A Heart of Stone Christmas Read Online Free PDF

next to the big open field because I thought you said you were near there. Are you close by?”
    Her phone went to static again, but I faintly heard her say she’d made it to the farmhouse. I slowly drove along the road so I didn’t miss the turn onto the property. Focused on that, I didn’t see the truck flying toward me until it was nearly too late, and when I swerved to avoid it slamming into me, my truck skidded off the road into a snow pile nearly as high as the Range Rover.
    After cursing out the other driver, I tried to back up but even in four wheel drive I wasn’t getting anywhere. The snow was too deep. I had no choice but to set off on foot and hope that Nina had stayed put in the farmhouse.

Chapter Five
    Nina
    I held my cell phone to my ear as tightly as I could, but I still couldn’t hear what Tristan was saying. This is what I got for living out in the sticks, as Jordan called it. At least in the city if I became stranded somewhere, I wouldn’t be alone with all those millions of people in Manhattan. I’d been able to break into the farmhouse and by some miracle someone had left the heat on, likely to make sure the pipes didn’t freeze while the house was on the market. It wasn’t exactly balmy, but fifty degrees was better than nothing.
    How long had it been since someone lived in this place I wondered. The cupboards were all bare and there were no appliances, but the fireplace looked like someone had used it recently. Crouching down, I lifted one half-burnt page of newspaper out of the grate and saw a date from August of that year. Probably some kids hanging out, or maybe a pair of lovers rendezvoused there. I liked that idea. It reminded me of Tristan and me back when we first got together.
    Back before kids and weight gain and skinny nannies.
    A loud banging noise startled me out of my daydream about sexier times, and I ran to the window to see what had made such a racket. There at the front door stood Tristan freezing and pounding on the front door as the wind gusted. I pressed my face to one of the windows next to it and yelled, “It’s got one of those realtor lock things on it. Go around the back. I found a way in there!”
    He trudged off around the side of the house to the back door, so I ran back to open it for him. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt so happy to see him. A little saddened by that thought, I opened the door and saw him standing there in front of me covered head to toe in snow. Grabbing his arm, I yanked him onto the back porch and slammed the door to shut out the storm still raging on outside.
    “I thought you were driving in the truck? Why are you all snowy?” I asked as I helped him peel off his wet ski jacket.
    He slid the hood off his head, sending snow everywhere, and said, “Some jackass pushed me off the road. The truck is in a snowbank right out there.”
    “Are you hurt?”
    “No, but I couldn’t get the truck out so I had to walk here. Are you okay? What happened and why the hell were you out in a snowstorm without Jensen or the bodyguards? You have everyone worried, Nina. Jensen and Cara are blaming themselves.”
    Turning on my heels, I walked back to stand in the living room near the fireplace, angry he’d said those things. Tristan followed me and seeing the fireplace began searching for a way to light the paper. I wanted him to ask me what was wrong, but he seemed far more intent on looking for a lighter or matches, so finally I said what was on my mind.
    “I’m not a child, Tristan. I don’t need caretakers to watch over me and be your confidants and spies.”
    He stopped his searching and turned to look at me. Even in the dim room lit entirely by the white of the snow outside the windows, I saw his confusion all over his face.
    “What are you talking about? They don’t spy on you, Nina, and I don’t confide in anyone else in this world other than you.”
    “You know I don’t like them following me. They tell you where I go.”
    Facing