Love at First Snow: A Christmas Miracle Read Free Page B

of her best
friends from high school had lived next door. She’d not seen Jenn
in years, not since they’d both taken off for college. Jenn had
sworn she’d never come back, while Sarah never wanted to leave.
After eight years of undergrad and vet school, Sarah had returned
to partner in her father’s vet clinic.
    Even now thoughts of her father left her
with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, the same feeling a
person got when they were punched unexpectedly. He’d suffered a
heart attack on Christmas Eve two years ago. They’d airlifted him
off the island, but he died before the helicopter landed on the
mainland. He’d left his business in a sad financial state, too, and
the next several months Sarah struggled to stay above water, barely
having time to mourn. Tonight his loss hurt more than the night she
first heard the news.
    Blake understood what she was going through
because he’d lived through a personal tragedy, too. He radiated the
same soul-deep loneliness and heart-wrenching pain that she
recognized in herself. Sarah knew it; she saw it in his gaze. Those
sad, hollow eyes had drawn her in, tugged at her heart, and she
needed to know the source of that pain. They were kindred spirits
drawn together by a stray kitten on Christmas Eve. If that wasn’t
destiny, what was?
    Parking her truck, she got out and sank up
to her knees in snow. Cyrus jumped out after her.
    Blake must have seen her coming. He stood in
the doorway of the house, a warm, inviting light spilling out onto
the white blanketed porch. “Changed your mind?”
    He was happy to see her. That wide smile
welcomed her and warmed her heart.
    “Do you mind if Cyrus comes in? It’s too
cold to leave him in the truck.”
    Blake stared at the dog and gave her one of
those who-are-you-kidding looks. “Isn’t he a St. Bernard? Don’t
they rescue people in the Alps?”
    “Oh. Uh, yeah. But he’s spoiled. He doesn’t
like cold.”
    Shaking his head and chuckling, her
soon-to-be host stood back and waved them inside.
    Cyrus made a beeline for the rug in front of
the fireplace and plopped down. Blake took Sarah’s coat and hung it
up while she pulled off her boots.
    “About that drink?” she asked.
    “One Daniels special hot buttered rum coming
right up.”
    Blake headed for the kitchen, smiling as if
she and her dog were the best thing to happen to him in a while.
Maybe they were, Sarah allowed.
    She looked around the festive great room
with its two-story windows and rustic décor. Artificial cedar
boughs hung from the staircase. A large artificial tree sat in one
corner, lights twinkling and decorated with a combination of
vintage ornaments and newer ones.
    “Wow,” she said. “I feel like I just walked
into a holiday magazine.”
    The house indeed looked like something out
of the Better Homes and Gardens Christmas edition. The place
smelled exactly like one of those magazine spreads should smell,
too. Sarah inhaled tantalizing smells of home-cooking mixed with
the scent of nutmeg and cinnamon, and her stomach growled in
response. Christmas music played softly in the background.
    Hadn’t he said he was alone? No one went to
this much trouble for themselves. In fact, Sarah hadn’t even put up
a tree this year, though her assistant decorated an artificial one
for the clinic. His guests must be coming later or on Christmas
morning.
    Blake glanced around the two-story living
room with its expansive wall of windows as if seeing it for the
first time. He almost seemed embarrassed, as if she’d discovered
some revealing little secret. “I didn’t do this. Someone else
did.”
    Oh, Lord, the man was married. The
decorations spoke of a woman’s touch, not a man’s. She shot a quick
glance at his left hand.
    No ring.
    “I’m not married. My family decorated this
house.”
    “Oh.” She couldn’t come up with a response.
He’d read her mind, but his family wasn’t here; not that she could
see. He’d said he was alone this Christmas,