His gaze turned serious. “Yeah, I do. Because I love you just as much when we’re not naked. You’re the most incredible woman I’ve ever met—in bed, out of bed. Everywhere. All the time. And that’s what makes it magical.”
A surge of love washed through her, wrapping around her like a warm blanket. “I think it’s been at least an hour since I told you I love you.”
“Sweetheart, you just told me—a hundred times over—with that performance.”
She waggled her brows. “Does that mean you owe me ninety-nine?” She leaned forward and nibbled on his earlobe.
“Are you trying to get me to say yes?”
“Absolutely. Is it working?”
“Absolutely.”
She leaned back and looked into his eyes. The intense love staring back at her squeezed her heart, which he’d owned from minute one.
“How incredibly lovely that we have another three days alone here,” she said, combing her fingers through the dark silk of his hair. “No interruptions, no phone calls, no families, no arguments. Just the two of us.”
Something flickered in his eyes, but was gone so fast she decided she’d imagined it.
“No interruptions,” he agreed. “Just the two of us.”
Chapter 7
“Oh. My. God. Is that my…mother?”
At Jess’s incredulous question, asked in a horrified whisper that registered at least an octave above her normal voice, Eric halted in the act of hanging their snow-covered parkas on the coatrack in the lodge’s lobby. He winced. Uh-oh. This didn’t bode well for the relaxing, early-morning breakfast he’d anticipated.
After settling the coats on the brass hooks, he turned and followed Jess’s slack-jawed, wide-eyed stare across the lobby toward the lounge area. And his stomach sank into his snow-encrusted boots.
Carol sat in profile to them at one of the low tables, a steaming ceramic mug set in front of her, chatting away on the cell phone held to her ear. Damn. He’d thought for sure they wouldn’t run into any snowbound family members by eating so early. It was barely six-thirty, for crying out loud. Kelley would never show up anywhere before 10:00 a.m. unless a full-scale emergency was involved. She’d never been an early riser which was one reason she loved having her own business—she could set her own hours.
He figured Marc and Carol for late sleepers, too—restaurants closed late, so most of Eric’s colleagues didn’t jump out of bed at the crack of dawn. Eric normally didn’t, either, but he and Jess had fallen asleep early without ever venturing out for dinner, and had awoken at dawn. After a bout of slow, soft morning sex, they’d both been starving and the few wizened grapes left over from their picnic the night before weren’t going to do the trick. Since room service was only served in the lodge, they hadn’t been left with much choice but to get dressed and haul their butts here through the nearly three feet of fresh snow that had fallen during the storm.
Yet clearly he’d miscalculated, because there Carol sat, chatting away, waving her free hand in the air. He frowned. Who the hell talked on the phone at six-thirty in the morning?
He sighed. “Yup, that’s your mom.”
He felt the weight of Jess’s regard and turned to look at her. “You don’t sound—or look—surprised to see her.”
Clasping her hand, he led her toward the large Christmas tree so they were out of Carol’s line of vision. “I’m not. Your mom, Marc and Kelley all got snowed in with the blizzard.”
Her eyes goggled. “All three of them are here?”
“’Fraid so. Kelley’s in a cabin two doors down from ours. Your mother and Marc have rooms here in the lodge.”
“And you know this how?”
“Kelley called our cabin last evening while you were in the shower and told me.”
She folded her arms over her chest and shot him The Look. He could hear the toe of her snow boot tapping against the hardwood floor. “And you didn’t tell me because…?”
“Because I didn’t want you looking the way you’re looking right now.” He reached out and lightly clasped her stiff shoulders. “I figured if you knew they were here, you’d be worried about them calling the room, or knocking on the door.”
“And you weren’t?”
“Can’t say it didn’t cross my mind, which is why I turned off the ringer on the phone. As for banging on our door again, I’d made it very clear to all of them that we didn’t want any further interruptions.” He captured one of her hands and brought it to his mouth to kiss her palm. “Once you tied me up, I didn’t think about anything except you. I hoped we were here early enough to miss them.” Craning his neck, he peeked around the tree toward the lounge. “Just our luck she’s here so early.”
