Jennifer Faye – Snowkissed: Christmas Kisses with Her Boss / Proposal at the Winter Ball / The Prince's Christmas Vow (страница 21)
He was going to track down that travel agent and have serious words. She had described the chalet as ‘just the place’ and left Ethan with the impression that it was part of a busy resort, awash with people and activities. Though maybe he’d been so distracted by Ruby, so caught up in the mad impulse of the moment, that he’d heard what he’d wanted to hear.
Because it turned out that the chalet was a higgledy-piggledy structure nestled in the fold of a valley and it looked like it had come straight out of a fairy tale. Set in a circular grove of snow-heaped birches, the property was made completely of wood. It practically
It looked as if it had descended from the clouds especially for Christmas. It was a surprise that it wasn’t wrapped up in festive paper with a bow on top.
Ethan resisted the urge to thunk his forehead on the chunky steering wheel. Instead he glanced across at Ruby, who had fallen asleep on the motorway and slept like the proverbial infant for the entire drive. Perhaps if he started the car he could drive them to the nearest hotel and blag them two rooms. Or he could phone the travel agent and...
Too late.
Next to him Ruby stretched sleepily and opened her eyes; her sleep-creased face looked adorably kissable.
‘Can’t believe I fell asleep.’ Her blue eyes widened as she took in the scene. ‘Oh, my goodness me! We get to stay here?’
‘Looks like it.’
‘It’s as if we’ve been beamed into a fairy tale. Or a Christmas card.’
‘It’s magical. I reckon it may even be made of gingerbread.’
‘Which wouldn’t exactly be very useful, would it?’
‘Plus, I don’t much want to be trapped in a cage by a wicked witch and fattened up. In fact maybe we should go and find somewhere else to stay.’
Her gurgle of laughter indicated that she’d missed the fact he’d meant it as a genuine suggestion. ‘I didn’t have you down as a fairy tale expert.’
‘I’m not.’
For a second he remembered Tanya reading to him, his laughter at the funny voices she’d used for the different characters.
‘You should go on stage,’ he’d told her, and she’d shaken her head.
‘I’d be too shy, Thanny,’ she’d said in her soft voice. ‘But I love reading to you.’
He pushed the memory away and glared at the chalet
‘I...’ She gave her head a small shake. ‘Sorry, Ethan, I must still be half asleep. It just looks perfect for Christmas, but I guess it’s not a good idea to stay somewhere so...’ She trailed off.
Conversely the words challenged him—was he really saying that he was incapable of being in a romantic fairy tale chalet with Ruby? Talk about an overreaction. In truth the cutesy atmosphere should serve as a reminder that romance was anathema to him. Plus he could see from her expression that she had fallen for the place.
After the amount of work she’d put in these past weeks she deserved the chance to stay where she wanted to. With all she had been through in life she deserved a Christmas with some magic in it just as much as those teenagers had. Ethan might not believe in the magic of Christmas but Ruby Hampton did, and he would be a real-life Grinch if he denied her this.
‘Why don’t we go in and have a look round? Then decide what to do. The agent said the key would be outside, under a pot.’
Minutes later they crossed the threshold and irritation touched his brow as he realised he was holding his breath. What did he expect? A wolf dressed up as a grandma to jump out at them?
Instead he saw an open-plan area that brought the words
‘This is...dreamy...’ Ruby said as she headed over to the table. ‘Hey! Look! It’s a hamper. Christmas coffee... Gingerbread... Nougat... Champagne...’ Picking up a card, she twirled to face him. ‘The larder and fridge are stocked with supplies as well.’
Okay, Ruby loved it, and for one disorientating second the look of wonder on her face made Ethan want to give her whatever she wanted.
A sudden sense that he was losing control sent an unfamiliar swirl of panic through his gut, caused him to strive for practicality. One swift glance took in the kitchen area, tiled and warm with pine and pottery, and another door through which he glimpsed a washing machine and a shower room. Which left...
‘Oh!’ Ruby gasped. ‘Look! The ladder must lead up to the next storey. It’s like a scene from
If there was a hayloft up there he would definitely sue the travel agent.
Ruby headed towards the ladder and started to climb, her long dark ponytail swinging a jaunty rhythm, her pert denim-clad bottom snagging his gaze.
* * *
Ruby stepped forward from the ladder-top and gazed around the cosy confines of the bedroom. The view from the window pulled her across the floor. Mountains sculpted the horizon, almost impossible in their precipitous snow-crested magnificence. A miracle of nature, of strata and formations that had resulted in a strength and enormity that dazzled—added to the swirl of emotions that pulsed through her. It was as if the chalet had indeed exerted some kind of Christmas spell over her.
Made her forget that this was a business trip, that any glimmer of attraction between them was impossible. Instead all that mattered to her was the fact that this place reeked of romance, oozed intimacy from every wooden beam and panel.
So much so that she couldn’t think straight: images waltzed and corkscrewed through her mind. Cast her as the princess and Ethan as the knight in spotless armour. Setting the scene as the place where they would...
Her gaze plunged to the snug double bed, with its patterned quilt and simple wooden headboard. More vivid pictures tangled in her imagination: herself snuggled up to Ethan, falling asleep in dappled moonlight, warm and safe from the bitter cold outside, seduced into wakefulness by the trail of his fingers on her skin...
‘On my way up.’
The sound of Ethan’s voice was like an ice bucket of reality. What was the matter with her? Panic knotted her tummy as she leapt across the room to an interconnecting door and wrenched it open.
She swung round as Ethan mounted the ladder, willed her heart-rate to slow down, ordered her brain to leave the mushy fantasy world it had stupidly decided to inhabit. She should never have fallen asleep in the car. Falling asleep on a motorway and waking up in fairyland had obviously decimated her brain cells.
‘The bedrooms...’ she said.
Talk about a statement of the obvious.
He crossed the mezzanine floor and poked his head into the second room, so close that she had to close her eyes to combat the urge to touch him, to inhale his clean sandalwood scent. Whatever influence this place exerted had to be shaken off.
Holding her tummy in, she sidled past him towards the ladder-top.
‘It’s tiny,’ Ethan said. ‘It’s for children. It’s only got a minuscule bunk bed in it. That decides it. We can’t stay here.’
A glitter of relief flecked his eyes and she clocked the almost imperceptible sag of those broad shoulders.
Ruby knew it was wrong, but the knowledge that Ethan Caversham was worried about staying here with her triggered a feminine satisfaction.
The fact that she had managed to breach the professional wall he’d built up since that near-kiss prompted her to step forward.
‘I wouldn’t mind sleeping in there. There’s no way you could manoeuvre your way into the room, let alone the bed. But I’ll be fine. I’m flexible.’
Unable to help herself, she gave a little shimmy to demonstrate the point and his jaw clenched again.
‘I think we should stay here. I mean, it’s quirky—it’s different. Maybe you could build a resort with places like this. Plus, it’s a good place to work. No distractions.’
‘I’d like to stay here, but if you think it’s too difficult...’
Too late it occurred to her that Ethan had never been able to resist a challenge. His eyebrows rose and suddenly the room seemed even smaller.