Snow Crystal Trilogy: Sleigh Bells in the Snow / Suddenly Last Summer / Maybe This Christmas

His mother probably wasn’t even awake yet.

Rubbing his hand over his face to clear the fog of less than four hours sleep, Jackson leaned back against the pillows.

She could have woken him so that he could walk with her. The fact she hadn’t told him all he needed to know about the way she viewed their relationship.

She’d already pushed it into the history books.

He wondered how she’d react when she discovered he had no intention of stopping at one night.

Jackson smiled.

He wondered if she realized she hadn’t once checked her emails.

CAREFULLY SUPPORTING THE bundle tucked inside her coat, Kayla tapped on the front door of the house.

Just one night, she told herself. Nothing to panic about. Other people did it all the time and then got on with their lives. It didn’t mean anything. It wasn’t a threat to who she was or what she wanted.

So why the knot in her stomach?

The door opened and Elizabeth stood there, her smile welcoming. “I got your text. You didn’t need to bring her back. I could have come and collected her later, dear.”

The endearment made her chest feel tight. She wasn’t used to hearing it.

Yet another reason to stay away from Jackson. It wasn’t just the man who was a threat, it was his whole family.

“I felt like the walk.” Actually she’d felt like running. As fast as she could from the man lying in her bed. This woman’s son. “Did I wake you?”

“I wake early.”

Someone else who couldn’t sleep, Kayla thought. “I’ll bring her blanket over later and I couldn’t find her toy. It might be under the sofa.”

“I didn’t realize she’d spent the whole night with you. I thought Jackson was picking her up.”

“She seemed settled with me.” Kayla gently extracted Maple, who squirmed with excitement and licked her face.

“I hope she wasn’t too much trouble.”

Kayla handed over the puppy, surprised by how much she wanted to keep her and relieved Maple couldn’t talk because she was the only witness to what had happened the night before.

“She slept.”

“When she’s out, nothing will wake her.” Elizabeth stood to one side. “Come on in out of the cold. We’re all in the kitchen.”

“All?”

“Brenna and Élise are here. Élise is making pancakes, although she calls them crepes or something French. All I know is that they taste good, but that girl can’t make anything that doesn’t taste good.”

Kayla hesitated. She should have said no, but the alternative was going back to the cabin where Jackson was still asleep.

“I should work—”

“Brenna’s just made a fresh pot of coffee.”

The word coffee decided it. Kayla stepped inside and was once again enveloped by the welcoming warmth of the house. The delicious smell of coffee mingled with cinnamon and freshly baked rolls. Warm winter smells.

Brenna and Élise were both busy in the kitchen, chatting together as they prepared breakfast.

Kayla greeted them, feeling awkward, while Elizabeth filled a mug with hot coffee.

“So did you even see Jackson last night? I thought he was going to take Maple.”

“I—” Thrown by that unexpected question, Kayla fumbled for an answer. “Yes, he—popped round.”

Brenna sent her a quick look as she removed a box of eggs from the fridge and clutched them against her chest.

Élise extracted them from her grip. “Merde! You’re not supposed to squeeze the box! They are eggs, not boulders. They will break.”

“Sorry. You know I’m not much of a cook. Except for bacon. No one fries bacon like I do.”

Élise rolled her eyes and muttered something unintelligible in French. Then she smiled at Kayla. “So—how was my pizza?”

“It was delicious.” She didn’t tell them that she and Jackson had devoured it cold in the early hours of the morning, sitting naked in front of the warm glow of the fire while the snow fell outside.

“There is nothing better than pizza when you have done lots of exercise and are totally starving.” Her tone innocent, Élise smacked the eggs on the edge of a bowl. “Don’t you agree, Brenna?”

“I do.” Brenna gave up on cooking and picked up her coffee. “And the best thing about pizza? It can be shared. So if other people have been raising a sweat along with you, you can both eat.”

Oh, God, they knew.

She didn’t know how, but they definitely knew.

Kayla bent and made a fuss of Maple, hiding her scarlet face.

“You ate pizza together?” Elizabeth’s face brightened. “That’s good. Jackson’s been working too hard lately. He needs to relax. He carries so much responsibility on his shoulders. What time did he leave you? It isn’t like him not to answer his phone. Walter is in a state about Darren. He wants to talk to Jackson. I really don’t want him getting so worked up—” Worrying out loud, Elizabeth returned to mixing the ingredients for her cinnamon stars while Kayla kept her head down and tried to think up an answer that wouldn’t reveal the exact whereabouts of her son.

“I—er—didn’t look at my watch—”

“I just had a text from him,” Brenna said smoothly. “He has a few things to do and then he wants to talk to me about the ski program. I’ll tell him to look in on Walter.”

“I had a text from him, too.” Élise walked across the kitchen with a large bag of flour. “We are meeting to discuss the restaurant later. Brenna, you are supposed to be helping me.”

“You keep complaining, so I’ve resigned as your sous-chef or whatever I’m supposed to be.”

“A sous-chef has to be able to cook more than bacon. If you were my sous-chef I would have fired you long ago. You would last less than a minute in my kitchen. Fortunately I now have Elizabeth.” She beamed at Jackson’s mother. “You are the new shining star of my kitchen. So calm. I hear Darren already has a job at a café in the village. It will suit him better I think. Stop stroking the puppy and wash your hands, Kayla. I need your help.”

“I don’t know how to cook.” She noticed that the French girl was pronouncing the h in her words this morning and remembered what Jackson had said about her sounding more French when she was stressed.

“Fortunately I do know how to cook and so does Elizabeth, which is a good thing or we would all starve around here.” Measuring flour, Élise beamed at Kayla. “I will give you directions.”