by Meg Lacey
“What’s going on?” the small blonde asked, her expression concerned as her gaze passed over the three of them. “Is there a problem?”
“Not at all.” Nicholas moved in smoothly, looking up at Lorianne with a charming smile. “Jackson’s suggested a sleigh ride. Why don’t you come along?”
Lorianne clapped her hands together, bringing a sour taste to Raven’s mouth as Nicholas chuckled at her. “That sounds like yes.”
“Yes, yes. I’d love to go.” Lorianne smiled, her eyes sparkling.
Jackson stepped next to Nicholas, his expression a bit like a kid who’d lost his candy. “Fine. Since we’re all going, let’s meet down here in fifteen minutes.”
With that, everyone tromped up the stairs to their rooms, with Raven staying next to Lorianne to avoid Nicholas. She couldn’t trust what she might say to him at the moment. As they turned into the upper hallway and went their separate directions, she heard Nicholas’s smooth, deep voice flowing after her.
“Raven. A word, please.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “No.”
That stopped him cold. “No?”
“That’s right, no. I have nothing to say to you.”
“That call was from my secretary about some business, not from—”
“I don’t care.”
He frowned, reaching for her arm. “What game are you playing now?”
She jerked it away. “You’re a fine one to talk about playing games.”
“Meaning?”
“You know very well what I mean.”
He stepped closer and snarled, “Pretending to be engaged was for your benefit, not mine, remember?”
“And I’m sorry I ever agreed to it,” she snarled right back, then whirled around to enter her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
Twenty minutes later, the quartet, now bundled up in snug jackets, hats, scarves, boots and gloves, trooped into the hallway only to be stopped by a bright-eyed Nana.
Nana sent a look around, her sharp glance passing from Jackson to Raven to Lorianne to Nicholas. “What a happy group. Where are you off to, darlings?” She hid a smile as her glance passed again from Nicholas to Jackson, taking in their bristling positions, which reminded her of two male dogs ready to charge. Her interest quickened. “Going out for a snowball fight, perhaps?”
Nicholas chuckled before sending Jackson a sidelong glance. “No, ma’am. At least, I don’t think so.”
“Jackson suggested a sleigh ride,” Raven said. “It sounded like fun.”
“It is.” Nana nodded. “I remember coming up here with my husband during the winter. We’d bundle under warm blankets and furs and go out whatever the weather.” She sighed, but her gaze was mischievous as she added, “So romantic.”
“It should have been,” Jackson muttered under his breath.
“What’s that, Jackson? Speak up, dear.” She smiled, enjoying the sulky look on her grandson’s face. There was nothing she liked more than stirring the coals to heat things up a bit.
“I’m sure it would have been if you and Grandfather were alone,” Jackson commented.
Nana let a smile play around her mouth. “Yes, he was a very dynamic, sexy and attentive man. Especially under the blankets.” Her smile broadened as she glanced around the group. “So make sure you have enough of them.”
At that, Nicholas laughed, Raven chuckled, Lorianne sighed and an appalled look shot onto Jackson’s face.
“Grandmother,” he said in a choked voice, “for God’s sakes.”
Satisfied that she’d done something to liven up the gathering, Nana moved to the stairs. “Have fun, children.”
Her elderly heart leapt for a moment as she watched the group leave, her gaze lingering on her grandson’s knitted cap and fine form as he went out the door into the wintry weather. Jackson looked so like his grandfather, Black Jack Exeter. And he was just as blind when it came to love. In her day, she’d had to force Black Jack to look in her direction, so it wasn’t surprising that his grandson needed the same lesson. She’d have to help Jackson discover what was under his nose. Raven wasn’t for Jackson. Lorianne was. Just as Raven was for Nicholas—not that they seemed to know it either.
Nana grinned as she ascended the stairs. “A bit of matchmaking sure beats the hell out of talking to Margaret.”
The snow was still falling, making the landscape resemble a scenic post card; but Jackson had been right, Raven realized as they reached the barn, the winds had stopped. She followed the others.
“Wait here,” Jackson said, “I’ll get the horses.”
