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  “That’s fine. Was this gift for you, ma’am?”

  “Yes.”

  “From the gentleman?”

  “No,” she answered quickly. “It was from . . . my boyfriend.”

  She didn’t know if she’d be in trouble for lying, since she and Jim weren’t together anymore, but she didn’t want to try explaining why she was carrying around a huge gift from an ex-boyfriend.

  “Okay, you can come and look as I open it if you like.”

  She stood beside him, curious and anxious about what was inside.

  The guard pulled back the flaps and they both peered inside.

  Holly stared in horror, her cheeks blazing with heat. The guard’s gaze shifted to hers and she saw a slight smile on his lips.

  Inside were several items, every one of them intensely embarrassing.

  Chapter Two

  Holly got back in the car.

  “So what was inside?” Kalen asked as he started to drive.

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Holly was doing everything she could to block the memory of what was inside that box. At least she’d been able to grab the small Ziploc bag with her grandmother’s locket from the box and stick it in her coat pocket for safekeeping.

  “The guard seemed to think it was funny.”

  That was the one bright side. The guard had broken a smile, and had clearly felt sorry for her. He hadn’t done a full search of the car, which would have held them up and inconvenienced Kalen, so she was glad about that.

  “I’m really sorry that stupid box caused us to be stopped,” she said.

  “Don’t worry about it. So you said a boyfriend gave you the gift?”

  “Ex-boyfriend. It’s another long story.”

  “This was a recent breakup, I assume?”

  “Yeah. Last week.”

  “I’m just curious why he gave you a big gift like that, and why you were carrying it with you on the bus. Do you still have feelings for him?”

  Oh, God. He must think she’d been dragging this thing to her sister’s to open on Christmas morning because she was pining over the guy.

  “No. Not at all. He just offered to drive me to the bus station today, in the spirit of being friends, he said, then presented me with this at the last moment. He did it because he knew it would cause me problems.”

  “He sounds like a jerk.”

  She pursed her lips. “He can be at times.”

  She didn’t want to think about the latest of her failed relationships. She always seemed to pick losers: guys who were way too interested in sports, drinking on the weekend, and playing video games. They’d squeeze in enough time with her to make her think they cared, but then inevitably, once they’d been going out for a bit, their interest in spending time with her diminished. Except for the sex, of course.

  Lately, Jim had started calling her a nag because she’d suggested on a few occasions that they spend more time together. And she’d overheard him talking to one of his buddies and he’d called her a controlling bitch, just because she’d asked him to help out a bit, like picking up his clothes or taking an empty beer bottle into the kitchen.

  She wasn’t just tired of guys who took her for granted. She wanted to date someone with more interests than the guys she seemed to wind up with. Someone intelligent and interesting, who’d seen more than the small town they lived in.

  Someone like Kalen. Not only had he left River Rapids—to move to another country, no less—he’d also backpacked across Europe after his senior year of high school. He’d seen more of the world than any of the guys she knew, and he was more mature than most of them, too. That had been true even when they were still in high school.

  She had always daydreamed that he would ask her out one day. Maybe take her to prom.

  But she’d been a fat girl and knew in her heart he would never look twice at her. He was a nice guy and would say hi to her sometimes in class, but she’d always known it would never go further than that.

  Still, at night, even now, those daydreams turned to fantasies and sometimes she’d even have erotic dreams of him kissing her and stripping off her clothes. Of course, in her teenage dreams she was always slim and gorgeous. Something she would never be in real life. Sure, she’d lost weight after college, but she’d never be a size four, and she sure wasn’t any beauty. Her eyes were too big, her face too round, and her long, dark brown hair too plain.

  “So what about you?” she finally asked when she realized she was dropping the conversational ball. “Do you have a recent ex? Or a current girlfriend?”

  “No, not really.”

  She was surprised. She couldn’t believe a guy like him wouldn’t have a steady stream of girlfriends. Then she realized that’s probably exactly what he had. Rather than a relationship, he probably played the field.

  It was getting dark outside, and as she stared out the window, she realized the storm was getting worse. It was hard to see the road through the heavy white flakes of snow bombarding the windshield. There was so much snow falling, it acted like a foggy shroud ahead of them.

  Kalen slowed down and she realized there was a car slanted off the side of the road in the opposite lane, the front tires on the road, but the back ones mired in snow. A man was trying to push it out.

  “I’m going to give him a hand,” Kalen said as he stopped the car on the shoulder. “Wait here.”

  Kalen got out and Holly did, too, ignoring Kalen’s instructions to stay in the car. The cold wind drove against the side of her face and she felt chilled through and through. She wished she’d worn a longer coat.

  “Really, Holly. I get that you want to help, but you’ll freeze. How about I come and get you if we need another hand?”

  She bit her lip and finally nodded. “Okay.”

  He crossed the road as she got back inside the car and settled into the seat. It was still warm and she realized the car had heated seats. She found the button on the side and turned it up. The comfort of the warm leather around her butt and thighs was ridiculously cozy. She settled in deeper and realized this wasn’t just warm. It was hot. In a good way.

