Chapter 2
Two
“What about your luggage?” Slade asked as they strolled down the concourse toward the plane.
“I only have one bag. It’s above my seat.” Her honey-brown hair curled around her neck, and she absently lifted a strand and
looped it over her ear. A farm girl’s wardrobe didn’t fit in with the formal business attire she needed in San Francisco so
she had left most of her clothes with her father. And it hadn’t been hard to fit four days’ worth of clothes into her carry-on.
The brevity of her vacation was turning out to be a blessing in disguise.
Her spirits rose as they neared the plane. She was heading home for Christmas, and she wasn’t flying!
“Good. I only have a garment bag with me.”
She hesitated. “I do have a tote bag filled with presents.”
His gaze collided briefly with hers. “That shouldn’t be any problem.”
When he saw the monstrosity, he might change his mind, she mused with an inner smile.
In addition to a variety of odd-sized gifts, she was bringing her father several long loaves of sourdough bread.
The huge package was awkward, and she had required a flight attendant’s assistance to fit it in the compartment above her seat.
Normally she would have put everything in a second suitcase and checked it, but loaves of bread were so long—sticking out of her bag like doughy antennas—that none of her suitcases had been big enough.
The plane was nearly empty when they boarded, confirming her suspicion that the delay was going to be far longer than originally
anticipated. Checking her watch, she discovered that it was nearly noon. The other passengers had probably gone to get something
to eat.
Standing on tiptoes, she opened the luggage compartment.
“Do you need help?” Slade asked. A dark gray garment bag was folded neatly over his forearm.
“Here.” She handed him her one small bag. She heard him mumble something about appreciating a woman who packed light and smiled
to herself.
Straining to stretch as far as she could to get a good grip on her bag of gifts, she heard Slade grumble.
“Look at what some idiot put up there.”
“Pardon?”
“That bag. Good grief, people should know better than to try to force a tuba case up there.”
“That’s mine, and it isn’t a tuba case.” Extracting the bag containing the bread, so the bigger bag would be easier to extricate,
she handed it down to him.
Slade looked at it as if something were about to leap out and bite him. “Good heavens, what is this?”
What was it? What was wrong with his eyes? Bread had to be the most recognizable item in the world.
“A suitcase for a snake,” she replied sarcastically.
The beginnings of a grin touched his usually impassive features as he gently moved in front of her. “Let me get that thing
down before you drop it on your head.”
She stepped aside so he could put the bread and their carry-ons on her empty seat.
“Suitcase for a snake, huh?” Unexpectedly he smiled again.
The effect on her was dazzling. She had the feeling that this man didn’t often take the time to enjoy life. Only minutes before
she’d classified him as cheerless and intense. But when he smiled, the carefully guarded facade cracked and she felt she was
being given a rare glimpse of the intriguing man inside. And he fascinated her.
By the time they’d arranged things with the airline, the courtesy van from the rental agency had arrived to deliver them to
their vehicle.
“I put everything in my name,” Slade said on a serious note as he unlocked their car.
The snow continued to fall, creating a picturesque view and making her happier than ever that she wasn’t getting back on that
plane. “That’s fine.” He’d taken the small carry-on from her, leaving her to cope with the huge bag filled with Christmas
goodies.
“It means I’ll be doing all the driving.”
After another glance at the snowstorm, she was grateful.
“Well?” He looked as though he expected an argument.
“Do you have a driver’s license?”
Again a grin cracked the tight line of his mouth, touching his eyes. “Yes.”
“Then there shouldn’t be any problem.”
He paused, looking down at her, and smiled again. “Are you always so witty?”
Shelly chuckled, experiencing a rush of pleasure at her ability to make him smile. “Only when I try to be. Come on, loosen up. It’s Christmas.”
“I’ve got a meeting to attend. Just because it happens to fall close to a holiday doesn’t make a bit of difference.”
“Yeah, but just think, once you’re through, you can hurry home and spend the holidays with your family.”
“Right.”
The jagged edge of his clipped reply was revealing. She wondered if he had a family.
As they deposited their luggage in the trunk of the rented Taurus, she had the opportunity to study him. The proud, withdrawn
look revealed little of his thoughts; there was an air of independence about him. Even after their minimal conversation, she
realized that he possessed a keen and agile mind. He was a man of contrasts—pensive yet decisive, his highly organized facade
covering his sense of humor.
