Page 81 of The Secret Mistletoe Promise
‘Baaaaaaaaah!’
Imogen jumped, pressing her hand to her chest.‘Holy shit!’
‘Baaaah.’
‘Felix!’
The goat raised his head from behind the covered motorbike, and then, as if happy with the identity of his rescuer, trotted over to her.
Imogen sank into a crouch and wrapped her arms around Felix’s neck as he nosed her cheek. ‘How did you get in here andshut the door? You silly, clever, highly irritating goat!’
‘Baaah.’ Felix was indignant.
‘Everyone is looking for you! A whole search party. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve got the lifeboats involved. You like being the centre of attention, don’t you?’
Felix nibbled her hair, and Imogen laughed.
‘Lucy was so worried about you, and it was horrible seeing her upset, so you mustthink about thatin future, and not go gallivanting off because you want to play in the snow. Play with friends, close to home, that’s really important, OK, Felix?’ She held his head in her hands so she could look him in the eye. He chewed the cuff of her green coat, entirely nonplussed.
‘Have you been rehearsing that in your head this whole time?’ Imogen jumped again, then turned to see Dexter leaning in the doorway, his arms crossed, his eyes glittering with amusement. ‘Because that was a great speech.’
‘Oh, I – when did you sneak in?’
‘When you were calling him a highly irritating goat.’
Imogen stood up. ‘I’m sorry, I—’
‘Sorry?’ Dexter grabbed her hands. ‘You found Felix, then you said what everyone else is thinking every time he goes on an unauthorized excursion. You clearly love him despitehim being highly irritating, and you looked fierce and beautiful, and I know I should have announced myself, but I wanted to watch you.’ He kissed her nose.
‘You did?’
‘I did. I do.’ His amusement faded. ‘I want to watch you, be with you, more and more.’
‘Oh.’ Imogen’s breath caught. ‘Well, I …’
‘Baaaaaaah!’ Felix headbutted the metal door, the sound reverberating through the musty space.
‘We should let everyone know.’ Dexter was still holding Imogen’s hands. ‘We’ll get Felix back to the village – I don’t think the cliff path is safe, so Harry can come and pick him up – then I need to check on the bakery, make sure Mandy and Luke aren’t panicking because of the snow. I’m sorry, there’s so much to do.’
‘Of course.’
Felix bleated.
Dexter dragged the door open, a flurry of snow finding the gap and whirling inside. ‘It’s getting properly deep.’
Imogen saw how high the snow was and shuddered. If they’d needed topushthe door open, they might have been trapped. She was all for being snowed in with Dexter, but there were more romantic places than a dank, cobweb-filled shed.
‘You going to stay with us, Felix?’ she asked.
‘He will.’ Dexter pulled a harness and lead out of his pocket.
‘You have a goat harness now?’
‘I mentioned it to Harry, after the last time you rescued him. He got one for all of us.’ Dexter crouched to secure it around Felix’s middle. ‘We weren’t sure whether to get youone too, because if you’re—’ He cut himself off. ‘They’re a good thing to have, anyway.’
Imogen chewed her lip. Surely if he wanted her to stay, he would have finished the sentence: said they should get her a harness too, for future escapes. But he had only ever thought of her as a short-term prospect, and whose fault was that?
She waited, shivering, while he secured Felix, then she followed them out into the snowstorm. Mistingham was hidden, hardly any of the features she had come to love visible. Together, they pulled the shed door closed again, and then, for a moment, they just looked at each other, while snow swirled around them and the wind whistled between the houses. Imogen tried to memorize all of Dexter, to stop him from disappearing in her mind, blanketed into oblivion by her internal snowstorm.
