Sleigh Bells in the Snow (19 page)

She’d felt it all herself.

Tension rippled across Tyler’s wide, powerful shoulders. “I want her here. I’m not saying it’s easy. I’m not even pretending I’m any good at it—we’re both still finding our way, but that doesn’t mean I’m not glad she’s here.”

“Have you told her that?” Kayla’s mouth was so dry she could hardly form the words. “Because maybe she needs to hear it.”

“That’s good advice,” Brenna murmured. “Maybe Jess is worried you don’t want her here. That she’s cramping your style. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“So what does that mean? You think she’s run away?” Tyler’s face was white with worry. “I’ve never once said I don’t want her here. If that’s what’s in her head then it was put there by someone else.”

Kayla wondered if that “someone else” was Jess’s mother. She wondered whether Jess had overheard something. It wouldn’t be the first time that had happened to a child torn between two parents.

Why does she have to stay with us at Christmas? Can’t she go to her father?

She tried to push back the memories, reminding herself this wasn’t about her. It was about Jess.

“We can deal with that part later.” Taking control, Jackson strode to the door. “Let’s start by searching the resort. Ask people if they’ve seen her. Brenna—you and Tyler take the trail by the cabins. Kayla and I will go to the far side of the lake.”

Brenna reached for her keys. “Have you checked whether her skis have gone?”

Tyler threw her a look. “It’s dark, Einstein.”

“Not everywhere. The bowl is illuminated.” Jackson stopped dead. “So is Devil’s Gully.”

Tyler’s face lost the last of its color and Kayla glanced between them.

“What’s the significance of Devil’s Gully?” She’d heard Jackson mention it, but wanted to know why they all looked so worried.

“It’s a double diamond black. A thousand feet of vertical drop, sections of it have a forty-degree pitch. About the same angle as the ramp of an Olympic ski jump.” Brenna zipped her jacket to the neck. “Runs right under the chairlift. You want to make a fool of yourself with an audience, you’re going to pick that one.”

Tyler ran his hand over the back of his neck. “Or if you want to ski something challenging once it’s dark. She asked me if we could do it together.”

Brenna looked at him. “And?”

Tyler was white-faced. “I said no.”

* * *

J
ESS
STOOD
ON
the top of Devil’s Gully staring at the reflection of lights on the snow.

It was steep. And it looked worse with the dark all around and no people. There were still people skiing on the easier runs that led to the village, but this run was hard-core. Punishingly difficult. She remembered Gramps and her father talking about it.

Fall on that one and you’ll fall all the way to the bottom.

For a stomach-lurching moment she wondered if she’d made a mistake. It had seemed like the perfect way to prove herself, but it seemed different with the dark pressing in on her and the eerie silence. And what was the point of proving herself when there was no one here to see it?

Her teeth chattered, and she wished she were back in her bedroom, looking at her scrapbooks.

“No different in the dark than in daylight.” Tyler’s voice came from behind her. “Either way it’s still a hell of a drop.”

He’d come looking for her.

Jess felt her heart lift and then plummet.

All that proved was that she was a responsibility he didn’t need.

She felt something burn in her throat. Great. Here she was, proving how tough she was, and she was about to cry like a baby. “It’s easy.”

“It’s not easy. It’s for experts.” Tyler stabbed his poles into the snow and reached across to fasten her helmet. “Good job you’re one of those.”

It took a moment for the words to sink in, and when they did, the stinging in her throat turned to a lump.

“You’re not going to make me go down on the lift?”

“You can go down on the lift if you like. No shame in that. Tell people I forced you if it makes it easier.” Tyler adjusted his boots. “Or we can ski this bastard and see how that turns out.”

“Ski it?” Jess stared at him. Tyler O’Neil, skiing legend. The man they called The Bullet because he reached such incredible speeds in the downhill.
Her dad.
“You mean—together?”

“Sure I mean together. You wouldn’t leave me to ski this on my own, would you?” Tyler stooped and checked the bindings on her skis. “You want to go first or follow?”

Jess tried to work out which would make him love her more and decided she didn’t want to die just when she’d finally got her dream to live with him.

“I guess you could go first.”

“Right. So count to five and then follow me. I’ll meet you at the bottom. Then we’ll get Grams to make us hot chocolate. How does that sound?”

It sounded good. Better than good.

“I want to ski like you.” She blurted the words out, unable to stop herself. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I want to make you proud of me. I don’t want to hold you back.”

Tyler’s eyes glittered as he looked at the steep gradient that lay beneath their feet. “Does it look like you’re holding me back?”

“I might slow you down.”