The young man at the rental desk had given Slade a map of the city and highlighted the route to the nearest freeway entrance
ramp, apologizing for the fact that the car’s built-in GPS was broken. Since that explained why the car was available at all,
neither she nor Slade had objected.
Now Slade pulled the map from his pocket and handed it to her. “Are you ready?”
“Forward, James,” she teased, climbing into the passenger seat and rubbing her bare hands together to generate some warmth.
When she’d left San Francisco that morning, she hadn’t dressed for snow.
With a turn of the key, Slade started the engine and adjusted the heater. “You’ll be warm in a minute.”
Shelly nodded, burying her hands in her jacket pockets. “You know, if it gets much colder, we might get snow before we reach Seattle.”
“Very funny,” he muttered dryly, snapping his seat belt into place. Hands gripping the wheel, he hesitated. “Do you want to
call your husband before we hit the road and I need you to navigate?”
“I’m visiting my dad,” she corrected him. “I’m not married. And no. If I told him what we’re doing, he’d only worry.”
Slade shifted gears, and they pulled onto the road.
“Do you want to contact . . . your wife?”
“I’m not married, either.”
“Oh.” She prayed that her tone wouldn’t reveal her satisfaction at the information. It wasn’t often that she found herself
so fascinated by a man. The crazy part was that she wasn’t entirely sure she liked him, but he certainly attracted her.
“I’m engaged,” he added.
“Oh.” She swallowed convulsively. So much for that. “When’s the wedding?”
The windshield wipers hummed ominously. “In approximately two years.”
Shelly nearly choked in an effort to hide her shock.
“Margaret and I have professional and financial goals we hope to accomplish before we marry.” He drove with his back suddenly
stiff, his expression turning chilly. “Margaret feels we should save fifty thousand dollars before we think about marriage,
and I agree. We both feel that having a firm financial foundation is the basis for a lasting marriage.”
“I can’t imagine waiting two years to marry the man I loved.”
“But then you’re entirely different from Margaret.”
As far as Shelly was concerned, that was the nicest thing anyone had said to her all day.
“We do agree on one thing, though. I feel a marriage should last forever.” But for her, love had to be more spontaneous and far less calculated.
“My parents had a marvelous marriage,” she said, filling the silence.
“I only hope that when I marry, my own will be as happy.” She went on to explain that her parents had met one Christmas and been married less than two months later on Valentine’s Day.
Their marriage, she told him with a sad smile, had been blessed with love and happiness for nearly twenty-seven years before her mother’s unexpected death.
It took great restraint for her not to mention that her parents had barely had twenty dollars between them when they’d taken their vows.
At the time her father had been studying veterinary medicine, with only two years of vet school behind him.
They’d managed without a huge bank balance.
From the tight lines around his mouth, she could tell that Slade found the whole story trite.
“Is your sweet tale of romance supposed to touch my heart?”
Stung, she straightened and looked out the side window at the snow-covered trees that lined the side of Interstate 5. “No.
I was just trying to find out if you had one.”
“Karate mouth strikes again,” he mumbled.
“Karate mouth?” She was too stunned by his unexpected display of wit to do anything more than repeat his statement.
“You have the quickest comeback of anyone I know.” But he said it with a small smile, and admiration flashed unchecked in
his gaze before he turned his attention back to the freeway.
Shelly was interested in learning more about Margaret, so she steered the conversation away from herself. “I imagine you’re
anxious to get back to spend Christmas with Margaret.” She regretted her earlier judgmental attitude toward Slade. He had
good reason for wanting his meeting over with.
“Margaret’s visiting an aunt in Arizona over the holidays. She left a couple of days ago.”
“So you won’t be together.” The more she heard about his fiancée, the more curious she was about a woman who actively wanted
to wait two years for marriage. “Did she give you your Christmas gift before she left?” The type of gift one gave was always
telling, she felt.
He hesitated. “Margaret and I agreed to forgo giving gifts this year.”
“No presents? That’s terrible.”
“I told you. We have financial goals,” he growled irritably. “Wasting money on trivialities simply deters us from our two-year
plan. Christmas gifts aren’t going to advance our desires.”
