Snowbound With The Heir. Sophie Pembroke

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       CHAPTER THREE

      THE MOORSIDE WAS just as she remembered it.

      As Tori pulled away from the tentative, uncertain hug her aunt gave her, she took in the inn beyond. Same wooden beams. Same gleaming pumps, polished by Uncle Henry every night after he’d finished in the kitchen, ready to serve local ales to visitors. Same battered, rustic oak tables and mismatched chairs. Tyler’s paintings still on the walls. Same feeling of shame, guilt and of being a disappointment as she stood there.

      ‘We got snowed in on the road, about quarter of a mile away,’ Jasper said, looking with far too much interest between her and Aunt Liz. Tori curled in on herself, as much as she could when wearing so many layers. This place was her past, another life almost. She didn’t want to share it with anyone from her new life.

      Especially not Jasper.

      ‘Of course, you must be freezing! Come on in.’ Aunt Liz ushered them both inside as if they were normal paying customers.

      Jasper took the opportunity to raise his eyebrows at her and mouth, ‘Vicky?’ She ignored him. She supposed it was too much to hope for that he’d missed that use of her old, other nickname.

      She was Tori now. That was all that mattered.

      The things Vicky had done… She didn’t want to be that person any more. The person who’d caused Tyler’s death.

      But family…they always remembered who you were, even once you’d become someone new. She’d always be Vicky to Aunt Liz and Uncle Henry, even if they weren’t actually blood family. They were the closest thing she’d had for an awful lot of years now.

      They walked into the bar proper, the one she’d only glimpsed through windows in the door, and suddenly Tori noticed something that was different about the place.

      It was packed. Every table, chair, bar stool and window seat was occupied. Tori was certain she’d never seen so many people within the walls of the Moorside Inn ever before.

      ‘I guess we weren’t the only ones to get stranded, then?’ Jasper said, and Aunt Liz laughed.

      ‘Not by a long shot! That road out there is treacherous in the snow.’ She shot Tori a look. ‘I would have thought you would’ve remembered that, Vicky.’

      There it was. That not so subtle reminder of why she’d left. Well, no. Why she’d never come back.

      She couldn’t bear to look at this place without Tyler in it. Couldn’t take the pain and the grief—and most of all the pity. Pity from people who should be hating her, blaming her, and only didn’t because she was too cowardly to tell them the whole truth.

      Only now it seemed she had no choice but to be there.

      ‘That was my fault,’ Jasper jumped in. ‘Tori—Vicky—tried to tell me to stick to the main roads, but I didn’t listen. Always thinking I know best, that’s my problem.’

      He sounded so sincere, so disarmingly charming, that Tori could see Aunt Liz melting in front of her. Did he really believe that about himself? She doubted it. But he had at least taken the heat off her, which she appreciated. And it was worlds better than his first attempt at an apology outside in the snow.

      ‘Well, I hope you’ll know better next time,’ Aunt Liz said, as if she were letting a small child off the hook for something.

      ‘Definitely,’ Jasper agreed, nodding. ‘Now, I don’t suppose you have any of that steak and ale pie you’re famous for around here somewhere?’

      Tori rolled her eyes. Thinking with his stomach. Why wasn’t she surprised?

      ‘Or perhaps we can help you get everyone here settled and sorted?’ she suggested. ‘I mean, unless you’ve changed things a lot around here I can probably still locate enough blankets and pillows for everyone.’ The Moorside only had a handful of bedrooms it hired out for guests, so people were definitely going to have to share. But if they set up a dormitory sort of arrangement in the restaurant part of the inn, there should just about be enough room for everyone. They’d СКАЧАТЬ