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The Complete Christmas Collection. Rebecca Winters
Читать онлайн.Название The Complete Christmas Collection
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9780008900564
Автор произведения Rebecca Winters
Серия Mills & Boon e-Book Collections
Издательство HarperCollins
She’d barely opened the store’s front door and screen and crossed her arms against the freezing air when she froze herself.
The world outside had been transformed into a wonderland as disheartening as it was beautiful. In the pale twilight, the stubbles of her lawn appeared to be a blanket of clear marbles. Across the ice-glazed street, every bough on every tall pine, every branch of every winter-bare tree, every leaf on every bush had been encased in a robe of ice.
In between, the ice-coated electric line sagged heavily from pole to pole—except for where it dangled loose a few feet from the tangle of branches of an oak tree now uprooted from her yard and lying across the road, blocking it completely.
Near the entrance to her driveway, half of the maple tree that would shade it in summer lay squarely in it.
Clouds filtered the cold sunrise, but the sky to the east was lightening enough to add hints of color to the gray when she carefully edged her way over the icy boards to the end of the porch and looked toward the meadow. It was there that she saw the snowman that now rested in parts not far from the still upright and remarkably unbroken apple tree. The white chicken-wire, light-encrusted balls had separated when they’d blown over and were now frozen in place with boughs that had flown in from the grove of pines beyond.
Erik had suspected that seeing the dismembered decoration would have upset her little boy. He was right. And though what she saw distressed her, too—especially when she thought of what had to be an identical mess of toppled debris on the other side of the building—she wouldn’t let herself think about how she was going to clean it all up right now. Mother Nature froze it, and she’d thaw it, too. She’d worry then about taking care of the scattered and broken boughs, branches and trees. Right now she couldn’t let herself think about anything beyond going back inside, making sure the guys were fed and figuring out how to make coffee without any power.
The rest of it was just too daunting.
“Thank you,” she said softly on her way past Erik the moment she walked back in.
He stood at the island, Tyler a few feet away at the silverware drawer. “No problem.” He searched her face quickly, looking to see how she was taking what she had seen.
Not sure what to make of the deceptive calm she diligently maintained around her child, he turned with two boxes in his hands. “Cereal?”
“Sure.” Doing her best to ignore the knot of anxiety in her stomach, she reached for bowls and bananas. “What kind are you having, Ty?”
“Both,” her son announced.
“We’re mixing ’em,” Erik explained.
The camp light now stood on the kitchen counter. In that relative brightness, Tyler’s eyes fairly danced.
The dark slash of Erik’s eyebrow arched. “Is that a problem?”
For a moment she thought the suggestion must have been Erik’s, until she considered that Tyler could have come up with the idea and Erik had decided to let him think the notion a good one. Looking between the two of them, she decided it could go either way. And either way, as protective as Erik had been of her son’s feelings moments ago, and sensing that what that mountain of muscle really needed was to be outside and moving, she couldn’t think of a thing to say but, “Of course not.”
Being deprived of his usual five-mile morning run did nothing to help Erik escape the restiveness nagging like a toothache as he headed into the early morning light. The bracing air felt good, though. He didn’t even mind that the ground felt like a skating rink beneath his boots. His balance on it was as sure as on a yawing sailboat—managing that shift and roll was second nature to him.
Where he was out of his element was figuring out how to stay objective about the woman inside when he’d been kept awake half the night by her scent on her sheets and thoughts of her tantalizing little body playing havoc with his own.
When he had first agreed to help her, he hadn’t considered how much her education would require beyond a business plan and inventory. But the scope of his responsibility had finally hit him. It had taken both of his grandparents to maintain their store and their home. For her to make it here, she’d need to be as self-reliant as they had been.
What he also hadn’t considered until a while ago was how much more difficult her tasks might be because part of her focus would almost always be on her child.
Ten minutes and another trip to the basement later, she had power—which was one less thing he needed to be concerned about before he headed back upstairs to see her by the light switch in the dining room.
“You fixed it.” Relief lit her guarded smile as she pushed the toggle. “I heard the refrigerator come on. And the furnace.”
From where he’d stopped in the entryway, he watched her glance up at the still dark fixture above the long table.
“That light is off circuit right now,” he told her. “The only overhead light you have up here is in the kitchen. Besides the bathroom lights upstairs, you have one live outlet in each bedroom. All the appliances up here have power. So does the water heater in the basement, but the washer and dryer don’t.”
The minor inconveniences barely fazed her. “What was wrong with the generator?”
“The fuel line valve from the propane tank had been left in the off position. It could have been turned when the servicing company filled it, or by the inspector when he checked it out. Either way,” he said, conscious of her concentration, “it would be a good idea for you to check it the next time it’s filled. I’ll show you later how to thaw the valve in case it ever freezes in place again. Right now there are a few things I want to show you in the basement.”
“I wanna go to the basement,” Tyler announced.
Rory looked to where he had just jumped to his feet. “I thought you didn’t like the basement.”
With a small shrug, he walked up to Erik.
“It’s okay,” was all Tyler said, but it was infinitely more obvious than Erik’s faint smile that it was only okay because of the big guy.
With more immediate concerns to deal with, she knew she couldn’t afford to worry about that growing attachment now. His new hero had the vaguely impatient look of a man on a mission as he led them down the steep stairs and across the concrete floor.
Because Tyler wanted to see what he was talking about, he scooped him up, catching his small hand to keep him from touching anything, and proceeded to describe how the transfer of the power between the generator and the grid took place and how this system had a double-pole, double-throw transfer switch gear as a safety feature because it was the best way to prevent shock or electrocution.
Her son looked fascinated by what the big man holding him so easily was saying about currents, shutoffs and sensors. And while she grasped the basics of what she needed to know, much of the detail escaped her just then. She had no problem, however, recognizing when something could be dangerous. As the day wore on, she even found herself wondering if there was any double sort of safety feature a woman could use to protect herself from the effects of a man who had the disturbing ability to draw her to him even as he pushed her away.
“I just want to know how to use a regular saw. Okay? The one you used to trim the trunk on the Christmas tree would work fine.”
“It would work on the smaller branches,” Erik agreed, the icy breeze carrying away the fog of his breath, “but not for those you need to cut to get something this size moved.