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‘Brussels That’s where Stephen lives Do you kno long she’ll be away?’

‘A couple of weeks at least, she seemed to think…’

As deflated as a pricked balloon, Holly walked back to her car

‘You watch yourself driving home,’ the old lady called after her ‘There’s to be heavy snow tonight’

‘Thanks, I will,’ Holly pro a smile ‘Merry Christmas!’

And a very ht unhappily, annoyed to find that her eyes were prickling with tears After all, Sylvia was going to have the best possible Christrandchildren she rarely saw Holly was really, really pleased that Stephen had swooped in from abroad to save the day He and his ere rare visitors but he had at least made the effort and now his mother wouldn’t have to spend her first Christmas as aalone Holly sniffed and blinked back the tears, scolding herself for being so selfish She was young and healthy and e at all

Maybe she was si Pixie, she reasoned, as she drove with care on the steep, icy road that climbed up over the moors Pixie’s kid brother was in soo and stay with him and sort it out It was probably financial trouble but Holly wouldn’t ask any aard questions or offer unwelcome advice because she didn’t want to hurt her friend, as deeply attached to her horribly self-centred sibling Everyone had proble as she felt the tyres of the car shift into a near skid on the slippery surface and slowing her speed even more She had far fewer proble sorry for herself

Ritchie? Well, that wasn’t an excuse So, she had got hurt but then Pixie would point out that she was too soft in that line, too prone to thinking well of people and being knocked back hard when they let her down Pixie wason distrust as a means of self-defence, except when it came to her own brother

Holly peered out of the windscreen because visibility was fading fast with the wipers unable to keep up with the heavy snow She wasn’t the dramatic type, she assured herself, as the car coasted down a hill that seemed steeper than it had see, but the weather was foul and the light snowfall she had dimly expected now bore a closer resemblance to a blizzard

And then without the sled screa slow ed fast with a loud, nerve-racking crunch of ine, Holly breathed in slow and deep to calm herself She was alive, no other car was involved and nobody was hurt There was ly

Sadly that was a conviction that took a beating once she clile the car had crashed at, to inspect the da of Pixie’s elderly vehicle was crushed up against a large rock, which had presuoodness, how ht It was her responsibility, not Pixie’s

A spark of fear assailed her only after she had exas The road was deserted and lay under a covering of unbroken snow It was a bad night and it was Christ traffic, if any As she stood there nursing herto do, Holly had never feltout in such dreadful weather on such a special night No, she was on her own, sink or swinal on her phone to use it Only then did she turn round to look again at the lane she stood beside and there, like a faint beacon in the darkness, she saw the lights of what could only be a house and relief filled her to overflowing Hopefully it was occupied and the occupant had a landline she could use to call for a breakdown truck

Vito was savouring a glass of ainning wine and wondering what to do with the evening when the knocker on the door sounded Taken aback, he frowned because he hadn’t heard a car and there were no lights outside Did the local caretaker live within walking distance? He peered out through the spyhole and saw a red-and-white Santa hat So house because Vito hated Christmas He yanked open the door and enormous blue eyes like velvet pansies looked up at hiht his visitor was a child and then his eyes dropped and took in the swell of breasts visible between the parted edges of her coat and he registered that, although she ht be very small, she was all woman

Holly stared up in wonderment at the male who appeared in the doorway He looked like every fantasyall rolled into one spectacular package In fact he was so gorgeous with his black hair, designer stubble and dark, deep-set, mysterious eyes that he made her teeth clench in dis that ed her That he wore a very forold tie didn’t help to relax her either