Page 2 of Modern Romance January 2025 1-4

With the muted venting of what sounded like a foreign curse word, he began to manoeuvre the two of them backwards out of the car.

‘I can manage now.’

‘You told me you weren’t hurt and you are,’ her rescuer complained, still carefully tugging her onward, his stubborn stubbled jawline prominent. ‘There’s blood on your face!’

‘I think I scraped something when the car went airborne or when the airbags exploded,’ she framed unevenly as she was lifted out and set on her feet. Her stiletto heels sank deep into the snow and she shivered, suddenly acutely aware of the thin shirt and smart tailored skirt she wore, garments quite useless in such weather. ‘I was trying to get to the airport.’ She checked her watch and winced. ‘Too late now,’ she said.

‘At least you’re alive and relatively unscathed,’ Nic remarked as he grabbed his coat up and draped it round her shoulders to keep her warm. ‘Do you really need that bag?’

She was like a miniature oil painting, Nic was thinking, even with the streak of blood from the small scrape on her cheek. She had tousled silky golden hair spilling round her shoulders, delicate little features and a mouth as naturally pink and luscious as a peach. Wide bluey green eyes. Beautiful, just a bit too much on the small side in every direction, he reasoned. Totallynothis type. He had never gone for blondes. His mother was blonde. Angeliki was blonde. He reminded himself that neither was a natural blonde while wondering why he had to go to such lengths to avoid admitting that a woman attracted him even if she was standing bedraggled and in shock in heavy snow. Was it because she was an accident victim?

Lexy grimaced and groaned. ‘No. I can’t ask you to go back in there.’

But Nic wasn’t listening. He was already halfway back in and he was so tall that with only a little manoeuvring he was able to vault back out again holding the large purple workbag that held her phone, her wallet, her tablet and a hundred other items she didn’t think she could live without, even temporarily.

‘Thank you so much,’ she told him sincerely. ‘I have to ring the hire company and tell them I’ve had an accident.’

‘Where are you planning to go now, since the airport is out of reach? It’s too far on roads this bad.’

In the back of her mind, the vague hope thathemight have been able to drop her at the airport died. ‘I’ve got nowhere to go,’ she said, in consternation at that fact. ‘And I don’t know the area. I was at a business conference at a country-house hotel, but that’s miles and miles behind me now.’

‘There’s no accommodation within easy reach around here. It’s rather remote.’ Nic reached for her case with a frown because he knew he had no choice but to take her back to his place, for the night at least. ‘You can stay with me tonight and we’ll see about moving you elsewhere tomorrow.’

‘With you...er, I don’t know you.’

‘Or ring the police or a friend, see if they’re able to help you,’ Nic continued with innate practicality and the simple desire to be gone. ‘I’m afraid I can’t hang around in this weather in case I can’t make it to my place either.’

‘I can understand that,’ Lexy conceded, in a real tizz of indecision.

The guy had stopped in a blizzard at the scene of an accident and had taken the risk of getting her out of the car she was trapped in. Ostensibly, he was a decent man. Couldn’t she take a risk on him? My goodness, was she turning into her excessively anxious and suspicious mother? Seeing threat behind the most innocent façades? For the first time she looked up at him. He was so tall, so broad and...so incredibly good-looking that all of a sudden she couldn’t believe he could be a perv. Nobody that handsome needed to be, she thought foolishly, before getting embarrassed by that utterly stupid thought.

She dug shakily into her bag to extract her phone. ‘I’ll stay with you but, if you don’t mind, I’ll take a photo of you and your car registration and send it to my friend.’

Nic rolled his eyes and grinned. ‘Whatever.’

She snapped a photo as he grabbed her case in one hand and began to stride back over the rough ground. Lexy followed at as close to a run as she could manage in her high heels, her feet already frozen blocks of ice. He paused on the other side of the hedge and stepped back to bodily lift her over it. Her shoes had no purchase on the slippery embankment, and he had to haul her up that as well, his coat trailing on the ground. Her cheeks were burning with mortification at her own lack of physical stamina as he urged her down the road and she saw a large black SUV parked.

‘Registration photo,’ he reminded her gently when the only thing on her mind was getting into his car and out of the cold.

Lexy laughed at that soothing encouragement for her to document him for her own safety. ‘Right.’ Chilled hands clumsy, she snapped the registration plate and, climbing into the passenger seat, she began to remove his coat until he told her to keep it on for warmth. She texted her friend and flatmate, Mel, with brief facts and attached the photos before heaving a sigh because suddenly she felt ridiculously sleepy.

‘I’m so tired,’ she framed.

‘You’re coming off an adrenalin high after the accident.

‘My house is up here,’ Nic intoned only a few miles further down the road, turning the car into a lane surrounded by what appeared to be a small forest. ‘I like my privacy. I planted the trees before the foundations were dug.’

‘You built your own house?’ she asked in some surprise, because he had a smooth, polished edge that made it difficult for her to picture him doing anything that hands-on physical.

His facial muscles tensed. He hadn’t meant he had actually planted the trees himself, but he didn’t contradict her because an overnight unexpected guest did not require his life story.

Lexy’s mouth ran dry in surprise as the driveway opened up to reveal a sizeable modern house that seemed to be mostly glass and wood. It was very elegant and clearly architect-designed. Her host, it seemed, lived at a much higher level than she did. Just as quickly her requiring shelter for the night seemed an even worse imposition.

‘I’m really sorry that I’m putting you out like this,’ she said awkwardly as she slid out of the car, head bowing in the wind blowing heavy snow at her.

‘It’s not a problem,’ he assured her wryly. ‘It’s a spacious property.’

On the doorstep she turned aside as he disarmed some security alarm before he ushered her indoors to glorious heat. ‘Take the shoes off. Your feet must be wet,’ he urged her.

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