Forever His Darling. Sarah Randall

face, her eyelashes, her hair.

      “You look like the abominable snowman Ana.” He tried to help brush off the snow and hold back the fits of laughter he could sense were about to burst free. Ana squealed as George tried to lick her face.

      Eventually she opened her mouth and spat out snow. That pushed him over the edge and he couldn’t help but laugh. He didn’t want to stop; it had been a long time since he’d laughed at anything.

      “Youfinditfunnymisserdarlin?” she asked, as she continued to clear her mask of snow.

      “What was that? I couldn’t hear you with all that snow in your mouth.” He bent over to hold his sides which now ached through laughter until a snowball hit him directly on his head.

      He stopped laughing abruptly. “Oh, no you didn’t,” he lectured, trying to keep a straight face as he shook his head free of the snow. George barked excitedly and bounced through the snow like Tigger.

      Ana squealed and gathered more snow and an impromptu snowball fight ensued, the winner of which was never declared.

      Eventually, exhaustion had them collapsing in the snow, and Ana giggling again at the imprint of her body where she’d fallen. They made snow angels; Ana not taking no for an answer when Matt had originally refused. He glanced over at her as she stared at the stars in the clear sky, their fingertips just touching. An owl screeched from somewhere in the small copse.

      “Itssobeautiful,” she said, softly. “When I was a kid I really did think there was a man in it.”

      It took him another moment to translate her slightly slurred words and catch on that she was talking about the moon. He followed her gaze to the full moon sitting impressively low in the sky, a couple of wispy clouds silhouetted against it. Pip would call it a “creepy, Scooby-Doo moon”.

      “’Course then my mother told me the truth, along with the fact that there was no Santa.”

      He closed his eyes tightly. Christ, he’d never meet this woman’s mother but he already wanted to throttle her neck. His strong reaction shocked him as he wasn’t a violent man. He decided to blame it on the alcohol.

      Their fingertips were still touching on top of the snow and he turned his head to the side. Her eyes were now closed and he had an uncomfortable desire to touch her face. She looked ethereal, a stunning Sleeping Beauty with her now dark, damp, auburn curls spread out in the snow around her like a halo. An uncontrollable force brought his hand to her face, delicately brushing the snow from her hair and reddened cheeks. Her eyes remained closed but he thought he felt her turn her cheek into his hand as if seeking his touch. Swallowing, he was losing the battle against his body’s growing desire as his eyes traced over her face. Her ruby red lips looked soft and inviting and he could almost imagine leaning over to kiss them. He’d start with her cheeks and nose before touching those lips. Would she encourage him or push him away?

      The owl screeched again and brought sanity back to his thoughts. He noticed her body shiver and decided it was time to head indoors.

      “Okay, time to go before we become popsicles.” He stood and held out his hand to help her up.

      “Ouch,” she giggled and then hiccupped. “IthinkIvehurtoohoutchankle.” Another hiccup followed by a giggle as she clasped her hand over those lips.

      “Can you put weight on it?” Ana took a tentative step forward and he saw her wince in pain.

      “Oh. Okay, up you go.” Matt swiftly lifted her into his arms and started down the hillside. Ana once again snuggled into his neck and he felt her hot breath on his skin. Her cold nose tickled him as he felt the soft curves of her body beneath his hands. He tightened his hold and felt her relax in his arms and thought she might have drifted off to sleep.