“And we’re looking for four of them?”

  “Yeah. The rest are all out at events at the moment.”

  Nick paused to take out his phone and check the time. They needed to either turn around or head back to the road soon, it was going to start getting dark. He’d managed the situation pretty well to have Joel on his search team and Joel hadn’t seemed upset about that. If Nick was less worried about his reindeer, he might have even been able to enjoy their time together a bit more.

  “There’s a cut-through up ahead that takes us back to the main road,” Joel said, reading Nick’s thoughts.

  “How do you know that?”

  “I grew up here, remember? It’s easier to get around these woods during the winter too, when there’s not so much foliage on the trees. You can see further ahead.”

  Nick kept looking at Joel, instead of in the direction Joel was pointing, and Joel gave an amused sort of huff.

  “There,” he said emphatically, taking Nick’s hand and pointing it in the right direction. The move put his face very close to Nick’s.

  Nick felt his cheeks flood with heat and obediently looked in the direction that he was now pointing in. As promised, a red car passed on the road in the middle distance.

  “I see,” he mumbled.

  “Come on,” Joel said with a bright grin, and Nick followed.

  Feeling charitable, Nick walked Joel home. Though since Joel knew the way better than Nick did, in reality, Joel walked himself home and Nick just followed.

  “How long have you been a vet?” Joel asked as they passed the small office that Nick now owned. It still gave him a little ripple of proud pleasure, seeing his name on a sign next to the door.

  “Almost ten years.”

  “Wow. How old are you? Wait, I’m sorry, that was rude.”

  “It’s okay,” Nick said with a laugh. “Thirty five.”

  “Oh.”

  “You?”

  “Twenty seven. Did you always know that you wanted to be a vet?”

  “Pretty much,” Nick said. “My aunt—she was the reason my mum decided to move down to Bath—she was a vet. So I worked in her surgery from when I was about twelve or thirteen, helping out on Saturdays. I only decided that I wanted to work with large animals, rather than pets, when I was in my last few years of studying.”

  “And Bastet?”

  “I rescued her a few years ago. She was a farm cat and got injured when a cow kicked her. The farmer wanted me to just put her down, but I couldn’t do that. It took a lot of rehab to get her back to full strength. She’s a fighter.”

  “Is that why you named her after a goddess?”

  “I figured it couldn’t do her any harm.”

  They stopped outside a handsome cottage. A thick green hedge separated the garden from the road, with a wrought iron gate giving access to a short path that led to a bright yellow door. The cottage itself was red brick, with a dark slate roof and heavy curtains hanging in all the windows.

  “Thanks for today,” Nick said.

  “Are we going back out in the morning?”

  “Unless Fergus has good news for me when I get back. I will be, anyway, you don’t have to come.”

  Joel held out his hand. “Give me your phone. I’ll put my number in it, and if you need me tomorrow, just text me.”

  Nick swallowed hard. “Okay.”

  He escaped from Joel’s front gate as quickly as possible, wondering if he was being weird or rude or both, but he really did need to get back and catch up with Fergus. And spending so much time around Joel was stirring some emotions inside him that he really didn’t need stirring.

  When Nick got back to the war memorial, where Fergus had been coordinating volunteers, it was quiet and empty apart from a dusting of snow. Nick detoured around the corner to Fergus’s house and rapped on the door.

  “Any signs?” Nick asked hopefully when Fergus answered, a cup of tea cradled to his broad chest.

  Fergus shook his head, his wiry, gingery beard bouncing with the movement.

  “Not a thing. The wee rascals move quicker than I gave them credit for.”

  “Okay.” Nick blew out a hard breath. “I guess we just keep going tomorrow.”

  “Aye. I’ve got a couple of lads coming down to help out in the morning. They owe me a favour.”

  “Thanks, Fergus.”

  The light was falling fast now, and Nick made the executive decision to finish off his work at home, rather than going into the office. Even though he’d been outside for most of the day, he didn’t mind the hike back up Burner Hill to get home. The route took him past Joel’s little cottage again, where the windows were now glowing from the warm light of a fire inside.

  He wrestled with the temptation to stop, to knock on Joel’s door and invite himself inside. But a combination of embarrassment and awkwardness stopped him. Nick rarely felt confident enough to make the first move, and trying his luck with another man hadn’t always worked out well for him.

  No, it was best to leave it alone. Joel was a neighbour, after all. He didn’t want to make things difficult.

  The next morning, Joel dragged himself out of bed at a reasonable time to shower and shave and do something with his hair. He needed to get it cut before he saw his mum over Christmas, or he’d get hell for being an untidy homosexual layabout, and only one of those things was true.

