The Mills & Boon Christmas Wishes Collection. Maisey Yates
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see. Keep going, princess, we’re almost there.” Once again, he took my hand and hauled me the rest of the way. Once we reached the peak, he spun me around to check out the vista. I was dizzy with disorientation.
Arms crossed and disdain evident on my face, I was set to ridicule him, but the words froze on my tongue. Under the blanket of early-morning fog, the view was breathtaking, trees spanned for miles undulating on the landscape. Dark atmosphere and gray clouds sat heavily above, making the green of the ground more vivid. The sun splintered the sky, one lone ray landing on the earth like a spotlight.
I felt Kai’s gaze on me. Damn it. It was spectacular and I’d wanted so much to tell him he was insane for making me do this.
“It’s very… pretty,” I managed.
“It sure is,” he laughed, not taking his eyes from mine.
The air was heavy with words unspoken and for one lonely minute I pictured Kai kissing me. How had I gone from abject misery, climbing a steep range, to floaty desire? There was something so mystical about him, like he was at one with the earth, and soaked up the beauty of nature… and it was compelling. I shook the thoughts away and blamed it on lack of oxygen at this altitude.
“Next we’ll try yoga. At midnight. I’ll make you so relaxed you’re floppy.”
I went to argue, but couldn’t form words. Midnight yoga?
***
Later that morning I was measuring up the ballroom for furniture placement, and also planning the table and chair combinations. In town, the local party store had furniture for hire; not the most modern or luxurious of options but it’d do for the interim. Eventually I’d buy my own to fill the ballroom, but that would depend on the budget and what was left after the renovations. My cellphone squawked, the alarm I’d set reminding me of my cunning plan. I shuffled my paperwork together and went to hide in my office until both Isla and Micah had left for Puft.
Safely ensconced with the door locked, I texted Aunt Bessie: They’re on route. xxx
Thirty minutes later Aunt Bessie texted back:
Oh, they make the cutest couple! They were both a little bewildered when I said you’d been called back for an urgent meeting! So far they’ve spent a lot of time looking at the table. Will interfere if I need to xxx
Micah would see straight through my cancellation but that was OK. I’d just deny it – hopefully he’d be all starry-eyed and ready to give love a chance, and then he’d forget about that tiny detail. It could happen!
Let me know how it ends up. I’m not saying I expect a marriage proposal but a date would be nice. xxx
While I waited for news I punched purchase orders into the laptop. The paperwork side of the lodge was never-ending and we hadn’t even opened yet. To keep track of what we were spending I entered it every day, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep it up myself once we were busy with guests. With staff wages, purchases and invoicing, I’d need a full-time bookkeeper to keep things on track. The costs were mounting up with the renovations, but I did some quick breathing exercises to pull me from panic, and then stopped and laughed. Damn Kai and his mumbo jumbo…
An hour later my email pinged. A bride-to-be had seen the chapel photos on Instagram and wanted to visit next month to survey it as a potential wedding venue. I could feel it in my bones that Cedarwood was going to be popular because of its unique appeal. Even with my amateur attempt at photography it was attracting enquiries. I emailed her back and told her about the bridal expo and held my breath as I sent it. There was no going back now. Well, why not! There’d be brides and bouquets as far as the eye could see at Cedarwood Lodge in December if I could pull it off. Who needed sleep anyway?
I jumped up to find Kai and see if he’d stay on and give the chapel the TLC it needed, but then the door swung open, catching me mid-flight.
“Kai, you won’t believe…” My words dried up. “Micah, oh, hi. What is it?” He wore a look of mutiny and I knew damn well why. It was all I could do to stifle giggles and instead appear unruffled.
With folded arms he said, “The old set-them-up-and-don’t-arrive trick? I really thought your matchmaking days were over, but I guess not.” He stared me down and it was all I could do to keep a straight face. He couldn’t actually prove I’d done it on purpose.
I put a hand to my chest. “Me? I did no such thing! As you can see…” I gestured to the multitude of paperwork scattered over the desk, notebooks filled with scrawls and laptop glinting with pictures of the lodge on a slideshow. “I’ve been extremely busy and an emergency cropped up. Anyway, how was it?”
He rolled his eyes dramatically. “When you use that chirpy voice it’s even more obvious. It was a setup and Aunt Bessie was in on it. She was one step away from lighting candles and serenading us.”
Dang it! Aunt Bessie, like me, was a hopeless romantic, but wasn’t exactly subtle at times. “Did Isla catch on?”
“I’m sure Isla thinks Aunt Bessie is great, if not a little zealous with customer service.”
I laughed. “Well, look, you survived a real date!”
Groaning, he fell into a chair and rubbed his face. “She’s great: funny, beautiful, and totally eccentric when she talks about flowers, which she does a lot, but she’s leaving, right? When Cedarwood is finished. So what would be the point? Don’t you see, I’m setting myself up for failure if I even consider it? We both know long-distance love doesn’t work out. You tried it and failed, right?”
“It didn’t work for me, but Timothy and I were so young! That was completely different. This is just another damn excuse from you. It baffles me, Micah!”
“I wish you’d focus on your own love life and leave me be. You’re being the world’s biggest hypocrite, you know.” He ran a hand through his hair, and dropped his gaze like he was confused. Isla had ignited something in him and he just had to work through those feelings and leap!
“Did Cupid strike me with his bow and arrow?” I retorted. “No, he struck you! So don’t try and turn this around on me.”
“Yeah?” His lip twitched as if he knew a secret. “And you and Kai aren’t spending any time alone together?”
I let out a scoff. “That’s only by brute force. He’s got it in his adrenaline-junkie head that climbing up mountains will help me sleep. And it does because my entire body aches afterwards and all I want to do is snooze so I can’t feel the muscle pain.”
He grumbled under his breath and I knew I’d won the battle.
Men. Love wasn’t that complicated, surely? My mind drifted to Kai, and as I thought about him packing up his truck with all his tools, and driving off into the sunset, I understood Micah’s worry a little better.
“Yeah, well, dating Isla isn’t a good idea,” he said. “She’s great, but she’s a nomad, going from job to job.”
“Hmm,” I mused. Really, anything could happen, right? Isla could fall in love with Cedarwood and want to stay on…
Had I broached that possibility with her?
“So, I’ll organize someone to fix the stained-glass windows?” Kai leaned against the stone wall of the chapel, pad and pen in hand. It felt cooler inside since the thick limestone walls absorbed the frosty air.
“Yes… ideally I want to keep these windows if they can be restored, rather than replace them.” Sun leached through the glass and colored the stone floor in prisms of light. The stained glass was circa 1920s and I didn’t want to lose any of the heritage. Even if it cost more to find an artist to repair what remained, it would be a worthy