At the moment Shelly sincerely doubted that good ol’ Margaret and Slade had “desires.”
“I bet she’s just saying she doesn’t want a gift,” Shelly said. “She’s probably secretly hoping you’ll break down and buy
her something. It doesn’t have to be something big. Any woman appreciates roses.”
Slade gave an expressive shrug. “I thought flowers would be a nice touch myself, but she claims they make her sneeze. Besides,
roses at Christmas are ridiculously expensive. A total waste of money, when you think about it.”
“Total,” Shelly echoed under her breath. She was beginning to get a clearer and far less flattering picture of Slade Garner
and his insanely-practical fiancée.
“Did you say something?” A hint of challenge echoed in his cool tone.
“Not really.” Leaning forward, she fiddled with the radio, trying to find some decent music. “What’s Margaret do, by the way?”
“She’s a systems analyst.”
Shelly arched both eyebrows in mute comment. That was exactly the type of occupation she would have expected from a nuts-and-bolts person like Margaret. “What about children?”
“What about them?”
She realized that she was prying, but she couldn’t help herself. “Are you planning a family?”
“Of course. We’re hoping that Margaret can schedule a leave of absence in eight years.”
“Eight years?” She looked at him assessingly. “You’ll be nearly thirty!” The exclamation burst from her lips before she could
hold it back.
“Thirty-one, actually. Do you disapprove of that, too?”
She swallowed uncomfortably and paid an inordinate amount of attention to the radio, frustrated because she couldn’t find
a single radio station. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to sound so judgmental. It’s just that—”
“It’s just that you’ve never been goal oriented.”
“But I have,” she argued. “I’ve always wanted to be a court reporter. It’s a fascinating job.”
“I imagine that you’re good at anything you put your mind to.”
The unexpected compliment caught her completely off guard. “What a nice thing to say.”
“If you put your mind to it, you might figure out why you can’t get the radio working.”
Her gaze flickered automatically from Slade to the dial. Before she could comment, he reached over and pushed a button. “It’s
a bit difficult to hear anything when the radio isn’t turned on.”
“Right.” She’d been too preoccupied with asking about Margaret to notice. Color flooded into her cheeks at her own stupidity. Slade flustered her as no man had in a long time. She had the feeling that, in a battle of words, he would parry her barbs as expertly as a professional swordsman.
She found a station playing Christmas carols, and music filled the car. Warm and snug, she leaned back against the headrest
and hummed along, gazing at the falling flakes.
“With the snow and all, it really feels like Christmas,” she murmured, fearing more questions would destroy the tranquil mood.
“It’s caused nothing but problems.”
“I suppose, but it’s so lovely.”
“Of course you think it’s lovely. You’re sitting in a warm chauffeur-driven car, listening to ‘Silent Night.’”
“Grumble, grumble, grumble,” she tossed back lightly. “Bah, humbug!”
“Bah, humbug,” he echoed, and then, to her astonishment, he laughed.
The sound of it was rich and full, and she couldn’t stop herself from laughing with him. When the next song was a Bing Crosby
Christmas favorite, she sang along. Soon Slade’s deep baritone joined her clear soprano in sweet harmony. The lyrics spoke
of dreaming, and her mind conjured up her own longings. Despite his rough edges, she found herself comfortable with this man,
when she’d expected to find a dozen reasons to dislike him. Instead, she’d discovered that she was attracted to someone who
was engaged to another woman. A man whose responses showed he was intensely loyal. That was the usual way her life ran. She
was attracted to a man she couldn’t have, experiencing feelings that would lead nowhere. She wasn’t even entirely sure that
her insights about him were on base. As uncharitable as it sounded, she might be overestimating his appeal simply because
she considered him too good for someone like Margaret.
Disgusted with herself, she closed her eyes and rested her head against the window.
The only sounds were the soft melodies playing on the radio and the discordant swish of the windshield wipers.
Occasionally a gust of wind would cause the car to veer slightly.
She decided to ignore her troublesome feelings and lost herself in thoughts of Christmas.
The next thing she knew, she was being shaken by a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Shelly.”
With a start she bolted upright. “What’s wrong?”
Slade had pulled over to the shoulder of the freeway. The snow was so thick that she couldn’t see two feet in front of her.
“I don’t think we can go any further,” he announced.