Snowbound (12 page)

“Good idea. Thanks. I feel better after eating a bit. I didn’t eat it all because, well, I thought we should be careful. You really don’t have much over there.” Cassidy nodded in the direction of the rations.

“I think I’m mostly tired. We were up late last night. And then today has been insane. When I get tired, I get cold.” A blush stole up her cheeks.

He didn’t know if it was from thinking about their previous night together, or because she was embarrassed at running off and getting married, or standing him up, or what. He decided it didn’t matter. “Well it’s not like we have anything else to do, so we may as well go to bed,” he suggested.

“Really?” One of her eyebrows arched.

He wasn’t in the mood to play games with her. Although, truthfully, he might have been if she wasn’t a married woman. He didn’t play that way. “We need to get warm. The temperature’s dropping. Climb under the emergency blanket and go to sleep.” His tone was sharper than he intended it to be.

“Sorry. I was just teasing. What is up with you, anyway?”

“Nothing. Let’s just get some rest. As you said, it’s been a long day.” Waiting until she’d shuffled between the blanket and newspapers, he then tucked in behind her pulling the ski jackets on top of them. He snuggled right up to her, telling himself that they needed to keep warm. That was the only reason he was this close to her, he convinced himself of that. His brain didn’t believe it. Neither did his body.

Chapter
Thirteen

Waking with a start, it took Cassidy almost a full minute to figure out where she was. She must have dozed off very quickly after getting into the makeshift bed. She’d been bone tired. When she felt Daniel get under the blanket behind her and draw her closer to him, she’d wanted nothing more than to snuggle right back into him. Not just to keep warm, but to feel something. Instead she actually scooted slightly away from him. Sometime during the sleep she must have unconsciously been drawn to his warm body as her head was now on his arm and she was tucked up to his side. Her backside, which was facing the fire, felt cool and she realized the fire had died down.

Thoughts whirled through her mind as she tentatively tried to move her head off Daniel’s arm without waking him. She’d gone through so many emotions throughout the day she could hardly believe it. What a roller coaster ride. What started out with promise for a budding love had ended with her trapped in an avalanche with a man who behaved more coldly than the weather outside. She just couldn’t figure out what his problem was tonight. After the whole thing with Rick she wasn’t sure she wanted to figure men out at all. Maybe it was her. Maybe Rick was right. She didn’t seem to be able to get it right. She sighed.

Once she was able to shift over enough she reached for a chair and used it as leverage to help her get up. Her ankle throbbed slightly and she didn’t trust it with all of her weight. Using chairs as support, she inched her way closer to the fire and threw another log on. Nothing much happened and she realized that the embers wouldn’t be able to light such a big piece of wood. She needed kindling. Newspaper would be better, but they were using it for their bed. She tried blowing on the embers. They sparked up for a minute and then died back down. Poking them with some of the smaller kindling, she tried to see if she could get them to light and make the fire bigger. Nothing. The room was definitely cold. She needed to get the fire lit.

“I can do it.”

If it was possible, Cassidy nearly jumped out of her body, as Daniel’s voice came out of the dark to startle her. She’d assumed him to be fast asleep. “You scared the living daylights out of me!” She held a hand to her chest.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to.” He moved around her, added kindling and logs to the fireplace in some sort of teepee-looking formation. He then grabbed his matches and lit it. It lit beautifully.
Of course.

“Thanks. I was worried. It was getting so cold.”

“I know. I must have fallen asleep harder than I expected. I meant to keep an eye on that. Sorry.” He was standing so close to her.

Suddenly it felt more intimate than when they were lying together. She looked up at his face, lit by the reflection of the fire. He had such a wonderful face. Reaching up, she touched his cheek softly with her fingertips. She would have touched his lips too had he not jerked back away from her.

“What are you doing?”

“I...I’m sorry. I just wanted...” She was so confused. “Daniel, what happened? You liked me well enough in the hot tub. Or was that the ambience and lack of clothing?”

“What happened?” He asked incredulously. “You’re kidding, right?”

She was beginning to think she’d entered an alternate universe. “Um, no. I’m not kidding. Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but you seem like a totally different guy and I don’t get it. Whatever, I guess it’s me.”

“Of course, it’s you. I’m not a different guy. I’m the same guy.”

“Why is it always me? I mean, I’m a nice girl. I try to be fair to everyone. This doesn’t even make sense. Am I not the right size or shape or not smart enough? I want to know. I really do.” She almost stamped her foot. Damn it. If it didn’t hurt so much she probably would have.

“You’re married!” He shouted it at her, just six inches from her face, then turned and walked away. “Wow. What do you take me for? Desperate? That just because I was into you I’m going to seduce you on your wedding night? That I can’t resist you.”

Shocked by his yelling and what he’d said, she was momentarily speechless.
What is he talking about?
“I’m not married.”

“What?” He seemed genuinely confused.

“I’m not married. You thought we got married?”

“What was I supposed to think? You stood me up, you ran to him, you checked out. There are flowers and candles everywhere in here.”

“Broken flowers. Did you not see they were broken?” She swept her arm around the room.

“Well, no. Actually I didn’t. I just assumed those got broken during the avalanche.” He walked around, looking at the floor.

“Yeah, well I hardly think the snow crushed those petals like that. They are ground in to the floor. Didn’t you even look in here for Rick and me first? Surely you saw them then.” She couldn’t believe he thought so little of her.

