He sets off back round the hotel, and I tramp along after him placing my feet in his tracks again. “Where are we going?” I ask. “Is it back inside to sit by the fire?”
He pauses with his hands on his hips, looking assessingly at the drive. “I’m going to have a quick look at the lane and see how deep the snow is.”
“What? Really?”
He nods. “You go in, Joe. I can do this on my own.”
I fold my arms over my chest. “No way. I’ll stay out here in case you need me.” I pause. “Try not to need me unless you’re actually dying though, Lachie. I detest being wet.” I stop talking and stare at him. He looks as if I just struck him over the head. “You okay? What’s the matter? Have you got snow somewhere unmentionable? You’re very talented with your unmentionables, so maybe don’t get them frostbitten.”
“You called me Lachie.”
I blink. “No, I didn’t.”
He nods. “Yes, you did. You haven’t done that since we were together.”
He’s right. I started calling him it a few days into being married because I love nicknames. If I care about you, I will always shorten your name in some way.
“I’m sorry. I know you don’t like it,” I say.
He stares at me. “What the fuck makes you say that?”
I shrug. “You never displayed any fondness for nicknames. You didn’t use one for me.”
“Your name is Joe. There isn’t much shortening of that.”
“True.” I groan. “Don’t make a big deal out of it,” I warn him.
“No, of course not,” he says solemnly, his eyes dancing.
“It’s just because we’re here, and it feels like we’re friends now.”
“We are.” He steps closer and tugs a lock of hair that’s escaped my hat. “Don’t stop,” he orders. “I like it.”
“Well, you know how I do live to please you.”
“Really? And yet despite your best efforts not to, you still manage it every day. Okay.” He steps back. “I may be some time.”
“That’s rather too much like Titus Oates for me to be comfortable.”
“There are other men who’ve said it far more than him in history.”
“Who?”
“Any man who’s had to wait for you to get ready.”
“You’re so funny,” I say sourly, my lips twitching at his husky laughter.
Finally, he gets himself under control. “I’m just going to see how far I can get down the lane.”
“Okay, but be careful,” I say anxiously and then try to backtrack. “Of course, I’d say that to anyone.”
“How about Jeffery Dahmer?”
“Well, he’d probably be an easier guest. At least you wouldn’t have to cook for him. Be careful,” I shout after him as he strides out into the snow. I shield my eyes from the wind and snowflakes, watching him as he makes his way down the drive. “Maybe you should tie yourself to something so you can find your way back.”
He stops and turns around. “You’re standing right there.”
“Well, I’m not much use. But I’m still staying here. Go, Team Moore.”
He shakes his head and continues walking. “I grew up in Norway, Joe. This is nothing.”
“What? You grew up in Norway? How did I not know this?”
He stops again. “Could we possibly talk about this when we’re back inside in front of a fire?”
“Of course.” I wave a hand. “Carry on.” He gets two steps down and I call out, “It’s just that this really is something I should have known about my own husband. If someone at a party had asked if anyone had ever lived in Norway, I should have been able to answer with confidence, ‘Why yes. My husband, the international man of mystery actually lived there’.”
“Does that come up at many of your dinner parties?”
“Who knows?” I say gloomily. “I’m usually blitzed or working.”
“You are a creature of extremes, my love.”
I wait nervously as he staggers on. The snow is up to his knees now and it’s very slow going.
“Be careful,” I call.
“Call me Lachie again, and I will.”
“Oh my god, that’s fucking blackmail.”
“I never said I played fair.” He stops and teeters on the edge of the road. “Oh, I’m going over the edge! I’ll fall and only a cute nickname will save me.”
“You are going to get such a spanking when you come back. Stop it!” I shout. “Lachlan.”
He puts a hand to his ear and does a rather spectacular dip and sway.
“Oh, Lachie, don’t,” I call but his moment of triumph is unfortunately short lived as he loses his balance, teeters, spins, and lands headfirst in a drift.
“Oh, bad luck,” I call over-insincerely. “Poor you.”
He sits up, spitting snow out. “I think we can safely say we’re stuck here,” he shouts.
“I called that one myself, and look at me. I’m dry and warm.” I shake my head. “Idiot.”
“I’m your idiot,” he calls.
“And I’m sure that’s a proposition to make any boy’s knees weak, Lachlan Roger Moore.”
“That is not my middle name.”
“Callum is so boring. Lachlan Roger Moore is much better.”
Chapter
Fifteen
Joe
Despite the laughter, I fuss over him as we come into the hotel. “You’re soaked,” I chide, brushing the snow off his coat. He has two hectic spots of colour on his cheeks and I put my hand on his forehead worriedly. The old sweet charge goes through me, but I ignore it. “Get upstairs and into a hot shower and then put some warm clothes on.”
“Thank you, Daddy.”
I tap his nose. “Never call me that when I might pop a hard on.” Damn. I’m flirting again. “Sorry…”
“Save it, Circe.”
“That’s Captain Circe to you as your boss in this disastrous enterprise,” I shout after him and laugh when he raises his middle finger at me.
As I take off the parka and hang it up, my mind wanders to thoughts of friendship. Laughing with him this morning has been easy, fun. What would it take to make those feelings last? Is it the magic of the snow and being stuck in Scotland that’s turned Lachlan into a friendly, mostly cooperative beast? London, and going back to his office for endless hours, might very well turn him cold in all the wrong ways again.
I shake my head. “Enough,” I say and head off to shed my coat and clean the bedrooms. That should bring me down to earth with a squidgy mop.
Three hours later, I bang into the kitchen through the swinging door. “That was terrible,” I say, collapsing at the table. “I didn’t need a duster. I should have had a hazmat suit.”
Lachlan turns from the stove where he’s been stirring something. “Was it that bad?” he says, his mouth twitching.
“I’ve seen things,” I say in a tone of doom. “Things that no man should ever see.”