Let It Snow Read online

  Slade’s gaze briefly scanned hers. “That shouldn’t be any problem.”

  When he sees the monstrosity, he might change his mind, Shelly mused good-naturedly. In addition to a variety of odd-sized gifts, she had brought her father several long loaves of sourdough bread. The huge package was awkward, and Shelly had required the flight attendant’s assistance to place it in the compartment above her seat. Normally Shelly would have checked a bundle that size with the airline. But with the long loaves of bread sticking out like doughy antennas, that had been impossible.

  The plane was nearly empty when they boarded, confirming her suspicion that the delay was going to be far longer than originally anticipated. Checking her watch, she discovered that it was nearly noon. The other passengers had probably gone to get something to eat.

  Standing on the cushioned seat beside hers, Shelly opened the storage compartment.

  “Do you need help?” Slade asked. A dark gray garment bag was folded neatly over his forearm.

  “Here.” Shelly handed him her one small bag. She heard him mumble something about appreciating a woman who packed light and smiled to herself.

  Straining to stretch as far as she could to get a good grip on her other bag, she heard Slade grumble.

  “Look at what some idiot put up there.”

  “Pardon?”

  “That bag. Good grief, people should know better than to try to force a tuba case up there.”

  “That’s mine and it isn’t a tuba case.” Extracting the bag containing the bread, she handed it down to him.

  Slade looked at it as if something were about to leap out and bite him. “Good heavens, what is this?”

  What is it? Bread had to be the most recognizable item in the world. And to have it shaped in long, thin loaves wasn’t that unusual, either!

  “A suitcase for a snake,” she replied sarcastically.

  The beginnings of a grin touched his usually impassive features as he gently moved in front of her. “Let me get that thing down before you fall.”

  Shelly climbed down from the cushioned seat. “Suitcase for a snake, huh?” Unexpectedly, Slade Garner smiled, and the effect on Shelly was dazzling. She had the feeling that this man didn’t often take the time to laugh and enjoy life. Only minutes before she’d classified him as cheerless and intense. But when he smiled, the carefully guarded façade cracked and she was given a rare glimpse of the intriguing man inside. And he fascinated her.

  By the time they’d cleared their tickets with the airline, the courtesy car from the rental agency had arrived to deliver them to their rented vehicle.

  “I put everything in my name,” Slade said, on a serious note. The snow continued to fall, creating a picturesque view.

  “That’s fine.” He’d taken the small suitcase from her, leaving her to cope with the huge sack filled with Christmas goodies.

  “It means I’ll be doing all the driving.”

  One glance at the snowstorm and Shelly was grateful.

  “Well?” He looked as though he expected an argument.

  “Do you have a driver’s license?”

  Again a grin cracked the tight line of his mouth, touching his eyes. “Yes.”

  “Then there shouldn’t be any problem.”

  He paused, looking down at her. “Are you always so witty?”

  Shelly chuckled, experiencing a rush of pleasure at her ability to make him smile. “Only when I try to be. Come on, Garner, loosen up. It’s Christmas.”

  “I’ve got a meeting to attend. Just because it happens to fall close to a holiday doesn’t make a whit’s difference.”

  “Yeah, but just think, once you’re through, you can hurry home and spend the holidays with your family.”

  “Right.” The jagged edge of his clipped reply was revealing, causing Shelly to wonder if he had a family.

  As they deposited their luggage in the trunk of the rented Camaro, Shelly had the opportunity to study Slade. The proud, withdrawn look revealed little of his thoughts; there was an air of independence about him. Even with a minimum of contact, she realized that he must possess a keen and agile mind. He was a man of contrasts—pensive yet decisive, cultured while maintaining a highly organized façade.

  Standing in the fallen snow, the young man at the rental agency handed Slade a guide of the city and pointed him in the direction of the nearest freeway entrance ramp.

  After studying it thoroughly, Slade handed it to Shelly. “Are you ready?”

