“You do any work with Nora Roberts or Jill Shalvis?”
It was Isabelle’s turn to stop. “You actually can name some romance authors?”
“I have a mom and sister who are rabid readers,” he said. “Books didn’t have genres in our house. They were just books. I read several myself when I was laid up with a broken leg several years back. Got hooked on those Eve and Roarke books. She’s a real ball buster. I dig that in a woman.”
Isabelle could only stare as Brandon moved up several notches in her estimation. A gentleman who actually admitted to reading romance? “I think I officially love your mom and sister.”
“Me too. They’re pretty great. So, do you?” he prompted
“Do I what?” she asked, glancing toward the sky in search of flying pigs. Somewhere in there, she’d lost the thread of the conversation.
“Work with them? ’Cause I’d win best son and brother award if I could score autographs.”
“No. I don’t. But I’ve met them at conference. I confess to having total fangirl moments when I got their autographs myself.”
“Cool,” he said, stepping up to the equipment hut and scanning the list of available gear. “How do you feel about tubing?”
“I don’t see any ski boats around.”
“I gather you’re from warmer climes.”
“Florida originally.”
“You’re a long way from home,” he observed. “Up here we use them for sledding. See, they’ve even got these nifty two-person numbers. We’ll get one of those.”
“I don’t know…”
“It’ll be fun,” he promised, shooting her another of those wide, infectious grins that invited her to share in some kind of secret joke. It scrambled her brain a little, and the next thing she knew, they were on their way up the mountain maintaining a steady stream of intelligent conversation about books as the tow cable pulled them up and up and up.
As they reached the top, she broke off the heated debate about whether Peter Jackson had done The Hobbit justice with his interpretation for the movies. A gorgeous vista stretched out before them, all blue against white, sparkling in the mid-morning sun. Unlike the ski slopes, no one else was around to interrupt the sensation that they were the only two people on earth. For maybe the first time in ages, all thoughts of work bled out of her mind and she simply stared.
“Wow,” she breathed.
“Quite the view, isn’t it?” asked Brandon, stepping up beside her. He sucked in a lungful of brisk mountain air and let it out with a sound of utter contentment.
“It is that,” Isabelle murmured, looking up at him from the corner of her eye. What the hell am I doing here?
Brandon dragged the snow tube into position at the top of the slope and held it steady. “You want front or back?”
Isabelle hesitated. It was a long way to the bottom. She wasn’t sure how she felt about the idea of hurtling down the slope at high speeds. She’d thought the trail would be all straight and pretty and groomed. The ground under that snow wasn’t exactly forgiving if they crashed. At least with water you sank in. And there were trees off to the side. What if they ran into one? It wasn’t like you could steer an inner tube. She supposed you’d see it coming and could roll off. But was that safe? How fast could an inner tube go anyway?
“There’s no way back but down,” he pointed out.
“Not true. If you lose your skis and drag off to the side and look pathetic, the ski patrol will eventually come and get you.” Which was what had happened the one time Leah had gotten her anywhere but the bunny slopes. “There’s a reason I don’t ski.”
Brandon didn’t laugh. “Fair enough. But as we have established, this isn’t skiing. It’s perfectly safe. You held on just fine on the way up.”
“We were going slow on the way up,” she grumbled. And he’d distracted her with good conversation.
Brandon crouched to point out the handles again, then looked back at her and held out a hand. “Trust me, Isabelle.”
Isabelle thought foolishly of Aladdin and his magic carpet. He had that kind of open, friendly face, which was probably how he’d talked her into this in the first place. At least this is on the ground.
She placed her hand in his, feeling his gloved fingers curve firmly around hers. The connection simultaneously steadied her and made her nerves jump. He had big hands. They were careful as he helped settle her behind him on the snow tube, and she was almost sorry when he let go.
“Ready?” asked Brandon.
“As I’ll ever be.”