“I didn’t come in. I saw the snowmobile and foot tracks, figured you’d left already, and followed them.” He ran his hand through his hair. “So, why were the flowers crushed? What happened?”

“Because I assumed you’d be explaining how you’ve known Rick forever and you’d taken him back.” He finally stopped prowling around the chapel. Good. He was driving her nuts.

She shook her head. “Well, you know what assume does...it makes an ass out of you and me.” Sarcasm wasn’t her strong suit, but she figured if the shoe fit.

“Nice, Cassidy. Really nice.”

She had to sit down. The fire had warmed up her backside nicely so she hopped over to a chair and sat down. “Look, Daniel, I don’t know what you want me to say. Yes, I came to see Rick. Whether anyone thinks so or not, I believe he deserved that much. I couldn’t reach him by phone and he had planned this wedding.” She thought about that for a minute. “Well actually he hadn’t planned a wedding, really. More like an engagement ambush.”

Daniel sat down beside her. He looked very tired. “All right. I am desperately trying to follow you here but I’m not. Man, I sure could use a beer about now.”

Tilting her head, she looked at him. Her anger had pretty much ebbed away, now she just felt numb. Not from the cold, but from everything leading up to this.
Why
is
this all so complicated?
She wished he would just put his arm around her, pull her close and really kiss her. She felt herself lean toward him, so she pulled herself back and straightened up.

“If you would stop interrupting me I would tell the story. And why would Rick be the one to change his mind? Am I that awful that he might not actually want to marry me? There was a ring you know. A great big, humungous even, diamond.” She stood up again. She wanted to pace, but the state of her foot wouldn’t allow it so she settled for gripping the back of her chair and tapping a drum beat with her fingers.

“No, of course that’s not what I’m saying. Why are you deliberately misunderstanding me?”

“Why am I deliberately misunderstanding you?” She asked, exasperated. “Now who’s kidding?”

“Just tell the story. I won’t say a word. And stop tapping. And sit down...please.” He must have seen the look in her eyes because he tacked on the please very quickly.

“I did come up here to see Rick. As I said, I couldn’t reach him by phone and I thought this would be better in person anyway. I came up here to tell him that I couldn’t marry him. As soon as I read the question on the cards I knew I couldn’t. I came to tell him that I don’t love him anymore.”

“Good guess. No he didn’t. He went ballistic. Smashing vases, crushing flowers under his feet. Yelling at me. Then he took off. He took my skis with him. I guess he thought he was being funny. Well, maybe it was payback for showing him up.”

“He took your skis? I wondered why I was following footprints and you weren’t too far from the chapel. I just thought you’d fallen and they’d slid away from you, or something. I guess I didn’t actually analyze it too much.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Wow. He took your skis.”

“Yeah,” she said wearily. “Look it’s the middle of the night, or early in the morning or whatever. I’m going to try to go back to sleep.” She inched her way back to the bed and crawled in. Her body protested the hard floor but there wasn’t much she could do about it. Wadding up Daniel’s sweater, she tucked it under her head.

This time when she felt him get in and snuggle up to her she wiggled herself back into his arms. She didn’t care about their misunderstanding, she just wanted him to hold her.

“Hey.” He was up on his elbow and had one hand in her hair playing with her curls. She rolled over onto her back so she could look at him. “You didn’t deserve that. Any of it. He’s a jerk. You could have been killed.” His hand dropped to her face, one finger traced her lips. She could feel them tremble under his touch. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

She threaded her fingers into his hair and pulled his face down to hers. She was being braver, or perhaps it was more brazen than she’d ever been, but she needed to kiss him. When his lips met hers she held nothing back and neither did Daniel. This was no gentle, tentative kiss. She could feel the force behind his kiss, not hurtful, yet demanding. She met it with all the desire she had built up. Hearing a groan, she felt him shift position. His kisses trailed down her jaw line, his breath in her ear made her shiver as he kissed down her neck. Her hands ran down his back and back up to his hair, his face, just touching him. Feeling him. Cool air caressed her skin as he pulled back from her. She tugged at his shirt to pull him closer. She just wanted to feel the warmth of him near her again.

He put his hands over hers, held them still and said, “Do you know how beautiful you are? You are, you know. Inside and out. I think...I just think we need to slow this thing down.”

“Oh believe me, Cass. I want you. Look at me. You can tell that I want you.” She could see that he was clearly aroused. “But I also want to not be lying on newspapers on a hard floor worrying about exposure.” He smiled a very slow, sensuous smile. “When I expose your body I damn sure don’t want it getting frostbitten. Maybe a nibble here and there...”

She swatted at his chest. “OK, I get it.”

He wrapped his arms around her, pulled her in close, turning her so that she was facing the fire and he was behind her once again. “Let’s try to get some rest

Chapter
Fourteen

Every muscle in his body hurt. He’d slept fitfully, with his arms around Cassidy, wanting to make sure she stayed warm. Holding her wasn’t exactly a hardship—in fact, if not for the strangeness of their situation it would be pure pleasure. He’d tried to keep her at least slightly cushioned. His body wasn’t used to sleeping on the floor and the newspapers weren’t much for padding. By the stiff way Cassidy was moving, he suspected she wasn’t fairing much better. That was in addition to her ankle.