by Jillian Hart
Woodenly, he answered the nurse as best he could and scheduled an appointment, and then stepped into Kate’s office to tell her to clear his Thursday afternoon.
“But that’s the day you’re leaving for Japan.” She pushed back her glasses, frowning at her computer screen. “Is this about the doctor’s office? Is something wrong?”
He couldn’t answer that. As much as he respected his assistant and how well she did her work, he liked things kept professional, not personal. Of course, if he did have a terminal illness, that would affect his professional life and everyone in it.
Don’t think about it. He’d deal with that problem later. Right now, he had a takeover to handle, lenders to appease and the latest crisis that had taken up his entire day.
“Just clear the afternoon.” He told Kate and headed straight out her door.
In fact, it was hard not to keep going. It was almost five. It wasn’t an uncommon time of day for people to stop working and head home.
He dug in his heels to keep from marching straight down that hall to the elevator. A desk heaped with work was waiting, and it was his responsibility. He’d agreed to do it. Every person in this building was counting on him to run this company well and right. They had families to support, kids to raise, mortgages to pay.
And what did he have? Nothing. No one waiting for him. No family, no kids. The only person he’d let get close to him since his breakup with Vanessa was in Montana, probably finishing up her afternoon kindergarten class and getting more paint smudges on her clothes.
She may as well be a world away.
“If you’re through with me for the day,” Kate announced as she breezed by, carting a heavy briefcase, “I’m outta here. See you bright and early.”
Was he really standing in the middle of the hallway, staring into space? He decided to do his ruminating in the privacy of his office.
Julie’s note was still on his screen. It was amazing to him how much he missed her. He sat down at his desk, pushed aside the audit from the company he absolutely had to have three weeks ago and read the rest of her message.
Julie swept last night’s powdery snowfall from her front steps. Saturday morning was still, the landscape sugary perfect. A deep mantle of snow hugged the world like a cozy blanket, and the only movement was a pair of bucks, wading through the drifts along her driveway.
The sun was slow to rise, casting long low fingers of golden light through the mountain peaks and across the glittering meadows. Perfect skiing weather, but she didn’t feel up to it. Noah wouldn’t be with her. She was a sad, sorry case, letting a man affect her like that. Without his companionship, not even skiing was the same.
Inside the house, the phone rang. Probably Granddad checking up on her. She’d cherish his concern for her while she could. Soon his life would be changing. He’d be married with little time to spare, which would be good for him. She suspected he called so often because he was lonely.
Leaving the broom on the porch, she shot in the door and snatched the receiver before he could hang up. “Good morning.”
“Good morning to you,” answered a familiar voice.
Not Granddad at all. “Noah! What are you doing calling me? I know you work on your weekends. Aren’t you in the middle of a takeover or something?”
“I’m never too busy for you. I meant to answer your e-mail, but I decided to call instead. Are you going to torment me with more tales of your skiing adventures?”
“I could if you wanted me to.” She didn’t want to tell him how her favorite thing to do on a winter’s day now seemed to make her feel lonelier than ever.
How could she admit something like that to him? He probably had a busy day planned between work and friends and his city lifestyle. “I’m going downhill skiing at the Bridger Bowl, a few miles up the road, with Susan and Misty. What about you?”
Good question. Noah put his feet on the glass coffee table and leaned back in the leather sofa. What was he going to do today? The pile of work in his home office needed attention. He could always work out in the health club across the street until he forgot about the upcoming surgery he’d scheduled.
But he didn’t want to tell her that. He would sound…pathetic, needy, like a man who didn’t know what he wanted out of life. He didn’t want to admit that to anyone, even Julie. “I’ve got a load of work to do. It’ll keep me busy all day.”
“Weren’t you going to cut back on your stress?”
“Well, after I have control of this microchip company, I’ll take it easy.”
“I can tell when you’re fibbing. I bet you’re the kind of man who never takes it easy, even when your health is an issue. Is there a lesson here? What could it be, I wonder?”
“I’m going to do some relaxing tonight. Does that make you happy?”
“You? Relax? I don’t believe it. Tell me the truth this time.”
“I got some movies.” He snatched up the DVD cases from the bag on the floor. “Arnold’s latest action adventure, and a subtitled one about crouching tigers that says right on the front it won a lot of awards. That ought to be good.”
“You don’t get out much, do you? Tell me you’re as worldly as any other billionaire on this planet.”
She was laughing at him! “I work a lot.”
“You do get out of your office to go to movies, shows, plays. A museum now and then?”
“I mean to, but there’s always something I have to do first.”
“You could be living in a cardboard box and you wouldn’t know the difference.”
“Sure I would. A cardboard box would be drafty. I’d notice that.” He felt a hundred times better hearing her voice, knowing her friendship was still there. “Remember the day I left for Montana? I promised that I’d take you skiing.”
“Oh, so you have a few acres of mountain property?”
“Who doesn’t have a few acres of mountain property?” He loved making her laugh. Her warm chuckle rumbled in his ear. “I have a cabin in the Rockies. I bought it a while ago thinking that I would start taking time off to do lots of skiing, but I was always too busy. I used to think I had plenty of time later to do the things I really wanted to do. Now I have to accept that I could be running out of time. If I want to do something, then I’d better do it.”