“Are we still talking about the skiing here?” His voice rough, he reached out and zipped her jacket to the neck. “Because if we’re talking about other things, I’d rather you said it straight-out. I’m not good at digging for meaning behind what people are saying. If a man’s got something to say, I prefer he just says it. That goes for women, too, by the way. Not that I’ve ever met one that does it, except maybe Brenna, and she doesn’t count.”

“Having me here must be difficult for you.”

One minute she was standing there drowning in her own insecurities, the next she was being hugged by her dad, and he held her so tightly it was the best feeling in the world.

“Having you here is easy. Having you here is the best thing that’s happened for a long time.” His voice was thickened. “
Not
having you here was difficult for me. Maybe we should talk about that sometime when we’re not both about to get frostbite.”

The burn in her throat was back, but this time it was mingled with relief and a happiness she hadn’t known existed.

Not having you here was difficult for me.

“I won’t be a nuisance—” The words were muffled by his jacket. “I won’t stop you doing anything or hold you back. You can just live your life and ignore the fact I’m here. I’m okay with that. Whatever rules you make I’ll stick to them, I promise. Just don’t send me to boarding school.”

“Boarding school? Who the hell ever mentioned boarding school?”

“Mom. She said that’s where I’d go when you’d had enough of living with me.” She felt his arms tighten around her.

“That’s not going to happen, Jess. I’ll live my life, that’s true enough, but that life’s got you in it now. You’ll go to school in the village like the three of us did, and as for rules, I’ve only got the one—” Tyler gave her a squeeze and then released her and glided smoothly to the top of the slope. “Next time you’re planning on locking your bedroom door and sneaking out the window, tell me where you’re going so I can come, too. Now let’s nail this. And if you fall, don’t take me with you.”

CHAPTER TEN

K
AYLA
LAY
ON
her face, inhaling snow for what felt like the fortieth time that morning, and heard a whooshing sound as Jackson arrived by her side.

“That was better.”

Better?

She lifted her head. Spat out snow. “Which bit was better? The bit where I turned into a windmill or the bit where I hit the ground with my face?”

He hauled her to her feet in an easy movement. “Your weight was wrong. You leaned back. It’s a natural response to a slope but you have to have the weight forward in your boot. Want to try again?”

“Why not? I think there might be a centimeter of my body that isn’t bruised, and if I’m going to be black-and-blue I’d prefer to be black-and-blue all over. I like a uniform look. Matching black eyes is bang on trend, haven’t you heard?”

He wasn’t even bothering to hide the smile. “You need to trust your skis.”

“I only met them a few hours ago. I never trust anyone on such a short acquaintance.”

“Your ski is designed to turn.” He skied down ahead of her and then paused and called up to her. “Try it again.”

She tried not to think about the fact he made it look easy. “Fine, but make sure you send Brett the bill for medical expenses.”

“If you break anything, my brother Sean will fix you for free.”

Baring her teeth at him in a mock smile, Kayla let her skis run across the slope and then transferred her weight as he’d taught her.

“Put pressure on the big toe edge.” The instruction came from in front of her, and she realized that Jackson was skiing backward.

“Has anyone ever told you you’re a flash bastard, Jackson O’Neil?”

The cold nipped at her cheeks. Her skis ran smoothly over the snow. In that fleeting moment, Kayla realized she was enjoying herself.

“Okay, this is fun—” The moment she said it her ski hit a bump and she lost her balance and would have crashed down again, but this time Jackson caught her. He locked his arm around her waist and steadied them both as she slammed into him.

Breathless, Kayla clung to the front of his jacket, wondering why it was that so many activities ended up with her cemented to his body. “Don’t drop me.”

“I won’t drop you, but if you could stop digging your nails into my arm that would be good.” He spoke through his teeth. “If it’s not your stilettos, it’s your nails.”

She looked at him and saw his eyes darken.

“No,” he said thickly. “Not here. I need to concentrate or we’ll end up at the bottom of the mountain.”

“I thought that was the objective.”

“Yeah, but in your case it’s best if it takes longer than twenty seconds.” He eased away from her, but still held her steady.

“How old were you when you first skied down this run. Tell me honestly.”

“Three.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I was a late starter. Tyler was two. I still remember my father yelling at him ‘Turn, turn’ and Tyler whizzing straight down like an arrow from a bow, yelling back, ‘Why?” He just didn’t see the point of turning when he could go straight down.”

Kayla laughed. “Is that true?”

“Yeah, it’s true. Along with a million other stories that would make your hair stand on end.”

“No wonder Jess thinks he’s a hero. It must be cool having him as a dad.” But coolest of all was having a dad who loved his daughter as deeply as Tyler clearly loved Jess.

She thought back to the way Tyler had handled the situation the night before.

