Page 49 of Merry Mended Hearts

The snow stole my attention for a few moments while I searched for something to say. “So this is what you do here at Harper’s Inn? You’re the sleigh driver.”

“I help with maintenance around the inn and offer horse-drawn sleigh rides. It’s one thing to ride in a car on a road through the mountains. It’s completely different riding outinthe scenery. Horses offer a slower pace, and the sleigh provides a more romantic setting.”

Well, that was the last thing I expected him to say. “Every person who comes here can’t possibly be after a romantic excursion.”

“Not every person, but a lot of people are. Besides, romance doesn’t always apply to love. It used to mean like, mystery and excitement, something set apart from regular life. That’s how I meant it.”

As if my heart needed another reason to pat a little faster.

His comment resonated like I was a drum, and he’d just whacked the side of me with a mallet. This man had an affinity for words?

Words were myeverything.Not only did he know an older context for something, but he used it in a way that completely fit in more ways than one. Even better.

Romance was always my favorite part in any story. Sitting in a sleigh, in a snowy, magical setting like this with a man who looked like Boone did, and hearing him talk about definitions? He might as well be reciting poetry to my melodramatic soul.

“That’s completelyromanticthat you knew that,” I said.

He slid his gaze to me. “I aim to impress.”

“Then you hit the bullseye.”

His eyes darkened and trapped mine. I clasped my hands into fists, sweat collecting on my palms inside of my gloves, and I was enraptured.

Boone didn’t take his glance from me. In fact, his eyes trailed over my face, landing on my lips and sending my lungs gasping for a breath.

The sleigh hit a bump on the snow, making the bells jingle a little harder than usual. Boone whipped his head forward, calling out to Hazelnut and pulling back to slow her pace.

I dipped my chin into the top of my coat and bit back a smile. Not only had I gotten completely swept away in the heat of his gaze, but Boone had gotten distracted.

Byme.

“How many sleigh rides do you end up offering a day?” I asked.

“Depends on the day,” he said, holding the reins as the horse trotted before us, jingling all the way. Strips of dark leather holding shiny silver bells chimed with every step the gray horse took.

“And the number of guests,” he added. “Most of the time, it’s about three rides a day. I’m doing this one since it’s so close to Christmas. Junie and her mom agree the sleigh rides add an ambience to the inn that other places don’t have.”

“What do you do in the summertime when there’s no snow?”

“Hayrides,” he said. “Or horseback riding. You think it’s beautiful now? You should see this place during the summer. Everything is so green and lush. There’s a small pond that way—” he pointed with his gloved hand— “that beavers build little dams in every year. And the wildflowers in the meadow are pretty incredible.”

“That sounds amazing, but I’m not sure anything compares to this.” I glanced up at the tops of the trees making their steep climb to the gray-blue sky.

He was right; driving past a mountain in a car was one thing. But at the horse’s lower speeds, with the sound of the rummers sliding on the snow and the horse’s jingling movements, the frigid air didn’t seem quite so cold anymore.

Or maybe it was just sitting so close to Boone. He was acting so different, so kind. And I couldn’t help but wonder why.

What had changed?

GRACE

My mind was goingall kinds of places it shouldn’t. With him talking about seeing the mountains in the summertime, that sounded too much like an invitation to come back and visit. To see him again.

Was I reading too much into this?

It was just asleigh ride.A one-time thing like an attraction at an amusement park.

Get it together, Grace!

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