“Mom wakes up every morning at five without an alarm. Doesn’t matter what time she goes to bed, she’s up with the chickens. And she’s a light sleeper. Which made it really hard to sneak in after curfew, and impossible to sneak in after 5:00 a.m.” A quick grin flicked over her lips. “Worse for my brothers because they’re all big and clumsy and never learned the meaning of the word ‘stealth.’”
“Wish I’d known that before I suggested coming for breakfast. Who the heck do you suppose she’s talking to at this hour?”
“Her sister, my aunt Liz. She lives in Florida and also wakes up at the crack of dawn. They talk every day at this time. My brothers and I keep telling Mom that if she’d spend as much time looking for a nice man who lived nearby as she does talking to her sister who lives sixteen hundred miles away, maybe she wouldn’t be so lonely. And maybe she’d have more to occupy her time than trying to run our lives—although none of us said that last part to her face.”
“Probably a good idea.” He shot Carol a speculative look. She wasn’t an unattractive woman. She’d been a widow for eleven years. Maybe she was lonely. Maybe that was the root of her overbearing nature. “Listen, if you think some male companionship would get her to concentrate on her own life instead of trying to interfere in ours, consider me on board the ‘find Carol a man’ bandwagon.”
“Great. But that doesn’t do us much good right now.” Jess’s stomach growled, so loud they both heard it. “I’m starving.”
“Me, too.” The scent of bacon wafted toward them from the Coldspring Room, and he lifted his nose to sniff the enticing aroma. Unfortunately the restaurant’s double doors were situated directly behind where Carol sat.
“Mom only has coffee this early,” Jess reported in an undertone. “She won’t eat until around eight o’clock. If we keep to the perimeter of the room, maybe we can make it into the restaurant without her seeing us. Then we can get a table in a back corner, out of sight.”
“Good plan. And maybe there’s another exit in the restaurant. We might be able to pull this off.”
“What about Kelley? What if she comes in for breakfast?”
“No chance. She never wakes up with the chickens. Marc?”
“Late sleeper. And if there’s room service available, he’s all over it.”
“Good.” He eyed her up and down, then said in a conspiratorial tone, “You ever had any sort of useful sneak-along-the-perimeter, military-type training?”
She considered for several seconds. “I was a Girl Scout in second grade. You?”
“Never a Girl Scout.”
“That’s a relief.”
“But I did go to sailing camp one summer.”
She looked toward the ceiling. “Great. If we happen across any yachts on our way to the restaurant I’ll defer to your superior knowledge. Clearly we’re well equipped.” A mischievous gleam entered her eyes and she surreptitiously rubbed her palm against the fly of his jeans. “Very well equipped.”
He sucked in a quick breath as his body came swiftly to attention. With a half laugh, half groan, he captured her wrist and dragged her errant hand up to rest on his chest. “Thanks. But I can’t walk in a stealthy manner with a raging hard-on.”
“They didn’t teach you that at sailing camp?”
“N
o. But they did teach us how to deal with saucy wenches.” He wrapped his arms around her and leaned down to nuzzle her warm neck. “Care to see my yardarm?”
“Are you trying to get me to say ‘aye, Captain’?”
“Absolutely. Is it working?”
“Aye, Captain.” She leaned back in the circle of his arms, lightly rubbed her pelvis against his and waggled her brows. “How’s your mainsail?”
“Hoisted. You know, on second thought, maybe we should forget about breakfast and just head back to the cabin—”
“Oh, no, you don’t,” she said. “You’ll have a mutiny on your hands. You promised me pancakes dripping with syrup. And eggs. And sausages. And bacon. And coffee, and—”
He halted her words with a quick, hard kiss then shot her a mock frown. “Then quit tempting me with your non-breakfast items or we may never get a meal.” He took another quick look around the tree and noted Carol was still yapping into her phone. “Now or never. Ready?”