  His mum liked to nag, but only because she cared. She always worried, no matter what Joel was doing, so he’d given up on trying to do things that were less worrying. Sometimes he thought worrying was like a hobby for his mum. It would be almost cruel to make her stop.

  He also took a little more time selecting good jeans to go with his hiking boots, and a long sleeve T-shirt to go under a thick plaid shirt. The rich brown and grey checks looked good with his hair colour—which was why Joel had bought it.

  When Nick’s text came, saying they were heading back out again at 8:30am, Joel was ready.

  By hovering in the living room, he could make out Nick’s tall figure as he walked down the hill, and timed his exit from the cottage perfectly.

  “Good morning,” Nick called, and he was right, it was. Crisp blue skies and biting cold air had taken the place of heavy snow clouds. The sun was low in the sky and it would stay there for a few more months, until daffodils and snowdrops started poking through the ground.

  “Morning,” Joel said. He locked the door while juggling the two insulated mugs he’d filled, pleased when Nick waited for him. “This is for you.”

  Nick took one of the mugs and took a deep breath of rich, chocolatey steam.

  “You made hot chocolate?”

  “I figured we could use the energy this morning.”

  Nick’s smile was blinding. “Thank you.”

  Joel’s stomach flipped over. “You’re welcome,” he mumbled.

  They walked in comfortable silence down to the meeting spot, where it seemed like even more people than yesterday had turned up to join in the search. Joel had always felt like Dunmuir had a nice little community, and it was good to see so many people out who wanted to help.

  Now that the school holidays had started, parents were probably desperate to get their kids out and doing something productive on a nice day, but Joel would still chalk their presence up to altruism. And maybe a dash of Christmas spirit. After all, going on a reindeer hunt a few days before the Big Day had to be something of an adventure.

  Joel wasn’t counting on being picked for Nick’s search team for a second day in a row, but he was certainly hoping. Fergus was coordinating again. Joel wondered whether that was because Fergus was such a natural leader, or if Nick didn’t want to take the spotlight. He had a feeling it might be a bit more to do with the latter than the former.

  Joel cradled his travel mug to his chest and watched as Nick greeted a few people who had gathered, exchanging waves or hugs, depending on the recipient.

  Nick really was ridiculously handsome and didn’t seem to be particularly aware of it. Joel watched the eyes of young women as they watched Nick, longing perfectly written over their faces. It was good to know Joel wasn’t the only one who saw it. He just didn’t know if the pretty girls were his competition or not.

  Like yesterday, Nick looped around the back of the crowd to find Joel and quietly gestured to the path they’d taken before. Joel nodded and followed him, waiting until they were safely away from other people before speaking.

  “Where are we going today?”

  “Up the hill,” Nick said with a grimace. “Sorry in advance.”

  “That’s okay.” Joel thought about the gym days he’d missed since it had grown cold and dark outside. “I could do with stretching my legs.”

  Joel tucked the empty mugs into Nick’s backpack and they walked in silence for a while, with just the sound of their footsteps crunching in the fresh snow for company. Every few minutes Nick would pause and look around, and Joel figured out pretty quickly that he was scanning for signs of movement, rather than actively looking for reindeer.

  The woodland at the top of the hill sloped far more gently, with younger trees and bigger gaps between them. The lack of canopy cover meant the ground here was a slushy mix of mud and snow, slowing their progress. After an hour or so, Joel stopped to stretch.

  And stopped short, reaching out to grab Nick’s hand instinctively.

  Nick squeezed it once, like a reflex.

  Just ahead of them, behind a cluster of trees, one of the reindeer was clearly visible. He looked relatively content and unharmed and Joel took a deep breath and sighed in relief. The stupid animals hadn’t been stolen after all—they’d just wandered off.

  “Wait here,” Nick said under his breath.

  Joel nodded.

  Nick walked slowly towards the closest animal, reaching into his backpack and drawing out a handful of leafy green vegetables that certainly looked tastier than the grass the reindeer was currently eating.

  The reindeer seemed to agree, as he took a few steps towards Nick and happily took the greens. While the animal was distracted Nick gave him a quick scratch behind the ears.

  “Joel,” he called softly.

  “Oh, I’m okay over here.”

  Nick grinned. “He won’t hurt you.”

  Joel thought about pointing out the quite frankly enormous horns gracing the animal’s head, but he didn’t want to look like a wuss. So against all his instincts, he took a few cautious steps in Nick’s direction.

  “There’s another one over there, look,” Nick said, pointing to a spot a few metres away, where another reindeer was much better camouflaged by the trees.

  “Do you think the others are close?”

  “Most likely, yeah. They like to stick together.”

  “Should I call Fergus? He can come up here with the truck.”

  “Come here first.”