  “Forward, James,” she teased, climbing into the passenger seat and rubbing her bare hands together to generate some warmth. When she’d left San Francisco that morning, she hadn’t dressed for snow.

  With a turn of the key, Slade started the engine and adjusted the heater. “You’ll be warm in a minute.”

  Shelly nodded, burying her hands in her jacket pockets. “You know, if it gets much colder, we might get snow before we reach Seattle.”

  “Very funny,” he muttered dryly, snapping his seat belt into place. With his hands gripping the wheel, Slade hesitated. “Do you want to find a phone and call your husband?”

  “I’m visiting my dad,” she corrected. “I’m not married. And no. If I told him what we’re doing, he’d only worry.”

  Slade shifted gears and they pulled onto the road.

  “Do you want to contact…your wife?”

  “I’m not married.”

  “Oh.” Shelly prayed that the small expression wouldn’t reveal her satisfaction at this information. It wasn’t often that she found herself so fascinated by a man. The crazy part was that she wasn’t entirely sure she liked him, but he attracted her.

  “I’m engaged,” he added.

  “Oh.” She swallowed convulsively. So much for that. “When’s the wedding?”

  The windshield wipers hummed ominously. “In approximately two years.”

  Shelly nearly choked in an effort to hide her shock.

  “Both Margaret and I have professional and financial goals we hope to accomplish before we marry.” He drove with his back stiff, his expression sullen. “Margaret feels we should save fifty thousand dollars before we think about marriage, and I agree. We both have strong feelings about having a firm financial foundation.”

  “I can’t imagine waiting two years to marry the man I loved.”

  “But then you’re entirely different from Margaret.”

  As far as Shelly was concerned, that was the nicest thing anyone had said to her all day. “We do agree on one thing, though. I feel a marriage should last forever.” But for Shelly, love had to be more spontaneous and far less calculated. “My parents had a marvelous marriage,” she said, filling the silence. “I only hope that, when I marry, my own will be as happy.” She went on to elaborate how her parents had met one Christmas and were married two months later on Valentine’s Day. Their marriage, Shelly told him complacently, had been blessed with love and happiness for nearly twenty-seven years before her mother’s unexpected death. It took great restraint not to mention that her parents had barely had twenty dollars between them when they’d taken their vows. At the time, her father had been a student of veterinary medicine, with only two years of schooling behind him. They’d managed without a huge bank balance.

  From the tight lines around his mouth and nose, Shelly could tell that Slade found the whole story trite.

  “Is your sweet tale of romance supposed to touch my heart?”

  Furious, Shelly straightened and looked out the side window at the snow-covered trees that lined the side of Interstate 5. “No. I was just trying to find out if you had one.”

  “Karate mouth strikes again,” he mumbled.

  “Karate mouth?” Shelly was too stunned at Slade’s unexpected display of wit to do anything more than repeat his statement.

  “You have the quickest comeb
acks of anyone I know.” Admiration flashed unchecked in his gaze before he turned his attention back to the freeway.

  Shelly was more interested in learning about Margaret, so she tried to keep the conversation away from herself. “I imagine you’re anxious to get back to spend Christmas with Margaret.” She regretted her earlier judgmental attitude toward Slade. He had good reason for wanting this meeting to be over.

  “Margaret’s visiting an aunt in Arizona during the holidays. She left a couple days ago.”

  “So you won’t be together.” The more she heard about Margaret, the more curious Shelly became about a woman who would agree to wait two years for marriage. “Did she give you your Christmas gift before she left?” The type of gift one gave was always telling.

  Slade hesitated. “Margaret and I agreed to forgo giving gifts this year.”

  Shelly had barely managed to control her tongue when he had spouted off about his long engagement, but this was too much. “Not exchange gifts? That’s terrible.”

  “We have financial goals,” Slade growled irritably. “Wasting money on trivialities simply deters us from our two-year plan. Christmas gifts aren’t going to advance our desires.”