At Jess’s nod, he took her hand, and keeping their gazes downcast, they headed toward the restaurant, staying close to the wall. Eric heaved a mental sigh of relief when they passed the area where Carol might well have seen them in her
peripheral vision. They still needed to walk quite close to her to enter the restaurant, but they’d be directly behind her. Just a few more yards and they’d be safe.
“I’ve booked the ballroom at the Ritz for the first Saturday in June,” he heard Carol saying as they moved behind her. Certain he’d misheard her words, he stopped. Jess halted as if she’d walked into a wall.
“Oh, they’ll probably fuss at first,” Carol said into the phone, “but what else could I do? Turns out the large ballroom at the country club was no longer available for the date they wanted in February, and the small ballroom simply won’t do. I figured as long as we had to change the date anyway, why not make it June? June is the perfect month for a wedding—so much better than February.”
Eric’s every muscle went rigid with disbelief and a red haze seemed to dull his vision. He glanced toward Jess. She’d gone perfectly still and was staring at the back of her mother’s head.
Carol was silent for several seconds, presumably listening to her sister. Then she said, “Putting off the wedding until June also gives me longer to make certain everything’s perfect, and to hopefully get Jess more interested in planning all the little details. This should be a fun time for her yet it seems all she does is mope.” After another few seconds of silence, Carol nodded and said, “Maybe she isn’t sure. After all, their engagement happened so quickly—after only six months. I’m hoping the extra four months will give her time to know her mind. Maybe she’ll reconsider her unfortunate choice. God knows she could have any man she wanted.”
The surge of anger that roared through Eric seemed to implode inside his head. He couldn’t recall ever being so furious in his entire life. In the space of a single heartbeat, his life flashed before his eyes—not his past, but his future. A future with his life being manipulated, being the victim of behind-the-scenes machinations and scheming, his express desires being ignored and circumvented. It wasn’t a pretty picture. In fact, it was a really ugly picture. And the realization it left in its wake hit him so hard he nearly staggered.
He didn’t want it. None of it. He wasn’t going to let it happen.
And he knew what he had to do.
As if from far away he heard Jess gasp then say, “Mom?” in a voice that reflected both confusion and outrage. Saw Carol start then turn around. Her eyes widened at the sight of them and a flush suffused her face.
She mumbled, “I’ll call you back,” into the phone then flipped it closed. Then she stood and faced them.
“Good morning,” she said, offering a tentative smile, her gaze bouncing between them, clearly wondering what, if anything, they’d overheard. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here so early. You usually sleep in, Jess.”
“You and I need to talk, Mom.” Jess turned to him. “I’m sorry to cancel our breakfast, but would you give me some time alone with my mother?”
Eric looked at Jess, but felt as if he were looking through her. He had to swallow twice to locate his voice. “Sure.” He barely pushed the word through his tight throat. With a quick nod, he turned on his heel and strode away, not sure where he was going, but it didn’t matter. He just wanted to get away. Before he said something he’d regret. Good thing he was too furious to speak.
Sure, he’d give Jess time, all the time she wanted. Didn’t matter how long it took or even what she said. Because he was done. Finished. Couldn’t take any more. Carol’s words had snapped something inside him, something that he knew couldn’t be fixed. It was time he faced the truth—and the truth was that what he’d overheard was the final nail in the coffin. This weekend with Jess was supposed to be about them. Just them. Getting things back to normal. Instead it had turned into the very thing they’d been trying to escape—the viper’s nest their engagement had turned into.
He grabbed his coat from the rack, slammed his arms into the sleeves, then shoved open the door to walk outside, barely registering the cold and the snow that continued to lightly fall.
All she does is mope… It was time to be brutally honest with himself. Jess wasn’t happy. She hadn’t been for months. And neither was he. Not really. He just hadn’t wanted to admit it, not even to himself. But now, there was no way he could deny it any longer.
Perhaps she’ll reconsider her unfortunate choice. God knows she could have any man she wanted. Carol’s words echoed through his mind, and his hands clenched into tight fists. Yes, she could have any man she wanted. He’d known that from the first minute he’d laid eyes on her. Just as he’d known he wanted to be that man.
