“You’re a horrible man!”
He took a left and came face to face with an ice wall. Irritated, he ran back the other direction.
“And you, you, you—” she cursed.
It was impossible to keep his laugh in.
“Stop laughing at me!”
Her voice sounded closer, he turned the next corner to find her sitting on her bum, in a pile of snow.
“Are you pouting? Or did you simply give up?”
She pointed to her ankle.
“Ah, my one weakness. Very cruel, I suppose the very moment I get on bended knee you’ll jump to your feet and race past me. Unfair.”
Tears welled in her eyes.
His chest tightened as he lunged forward. “Oh, Sara. Does it hurt?”
She nodded. “I slipped on the bloody ice!”
Jackson laughed.
“Stop laughing!” She joined in. “And don’t you dare tell Meredith I said bloody.”
Jackson easily leaned down and pulled her into his arms. “I’ll just add it to the list, shall I? Things that Jackson Mayford may never reveal to Meredith or Louisa. Like the time we smoked cheroots until we both got sick over the balcony. Or when we drank enough whiskey to breathe fire and promptly passed out in the same room for more than five hours.”
Sara pressed her lips together in a smile.
“What about the time you asked me how to kiss?”
“Lord help us,” Sara muttered under her breath. “Good thing cook overheard us and stopped that disaster from taking place.”
“Yes, well, we were only six.”
They made it safely out of the maze.
As Jack slowly set her to her feet, her body slid down his. “Or how about the time, three years ago, when I held your hand and kissed you with all the passion I’d kept pinned inside… only to have you run away.”
Sara took a startled breath, her cheeks tinting with red. “You told the duchess it was a game!”
“Of course I told the duchess it was a game!” He threw his free hand into the air. “You had not even had your come out ball yet! You could have easily been ruined because of my lack of self control.”
She frowned, and then hunched her shoulders. “It matters not. It was for the best, right Jack? Besides, it didn’t take you long to move on.”
She tried to escape his grip but he held her body tight. “Not a chance in hell I’m letting you get away. I’ll chain you to the ice before I let that happen.”
“That’s quite violent, even for you, Jack.”
“You bring out the worst in me, I’m afraid. Always have,” he muttered.
She leaned against him, probably more out of pain than affection, but he would be thankful and take what he could get.
“Now, what do you mean by that statement? It didn’t take me long to move on? Have I a mistress I know nothing about? A wife?”
She rolled her eyes. “The Rawlings’ annual ball, you were kissing the Dowager of Prine.”
Jack burst out laughing then sobered. “Oh, you’re serious, aren’t you?”
She nodded, tears filling her eyes.
“Sara,” he whispered, shock etched into his voice. “Why did you not say something? The woman was insane. She launched herself at me before I had the chance to utter no, and she had just lost her husband. I may be an ass, but I wasn’t about to show her disrespect just because she was lonely and in mourning — that’s not the way I am.”
Sara’s blue eyes seemed to brighten. “So… you were not—”
“I most certainly was not.” He shook his head and then winced.” But, soon after, when I thought you had rejected me, when you gave me the cut direct, I may have… gone a touch mad.”
“A touch?” Her eyebrows rose in mock shock. “A touch mad would be taking your breakfast with the staff, a touch mad is collecting waistcoats, a touch mad,” she continued her voice rising an octave, “is dancing naked in the rain. Not bedding half of London!”
“To be fair, we don’t really have an accurate assessment of the current London population, at least in town. I sincerely doubt it’s half.”
“Jack…”
He grinned. “One-tenth? Maybe a quarter. But half, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“You are — impossible.” She snorted, tossing up her one dainty hand into the air then making a fist with it.“ Impossible.”
He nodded. “Yes. Because living a life of impossibilities seems to be my calling… being impossibly impossible is what I do. Loving the impossible… Desiring the impossible… wanting what is within my reach sounds quite boring doesn’t it?”
“What are you saying?” She searched his face.
With a smile, Jack pointed up. “I won.”
Her eyes widened at the mistletoe. “You cheated!”
“I still won, and I rescued you, therefore, I think two kisses are in order.”
She scoffed, “You rake!”
“The word loses its effect after being thrown at a person so many times… Calling me a rake is like throwing a dull arrow in my direction. I’ll simply flick it out of the way and keep marching.”
Sara was back to making a fist with one hand while the other clung quite tightly to his jacket. “One kiss.”