One Night in the Ice Storm (3 page)

“You
know very well why Grandpa didn’t like him. His mom wasn’t married and worked
in a bar, and that meant David was beneath us.”

There
had been rumors about his mother—about her doing more than working in the
bar—but Rachel had tried never to listen to them.

“You
shouldn’t speak that way about your grandfather, especially now that he’s dead.
He was so good to us.”

“I
loved Grandpa too, and I appreciate all he did for us. But he was a closed-minded,
judgmental snob, and there’s no getting around it.”

Rachel’s
father had walked out on her mother shortly after she and Brad were born. Most
of the time, she resented him for abandoning his family. Occasionally, however,
she understood how difficult it would have been to be the son-in-law of her
grandfather, who ran his daughter’s life the same way he ran the county.

Rachel
had run herself ragged trying to make sure her interest in David as a teenager was
hidden from her grandfather, since he never would have approved and she never
would have heard the end of it.

As
it turned out, David had dumped her before her grandfather ever found out.

“I
wish you wouldn’t say such things,” her mother murmured, clearly agreeing with
Rachel’s assessment but preferring not to hear it said.

“I’m
sorry. The point is David is here if there’s an emergency, but I’d be perfectly
fine on my own. You and Brad stay safe and don’t try to come out tonight. We’ll
still have Christmas together.”

Rachel
let out a long exhale as she ended the call.

Her
mom was feeling bad enough. She wasn’t about to let her know how horrible
spending the night here with David in the middle of an ice storm was going to
be for Rachel.

At
least the house was big. Six bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a huge basement
family room. Her grandfather had spared no expense when he’d restored the
hundred-year-old farmhouse. She could keep her distance from David until
morning.

She
stood up from her bed and checked herself out in the full-length mirror.

She’d
taken a hot shower to warm herself up and get the ice out of her hair, and then
she’d put on yoga pants and a soft green sweater that matched her eyes and
flattered her figure. She was smoothing down her hair when she realized what
she was doing.

Primping.
Making sure she looked pretty for when she saw David again.

Disgusted
with herself, she pulled the sweater off over her head and dug in her closet
until she found an oversized, worn sweatshirt from their high school football
team that used to be Brad’s.

She
pulled the sweatshirt on instead. It was very baggy on her small body. Not flattering
at all.

Much
better.

Then
she went into the bathroom and braided her hair into two long braids. She wore her
hair that way around her apartment, since the style kept it out of her way and
didn’t poke the back of her head like a ponytail did. But she wasn’t in the
habit of wearing pigtails in public.

The
braids and baggy sweatshirt made her look like a little girl, but she didn’t
care.

She
didn’t want David to think for a moment that she wanted to look pretty for him.

And
she didn’t want to confuse herself that way either.

Her
ankle still hurt, but she could walk better now that it was wrapped. She limped
downstairs and found David in the kitchen.

She
stood in the doorway, staring at him. He knelt on the ground, bending over at a
strange angle, working at one of the cabinet hinges with a screwdriver he’d
flipped out from the multi-tool he always carried.

“What
are you doing?” she demanded.

He
jerked, evidently startled by her presence. He actually hit his head on the top
of the cabinet as he attempted to straighten up.

“What
does it look like?”

She
didn’t appreciate his grumpy tone. “It looks like you’re doing something to my
mom’s cabinet door.”

“All
the hinges are loose. I was just tightening them.”

“You’ve
been here less than thirty minutes. Why would you feel the need to meddle with
my mother’s hinges?”

“What
else do I have to do? I was making coffee and noticed that the cabinet door was
about to fall off. So I checked the rest and they’re all loose.”

She
went to the coffee pot, which he’d gestured toward by way of evidence for the
validity of his claims. She poured herself a cup of coffee, since it was
already made.

“We
don’t need your help with the cabinets.”

“Well,
someone needed to fix them, and no one had. I don’t know why Brad would have
let them go so long.”

“They’re
my mother’s cabinets. Not Brad’s.”

“Do
you really think your mother’s going to get down on her hands and knees like
this and tighten the screws?”

She
wouldn’t—obviously. Her mother had bad knees and hadn’t done a piece of manual
labor in her life. Rachel’s grandfather probably wouldn’t have let her, even if
she’d felt the inclination.

“Would
you stop?” Rachel felt an irrational resentment at the sight of David working
in her mother’s kitchen. “You don’t need to do work around our house.”

He
shrugged and ignored her. “I only have two more to go.”

She
gave a frustrated huff as she poured cream into her coffee.

She
tried not to watch David work. Bending over as he was gave her a great view of
muscular thighs and a very fine ass through the denim of his jeans.

He
was absolutely infuriating. And even more so because he was so damned hot.

“How’s
your ankle?” His voice was muffled because his head was basically inside one of
the bottom cabinets, but she heard it well enough.

“It’s
fine. My mom says they can’t get out here tonight because of the weather, so
she and Brad are staying in town.”

“I
could have told you that.”

She
took a deep breath to keep from snapping at him. She’d vowed during her shower
that she was going to be as civil as she could, but he was already testing her
patience. “I’m surprised, with your almighty powers of prediction, that you
couldn’t forecast the storm and avoid getting stuck on the icy roads today.”

“It
came in quicker than it was supposed to.”

That
was what Brad had said too.

