Enjoy reading --Heart Of Stone-Complete-Page 14 - Page 7

There were not any phone calls from Asher. Sara continued to write him, but not frequently than she had before. Other than to say she looked forward to his next trip to New Hampshire. She didn't make any possessive references to him. She knew that the next time it might all be different, and she didn't want any potentially embarrassing letters sent by her.

The forecast for thanksgiving called for snow. It was falling steadily in fat flakes, accumulating quickly on a ground that was white from the previous snowfall. It was work day as usual, the Thanksgiving holiday weekend being one of their biggest of the winter season.

When Sara entered the kitchen that morning her brother was at the big door, bundling up with boots, muffler and gloves. "Let's forget about breakfast this morning. I'm going out to put the snow chains on the wagon. We'll eat when we get to the inn."

"When the weatherman said snow last night, he meant it, didn't he?" She glanced out of the frosty window at the large flakes veiling the gray white hills.

"We are in for a storm." Perry said. "It wouldn't hurt if you grabbed a clean shirt and my shaving kit, and something for yourself. If this keeps up, we'll just sleep at the inn tonight. Our road is always the last one the snowplows hit." He grimaced and ducked out the back door amid a whirl of snowflakes and cold air.

The drive from the farmhouse to the inn usually took ten minutes, but the limited visibility and the slippery roads caused by falling snow increase it to twenty five. The car radio forecast worsening conditions.

Before breakfast was over the area slopes were closed to skiers. The inn suddenly seemed more crowded than usual because all guests were virtually confined to the inn. They congregated in the lobby around the fireplace, the game room, lounge and the restaurants. There was even a line to use recently completed sauna and exercise room. Almost any flat surface was commandeered for a game of cards. Impromptu chess, and checkers tournaments were held.

Shortly after twelve noon there was a mild panic, when it was discovered that two cross country skiers hadn't reported in from an over-night trip. Perry and Sara had just sat down to the restaurant's turkey dinner. The adventurers were finally located at another lodge, but their dinners were cold when they returned to them.

Then the deluge of stranded motorists began. Although they were full, Sara temporarily doubled up rooms, where she could , shifting all the members of one family into a room, helped housekeeping figure out how many spare blankets, sheets, cots and pillows were on hand and how many motorist they could handle, and filled in wherever else she was needed.

"Don't forget to save us a place to sleep." Perry reminded her at one point when she working out the capacity of the sofas in the lobby.

"There is always the floor." She retorted with laugh.

It was almost a relief when storm knocked the telephone lines out late in the afternoon and switchboard finally stopped buzzing. The dinner hour didn't bring a letup in the frantic pace. With all extra people, both Perry and Sara lent a hand in the restaurant kitchen, doing everything from helping to fix the food to running the dishwasher.

At nine-thirty Perry laid a hand on her shoulder.

"You've done enough, Sara. Why don't you call it a night?"

"Yasser, boss," she agreed readily. "What about you?"

"I'm going to the lounge. Freddie needs some help behind the bar. And ----"he breathed tiredly" ---I'd better be around in case someone gets rowdy."

Sara was tempted to insist he let someone else do it, but Perry took his responsibility as manager too seriously to shrug it onto someone else. "Okay, I'll see you in the morning."

"Wait a minute!" He called her back when she started to turn away. "Where do I sleep tonight?"

"On the couch in your office---unless it's already occupied." She joked. "In that event you're on your own."

"Thanks a lot, sis," he retorted in mock growl.

Stopping at her office, Sara picked up her small overnight bag she had packed and started down the hallway. She didn't know which sounded more divine"a shower or sleep? With luck, she would be able to have both.

Before she knocked at the door of the suite, she heard childish giggle coming from inside. Her knock produced some shrieks and more giggles. The door was opened by a young woman, barely a year older than Sara. She looked tired, harassed and exasperated, her smile growing thin.

"Hi, it's me, your room mate for the night." Sara struggled to sound cheerful.

"Of course, come in, Miss Hall." But she was diverted by impish little girl of five-years-old girl who appeared in the connecting doorway to the bedroom. "Amy Sue, you get back in that bed before I spank you!" the woman threatened, and the little gown figure fled in laughter. "I'm sorry. I've been trying to get the girls asleep for last an hour. They think this is some kind of party."

"It's all new. They're just excite, Mrs. Forster. And please, call me Sara."

"I'm Madge." She walked to the bedroom. "And these are my daughters, Amy, five and Marsha, four."

Amy the oldest, quickly scurried under the covers. The king sized bed seemed to swallow up the two small girls with their dark hair. The paired eyed Sara with with bold curiosity.

