The Christmas Cottage Read online

  It was all for the better. What was he going to say to her? “Hey, I’ve been staring at you for several minutes and you remind me of a girl I grew up with. Do you want to get a drink?” Geez, he was out of practice with the art of approaching women. Wait, who was he kidding, he never had the art of the approach. Work and school had been his life. He never dated much and when he did it was with like-minded women; ones that were too involved in their jobs to really want to get in to a relationship. He met most through mutual acquaintances and after a couple of dates, they’d each moved on.

  He sighed with an opportunity lost and headed back to his car and continued on to finish his errands so that he’d be home before dark.

  * * * *

  The ride back to the ranch took a little longer than Ean was comfortable with. He was used to the snow up in Boston but he wasn’t driving up a mountain in it. There was quite a difference. Grabbing his groceries he headed into the house and then went back out to grab the gas cans and put them in the garage near the generator, just in case he needed them. Once his task was complete Ean headed back to the kitchen and looked at the clock. Four o’clock. A little late for lunch, a little early for dinner so he opted for a sandwich to tide him over until he felt like making something more substantial.

  The sandwich looked very promising and Ean lifted it, anticipating how good it was going to taste when a flash of headlights on the far end of the property caught his attention through the full wall of windows at the back of the house. Who in the world would opt to drive up here where it was getting dark and in the snow he wondered? Thinking that whoever it was may be a neighbor that he didn’t know about, he went back to his sandwich.

  Twenty minutes later, with a somewhat full belly, Ean went into the office to check his emails and see how business went that day without him. He was about to close the plantation shutters when he noticed a soft light off in the distance. Now he knew he hadn’t been up to this house in many, many years but if he wasn’t mistaken, that was the guest house with all the lights on! Who in the world would be up there? His parents didn’t rent the place out, the renovations were done so no one should be up there.

  Trespasser? Squatter? Ean had no idea and now he had no choice but to go and find out. Dammit, this was not part of his plan! He was here to relax; he was here to unwind. He was not here to have to fight off some would-be trespasser from his family’s guest house! Grumbling the entire way, Ean went to the mud room and found a pair of snow boots, a coat, gloves and hat before grabbing his keys and heading out into the dusk.

  His first thought had been to drive his SUV up to the cottage, it would be faster and would give him a better way to give chase should he need to but he didn’t want to alert whoever it was up there that he was coming. Locking the house up, he trudged up the path leading to the cottage.

  The snow was starting to stick to the cold ground and though it was still flurrying, Ean had no doubt that this path would not be easily maneuvered in a couple of hours. He hoped that whoever it was up in the cottage would take his warning seriously and leave the premises promptly. It didn’t take long to realize that the cottage was further away than he remembered, too, and that his breath was a little ragged and cursed. He went to the gym regularly for crying out loud, how could he be out of breath? Clearly because there’s a big difference between walking up a mountain in the snow than jogging on a stationary treadmill, a snarky inner voice mocked him.

  Well he’d be damned if he was going to stop and catch his breath. The sooner this intruder was gone, the sooner he’d be safely back at the ranch in front of a fire enjoying a steak dinner. Reaching into his pocket Ean fished out his phone and checked to make sure he had reception in the dense woods. Seeing that he had three bars he felt confident that should this person give him any trouble, he’d be able to call for backup without any problem.

  Almost there. The words even sounded winded in his head. He could only hope that the brides and grooms who used this blasted cottage drove up here and didn’t find it mythical or magical to climb the mountain together as part of the experience.

  Stepping into a clearing the first thing he noticed was the black SUV parked in the driveway and that there was smoke coming from the chimney. Made yourself at home, did you? Walking closer to the house, Ean decided to walk the perimeter and see if he could get a good look at how many people he was dealing with. There was no one visible through the front window, a quick jog to the left had him remembering that there were no windows on this side and as he carefully made his way through the trees and toward the back of the house he saw a shadow of a person behind the blinds.

  Holding his breath, Ean realized it was definitely the silhouette of a woman. He shuffled through the trees some more and had a full view of the rear of the house but all of the windows were covered. Dammit! With one last hope he walked around to the last side of the house and finally had an unobstructed view through a window. At six feet tall he should have been able to see right in but the window was just about a head taller. Looking around for something to stand on, Ean reached for one of the deck chairs that was closest to him and positioned it under the window.

  Hoping it was sturdy enough to hold him, he took his chance and balanced on it to get a better look into the house. He saw shadows but no actual person. Craning his neck for a better view, he heard music playing, could see the flames in the fireplace and if he wasn’t crazy, he smelled something cooking on the stove. He’d barely managed to make and eat a sandwich and this person had settled in, made a fire and had food cooking on the stove already?

  Cursing the cold, the snow and the fact that he was acting like a peeping Tom on his own property, he was just about to climb down when the mystery woman stepped into view. Like a deer caught in the headlights she turned toward him and all Ean could do was stare. The woman let out a blood curdling scream as Ean fell off the chair and flat on to his back into the snow.

