A Winter’s Tale by Carrie Elks (13)

Kitty lay awake in her bed long after the rest of the family had gone to sleep. She’d listened to the sounds of the creaking house, hearing the clicking pipes, the groaning shingles, and a collection of other noises that formed the soul of the mansion. Each house she’d lived in had its own soundtrack, as distinctive as a fingerprint would be to a human, but this was the closest she’d ever heard to her childhood home. It could have been the age of the house, or the fact it was filled with people. Or perhaps it was simply a coincidence that the tap-tap of the water in the old pipes seemed to have the same rhythm as her father’s London house.

There was another similarity, too. As a child she’d lived in the attic room, part of the house originally intended for servants. Now here she was again, nestled under the roof of another house, feeling thoughtful and alone. Unlike this one, though, her London bedroom had been cramped, with a low roof, but the magical feeling of being on top of the world grabbed a young Kitty every time she climbed the three flights of stairs to get up there. It was a refuge from her family, from her noisy, nosy sisters who could sometimes be too much. It was her haven from problems at school, and somewhere she could hide from her kind yet befuddled father, who when he was busy concentrating on his work would often mistake her for Cesca or Juliet.

Right now her bedroom was somewhere she could lie and think about what happened earlier, when Adam had kept grabbing her hand and stealing her popcorn, wearing a huge grin that stole her breath away. She’d called him annoying but he was anything but. Everything about him had been alluring.

Even when Jonas came and sat with them, she could still feel Adam’s stare. It burned her skin and sped up her heartbeat, and she hadn’t wanted it to end.

Of course it had, and he’d stood up to kiss his now-sleeping mother, telling Annie he had to leave because he had ‘something waiting for him’ back at the cabin. They’d all known he was talking about the dog, well, all of them save Jonas, yet Kitty couldn’t help but feel disappointed at his departure. He’d shot her a final look, and mouthed that he’d see her in the morning, and her chest constricted all over again.

It was hard to understand how somebody so infuriating could also be so completely attractive. When they’d sat together watching that movie it was as though a chemical reaction was taking place between them. It left her breathless and aching, wondering if he was going to touch her every time he reached for more popcorn. And if she was honest, every cell in her body was hoping he would. He was like an addiction.

She spent the night tossing and turning with nervous anticipation, replaying the scenes of the evening in her mind into the early hours. Was it really only a few days since she’d first met him? She’d been so afraid as he’d grabbed his gun and stalked towards her, his face grim even though his only concern had been for the suffering animal. Then so angry when he chewed her out by the lake, his mouth drawn into a tight, bleached line.

From the first moment they’d met, the two of them had clashed, like they were drawn together by a magnet. And now she didn’t seem able to escape the attraction.

Maybe she didn’t want to.

She slept through her alarm, not waking until it was gone six. Panic immediately gripped her chest as she realised the hour. In a tangle of fresh clothes and toiletries she somehow managed to make herself look decent, before running downstairs to find Jonas colouring at the old kitchen table. Crayons were scattered over the table, red, green and yellow scrawls across the paper. He was filling in the outline of a Christmas tree, drawing the baubles, making the star stand out. Why did he have to be up so early today of all days?

‘There you are. We weren’t expecting you so early.’ Annie’s smile was warm as she looked up from the table. ‘We figured you deserved a lie-in after all your hard work.’

Kitty reached out to ruffle Jonas’s hair. ‘I should have been up earlier,’ she said, then shot Annie a pointed look. ‘I’ve got that errand to run, and things to do this morning.’

Annie beckoned Kitty over to the corner of the kitchen, pulling her into the pantry and closing the door so Jonas couldn’t hear them. ‘If you’re going down to the cabin, I found a box of decorations we didn’t use yesterday. Could you take them down and offer them to Adam?’

Annie knew all about the arrangement between Kitty and Adam, and the fact she was due to go down to the cabin each day. Though her eyebrows had risen up when Kitty recounted the story, it had seemed more in surprise than in judgement.

‘Does he want to decorate his house?’ Kitty couldn’t disguise the disbelief in her voice.

Annie grinned. ‘He may not realise he does, but with a little gentle persuasion…’

Kitty’s eyes widened. She’d heard all this before. What made Annie think she could make Adam do anything? ‘He won’t listen to me. The last time I went down there the dog had messed all over his floor.’

‘You’d be surprised.’ Annie was having none of it. ‘You persuaded him to look after the dog, not to mention getting him to agree to a movie night with his mother. I’m thinking bringing a little festive cheer to his cabin is all in a morning’s work for you.’

Were they talking about the same person here?

‘You’ve got it wrong,’ Kitty protested. ‘He doesn’t like me at all. Remember how he treated me when I totalled my car on the way here? He made me walk up the drive in the most useless pair of shoes.’

