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‘I will not.’ Jack looked affronted. ‘I am invincible.’

‘And so modest,’ Bryony said mildly.

In the end they were late leaving A and E and Bryony struggled into her dress in the staff toilet, thinking longingly of scented bubble baths and hairdressers. Most people spent hours getting ready for a Christmas party. She had less than five minutes and she could already hear Jack leaning on the horn of the Ferrari.

‘All right, all right, I’m here.’ She fell into the seat next to him, her work clothes stuffed haphazardly into a bag, her blonde hair tumbling over her shoulders. ‘I haven’t even had a chance to do my hair.’

‘You can do it on the way. We’re already late.’ Jack reversed the car out of his space and drove off in the direction of the next valley.

Bryony rummaged in her bag for her hairclips and gave a groan of frustration. ‘I think I left them at work.’

‘Left what at work?’

‘My new hair slide.’

Jack glanced towards her and frowned. ‘You look great. Leave it down.’

Bryony lifted a hand and touched her hair self-consciously. ‘I look as though I’ve just woken up.’

‘Precisely.’ Jack gave her a wicked smile, his voice a lazy, masculine drawl. ‘As I said—you look great.’

Was he flirting with her?

Bryony felt her stomach turn over and she looked at him, trying to read his mind, but he was concentrating on the road again. She stared at his strong profile, her gaze lingering on his mouth.

Something felt different about their relationship, but she wasn’t sure what. He hadn’t laid a finger on her since that one incredible kiss, but something was different. He looked at her differently.

‘I can’t think why Sean booked it all the way out here,’ Jack grumbled as he turned the car up a narrow road and put his foot down. ‘There must have been somewhere closer.’

‘He wanted to just give us a grid reference and see where we all ended up,’ Bryony told him, removing her gaze from his mouth with a huge effort. ‘At least we managed to talk him out of that one. Do you want me to look at a map?’

‘I know where I’m going.’

Bryony looked at him in surprise. ‘You’ve been here before?’

‘No.’ Jack glanced across and gave her a sexy wink. ‘But men have an instinctive sense of direction.’

Bryony rolled her eyes. ‘Which means we’re about to get lost.’

But they didn’t get lost and less than twenty minutes later Jack pulled into the restaurant car park with a smug smile.

‘I am invincible.’

‘Unbearable, more like,’ Bryony muttered, shivering as she opened the door and the cold hit her. ‘It’s going to snow again. It’s freezing.’

‘Men don’t notice the cold.’ Jack locked the car and held out a hand. ‘Don’t want you to slip, Blondie.’

‘Believe it or not, I can put one foot in front of the other quite effectively,’ she said tartly. ‘I’ve been practising hard lately and I’ve finally got the hang of it.’

Ignoring his outstretched hand, she stalked towards the restaurant with as much dignity as she could given the amount of ice and snow on the path. She didn’t dare take his hand. She was afraid she might never want to let go.

The rest of the team was already there and they had a fantastic evening, laughing and eating and drinking. Halfway through Jack looked at Bryony.

‘You seem to be on water. How do you fancy driving the Ferrari home tonight?’

Her eyes gleamed. ‘You trust me to drive your Ferrari on ice?’

‘I’ll be beside you. What can go wrong?’