Snow Queen (3 page)

The inn was perfectly quiet as she slipped downstairs and out the front door. Charlie was hanging out behind the front desk, sipping coffee, and he shot her an inquisitive smile as she made her way through the lobby, but he didn’t bother her with questions. She would have stopped to say hello, but she was on a mission and she hoped he would understand.
Outside, the air was frigid but crisp—the light still dim as the sun made its way up from behind the mountains. Aubrey zipped up her friend’s jacket and removed the gloves from the pockets, slipping them on. She jogged down the steps and across the street to the carnival grounds, where all the hulking equipment sat in half-constructed silence. Five minutes later, Aubrey sat on the cold dirt at the edge of the pond Christie had pointed out to her the day before and laced up her skates. Her breath was coming short and shallow from all the excitement, and the brief run had warmed her up considerably. As she stepped onto the ice for the first time on her own, she felt exhilarated. She could do this.

And after a few moments dealing with wobbly ankles, it seemed that she
could
do it. Why had this been so difficult last night? Aubrey wasn’t sure what had changed, but before long she was gliding across the ice, feeling more and more confident. This wasn’t that different from Rollerblading. She tried a few quick turns, skating backward, then forward. When she attempted a stop she almost flew off balance but managed to steady herself by waving her arms
around. As soon as she had her equilibrium again, she laughed to herself.

“Glad no one was around to see
that
,” she said, bracing her hands just above her knees for a moment to catch her breath.

Then a sharp whistle cut through the silence, startling a flock of birds from the nearby trees. Heart in her throat, Aubrey whirled around. Gorgeous Boy was walking toward her out of the trees wearing hiking boots, a gray and silver jacket, and a black ski band that covered his ears but not his hair. He was even more beautiful up close than he had been from across the lake. But where the hell had he come from, and what was he doing here? Maybe she was still in bed and had finally dozed off, and this was just a very hot dream.

“Nice work!” he cheered, reaching the edge of the pond. He placed a backpack on the ground, and Aubrey saw that a pair of well-worn hockey skates were tied to the outside. “Mind if I join you?”

Say something
, Aubrey told herself.
Say something smart or funny. You actually have a second chance to make a first impression.

Taking a deep breath, Aubrey stood up straight, more than ready to make this guy fall for her. But she moved too fast. Her feet slipped out from under her and
she
fell instead. Right on her seriously sore butt.

G
orgeous Boy was laughing at her. He was standing over her, laughing at her. So much for the second first impression.

“Wow. They really teach you how to be a gentleman up here in Vermont,” Aubrey joked, trying to mask her embarrassment.

“Sorry,” he replied, offering his hand. “I’ve just never seen anyone go down like that. One second you’re standing and the next second, horizontal city.”

“Glad I was able to entertain you.” Aubrey briefly considered refusing his hand, but she kind of wanted to touch him. She reached up and he clasped her forearm, lifting her off the ice so easily she may as well have weighed nothing. Aubrey was so surprised by the speed she tripped forward into his chest. He smelled
like soap, pine, and a tiny bit of sweat. Totally perfect.

“Sorry,” she said, blushing. She pushed away from him and willed herself not to fall.

“It’s no problem, really,” he replied, smiling down at her in an amused way.

Her face stung. How could she have let him see her deck twice? “That was the first time I fell all morning. Just so we’re clear.”

“Okay.” He was still amused. His eyes were light blue and they danced with merriment.

“I’m serious!” Aubrey stated.

“I believe you!” he exclaimed. He turned and walked across the ice in his boots like it was nothing. Dropping down next to his backpack, he quickly changed into his skates. “I’m Grayson, by the way.”

“Aubrey,” she said. The fact that he owned hockey skates that were that beat-up made him even more attractive. She wondered what position he played. He was tall enough for defense, but lean, like a forward.

“You’re a friend of Christie’s?” he asked as he tied his laces.

“Yeah. You know her?” she replied, intrigued.
If Christie knew this guy, maybe she could get the inside dirt on him. Like whether he had a girlfriend, what his last name was, and why he was appearing out of nowhere and surprising her at the crack of dawn.

He nodded. “For a few years now.”

Interesting…How did he and Christie know each other? Was he a friend of Charlie’s or something?

“So, what’re you doing out here so early?” Aubrey asked.

“I’m a hiking guide,” he replied. “Kind of freelance. I run hikes for the Spotted Owl and for the Chamberlain Resort. I was just checking out the trail for this morning, making sure there were no new obstructions…fallen tree limbs, stuff like that.”

“Oh. So you work for Christie’s grandparents. That’s cool.” Aubrey skated in a small circle, still practicing. A freelance hiking guide. Who knew a person could do something that fun for a living?

“Yeah. It’s a good time. Usually I do snowshoeing, too, but that’s not really happening so
much this year,” he said, looking around at the bare ground.

“Yeah, what’s up with that?” Aubrey asked, turning her palms up. “Where’s all the snow?”

“It’s in the forecast for the end of the week,” he told her.

“So I keep hearing,” Aubrey replied, looking back at the sun as it rose higher in the perfectly clear sky. Didn’t seem like snow weather to her. She may have been from Florida, but even she knew it took clouds to make snow.