“Well,
I’ll leave you to your fun with the screwdriver. I’m going to—”

She
broke off when loud clicks and beeps sounded from different parts of the house.
All the lights went out.

It
wasn’t dark outside yet, so she could still see around the room, but she knew
very well what this meant. “Damn it.”

“I’m
surprised the power lasted as long as it did with all this ice.” David closed
the last cabinet door and straightened up. His expression changed when his eyes
landed on her for the first time. “I haven’t seen that sweatshirt for a long
time.”

She’d
worn it all through high school and college, after stealing it from Brad’s
closet. It had always been her favorite, despite how big it was on her.

She
pushed the cuffs up to her wrists self-consciously, uncomfortable at the
softness of David’s mouth. “Can we try to focus on essentials? We need to
switch over to the generator or it’s going to get really cold in here tonight.”

He
stood up. “Is your panel in the basement?”

“Yeah.
I’ll go switch it on.”

She
found a flashlight and headed down to the transfer switch in the basement and
was annoyed that David came with her.

When
she switched to the generator panel, nothing happened.

David
peered at it, checking out the wires and connections. “It’s all hooked up
right. I’ll have to check out the outside unit.”

David
could do every kind of home repair. Carpentry, tiling, plumbing, electrical, anything
that could be done with tools and his hands. He’d built his house from the
ground up—entirely by himself. He would know how to fix the generator, if it
was possible in this situation.

“It’s
just off the deck, isn’t it?” he asked as they went back upstairs.

“Yeah.
Next to the air conditioner thingy.”

“Compressor,”
he corrected automatically, causing her to frown.

David
strode to the mud room, and Rachel followed more slowly because of her ankle.
When he pulled his coat on, she started to put hers on as well.

“Where
are you going?” he demanded.

“To
check out the generator. What did you think?”

“There’s
no reason for you to go out too.”

“I’m
perfectly capable of—”

“It’s
a one-person job, and you have a sprained ankle and—”

“A
twisted
ankle.”

“A
sprained
ankle and damp hair. Your braids would freeze and break off.”

She
stared at him in disbelief, until she saw the corner of his mouth twitch just
slightly.

He
was mocking her.

Ridiculously,
she wanted to smile in response to the suppressed amusement in his expression.
Fortunately, she was able to resist the impulse.

“I
wouldn’t risk it,” he continued, giving one of her braids a little flick. “Just
think how long it took you to grow your hair out to this length.”

It
had taken her years, and the thought gave her pause. She’d heard stories of
women’s hair freezing when wet and snapping off. She just wasn’t sure if they
were urban legends or not.

“Has
anyone ever told you that you’re an obnoxious asshole?” she gritted out from between
her teeth.

“No
one but you.” He opened the patio door, letting in a rush of frigid air and
sharp sleet. “Seriously, Rachel. Unless you know how to fix a generator, you’re
not going to be able to help me out there. Please stay inside.”

“Fine.
Since you said ‘please’.”

She
had no desire to go back out in the ice, after her trip down and up the
driveway. But she still felt like she should go with David, even though she
wouldn’t be any earthly good, merely to prove she was capable of it.

She
waited at the patio door and watched. She didn’t have a view of the generator,
so she didn’t know what he was doing out there. The weather was horrible, though,
and the longer he was outside, the more worried she became.

After
a few minutes, she remember seeing a bag of ice melt in the mudroom, and she
realized she should put some down on the deck so David wouldn’t slip and twist
his ankle too as he came back.

She
grabbed the bag and then opened the sliding door. The deck was slick as an ice
rink, but she very carefully sprinkled the ice melt, bracing herself against
the wind and the sleet.

She
saw David approaching in the yard. His head was ducked to protect his face, so
he didn’t see her until he stepped onto the deck.

She
was hurriedly sprinkling the ice melt over the last few feet he would have to
walk over.

“Get
back inside,” he bellowed as he strode over toward her and started pushing her
back to the house. “Are you crazy?”

He
slammed the door shut and rubbed the ice off his face.

“There’s
no reason to yell at me like that. I was trying to help.”

“You
don’t even have a coat on.”

It
was true, but it didn’t make his rudeness any more palatable. Deciding to rise
above him by maintaining her manners, she asked coolly, “Were you able to fix
the generator?”

“No.
The battery’s dead. Brad evidently hasn’t tried to turn the thing on for
months, which defeats the purpose of even having a standby generator.”

“Would
we have a spare battery on hand, do you think?” She had no idea, since she
hadn’t lived in this house for years.

“Probably
not. We can look.”

They
traipsed back down to the basement, where the supplies were kept, after briefly
arguing about whether she would go with him, but there was no spare battery for
the generator.

“What
was Brad thinking?” David muttered as he scanned the shelves one last time. “He
should be testing that thing every month, at the very least. I test mine every
week.”

“I’m
sure you’re the very model of a generator owner, but would you stop griping
about Brad? It’s not the end of the world.”

She
was a little annoyed with Brad herself, but at least she had legitimate reason
to be. He was her brother.

David
had no right to complain at all.

“What
if you’d been here by yourself in this storm without heat or power?”

“I’m
a reasonably intelligent adult. I would have managed.”

“What
if your mother was stuck out here by herself?” A kind of shuddering intensity
was radiating off him, evident in his tense shoulders, dark eyes, and tight
mouth. It was strangely mesmerizing. Strangely attractive.