"Hello, Amy and Marsha." She smiled. The two looked anything but sleepy with their bright brown eyes.

"Will you read us a story?" Marsha dived for the story books on the nightstand beside the bed. "Read mine."

"No, mine!" Amy protested.

"Girls!" Madge attempted to intervene with some measure of authority.

"I don't mind," Sara murmured. "I'll read them while you relax in the tub." When the woman hesitated, obviously tempted, Sara repeated, "Really I don't mind."

"Thank you. I don't know what to say," the woman faltered. "All day long, trying to drive in the storm, with these two girls bouncing all over, then being stranded here-----my nerves could use a rest. But I won't leave them with you for long, I promise."

"Read me story, please?" Amy pleaded.

"I'll read them both,' Sara promised. "But we'll start with Marsha's first."

She set her overnight case on the floor by the bed and walked over to sit on the edge where the bedside lamp was lit. Marsha immediately pressed her book into Sara's hands. They grumbled when she insisted that they had to crawl under the covers and lie down before she would read to them. They didn't agree until she had agreed to show them the pictures on each page.

Her ploy worked. By the time she had read the first story for the third time, both the girls had fallen asleep. When the bathroom door opened Sara held a silencing finger to her lips. Madge smiled and shook her head in disbelief.

"You must have my husband Ted's kind of voice. I can read until I'm hoarse, but they go right to sleep for him," she whispered. "{I don't think my head is even going to have a chance to touch the pillow before I'm asleep. The bathroom is all yours and it's like heaven."

"Good." Sara flexed her shoulders as fatigue began to set in. she picked up her night case and started toward the marble bathroom.

"Oh, Miss H-----Sara, do you mind if I leave the lamp burning on my side of the bed? The girls don't like to sleep in the dark . I've been trying to break them of it but this is strange place and----if it wouldn't bother you----?"

"No, it won't bother me. I'm like you," Sara explained. "I'll probably be asleep before my head's on the pillow."

"The girls don't toss and turn very much, so I don't think they will disturb you."

"I'm sorry we were not able to provide you with a room of your own." Sara apologized.

"Listen. I'm grateful for the bed to sleep in. And heaven knows, this one is big enough to hold two more," Madge smiled. "Go and take your bath. And good night."

"Yes, goodnight."

The hot bath water made Sara realized how mentally and physically exhausted she was. It was an effort to towel dry and pull night dress. All three were asleep when she reentered the bedroom. She moved quickly to the far side of the bed on the fringe of the pool of light cast by lamp. She, too, drifted into deep sleep within minutes.

A coolness roused her, a vague sensation of a drift. Sara tried to pull the covers tightly around her neck, but something held them down. She started to turn in to her side, only to become conscious of something heavy weighing the edge of the mattress down.

Her lashes opened to a narrow slit, then widened at the outline of a person sitting on the bed beside her. It was a full second before she realized who the man was in the white shirt was.

"Asher!" Was she dreaming? She said more softly in case she scared his image away.

But his hand touched her face in a light, cool caress and she knew it wasn't a dream. "Hello."

"What are you doing here?" she breathed, keeping her voice low.

He looked tired and drawn: she could see that in the half -light from the lamp. But glint in his eyes was anything but weary.

"Here you are finally in my bed, and there isn't room for me." His gaze danced to the sleeping children in the center of the bed, their faces illuminated by the soft glow spilling from the lamp.

"The storm----" Sara started to explain in a whisper.

"Yes, I know. I stepped over bodies in the lobby." Without warning, Asher straightened to fold back the covers and slide his arms beneath her, picking her up.

Sara clutched at his neck, too stunned and sleepy to struggle and conscious of the possibility of waking the children or their mother. "What are you doing, Asher?" The question was issued in confused excitement. Her pulse was running at speed.

"I'm taking you into the other room with me." He stated, and carried her through the connecting door to the sitting room. "We have an hour of thanks giving left and I mean to spend it with you."

Asher didn't put her down until they were inside the room and the door was shut. A single light burned in the far corner. Outside the window the snow was still falling, but slower and not as thickly as it had been earlier.

Not quite able to believe he was really there in flesh, Sara gazed at him , the darkness of his hair and his eyes. When she touched him , she felt he was chilled.

"You're cold." She murmured in concern.

"So?' He looked at her teasingly.

"How did you get here in this storm?" Sara asked ."I still can't believe you're really here." She sighed at the miracle of being in his arms.

"Neither can I!" his arms tightened for a moment. "There were times when I wondered whether I would make it." He admitted in a tired and rueful sigh.

"Why did you come? With this storm and all---?" Sara lifted her head, shuddering when she thought of him out there in the blizzard.