  At the moment Shelly sincerely doubted that Margaret and Slade had “desires.”

  “I bet Margaret’s just saying she doesn’t want a gift,” Shelly offered. “She’s probably secretly hoping you’ll break down and buy her something. It doesn’t have to be something big. Any woman appreciates roses.”

  Her companion gave an expressive shrug. “I thought flowers would be a nice touch myself, but Margaret claims they make her sneeze. Besides, roses at Christmas are terribly expensive. A waste of money, really.”

  “Naturally,” Shelly muttered under her breath. She was beginning to get a clearer picture of this stuffy fellow and his ever-so-practical fiancée.

  “Did you say something?” A hint of challenge echoed in his cool tones.

  “Not really.” Leaning forward, she fiddled with the radio dial, trying to find a station that was playing music. “What’s Margaret do, by the way?”

  “She’s a systems analyst.”

  Shelly arched both eyebrows in mute comment. This was the type of occupation that she expected from a nuts-and-bolts person like Margaret. “What about children?”

  “What about them?”

  Shelly realized that she was prying, but she couldn’t help herself. “Are you planning a family?”

  “Of course. We’re hoping that Margaret can schedule a leave of absence in eight years.”

  “You’ll be near forty!” The exclamation burst from her lips before Shelly could hold it back.

  “Forty-one, actually. Do you disapprove of that, too?”

  Shelly swallowed uncomfortably and paid an inordinate amount of attention to the radio, not understanding why she couldn’t get any music. “I apologize, I didn’t mean to sound so judgmental. It’s just that—”

  “It’s just that you’ve never been goal-oriented.”

  “But I have,” she argued. “I’ve always wanted to be a court reporter. It’s a fascinating job.”

  “I imagine that you’re good at anything you put your mind to.”

  The unexpected compliment caught her completely off guard. “What a nice thing to say.”

  “If you put your mind to it, you might figure out why you can’t get the radio working.”

  Her gaze flickered automatically from Slade to the dial. Before she could comment, he reached over and twisted a knob. “It’s a bit difficult to pick up the transmission waves when the radio isn’t turned on.”

  “Right.” She’d been too preoccupied with asking about Margaret to notice. Color flooded into her cheeks at her own stupidity. Slade flustered her, and that hadn’t happened in a long time. She had the feeling that, in a battle of words, he would parry her barbs as expertly as a professional swordsman would.

  Soft, soothing music filled the car. Warm and snug, Shelly leaned back against the headrest and cushioned seat and hummed along, gazing at the flakes of falling snow.

  “With the snow and all, it really feels like Christmas,” she murmured, fearing more questions would destroy the tranquil mood.

  “It’s caused nothing but problems.”

  “I suppose, but it’s so lovely.”

  “Of course it’s lovely. You’re sitting in a warm chauffeur-driven car with the radio playing.”

  “Grumble, grumble, grumble,” she tossed back lightly. “Bah, humbug!”

  “Bah, humbug,” he echoed, and to her astonishment Slade laughed. The sound of it was rich and full, and caused Shelly to laugh with him. When the radio played a Bing Crosby Christmas favorite, Shelly sang along. Soon Slade’s deep baritone joined her clear soprano in sweet harmony. The lyrics spoke of dreaming, and Shelly’s mind conjured up her own longings. She was comfortable with this man when she’d expected to find a dozen reasons to dislike him. Instead, she discovered that she was attracted to someone who was engaged to another woman. A man who was intensely loyal. This was the usual way her life ran. She was attracted to Slade, but she didn’t know where this feeling would lead. She wasn’t entirely sure that her insights about him were on base. As uncharitable as it sounded, she may have formed these feelings simply because she considered him too good for someone like Margaret.

  Disgusted with herself, Shelly closed her eyes and rested her head against the window. The only sounds were the soft melodies playing on the radio and the discordant swish of the windshield wipers. Occasionally a gust of wind would cause the car to veer slightly.

