“Best friends,” Nick confirmed. “He was why I sent Bree to do those stories over the summer. The original article was Cooper’s idea. It started as a puff piece to lure in some tourists and ended up exposing some honest-to-goodness corporate fraud.”
“A juicy story like that must be good for your magazine.”
He flashed her another version of that nearly irresistible grin. “We won a few awards for bold journalism, if that’s what you mean. Readers love that kind of stuff, ’cause it reminds them of what could happen in their own backyards.”
“And that sells subscriptions.”
His grin faded considerably. “Not as many as I’d like, and building up subscriptions is a constant headache. To be honest, I’m jealous of Bree, getting to sniff out a story and set it up for people to read. Designing layouts and keeping up with invoices aren’t nearly as much fun as writing.”
“I know what you mean,” Julia sympathized. “I love stocking and arranging the store and working with customers. When it comes to the bookwork, though, it’s like torture.”
“I’m curious about something.” She motioned for him to continue, and he asked, “Of all the things you could do, why a toy store?”
No one but her parents had ever asked her that, mostly because few people knew where she was and what she was currently doing. Now that she thought about it, maybe that was one reason the locals had been so slow to warm up to her. They simply didn’t understand why she was there in the first place.
To Nick, she said, “I earned a degree in Business and International Relations by taking classes wherever my parents were living at the time. I’ve always enjoyed collecting toys, so when I decided to move here, opening a toy store seemed like a good way to blend my hobby with my education.”
“It can’t be easy in this economy.”
“Neither is running an online magazine,” she pointed out, “but like you, I do my best to offer people something unique they can’t get anywhere else.”
She appreciated that he didn’t question why on earth someone from such a wealthy background was working at all. That was something she’d rather not discuss with anyone if she could possibly help it.
“Sounds like we’ve got something in common after all,” he commented lightly.
“What’s that?”
“We’re both masochists who’d rather work 24/7 and be in charge of our own business than put in forty hours a week for someone else.”
Julia didn’t think of it that way. Her mother had set aside her own dreams to marry the love of her life and accompany him around the world. While she seemed content with her choice, Julia treasured her hard-won independence and would never sacrifice it again.
Caught up in her thoughts, she’d missed what Nick was saying. Embarrassment warmed her cheeks, and she smiled. “I’m sorry. What were you saying?”
“I was saying I can’t believe you like to sled.”
“And snowmobile and ski. I took some snowboarding lessons in Gstaad last winter, but it’s harder than it looks.”
Too late, she realized he might interpret that as bragging. Because of the exotic life she’d led, people often jumped to conclusions about her, and she’d learned to keep her adventures under wraps. Fortunately, he seemed to take it in stride. “The Swiss Alps, huh? Didn’t peg you for a snow bunny.”
“What? You thought I was the kind of girl who dresses the part and then holes up in the lodge with a warm drink, watching everyone else have all the fun?”
After a few moments, he grinned. “Guess so.”
“The media only sees what I want them to see,” she informed him coolly. “That means there’s a lot about me you don’t know.”
“Is that right?” The teasing glint left his eyes, and as he leaned forward, they simmered with an enticing combination of challenge and fascination. “You mean, like why a classy, sophisticated woman like you is hiding out in a backwoods place like this?”
“I’m not hiding.” When he tilted his head in a chiding gesture, she hedged. “Not exactly. I just wanted a fresh start, and this seemed like a good place to do it.”
He smirked. “Nice try, cupcake, but I’m not buying it.”
Somehow, they’d slid into dangerous territory, and she instinctively pulled away from the edge. Painful as the lessons were, Julia had learned a lot from the scam artist who’d gone to great trouble to win her affection, only to reveal his motives had nothing to do with love. She’d made the mistake of trusting him too fully, and it had cost her more than she was willing to risk ever again.
The man sitting across the table, with his dark good looks and complex personality, intrigued her in much the same way. It was a screaming red flag for her. In her memory, she heard her father’s common-sense advice.
You never know what a man’s thinking, Julia. His actions speak the truth, even if he’s lying through his teeth.
Recognizing the male interest in Nick’s eyes, she resisted the impulse to duck her head and murmur something demure. All her life she’d done the proper thing, and it had brought her more heartache than she cared to recall. Moving here had enabled her to start becoming her own person, far from the refined stage she’d played on for so many years.
This time, she held her head high and met his smoldering gaze with a fearless one of her own. “This may come as a surprise to you, but I don’t really care what you believe.”
Before she could say anything more, her phone pinged with a text all in capital letters. SOS—COMPUTER CRASHED.
Grateful for an excuse to leave the too-intriguing journalist behind, she made her apologies to the Martins and drove back to Toyland.
* * *
When Julia’s assistant called her away, Nick fought the urge to walk her out. This wasn’t his house, he reasoned, so it wasn’t his place to do it anyway. Instead, he nodded goodbye and pretended to be engrossed in the knotted lights Todd had just handed him.
The truth was, her blatant rejection still stung.
One minute they were bantering back and forth, and the next she morphed into the Ice Queen. Maybe being called a snow bunny annoyed her, he thought, taking the lights into the living room where Lainie and Hannah were unloading ornaments from a box.
One thing he knew for certain: it didn’t matter if she liked him or despised him. Tomorrow morning, he’d be leaving Holiday Harbor—and its puzzling new resident—and heading back to warm, sunny Richmond. He’d been so cold the past few days, it would probably take him a week to completely thaw out.
“Brrr,” Todd commented, echoing Nick’s thoughts while unloading an armload of wood. “The temperature’s really dropping out there.”
As he tossed logs onto the fire, Noah bounced in a swing that hung from the door frame, gurgling his baby opinion. With Christmas carols playing on the stereo and Hannah chirping about the history of this ornament and that one, the Martins’ modest living room hummed like a restless beehive.
As if on cue, Lainie came over to sit on the threadbare arm of Nick’s chair. “Nice, huh?”
“Sure, if you like that gooey family thing.”
Laughing, she gave him a playful smack on the shoulder. “If you hate it so much, why don’t you hide up in the guest room?”
“It’s warmer down here,” he retorted.
“Oh,