June is the perfect month for a wedding. Maybe it was. But that didn’t matter anymore, either. There wasn’t going to be a damn wedding in June. And there wasn’t going to be a damn wedding in February.
He was done.
When he arrived at the cabin a few minutes later, he went directly to the phone and punched the number for the front desk.
After Roland Krause identified himself with a cheery greeting, Eric asked without preamble, “Are the roads still closed?”
“I’m afraid so, Mr. Breslin,” Roland said. “Is there something you need?”
Yeah. To get the hell out of here as soon as possible. He knew there’d be a fallout. And tears. And hurt, but he couldn’t help that. The chips would just have to fall where they may. “Any word on when they’ll be clear?”
“Well, the snow’s still coming down, but I heard on the news that they’re working on the interstates. Once they’re plowed, they’ll start on the secondary roads. We’re pretty isolated here, so it’ll be a while. To be on the safe side, I’d plan on being snowed-in here until tomorrow morning. Good thing you were plannin’ to stay on till Tuesday.”
Eric pinched the bridge of his nose. Great. “How about snowmobiles?”
“They’re all rented at the moment.”
“Dog sled?”
Roland chuckled. “Don’t have any of those. Why don’t you tell me what it is you need, Mr. Breslin? Chances are we’ll be able to accommodate you.”
Doubtful. But what the hell. Maybe the man had some cross-country skis or snowshoes—anything to get Eric the hell out of here. So he told Roland what he wanted. When he finished, Roland said in a solemn voice, “I see. Well, Mr. Breslin, as luck would have it, I believe I can help you.” They spoke for several more minutes, then Eric replaced the receiver. He glanced around the room, his gaze falling on his overnight bag. He’d come back for his stuff shortly, but right now there was someone he needed to talk to.
He closed the door behind him and trudged through the deep snow. When he reached cabin twelve, he banged on the door. “Kelley, it’s Eric. Open up.”
Knowing his sister slept like the dead, he kept pounding and repeating his summons. A full two minutes passed before the door opened a crack. Kelley, her ha
ir tousled, clutching the collar of her robe closed, and looking none too pleased, peered out at him.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“We need to talk.” He made to enter her cabin, but she blocked his way.
“At this ungodly hour? I don’t think so, Eric. Call me in a few hours.”
“Now,” he insisted, once again trying to enter, and once again her sidestepping to block him.
“Is something wrong?”
“Not something.” He briefly squeezed his eyes shut. “Everything is wrong.”
Worry instantly replaced her annoyed expression. “With you and Jess?”
A lump swelled in his throat. “Yeah.”
“What happened?”
“I’ll be happy to tell you as soon as you let me in—or am I supposed to stand out here freezing my ass off?”
When she hesitated, he rolled his eyes, his patience on a thin tether. “Good God, I don’t care if your girly stuff is all over the place, Kell. Like I’m not used to that after growing up with three sisters and one bathroom.”
She clutched her robe tighter. “Tell you what—I’ll get dressed and meet you at the lodge in fifteen minutes.”
“Forget it. It’ll take that long to hike up there. They haven’t shoveled the paths yet. Besides, the lodge is the last place I want to be. Jess and Carol are there.” Anxious to get out of the frigid air, he shouldered his way inside. While Kelley closed and locked the door behind him, he strode into the room.
While removing his snowy parka, his gaze absently circled the room, noting the rumpled bedcovers, the cheery fire burning in the hearth.
The pair of men’s snow boots next to the hearth.
He froze with his jacket halfway down his arms and narrowed his eyes. There was no mistake—those weren’t Kelley’s boots. Her feet were small and those boots weren’t. His gaze darted around the rest of room. No signs of a man’s clothing, but two wineglasses bearing traces of drinks rested on the night table. And it hit him that while he’d clearly rousted Kelley from bed, she hadn’t looked the least bit sleepy when she opened the door. And the fact that the guy’s boots were still here, meant he was still here.
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