Grayson yanked on his laces to make sure they were tight, then got up and glided over to her effortlessly. Aubrey felt a pang of envy. Was everyone in this town a natural on the ice?

“So, Aubrey, learning to skate?” he asked, moving around her in a tight circle.

“No. I know how to skate. Just not on ice.”

“Ah.” He nodded and stopped in front of her. “Well, it’s pretty much the same concept as Rollerblades. You’re probably just thrown off because your ice blades have less surface area to balance on.”

“What are you, a physics major?” Aubrey joked. She skated away from him, silently praying that she wouldn’t fall again. Her knees felt like Jell-O, but she had a feeling it was more from his ridiculously hot presence than from any lack of confidence on her part. “Thanks for the tip, but I’m fine.”

Grayson laughed. “Tell that to your butt. I bet it’s black and blue by now.”

Aubrey’s hands instantly covered her backside. “Who said you could comment on my butt?”

Skating by her so fast he was a blur, Grayson raised his hands. “Sorry. I guess that wasn’t very Vermont-gentlemanly. But if I may say, it’s way too nice of a butt to be bruised.”

Aubrey blushed hard and came to an awkward stop. For a second she felt off-kilter and she threw her hands out, managing to regain her balance. Suddenly Grayson came skating up from behind, grabbed one of her outstretched hands, and tugged her along. Aubrey’s heart skipped, both from the sudden contact and the sudden speed.

“What are you doing?” she blurted as the
scenery whipped by.

“Don’t think about it,” he instructed her. “Just skate.”

Aubrey was tempted to close her eyes out of fear. The trees and the carnival trucks and the rocks alongside the pond were going by way too fast. But she couldn’t be a wuss. Grayson was watching. And he was also holding her hand tightly in his. As if it belonged there.

Don’t think. Just skate
.

Aubrey took a deep breath and imagined herself back on the roller-hockey rink outside her high school. She saw herself doing laps around the rink before practice, running drills with the guys on her team. She was so confident on her Rollerblades she never thought about her form. She just skated. So she tried to do the same now.

“See? You’re a natural,” Grayson said, letting go of her hand.

Aubrey leaned into a turn and came out of it with no problem, standing up and sailing across the pond. Grayson skated behind her, keeping pace with her, and Aubrey was reminded of the speed-skating competition in the Olympics.
Suddenly she felt perfectly safe and able and athletic and free. Then Grayson stopped and waited for her to make one lap around the pond. As she approached him, he didn’t move. He just stood in her way like an extremely handsome road block.

“What’re you doing?” she shouted, zooming closer.

Somewhere in the distance she heard the engine of a car revving.

“Getting you to stop,” Grayson replied.

Oh crap
. She hadn’t considered stopping. Suddenly she couldn’t remotely imagine how to do it. “Move!” she shouted.

“Nope,” he replied with a grin.

“Move!”

She was right on top of him.

“Not gonna happen.”

It was too late. There was no way she could stop properly now. But she gave it a try anyway and dug her blades into the ice. Her forward momentum was too much, however, and for the second time, she found herself buried in Grayson’s chest. Her feet skittered out backward and she clung to his jacket with both hands. He
clamped his arms around her to keep her from falling to her knees and hoisted her back up onto her blades.

For a second, Aubrey felt as if this wasn’t the worst place in the world to be, even if her heart was still pounding with fear. Then, she heard the car engine roar again and someone leaned on a horn. The sound was way too close for comfort.

“Grayson! There you are!”

Aubrey slid back a few inches and looked past Grayson’s shoulder. Layla Chamberlain was sitting behind the steering wheel of a pristine black BMW, which was idling in the grass right next to the pond. There were two tread marks cut into the earth behind the car, extending all the way around the carnival grounds to the road. Grayson sighed and tipped his head forward before turning around, as if he was briefly praying for patience.

“Hey, Layla,” he said. “Have you met Aubrey?”

“Yes. We’ve met. Hello again,” Layla said politely. More politely than Aubrey would have predicted, considering how rude she’d been the last two times they’d met. The girl got out of her
car and crossed her arms over her chest, shooting Grayson a questioning look, as if she was silently beckoning him to her side.

Aubrey recognized that look. It was the proprietary-slash-confused look of a girlfriend who had just caught her boyfriend with another girl. Aubrey suddenly felt sick to her stomach and warm all over. Oh, God, no. Grayson—Gorgeous Boy himself—was Layla Chamberlain’s
boyfriend
? She swallowed a large lump in her throat and skated backward a bit farther, putting some distance between herself and Grayson. Why were the hot guys always going for the bitchy girls? It was like David and Jenna all over again.

“Are you coming? We’re going to be late,” Layla said.

“Keep your pants on. I’m in the middle of something here,” Grayson answered with a laugh.

Aubrey smirked involuntarily. That would have been funnier if she wasn’t so annoyed.

“So, want to schedule another lesson?” Grayson asked Aubrey.

“First of all, you are not my skate tutor,” she
replied flatly. “And secondly, I don’t want to keep you from your girlfriend.”

