His stomach knotted as he followed the flight attendant to the cockpit.

The pilot and the co-pilot nodded a greeting to him.

“What’s going on?” Dane demanded.

“There’s a snowstorm over the Northeast that’s bigger and more violent than anticipated,” the captain said. “We won’t be able to land in New York City.”

He swore under his breath. Allyson wasn’t going to like this one bit. “Where are we going to land instead?”

“We can turn and head toward Richmond, Virginia,” the captain answered.

“Are we going to be able to get out of Richmond once we land?” Dane asked. “Maybe take a train or a rental car?”

“The city of New York is basically at a standstill for the next twenty-four hours at least,” the captain replied. “A state of emergency is probably going to be declared. People have been advised to stay indoors. Non-essential travel is basically impossible.”

“So, you’re saying—”

“If it isn’t an emergency, forget it,” the captain informed him.

With travel to New York now impossible, it looked that they weren’t going to be getting home until at least Christmas Eve. Which was cutting things close in regard to their Christmas plans. “I don’t think my wife’s going to want to spend the next twenty-four hours in Virginia.”

“We’ve got to land somewhere,” the co-pilot said.

A sudden idea seized him. He knew a way to salvage this trip and make his wife happy. “Wait. Do we have enough fuel to fly further south?”

“How far south are we talking, sir?” the pilot asked.

“I’m talking way south of the border,” Dane said. “I think we can take a detour for a little vacation out of the country.”

~~*~~

HE ROUSED HER BEFORE landing. Allyson looked so peaceful sleeping on the bed, wrapped in a blanket. But he needed to wake her up. Putting his hand on her shoulder, he gently shook her awake.

Her eyes opened, and she yawned. “Is it time to land already? How long have I been asleep?”

“Hours and hours,” he said.

She frowned. “That doesn’t sound right. I thought we were going to be landing in New York much sooner than that.”

Dane shook his head. “A storm has hit the city, so we won’t be able to make it for the next twenty-four hours at least.”

Allyson bolted upright. “What?”

“I know this isn’t what you wanted, but at least this trip won’t be a complete waste—”

“What do you mean a storm has hit the city?” she asked.

“The snowstorm that everyone predicted came earlier, and is a hell of a lot worse than anticipated,” he said.

“Well, maybe we can catch a train and—”

“Believe me, I already suggested that,” he interrupted. “New York City is on lockdown. Nobody’s getting in or out unless there’s an emergency.”

She threw her hands up in frustration. “This is an emergency. The caterers are coming tomorrow morning. We have to visit Holly and James tomorrow evening. And I have...” A pause. Then her eyes widened.

He eyed her suspiciously. “You have what?”

“Nothing,” she said, her expression hardening. “I have nothing. Never mind. Where are we landing? If we’re close enough to New York, maybe we can still make it late tomorrow night. Maybe we can still salvage Christmas Eve.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be possible.”

Her face fell. “What? Why not?”

“We’re a little further away from New York than you realize.” He smiled. “We’re going to be in the Bahamas in less than half an hour. You’ll be getting time off after all.”

“The Bahamas?” she said in a disapproving tone.

“Yes. The Bahamas. That warm, beautiful place where the sun is almost always shining, and we won’t freeze to death.” He crossed his arms. “You know how many people would kill to have a Christmas vacation in the tropics?”

“Dane, this is crazy. How could you?” she fumed. “Our families are expecting us. The caterers are expecting us. We have a Christmas dinner to plan.”

He stood up and looked down at her. “I thought spending time at the villa we got married in would lift your spirits. Relax you. Clearly I guessed wrong.”

She sighed. “You should have consulted me.”

“I just wanted to surprise you,” he said. Somehow, he’d hoped the happy memories there would take her mind off the snowstorm. “Today’s the 22^nd, so there’s still a good chance we’ll make it to New York on Christmas Eve. I know that makes it tougher to plan everything, but we can’t change the weather.” He stared at her, trying to read her facial expression, but wasn’t able to get a hint of what she was thinking. He sighed and added softly, “We’re landing soon, so you should get ready.”

With a nod, she merely said, “Okay.”

They landed at the airport soon after, and hailed a cab to take them to their villa. Allyson sat through most of the trip in chilly silence, her face like stone.

