Snowbound - Harlequin.com

JANICE KAY JOHNSON 171
the smiling man who persuaded her to dive into the
snowbank, the patient man who answered Dieter’s
endless questions, the passionate man whose touch was
also tender.
And, though she talked to the kids and concentrated
on her driving, Fiona felt an ache grow under her
breastbone, one she could only identify as a kind of
grief. She missed him terribly, although she didn’t
know how she could when four days ago she hadn’t
known him and would have sworn she was happy with
her life just as it was.
They passed through Danson, slowing to obey the
posted speed limit of twenty-five. Fiona craned her neck
to take in the small business district. He must buy his
groceries at that Safeway store, a contrast to the falsefronted
buildings on the main street. Was Thunder
Mountain Real Estate, housed in a log house, the one
that handled the lodge’s reservations? She imagined
him filling the tank of his SUV at the gas station, going
into the old-fashioned-looking drug store, nodding at
passersby as he walked down the wooden sidewalk.
Did he have friends in town, or did he avoid growing
close with anyone? she wondered.
As she accelerated, leaving the small town with its
Old West look behind, Fiona felt a sense of loss, as if
the last link with John Fallon was fraying. Then she
rolled her eyes at her own foolishness. For Pete’s sake,
she was acting like a lovesick teenager! Symptoms with
which she was all too familiar, given that she spent
more time with high school kids than she did with
adults. Heck, maybe teenage angst was catching!