By Winter's Light: A Cynster Novel (Cynster Special Book 2) by Stephanie Laurens Read Free Book Online Page A

in place, Daniel straightened. Brushing off his hands, he raised his gaze and found five pairs of eyes fixed on him.
    Four pairs immediately lowered to the sling carrying the tools; expectation lit the girls’ faces.
    Grinning, Daniel reached for the canvas flap and threw it back. “We have shears or handsaws, ladies. Which will you have?”
    Somewhat to his surprise, the girls exchanged a long glance, then Louisa opted for a pair of shears, as did Therese, while Juliet and Annabelle elected to try the handsaws.
    Daniel had no idea what they were up to, but that look… He’d dealt with Cynster boys long enough to know what that meant; they were planning something.
    Whatever it was, it included collecting the fir and holly boughs they were there to fetch. The four girls set off, tramping into the surrounding forest, pointing to various boughs and comparing their potential usefulness in draping the archways, mantels, and the hall walls.
    Daniel turned to Claire. “What implement would you prefer?”
    She considered, then said, “I suppose I’d better take a saw, too. I can see myself having to finish off cuts they start.”
    Daniel smiled. “No doubt.” He searched through the various tools in the bag. As she approached, he drew out a handsaw with a sturdy grip. “This is a good one.” He held it out.
    Claire reached for the saw. Because of the style of grip, it was impossible to take the tool without their fingers touching. Brushing.
    Sensation slithered down her spine, delicious, enticing.
    She clamped down on the reaction, determined not to let it show…if she could have, she would have stopped reacting altogether, but she didn’t know how. She didn’t even know why she was so sensitive when it came to Daniel Crosbie.
    “Thank you.” Lips tightening, she took the saw and turned away.
    She pretended to look into the trees, pretended to follow the girls with her eyes; in reality, her every sense had locked on the man standing silent and still beside her.
    He was looking at her, studying her face; she could feel his gaze but she was not—absolutely was not—going to meet it.
    Daniel saw her resistance quite clearly, carried in her stance, in the rigidity of her spine, in the stoniness of her expression, in the way she stood with her shoulder toward him—supposedly looking into the forest, but that was a sham.
    Resistance, yes—but was it truly rejection?
    He forced himself to consider that unwelcome possibility…but no. Drawing in a breath, one tighter than he liked, he decided that this wasn’t rejection. If she rejected him, he would know it; she wasn’t one to mince words or be coy. So she hadn’t rejected him, not yet. As for resistance…resistance could be overcome.
    For one instant longer, he gazed at her face, let his eyes linger on her profile. The way he saw it, he owed it to her as well as himself to make a push to overcome whatever hurdle she plainly saw standing between them.
    If they were to have the future he wanted them to have, he would need to make a push to secure it.
    He shifted his attention back to the canvas sling; he reached in and drew out the hatchet. Hefting it, he turned.
    The movement drew Claire’s gaze.
    Meeting it, he smiled. “We’d better get after them.” Raising the hatchet, he added, “According to Raven, I should trim the branches before we haul them back to the house.”
    They worked in a loose group for the next hour, selecting branches and boughs of fir, cutting them down and trimming them, and selecting and cutting bushy sprigs of holly laden with red berries for contrast. Daniel found a fallen tree a little upslope from the sled to serve as a makeshift bench on which to trim the branches. The girls and Claire spread out into the forest around the spot, ferrying the branches they cut down back to him and the hatchet. The time passed swiftly. Daniel was occasionally called to help with this bough or that, while Claire was summoned hither and yon to deal with