“I meant about the other.”
“I’m not going to turn back into his dress-up doll, either.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“He’ll be gone in the morning, Em. And Barry will give up. And life will go back to normal.”
“And what’s normal?”
Tessa had to smile at that. “I haven’t figured it out yet.”
“You should come back to Boston.”
“I’m having fun here. Well, maybe not today, exactly, but this is such a great place, and I love everything I’m rediscovering. Sophie had a library set up in the north turret. There are some books there that came over in the 1800s.”
Emilee tipped her head back, gazing up at the blackness of the back castle wall. “You can’t spend your whole life going through your family’s junk.”
“I don’t think it’ll take quite that long.”
“Next you’ll buy some cats and start wearing outlandish clothes. The neighborhood children will be afraid of you.”
Tessa laughed. “I don’t think the Biddles are planning on having children.” She sure couldn’t picture Sherry and Jack Biddle tolerating noisy, messy hooligans invading their obviously well-ordered life.
The back door reopened.
“You two coming in or what?” Colton asked.
“The water’s cooling off,” Tessa said to Emilee, draining her glass of wine. “You want to go inside?”
“On our way,” Emilee called to Colton.
CHAPTER FOUR
THOUGH POWER FAILURES in Tucker’s Point rarely lasted more than a few hours, Tessa knew they should stoke up the great-room fire to try to hold the house’s temperature. Since the castle had existed long before electricity and oil furnaces, there were also fireplaces that would heat the kitchen and many of the bedrooms.
Dressed now in jeans and a chunky sweater, hair still damp, with sneakers on her feet, Tessa wrestled a three-foot log in from the utility room. Milton always made sure there was an ample supply of wood within easy access of the great room. The big rounds were heavy, but they held a fire for hours and hours. It was well worth the effort.
She turned sideways to fit through the doorway, knocking the jamb as she maneuvered. Luckily, the castle was almost indestructible.
“For goodness’ sake,” came Colton’s annoyed voice. “Just ask for help.” He lifted the log unceremoniously from her arms.
“I don’t need help,” she pointed out.
“This thing weighs forty pounds.”
“I carry them all the time.”
“You shouldn’t.” He crossed to the fireplace, setting the log in the empty wood box.
“I’m perfectly capable—”
“Rand,” Colton called into the dining room where Barry and Rand were discussing the property plans by lamplight. “Let’s load up the wood box.”
“Sure thing.” Rand reacted immediately.
It took Barry a split second, but then he followed. He hesitated, seeming torn between doing the manly thing and protecting his surgeon’s hands.
Colton opened the big glass doors on the front of the fireplace and stuffed the log in on top of the bed of coals.
“Feel better?” she asked, brushing stray bits of bark from her sweater sleeves into the wood box.
“Much.”
“I’m not a maiden in distress.”
He scowled. “You’re not a lumberjack, either.”
Tessa struggled not to smile.
“What’s funny?”
“I was just thinking the age of chivalry might not be dead.”
His expression relaxed ever so slightly. “You got a dragon you need me to slay?”
“I’ve got a suit of armor you can borrow.” She glanced across the room. “Then again, it looks like it would be a bit snug.”
He turned to follow her gaze.
“No, no,” came Rand’s raised voice, obviously aimed at Colton as he maneuvered his way into the great room carrying two logs. “Don’t bother to help. We’ve got it under control.”
Barry followed with a single log.
“I’m busy flirting with the princess,” Colton drawled.
Tessa couldn’t help but bristle at the word princess.
“You’d better not be,” called Emilee as she entered from the staircase on the opposite side of the room.
She’d dried off and dressed in a pair of skinny black jeans and a shimmering gold blouse. Her high-heeled ankle boots were gold leather, polished to a shine. She’d applied some makeup, and her hair bounced like a blond halo around chunky hoop earrings.
Rand came to a stop and stared at her for a long minute.
“He’s not flirting,” Tessa answered Emilee, realizing her conversation with Colton had somehow fallen into a familiar, teasing pattern. “He was worried I’d break a nail.”
“I’m worried you’ll break your back,” Colton countered.
“Anybody else hungry?” Emilee asked.
Tessa glanced at her watch and realized it was nearly seven o’clock. The power had been out for over an hour, so it looked as if it wasn’t going to be a quick fix. She took the opportunity Emilee had offered.
“Follow me,” she instructed Emilee, scooping up a lighted oil lamp, leaving the men behind as she headed for the kitchen.
“You were flirting,” Emilee asserted under her breath. “I saw the expression on your face.”
“Me?” Tessa countered. “Look at you. Pretty put together for a snowstorm.”
“I want Rand to remember me.”
“Oh, he’s going to remember you all right.”
They rounded the corner into the big kitchen. Tessa sat the oil lamp down on the center island and hunted for some matches and candles. They were easy enough to find, and she placed several around the counters and into the breakfast nook. Then she pulled out a stack of bowls and a handful of spoons.
