A Family for Christmas (Contemporary Romance Novella) by Taylor Helen Scott

Author:Taylor, Helen Scott [Taylor, Helen Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
Published: 2012-09-20T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

At the sound of Tom's footsteps returning, Eve climbed in the passenger's seat of the pickup and buckled up.

Tom locked the door of his house and joined her. "I've packed shovels, blankets, sandwiches, and a flask of coffee. Just in case we're stranded."

"You expect us to get stuck?" Eve wanted to return to civilization and put Tom behind her, not spend a night trapped in a pickup with him.

"It pays to plan for the worst."

The worst. "Right."

Tom pulled away and Eve reached for the grab handle as the vehicle bumped and lurched over the mounds of snow that had been compacted beneath his tractor's tires. When they hit the narrow moorland road, Tom turned right. "It's normally forty minutes from here to Plymouth. My bet is it'll take us three or four times that long today."

A tractor or other large-wheeled vehicle had already passed along the road, so Tom followed in the tire tracks. After a couple of miles they met their first obstacle, a deep snow drift across the road. The vehicle that had gone before them had driven over the moorland to avoid the drift. Tom pulled up and scratched his chin. "I can't risk following those tire tracks off road. Rocks or ditches might be hidden under the snow."

They jumped out. Tom climbed on top of his vehicle and stood with his arms akimbo, a frown on his face. "The snow's only drifted for about six feet where a wall borders the road. Let's dig it away. It shouldn't take long."

"Okay." She hoped he was right. The route looked impassable to her. Eve accepted a shovel and they set to work. The snow was deep but not tightly packed. Where it had frozen overnight, it came away in large, ice-crusted lumps. After an hour, her arms felt like they were going to drop off, but between them they had opened a gap wide enough for the pickup to pass through.

"Success!" Tom grinned, a flash of white teeth. His eyes sparkled in the sunlight reflected off the snow.

Eve grinned back, feeling daring and invigorated like an explorer on an expedition.

"Time for a cup of coffee, I think," Tom said. They sat on the hood of the pickup, steaming plastic mugs in their gloved hands, and examined their handiwork. "You did well for a pencil pusher."

"I try to keep in shape by jogging, but I'm not as fit as I thought." Eve flexed her aching fingers. "Or my hands and arms aren't. Anyway, you were a pencil pusher once as well."

"Yep. I know." Tom sipped his coffee and stared out across the desolate, snowy moorland. "Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing, whisking Polly away from everything she knew and bringing her down here."

"She seems to like it."

"I know, but it was a bit of a knee-jerk reaction. After Karen walked out, I wanted to get away from the life that had caused us such heartache. Give us a fresh start."

"Why Dartmoor?"

Tom smiled fondly. "I was trying to rediscover my happy past, I think.

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