“I’ll help,” Lorianne offered, following him into the recesses of the barn.
Raven looked around, her memory tugged by the high arched enclosure with its cement walkway and parking spaces for a sleigh, buggy and wagon. For a long moment, she just absorbed—the hard-packed horse stalls and animal warmth, mixed with the pungent smell of saddle leather, liniment, hay and grain, not to mention the horse sounds, from curious snorting nickers to soft whickered hellos.
“Seems familiar, huh?” Nicholas’s voice whispered into her ear.
“Yes,” she said, surprised by the longing for home that swept over her.
“No matter where I travel or how I spend my time, I always need to come back to something basic. Come back to what’s real. Like working my muscles, caring for an animal…” He gave a self-conscious shrug when Raven turned her head to stare up at him.
“It’s hard to imagine the sophisticated Nicholas Demetrious needing to shovel manure.” She forced her voice into an acerbic tone, wanting to cut off the connection she’d felt at his statement, reminding her that he’d deliberately baited and then misled her earlier.
Nicholas closed down as if she’d slapped him. “No more than the thought of the racy, cosmopolitan Raven Rutledge hanging out in the barn.”
“I didn’t hang out. I merely pointed at an animal, then rode for pleasure.”
“You forget who you’re talking to, sweetheart. You haunted the barn as a kid. As well as the fields, the woods, the bushes, anywhere you could hide from your family troubles.”
Because he was right, Raven lifted her chin and snapped. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“And it was generally trouble you caused.”
“You make me sound like a horrible child.”
“I remember you were always getting the short end of your mother’s tongue.”
She shrugged, keeping it light. “I could never please her.”
“You didn’t try to, sweetheart.”
“Not true.” Oh so not true, she thought, her heart hurting. She’d never been the perfection her mother expected. She couldn’t hold a match to her older sisters in looks, manners or obedience. She’d always been the ugly duckling and her mother didn’t let her forget it. Not consciously, but she’d known.
“Look, Raven—” Whatever Nicholas was going to say was interrupted by Jackson and Lorianne leading two horses toward them.
“This is Oscar and Ophelia. Aren’t they beautiful?” Lorianne asked, indicating the perfectly matched set of bay horses.
“Very,” Raven agreed.
“We’ll be ready in a few minutes,” Jackson said.
Nicholas took one of the leads from Lorianne and moved toward Jackson. “I’ll take it from here, Lorianne.”
Lorianne joined Raven, who’d walked over to open the barn doors while the two men hitched the horses and maneuvered the sleigh from its berth. The jaunty sleigh was decorated with bells. Its red-painted body, complete with bench seats in the front and back, sat sleek and fast on its two shiny metal sleds that slid to a stop in front of them.
“Ladies,” Jackson came around the sleigh, sweeping an elegant bow, saying with a charming grin, “your carriage awaits.” Then he outmaneuvered Nicholas by helping Raven into the front seat and scrambling in beside her.
After one slicing glare at the two in the front, Nicholas turned to Lorianne and held out his hand. “
May I?”
“Oh.” Lorianne blushed as she placed her hand in his.
Nicholas assisted her into the seat directly behind Jackson, closed the barn doors, then joined the group in the sleigh.
With a smooth tap of the reins against the horses’ flank, Jackson called, “Giddyup,” and away they sailed on the smooth snow with sleigh bells jingling.
The horses tossed their heads, pleased to be released from the barn and out in the wintry sunshine. They didn’t mind the snowflakes any more than the occupants of the sleigh. Lorianne even demonstrated the fine art of catching them on her tongue and encouraged Nicholas to do the same. They drove for a while before turning off onto a side path that circled a small lake. It wasn’t a lane as it was too narrow and close to the edge for that, but Jackson reassured them all that it was safe. It was certainly beautiful with the snow falling onto the ice-covered lake and tall marsh grasses that surrounded it.
Delighted, Raven dropped her sophisticated affectation and clapped her hands as the air streamed by them. “Oh, it’s wonderful.”
“How’s your headache?” Jackson asked.
“Gone,” Raven answered.
