Snowbound With The Heir

He was so busy congratulating himself, telling the police officer how he was a man of his word, and always looked for the silver linings, that he probably didn’t even notice Tori’s heart sink down out of her feet and bleed into the snow. Or maybe that was just how it felt.

All she knew was that she was trapped. That the past she’d been running from for so long had caught her at last.

And it had brought Jasper, Viscount Darlton, along as well, just for the fun of it.

‘Hell,’ she muttered into the night. ‘I’m in actual hell.’

‘I think that would be hotter, miss,’ the policeman said, with a confused frown. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me.’ He disappeared into the night to talk to the next car in the line.

‘Shall we?’ Jasper asked, crooking his elbow for her to hold. ‘I believe it’s this way.’

Tori tucked her hands under her arms and stepped forward without him. ‘I know the way.’

If she had to face her past, she’d at least do it head-on. She owed Tyler that much.

I’m coming home, Aunt Liz.

This whole day kept getting more and more interesting.

Okay, so getting stranded in the snow on the moors wasn’t exactly in Jasper’s original plan for the day, but it wasn’t quite the disaster Tori’s face suggested it was, either. They had a nice, cosy inn to shelter in and wait out the storm, and it wasn’t as if either of them had been caught in a rock slide or car accident.

So why did Tori look as if she would almost rather they had?

‘Looks like we’ll get that dinner at a secluded inn after all,’ he joked again as they trudged their way across a snow-covered field, towards the lights in the distance. Maybe she’d missed it the first time around.

Tori didn’t answer.

‘Maybe there’ll be steak and ale pie on the menu. I love steak and ale pie.’

Still nothing.

‘And I could murder a pint of something dark and hoppy. Since it looks like we won’t be driving anywhere tonight.’

She flinched at that, although he had no idea why.

Jasper sighed. This was going to be a very long night if Tori refused to talk to him altogether.

Maybe it was time to bring out the big guns. Apologising.

‘Look, I’m sorry I brought us along the moors road. You were right, it was too dangerous in the snow, and we should have kept to the main roads. Where we’d probably still be stuck in an epic traffic jam, arguing over which radio station to listen to, instead of heading towards what looks like a really nice inn and hopefully some steak and ale pie. But sorry, anyway.’

He could just about make out the inn through the snow. The sloping roof, the thick stone walls, and the warm yellow lights glowing out into the darkening sky. There was even a giant Christmas tree out front, strung with old-fashioned coloured lantern lights, the sort he remembered from his childhood.

It definitely looked like the sort of place that served steak and ale pie. And now he’d apologised, Tori would stop ignoring him and they could enjoy a nice evening together.

He turned to her, smiling—until he saw the sceptical glare on her face.

‘You honestly think that was a good apology, don’t you?’ she asked.

Jasper blinked away snowflakes, confused. ‘I mean, I said I’m sorry. So…yes?’

‘You said you were wrong and should have listened to me—and then told me why actually I was wrong and you’d made the right decision even now we’re stuck in the snow on the middle of the moors walking towards—’ She broke off suddenly, her gaze jerking away.

‘A…perfectly nice-looking inn?’ Jasper finished for her, more baffled than ever.

Tori sighed, hard enough that he saw her shoulders rise and fall even in her thick, woollen coat. ‘The Moorside Inn serves the best steak and ale pie in Yorkshire. Possibly the world. Henry, the cook, he won’t share the recipe with anyone. You’re going to love it.’

‘Great,’ Jasper replied. But he couldn’t find the enthusiasm for it that his hungry stomach had exhibited just moments earlier.

There was something about her voice. The slow, resigned monotone.

‘So, you know this place?’ Knew it well, he’d guess, given her words. And her reluctance to re-enter it.

Before he’d left Flaxstone, five years earlier, he’d believed he might actually be getting to know Tori Edwards at last. To see the real girl under the mask she put up for his father and everyone else.

Now, staring at her in the snow, outside a Yorkshire inn, he admitted to himself that he didn’t know her at all.

He didn’t know where she’d come from, or why. He didn’t know what had driven her away from her home the way he’d been driven away from his.

But he had a feeling that this might be the night he finally found out.

Tori didn’t answer his question, but then she didn’t need to. They were almost there, now, the windows of the inn changing from blurs of light in the distance into a clear vision of the cosy, wooden-beamed rooms inside.

And as they approached the heavy, wooden front door, it flew open, revealing an older woman in a Mrs Christmas apron, her bright red curls pinned back from her face, and a wide smile on her lips.

‘Welcome, weary travellers, to the Moorside Inn! I hope we can make your impromptu stop a little more comfor…’ Her words faltered mid-sentence, and so did her smile. She peered out into the snow, her gaze fixed on Tori’s blank expression. ‘Vicky?’

Tori sighed again, but at least managed a small smile this time. ‘Hello, Aunt Liz.’

Jasper looked between the two women. Yes, he was definitely going to find out more about Tori Edwards tonight. But the realisation only showed him just how very little he’d known about her to start with.

Maybe it was time to fix that.

CHAPTER THREE (#uceda260b-55b8-5c02-b994-7eccd6783552)

THE MOORSIDE WAS just as she remembered it.

As Tori pulled away from the tentative, uncertain hug her aunt gave her, she took in the inn beyond. Same wooden beams. Same gleaming pumps, polished by Uncle Henry every night after he’d finished in the kitchen, ready to serve local ales to visitors. Same battered, rustic oak tables and mismatched chairs. Tyler’s paintings still on the walls. Same feeling of shame, guilt and of being a disappointment as she stood there.

‘We got snowed in on the road, about quarter of a mile away,’ Jasper said, looking with far too much interest between her and Aunt Liz. Tori curled in on herself, as much as she could when wearing so many layers. This place was her past, another life almost. She didn’t want to share it with anyone from her new life.

Especially not Jasper.

‘Of course, you must be freezing! Come on in.’ Aunt Liz ushered them both inside as if they were normal paying customers.

Jasper took the opportunity to raise his eyebrows at her and mouth, ‘Vicky?’ She ignored him. She supposed it was too much to hope for that he’d missed that use of her old, other nickname.

She was Tori now. That was all that mattered.