Annie shook her head. ‘I saw how he looked at you last night. Believe me, there’s nothing that can make Adam do something he doesn’t want to. But when he was looking at you, oh boy, there were some serious pheromones flying through the air.’

Kitty spluttered with laughter. ‘Pheromones?’ She wasn’t expecting that. Annie had a way of surprising her.

‘Pah, you know what I mean. When that boy looks at you, it brings me in mind of the day Mr Drewer asked my daddy for my hand in marriage. And back then my parents had a party line, he had to send them a telegram to arrange a time. He had seven days to stew about that conversation with my father.’

Kitty couldn’t help but smile at the sweetness of Annie’s story. There was a timelessness to the old housekeeper that made it hard to believe she was once a young girl filled with romantic hopes and dreams. Yet hope was timeless, just like love. Kitty needed them both. Craved them, even. Not that she was sure she’d ever find them.

‘OK, I’ll take the decorations down with me,’ she agreed. ‘But if he shouts at me, it was your idea.’

Annie laughed. ‘I can take that. Now shoo, it’s not long until Christmas. You and I have a lot to do.’

It felt so lovely to be included in a plan that it brought tears to Kitty’s eyes. The Kleins may not have been family – nor was Annie come to that – yet there was something about staying in this house that made her feel like she’d come home.

Right then, in an old mansion in the middle of the West Virginian mountains, covered with snow, icicles and a thousand twinkling lights, it felt as though she was starring in a holiday special all of her own.

 

Adam had been awake for most of the night. His inability to sleep reminded him of those times when he was filming in a foreign country, his mind full of questions, his body on high alert. Even in his downtime he hadn’t allowed himself to wind down. Now, cooped up in his cabin in the middle of a West Virginia winter, he felt as though he was getting ready for battle.

Except this time, it was with himself.

There was no way he should have flirted with Kitty last night. It was as though somebody else had taken hold of him, let his guard down, until all that was left was the boy he’d once been. Hopeful, honest, vulnerable even. Not the world-weary man he’d become.

More than most he knew where vulnerability got him.

He’d been sitting in his running gear for hours, ready to leave just as soon as she walked through the door. He couldn’t even spend ten minutes cooped up with her in here. Didn’t trust himself to behave the way he knew he should. If he could put some distance between them, maybe he could control the attraction that kept drawing him toward her.

The puppy came padding over to him, sniffing at his hand. Adam had already washed the floor once that morning, grumbling at the dog as he did so, and was rewarded with a wagging tail and a hopeful nuzzle for his efforts.

Growing up, he’d never had a pet. His parents had been too busy when he was small, and when he was a teenager he’d been a boarder at school, only visiting home during vacations. That itinerant lifestyle was no place for a beloved dog. Then, of course, as an adult he’d been even worse, leaving the country at a moment’s notice, his work taking him all over the world. These past few months had been the first time he’d settled down in one place for any amount of time, and only now was it dawning on him just how lonely a lifestyle he’d made for himself.

The puppy started panting, his tongue lolling as he came to a stop. Adam reached out to pet him, running a hand down his thick, curly fur, and the puppy breathed out a contented sigh. The next moment his back stiffened, his ears turning up as if on high alert. Running to the door, he barked loudly at the dark wood, his tail wagging.

It came as no surprise to Adam when there was a soft knock on the door. He tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair, pushed himself up to standing and then strode across the wooden floor. His heart was beating furiously by the time he reached the entranceway, and he had to take a deep breath before reaching out to open the latch.

Centre himself, that’s what he needed to do. She wasn’t anybody special, just a pretty British girl who’d taken his fancy. He’d faced bigger demons than her before and still come out alive.

His mouth went dry as soon as he opened the door. Kitty was standing on his porch, her blonde hair half-hidden beneath a red woollen cap, and a matching scarf wrapped warmly around her neck. She was carrying a box full of what looked like tinsel and ornaments, but the thing he really noticed was the huge grin on her face.

She looked so pleased to see him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so disarmed. Half of him wanted to scoop her up in his arms and swing her around the room, while the other half wanted to run far, far away, where he wouldn’t have to be entranced by her.

The second half won. He grabbed his running shoes, pulling them on while successfully avoiding her stare. Ignoring the gentleman inside him who wanted to take the box out of her hands and relieve her of her burden, he cleared his throat.

‘You only just caught me. I’m off out for my run.’ Did he sound nonchalant enough? Adam wasn’t sure.

‘Oh.’

Only a single syllable, yet he could hear every emotion contained within it. Disappointment, surprise, sadness. It made him feel even more of an asshole than he already did, but it also strengthened his resolve to avoid her. She didn’t deserve his mood swings.

‘Annie gave me this,’ she said, still holding the box. ‘She wants us to decorate the cabin.’