Once they’d received confirmation from the lift attendant—a lift attendant who had been too overawed to challenge the daughter of a medal-winning downhill skier—Tyler had sent everyone home except Brenna, who had stayed at the base of the lift in case Jess had started the run before Tyler could reach her.

Jackson lifted his hand and brushed snow off her shoulder. “It was good of you to help us.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You made us all see it from Jess’s point of view.” His voice was rough. “You were right that she was worried he wouldn’t want her here. It didn’t take him long to put her right on that score.”

Kayla felt something squeeze her chest.

This time, it had just been a misunderstanding. A lack of communication.

“Looks like it’s going to be a happy Christmas in the O’Neil household.”

“Seems that way.” He didn’t release her. “So how come you know so much about the feelings of teenagers, Kayla? How old were you when your parents divorced?”

“Thirteen.”

“That must have been tough.”

She’d never talked about it with anyone. “It was hard at the time, but I guess it made me stronger. More independent. Life events shape us, don’t they?” Except in her case she’d ended up misshapen.

She stood still, feeling the cold biting into her cheeks and the solid power of his body between her and the fall of the mountain. “Should I give up? I’m not sure I have an aptitude for skiing.”

“The thing about skiing is that, even if you don’t progress much past beginner status, you’re still out in the fresh air, looking at those mountains and getting some exercise with it.”

“So you’re not big on the gym then?”

“I’ll use the gym when I have to, usually for weights. I spot Tyler a couple of times a week. He does the same for me. But as for cardio—” he shrugged “—I’ve never been one for running without a purpose. Why would I when I have this on my doorstep? There are plenty of other ways to get the heart pumping.” The glitter in his eyes made her heart pound, and she turned her head and focused on the mountains.

“I admit it’s beautiful. I even admit that for thirty whole seconds back there when I was upright, skiing felt like fun. But the rest of the time I’m face-planting in the snow and that doesn’t feel so good.”

“Keep practicing and you’ll face-plant less. Are you always this impatient when you’re learning something new?”

“Yes. If I’m not good at something immediately, I’d rather do something else.”

His eyes were on her mouth. “You got any ideas about what that something else might be? Because I might have some suggestions.”

She felt the chemistry flare, live and dangerous, and this time it wouldn’t be controlled. “Jackson—”

“Yeah, I know.” His voice was husky and hot. “Public and all that. Getting naked on the slopes is still frowned on. Not to mention giving a person hypothermia.” His phone beeped, and he dug the edges of his skis into the snow and reached into his pocket and checked his messages. “Another Christmas tree order. A family would like one by this evening in order to continue a family tradition of putting presents around it.”

“Can’t they buy it from a supermarket?”

“They could, but a tree freshly cut from the forest is the fairy tale—that’s as long as they’re not the ones cutting it.” There was wry humor in his eyes. “Come with me after lunch and you can be part of that fairy tale.”

“I’ve never been a believer in fairy tales.”

“That’s good to hear, because chopping down the tree and hauling it back through the forest when the weather is minus double digits certainly doesn’t count as one. But it’s all part of the fantasy. All part of a Snow Crystal Christmas.”

“In that case, I should be there.”

She told herself if there were one thing guaranteed to kill her libido stone-dead, it would be choosing a Christmas tree for another family.

* * *

H
E
TOOK
HER
deep into the forest.

The trail was hard-packed and well maintained, and he stopped the snowmobile at the end of a narrow track. Then he helped her fit snowshoes to her boots and they walked the rest of the way, making tracks through fresh snow. Trees reached high above them like tall, white-cloaked sentries.

The frozen air bit through clothing and sank its teeth into skin.

She shivered. “It’s cold.”

“Wicked cold. Typical Vermont winter. There are folks who spend most of it indoors. There are days when I don’t blame them. Are you warm enough?” He put his arm around her and pulled her close. For once she didn’t resist.

“Just toasty.” Her teeth were chattering. “Never been warmer.”

“Did you buy any of that thermal underwear Alice mentioned?”

“Are you asking me about my underwear?” The look she sent him sent lust slamming into him.

“Just looking out for your welfare. Don’t want to send you back to Brett frozen like the ice pack.”

“As long as I’m still able to work, Brett wouldn’t care.”

“Doesn’t that bother you?”

“Why would it bother me? He employs me to do a job for him. It’s perfectly reasonable of him to expect me to do that job.”

Jackson decided not to point out that it was also reasonable to care about the welfare of your employees. “You like him?”

“I respect him.” She peered at some tracks that disappeared into the trees.

“Squirrel.” He answered her question before she asked it. “There are lots of them here. Sometimes you see snowshoe hare, although not so much in this part of the forest. Tell me more about Brett.”

