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‘Did you plan it like this?’ He sounded more amused than shocked.
‘Hand on heart, I absolutely did not plan it. I had to be in York for a conference. When Lara asked me if I wanted to come here afterwards I told her that I had to be home for Christmas. I was meant to be driving back down on Christmas Eve.’
‘You couldn’t have driven down before the snow hit?’
‘Not without missing my presentation at the conference. And I’d worked too hard to do that. By the time the presentation was over, the roads in the south were chaos. Coming here and hoping that Lara would make it was the only option I had.’
‘And now you’re stuck here with me.’
‘And now I’m stuck here with you,’ she confirmed, trying to remind herself that that was a bad thing. But right now she was wrapped in a blanket, in a wing-backed chair before an open fire, sipping a hot chocolate that had to have been sent straight from the gods. And on top of all that there was this tall, bearded, actually quite decent-seeming guy stuck here with her. And all that added up to—well, a pretty okay weekend, if she wanted to think about it that way.
Not that she was going to get up to anything with Rufus. No—she had been sworn off men for a long time. Her mum and dad had given her every reason to devote herself to becoming an old spinster. Because if the alternative was marriage? No, thank you.
What made it worse was that they had been happy, once. She remembered a childhood home filled with noise and parties and, well, fun. And then Charlotte had got sick, and all the joy had been drained out of them. All of them. And instead of supporting one another, her parents had started to resent each other.
Jess had thought that they would break up when it first went bad. Had hoped for it, in fact, when it became apparent years later that they had long stopped making one another happy. She had even hinted to her mother that if she was staying in the marriage for Jess’s sake, that she would understand if she didn’t want to do that any more. But no. They had carried on, slowly making one another more and more miserable. So if that was what became of a good marriage under stress, Jess was going to opt out before it even began, thanks for asking. Because even when you thought that you were one of the lucky ones, it could all fall apart.
So she’d kept herself busy with her studies and her work, with the occasional fling to scratch an itch when she felt lonely.
Which was why this attraction to Rufus was so...inconvenient. Because her tried and trusted instinct of steering well clear whenever she worried that she was a little too interested wasn’t going to work with them stuck here alone like this.
And now that he had thawed out and was behaving like a reasonably normal human being, she had to admit to herself that she was interested. Oh, he was good looking. But there was more to it than that. It was the way that he had spoken to his mum on the phone. The concern that he had showed her when she had explained about her sister, and her lonely family Christmases. It was the fact that he had blushed, when she’d reminded him that she had taken off his jeans. There was something about the sight of a man who could dominate her in every way—taller, heavier, more solid than she was—being unable to hide that sign of vulnerability that was making her feel a little hot and bothered.
Her phone pinged, saving her from whatever dodgy direction that thought had been heading in.
Photos look good! Can’t believe I’m missing out
Jess checked Lara’s Instagram and there she was, curled up in the armchair. Rufus had captured her in the moment before she’d sipped the hot chocolate, with food lust in her eyes and her lips pursed into a slight pout. Not exactly subtle. She rolled her eyes and showed it to Rufus.
‘Lara likes your photos,’ she said. And it seemed her followers did too, because the likes were racking up quickly.
She scrolled down to read the caption:
Can’t believe my best friend @Jess is curled up with this hot chocolate while I’m snowbound at the airport. So jealous, and wishing I was on our perfect Christmas getaway @UptonManor. Keep checking back for updates from Jess and Rufus. I promise it’s much more interesting than where I am right now! Do you all have holiday travel disasters to share? Love and sympathy in the comments, please, friends!
Jess smiled. Lara had pitched it perfectly, of course, and she had no doubt that she would have new followers flocking to the Upton Manor page. She clicked through Lara’s stories and found in-progress shots of the hot chocolate along with another shot of her by the fire, from behind this time, her profile silhouetted by the warm light from the fire.
Turned out Rufus had a pretty good eye. Between his skills with the camera, and Lara’s ability to sell the setting to her readers, they might still make a success of this.
‘I can’t believe it,’ Rufus said, staring at his phone. ‘I’ve just got two hundred more followers. From one post alone.’
‘Repost it into your stories and cross-post onto your feed,’ Jess said, reading Lara’s latest message. ‘Respond to all the comments and use plenty of emojis. Lara’s fielding as many of them as she can but apparently it’s good to have your authentic voice in there too.’
Her phone chimed again. ‘Good. She’s happy. Says to keep the content coming. So should this have been your first Christmas away from Upton?’ she asked, thinking back to something he had said earlier.
‘Yeah, Dad was unwell last year so we didn’t really celebrate.’ She couldn’t help but notice how he automatically included his family in his answer.
‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ Jess said, sensing pain behind Rufus’s neutral expression. ‘I hope he’s doing better now.’
‘Aye, he is, thanks. Nothing like a massive heart attack to make you embrace a healthy lifestyle.’
‘Sounds like that must have been traumatic for all of you.’
‘Well, for him most of all. Of course, it didn’t help that... I’m sorry. Don’t know why I’m telling you this.’
She frowned, looked around and pulled a footstool between her and the fire, then shot Rufus a determined look.
‘Sit. Talk. We’re going to be stuck here for a while. Might as well get to know each other.’
