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“There is one thing I haven’t gotten to do, but… never mind.”
He was on a mission which she shouldn’t distract him from. If she ended up being dragged out to some island in the middle of nowhere in freaking Alaska, and the laughingstock of probably not just Enclave but probably Kartoff and god knew where else to be his mail-order bride, she’d have only herself to blame. She should let him focus on Callie. Or that pretty blonde who’d been all up on him when Nova had arrived.
“No, not never mind. What is it?”
Well, if he asked…
“I haven’t gone on a sleigh ride yet. They mostly have them during the day when I’m working, and during the events at night when they have the light displays on, my friends are almost always with their partners. I didn’t want to go by myself. But tomorrow’s the last day, and you said your dance card is full. I’ll just go next year. It’s probably not very good anyway since this is the first year they’ve done it. I’ll let them work the kinks out.”
“You know, I never understood that expression,” Linc told her after taking another sip of his cocoa. “Why on earth would you want to get the kink out of anything? I say pour that shit on everything.”
Hot cocoa almost came out of Nova’s nose. Awkward. And she might ruin her dress, which was brand new.
“Also, knowing Derek and that busy bee of a Little he has for a wife, I don’t think anything around here is ever done half-assed. Including her spankings. I bet that sleigh ride to see the lights is amazing and not to be missed. You also need to get your ears checked, shortcake. I said my dance card was filling up, not that it was full. Last spot’s yours if you want it.”
“The sleigh rides end at eight,” she said apologetically. That didn’t leave a lot of time for dinner or anything else he had planned.
“Then I’ll make it an early dinner with Callie and have a post-dinner cocktail with April. Then I’ll be all yours.”
That shouldn’t have sounded as good as it did.
Chapter 19
It wasn’t on her way at all, and yes, curiosity may have killed the cat, but the next night, Nova couldn’t help herself from walking by the Italian place to see how Linc’s date with Callie was going. She hid behind a potted plant while trying not to look too suspicious and snuck a peek into the restaurant.
It was perhaps going too well. At least that’s what her sinking, twisting stomach told her. Which was nonsense. She wanted to get rid of Linc, that was the whole idea, and Callie seemed like a great girl to foist him off on.
Okay, yes, she’d been the one to set Linc up with Callie, and she’d genuinely thought they’d enjoy each other but… maybe not this much. It was so painful to watch him laughing and smiling at her, and jealousy reared its ugly, green head. Ugh, feelings were truly the worst. Not sensible at all, they were twisted and chaotic, like a tangled Slinky.
At least she would be able to go on a carriage ride with him later. He’d promised.
Nova had been so busy working she hadn’t been able to take a sleigh ride with the Ranch’s two newest horses. Their names were Atlas and Hercules and they were beautiful dapple-gray Clydesdales. They’d been working draft horses on a nearby farm and were getting too old to be suited for hard labor anymore but they were perfect for sleigh rides, hay rides, and towing carts of Littles around. That was Travis the stablemaster’s idea anyway, and the gentle giants had lovely, calm temperaments that would soothe even the most skittish Little. She’d seen them from afar and was looking forward to being closer to them.
Before Linc could catch her spying, Nova went back to her apartment to get dressed for the sleigh ride. It was cold out and she knew Linc would not hesitate to bundle her inside and get her changed if he thought she hadn’t dressed warmly enough. Showered and kitted out appropriately, she headed to the lobby and made her way through the throngs of people who were enjoying the Midnight Sun party.
Everything was covered with candles that looked very real. So real, Nova had to reach out and touch a “flame” to assure herself no one was going to bump into one, knock it over, and burn the whole place down. She knew Master Derek would never risk the Ranch like that but what must have been hundreds of candles flickered like they were actually on fire.
It was so pretty, and a lot of people were wearing fancy clothes—they probably weren’t going on sleigh rides. Nova wasn’t sorry to be going through the party instead of staying at it though, especially when she saw Linc getting a drink at the bar with April.Shewas definitely fancy and Nova felt a bit shabby in her long underwear and the leggings and sweater dress she’d pulled over them. She’d dressed for warmth and not style and she thought Linc would appreciate that. The Little part of her that craved his praise was eagerly anticipating his approval, actually, and she reminded herself that in just a little while she would have it. Only about twenty minutes according to her phone.
It wasn’t so bad at first, waiting for Linc. There was a line of people eager to have their turn on the sleigh ride, and it was easy enough to smile and say the next pair could go ahead because she was still waiting. For a while anyway. At some point though, the humiliation started to set in and it got more and more painful to smile. With her teeth gritted the way they were, it probably looked more like she was grimacing. She was definitely holding back tears.
Arlo, the stable hand who was in charge of the sleigh rides, brought the team to a halt and the last pair of riders got out of the sleigh. They looked so happy and in love that it felt like an icicle through her heart.
“Still hasn’t shown, huh?” Arlo asked.
“Not yet.”
“Want me to take you around? You really oughta see the lights before they come down. I keep thinking I’m gonna get bored out here but it’s fun to look at them every time.”
“No, that’s okay. But could you give him just another few minutes, please?”
The look of pity on the stable hand’s face almost sent the tears that were gathering in her eyes down her cheeks but she managed to blink them back.
“Sure, Nova. You wanna give these guys some pets while we wait? They’re big but they’re real sweet.”
“That sounds nice.”
The gray horses with their soft white spots that made it looked like they’d been snowed on were massive—tall and broad and muscular and sturdy—but Arlo was right; they were very gentle and patient. Sometime when it wasn’t so cold she’d have to go down to the stable to pet them because they looked soft but she couldn’t tell through her mitten.
