Maybe This Christmas

As she’d waited for news along with the rest of his family, she’d told herself she didn’t care who he was with, as long as he was alive.

But of course that promise, made in the scalding heat of fear, hadn’t been easy to keep. Even less so now, when they worked alongside each other every day.

She’d witnessed his frustration at being forced to give up the racing career he loved. He hid his feelings under layers of bad-boy attitude, but she knew it hurt him. She knew he ached to be back racing.

He was a gifted athlete, and it made her sad to see him standing on the sidelines or coaching a group of kids. It was like watching an injured racehorse trapped in a riding school when the only place he wanted to be was on the track, winning.

She hadn’t made a sound, but he turned his head and looked at her.

He had the O’Neil eyes, that vivid, intense blue that reminded her of the sky on the most perfect skiing day. A knot of tension formed in her stomach. A dangerous lethargy spread through her body. Neither Jackson nor Sean had this effect on her. Only Tyler. For a moment she thought she saw something flicker in those blue depths, and then he gave her a slow, lazy smile.

“You ready, Bren? If I’m going to die of boredom, I don’t want to do it alone.”

No matter how bad the day, Tyler always made her laugh. She loved his wicked sense of humor and his indifference to authority. If he did something, then it was because it made sense to him, because he believed in it, not because it was laid out in a rulebook.

As someone who had grown up with the rulebook stuck in her face, she envied his cool determination to live life on his terms. He had a wild streak, but his downhill skiing career had fed his desire to duel with danger and provided an outlet for that excess energy. How he would have used that wild streak had he not been a skier had been the subject of endless speculation both in the village and on the world-cup circuit.

He threw a final smile in Christy’s direction and strolled toward the meeting room, six foot three inches of raw sex appeal and lethal charm.

Brenna followed more slowly, giving herself a lecture.

It was the beginning of the season. She had to start as she meant to go on—being realistic about her relationship with Tyler.

He saw her as “one of the boys.” A ski buddy. Even on the rare occasion she dressed up and wore heels and a tight dress, he didn’t look in her direction. Which might not have been quite so galling had it not been for the fact he looked at almost every other female who crossed his path.

She had the distinction of being the one girl in Vermont Tyler O’Neil hadn’t kissed.

In the background she heard the phone ring. Heard Christy pick it up and answer in her pitch-perfect professional voice. “Snow Crystal Spa, Christy speaking, how may I help you?”

You can’t, Brenna thought miserably. No one can help me.

She’d been in love with Tyler her whole life, and nothing she did, or he did, had ever changed that. Not even when he’d got Janet Carpenter pregnant, and she’d felt as if her heart had been sliced in two.

She’d taken a job on another continent in the hope of curing herself. She’d dated other men in the hope that one of them would do the job, before coming to the conclusion there was no cure. Her feelings were deep and permanent.

She was doomed to love Tyler O’Neil forever.

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_25513a00-b373-57e3-b16e-ac2e9fd7541e)

TYLER SPRAWLED IN A chair at the edge of the room, only half listening as Jackson and Kayla gave a presentation on plans for the winter season. It was his least favorite way to spend an evening, and he had to force himself to concentrate as they flicked through slide after slide showing projected figures, visitor numbers, repeat business versus new business until after a while everything blurred, and he stopped listening, bored out of his skull.

If he never heard the words cash flow again, it would be too soon.

He should have been in Europe, studying videos with his team or discussing plans with Chas, his ski technician, whose expertise and magic with edges, overlays, wax and finishes had sliced seconds from Tyler’s time. They’d been a winning team, but it wasn’t just the winning he missed. It was the anticipation, the rush of speed, the one hundred seconds when you were right on the edge between control and out of control hurtling down the slope at speeds most people wouldn’t even reach in a car.

It had been his life, and that life had changed in an instant.

Fortunately, the news that his leg wouldn’t be able to withstand the forces placed on it by competitive skiing had coincided with the news that Jess was coming to live with him, so he had something else to focus on at least.

His thoughts drifted to his daughter and the conversation they’d had earlier.

There was no escaping the fact she wasn’t a kid anymore.

She was a teenager.

Everything was changing. Exactly how much did she know about his sex life? How much did she know about sex in general?

Sweat broke out on the back of his neck, and he shifted in his chair, the discomfort almost physical.

At what age were you supposed to have that talk? He had no idea. He had no idea about any of it.

And what was going on with school? He didn’t know, but it was obvious that something wasn’t right.

He needed to spend more time with her, and the easiest way to do that was to focus on her skiing.

Thinking about skiing helped him to relax. With that, at least, he was in his comfort zone.

She was good, but having grown up in Chicago with a mother who hated everything about skiing, she lacked experience. Somehow he had to cram that experience in while still fulfilling his obligations to the family business. What she needed was more hours on the mountain with someone who had the ability to coach her.

He knew he had the ability, if not the patience.

Still, the prospect of training her lifted his mood. He might not be able to ski competitively anymore, but he could ski with his daughter. He saw a lot of himself in her, which was probably why her mother had all but kicked her out the winter before. Janet had tried everything in an attempt to stamp the O’Neil out of Jess, but nothing had worked.

Pride mingled with the slow simmer of anger.

The Carpenter family had paid a fortune to slick lawyers to make sure Janet had custody of Jess. For twelve years he’d had to put up with only seeing her in the summer and at Christmas, but then Janet had become pregnant again. The combination of a new baby and Jess hitting her teenage years had culminated in her sending Jess to live with him.

Tyler had vacillated between relief and happiness that his daughter was finally where he’d wanted her all along, and fury and disbelief that Janet had sent the child away.

As far as he was concerned, family was family, and they stayed that way even when the going got tough. You couldn’t sign off or resign. Walking away wasn’t an option. He’d been eighteen when Janet had told him that their single encounter had left her pregnant, and no matter what emotions had rippled through the O’Neil family at the time, he’d never doubted that he’d had their support.

The Carpenter family had been less accepting, and Janet had never forgiven him for making her pregnant. She blamed him for the whole thing, as if she hadn’t been the one who had walked into the barn that day wearing nothing but a smile. And that blame had permeated her relationship with her daughter. It was no wonder Jess had arrived at Snow Crystal feeling insecure, unwanted and vulnerable.

“What do you think, Tyler?”

Realizing he’d been asked a question he hadn’t heard, Tyler woke up and looked at his brother. “Yeah, go for it. Great idea.”

“You have no idea what I said.” Jackson folded his arms and narrowed his eyes. “This is important. You could try paying attention.”

Tyler suppressed a yawn. “You could try being less boring.”

“The high school ski team is a coach down. The team is losing more than they’re winning. They want our help.”

“I said less boring.”

His brother ignored him. “I said we’d help out at the school for a couple of sessions. We can talk theory and give a waxing demonstration.”

“Waxing?” Kayla’s eyebrows rose. “We’re still talking skiing, yes? Not grooming?”