He’d been wrong, hiding in his work for so long. He was realizing it only now. How many days did he have left? How was he going to spend them?
Not sitting in his office, that was for certain.
He would savor every moment. He’d treasure every minute of being alive on this earth. God’s gift of life was precious, and Noah was beginning to realize how much.
When Julie checked her e-mail the next morning, there was a new message from Noah. He’d listed a time and flight number. “I’ll meet you on the slopes,” he’d written.
The Colorado Rockies! Talk about exciting. She hadn’t been out of state since she was in high school.
Noah hadn’t given her much time. She’d have to talk to the principal, type up instructions for the substitute and pack. Pack? What did she have to wear? Okay, now she had to go shopping, too.
The cat flicked his tail in great disapproval when she sprinted up the stairs.
Oh, right. She’d have to ask Granddad to feed Wilbur while she was gone.
I’m going to Colorado, she wanted to shout out loud. The chance to go on a trip absolutely thrilled her.
And maybe the man did, too. Just a little, tiny bit. And only in a strictly friendly way.
Chapter Eleven
The first-class ticket waiting for her at the local airport should have been a clue. Even the limo waiting for her at the private airstrip in the posh skiing village should have made her stop and think, but she was too distracted by the incredible view and the impressive homes tucked into the mountainside. And knowing she was about to see Noah again didn’t help.
She was blown away by the “little cabin” he owned. There was nothing little about it. Made of log and stone and
glass, it blended perfectly with the surrounding forest. It was a picture from an architectural magazine come to life.
The limo rolled to a stop in the sloping driveway, and she couldn’t move. She was still gaping, in awe of that house. Noah owned this. When he was sipping hot chocolate in her house and skiing on her land, he had almost seemed like any other guy. A really great guy, but still, as normal as could be.
This was not normal.
The etched-glass front door swung open, and there was Noah bounding down the inlaid stone steps to open her car door. He looked great in a dark blue sweater and jeans, his hair blowing up in the wind.
“Julie, it’s good to see you.” He said it so warmly, she knew he meant it.
He had missed her that much? As if in answer, he held his arms wide in welcome. She bolted to her feet and flew into his arms, feeling his solid chest against her cheek as he held her tenderly.
I missed you, too. She held back the words she didn’t dare say. Her hands settled on his broad shoulders, and the wool of his sweater tickled her. Holding him like this felt right. Sweetness swept through her as gentle as a winter’s dawn. She could stay like this forever, tucked in his arms, feeling his heartbeat against her cheek and be perfectly content.
But this was a friendly hug, she reminded herself, and stepped away from his embrace. “Little cabin, huh?”
“Well, I call it the cabin.”
“As opposed to the penthouse and the Hawaii beach house?”
“No beach house, although I’ve always thought that would be a good investment.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
A dimple cut into his cheek as he grabbed her bags from the trunk. “Great. You brought your skis. Want to go grab lunch at the inn and then hit the slopes?”
“The inn? You mean that elaborate and expensive-looking hotel down the road?”
“It’s just over the rise. We can ski there.” He hefted her ski cases out of the trunk, acting as if this was completely normal.
For him, it probably was. Well, when in Rome… “Sure, let’s ski over to the little inn down the road and grab a bite.” Which probably meant filet mignon, lobster and caviar.
“This place has better skiing than Telluride.” Noah manhandled her bags up the stairs. “Did you have a good flight?”
“It was a first-class seat. I don’t think flying gets much better than that.”
“Wait until you see my jet.” He waggled his brows; it was the Noah she knew and loved. Okay, so he was rich. He was still a guy who loved his power toys.
But she saw the man. The real Noah who walked into a house where sounds echoed around him. There were no family pictures hung on the walls, no personal treasures stashed on the cherry wood shelves in the living room and not one favorite shirt slung over the back of the leather sofa.
They were not so different, the two of them, both living in houses with too many empty rooms.
He’d forgotten how sweet the air was at this altitude. Sweet enough to make his eyes sting, not from the cold but from something else. He didn’t know what it was, but it made his chest ache deep.
He wasn’t like this when he was alone. It was Julie. She was creating this feeling inside him. Her beauty, and her goodness and her friendship.
Who was he kidding? Friendship was too small of a word for what she was to him. She was like the only buoy in a storm-tossed sea to a lone survivor of a shipwreck.
“Hey, handsome. Are you ready to go?” Julie tugged her rainbow-colored cap down low over her ears, her poles waggling in the air.
“Where do you get a hat like that?” He tugged on the pom-pom on the top of her head.
“What’s wrong with my hat? Okay, so it’s not a designer one, like everyone else’s. But at least it stays over my ears in the wind.” She flashed him that smile, the one that made his heart lighten. “I bought it at the church bazaar. One of the women on the Ladies’ Aid made it.”
“I’ve never been to a church bazaar.”