How had he screwed this up so badly? They couldn’t land in New York. If they needed a detour, wasn’t this the next best place? They’d been through a heck of a lot as of late; a couple days here would be relaxing. Wouldn’t it? He really had thought she would’ve appreciated time to unwind and spend some alone time with him. Her heart had been set on a perfect Christmas with family, but her reaction had seemed particularly negative. Almost as if there was more to it than she was letting on. But what?

When they arrived at the villa, he took their luggage out of the cab while Allyson paid the cab driver.

It was dark out, but the villa was well lit.  They made their way inside.

As expected Mrs. McKenzie, the housekeeper, was already in the villa. She greeted them in the foyer and filled them in on some of the latest news around town. Dane had contacted Mrs. McKenzie and Chef Durand on the flight, and they had been gracious enough to head down to the villa on such short notice. From the look of the place, Mrs. McKenzie had already gotten to work making everything neat and tidy.

A mouthwatering savory scent wafted through the air.

“What is that wonderful smell?” Allyson seemed to perk up for the first time since he had told her they couldn’t head to New York tonight.

“Chef Durand is preparing some stewed pork for you both,” Mrs. McKenzie replied.

“Thank you so much for coming down so close to Christmas.” Allyson hugged the small, portly woman.

Mrs. McKenzie beamed. “You’re most welcome!” She snapped her fingers. “Oh! I just had a thought! The Christmas decorations are in storage. Would you like me to put those up?”

Allyson bit her lip and hesitated. “Oh, Mrs. McKenzie, I don’t want to put you through so much trouble.”

Mrs. McKenzie waved her hand good-naturedly. “It’s no trouble. Tell you what... why don’t I come down tomorrow morning to put up the decorations? We can spruce up the villa.”

“We’d be happy to help you,” Dane volunteered. “Maybe that could get everyone into the Christmas spirit?” He glanced meaningfully at his wife, but her attention was still focused on Mrs. McKenzie.

“Mr. Prescott, perhaps we could also ask the gardener to come down and help us with the trees on the property?” Mrs. McKenzie suggested.

“That’s a terrific idea.” Dane reached into his pocket and took out his cell phone. He sent off a quick text message to the gardener Mr. Bell. With the message sent, he hauled their luggage up the stairs and into the master bedroom. The bedroom had been cleaned, with fresh sheets put on the bed, and there was the distinct scent of furniture polish in the air. A cool breeze came in through the open double doors that led outside to the balcony.

Allyson appeared in the room. “We’re badly dressed for the tropics,” she said, gesturing to herself.

He had taken off his coat on the plane, but he was still dressed in a suit. And his wife still had on her sweater and boots. “There should be some extra clothes in storage,” he informed her. “We usually try to have extra items in the villa in case of emergency.”

“I guess right now is a bit of an emergency.” She looked downcast, and her shoulders sagged.

Dane had no idea how to lift her mood, because he had no idea what was troubling her. Not really. There had to be more to her disappointment than getting into New York later than they had hoped. After all, there was still a good chance that they’d get back to the city in time for Christmas. His wife was going through something she refused to share with him. He knew what that was like. To hide the truth from the people he cared about. After all, when he started to have doubts about staying on as Prescott’s CEO he’d been hesitant to share his feelings with her.

His insides were in knots, but right now he was certain that pushing her for answers would only backfire.

“How about I go get some stuff out of storage while you call your family?” Hopefully, talking to her family would help to lift his wife’s spirits.

She didn’t say a word. All she did was nod and head out of the bedroom, leaving Dane behind to wonder what his wife was keeping from him.

~~*~~

“I TOLD MY BROTHER THAT we might miss Christmas entirely,” Allyson informed her husband. She tried not to sigh, but it was too hard trying to hide her disappointment. She just wanted to be back in New York.

They were watching TV in the living room, reclining on the sofa while they waited for Chef Durand to prepare dinner.

Dane frowned. “Why? There’s still a good chance we’ll make it by Christmas Eve.”

“What if the storm lasts longer than that?” she asked. “I don’t want to give my family false hope. If they expect to have Christmas dinner and I’m not there to organize it, there’s no point. Maybe we should just cancel Christmas this year.”

He looked at her, stunned. “You’ve been focused on this for weeks. All you’ve wanted was to celebrate with our families. Now you want to cancel?”

