Snowbound - Harlequin.com

JANICE KAY JOHNSON
19
They all went straight to the fireplace and huddled in
front of the fire with their hands out toward it as if asking
for a blessing. None made any move to shed jackets, and
he realized studying their backs that most of them weren’t
dressed for the weather at all. Athletic shoes and jeans
were soaked to their knees and probably frozen, too.
Was he going to have to deal with frostbite?
“How far did you walk?”
One guy turned his head. “Just, I don’t know,
halfway from the turn?”
The voice gave him away. He was a kid. John looked
down the line. They were all kids!
“Isn’t there an adult with you?”
“Me.” The woman who’d been the first to come in
turned to face him, pushing back the hood on her parka.
Dark, curly hair framed a face on which he could read
exhaustion. Her eyes, though, were the pale, clear grey
of the river water cutting between snowbanks. She was
young, not much older than her charges, her body as
slight as those of the teenage girls. “My name is Fiona
MacPherson. Thank you for taking us in.”
“What were you doing out on the road?”
She explained. They’d competed in a high school
Knowledge Champs tournament in Redmond, and were
returning home over the mountains.
“We came over this morning on Highway 22,” she
explained, sounding meek. “But the weather reports
said a storm was coming from the south, so I thought
I’d take a more northerly route back.”
“This highway closes in the winter. You’re probably
the last ones over it.”