He felt even worse. ‘You can do it while I’m out. You’ll probably be gone before I get back, just be sure to slip the door on the latch and make certain the dog is inside. I don’t want to have to search for him in the snow.’

He felt, rather than saw, her flinch.

‘You’re not staying? Annie sent down some hot chocolate, too.’ Kitty pulled a flask from the box, lifting it in front of her like it was a prize. ‘Knowing Annie it will taste fabulous.’

Could she make him feel any worse?

He could take off his shoes right now. He could lift the flask out of her hands, grab a couple of mugs and pour out the sweet liquid, giving her a smile as they clinked their cups together. They could pull out the decorations, sharing laughter as he recounted tales of his childhood holidays, telling her the provenance of the old baubles that were sticking out of the box.

If he was any kind of a man, that’s exactly what he would do. But he wasn’t that man, and as sure as ice would melt in springtime, he knew she deserved more than that.

‘I’m not a big one for the holidays.’ He couldn’t look at her face. ‘Decorate if you want, or don’t bother. I won’t tell Annie either way.’

With a shrug, he pulled open the door and turned to look at her one last time. Her expression of disappointment seared its way into his mind, imprinting itself like a brand.

Adam stepped out on the porch, closing the door behind him. He tried to wipe out the memory of her distress as he started to warm up his muscles. Jumping to the ground, not bothering to use the steps, he let the spikes in his shoes steady his gait. The run would do him good, make him forget about everything except the air in his lungs. He’d run faster, harder, further. Do whatever it took to erase her face from his memory.

To forget how she’d stared at him, her eyes wide, her pretty mouth open. The way her forehead creased as she still held tightly to the box was still so clear in his mind even when he’d crossed the wide-open space of the meadow and made it to the treeline.

He’d hurt her.

Without meaning to, without wanting to, he’d caused her pain anyway. And though he’d been trying to avoid doing exactly that, somehow he’d ended up acting like an asshole.

‘Shit.’ He slapped his palm against the rough bark of a pine tree. He’d stopped running, even though he hadn’t yet even broken a sweat. His mind was consumed with thoughts of her, and nothing else really seemed to matter. Not his memories of that damn documentary in Colombia, or his breakdown in LA, not even the conflict that raged within him, telling him to keep the hell away from her.

‘Damn it.’ His hands balled into fists, the way they always did when he sensed danger. Without really thinking about his next move, he turned around and started to run back to the cabin, his eyes trained on the wooden building. It took him less than a minute to get there, his breathlessness more a factor of the anticipation coursing through him than any exertion it might have caused. Still he ran up the steps and yanked the door open, surprised to find her still standing right in front of it, the box cradled in her arms.

‘You’re back?’ The creases in her forehead deepened. ‘What happened?’

Adam didn’t reply. Instead he took the box from her grasp, and dropped it to the floor. The dog trotted over and tried to sniff the decorations, and Adam had to swat him away. The look of surprise on Kitty’s face – so much more welcome than the sadness of only a few moments before – made him want to laugh out loud. It sent a sensation of lightness through his being, as if he were floating in the sky. He wasn’t sure of the last time he felt so good.

Her bottom lip dropped open, enough for him to see the tip of her tongue just inside, making the urge to kiss her come over him again. He wanted to taste her, to be tasted, to see exactly how she felt against him, but he didn’t have a clue how to make this happen.

‘I’m sorry.’ It was the only thing he could think of to say. He wanted to convey so much in those two words, yet they fell far short of his needs.

‘For what?’

He shook his head. ‘I’ve no idea. For shooting that deer? For making you cry? For screaming at you by the lake?’

Kitty laughed then. A warm throaty chuckle that seemed out of place coming from her lips. Yet it touched him deep inside, enough to make him reach out and cup the side of her face with his palm. With his other he took her hat off, brushing the hair from her brow.

‘You’re so damned pretty.’

‘I am?’ She frowned. It only increased his estimation of her, a beautiful girl who didn’t even know it, somebody who was lovely on the inside and out.

He nodded slowly. ‘You are. With your glowing skin and your shiny eyes and your plump, kissable mouth. You’re a sight for sore eyes.’

‘Kissable?’

His heart stuttered when she smiled.

Still cradling her face, he dragged his thumb down until he was running it along her bottom lip. She stared up at him, wide-eyed, the open, trusting expression sending a shot of pure pleasure to his veins.

‘Kissable,’ he agreed. Dropping his head down, he touched his brow to hers. They were so close he could feel her lashes fluttering against him as she blinked, and the warm rush of her breath against his skin. Still they stared at each other, both silent, yet wanting to say everything, their eyes sharing a conversation that couldn’t be had with words. Then Adam wrapped his hand around her neck, angling her face to his, before pressing his cool lips against her warm mouth.

It felt so good he almost lost his mind.