“Wait, Brenna—” Jackson caught her arm before she could walk away, “don’t you keep a supply of spare ski clothes in case someone needs them?”
“What size?”
“About your size. Maybe a little smaller. Not that I’m saying you’re big,” he added hastily, “but you’re strong because of the skiing and—”
“You pick up many women with that line, Jackson?”
He cursed himself and then saw that her eyes were bright with laughter. “Brenna—”
“Shut up, before you fall into that hole you just dug for yourself. What do you need? Apart from a spade to dig your foot out of your mouth?”
“Whatever you’ve got.”
“I assume this is for the woman from New York? Is she going to be able to help us?” Anxiety shadowed her eyes, and Jackson wondered how many of the Snow Crystal team were worrying about their jobs.
“She’ll help us.”
“In that case I’ll drop off what I have at her cabin on my way to the slopes tomorrow morning. If any of it fits, she’s welcome to it.” Ignoring Tyler, she flashed Jackson a smile and then turned and walked across the room, unzipping her coat as she went.
“How come she smiles at you and not me?” Tyler watched her. “If I’d made that remark about her being strong, she would have felled me, and not just to prove me right. And what is up with Jess? Why didn’t she just ask me again if she could ski Devil’s Gully?”
“Would you have changed your mind?”
“No.”
“Probably why she didn’t ask you.”
“That makes no sense.”
Jackson sighed. “When you were twelve, if there was something you wanted to do and Dad said no, what did you do?”
“I did it anyway. Most of the time I didn’t bother asking.”
“Right. And Jess is your daughter, so I’m guessing that, along with your ski talent, she also inherited a dose of the stubborn. Just saying.” Jackson eased himself away from the bar. “At least she’s crazy about skiing. In my book that’s better than drugs or boys.”
“Talking of boys, have you noticed Brenna’s hair is longer than it used to be?” Tyler watched as Brenna slid into a booth next to Josh, the chief of police.
“I assume you know Brenna isn’t a boy?”
“Can’t help thinking of her that way. Back when we were growing up she hung out and did what we did. She was a fourth brother to us.”
Jackson wondered whether decking his brother would bring him to his senses or just add to his problems. “I never saw her that way.”
Tyler wasn’t listening. “Think I should warn her about Josh? Guy’s got a reputation.”
“And you haven’t?”
“I’m not the one looking at Brenna as if I’d like to strip her naked.”
Jackson was fairly sure if he did then Brenna wouldn’t object, but he decided that was something Tyler had to work out for himself. “Brenna can handle herself.”
“So when the two of you went out—” Tyler’s voice was casual “—it was like a guy’s night, yes? You shared a few beers. Shot a few rounds of pool?”
Jackson decided this definitely wasn’t the moment to mention that Brenna had worn a tight black dress and they’d shared a candlelit dinner. “She drank beer, yes.”
“Maybe I’ll see if she wants to spend a day skiing sometime, like we used to.” Taylor scowled across the room. “She’s smiling. What the hell is funny about an emergency response plan? Is she seeing Josh?”
Jackson glanced over his shoulder to where Brenna was laughing with the chief of police. “Looks like she’s seeing him now.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
“I know. But I don’t insist on knowing the detail of the love life of my employees.”
“Maybe you should. The last thing we need is the law hanging around Snow Crystal. Folks will think we’ve got trouble here.”
“We went to school with Josh. He drinks here. Skis here. He’s a member of the mountain rescue team.”
“So he doesn’t need to date the staff, too. Talking of business, I assume your plans for tomorrow involve a certain slick city girl with blond hair and great legs.”
“She came here for the Snow Crystal experience. It starts tomorrow.”
“It started this evening—” Tyler winked at a pretty blonde who walked into the bar with a group of friends “—when she was swallowed whole by the O’Neil family. I’d say that’s a pretty standard Snow Crystal experience.”