passed in a flash, but her hands were already freezing by the time she climbed off the snowmobile. A hot shower would help to thaw her.
Nick entered the B and B first to check for any bad guys lurking in the corners. At her room, he took her key from her and unlocked the door, checking the room before she entered. “Knock when you’re ready to go to Christmas Towne. Dress warm. We’ll be walking.” Then he shut the door in her face.
Mary stood staring at the wood paneling long after the door closed. He’d been in a hurry to get rid of her. A flush of anger warmed her insides. Granted, she’d wanted to leave his company as soon as possible, but she had a good excuse—she was committing the ultimate folly and falling for the guy.
Still, he’d ditched her like last year’s old tennis shoes. That stung. Apparently, the kiss hadn’t meant as much to him as it had to her.
Hmmph!
Mary turned and faced the empty room, dragging her jacket from her shoulders and her sweatshirt over her head. The shower wasn’t calling to her as loudly as it had a moment before. All she wanted was to see Nick again and give him a piece of her mind. But she couldn’t. What would she say? “Hey, Nick, that kiss didn’t mean anything to me either!” And by so saying, she’d be admitting that she’d been thinking about it and that it had meant more to her than she wanted him to know.
With each passing second, the urgency to march across the hall and say something to the man built inside her like a surging volcano, but she had nothing to say. Knock on his door when she was ready. She was ready now. But not for another walk in the snow. More likely, a romp in the sheets.
