She nodded. ‘I’m fine.’
He let out a sigh of relief, unbuckled his seat belt and took the key out of the ignition. ‘There’s no point trying to start the car again. We won’t have enough traction to go any further, so I guess we’re walking. Make sure you wrap up well.’
He switched off the lights, slipped the key in his coat pocket and jumped down. ‘Wait. I’ll help you get down.’
The snow reaching up to his knees, he walked around to her side, yanked the door open and held his arms out. ‘Jump!’
She nodded and launched herself into his arms. Letting go of her once her boots touched the ground, he slammed the passenger door shut then stretched out his hand. With snow so deep, she would struggle to walk up the lane.
‘Hold my hand and walk in my steps.’
Stefan trudged in the snow, and Cassie walked in his footsteps. He held onto her small, gloved hand, aware that she trembled and stumbled more and her breathing sounded more ragged and uneven with every step.
‘Keep moving! Come on! Don’t stop!’ he urged every time he felt she was faltering.
He was focussing so much on taking her to the safety of the manor house that he ignored the telltale signs his own body was sending him. Ignored the increasing tightness across his shoulders, the sharpening ache in his lower back, and the burning in his legs. Stopping even for a minute was out of the question. With the snow falling thick and fast, and the icy gale howling from the fells, they needed to keep moving.
Cassie’s hand gripped his more tightly as they neared the top of the lane. She didn’t complain, didn’t ask to stop and catch her breath. At last the house emerged from the shadows, its outline barely visible in the storm.
‘Hang on a bit longer,’ he shouted, pulling harder on her hand. ‘We made it.’
He unlocked the front door, and they stumbled into the hallway, bringing the whirling blizzard in with them.
Having divested himself of his gloves and parka, he made a fire in record time and soon flames crackled and shot up in the fireplace. The wind blew into the chimney, wailing and lamenting, and making the fire hiss and pop. He let out a sigh of relief. At last they were safe.
He turned round and his chest tightened. Cassie had taken her boots off, and now stood in her stripy red and green socks, with her dungarees caked with snow from the knee down and her pom-pom hat still on. She looked like some Christmas elf the storm had blown in.
He wanted to smile. Tell her she could take her hat off now. But most of all he wanted to take her in his arms and hold her tight until she was warm and dry.
Instead, he stepped aside and gestured for her to come close to the fire.
‘I’m sorry I put you through this. I should have been more careful driving up the lane. I should have…’
She looked up. She had stopped shaking, but her face was still very pink from the freezing wind. ‘It could have been a lot nastier. You did well to get us back here safely.’ She touched her shoulder and pulled a face. ‘Although the way you dragged me up that lane it’s a miracle I didn’t dislocate my shoulder.’
‘I’m sorry,’ he said again, but she put her finger on his lips before he could say any more.
‘Stop apologising. Without you, I would never have made it back here. I never thought I would one day say this, but I’m glad to be at Belthorn!’
He captured her hand in his. It was freezing cold, and he cursed himself again. ‘I shouldn’t have listened to you. You would have been far better staying at the farm with your family instead of being stuck here with me.’
There was something in her eyes now – something warm and soft and inviting that reminded him of the way she had looked at him in the kitchen at the farm earlier. His heart skipped a beat, as hope, caution and cynicism warred inside him.
‘What if there was no one I’d rather be stuck with?’ she asked.
Chapter Twenty-Five
He didn’t reply. Didn’t say anything. Perhaps she hadn’t spoken loud enough. Or, and it was more likely, he was racking his brains to find words to let her down gently. Why had she even spoken? How stupid of her to throw herself at him again when he had turned her down once already that evening!
He let go of her hand, looked down. Shadows and flames danced in his eyes. ‘What do you mean?’
Would she dare tell him what she felt?
She tilted her chin up. ‘I’m glad to be snowed in with you, because I…’ She should be brave for once, and come out with it. ‘I am attracted to you.’ There, she had said it!
She held her breath, but he still didn’t speak. Her chest tightened, and a tidal wave of embarrassment flooded her.
‘All right…’ She sighed. She’d better make something up, slink away whilst her pride was still intact.
‘I’ll go to the kitchen and make some coffee. I’m sure you could do with some.’
She was about to turn away when he bent down, and pinned her to the spot with just one burning look.
‘I don’t want coffee.’
‘Oh?’ Her pulse picked up pace and she gazed at him in confusion. Was she misreading the heat and the longing in his eyes once again?
‘I want to do this.’ He lifted a hand to her face, and she tensed as he cupped her cheek and stroked the outline of her mouth with his thumb, making her shiver all over.
His eyes softened. He smiled, bent down further, and kissed her – a light, gentle touch of the lips, a barely there kiss, as if he was holding back to give her time to change her mind.
With a muffled cry, she lifted her hands to his shoulders, moulding her body to his and revelling in the feel of his broad, hard chest. He cradled her against him, and kissed her again. She tasted the snow on his lips, and the cold wind on his skin. She shivered with pleasure as he trailed kisses down her throat, and revelled in the strength of his arms around her as he held her tight and lifted her off the ground.
‘You’re cold,’ he said, putting her down lightly.
‘My clothes are wet.’
His fingers slid up and down her back, tracing patterns that made her skin tingle.
‘Mine are too. We should do something about it.’
‘What do you have in mind?’ She was getting dizzy and breathless now.
The hint of a smile flickered on his lips. ‘Perhaps we should take them off. We don’t want to catch a cold, do we?’
Did he really want her as badly as she wanted him, or was it all a dream? ‘It’s a wonderful idea.’ Her voice husky with desire and emotion, she looked at him and smiled.
At once heat blazed in his eyes, and he held her more tightly.
‘I love your smile, and I love those cute little dimples you have here…’ He kissed the side of her mouth. ‘And here.’ He kissed the other side. ‘It makes me crazy just to wonder if you have any in other places.’
Feeling wicked and naughty, and very much unlike her usual self, she let out a low chuckle. ‘Then why don’t you find out?’
He wanted her so much he ached, but he would take it slowly even if it killed him. Fire raged in his blood as he slid one hand at the back of her neck and stroked her soft, delicate skin. She shivered under his fingertips, and a rosy blush spread on her face.
The light from the fire painted sunny streaks in her hair as he combed his fingers through it. She threw her head back with a shaky sigh, offering her throat to his kisses.