Sleigh Bells in the Snow Read online

  Soon after, Brenna had announced she was leaving New England to train as a ski instructor in Colorado. She could have done that here, of course, but she’d picked a place where there was less risk of bumping into Tyler. When she’d graduated, Jackson had offered her a job with his company running the kids program in Switzerland. She’d never once asked about his brother.

  Jackson hoped it wasn’t going to be a problem now that Tyler was back home.

  The last thing he needed was to lose Brenna.

  As if to prove that, she pulled out her phone and checked her calendar. “I’m running the teen course and taking ‘bumps ’n’ trees’. Then I’m filling in for Todd, who is taking his wife for a checkup. The only person without commitments is you. We can’t afford to turn away the business. They’re willing to pay good money for the privilege of leaving ski tracks in fresh snow. All they want is a cheerful guide. Think you can manage to hold the sarcasm for a few hours, O’Neil?”

  “I’m not the only one with that name around here.” Tyler glanced at Jackson, who shook his head.

  “I have plans tomorrow.”

  “Fine, I’ll do it. At least, I can do the guide part. Not so sure about cheerful if they want an early start. Smiles are extra at that hour of the morning.”

  “They’re paying us extra, so you’ll smile.” Brenna slipped her phone into her pocket and picked up her drink. “By the way, Jess asked if I’d ski Devil’s Gully with her someday this week. Says you banned her from doing that run.”

  “I banned her for a reason.” Tyler’s fingers tightened on the bottle and his eyes glittered dangerously. “And that reason is she’s way too young and inexperienced.”

  Brenna lifted her brows. “You and I skied that run when we were half her age.”

  “And were grounded for a week as a result.” Tyler gave a laugh and then remembered he was trying to be a responsible father and glared at her. “That’s different. You and I skied more than we walked. Jess has been living in a city. Nearest she’s been to mountains is a picture on her wall.”

  “She’s your daughter,” Brenna said softly. “She’s inherited your natural aptitude.”

  “She’s twelve.”

  “It isn’t about age, it’s about ability, and she’s got it, Tyler. Talent. She feels the slope. She knows the mountain. Call it whatever you will, you need to let her do this.”

  “Kill herself?” Stubborn, Tyler shook his head. “Not on my watch.”

  Remembering their conversation earlier, Jackson felt a twinge of sympathy for his brother. It had taken long enough for him to have the opportunity to prove he could be a good father to Jess. He didn’t want to blow it in the first month.

  Tyler was frowning at Brenna. “How come you know so much about what she wants anyway? I can’t get more than five words out of the girl.”

  “She often stops by my cabin.” Brenna took a sip of her drink. “Yesterday we had lunch.”

  “Lunch? Why don’t I know any of this?”

  “Maybe she’s afraid you’d say no. For a guy who never understood the meaning of the word, you sure as hell use it a lot now.” Brenna slid off the stool. “I see our chief of police enjoying a quiet few minutes. Think I’ll just interrupt that. I need to talk to him about our Emergency Response Plan.”

  “Wait, Brenna—” Jackson caught her arm before she could walk away, “don’t you keep a supply of spare ski clothes in case someone needs them?”

  “What size?”

  “About your size. Maybe a little smaller. Not that I’m saying you’re big,” he added hastily, “but you’re strong because of the skiing and—”

  “You pick up many women with that line, Jackson?”

  He cursed himself and then saw that her eyes were bright with laughter. “Brenna—”

  “Shut up, before you fall into that hole you just dug for yourself. What do you need? Apart from a spade to dig your foot out of your mouth?”

  “Whatever you’ve got.”

  “I assume this is for the woman from New York? Is she going to be able to help us?” Anxiety shadowed her eyes, and Jackson wondered how many of the Snow Crystal team were worrying about their jobs.

  “She’ll help us.”

  “In that case I’ll drop off what I have at her cabin on my way to the slopes tomorrow morning. If any of it fits, she’s welcome to it.” Ignoring Tyler, she flashed Jackson a smile and then turned and walked across the room, unzipping her coat as she went.