  A gentle hand on her shoulder shook her. “Shelly.”

  With a start, she bolted upright. “What’s wrong?”

  Slade had pulled over to the shoulder of the freeway. The snow was so thick that Shelly couldn’t see two feet in front of her.

  “I don’t think we can go any further,” Slade announced.

  Chapter 3

  “We can’t stay here,” Shelly cried, looking at their precarious position beside the road. Snow whirled in every direction. The ferocity of the storm shocked her, whipping and howling around them. She found it little short of amazing that Slade had been able to steer the car at all. While she’d slept, the storm had worsened drastically.

  “Do you have any other suggestions?” he said, and breathed out sharply.

  He was angry, but his irritation wasn’t directed at her. Wearily, she lifted the hair from her smooth brow. “No, I guess I don’t.”

  Silence seeped around them as Slade turned off the car’s engine. Gone was the soothing sound of Christmas music, the hum of the engine, and the rhythmic swish of the windshield wipers. Together they sat, waiting for the fury to lessen so that they could start up again. Staring out at the surrounding area between bursts of wind and snow, Shelly guessed that they weren’t far from Castle Rock and Mount St. Helens.

  After ten minutes of uneasiness, she decided to be the first to break the gloom. “Are you hungry?” She stared at the passive, unyielding face beside her.

  “No.”

  “I am.”

  “Have some of that bread.” He cocked his head toward the backseat, where she’d stuck the huge loaves of sourdough bread.

  “I couldn’t eat Dad’s bread. He’d never forgive me.”

  “He’d never forgive you if you starved to death, either.”

  Glancing down at her pudgy thighs, Shelly sadly shook her head. “There’s hardly any chance of that.”

  “What makes you say that? You’re not fat. In fact, I’d say you were just about perfect.”

  “Me? Perfect?” A burst of embarrassed laughter slid from her throat. Reaching for her purse, she removed her wallet.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to pay you for saying that.”

  Slade chuckled
. “What makes you think you’re overweight?”

  “You mean aside from the fat all over my body?”

  “I’m serious.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. I just feel chubby. Since leaving home, I don’t get enough exercise. I couldn’t very well bring Sampson with me.”

  “Sampson?”

  “My horse. I used to ride him every day.”

  “If you’ve gained any weight, it’s in all the right places.”

  His gaze fell to her lips, and Shelly’s senses churned in quivering awareness. He stared into her dark eyes and blinked, as if not believing what he saw. For her part, Shelly studied him with open curiosity. His eyes were smoky dark, his face blunt and sensual. His brow was creased as though he was giving the moment grave consideration. Thick eyebrows arched heavily over his eyes.

  Abruptly he pulled his gaze away and leaned forward to start the engine. The accumulated snow on the windshield was brushed aside with a flip of the wiper switch. “Isn’t that a McDonald’s up ahead?”

  Shelly squinted to catch a glimpse of the world-famous golden arches. “Hey, I think it is.”

  “The exit can’t be far.”

  “Do you think we can make it?”

  “I think we’d better try,” he mumbled.

  Shelly understood. The car had become their private cocoon, unexpectedly intimate and highly sensual. Under normal circumstances they wouldn’t have given each other more than a passing glance. What was happening wasn’t magic but something far more exhilarating.

  With the wipers beating furiously against the window, Slade inched the car to the exit, which proved to be less than a half-mile away.

  Slowly they crawled down the side road that paralleled the freeway. With some difficulty, Slade was able to find a place to park in the restaurant’s lot. Shelly sighed with relief. This was the worst storm she could remember. Wrapping her coat securely around her, she reached for her purse.

  “You ready?” she blurted out, opening the car door.

  “Anytime.”

  Hurriedly, Slade joined her and tightly grasped her elbow as they stepped together toward the front entrance of the fast-food restaurant. Pausing just inside the door to stamp the snow from their shoes, they glanced up to note that several other travelers were stranded there as well.