“What do you want to know? Innovation is one of the fastest-growing PR firms in the U.S. and a lot of that is down to him. He’s driven. Focused. Can be visionary and inspirational at times. Drives you mad at others.”

“So you’re planning on staying with them for a while?”

“Yes. I only came over this summer and I’m enjoying the work. I’ll do a couple of years. Then I suppose I’ll move on.”

“Move on to what?”

She shrugged. “Different company. It’s what I do.”

“Ever wanted to do anything else?”

“Like what?”

“If you’re going to work that hard, you could start your own company.”

“I’ve thought about it. I suppose most people do at some point or another. You did.”

“That’s right. I did.”

“It must have felt good—creating something from the ground up. What made you decide to do that and not just work here?”

“Mixture of things.” He hauled her out of range as a branch deposited its mantle of snow on the ground. “Ambition. Curiosity. Ideas. I had so many ideas I didn’t know what to do with them all. There was no space for them here.”
Still wasn’t.
“Frustration.”

“And rebellion? A desire to show Walter and your father that anything they could do you could do better?”

“Yeah, there was that, too.” He acknowledged it and felt the guilt kick. “I should have come back sooner. Should have asked more questions. My father hated it, you know.”

“Snow Crystal?”

“Not the place. The business. He felt the business stopped him from enjoying the place. He resented the time it took to run it when he could have just been ripping up the slopes.”

“So why didn’t he do something else?”

Jackson had asked himself the same question repeatedly. “Only son. I suppose people just assumed he’d go into the family business. But he spent almost all his time skiing.” Pain punched him beneath the ribs. “He was in New Zealand when he crashed the car. You could ask what he was doing in New Zealand when this place was in so much trouble, but that was my dad. He went where the snow was. I got the call in the middle of the night and flew back as soon as I could. Arrived back in time to collect his body from the airport.” He felt her hand curl into his and squeeze.

“I’m sorry.”

“It was tough. Still is, particularly on my mother. But the cooking was an inspired idea. Just the prospect of it has lifted her mood.”

“I’m pleased.” She tilted her head and looked at the trees. “It’s so beautiful here.” She was wearing the hat he’d given her, but beneath it her hair was loose. He noticed she’d stopped pinning it up. Sleek and smooth had given way to soft waves.

“You’re only a couple of miles from The Long Trail, the oldest hiking trail in the U.S. It follows the main ridge of the Green Mountains from the Massachusetts-Vermont line all the way to Canada.”

“I’ve always lived in cities. The nearest I got to hiking was walking through Hyde Park in London and Central Park in New York. This is—” She breathed deeply and gasped as the cold air tickled her lungs. “This feels like a snowy wilderness.”

“Not exactly wilderness. Backcountry.” Jackson stopped. “I know you’re not a lover of Christmas trees, but does that one look all right to you?”

She followed his gaze. “Looks fine to me.”

He cut it down, secured it to the sledge and then dragged it home, taking each turn carefully as they followed the trail back to the resort.

A large SUV was parked outside the cabin and several sleds and boots lay abandoned by the entrance.

Jackson untied the tree and dragged it to the door. Then he picked up the chain saw, shaped the trunk and pushed it into a stand.

“Is that ours?” A young girl stood on the doorstep, watching as Jackson and Kayla hefted the tree up the steps.

“Yes. Do you like it?” He rested the tree and glanced at Kayla. Snow and pine needles clung to her hair and her cheeks were rosy from the cold. In his opinion she looked a million times better than she had in her office in New York.

“I love it.” The little girl stared at it in wonder just as the door opened and a young woman appeared, a toddler in her arms.

“Sophie, what— Oh—” She paused, enchanted. “It’s like a fairy tale tree.”

Jackson caught Kayla’s eye. Saw her turn her head away to hide the smile, because it was exactly as he’d predicted. That smile made him want to get the job over and done with as fast as possible.

Dinner,
he thought. Only this time not at the Inn, but in his barn. In his large, custom-built kitchen with its views of the lake, and cooked not by Élise, but by himself. It was time to finally use those shiny pans.

And this time they wouldn’t be talking about work.

He took the weight of the tree. “I’ll bring it in for you.”

“Thanks—” Smiling, the woman held the cabin door wide and called over her shoulder. “Todd? Come and see this tree. Better still, come and help carry it.”

Jackson tried not to squash Kayla between the tree and the door but in the process ended up with his thigh jammed against hers.

“We’ll have it in the living room. Sophie—move the Lego so Mr. O’Neil doesn’t tread on it.” Baby on her hip, the woman commanded operations, and Jackson dumped the tree and extracted himself from clinging branches.