Page 50 of Christmas at Sturcombe Bay (Sturcombe Bay Romances #3)

Shelley lay curled up in the crook of Alex’s arm.

He was sleeping, his breath lightly stirring her hair.

He hadn’t turned his back on her, rolled over and ignored her, as other men had.

He had snuggled her in, made sure she was comfortable, chatted quietly for a while.

It felt so good to be here, warm and protected . . .

But it was dangerous to let yourself feel that way, to let your guard down.

Never rely on anyone — they’ll all let you down in the end.

She really ought to leave, now, while he was asleep, before he could persuade her to stay.

It would be so easy to let herself hope that this time it could be different.

Yes, she’d leave. In a few minutes, once she was sure he was asleep. It wasn’t even midnight yet . . .

A loud crash from the sitting room jerked her upright. Then a second crash, followed by a whine of distress. She scrambled out of bed and snatched open the door.

A large, very distressed puppy was cowering on the floor beside the fallen Christmas tree, the cable for the lights wound round his paw.

“Oh, Sweetie, what’s happened?” She knelt beside him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Did it scare you?”

The dog leaned into her, trembling. She stroked down his long back with a soothing hand, murmuring softly in his ear.

“It’s okay, don’t be upset. It was just an accident. You’re not going to be sent away.”

She tipped her head back to look up at Alex, challenging him to confirm the promise. He had pulled on a dressing gown, and handed her the sweater he had been wearing earlier.

“Here — put this on or you’ll freeze to death.”

“Thanks.” As she tugged it on over her head her senses were filled with the subtle male scent of his skin. Maybe he wouldn’t notice if she kept it . . .

He had hunkered down beside the big dog, scritching the magic spot behind his ear. “Don’t worry, buddy, of course you won’t be sent away. It was my fault. I should have realised. It’s just a silly old Christmas tree anyway. We’ll soon sort it out.”

The dog lifted his giant head, liquid brown eyes turning from one to the other. If he didn’t understand the words, he seemed to understand the sentiment. Shelley felt the trembling subside as he relaxed, resting against her shoulder.

“There. You’re a good boy. Yes, you are.”

Alex unwound the light cable and picked up the fallen Christmas tree, putting a couple of the decorations back in place. “There, all done. Now you can go back on your bed, can’t you boy?”

“Can’t he . . . ?”

“No!” Alex’s voice was firm. “I draw the line at letting him sleep on the bed.”

“Oh. Well, that’s the rule, Tyler. I’m sorry. Daddy’s put his foot down.” She had to smile as she caught Alex rolling his eyes at being called the dog’s ‘daddy’. “But you have a lovely comfy bed of your own, don’t you? Here, give me a couple of treats and I’ll coax him onto it.”

Fifteen minutes and a dozen treats later, Tyler finally stopped being suspicious of the large blue beanbag and decided that maybe it was a comfy place to lie after all. As he settled on it with a grunt of contentment, Shelley flopped onto her back, laughing.

“Phew! Now, let’s just hope he stays there!”

Alex laughed too, offering her his hand to pull her to her feet. “Let’s hope so. I think we deserve a cup of tea after that!”

“I . . . um . . . ought to be getting back to the hotel,” she protested.

“Why?”

“Well, I . . . I have to get up for work in the morning.”

“That’s okay. It’s only round the corner. And anyway, I’ll have to get up too, to take the mutt out for a w-a-l-k-i-e.”

She hesitated, but it was too tempting. “Okay. Do I get breakfast in bed?”

He laughed softly, and dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose. “I think that can be arranged.”

* * *

Shelley always appreciated waking up in a warm bed. She appreciated it even more now, with Alex Crocombe’s lean, warm body beside her. She breathed in deeply, catching a drift of the unique scent of his skin.

She’d taken a chance, let herself hope. So far it had been all good. It had been three days . . .

Slipping out of bed she reached for her sweater and padded out barefoot to the sitting room. Tyler was asleep on his beanbag, but he woke at once, yawning widely and getting up to stretch his long body. He still had about a year’s more growing time — he was going to be enormous!

She paused to ruffle his ears and drop a kiss on his nose, for which she got a long pink tongue lapping up her cheek. Then she strolled over to the window and pulled back the curtains.

“Oh, my goodness!”

“What is it?” Alex, stark naked with his hair adorably ruffled from sleep, appeared in the doorway behind her.

“It’s been snowing!”

Wrapping his arms around her from behind, he peered over her shoulder out of the window. “You call that snow? At home we don’t even think it’s worth mentioning until it’s ten feet deep.”