  Joel gave Nick a bitch face. “I’m alright, thanks.”

  Nick chuckled. “Come here, Joel.”

  Joel’s knees went a little weak at the command, but he did as he was told—how was he supposed to refuse?

  Nick was tempting the other reindeer over with another handful of greens and the first one was nudging at Nick’s hip with his nose.

  “You’ve had enough, greedy,” Nick said, reaching out to scratch the reindeer’s ears again. “You want to feed this one, Joel?”

  “You’re pushing it,” Joel said.

  “This one’s a girl. She’s friendly.”

  “How can you tell?” Joel stepped up close behind Nick, angling his body mostly behind Nick’s just in case he was wrong about the female reindeer.

  “It’s my job to know,” he said. “Here.”

  He thrust another handful of greens into Joel’s hand and took Joel’s wrist to guide it.

  Joel swallowed hard.

  The reindeer were a little smaller than Joel had expected, and a lot friendlier. The female he was feeding had a white stripe down her nose and big, blinking brown eyes.

  “Wow,” Joel murmured.

  “Aren’t they beautiful?” Nick said, apparently not needing an answer. “They’re from Canada originally, you know.”

  “How did they get over here?”

  “I’m not sure. The safari park wasn’t that forthcoming on where they’d gotten the herd from.”

  “I’m glad you liberated them.”

  “Best five grand I ever spent.”

  Joel looked over in shock. “Five thousand pounds? For reindeer?”

  Nick shrugged. “They were worth it. And look how happy they are.”

  The female was grunting and nosing at Joel’s palm. He decided to put his life on the line and gently pet behind her ears, like he’d seen Nick do. She didn’t seem to mind.

  “Do you want to go looking for the others?” Joel asked, instead of dwelling on how really bloody expensive the bloody reindeer were.

  “No, let’s get Fergus up here first. They might wander over while we’re waiting for him. And I don’t want to let these two out of my sight, just in case they decide to disappear again.”

  “Would they do that?”

  “Probably not, now that they know I have food, but you never know.”

  Joel nodded and carefully fed the female reindeer another handful of greens while Nick put in the call to Fergus, who owned a horse box big enough for a couple of escaped reindeer. He was trying, very hard, not to think about how Nick’s hand had felt when he’d grabbed it.

  Nick turned away from Joel to talk to Fergus, not wanting to be distracted. Because Joel was very distracting, and Nick was supposed to be focussing on his reindeer.

  “If you bring the van around to Lochy Road then we can probably nudge them back up that way.”

  “Aye. I’ll be there in about ten minutes.”

  “Thanks, Fergus.”

  Nick tucked the phone back into his pocket and turned a slow circle, wanting to check if the other two reindeer were hiding just out of sight. He was pretty sure they wouldn’t have wandered too far from the others—they tended to stick together, especially in bad weather.

  “Uh, Nick? I think she’s trying to eat my sleeve.”

  He startled and spun around to look at Joel and his reindeer, who was definitely taking a nibble from his jacket.

  “Just bop her lightly on the nose. She’ll stop.”

  “I am not bopping anything.”

  Nick was even finding his acidic little barbs adorable, and that’s how he knew he was in trouble.

  “Come here,” he said, unable to stop himself from grinning, and offered Joel the last of the beetroot leaves he’d stashed in his backpack before leaving the house this morning. That meant he had nothing left to try and tempt the other two reindeer, but watching Joel slowly make friends with the gentle female was far more rewarding.

  Nick could tell each of the animals in the herd apart, and had photos as backup if he ever needed them, so he knew this was one of the young mothers and was particularly affectionate. He’d taken her and her calf to events with small children, knowing they were docile enough to handle the enquiring pats of little hands.

  The male had taken interest in a patch of scrub grass growing a few feet away, giving Nick the perfect opportunity to do a quick assessment of his health. This wasn’t the dominant male in the group—he was younger, with his antlers still growing in, though they were already pretty impressive. The animals made soft grunts and snorts as they shuffled around. All signs pointed to a healthy herd.

  “We should start moving them up towards the road,” Nick said.

  Joel blinked his big brown eyes. “How are you going to do that?”

  “Gentle encouragement?”

  “You are insane.”

  “Give her a slap on the arse, that’ll get her moving.”

  “Stop it,” Joel said, laughing now.

  Nick turned away to hide his smile, disguising the gesture as digging into his backpack. All of the reindeer would wear bridles and harnesses, though he generally took them off when the animals were at their home pasture. Since he only needed to move them a few hundred yards, it made sense to just loop a rope halter around their shoulders—that would be more than enough to get them up to the road.

  He took the female first, since her head was already up and she seemed content enough, and handed the end of the rope off to Joel.