Holly Lane Read Online Free

they were kids at Destiny Elementary, as well as being her ex-husband’s best friend for nearly as long. With dark hair and classic good looks, Adam was Destiny’s all around good guy, so it was a relief to see him instead of some mad killer—but what on earth had brought him to Bear Lake on Thanksgiving weekend?
    Adam squinted even harder in the room left dimly lit by the dying fire, and continued looking confused as he said, “Sue Ann? What the hell are you doing here?”
    “Me? I’m wondering the same thing about you. What are you doing here? In my cabin?”
    That’s when Adam drew back slightly, his usually friendly expression suddenly filling with a clear disdain. Whoa, what was that about? And who was this masked man? In all the years she’d known him, she’d never seen Adam look so snarly.
    “ Your cabin?” he spat. “Uh, I hate to break this to you, Sue Ann, but this cabin belongs to me.”

Two
     
    By this time it was getting dark, and snowing pretty heavily . . .
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
     
    O kay, was it just her or did Adam look hotter than usual? Maybe it was the pale lighting. Or maybe the wine? But wait. What he’d just said didn’t make any sense.
    “How can it be yours?” she snapped back at him. “Especially since I’m in it?”
    “I rent this cabin on Thanksgiving weekend every year—including this year. That’s how,” he said.
    “Well, you must have rented some other cabin, because I rented one, too, and this is the one they gave me.”
    In response, he simply held up a key attached to a wooden key chain the size of his fist with the Bear Lake logo imprinted on it, as if that proved his ownership of the building.
    “I have one of those, too,” she informed him smartly.
    But he still wore a look she couldn’t quite read, because—again—it wasn’t like any expression she’d ever seen Adam wearing in all the time she’d known him. He appeared disgusted bordering on angry. That’s when his gaze dropped to the broom she held . . . more like a low-slung guitar now. “So what were you gonna do if I was some crazed cabin killer, sweep me to death?”
    Embarrassment heated her cheeks. “I’m not sure. It was all I could find.”
    He swung his glance toward the hearth, then back at her. “Um, next time, try the fire poker—I would have been a little more worried.”
    Crap—how had she missed the poker! Sleep, wine, distress. But still . . .
    “And what the hell are you doing on that chair? I’m a crazed cabin killer, remember—not a mouse.”
    Okay, he was officially starting to make her feel stupid—which was not Adam’s usual style. What had come over him? “I was disoriented and . . . I guess I thought it would make me feel more powerful if I was towering over the crazed cabin killer.”
    Yet he didn’t look the least bit impressed. Or as if he thought she was at all powerful. “Well, you can come down now,” he said dryly. Then he looked around. “So . . . are you, like, alone here? By yourself?” He made it sound like that was insane, even though he, too, appeared to be alone.
    “Yep.”
    “Weird,” he said, seemingly more to himself than to her, but it rankled just the same.
    “What’s wrong with you?” she asked. Usually, Adam was friendly, responsible, and likable—and most people in Destiny would go so far as to describe the owner of Becker Landscaping as a “people person.” Even at his worst, he might be quiet and a little brooding, but he was never snide or condescending like this.
    “I thought we covered that already,” he said. “You’re in my cabin.”
    Never before now, that is . She didn’t know what his problem was, but he was starting to piss her off. “I thought we also covered that when I checked in, they gave this cabin to me . So there must be some sort of mix-up, but I’m sure if you go back to the office, they can give you a different cabin.” She enunciated very clearly, just to make sure he got it