She grabbed at his hand and started to pull. The covers fell away from his hips and they both went still. Her gaze dropped about the time his did and it was then he remembered he hadn’t worn anything to bed, and worse, his penis was making its presence known in a not very subtle way.

He yanked the covers back over him as she stepped hastily back, pulling her sweater around her like a protective barrier. Hell, it wasn’t as if he was bursting into her room trying to maul her.

“Sorry,” she said. “I’ll just go down by myself.”

She turned and he scrambled out of bed, pulling the sheet with him.

“Wait a minute,” he ordered. “What are you doing? Where are you going?”

Her eyes came alive again, brimming with excitement. The sparkle was infectious.

“Outside, of course! It’s snowing!”

He glanced toward his window but he was too bleary-eyed to make sense of the weather. “Haven’t you ever seen snow before?”

She shook her head.

“Are you serious?”

She nodded this time. “I live on an island off the Texas coast. We don’t exactly get snow there, you know.”

“But you’ve been off the island. Haven’t you ever been anywhere it snowed before?”

She shrugged. “I don’t leave much. Mamaw needs me. I go to Galveston to do our shopping, but I do a lot of it online.”

He saw her cast sidelong glances at the window as if she were afraid the snow would disappear at any moment. Then he sighed. “Give me five minutes to get dressed and I’ll go down with you.”

Her smile lit up the entire room and he was left with the feeling that someone had just punched him in the stomach. She nearly danced from his bedroom and shut the door behind her.

Slowly he dropped the sheet to the floor and stared down at his groin. “Traitor,” he muttered.

He went into the bathroom, splashed water on his face and surveyed his unshaven jaw with a grimace. He never left his apartment without looking his best. There wasn’t time for even a shower. The lunatic was probably already outside dancing in the snow.

He brushed his teeth and then went to his closet to pull out a pair of slacks and a sweater. He realized that since she’d never seen snow, she’d hardly be dressed for it, so he pulled a scarf and a cap from the top shelf.

Any of his jackets or coats would swallow her whole so he’d simply have to limit her snow gazing to a short period of time.

After donning his overcoat, he walked out of his bedroom to find Bryony glued to the window in the living room. Big flakes spiraled downward and her smile was like a child’s at Christmas.