Sara was frightened by what might have happened. Her hand glided on his face .

"Why did you take such a risk?" her voice was choked by the dangerous chance he had taken.

"I wanted to be with you." He gazed deep into her eyes, letting his look add a heady force to his statement. "I didn't want to spend the holiday without you."

"You should have called. You should have let me know you were coming," Sara admonished, but she knew she would've been worried sick about him.

"I wanted to surprise you." His mouth twisted in a wry smile. "It's been an eighteen hour obstacle course---closed airports, diverted flights, trains not running, highways closed. When I finally admitted there was a distinct possibility I wouldn't make it, the telephone lines were down. I couldn't get through to tell you I wanted to be here."

Asher-----" the frustration he had suffered was real to her.

"I know." The circle of his arms tightened.

"How did you get here?" she still marveled that he had actually made it.

"I rented a car and bribed a maintenance crew to let me follow their snowplow." He explained.

"How did you guess that I'd be here in the inn?"

"I didn't. I first went to your house. "Asher told her.

"But the lane-----" Sara's eyes widened In alarmed protest.

"Was blocked," he finished the sentence for her. "I had to leave the car on the road and walk back to the house. It's good thing you and Perry are the trusting sort and left the back door unlocked. When I discovered the house was empty, I guessed you had decided to spend the night at the inn. So I came here. Of course, I never expected to find you sleeping in my bed. Lucky for me, the night clerk knew where you were bunking and I didn't have to go around knocking on doors in the middle of the night trying to find you. Perry would have had some irate guests on his hands come morning."

She was shaken by his single minded determination to find her, to be with her. Surely it had to be mean something? Mere physical attraction couldn't be all it was that they shared. The thought left her slightly euphoric and dazed with emotions.

"Come." Moving, Asher took hold of her hand and led her to the side of the room. "I took the seat cushions off the sofa and spare pillows and blankets from the closet to make us a bed on the floor in here."

Sara stared at the blanket covered cushions on the floor and two pillows lying side by side at the top. Asher was studying her, waiting for her reaction. But there was none"at least not a negative one.

I'll turn out the lights." Releasing her hand , Asher moved to the opposite side of the room where the lamp burned.

Sara watched him. There wasn't any conscious decision on her part. She was only aware of how very close she had come to losing him to the winter storm. All arguments for and against paled in comparison to that unshakable fact. It was truly the thought in her mind.

When the click of a light switched buried the room in the darkness, she sank onto the hard foam cushions. A sublime calmness settled through her as she folded back the blankets to slide beneath it.

She loved Asher. The quite knowledge wasn't rationale for her action, but the simple truth. Implausible as it seemed, as short a time as she had known him, she loved him. The unshakable strength of emotion made her feel mellow and warm.

Asher was looking at her softly. "What's wring, Asher?" Sara asked uncertainly.

"I've been working some long hours the last few days, trying to clear up any business that might come up at the last minute and kept me from coming here to be with you. I've had six hours of sleep in the last fifty-two. That's what's wrong."

"She heard the weariness in his voice, but in the dimness of the darkened room she could only guess at the strain of fatigue etched on his features. When he chuckled softly , she frowned in confusion.

"Don't you see the irony of this, Sara?" Asher murmured. "After all this time, you are finally with me and I'm damned tired to stay awake."

"You'd better get some sleep before you collapse." She advised, and turned to sweep back the covers to return to the bed.

"No." Asher waylaid her action with an out-stretched hand. "Stay with me."

Her hesitation was fractional. Accepting his invitation , she lay on her bed. Sara thought what they had was unique. Sara knew it, and she suspected Asher did too. And soon she found Asher in deep sleep.

In the morning with her night bag in hand, with bare feet made no sound as she entered the bedroom where the young woman and her two children were still sleeping, slipped into the bathroom to wash and dress. There was not a sound from anyone when she came out.

She hesitated in the sitting room, but Asher was sound asleep. He had left the suite key lying on the side table. Sara slipped out quietly left the room through the hall room.

Continued..Wanted to post filmfare shoot with sonam those were perfect . but ...

Sara was curious about him from the start as she heard so many stories about him . After meeting him first time in his suite ,he mocked her many times and some of many lines with hidden meanings . Sara composed herself ,not to get attracted to him . Then at dinner and dance , Sara was landing in Asher's land and next day he went to her place and frankly told her about himself and about his life and not believing in relationship . Ball was now in Sara's court but she was already in love with him .

Some of the novels are like prince charming and Cinderella kind . But its light reading .

Do not embarrass me by saying Please as i more in hurry to complete.