Web of Deception - By Nina Blake Page 0,26
He’s not here for long and I wanted to spend some time with him. It’s time to get dressed for cocktails at the bar.”
Kate pursed her lips. She didn’t like being told what to do. This was her holiday as much as his.
“We only just got here,” she said.
“There’s time.”
She looked Daniel in the eye. “Perhaps your father will have to wait.”
“He’s a difficult man to catch.”
That wasn’t her problem. She stopped short of saying it.
“I’m getting dressed, all right.” She wandered over to the wardrobe where she’d hung her clothes. “For tobogganing.”
Daniel sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her, clearly exasperated. “But you saw the toboggan run. It was full of kids. Little kids at that. With their parents.”
She pulled off her polo neck jumper and the tee shirt she wore under it. “Then it’ll be full of children. And me. Because I’m going tobogganing.”
His lips curled to a smile. “In your bra?”
Kate glanced down at her chest, then back at Daniel. “It’s a bit fresh out for that.”
She reached across for her candy striped thermal shirt and quickly put it on, then pulled her jumper over it. Daniel had provided most of the snow and ski gear but she’d brought along thermal underwear and her favourite beanie.
She reached across the bed for the ski jacket. “You’re welcome to join me. I’d love the company.”
“I’ve already said I’d meet my father. I said we’d meet him.”
“You should have checked with me first. I’d love to meet your father. But not right now. I came here for the snow.”
“And me?”
“I came here for you, too,” she said.
Kate gave him a quick peck on the lips.
Then she left.
* * *
Daniel looked out onto the toboggan run outside the hotel. The weather had fined up slightly so he could make out the figures on the snow. It was still full of children accompanied by a few parents.
And Kate.
Though hazy, the air had cleared enough for him to see her at the top of the run. Three small children were sitting on a toboggan and Kate pushed it hard, running down the slope a few steps until the toboggan took off. Even from the distance, Daniel heard the kids’ shrieks of glee.
Seconds later Kate, too, was sliding down the hill and as she came closer there was no mistaking that smile on her face. She hadn’t seen him yet. Her eyes were on the children ahead of her, one of whom had fallen off and was crying.
She steered her toboggan closer to them, slowed to a stop and jumped off to help the small child. Then she pointed up the hill and the children scampered away.
Standing with her hands on her hips in her snow gear, she looked cute as hell. Daniel figured perhaps this had been a good idea after all.
“Kate,” he called out.
She ran towards him, leaving her toboggan behind.
“You decided to come?” she asked, momentarily short of breath.
“I called my father,” Daniel said. “Told him we’d meet him later.”
He’d chosen the perfect colour for her jacket. The burnt orange went well with the dark brown pants and showed off the colour in her face. It also matched her crimson beanie with its snowflake pattern.
Daniel pointed in the direction of the children she’d just helped. “Do you like kids?”
She nodded. “Nothing wrong with that.”
“Not at all. It’s a side to you that I haven’t seen before. You’ve talked about work and relationships and lots of other things. But never children.”
“Obviously, you hadn’t raised the subject before.”
“So you want children of your own one day?”
“Of course I do. I’ve got a career but that doesn’t mean I can’t have children too. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.”
He turned towards the toboggan she’d abandoned and the two of them walked towards it.
He’d hoped she was keen on having children of her own. His plans for them depended on it. Not that he’d spent much time thinking about what he’d do if she didn’t want children. He’d assumed she wanted the same thing as him.
“You’re not worried about the biological clock ticking away?” He asked the question in a light-hearted tone, hoping she wouldn’t be offended.
“I’m only thirty. I’m not over the hill yet.” She looked up at him, then straight ahead. “Things just haven’t worked out that way for me. I haven’t been in the right position. I haven’t had the right man in my life and it’s not something I plan to do on my own.”
“No, you’d need a