  Several thoughts hit him at once; first, he was going to have one hell of a headache in a few hours. Second, his back wasn’t doing much better and third, the intruder was coming toward him; he could hear her footsteps approaching.

  “Oh my God, are you all right?”

  Ean heard the voice but his vision hadn’t refocused just yet. He shook his head gingerly and when his vision cleared he stared up in complete shock. It was the woman from the grocery store. He forced himself to study her more closely and he felt that familiar punch in the gut again.

  It was Lacey.

  Chapter Three

  Ean tried to sit up but everything began to spin.

  “Easy,” she said softly. “You must’ve banged your head pretty good when you fell.” Without asking permission, Lacey reached around and felt his head for any bumps or bleeding. She knew she found a tender spot when she heard him wince. “Sorry.”

  The snow started to fall more heavily and now that her heart rate had returned to normal she finally took a moment to look at him.

  Ean.

  Sure, he had changed a lot in the last twelve years but she’d know him anywhere. The black hair, the blue eyes, square jaw…there wasn’t a man alive that compared to him in her mind and she mentally kicked herself for still getting all tingly at the sight of him. While her first instinct was to nurture and make sure he was okay, Lacey knew that would be giving him a foothold into her life where she didn’t want him. So she went with her defense mechanism.

  “Ean Callahan you scared me half to death! What the hell do you think you’re doing prowling around in the woods peering into windows?”

  Lacey’s tone was enough to snap Ean out of his stupor. “What am I doing? What are you doing here?” he snapped. “What do you think you’re doing up here in the cottage? The damn wedding is over a month away!” He struggled to his feet and though things still were spinning it was like the ride was finally coming to an end. He braced his hands on the side of the house and took a couple of deep breaths.

  “I know when the wedding is, Ean,” she snapp
ed right back. “Ava has a list a mile long of all of things she wants done to the place for her wedding night. I decided to take some time to come up here and scope it out.” She stared at him and dared him to argue.

  “In a snow storm?”

  “Well, in my defense I didn’t know about the snow until I was halfway here and at that point I didn’t feel like turning around and heading back. I don’t have a problem with it. A little snow doesn’t scare me.”

  “They’re calling for over a foot,” he reminded her and felt a small wave of satisfaction when her expression fell a little. She recovered quickly.

  “As I said, I don’t have a problem with it.”

  “You will if you want to go home tonight.”

  He had her there. Her plan had been to come up, look at the cottage and get a hotel room for the night but with the storm blowing in, she knew she’d be stuck here at the cottage. It wasn’t a hardship, really, or at least it hadn’t been until Ean had shown up and scared her to death! “I had planned to grab a room in town but I’ll just stay here tonight. I’m sure the roads will be fine in the morning. They’re used to snow up here. The plows will be working all night. Plus it will give me time to do some work here. Your sister certainly has some very specific ideas on what she wants.”

  “I’ll bet,” he murmured. Ava always tended to have very strong ideas and plans on what she wanted and how she was going to get them, so he had no doubt that this list Lacey mentioned was going to be a nightmare. Moving away from the side of the house, Ean took a tentative step and was relieved that he felt steady.

  “C’mon inside and let’s get a better look at your head.” Lacey didn’t wait to see if he’d follow, she just knew he would. Why? Because what she wanted right now was for Ean to leave, to go back down the mountain and leave her alone to deal with the maelstrom of feelings just the sight of him had caused.

  Back in the cottage, Lacey made up a small ice pack and when she turned, she found Ean sitting on an ottoman in front of the fire and darn it if he didn’t look good there. Reminding herself of all the reasons why she wanted him gone, she strode over and handed him the ice. “You’ve got a small bump but the ice should help. By the time you drive back down to the ranch the swelling should be gone.”

  “I didn’t drive up, I walked.”

  “What? Why?” she asked. “It’s snowing out, it’s dark and you thought the best way to go about stopping a potential burglar was to walk up the mountain?”

  Ean shot her a sharp glance. It had made sense at the time but hearing Lacey say it made him realize how poor his decision was. Now it was pitched black out, his head was pounding, his back didn’t feel too hot, if he was being honest, and he had to walk all the way back down. It didn’t take a genius to realize that the path would be covered and in the dark there was no way to really tell if he was staying on it.

  “I’ll drive you back down,” Lacey said quickly, knowing she’d do whatever it took to get him out of the cottage. It was too small, too cozy, and too intimate to share this space with him for a minute longer. A quick look around had her finding her keys as she walked to the door. “Are you ready?”

  Clearly he wasn’t. “What’s the rush, Lace? I mean, can’t we take a minute and say a proper hello and how are you before you’re throwing me out of my own place?”

  Her first instinct was to tell him that she didn’t care to have a proper hello with him and that she didn’t want him here but no matter how she worked the words in her head, they sounded petty and childish. She sighed with resignation, closed the front door and took off her coat. She didn’t need to see Ean to know he was watching her. It should have thrilled her; instead it made her feel self conscious. What did he see when he looked at her? She was no longer that fourteen year old girl who professed her love to him but a woman who was irritated with the situation they were presently in.