  She watched as the driver started the car and tried to pull onto the road, but snow sprayed out from under the back tires, which began to spin without moving the car. The driver got out and Kalen returned to his own car and opened the trunk. A moment later, he and the other driver were digging snow out from around the tires with small shovels. Soon the driver got back in the car and Kalen positioned himself behind it, then pushed. The car successfully moved forward onto the road.

  Kalen chatted with the man for a minute at the window, then he returned to the car. After stowing the shovel in the trunk, he got into the driver’s seat.

  “We have a problem,” he said. “They’ve closed the road ahead.”

  Her heart clenched. “For how long?”

  He shook his head. “There’s an open area about five miles ahead where the trees thin out. Apparently, there’s zero visibility with the wind blowing snow across the road. There are several accidents. The police are trying to get those cleared out, but even when they do, I doubt they’ll open the road again before the storm ends.”

  She stared out at the sinister white flakes falling down from the sky, seemingly intent on ruining her Christmas.

  “What are we going to do? Is there another road we can take north?” she asked.

  “We could try. There’s a turnoff about ten miles back, but the other roads are smaller than this. The snow’ll probably be worse and some of the roads may not be plowed. And if we get stuck there, we’re less likely to get help. I’m afraid we’ll have to go back to the 401 and find somewhere to stay. I’m sorry. I know that’s backtracking quite a bit.”

  In fact, it put them almost back where they started.

  “There might be another option.” Holly pulled out her phone to dial her sister and stared at the screen. “There’s no connection.”

  “Were you trying to call your sister
? Wherever we find a place to stay, they’ll have a landline. Then you can let her know you’re all right.”

  “Well, that’s just it. My sister and her husband have a cabin not too far from here. They bought it because it’s roughly halfway between River Rapids and Ottawa so we could spend weekends together as a family. We could spend the night there.”

  “How about access?”

  “The private lane to the house might not be clear, but the public road will be. There are several people who live there year round and they have a great support system to ensure they can get in and out even in the worst weather.”

  Kalen put the car in gear and did a U-turn onto the road. “Okay, let’s give it a try.”

  She directed him to the turn they needed, then guided him along the smaller roads. It was slow-going because of the poor visibility. Most of the roads were down to a single lane, mainly because it was impossible to see the lane markings, and the few previous vehicles that had passed that way had stayed to the center. Snow along the sides of the road was piling higher.

  “There. Just ahead on the right. See the green sign,” Holly said.

  It was actually a collection of about a dozen signs, one for each inlet and bay off the lake and accessible lanes.

  Kalen turned, and sure enough, the road along the lake was nicely cleared, with only an inch of snow accumulated since it had been plowed. She directed him to take the next right turn, and soon they were at the end of the lane to June and Tom’s cabin.

  “This is the place,” she said.

  “We’ll never get up that lane.”

  Not only was the snow over a foot high on the driveway, there was a hump of snow along the end left behind by the plow.

  “We can leave the car here and walk in. You can’t see the cabin, but it’s just about twenty yards down.”

  They got out of the car, once again facing the frigid wind. Kalen went to the back of the vehicle and opened the trunk.

  “I don’t think we should take the luggage up there,” Holly said. “It’ll be too hard to get it through the snow. June always keeps extra toothbrushes on hand, and we should be able to find anything else we need.”

  He closed the trunk and walked to her side. She tried to climb over the bank of snow to get to the driveway beyond, but her foot just sank into the small hill until she was thigh-deep. Kalen stepped over it, then took her hand and helped her though the snowbank to the driveway beyond.

  As they walked through the foot-high snow covering the driveway, her foot caught on something—maybe a fallen tree branch hidden by the snow—and she tumbled to the ground. Kalen took her hand and pulled her to her feet, then she felt herself swept up into his arms. She clung to him, part of her wanting to insist she could walk on her own, but a stronger part wanting to stay right here close to him. He was a warm shield against the wind. And so strong and . . . masculine.

  And she liked feeling cared for. Especially by this man whom she’d had a crush on for ages.

  She pressed her cheek—which was so cold it was burning—against his chest.

  He trudged up to the front door and set her down. “I was going to ask if you have a key, but I see it’s a combination lock.”

  She tapped in the combination and there was a mechanical whirring sound as the lock unfastened. She pushed the door open and they quickly stepped inside, away from the freezing cold night.

  She found the light switch and turned it on. In fact, Holly had never been to this cabin. June and Tom had sold the place they used to have—the one where they’d spent so many wonderful weekends with Mom and Dad—to buy this place in the fall. June didn’t hang onto things like Holly did. June said keeping the place just to cling to the past wasn’t a good enough reason. She and Tom could afford something better and they had always loved this place, which was just down the road from the old cabin.

  Holly didn’t understand it. She could never see giving up their childhood home. It would be like letting go of Mom and Dad entirely and she just . . . couldn’t. But June and Holly were different people.

  “Nice place,” Kalen said.