“First rule of a power failure,” she told Emilee. “Don’t let the ice cream melt.”
Peering into the dark freezer, she located several tubs of gourmet ice cream. She loaded butter brickle, coffee fudge, pecan praline and French vanilla onto the island. Emilee hopped up on a stool, snagging a bowl and a spoon.
Footsteps sounded as the men made their way into the kitchen.
“Help yourself,” Tessa offered, feeling her way to the back of the freezer.
“Did we miss the dinner part?” asked Colton, the humor in his voice laced with concern.
Now, there was the Colton she knew and— Nope. That wasn’t what she meant. This was the Colton she remembered.
“What’s the matter?” she tossed over her shoulder. “You don’t think that’s balanced? Not enough green in this meal? Wait. Here we go, mint chocolate chip. That’s as green as you can get.”
She closed the freezer door, turning around to plunk the tub of ice cream down with the others. With a mocking grimace in his direction, she peeled back the lid and scooped herself a generous portion.
“That’s the best you can do?” he asked. “On an empty stomach?”
They both knew Tessa had a sweet tooth. Sugar messed with her mood, and she always regretted over-indulging. But she didn’t care tonight. She needed to remind herself that Colton might be sexy and funny, but he was also exacting and obsessive. There was no better way to bring that home than to push his buttons.
She met his gaze, putting a spoonful into her mouth and making a show of enjoying it. “Yes. I’ve gone over to the dark side.”
“You should have some fruit, maybe some cheese.”
Barry made his way to the refrigerator. “I’m sure we have options—”
“We need to eat the ice cream,” Tessa insisted.
“It’s delicious,” Emile
e put in staunchly.
“I’m game.” Rand took the seat next to Emilee and helped himself to a bowl.
“Why are you doing this?” Colton asked Tessa.
She took another bite. “It’s melting.”
“Who cares? Don’t poison yourself. Let it melt.”
She spun the carton around, moving it so she could see the ingredients list in the lamplight. “Cream, sugar, cocoa, milk solids, corn syrup, whey protein, guar gum, carrageenan, peppermint flavor. Nope. No poison.”
“You’re behaving like a child.”
She stuck out her tongue at him, which she knew would be stained green.
Colton immediately rounded the island, cupping her elbow. “Excuse us.”
“Hey,” Tessa protested.
“Hey,” Emilee echoed.
“This’ll only take a minute,” Colton assured everyone, firmly moving her from the stool and angling them toward the doorway.
Since Barry was hardly the confrontational type, and since Rand worked for Colton, nobody made a move to stop them. Not that Tessa was worried. If Colton intended to give her a lecture on nutrition, he could save his breath. She wasn’t listening to a word of it. She was a grown woman, and she could eat ice cream for dinner if she darn well pleased.
“This is the problem,” she began as he urged her around the corner of the hallway.
“No,” Colton argued. “This is the problem.”
Before she could wonder what he meant, her back was against the cold stone wall and he was kissing her hard and deep. Intellectually, she fought it. But hormonally, she capitulated almost instantly. There was nothing tentative about his actions. His body was pressed firmly against hers, his arms around her, mouth open, tongue probing.
His hands went to her hair, smoothing it back, cupping her face, his touch achingly familiar. She braced her hands on his shoulders, telling herself to push him away, but somehow she gripped him hard instead. His muscles were shifting steel. His thighs were rock hard. She should have felt trapped, flattened against the wall, but she didn’t. Instead, she felt inexplicably warm and protected.
Finally, he pulled back, drawing in a very deep breath. “I love peppermint.”
“You love spearmint,” she countered before she had a chance to think about it.
“You love spearmint,” he corrected. “You told me so. I’ve always preferred peppermint.”
“But—”
He kissed her again, and the question that had formed in her mind about toothpaste immediately disappeared.
After long minutes, he drew back again.
“Are you angry with me?” she asked, all but breathless.
“Yes.”
“I don’t care,” she lied. She hated that she did care.
“No kidding,” he chuckled low.
It didn’t make sense, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself from wanting to please him, or maybe make him proud. For some reason, his opinion of her still mattered.
“I’m eating ice cream for dinner,” she reiterated.
“You’ll regret it.”
“I’ll regret it more if I don’t.”
“Throw the damn ice cream away. I’ll buy you some more when the power comes back on.”
“It must be nice to have unlimited money,” she blurted out.
He touched a finger to her chin, searching her expression. “Who are you, and what have you done with my Tessa?”
The wall suddenly felt hard and cold against her back. Now, she felt trapped. “I’m not your Tessa.”
“Isn’t that what I just said?”
She wriggled, pressing her palms against his chest, forcing some space between them. “This is me, Colton. I eat ice cream for dinner, and I proposition men in the woods.”
He drew sharply back. “What men?”
She hadn’t meant it that way. “Well, you most recently.”
“And who did you proposition before that?”
She slipped away to the side. “You’re like a dog with a bone.”
He stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “Because I care about your safety?”
“I’m trying to say I’m not perfect.”
He gazed at her, the confusion obvious in his eyes. “You were perfect to me.”
“No. You were trying to make me perfect. You failed.”
“Is that why you left me? Because I failed?”
Tessa had to think about the question for a moment. “If you’d failed, I probably wouldn’t have left you.” She paused. “Then again, if you’d never tried, I probably wouldn’t have left you, either.”
His gaze narrowed. “Now you’re talking nonsense.”
She brushed his hand away. “Yet another one of my flaws.” She determinedly started back down the hall. “I’m going for ice cream. You want some?”
* * *
COLTON AWOKE THE next morning to a raging blizzard and the cancellation of his flight to Boston. The entire Eastern Seaboard was being battered by what people were calling the storm of the decade. The power was still out in the castle, and the phone lines were jammed and mostly unusable. What little information they could get told them the monster storm was expected to make its way slowly northward over the next two days.
There was a little girl named April missing in town. Colton would have offered to help in the search, but emergency authorities were asking citizens to shelter in place. They currently had the manpower they needed with their trained volunteers. There was little for him and Rand to do but wait it out.
By midmorning, Barry had convinced Colton that Tessa would eventually agree to sell the property. Much as she might claim she loved it, and much as she might have stars in her eyes about living here and possibly raising her own children, the upkeep was simply too costly. The repairs needed on the crumbling castle were extensive and expensive. They’d cost more than the building was worth. Barry asked Colton to have a little patience while he reasoned with her, and he assured Colton he wouldn’t entertain any competing offers while they worked through the deal.
Colton was satisfied with the arrangement. At least he should have been satisfied with the arrangement. But he couldn’t seem to stop himself from feeling guilty about Tessa. Not that her emotional state was in any way his concern. She’d made it plain as day in conversation after conversation that their romantic relationship was history.
All she wanted to do was fight with him. Well, she also seemed to still like kissing him. She came at it with fire and passion, exactly how he remembered. But now, even their sexual attraction felt like some kind of a duel, as if she were proving something to herself or to him.
Why on earth would she want to make love in the woods? Who made love in the woods? Teenagers, maybe. But that was only because they didn’t have homes or cars. Not that he wanted to make love in a car. It was cramped and uncomfortable, not to mention there was no plumbing.
Tessa had gone crazy. It was the only explanation.
Just then, she walked into the great room where Colton was watching the storm through the main window.
“I found a radio,” she announced to Barry who was at the dining table typing on his laptop. “It’ll save our phone batteries.”
Emilee and Rand were traipsing through the room, having volunteered to reload the wood boxes in the second-floor bedrooms. From what Colton had overheard, Emilee was holding the door while Rand carried the wood.
“Batteries?” Barry asked Tessa.
“Plenty,” said Tessa, taking a seat across the table from her brother.
She raised the antenna and began fiddling with the knobs, finding static, then music, then finally voices on a news station.
She set the radio at a precise angle on the table and sat back to listen.
Colton made his w
ay to the furniture grouping next to the fireplace. Half listening to the news report updating the ongoing search for April, he retrieved his phone and began scrolling through his emails, triaging those that were most important. He was trying to conserve battery power, but Lily needed information and decisions from him on several issues.
A knock sounded on the front door.
All three of them glanced at it in surprise.
“Emergency crews?” Tessa speculated out loud as she came to her feet.
Barry showed no signs of going to the door, so Colton stood, as well, following her to the front entry. It might be emergency crews checking on them, but there was no telling who might be on the other side of the door, and for what reason.
Tessa was dressed in loose khaki cargo pants today. They rode low on her hips. She’d topped them with a snug navy long-sleeved T-shirt. She looked ready for action, or ready for yard work, and he struggled to picture her in an evening gown. He knew she looked great in them, but these clothes suited her, as well.
In the echoing entry, she dragged open the heavy door. Outside, a man and a woman were both bundled in fur coats and hats, covered with a thin layer of snow. Obviously, they’d been outside for a while.
“So sorry to barge in,” the woman opened in a high-toned voice.
“Sherry?” Tessa asked, stooping slightly to peer at the woman’s face beneath the fur ruff of her hood. Tessa’s voice conveyed surprise and a hint of trepidation.
“The power’s out at our place,” the woman stated, breezing into the foyer without waiting for an invitation, causing Tessa to step rapidly out of the way. The woman was quickly followed by the taller man behind her.
Colton immediately stepped forward, planting himself half in front of Tessa, squaring his shoulders, as much a bouncer as a greeter as he offered his hand to the man. “Colton Herrington.”
“Jack Biddle,” the man responded, shaking Colton’s hand.
“Sherry and Jack are my neighbors,” Tessa informed Colton, obviously sensing his distrust of the couple.
Jack peered closely at Colton, maintaining a grip on his hand. “Are you the Colton Herrington?”
Snow Day Page 22