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‘It’s not?’ She leaned back a little, looking up as if she was trying to spot the flaw

‘No,’ he said as he reached the tree and stretched his hand through the branches to catch hold of the trunk ‘Too much snow’

He started shaking the tree as she screa them both in the tumble of snow fro down his neck andhim shiver

Grace fell backwards with a shriek, laughing as she fell

She lay there for a few seconds, trying to catch her breath He pulled his hand back and stepped over her ‘Okay down there?’

She was lying looking up at the sky ‘No,’ she said firmly ‘I’ve been hoodwinked by a crazy Scots man’ She held her hand up towards him

He grabbed it, steeling himself to pull her upwards But Grace was too quick for hi him doards to her and the heavy snow

He landed with a splat, face first in the snow next to her, only part of his body on hers

Her deep, throaty laugh echoed through the wood Once she started, she couldn’t stop

He sucked in a breath and instead sucked in a et up on his knees to clear his rabbed hold of his ar

He spluttered again, this tiot hiood

‘You pro,’ she said

The laughing had stopped and she sounded deadly serious He lay down next to her in the snow ‘Okay, then What did I promise?’

She reached over and touched the side of his cheek It was the tenderest of touches ‘You proels,’ she whispered ‘And I plan on collecting’

He only had toabout snow angels But the heat between the all day; it was a wonder they hadn’t melted all the snow around them

He captured her sweet lips in his Her cheeks were cold The hat she’d pulled fro her hair fan out in the snow—just as it had on the pillow last night That memory sparked a rush of blood around his body

He pulled his hand froh her hair Her other hand caught around the back of his neck, round was freezing and snoas getting in places it just shouldn’t He didn’t care about anything other than the connection to this woman