Christmas with her Boss by Marion Lennox

Author:Marion Lennox
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2010-09-05T04:00:00+00:00

It was Letty. Where? Where?

As Meg neared the house Letty screamed again.

Dear God…

She was high up on the roof, right by the Santa chimney. Had she been trying to fix him? But now wasn’t the time for questions. Letty was dangling from the ridge, tiny and frail and in deadly peril.

The roof had two inclines, the main one steep enough, but the attic gable rising even more steeply. The roof was old, the iron was rusting, and the capping on the high ridge had given way. Or was giving way. It hadn’t given completely.

It was all that was holding Letty up.

Scotty burst out of the house as Meg arrived. ‘Grandma!’

‘She’s on the roof.’

The capping tore again, just a little, iron scraping on iron. Letty lurched downward but somehow still held.

‘Grandma,’ Scott screamed, his voice breaking in terror. ‘Hang on!’

Meg was too busy to scream. How had she climbed? The ladder… Where? By the gate.

But then William was beside her, reaching the ladder before she did. ‘Hold it,’ he snapped. ‘Scott, hold the other side.’

The capping tore more, and Letty lurched again.

‘Letty, hold on,’ William ordered her, in a voice that brooked no argument. ‘Fingernails if you must, but do not let go. I’m coming.’

‘H…hurry.’

He was already climbing. ‘Keep still.’

How could you defy that voice? Why would you?

Nobody moved. Meg and Scott held to the ladder as if their lives depended on it.

Their lives didn’t. Letty’s did, and so did William’s.

The roof was high pitched, curved, dangerous, and the ladder only reached part way to the top ridge. William clambered over the main eaves as if they weren’t there. It was impossible to climb further, Meg thought numbly from underneath. The second gable was far too steep—but somehow William was doing it.

‘You’ll fall,’ she faltered.

‘Not me,’ he said, finding footholds she knew couldn’t exist. ‘Mountaineering 101—Basic skills for your modern businessman. Watch and wonder.’

She watched, and yes, she wondered, but it wasn’t admiration she was feeling. It was blind terror. Please. Please.

And then somehow, unbelievably, William was on the upper ridge, edging himself toward Letty. Santa’s sleigh was between them. He shoved; it tumbled back behind the house and no one noticed its going.

He edged closer…closer…while below him Meg and Scott forgot to breathe.

He’d reached her. He was steadying, stabilising himself over the ridge, grasping Letty’s wrists and holding.

He had her.

‘Don’t move. Just lie limp and let me pull you up.’

Scotty choked on a sob. Meg gripped his hand and held, taking comfort as well as giving it. Letty wasn’t safe yet. William was still balanced on a ridge with an already broken capping.

The ladder only reached to the eaves of the main roof, so what now? William might be able to climb up like a cat burglar. It was impossible that he climb down holding Letty.

‘Meg?’

‘Y…yes?’

‘I can’t get us down,’ he told her. ‘Not the way I came up. If I overbalance we’ll both go.’

She knew it. They needed the fire brigade, she thought. They needed help.

They had no phone. The nearest neighbour was a mile away, but William already knew that.

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