  Putting as much space between them without being too obvious about it, Lacey chose the sofa on the other side of the fireplace. She looked at him expectantly; hoping that Ean would be the first to break the awkward silence. When minutes passed and still he said nothing, just simply sat looking at her, a small grin on his face, Lacey decided she’d had enough.

  “Ava didn’t mention that you’d be here,” she said finally.

  “That’s because I didn’t tell anyone that I was going to be here.”

  “Why?” she asked, puzzled that he’d come home and not tell anyone. Well, it was also puzzling that Ean chose to come to the mountains rather than to Raleigh but she didn’t want to seem too curious.

  “I needed a little bit of a break and I knew that once I went home, to Raleigh, I wouldn’t get much time to myself. I need to ease into the whole family togetherness thing.”

  “You wouldn’t need to ease in to it if you came home more often,” she quipped.

  “Talking to my mom, have you?” he smirked.

  “Just stating the obvious.”

  There was another long pause and this time Ean was the one to break it. “So how’ve you been, Lacey? It’s been a long time.”

  Not thinking about you! Was what she wanted to snap at him but lying had never been her thing. “I’m doing well, thank you. I graduated top of my class at Meredith College and started work immediately with the firm I’m with now. I’m with them for four years now.”

  “So you’re still in Raleigh?”

  She nodded. “And you? How have you been?” God this was ridiculous! Sitting here making small talk was tedious and there was so much that Lacey wanted to get done. Why wouldn’t he just let her drive him home and let her be? She didn’t want to know how he’s been! She learned enough about his life over the years through the family grapevine so there was nothing he was going to tell her right now that was going to be new information to her.

  “I’ve missed you.”

  Well, almost nothing.

  Lacey took a deep breath and waited for him to continue.

  “Don’t you have anything to say to that?”

  “What would you have me say, Ean? We grew up together, I’m sure I’d miss my siblings if they moved away.”

  “You could say that you missed me, too,” he answered honestly.

  “It was a little weird at first when you left; empty seat at the table and all that when Ava and I hung out but other than that, I don’t think I gave it too much thought.” Her breath hitched on the last and that’s why she never lied; she could never follow through. Thankfully, Ean didn’t call her on it and just let it go. He gave a curt nod and stood.

  “I guess I should let you get me home before the snow gets worse. The trip down won’t be too bad but getting back up here could be dangerous and I don’t want you to have a problem.”

  Lacey appreciated his consideration and murmured a word of thanks as she walked back over to the door and retrieved her coat and keys. Ean walked closely past her as he made his way out the door, a little too closely for Lacey’s comfort. She was able to smell his cologne, feel the heat radiating from his body and for one split second she almost reached out and grabbed his coat to pull him closer. Luckily by the time that thought registered he was outside and heading towards her car.

  She joined him and they got settled in to the SUV. She used the wipers to clear the snow from the front and rear windshields; it was still light and fluffy enough that it was easily wiped away. The snow on the ground, however, was not as cooperative. Lacey maneuvered the vehicle through a three-point turn to turn it around and head down the steep hill but found that she had little to no traction. A cry of despair escaped her lips as the car skid and came precariously close to a tree. They were angled off the road and she made several unsuccessful attempts to get back on track.

  “Let me try,” Ean suggested. “We get a lot of snow in Boston so I’m used to driving in it more than you are.” His tone wasn’t condescending or offensive; he was merely stating a fact. She climbed out and stood to the side while he tried to get her car out of the rut in the side of the
road with no success.

  “Great,” she mumbled as he made one last try. “Now my car is stuck in the snow, on a hill and now we both have to trudge through the snow back to the houses. Fabulous.” Just then Ean climbed out and apologized.

  “City snow driving is a lot different than mountain snow driving,” his tone was light and he was hoping to lighten the mood. The look on Lacey’s face was one of complete despair and though the snow was really to blame, he couldn’t help but feel a little bit guilty. She drove a fairly light-weight vehicle; his SUV was better equipped for this kind of thing and if he’d just driven up here, none of this would be happening.

  “Well, there’s nothing I can do about it tonight, right? If the plows don’t come up here tomorrow by lunchtime, I’ll call the auto club and have them tow me out so that I can get in to town and head home.” They stood and stared again, each not knowing what to say. “So um, I guess I’ll see you around.” Lacey turned a little too quickly, forgetting how slick the road was and nearly lost her balance. She was not wearing snow boots; hers were more of the stiletto heel variety, and Ean quickly stepped forward to catch her.

  “You can’t walk back up the hill in those boots, Lacey. You’ll break your neck.”

  “So I should just stand here in the snow all night and not move? Is that what you’re suggesting?” she snapped. She just wanted him to go! How much worse could this get?

  Stupid question.

  Ean scooped her up in his arms as if she weighed nothing and started back up to the cottage. Lacey screamed with outrage. “What are you doing, Ean? Are you crazy?”

  “Look, Lace, this is a crappy situation but the weather is getting worse. You cannot possibly walk in the snow in those heels. I have snow boots on so I get better traction and the cottage is way closer than the ranch. We’ll just have to stay there tonight. You’ve got food right?”