A Wedding in December

And then his eyes lifted back to hers and the sizzle of electricity almost knocked her off her feet. Her world wasn’t so much rocked, as jolted and shaken. It made no sense. She was an expert at freezing men out. He should be stepping back. He should be giving her a similarly frosty look while he decided she definitely wasn’t his type. He shouldn’t be looking at her the way he was looking at her. As if he wanted to—as if—

In a delicious trancelike state, she tilted her head. Her mouth drifted toward his, as if she were being pulled by an invisible force. Her eyes started to close.

And then, when she thought her heart might pound its way through her chest, he spoke.

“Enjoy your time with your sister. And you should ask Dan to take a look at that shoulder while you’re here. I don’t know how you injured it, but he’s good at sports physio.”

The words yanked her back to reality. Her eyes opened, but he was no longer in front of her.

What? Where?

Dazed, she turned and watched as he walked back to the car. What had just happened? Was she ill? She pressed her palm to her forehead. She wanted to take her temperature, and maybe run some blood tests. A scan. She had to be ill, surely? There was no other reason for her strange symptoms.

Had he noticed?

Get a grip, Katie.

She stared after him, frustrated by every confident stride. And how had he known about her shoulder? Slip on the ice, damn you.

“Not even a ripple on the Richter scale,” she called after him. “And I could have walked across that bridge without you. I would have been fine.”

The last thing she heard before he slid behind the wheel was laughter.

Damn the man.

If she never saw him again, it would be too soon.

She walked up the steps carefully, not because she was afraid they might be slippery, but because her legs seemed to have forgotten their purpose.

And now she had another problem looming. What to do about her sister. Her matchmaking, romance-loving, dreamy sister. Katie was sure that if she examined Rosie’s blood under a microscope, her red blood cells would be shaped like little hearts.

“Hurry up, I’m letting out all the heat,” Rosie yelled down to her from the door of the tree house. “What’s taking you so long?”

Katie wasn’t sure there was a clinical term that covered her current symptoms. She realized Rosie hadn’t been able to see what had happened. The wraparound deck had provided shelter from prying eyes.

“I’m coming!” She hauled herself up the last few steps. “Where’s my baby sister?” She emerged onto the deck and was enveloped in a hug. Rosie held on to her so tightly she thought her ribs might crack. She opened her mouth to protest and ended up with a mouthful of her sister’s hair. “Hey. Good to see you, too. Ouch. That’s quite a welcome.” She brushed hair out of her mouth and tried to ease out of her sister’s embrace. “Have you been using the gym? You almost crushed me.”

“I’m pleased to see you, that’s all. And of course I’ve been using the gym. My fiancé is a sports fanatic. Slouches not allowed. Come inside and see your new home, and tell me what you thought of Jordan. I can’t believe you let him carry you!”

“I wasn’t given much choice.”

“Isn’t he cute?” Rosie opened the curved door of the tree house and Katie hauled her case over the threshold.

“I would have gone with annoying.” Trying not to think about Jordan, she glanced around the room. An enormous tree stretched upward toward the cathedral ceiling. Tiny lights shimmered in the branches and decorations glinted and gleamed. In keeping with the forest theme, the decorations were delicate leaves, small birds and butterflies, the colors changing from iridescent pearl to lustrous silver in the shifting light. Katie stared at it in awe. “Well, this puts the artificial tree I bought online to shame.”

“You bought an artificial tree? Why would you do that?”

“Because I’d kill a real one.” And she hadn’t wanted another death on her conscience. “This looks as if it’s been decorated by an interior designer.”

“It’s all Catherine’s work. She designs a tree for each tree house, and six for the communal guest spaces in Snowfall Lodge.”

“She has a talent for it.” The tree was perfect, but still Katie felt a pang as she thought of the decorations that usually adorned their tree at home. Maybe they weren’t perfect, but they all told a story. “She’s the one who has taken over your wedding plans?”

“Yes, but in a good way. I wouldn’t be able to do it all myself.”

Katie glanced out of the window and wondered if Catherine was putting pressure on her sister. Rosie was so kind, she’d never tell anyone to back off.

Snow fell steadily, each flake following another on its downward journey, swirling in lazy pirouettes. “It’s like living in a snow globe.”