Page 11 of Bound By Her Baby Revelation (Hot Winter Escapes)

‘You okay?’

‘Of course. Why shouldn’t I be?’ She shot him a stiff, remote smile but her heart was pounding and there was something a lot like self-pity welling up inside her. And, alongside that self-pity, sheer frustration that a simple question from a guy she didn’t even like had managed to raise questions she didn’t particularly want to answer, had thrown her into a stupid tailspin.

She gathered herself.

‘I like open spaces,’ she said, thankful that her voice sounded normal. At any rate, that wasn’t a lie, although it did jostle uncomfortably close to truths she didn’t care to confront. ‘I grew up in Alaska until I was six before moving here. I would go mad if I had to live somewhere like New York.’

‘You lived in Alaska? So—’

‘So there’s Internet in the town,’ Kaya cut in before he could embark on another line of questioning. She stood up and moved towards the old-fashioned sink and then stood there, facing him, her hand firmly placed on the counter behind her. ‘It must be inconvenient for you, being here and cut off from your work. If we clear the snow, you should be able to make it into town. Once you get to the main road, it’ll be a lot more passable.’

And in the meantime, she thought, she wasn’t going to let him get under her skin.In the meantime, she was going to engineer the conversation in the directionshewanted. She didn’t have time on her side when it came to ramming her point of view down his throat, and she had no intention of wasting it by breaking out in a hot sweat every time he looked at her.

She was pleased to be back in command of herself. ‘If we get a head start, then it can be all systems go when this snow decides to ease off.’

CHAPTER THREE

THELEADENGREYskies of the day before were now a washed out, denim blue and the snow had collected everywhere and on everything even though it seemed to be giving up the fight, diminishing to whipping flurries.

There were no houses around, nothing to interrupt an unbroken vista of white. Leo looked at the woman who had started attacking the build-up of snow with even, rhythmic movements—spade in, flick, spade out—at home clearing a path, accustomed to doing this year in and year out.

No boyfriend... No family, he assumed... No ties except those bred through familiarity, old friends and maybe from her school days. A comfortable, unchallenging life, which sounded pretty good if you happened to be retired.

Frankly, he didn’t get it.

Her back story didn’t matter, and it certainly didn’t make a scrap of difference when it came to doing what he had come to do, but it was certainly adding a little vim and vigour to the situation, stuck out here.

‘You were telling me about Alaska.’

‘Are you going to help shovel snow or are you going to stand there, leaning on the spade and doing nothing?’

Leo grinned. He didn’t know many women who would be out in these conditions clearing snow and he didn’t think it was a crime to appreciate the sight of one now.

She had changed into her thickest winter gear—jumpers, waterproof jacket and waterproof trousers tucked into serviceable knee-high wellies. Her woolly hat was pulled low over her ears and her gloves were thick enough to withstand snow storms with no threat of frostbitten fingers.

‘I’m appreciating the scenery.’

About to plunge her shovel into the snow, Kaya paused to look at him and her heart skipped a beat. He was staring straight at her and she felt heat begin to spread through her, a lick of fire racing through her veins and turning on a switch she’d never known existed.

He had come prepared for the cold. He wore thick, dark layers, serviceable waterproof, fur-lined boots, a black waterproof oilskin coat and a black woolly hat. He looked sexy and dangerous and the way he was looking at her made her wonder whether there had been something flirtatious behind that innocent remark. No, surely not? Had there been? He didn’t like her! She was taking up space in his house and she was an encumbrance to be rid of. So why would he flirt with her?

Panic flared, reminding her how innocent she was when it came to games like this. She just wasn’t used to it, wasn’t used to a man like the one staring at her, his dark eyes guarded and assessing.

She had never cut her teeth on all those youthful make-up and break-up teenage games her friends used to play. She had spent those years learning how pointless those games were, thanks to the example set by her mother. In many ways, she had felt smugly superior at the tears shed when boys had come and gone. She was saving herself for something serious and lasting, for the guy who wouldn’t mess her around and break her heart. Except, she realised now, those gaps in her knowledge had made her vulnerable.

She stared at him, frozen and tongue-tied, then belatedly decided to take what he had said at face value and launched into a monologue about the countryside, the tourists that flocked to their pretty little town, an overspill from Whistler, and its skiing industry.

She knew that she was babbling and she could feel herself getting hotter and hotter under the collar. She could barely have a conversation with the man without breaking out in a sweat and she was infuriated with herself for her weakness. She’d always considered herself pretty strong, able to withstand anything and anyone, toughened by a background that had foisted responsibilities onto her shoulders at a young age. Yet right at this moment...

She needed to get a grip. She needed to be that cool, controlled person who could make a case for him not to throw Julie Anne’s life work down the tubes because he had an axe to grind with the woman who had given him up for adoption.

Because that was what it came to, wasn’t it? He was bitter and she couldn’t blame him.

There was also a part of her that could be bitter, that could look back at her dear friend and harbour a grudge against her for keeping this huge secret to herself. But she didn’t because she had the benefit of having known her for who she was, whatever secrets she had kept to herself.

He hadn’t.

Calmed by that, Kaya resumed shovelling, and out of the corner of her eye saw that he was working at it as well, except in his case he was getting an awful lot more done with a lot less effort.

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