Page 76 of A Spell for Midwinter's Heart
“My guard came down, and it was holdinga lotback. But, no, you didn’t misread the signals.” Reputation be damned. She stepped in closer again to slide her hands into his jacket. “I’m not the best at giving them, but I was one hundred percent propositioning you when I invited you in.”
“Oh?” he asked, his expression relaxing and then turning wanting.
“Yes. Has anyone told you that you look annoyingly hot in a towel?”
Gavin chuckled once but regarded her with wide, dark eyes that drank her in. “I’m not sure what to do with the ‘annoying’ part of that statement.” He ran a hand down her side. “But if you’re making comparisons, I have to object.”
“Oh, you don’t have to…” she mumbled, looking down.
He put a hand under her chin, tipping it up gently. “Yes, I do. Because you, Rowan Midwinter, were every bit ‘annoyingly’ hot in a towel. You’re hot in everything. Though especially that ivy dress.”
“The gown? From the fundraiser?” She blinked, and he nodded. “But you barely looked at me that night.”
Gavin raised both brows high. “Because it’s generally considered rude to stare. Not to mention, you were pretty resolved to hate me at the time. But…” He ran his hand across her cheek and back through the curls of her hair, letting his fingers tangle. “You’re undeniable, Rowan.”
She did not have time to process the ache of want the words stirred up, because in that moment, a commotion pulled their attention back across the street.
The rest of the Midwinters had finally arrived, and Dennisstrolled down the sidewalk in their direction, McCreerys arranged behind him as if he walked at the tip of a phalanx.
Liliana had stopped and was staring at something—a flyer hanging on a lamppost. Rowan realized then there was a similar one nearby.
It was the Christmastown flyer she’d seen in the Nutcracker Museum. But she realized then that there were more of them.
All over the place.
“Oh no,” said Rowan, turning to sprint across the street toward her mother. Gavin’s footfalls followed as he came to join in the fray.
“Well, look who it is!” said Dennis, coming to stand in front of her family with his arms clasped paternally at his front. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas,” said Joe Midwinter, ever the peacekeeper.
“I’m glad we ran into each other,” said Dennis, directing his gaze at Liliana. “I wanted to be sure you planned to make the meeting on the thirty-first. You haven’t gotten back to me.”
“It’s a busy time for us,” said Liliana, tightly.
“You need to make time. This isn’t going away.”
Liliana shot out a hand in a panning gesture. “The snow’s back, Dennis. The crowds’ve been good.”
“Let’s not have this conversation now,” said Dennis. His eyes darted around to the very public setting the Midwinters and McCreerys found themselves in. “I just want to be sure you’ll be at the meeting, and then we can all go enjoy our holiday.”
“Do you have any new offers? Anyone but the Goshen Group?”
“It’s still the only one on the table. But you really should—”
Liliana cut him off. “Then you know what my answer is. There’s no reason to waste my time.”
Dennis sighed. “I didn’t want to have to point this out, but seeing as it hasn’t occurred to you—I don’t need you on board to sell the land.”
Rowan’s mother paled. “We’d have to tear everything down and move…to where? And with what?”
Gavin’s father spread his hands wide and shook his head with a shrug. “You’d be better off selling it. Make something off it before it sends you any deeper in the red.”
“Never.” Liliana shook her head. “Better to burn the whole thing down!”
The outburst shocked nearby onlookers. Cal Arthur glanced up from where he’d been chatting with Pastor Thomas. They both frowned. Even Rowan couldn’t keep a look of shock from her face. Liliana caught it and froze, looking like a deer in the headlights.
“Do you think everyone else here would agree with that?” asked Dennis, gesturing toward the crowd. “Because I don’t think so.”
