A Winter Sabbatical (Books We Love holiday romance) Read Free

whole face lit up. It was the
first time he’d seen her happy since they’d met that morning. Her eyes
glistened with happiness. This Marissa was a totally different person to the
one he met earlier in the day.
    He stared into her eyes. They were big and
brown, and the laughter reached all the ways to her eyes.
    She noticed him watching, and momentarily
stared back, then quickly averted her eyes. She started stacking the shelves
again. Was she trying to avoid his gaze, or was it something else?
    Marissa’s thoughts suddenly turned to
Jeremy – he had eyes she could lose herself in too. Sometimes she would just
sit and stare into Jeremy’s eyes; look into his heart, his soul. She missed him so much.
    “Well, how about it?”
    She blinked self-consciously. What had he been saying?
    Travis sighed. “Did you hear anything I
said?” The question was rhetorical, and Marissa knew it. “Dinner
at my place? If we stay here, you’ll just want to keep working. And you
look worn out.”
    He was right. She would want to keep working. Travis was such a nice person. He
barely knew her, and yet, here he was helping her out.
    Before she knew what was happening, Travis
had squatted down before her, taking her hand. She felt the warmth travel
through her.
    She looked at him and their eyes met. She
could see sincerity in those beautiful blue eyes, but wasn’t sure what to do.
    Should she refuse his invitation? After
all, she hardly knew this guy. Still, he was a friend of Daniel’s.
    She
was being stupid, of course she was.
    Daniel had obviously known Travis for
years. And he would have warned her if he had any reservations about him. She
felt foolish even thinking there could be a problem. “Pizza does sound good,”
she said, suddenly feeling hungry.
    The drive into town gave Marissa a chance
to look around, albeit in near darkness.
    She stared out the window at the
silhouetted trees dancing gently in the breeze, the puffs of clouds as they
floated by, and the full, brilliant moon. It was relaxing to sit and watch.
    From the little she saw, it was too bad she
would only be here for a short time. Melbourne
had nothing to compare with this.
    “It would be nice to see all this in
daylight.” She sighed. If it’s this
beautiful at night, what would it be like during the day?
    Travis glanced at Marissa, then turned back to the road. “Haven’t you seen it before?”
he asked. “Surely you came up here to check out the house?”
    Marissa stared hard at him. He’d think her
a fool. “Actually, no. I didn’t. I’m here for a kind
of sabbatical. You know, to get over, er... things, have a bit of a rest and
get my life back in order. And hopefully, get some work done at the same time.”
    She stared into her lap self-consciously.
“Daniel will be gone at least six months, probably longer. He needed his house
looked after; I needed somewhere to sort, um, things out. It… it all made
perfect sense.”
    Travis looked thoughtful. “Are you a
researcher, too?”  
    Marissa wasn’t sure how much Daniel had
told him; very little, by the sounds of things. “I’m an author. I’ve had one
novel published, and I’m about to start another one. I also write current
affairs, human interest and the like; whenever the opportunity arises.”
    Travis’s eyes left the road momentarily.
“What sort of novels do you write?”
    Marissa lowered her eyes nervously. Would
telling him change his opinion of her? Most people she told just laughed, thought it a huge joke. But it wasn’t – it was
serious, and it was her livelihood.
    She mentally shook herself. Travis wasn’t
like that at all. Was he?
    “Romance.”
    Travis grinned knowingly.
    Perhaps she was wrong about him after all.

 
    ***

 
    “Well, here we are. Welcome to Maldon.”
    Daniel had told her Maldon was a ‘quaint’
town, but she wasn’t prepared for what she found. It was as though she’d
stepped into a scene from the 1850’s. The town was still in its original