“I don’t want to cancel,” she said, “but we might have to.” A pang knifed through her heart. Cancelling Christmas was the last thing she wanted to do, but it seemed the only solution under the circumstances.

“Maybe we can ask some family members to get everything set up,” he said. “Or we can tell them to have Christmas without us.”

She shook her head. “My family will never agree to having Christmas without me. If I don’t show up they’ll probably skip out on spending Christmas with your parents and do their own thing. You and I are the glue that keeps our families together. Without us, there really is no point.”

“You really believe that? We’re all connected now,” he said. “We’re all one family. They don’t need us to celebrate as a family.”

“But we do need them,” she said miserably. “I’ve never had a Christmas without my family. We celebrate together every year. Now it’s only the two of us.”

“Is that so bad?”

Regret made her body tense up. “That’s not what I meant. Of course, that isn’t bad. You and I are a family. But you said it yourself—I’ve been planning this for weeks. Now it looks like all my hard work might have been for nothing.”

Reaching for the remote, he started flipping through the channels. Finally, he stopped on one of the weather channels. “Let’s keep an eye on the weather and see what happens.”

The weather reporter was updating on the local weather, so she turned her attention back to her husband. “Tell me something... would you rather be here for Christmas than in New York?”

His brow furrowed. “What difference does that make?”

“It makes a difference to me,” she said. “I’ve been planning this for weeks, and for most of it you haven’t seemed all that enthusiastic about having Christmas with our families.”

Dane ran his hand through his hair, frustration etched on his face. “Why are you trying to pick a fight?”

“I’m not,” she said. “I just think you’re more excited about being here alone than with our families.”

“I asked you numerous times to let me help you with all your plans,” he muttered. “But you refused.”

“I wanted to do it on my own—”

“Yeah, well, we’ve been doing a lot of stuff on our own lately,” he said bitterly.

Taking a deep breath to settle her nerves, Allyson said, “I don’t want to fight. I only wish you had consulted me before you decided to fly us all the way out here.”

“I didn’t,” he said flatly, “so we’re going to have to deal with things as they are.”

She felt like there was a dark cloud hanging over her. This wasn’t how their holiday was supposed to go. They weren’t supposed to be arguing this way. She hadn’t meant to get into it with him, but she was so aggravated. Part of it was because Christmas was going to be ruined, and part of it was because she was going to miss her appointment. The very appointment that she had arranged with Cameron.

Then it dawned on her. She had probably lashed out at Dane because she was so anxious about missing the appointment. Everything had been set up for tomorrow and now she was going to miss it. Telling Dane the truth now was out of the question. The stakes were far too high now. Revealing the truth so suddenly would lead to consequences she couldn’t even predict. Better to find a way to solve this on her own. “Yes,” she said finally. “We do have to deal with things as they are.”

He sighed. “The truth is, I’d much rather spend Christmas here with you than with our families. We haven’t spent time together in so long. I thought coming down here would give us a chance to reconnect.”

Panic made her inhale sharply. “You make things sound so dire.”

“They could be.” Dane took her hand in his, the touch of his hand making her stomach flutter. “I know it’s probably ridiculous, but I’m scared that I’m losing you. Losing us.”

A lump formed in her throat. “You’re not.”

He cast her a wary glance. “Are you sure about that? Because every time we might have the chance to spend time together something comes up. Or you’re distracted. Or you’re focused on work. Or it’s Christmas plans. Plans you don’t include me in, by the way.”

The panic started mounting. Gripped her until crazy, desperate thoughts flashed in her mind. Was he that unhappy with their marriage? Would he leave her? She shut her eyes, trying to think of a way to salvage this.

Because that was what she did. Fixed things. That was why she hadn’t wanted Dane’s help organizing Christmas. Now that she was a high-society wife, all eyes would be on her. Expecting her to deliver the perfect Christmas. It was a pressure that he didn’t seem to understand. And with that pressure came all the stress. All the worry. All her lies. She had given in to the pressure, and now it terrified her that the cost would be her marriage.

She chose her next words carefully. “I know things have been hectic. I’m not trying to push you away. Really, I’m not.”

When he released her hand, she had never felt so terrified of losing him as she did the moment he stopped touching her.

He sighed, an awful sadness flashing in his eyes. “I love you, Allyson. More than life itself. But... I don’t see how this marriage is going to work.”