“Didn’t I say I know what’s good for you?”
“Isn’t that funny? I had a headache, too,” Lorianne chimed in, shouting to be heard over the swish of the sleigh and the cotton wool muffling of the falling snow. “Was it the champagne? Or your sinuses? Because for a while I thought it might be my sinuses. Then I thought I might be catching a cold, but I think it could have been the alcohol.”
Nicholas could barely contain a laugh as he joined the conversation, “Raven can’t handle champagne. I don’t know what we’ll do at our wedding.”
“Have you set a date for the wedding, Raven?” Lorianne asked, grasping the back of the seat in front of her as Jackson sped up, hurtling the sleigh over a bump then a dip in the path.
“No,” Raven practically snarled it over her shoulder. “And I’m not sure I’m going to either.”
“Darling,” Nicholas said, leaning forward, his voice smooth as aged Southern Comfort, “I don’t think we can elope, no matter what you think. The family would be so disappointed. Remember our agreement.”
Incensed that Nicholas had the nerve to mention the non-existent wedding and the earlier discussion they’d had about strategy, especially since he was a sneaky, slick, manipulative, high-handed, pain-in-her-ass, she turned to annihilate him. “I remember our agreement. It’s a shame someone, whose name I won’t mention, took advantage of it and misled me into thinking—” She swallowed her words as the sleigh suddenly dipped on the right side.
“Damn,” Jackson exploded as he fought the sleigh and the stumbling horses. “We’ve hit the marsh.”
Jackson shifted his weight toward the left to try to counteract the imbalance as the horses slowed down and struggled to get back out of the tall grasses and uneven sheets of solid ice on to firm ground. He’d almost managed to right the vehicle and turned to say so when the sleigh hit a raised sheet of ice. He lost his balance and dropped the reins.
“Jackson,” Lorianne yelled, leaning over the seat to reach for the reins that had slipped from Jackson’s hands. The move also put Lorianne off balance. When the sleigh did a slow-motion lurch through another bump and dip, both Lorianne and Jackson flew out of the vehicle and toward the marsh.
Raven scrambled to reach the reins, which had now dropped behind the horses as Nicholas climbed over the seat. He pushed Raven back to safety and balanced himself to lean over the horses to grab the leather straps. With a loud “whoa” he pulled the horses up as short as possible, scarcely waiting until they’d slid to a stop before leaping from the sleigh and running back to where Jackson and Lorianne had fallen. Raven jumped down and ran around to reassure the trembling horses before running back toward Nicholas.
Nicholas waved Raven toward Jackson while he went after Lorianne who was farther out, lying on her side on a slab of ice that covered the reeds and grasses. Her landing had been cushioned by a mound of snow and clump of marsh grass, but the ice had broken to allow what resembled lake water underneath to bubble up and reach her. Nicholas gingerly stepped toward her, calling her name.
Raven reached Jackson, who was now sitting up in a mass of snow-covered reeds and a small pool of water. He was swearing a blue streak.
“Jackson,” Raven said, “are you okay?”
“No. I’m soaked and pissed off,” he replied. Then he shook his head, rose to his feet in a cautious manner, and took a good look at her before reaching for her hand. “What about you? Are you all right?”
Raven stepped back from the uneven surface. “I’m not the one you should be asking.” She jerked her head toward Nicholas.
“What?” Jackson followed her gaze. “Lorianne? What the hell?” He waded through the thin ice covering his area of the marsh, managing to slip and slide his way toward Nicholas and Lorianne.
Nicholas was hunched over, running his hands over Lorianne. “Lorianne, Lorianne. Come on, honey, open your eyes.”
“Is she…hurt?” Jackson asked, his voice anxious as he held Raven back from attempting to move forward. “No, don’t go any farther, you’ll get wet.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Raven snapped.
Nicholas looked back at Raven. “No, he’s right. Stay back there, the ice is iffy.”
“Then hurry up and get her out of there,” Raven responded, her voice worried as she took in Lorianne’s white face.
Nicholas started to gather Lorianne into his arms when she opened her eyes and said in a weak but indignant voice, “I’m totally wet.”