Grayson blinked and glanced over his shoulder, where Layla continued to stare. Then he laughed. He laughed hard. He laughed so hard he doubled over on his skates and had to press his fingertips into the ice to keep from falling. Layla rolled her eyes and trudged out across the pond. She walked right past them and over to Grayson’s things, which she picked up with a disgusted scrunch of her nose.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Grayson said through his laughter. “She’s my sister.”

Aubrey’s jaw dropped as Layla joined them, handing Grayson his backpack and muddy boots. Aubrey looked from Grayson to Layla and realized she could see a bit of a familial resemblance. Although Layla’s beauty was overly manufactured and fake with all the makeup and hair spray and highlights, Grayson’s hotness was all-natural. But how could Grayson be a Chamberlain?

“Wait. You’re a Chamberlain, but you work for the Howells?” Aubrey said.

“Don’t even get me started,” Layla put in.

“Yeah. My parents don’t love the situation, but I’m eighteen, so there’s not much they can do about it,” Grayson said, earning a hugely exaggerated sigh from his sister. “I love to hike and I want to share what I know about this place with the people who come to visit, so I’m not going to discriminate against people who want the small-inn experience.” He leaned forward and whispered, knowing full well that Layla was going to hear. “Actually, I kind of prefer the old Owl to my family’s place. Much more my style.”

Aubrey grinned and Layla clucked her tongue.

“Okay. Enough with the welcome-committee act,” she said, grabbing his arm. “Fabrizia’s flying in this morning, and Mom told her we’d all be there to have breakfast with her. Sorry to cut this short, Aubrey,” she added with a smile, though her eyes told a different story. Aubrey could tell that she wasn’t sorry at all to be pulling her brother away from the new girl. She wondered if Layla really thought that her nice act was fooling anyone. She certainly hadn’t bothered to put on a show yesterday, so why now? Was it all for Grayson’s benefit? If so, it seemed odd.
Grayson was her brother. Wouldn’t he know her well enough to realize it was all a façade?

Grayson rolled his beautiful eyes. “Fabrizia,” he said with a laugh. “She’s the director of the Snow Queen Pageant. Have you heard about my family’s little pet project?”

Aubrey opened her mouth to respond, but Layla cut her off.

“Actually, Aubrey’s going to compete,” she said with an amused smirk.

Grayson laughed. “No.”

A searing heat stung Aubrey’s face, as if she’d been lying out in the Florida sun way too long. Had he just
laughed
at the idea of her competing in a beauty pageant?

“Is that funny for some reason?” she asked.

Grayson paled and his eyes went wide. “No! No, absolutely not. Of course not.”

But the damage was already done. Aubrey felt his reaction in her nerves, her bones, her skin. Why was the thought of her as a beauty queen so outright hilarious? Did Grayson think she was that unattractive? Layla, meanwhile, smiled triumphantly. She could clearly tell how upset Aubrey was, no matter how hard Aubrey
was working to hide it. Then a very familiar feeling took over. Her adrenaline started to rush through her veins and her fingers curled into tight fists.

Her competitive streak was about to take over.

“I just meant—” Grayson began.

“I’m not only competing in the pageant, I’m going to kick butt in the pageant,” Aubrey blurted defensively.

“‘Kick butt’?” Layla said, showing her sarcastic side for a split second. “It’s not a karate match.”

“Whatever. Just don’t be surprised when I win,” Aubrey replied, her face burning. Not that she wanted to win. She wanted Christie to win. She did. But they didn’t need to know that. Besides, Aubrey had a problem with challenges, in that she never backed down from one.

“Great! Yeah. I’m sure you will,” Grayson said awkwardly.

Layla groaned. “Come on, Gray. Mom and Dad will freak if we’re late.” She turned and strolled toward her car across the ice—again, as if she was merely walking on dirt. “Bye,
Aubrey! See you at the first pageant meeting this afternoon!” she sang.

Grayson shot an apologetic look over his shoulder as he skated after his sister. “I’ll see you around?”

But Aubrey didn’t respond. She was too busy fuming and feeling annoyingly self-conscious at the same time. Did he think she wasn’t pretty enough? Not poised enough? Not girlie enough?

Well, guess what, Grayson Chamberlain. You are about to be proven wrong.

“Aubrey! Where have you been?” Christie cried, jumping up from the thick wooden table in the family’s private kitchen, which was right next to the inn’s spacious catering kitchen. “I was so freaked when you weren’t in your bed!”

There was a big, untouched bowl of oatmeal at Christie’s place, and Rose was at the old-fashioned iron stove making scrambled eggs. Jim sat at the head of the table, reading a newspaper and eating his oatmeal, and Jonathan was over at the huge refrigerator, rifling through the contents. That explained why Christie was already showered and perfectly coiffed.

“Sorry. I’m fine,” Aubrey mumbled, dropping Christie’s jacket and gloves on an empty chair. She pulled out the seat next to Christie’s and plopped down. “Just went out for a skate.”

“I love a morning workout,” Jonathan said, emerging with a Snapple bottle and popping it open.