“You’re one strange cookie, Noah Ashton.” She lit up when she laughed, and made him brighten, too. “I suppose you buy your stuff from some ritzy tailor shop.”
“No. I have a personal shopper.”
“Oh, me, too. Doesn’t everyone?”
“Are you laughing at me again? I suppose I deserve that for commenting on your hat. It’s cute.” It was Julie, bright and cheerful and sensible. In fact, he liked her hat so much, he grabbed it by the pom-pom and yanked it off her head.
“Hey, give that back!” She stumbled over her skis, swiping wind-tousled curls from her face.
Her lovely face that he wanted to gaze at forever.
“My ears are freezing. Noah!” She jumped, surprisingly agile on those skis, but she couldn’t reach.
“You can have it when you catch me.” He knew he was in trouble, because she could outski him, but he was no slouch. He double-poled, shooting onto the groomed trail. Soft snow powdered up behind him as he flew with Julie hot on his tails.
“You’ll have to try harder,” he taunted her, but didn’t dare take the time to glance over his shoulder. He kept his concentration on the course, because she was on his heels. He could see the smudge of her blue jacket in his peripheral vision.
“Seemed to have overestimated your abilities, Ashton.” She closed in on him, nudging around him like a thoroughbred going for a Triple Crown win. “Didn’t think I could beat you twice, did you?”
“True. I thought your win last time was a fluke. Luck. Nothing more.” He was breathing hard. Pushing hard. They were neck and neck.
“Nothing more, huh? Just luck?” She matched his pace, not even breathing hard. “Then explain this.”
He saw her arm shoot out, and he yanked the rainbow-striped cap out of her reach just in time. The trouble was, she wasn’t after her own hat.
He felt a tug on his head and a cold rush of wind over his ears. “Hey! That’s mine. Give that back.”
“Come and take it.” She was off, kicking fast, leaving him in the dust.
He loved competition. He kicked hard, gliding far and fast on his newly waxed skis. She was still ahead of him, but not as distant. Come on, push harder, he coached himself. There was no way he was going to let Julie get away with his hat.
“Know what I think?” he called, his voice bouncing off the endless snow and miles of trees. “I think you have beginner’s luck. That’s why you keep winning.”
“Ha! I’m no beginner. I’ve been skiing since I was four.”
“You’re a beginner. When it comes to competing with me.” He was gaining, his strategy all along. “Got a little overconfident, did you?”
She was licked, and she knew it. They were neck and neck, stride for stride, hugging the narrow trail together. “The course is narrowing up ahead. It’s getting steep, too.”
“Really? I’m not afraid. I’m a downhill kind of man.” He kept equal to her, although he had to work for it. “I’ve heard it’s tricky up ahead. Skiers take a tumble all the time. Maybe you want to make a deal.”
“There is something I want.”
“Your cap.” He was breathing hard, and his lungs burned from the cold. His legs felt as heavy as lead. He was more than happy to negotiate. “How about we call it a tie and trade hats?”
“That’s a sensible solution, and it proves why you’re successful in business.” She wasn’t winded, tossing him an easy, gorgeous smile that made him stumble.
A man couldn’t look at a pretty woman and ski well at the same time. He kept his pace, but she eked ahead a few inches. He recognized that glint in her eye.
She was sure of success.
“I think I’ll keep your hat,” she informed him. “It is a designer label, after all.”
“No way. I won’t permit it.” His ears were freezing, but that wasn’t the worst part as she cut ahead of him, just out of his reach. He couldn’t gain on her. He was doing his best, but he couldn’t catch her.
The course tilted downward, the wind hi
t his ears and his skis glided across the snow like a dream. Exhilaration filled him as he stared down the face of the jagged mountain, the big slope miles wide and incredible. Not that he was paying much attention to it.
What was he looking at?
Julie as she glided down the slope ahead of him, taking the steep terrain like an expert. She was only a blur of blue through the blazing light and the glittering snow. She was grace and goodness, beauty and speed, and she filled his heart up in a way he didn’t understand. She made his world tilt on end….
No, that was just his skis. He lost control, lost his balance and tumbled headlong into the powdery whiteness. He rolled, feeling the bindings give, and sat up, wiping snow out of his eyes.
“Are you okay?” Her angel’s voice bounced across the expansive mountainside separating them.
“My ears are cold,” he answered back.
It was clear she had no sympathy for him. She was busily adjusting his hat on top of her pretty head.
He was really starting to like her, more than he would ever have thought possible. She made him laugh and feel and ski full out on an incredible mountain slope until he felt alive. He was aware of every sense—the crumbling cold creeping down his neck, the fresh winter scent of the forest, the strange open sound of the mountains and the taste of snow on his tongue.
He’d never been so aware. Shaken, he managed to get back on his skis. Sure enough, Julie was still there, waiting for him, making certain he was okay.
Just as she always did.
“Hey, the last one to finish has to buy dinner tonight.” Her confidence rang in her voice, in her stance, and he loved that. “A really nice dinner.”
“Do I get my hat back?”
“I don’t think so.”
He loved a challenge. He pulled her cap on his head. It was snug, but it felt like bliss against his freezing-cold ears.