Nicholas laughed, lifting her as he stood up. “So you are.”
Her eyes fluttered open to focus on his. “Oh…oh wow.”
Raven couldn’t help but sympathize with the awed expression on Lorianne’s face. Being held that close in Nicholas’s arms was enough to close down anyone’s thought processes. She stepped back as Nicholas walked in her direction, followed by Jackson.
“Can you tell me if anything hurts, honey? Head, arms—”
“My knee hurts a bit. I must have hit it when I fell. Oh and my head. A headache. I really have a headache.”
“You had a headache before, remember?” Jackson said, his voice tense. “Are you sure this is from—”
“Now it’s different,” Lorianne said, her voice stiff with dignity and discomfort, her teeth chattering from the cold as Nicholas bundled her into the backseat of the sleigh.
“What…” Jackson couldn’t finish his sentence since he was chattering as hard as Lorianne.
“Get in the back with Lorianne, Jackson,” Raven ordered. She and Nicholas wrapped all of the blankets around both of them before climbing into the front seat.
Nicholas grabbed the reins and turned the horses around for home as Raven glanced back. “Stay under those covers and hold on.”
“What,” Jackson tried again, staring at Lorianne, “did you think you were doing? How did you fall out?”
“What do you mean, what was I doing?” An indignant Lorianne stared back. “I was trying to help you.”
“I didn’t need your help. All you did was get yourself hurt.”
“Well, exc-u-u-s-s-e me!”
“I’m trying to. You scared the hell out of me,” Jackson yelled.
“You scared the hell out of me, too,” Lorianne yelled back.
“Next time, don’t help.”
Lorianne sniffed, lifting her nose in a snooty gesture. “Don’t worry, I won’t.”
Jackson nodded and folded his arms. “Okay, fine.”
“Yes, fine,” Lorianne said, her teeth chattering from the cold.
Raven checked over her shoulder again, then back at Nicholas. “Get us back to the house before they kill each other.”
“Done,” Nicholas agreed, whistling and giving the horses their heads. The horses leapt forward, eager to get back to the barn.
They made the trip back in record time.
&nb
sp; Nicholas pulled up in front of the house, glancing over his shoulder at Jackson and Lorianne. “Out you go. Get a hot bath and a warm drink.”
“I have to see to the horses,” Jackson chattered.
“I’ll take care of them. Raven, get them inside before they turn into ice statues.”
Nicholas watched as the duo headed for the porch, their blankets wrapped as tight as a mummy’s dress. As Raven ushered them to the front door, he slapped the horses lightly with the leather, urging them over the snow to the barn. Once inside, he took a few minutes to calm down before maneuvering the sleigh back to its berth. He’d just started to unhitch the horses when Raven came in.
“Nicholas.”
Seeing her, he realized that it could have been Raven lying in the snow instead of Lorianne. Raven he’d lifted into his arms. His eyes narrowed. And wouldn’t it serve her right, contrary female that she is. Hot one minute, cold the next. How can a man cope? His temper rose to the top like boiling bubbles, but he put a lid on it instead of exploding.
He cooled his voice. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought you might need some help.”
“I’m capable of looking after the horses all by myself.”
“I know but…” Raven blinked at his arched eyebrow. “Oh, okay, Margaret started fussing and I couldn’t stand it. You’d think no one had ever gotten wet before. She was near hysterics right before I went out the door.”
“So you ran away?”
“No, not exactly. I wasn’t needed. J.R. got there and took control.”
Nicholas pinned her with a look. “I see.”
“Don’t look at me like that. If you’d heard her, you would have left too.”
“How’s Lorianne?”
“She seems okay. Limping a bit and got a bump on the head, but fine otherwise. So is Jackson. Except he looks pretty annoyed.”
“Serves him right,” Nicholas snarled. “He should have been more careful.”
“It was an accident.”
“We were damn lucky the sleigh had already slowed down or someone could have gotten seriously hurt.”
“He didn’t mean to run into the marsh.”
Nicholas began to unhitch the horses. “No, he just wanted to stop the talk about our wedding.”