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He sat on the edge of the bed, and the movement of the mattress woke her again.
‘I wasn’t asleep.’
‘Glad we cleared that up.’
Her hair was smooshed into some sort of asymmetrical beehive, and her face still had creases from the pillow, and the whole look was so utterly adorable that he had to look away because it was absolutely not part of his plan to adore her in any way.
As if she’d sensed the direction of his thoughts, she lifted a hand to her hair, patted it a few times from different angles and rolled her eyes.
She sat up properly, resting her arms on bent knees as she blew on her coffee.
‘Do we have exciting plans for today?’ Jess asked.
‘I’m going to take more photos for Lara. I was going to wrap up and head out into the snow. Make the most of the sun being out for a bit.’
‘Back on the horse?’
‘Something like that. You should come with me—if you see me wandering into the woods after a deer you can yell at me not to be such an idiot.’
‘Noted. Seriously, though.’ She lowered her coffee and gave him a stern look. ‘Are you feeling okay? Because you could just sit by the fire today and carry on warming up.’
‘I’m fine. I mean it.’ He hated people fussing over him. It was bad enough that he had let his family down, but he was at least capable of taking care of himself. Most of the time.
He glanced back at Jess—the creases were fading from her cheeks, her hair had settled around her shoulders and her eyes fell shut every time she took a sip from the cup.
‘Right,’ she said at last, draining the last of the coffee and straightening her spine with resolve. ‘I’m awake. I’m alive. Thanks so much for the coffee. Shall I meet you downstairs in five and we can head out?’
He dragged his eyes away from her and headed for the door, pulling it closed behind him when he heard her feet hit the floor and he knew she wasn’t going back to sleep.
* * *
Jess scrambled out of bed and rummaged in her bag for her thick woollen socks and a couple of jumpers. After she’d asked Rufus last night to wake her if she accidentally slept in—post-conference fatigue had a habit of messing up her body clock—she’d pulled on tartan flannel PJs, making sure there was nothing on show if he came in to wake her this morning. And that she didn’t freeze half to death in the night.
After a chilly—and necessarily quick—stint in the bathroom, she pulled on thermals, trousers, layers of knitwear, and dug her snow boots from the bottom of her bag. If they were going out in the snow then she was going prepared. She could see from the window that a few more inches had fallen overnight, and Rufus had been the proof yesterday of how important it was to be careful out there.
She bounded down the staircase into the great hall, where Rufus had swept out the remains of yesterday’s fire and laid a new one with logs from the basket by the hearth. The power had stayed on overnight, which meant the electric heaters were warm, but they were going to need more wood to get them through the next few days if the supply couldn’t be relied upon. The wall sconces flickered, a timely reminder that they couldn’t depend on modern technology to see them through the crisis when the weather was so extreme.
Rufus appeared in the doorway that led down to the kitchen, piece of toast in hand.
‘Did the lights just flicker in here?’
‘Yeah, I think so,’ she said, glancing up. ‘Do you think we’ll lose power again?’
‘Not if I can help it,’ he said, a collection of frown lines gathering on his forehead. If a power line came down somewhere, or something else happened on the grid, she wasn’t sure what he was going to do about it. But from the sternness of his expression this wasn’t the moment to mention it.
‘Do you want toast?’ he asked, gesturing with his own slice, and Jess’s stomach rumbled an enthusiastic yes. She followed him through to the kitchen and found a rack full of toast and sticky jars of jam and honey. She slathered a slice with butter and honey while Rufus filled a couple of Thermos mugs with freshly brewed coffee.
‘Are you planning a major expedition?’ she asked with eyebrows raised.
‘You’ve got your thermals, I have coffee. Let’s try no one getting hypothermia today.’
‘I’m fine with that part. I’m mainly planning half-hour stints in the outdoors broken up by long stretches on the sofa with a book. We’re just taking a few photos, right?’
‘Right. And I should probably get some more logs out of the woodstore. But you’re welcome to stay inside if you want.’
‘No! I want to come out and play. But I will not be staying out so long that hypothermia measures will have to be taken. Just to be clear.’
‘Crystal clear. The coffee is an added bonus, not a life-saving measure.’