  “How come she smiles at you and not me?” Tyler watched her. “If I’d made that remark about her being strong, she would have felled me, and not just to prove me right. And what is up with Jess? Why didn’t she just ask me again if she could ski Devil’s Gully?”

  “Would you have changed your mind?”

  “No.”

  “Probably why she didn’t ask you.”

  “That makes no sense.”

  Jackson sighed. “When you were twelve, if there was something you wanted to do and Dad said no, what did you do?”

  “I did it anyway. Most of the time I didn’t bother asking.”

  “Right. And Jess is your daughter, so I’m guessing that, along with your ski talent, she also inherited a dose of the stubborn. Just saying.” Jackson eased himself away from the bar. “At least she’s crazy about skiing. In my book that’s better than drugs or boys.”

  “Talking of boys, have you noticed Brenna’s hair is longer than it used to be?” Tyler watched as Brenna slid into a booth next to Josh, the chief of police.

  “I assume you know Brenna isn’t a boy?”

  “Can’t help thinking of her that way. Back when we were growing up she hung out and did what we did. She was a fourth brother to us.”

  Jackson wondered whether decking his brother would bring him to his senses or just add to his problems. “I never saw her that way.”

  Tyler wasn’t listening. “Think I should warn her about Josh? Guy’s got a reputation.”

  “And you haven’t?”

  “I’m not the one looking at Brenna as if I’d like to strip her naked.”

  Jackson was fairly sure if he did then Brenna wouldn’t object, but he decided that was something Tyler had to work out for himself. “Brenna can handle herself.”

  “So when the two of you went out—” Tyler’s voice was casual “—it was like a guy’s night, yes? You shared a few beers. Shot a few rounds of pool?”

  Jackson decided this definitely wasn’t the moment to mention that Brenna had worn a tight black dress and they’d shared a candlelit dinner. “She drank beer, yes.”

  “Maybe I’ll see if she wants to spend a day skiing sometime, like we used to.” Taylor scowled across the room. “She’s smiling. What the hell is funny about an emergency response plan? Is she seeing Josh?”

  Jackson glanced over his shoulder to where Brenna was laughing with the chief of police. “Looks like she’s seeing him now.”

  “That wasn’t what I meant.”

  “I know. But I don’t insist on knowing the detail of the love life of my employees.”

  “Maybe you should. The last thing we need is the law hanging around Snow Crystal. Folks will think we’ve got trouble here.”

  “We went to school with Josh. He drinks here. Skis here. He’s a member of the mountain rescue team.”

  “So he doesn’t need to date the staff, too. Talking of business, I assume your plans for tomorrow involve a certain slick city girl with blond hair and great legs.”

  “She came here for the Snow Crystal experience. It starts tomorrow.”

  “It started this evening—” Tyler winked at a pretty blonde who walked into the bar with a group of friends “—when she was swallowed whole by the O’Neil family. I’d say that’s a pretty standard Snow Crystal experience.”

  Jackson stared at the bottle in his hand, anger mingling with frustration. “Gramps didn’t give her a chance.”

  “Yeah, well you know how he hates anyone messing with his toys.”

&
nbsp; “She looked shell-shocked.”

  “Probably the sight of Gram’s knitting. That shade of green didn’t do it for me, either. Please tell me that’s not my Christmas present.” Tyler shuddered and Jackson finished his drink.

  “I have work to do.”

  “We all have work to do,” Tyler frowned across at Brenna, who was still laughing with Josh. “What is she finding so funny? I don’t think Josh has ever made me laugh. Certainly didn’t when he gave me that speeding ticket last summer. Son of a bitch didn’t even crack a smile.”

  Jackson was fairly sure the exaggerated laughter was for Tyler’s benefit. He grabbed his jacket and stood up. “I need to get going.”

  “Me, too. I need to get back and try to have another conversation with Jess, which is going to be harder work than anything you’re doing. It isn’t easy saying no to a kid when her response is ‘you did it at my age.’”

