Page 58 of The Christmas Highland Lodge

I allowed his apology to sink in while the snow spun around us. I didn’t know what I was more taken aback by: the sudden snowfall, Blake’s generosity to Natalie and her dad or Blake saying that he was sorry. I noticed a couple of flakes landing in his thick, dark beard.

My thoughts reeled. ‘So why did you?’ I asked.

‘Why did I what?’

‘Why did you email Max and say you didn’t think my themed ideas were a good suggestion?’

Blake buried his hands deeper into his ski-jacket pockets. His dark eyes glowed. ‘It wasn’t aimed at you, nor was it me trying to upset you. I’m sorry that it did.’

‘But that doesn’t explain why you did it?’

He made a frustrated sigh. ‘If I’m being honest, I’ve never really had a great relationship with that kind of thing.’

‘What kind of thing?’

He rubbed the back of his neck as he considered my question. ‘Celebrations, Christmas…’

‘Right.’ I wasn’t sure exactly what he was hinting at but the very fact Blake was talking without his usual growl, was a big leap.

‘So, you complained to Max about my ideas because you don’t like Christmas?’

Blake flashed me a guilty look through the tumbling snowflakes. ‘I mean, if I’m being honest, I thought everything you were suggesting to the Styleses was rather over the top.’

‘Why, thank you so much!’ I remarked. ‘And there he is. Thank goodness for that. I wondered what you had done with the real Blake Dempster there for a moment.’

Blake’s lips almost slid into a smile.

‘So, you’re not into Christmas?’ I prompted again, my curiosity soaring.

Blake gave the briefest of nods. ‘No. I’m not. In fact, that’s an understatement.’ He paused. ‘All the lovey-dovey romantic sentiment of it… well… it just doesn’t sit well with me.’

Wow. I turned over what he had just said.

I bit my lip and wondered if I should push it. Should I ask him why? What was it about this time of year he didn’t like? I debated whether now would be a good time to broach the subject with him. Why on earth didn’t he like the festive season? What had Christmas ever done to him?

I studied him, questions spinning through my head that I so wanted to ask him. There was a softer side to Blake. He had shown it by giving that gorgeous gift to Natalie and her dad. Then there was that outdoor centre for deprived children he had helped set up, that Max had mentioned before. There were tantalising glimpses of another side to him underneath the bravado. Flashes of who he really was were there under the armour, but he seemed unwilling to acknowledge this other part of him even existed. But would he be prepared to share it with me now?

I opened my mouth to ask, but as though anticipating what I was about to do, Blake let out a defeated sigh and then strode up beside me.

I watched as he stood there for a few moments, deliberating what to do. Then he surprised me by swiping off his woolly hat, throwing his dark head back and allowing the flakes to caress his upturned face.

His dark, spikey lashes fluttered as he then poked out his tongue and savoured the falling flakes.

I found myself unable to pull my eyes away from his compelling profile: the long, regal nose, his hooded lids and his thick, dark hair, which was turning damp with the snow. My eyes shifted to his beard. What would he look like clean shaven? What was the rest of his face like underneath all that hair? I bet he was handsome, even more handsome without his beard…

Bloody hell! Where was all this coming from?! I didn’t like him! The man was a sour-faced grump! My cheeks sizzled as Blake stopped ingesting the snow. Stop staring at him, for goodness’ sake! You’ll freak him out.

He turned to look at me. I stood, self-conscious and suddenly feeling clumsy in my own skin. Oh bugger. Had he realised what I was doing? Did he know what I had been thinking just now, that I had been imagining him without his beard? And why was I thinking about that anyway? What was wrong with me?

I cleared my throat. and blinked away more thoughts about beards. ‘You know what I think?’ I said after a prolonged pause, hoping the woodland air would take the stinging blush from my cheeks.

‘Something tells me I’m about to find out.’

‘I think you have more of the Christmas spirit in you than you care to admit.’

Blake pinned me to the spot with those black eyes of his. ‘How dare you!’

I couldn’t help it. My face broke into a grin.