“That’s because you live practically in the Arctic Circle. But we never get snow here. Well, it snows quite a lot up on Dartmoor, but not down here on the coast.” She gazed out of the window at the street below, blanketed in pure white. “It’s so beautiful.”

He nuzzled into her neck. “Wait till you have to go out and walk in it.”

She laughed, turning her head to kiss the stubble along his jaw. “It’s a good job the last of the Turkey-and-Tinsel groups left yesterday. They might not have been able to get away if the roads are bad.”

“They’ll have had the gritter lorries out overnight, and the main roads should be fine.”

Shelley glanced down at Tyler. The big dog had come over to lift his paws up onto the windowsill and look out. “What do you make of that, Sweetie?” she asked him.

He turned his head to look up at them as if puzzled to know what was so interesting. Alex scritched the dog’s favourite spot behind his ear. “You’re going to find out in a bit, buddy. Come on, let’s get some breakfast and then we can walk him over to the hotel.”

They were in no hurry, though. With the last Turkey-and-Tinsel group gone, there were no more guests in the hotel. It was closing down for Christmas, and after that the renovations would start in earnest.

It was almost eleven o’clock by the time they were ready to set out. They both put on two pairs of socks and bundled themselves up in hats and scarves and gloves against the cold.

The sun was pale and distant in a cloudless blue sky. The bare branches of the trees were outlined in white, the hedges and gardens quiet beneath a blanket of snow that seemed to muffle every sound.

Predictably, Tyler took a fair amount of coaxing to step out into this cold, white, wet stuff. He sniffed at it suspiciously, tapped it with one large paw, and drew back. “Come on, you big coward,” Alex urged. “It won’t hurt you.”

The big dog looked doubtful, but his trust in Alex was enough to convince him to try it. After a few tentative steps he decided that it was safe after all, and pranced along happily beside them, looking inordinately proud of himself.

Alex laughed, dropping his arm around Shelley’s shoulders and hugging her close. She smiled up at him, feeling a deep warmth inside her, even though it was so cold that she could see her breath in white puffs.

Three days, and four wonderful nights. Not very long . . . But it felt . . . right. She wasn’t going to think about how long it might last. Just take one day at a time.

The snow was actually only about five or six inches deep. Someone had already been out to sweep a path along the pavement, and the gritter lorry had been down Church Road.

But the hotel car park was still a pure, pristine white, smooth as sugar icing and glistening in the pale winter sunshine. That was until Alex let Tyler off his lead.

The dog suddenly decided that this snow stuff was great fun, and began to race around in circles, kicking up showers of white that sparkled in the sunlight as he barked joyously.

“He’s having a good time!”

Shelley turned at the sound of laughter. The Ellises were strolling down the lane — Liam and Cassie, Luke and Julia, with Robyn and Ben racing ahead, all bundled up in woolly scarves and bobble hats.

“Especially considering how long it took us to persuade him to come out in it,” Alex responded cheerfully. “How are the horses?”

“They’re fine — they’re not bothered by the snow. We brought them in last night when we got the weather warning, but we turned most of them out to the paddock this morning.”

Robyn was bouncing up and down excitedly. “Mummy, can we make a snowman?” she pleaded.

“Another one?” Cassie smiled down at her. “You made two in Suomu.”

“Yes, but we had to leave those behind. Now we can make one here.”

“Did you have a good time visiting Santa?” Shelley asked her.

“We had an amazing time!” The child’s eyes were wide. “We went for a ride in a real reindeer sleigh.”

“I know. I saw the pictures you sent.”

“Daddy said she was a she reindeer, that’s why she had antlers. The boy reindeers don’t have them at this time of year.”

“Is that so?”

“And she was called Bikka. That’s nearly the same name as my pony! Isn’t that funny!”

Shelley laughed. “It certainly is. When did you get back?” she added to Cassie.

“Last night. We really did have a wonderful time. She was so excited to see Santa.”

“It’s lovely that she’s still at an age to believe in him,” Julia remarked. “Ben’s beginning to have his doubts.”

“Ah, it’s a shame that they have to lose that magic.”

“Come on, Robyn,” Ben called. He had already made a start on piling up snow for the snowman. “Come and help.”

The little girl scampered over to join him. The three men were also recruited — not that they were at all reluctant. Soon a magnificent snowman was taking shape, becoming taller than Ben.

The lights on the Christmas tree beside the front steps were winking brightly, casting their jewel colours on the snow. The children’s piping voices echoed on the frosty air like birdsong.