  “You did do it at her age. All of it.”

  “So?” Tyler scowled. “That means I know what I’m talking about.”

  “Tyler?”

  “What?”

  “You don’t know shit.” Shaking his head, Jackson strolled toward the door.

  * * *

  INSOMNIA WAS A BITCH.

  Kayla lay on the shelf, staring out over the forest. The moon sent a beam of light over the trees, turning the surface of the snow to shimmering silver. She’d started in the master bedroom but had been too restless to sleep, so she’d pulled on a warm robe, made herself a mug of tea and climbed the spiral staircase to this small patch of heaven.

  She cradled the warm mug in her hands. It should have offered comfort, but inside she was cold, so cold she felt as if she’d never be warm again.

  She’d discovered long before that loneliness could be a dull background ache or it could be sharp and painful. It could bite into the soft parts of a person leaving bruises, or it could just nip gently at the edges of your subconscious.

  She’d learned to live with it, but tonight the O’Neils had ripped away all the protection she’d so carefully wrapped around herself, leaving her vulnerable and exposed.

  It wasn’t just the hostility, although there was no doubt Walter had been openly hostile. Alice and Elizabeth had been almost smothering in their affection and level of welcome, and that was almost as bad.

  She kept her interaction with people superficial. She didn’t bond. She didn’t make attachments. She didn’t want attachments.

  But if she wanted this business, she was going to have to find a way of working with the O’Neils.

  Snuggling against the pile of soft pillows, she sipped her tea and thought about what lay ahead.

  The family setup might be unusual, but the business problems weren’t.

  Tonight had been a disaster, but not because she didn’t know her job. Because of the people. Because she had no idea how to relate to them.

  She told herself she didn’t have to bond with them to help them.

  No one was asking her to become part of the family.

  All she had to do was win their trust, find out what mattered to them and what they needed and then produce a tailored marketing plan that would solve their problems.

  It really wasn’t that hard.

  She had to ignore the other stuff.

  She especially had to ignore the chemistry with Jackson.

  CHAPTER SIX

  SHE WAS AWAKE at five, after a night in which sleep occupied less than a few hours. That, at least, was familiar.

  She stuck to her usual routine. Brisk shower followed by strong coffee and an hour spent on her laptop, first clearing emails and then working on ideas. This was always her most creative time of day, before the sun came up and her phone starting ringing. Ideas flowed, and she spread papers over the work surface in the kitchen, scribbled notes, wrote down what she’d learned, afraid to lose even a single thought, terrified that if she slowed down or stopped to think about the night before her brain would freeze again.

  She paced the length and breadth of the vaulted living room, watching darkness turn to dawn and snowy treetops emerge from a blanket of early-morning mist.

  The beauty of it soothed her.

  Here, deep in the forest, there were no reminders of Christmas. No glittering decorations, no maniacally grinning Santas, no canned Christmas music playing on a loop. Just nature at its most peaceful.

  Her emotions, violently disturbed by the events of the night before, gradually settled.

  By the time she took a break, her list of questions were longer than her list of answers, and her coffee had sat untouched on the table for an hour.

  Kayla drank it cold while reading the notes she’d made. Her hair hung loose over the soft white robe that had been left for her use in the luxurious bathroom and her feet were bare on the wooden floor. It was the way she always started her day. The same routine she followed each day of her life and it felt familiar and yet unfamiliar.

  Lifting her head, she realized the unfamiliar was the silence.

  She was used to noise. Traffic noise. Street noise. The noise of a million people jostling for space in the same small slice of a city. First London, then New York. Here, there was no traffic, no people and no noise. The trees muffled sound and the snow fell in gentle silence.

  Halfway through her third cup of coffee she heard a tap on the door and looked up in dismay, assuming she’d lost track of the time.

  It wasn’t Jackson who stood there, but a girl. Dark hair peeped from underneath a fur-lined hood, and she carried a large box in her arms.

  Under the padded ski jacket and trousers she was slim and fit and, judging from the way she balanced the box and tapped on the door, she had no trouble walking on ice.

