Page 83 of The Duke Who Saved Christmas
“I think so.” I cast my gaze around the room, then nodded once more. “All done for now. I’ll have to call Cassandra to arrange decorating them and ask Hazel where all the decorations are, but yes. Thank you for doing all that.”
I wrapped my arms around my waist and dipped my chin, taking a deep breath.
“Are you going straight home?” he asked.
I peered up at him. “Yes.”
“I’ll follow you home. It’s still snowing out there, and I don’t want you getting stuck.” He picked up the chainsaw and walked towards the door, barely looking at me.
I picked up my bag and phone from one of the tables and rushed after him, only just avoiding one huge puddle from melted snow that had been trudged in. “You don’t need to follow me back. Gramps’ truck will manage just fine.”
“I’d still feel better knowing you were home safely in this weather.” He held open the door for me, fixing me with a firm look. “Don’t argue with me, Sylvie. For once in your life.”
I clenched my jaw. “Fine. But don’t think I’m going to wave to you when I get there.”
“Duly noted.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN – SYLVIE
“Nope. I think the battery’s gone,” Thomas said, securing the bonnet of Gramps’ truck back in place.
I bobbed on the spot and rubbed my hands up and down my arms. “Can’t you jump it?”
“If I had jump cables, then yes. Unfortunately, I don’t. Zara took them and never gave them back. Story of my life,” he finished on a mutter. “I can take you back if you want and come out here in the morning to tow it to your house.”
“Why can’t you tow it now? You have a tow hook on the back!”
“In this weather? Sylvie, I can barely see three feet in front of me when I’m driving. I only knew you’d stopped because we were on the phone.” He made doubly sure the bonnet was down and wiped his hands together. “Your choice.”
I sighed. “Fine. I guess that works. As long as you can bring it back in the morning.”
“If I can’t, I’ll get someone who can.” He handed me the keys with a sympathetic smile. “You just keep ending up in my car, don’t you?”
“Well, they say it takes twenty-one days to form a habit, so let’s hope we stop running into each other like this,” I grumbled, shoving the keys into my bag.
“Do you want to walk there?”
“In this? Not really. I’m going to get run over.”
“By what cars? We’re the only ones daft enough to be driving.” Thomas laughed and opened the passenger side door. “Come on. Get in.”
A wind blew through, sending snow hurtling all over me, and I shivered before rushing into his Range Rover. It was nice and warm in here—much better than Gramps’ old car. Really,it was no wonder the old thing had broken down in inclement weather.
I should have expected it.
Then again, I wasn’t expecting the weather either. I was hugely regretting having stayed at the town hall to set all the trees up, given the fact it’d been snowing quite heavily when Thomas and Ryan had arrived. It’d been a terrible call all things considered, but there wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it now.
Just sit here in Thomas’ Range Rover and let him play bloody knight in shining armour again.
He got in the truck and slammed the door with a sigh.
“I can just walk,” I said after a second.
“Don’t be stupid.”
“You’re the one who asked me if I wanted to.”
“It was a rhetorical question, Sylvie.” He put his key back in the ignition and turned it, and for a second, I thought the car wouldn’t rumble to life, but it did. “I never intended to let you walk home. I thought you might have realised that.”
