Page 25 of The Christmas Lodge
Lacy rolled her eyes even as she smiled. “Especially when they get invited so persistently.”
“Just don’t make me have to work so persistently to nail down a time for this free ride, okay?”
“How about tomorrow?”
“Works for me.”
Lacy realized that she and Derek had stepped closer during the course of their conversation and now their gazes had caught and held. Her heart began beating harder once again, and she hoped fervently that he couldn’t tell that she was having trouble breathing.This is totally unlike me, she thought. She had dated a reasonable amount in her life, but she’d never experienced this smitten sense of infatuation before.
Derek took a step back, preparing to leave, and then tripped on a broom she’d left lying on the floor from a previous day’s work because he hadn’t broken their eye contact. He staggered, his arms windmilling until he regained his balance. Lacy covered her mouth with her hands, fighting valiantly to stifle the laughter that threatened to burst out of her at the sight.
It was oddly comforting, she realized, to see Derek looking a little unsure of himself. He was always so confident and unflustered, but asking her out had seemed to bring out his awkward side. Her relief wasn’t malicious. Rather, it was just nice to know that she wasn’t alone in feeling a little infatuated and off-kilter.
“Well, now that I’ve thoroughly embarrassed myself, I’m gonna get out of here,” Derek said, straightening up and chuckling. “It’s okay, you can laugh.”
“Me? Laugh? I would never.”
“I applaud your valiant efforts,” he said dryly, though his eyes twinkled. He turned to go.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
Derek looked back, his expression confused. Lacy nodded to the puppy, and he reddened again. He whistled and the puppy trotted over to him. Derek bent down and scooped her up. “Okay, now I’m really, truly going to head out.”
He was almost to the back door when Lacy thought of something.
“Missy,” she called.
Derek turned back, looking confused once more.
“For the puppy’s name. I think we should name her Missy.”
“Missy?”
Lacy felt herself starting to blush, but she went ahead and said it anyway. “Because she’s like a little Christmas miracle. It’s short for Mistletoe.”
Derek grinned and bent his head to drop a little kiss on the puppy’s head. “Well, look at that. Her name is working already.”
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
Derek glanced at the clock on the back wall for what was probably the hundredth time in the last twenty minutes. Only about a minute had elapsed since his last check, and he shook his head.
Come on, Derek, get it together. It’s not even a date, technically, and it’s not like she’s even sticking around. She’s just in town to restore the mansion. She’s not here to stay. Chill out.
His little pep talk did next to nothing to calm the slight bout of nerves simmering just below the surface, nor did it tone down the excitement that overrode the nerves. If there was one thing he was absolutely confident in, it was his life’s work.
He hoped Lacy, who had been more than a little standoffish about going dogsledding, would finally see just how magical the experience really could be. And “magical” really was the right word for it, cheesy as it sounded.
Working with a steadiness that belied those simmering nerves, he tightened a bolt that was just beginning to loosen on the sled he’d picked for Lacy’s ride. The bolt was still well within safety limits, but he wasn’t about to take any chances—he was doing anything and everything he could do on his end to ensure a smooth ride.
Glancing at the clock again and then rolling his eyes at himself for doing it, he gave the sled one last safety check. Satisfied that everything was in order, he mentally checked through the list of dogs he’d decided to use for his team that day.
The clock he was now beginning to despise told him that it was only one minute before nine in the morning, the time they’d decided to meet up. He’d texted Lacy the night before, asking what time he should pick her up from The Snowy Pine, but Lacy had stubbornly insisted that she would walk from the inn. When he’d pointed out that his mother had raised him to be a gentleman, she had lobbed back the shot that she was an independent woman who knew how to take care of herself.
Well, his mother had raised him to be a gentleman all right, but she also hadn’t raised a fool. Seeing that the argument was a futile one, he had relented. A knock on his shop door pulled him from his thoughts and he turned just in time to see Lacy poking her head into the shop.
“Come on in,” he called and grinned as he took in the sight of her rosy cheeks, red from the cold air. “Wishing you’d taken me up on my offer to give you a ride?”
Lacy smirked, stepping fully into the shop. “Hardly. Derek, have you ever readPride and Prejudice?”