  Resenting the disturbance, Kayla put down her mug and walked to the door. She was greeted by a punch of cold air and a friendly smile.

  “Hi, you must be Kayla!” Her breath forming clouds in the freezing air, the girl walked in without waiting for an invitation and deposited the box at Kayla’s feet. “I’m Brenna. Jackson asked me to find some gear. I hope something in this box fits.” She narrowed her eyes. “Looking at you I’m guessing it might, although we might not be lucky with the boots. Your feet are smaller than mine.”

  Taken aback by the familiarity and unaccustomed to early-morning visitors, Kayla tightened the knot on her robe. “I— Thanks. I’m not dressed because I’m working—” She left the door to the cabin wide-open but the other girl didn’t take the hint.

  “Yeah, I saw you pacing and frowning to yourself. You should close that door. You’re letting the heat out.” Brenna pushed the door shut with her foot. “So if you’re pacing, does that mean we should all be worried?”

  Kayla glanced from the door to her uninvited visitor and wondered whether anyone at Snow Crystal had heard of personal space. “Why would you be worried?” Clearly the other girl wasn’t worried about interrupting someone who didn’t want to be interrupted.

  “Jackson told us all you’re a genius at getting folks through the door and making a business busy.” Brenna unzipped her jacket. “Math has never been my best subject but even I can work out that empty rooms don’t equal profit. I haven’t asked him outright, because he looks as if he has enough on his mind, but it’s obvious to me things are grim. It might be Christmas, but we’ve got plenty of room at the inn right now. We’re pinning our hopes on you.”

  Kayla thought about the night before and how badly she’d performed.

  “We’ll fill those rooms.” What she had to do was think of this as a business challenge, like any other. What she didn’t need to do was think of the O’Neil family all together in that kitchen. “I was working on that when you arrived.” If she thought the other girl might take a hint, she was disappointed.

  Brenna nodded. “So do you want to try this stuff on? I’m assuming Jackson asked me to bring it over because he’s planning on showing you the charms of Snow Crystal.”

  “You’ve spoken to Jackson?”


  “Caught up with him in the bar last night. Told me you didn’t have the right gear.”

  And that, Kayla thought, was an understatement.

  Had he told Brenna about her undignified fall? Or, worse, about the meeting?

  “Thanks for the clothes.” Pulling her professionalism around her like a cloak she moved toward the door, but instead of following her Brenna walked farther into the room.

  “Do I smell coffee?”

  “Well, yes, but—”

  “Great. You don’t mind if I help myself? Looks like you have plenty and I could do with some help waking up.” Brenna strolled to the kitchen and reached for a mug. “Need a top-up?”

  “No, thanks.” She was already on her third cup, the caffeine pushing through her veins and kick-starting her sleep-deprived brain. What she needed was silence. What she didn’t need was to share her space with anyone.

  The mornings were her time, before the madness of the day started in earnest.

  But it didn’t seem to occur to Brenna that she might be intruding on anything. She walked around the cabin as if she owned it. Unlike Kayla, it didn’t take her five minutes of opening cupboards to find the mugs. She knew exactly where they were kept.

  “I love this cabin, don’t you?” Brenna tugged off her gloves and filled the mug to the brim. “It’s my favorite. I could live here. I just love the shelf. The view is so perfect it seems like a total waste to fall asleep.”

  “You’ve stayed here?”

  “Once or twice. I live in town, but if the weather is bad I sometimes sleep over at the lodge and if Jackson is feeling generous he lets me use one of the cabins. Any excuse to sample Elizabeth’s cooking. Cooking isn’t really my thing. Apart from bacon. I’m good with bacon.” Brenna picked up the mug and nursed it, leaning her hips against the counter. “How was your welcome meal?”

  “Welcome meal?” The mention of the night before was enough to make her feel as if she was rolling in snow naked.

  “The pot roast. Elizabeth thought it would be the perfect meal to welcome you. She’s been planning it for days.”