Their eyes held for a moment and then he gave a glimmer of a smile and gestured toward the exit. “Let’s go, before you say something that’s going to keep you awake tonight.”
“Why would something I say keep me awake?”
“Because you’re the type who would lie there simmering, wishing you’d said something different.”
“You are so wrong.” He is so right. Why did she feel as if she’d lost a fight, when there hadn’t been a fight? “We should go.”
“Is it all right if I show you the way? Or would you rather I gave you the address of where I’m parked so that you can find it yourself? I can meet you there if you prefer?”
She was about to snap a retort, but then she saw the gleam in his eye.
At least the guy had a sense of humor. “From what Rosie told me, we have at least a four-hour drive ahead of us.”
“Could be longer because it snowed today.”
“I’m sorry. That must be inconvenient.” As was the news that she might be trapped with him for more than four hours. Still, at least he wasn’t puny. He looked capable of shoveling snow if the need arose.
“Around here we like the snow, so we’re willing to take a little inconvenience. Snow means a good ski season, and that’s good for the local economy.”
She thought about what she’d read. “I thought your economy was kept afloat by up-market retailers and eye-wateringly rich people who spend their billions in your town.”
“That, too, but most of those eye-wateringly rich people love the outdoors and sports, which gives everyone something in common. Also, those same rich people keep me in business and give me a life I love, so I’m not complaining.”
He loved his life? Right now she was willing to kill anyone who loved their life.
He gestured toward a door on the far side of the terminal building. “We’re going that way.”
She walked briskly, not because she was in a particular hurry but because she didn’t know another way to walk. Time was a precious commodity and she couldn’t afford to waste it.
They walked through the airport and out into an open-air plaza. “Is that—?” she narrowed her eyes and stopped walking “—an ice rink?”
“Yes.”
“There’s an ice rink in the airport?”
“Not technically inside the airport, but yes.” He shrugged. “Welcome to Colorado. Do you skate?”
“Not intentionally. I’m the one who sticks people back together after they’ve skated. We have a couple of rinks in London that open for Christmas, so that pushes up our workload a bit. I’ve never understood why people think it’s a good idea to have a Christmas drink and then show off their prowess, or lack of it, on the ice.” She watched as a girl in a red coat executed a flashy jump and landed perfectly. A group of people were singing carols. “I’ve never seen an ice rink in an airport. It’s Christmassy.”
“You’re a Christmas lover? Somehow that surprises me.”
“I get to sleep in, eat too much, drink too much, and not have to tell yet another family that their child has been stabbed and we weren’t able to save him. What’s not to like?” Damn. Had she really said that? She didn’t even know this guy.
He was going to think she was pale, tired, stressed and also very possibly insane.
“Rosie mentioned that you work in the ER.” His tone was gentler than it had been a moment earlier. “That must be stressful.”
“The—? Oh, yes. We call it the emergency department. And it’s not too bad. You get used to it. After a while it becomes a job. Something you deal with.”
“Right.”
“I mean, to some extent you’re a well-trained machine.” She felt herself tense as a little girl wearing a red scarf and a pair of furry antlers skated across the ice to her daddy. Any moment now she was going to fall and bang her head. Technically Katie was off duty, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to walk past an injured person.
&nb
sp; Jordan cleared his throat. “We should probably get going.”
“In a minute—” The girl in the red scarf was halfway across the ice now, right in the middle of the rink with people swirling round her. She looked so small and vulnerable.