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He stepped inside, his already tall figure er by the addition of winter boots and the jacket “I didn’t take it,” he replied, pulling a black toque off his head and shoving it into a pocket His norelled hair was in disarray from the hat To Mari, he’d never looked better

And she was suddenly acutely aware that she stood before him, barefoot and braless in a pair of pink candy-striped flannel pyjamas

“Oh Lord, excuse aze remained pinned to her flannel jammies

“Mariella,” he said, and her feet refused to move

Just yesterday he’d said goodbye He’d taken her protestation of love and had politely, but quite definitively, rejected it Why was he here now?

“I couldn’t get on that plane”

“You couldn’t?”

He shook his head And she frantically tried to beat down the hope that fluttered in her heart There was no sense getting her hopes up They’d said all there was to say He’d been crystal clear

He unzipped his coat, shrugging out of it When he stood there with it in his hands, it ca it up for him

“I’o into the office today The roads are horrid”

“Yet you came here” She turned froht so easily AIt was ed since Luca had co her out of her life that had been nothing more than self-preservation

“I have the four-wheel drive You only have your little car”

“I called in to say I was doing paperwork froet dressed…”

“Mari wait” The urgency in those tords stopped her

“I cas I should have said yesterday But you caught uard”

He bent, removed his boots and padded across the hardwood to stand before her