  Holly glanced around. She’d been prepared to hate the place, but the sight of the soft gold walls, vaulted ceilings, and the large, two-story stone fireplace in the corner of the large living room was breathtaking. There were skylights, and a loft overlooking the living room with an open sitting area beyond. Large windows overlooked what Holly knew would be a sensational view of the lake and trees if it wasn’t so dark and snowy.

  Kalen pulled off his boots and hung his snowy coat on the coat tree.

  “I’ll get a fire started,” Kalen said as he walked toward the big fireplace.

  Holly pulled off her boots and coat and realized how cold it was in the house.

  “I’ll get the furnace going.” Holly walked to the thermostat on the wall and turned up the temperature. She knew they had a propane furnace and left the tanks full.

  Holly continued down the hall to the kitchen and looked in the cupboard for some food.

  “Hungry?” Kalen asked.

  She turned to see him standing in the doorway. She couldn’t believe he was here, in the same house with her, where they’d be spending the night together.

  Her dream man.

  It was enough to give a girl some ideas.

  “A little,” she answered. “I could heat up some soup or chili. There’s also some beefaroni, tuna, salmon. Even some mac and cheese. There’s no fresh milk, of course, but there’s canned milk, which we can use for coffee in the morning.”

  “Or just throw a can of tomato soup in with the mac and cheese.”

  “Really?” She grinned. “That was my favorite lunch when I was little.”

  Her mom used to make it for her to cheer her up if she was sad or sick.

  He smiled. “Sounds like a winner then.” He walked into the room. “I’ll give you a hand.”

  She grabbed the box of mac and cheese and the tomato soup and put it on the counter. Her teeth chattered as she opened drawers searching for a can opener.

  Kalen filled a pot with water and put it on the stove, then he walked behind her and rested his hands on her arms. His warmth seeped into her, making her tremble all the more.

  “You’re freezing,” he said. “Why don’t you go sit by the fire while I make dinner?”

  “No, I don’t want to leave you to—”

  He squeezed his hands around her. “Let me rephrase that. Go sit by the fire.”

  He turned her around and pressed her forward.

  “But I—”

  “Go.”

  She walked down the hall and into the living room. It was still cold in the room, but the fire blazing in the stone fireplace was cheery. She walked down the hall and found a linen cabinet. She scanned the contents and found the familiar snuggly comforter she loved so much and brought it back into the living room. Instead of sitting on the couch, she sat on the thick, fluffy rug they had on the floor right in front of the fireplace and wrapped the comforter around her. The heat blazing from the fire was delightful.

  She felt guilty letting Kalen do the cooking, but at the same time, she loved that he wanted to take care of her. He was so different from the men she usually went out with.

  By the time Kalen came into the room with a tray in his hands, she had stopped shivering. She stood up and moved to the couch as he set the bowls on the coffee table.

  “I made some herbal tea, too. That’ll help warm you up,” he said.

  “What about you? You must be freezing.”

  As she took the steaming mug from his hand, their fingers brushed.

  “Your hands are icy cold,” she said, then took them in hers. Her breath caught as she realized she was holding Kalen Welles’ hands.

  He smiled warmly. “If this is my reward, then it was worth it.” He tipped his head. “How about you share that blanket so we can both warm up?”

  There was a warm throw blanket on the chair in the corner, but she wasn’t about to
point that out right now. Instead, she lifted the side of the comforter in invitation. Smiling, he slid closer to her and drew the blanket around his shoulders. The feel of his warm, masculine body pressed close to her side was enough to make her tremble with need.

  “Sorry, I think I’m making you colder,” he said.

  “No, it’s fine,” she said quickly.

  She picked up her bowl and started to eat. The comfort food filled her stomach and warmed her insides. She glanced sideways at Kalen’s profile as he ate. The firelight glowed on the wavy hair that curled down over his forehead. She glanced down his straight nose to his full lips, wishing she could touch them, kiss them. A light shadow of bristles covered his chin and neck. She’d love to run her teeth over his skin, feeling the drag of his stubble as she did.

  “Are you finished?”

  “What?” she asked, blinking as his words pulled her back to reality.

  “Your dinner? It looks like you’re done.”

  She glanced at her empty bowl. “Oh, yes. Thanks.”

  He took her bowl and slid out from under the comforter, then carried the bowls into the kitchen. She sipped her herbal tea, then realized that June would be concerned about her. She hurried to her purse, which she’d left at the front door, to retrieve her cell phone.

  But first, she grabbed the bag with the locket from her coat pocket. She opened the bag, intending to put on the necklace, but she frowned when she saw the chain was broken.

  She grabbed her phone and saw that she had a signal. She quickly dialed June’s number.

  “Holly?” June said when she answered. “I’ve been worried sick. Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m okay. Did you get my message?”

  When Kalen had been clearing the snow off the car at the bus station, she’d called June and left a voice mail message explaining that she’d missed the bus and was getting a ride with someone.

  “Yes, but with the weather so bad and you taking so long . . .”

  “I know,” Holly said. “I’m sorry. I tried to call again, but couldn’t get reception. The roads are really bad.”