Page 30 of Cold and Bitter Snow

She dressed in a pair of dark jeans, a light gray sweatshirt and her old Timberland boots. She walked outside a saw a group of people standing there. She was pretty sure they were all talking about the train wreckage but she didn’t speak enough French to follow what they were saying.

A sixth sense had her looking sideways.

Standing there, very still, stood Conor, wearing a black long-sleeved jumper but no coat. His gray eyes connected with hers but he said nothing.

She felt a moment of fear as she caught sight of the dirt on his face and hands. Her response was visceral and immediate.

He’s been in the train crash.

“Are you okay?” she asked, walking towards him. Her palm moved, unbidden, to rest on his broad chest. Conor seemed to lean into her touch. A look of intense relief crossed his expression.

“Siena …” he breathed. His warm lips touched her forehead for an instant. “You’re okay. The conductor said there was nobody else there, but I needed to see you with my own eyes, and confirm that you were okay.”

“What happened?” she asked quietly.

“I’m not sure. Luc and I were coming down from the slopes when we saw the train. Everything seemed normal until it reached the overpass, then it sped up and ended up crashing onto the road.”

“Was anybody hurt?”

“The conductor was the only one in the train. We got him out. The police and firefighters are out there now. But the tracks and the road are going to be impassable for some time.”

“I need to get to the office,” she said. “Maybe one of the cameras from the slopes caught something.”

Conor looked uncertain for a moment. “May I walk you there?”

Siena almost smiled. Then she remembered what it’d felt like to wake up alone. “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “You need to understand I’m still angry at you.”

He nodded. “I want to apologize,” he began.

“I don’t think now’s the time, Conor,” Siena said.

“Please. I’ll make it quick. I know ‘sorry’ isn’t going to cut it but—”

“We had mind-blowing sex—and then you left. I don’t know how you do things in the States but, where I come from, men don’t just up and leave. That makes a woman feel … not safe.”

Conor looked as if she’d slapped him. “I’m sorry I ever made you feel that. I … “

“Just tell me what happened, Conor. We’re both old enough.”

“I’m sorry I left like that. It’s been years since I fell asleep with somebody else in the room. I woke up and felt …”

“Scared?” she asked quietly.

He closed his mouth, and she was sorry she’d spoken. Scared was not the word he was about to say, and now she felt she’d never know. “I should have left you a note.”

“You should have,” she agreed.

“My mother would die if she knew I did that,” he said quietly.

“Had a one-night stand or snuck out on the woman in the middle of the night?”

He pondered that for a second then smiled crookedly. “Good point. Probably both.” She liked that thinking of his mother made him smile.

Who am I kidding? I’d like to know about all the things that make him smile.

The smile died on his face. She hadn’t yet spoken and already he seemed to be bracing himself for disappointment.

Siena knew what Laura, her best friend at home, would tell her. She’d tell her to hold strong. Conor had to understand what he did was wrong.