He waggles both eyebrows and I tangle my hands in his hair and pull him down, losing myself in the heat of his mouth against my cold skin as his piercing presses against my lips in a spine-tingling sexy way, and the shivers running through me have nothing to do with the wet clothes and hammering rain.

I don’t even notice that the heavy drops of water have changed to light flakes until I register the iciness settling on my back.

‘Snow!’ I squeal against his mouth, and when we pull apart, his eyes are dancing with a lightness that was missing earlier.

‘Snow is good.’ He pulls me closer, wrapping his arms around me and squeezing tight as we stand there, ankle-deep in mud with water still pooling at our feet and gentle snowflakes landing on us. ‘It’ll freeze the ground and give the river a chance to drain, and it’ll be amazing for people walking around. You’re still opening on Saturday.’

‘Even after this?’

‘Even more so after this. We need to assess the storm damage and clear up any trees that have fallen before then, and grit the paths on Saturday morning, but you can’t let this change anything. It’s not great, but it could’ve been so much worse.’

The snowflakes come down thicker as we walk back hand in hand. It’s already starting to settle and the ground starts to crunch underneath our feet before we’ve reached the house. The outside world is covered in a blanket of white again and the wind has eased from the howling gale of earlier, making perfect white snowflakes dance around us. Nothing has ever felt more magical than standing on this perfect farm, in this perfect place, with this beautiful man, surrounded by beautiful Christmas trees, with new friends and a community that I never thought I’d be part of, and I’m happier than I’ve ever been.

Chapter 17