Snowbound - Harlequin.com

248 SNOWBOUND
Yeah. There it was, the miracle.
This stare from his sister was almost fierce. “Do
you love her?”
He surprised himself with a hoarse laugh. “Why else
am I telling you about her?”
“Because you can’t resist my persuasive powers?”
She gave him an evil grin. “Okay, okay. You love her.
You’ve blown it with her. What’s the next step?”
“No next step.”
“Because you’re chicken?”
She was taunting him, wanting a rise. She struck
out. Bleakly he said, “Yes.”
“Oh, John.” Abruptly she stood and came to him,
wrapping her arms around him in a fierce hug. “Oh, John.”
He turned to her and held on tight, embarrassed by
the fact that his face was wet. “What do I do, Lizzie?”
She told him.
He didn’t like it, but the future lay before him, stark
and hopeless if he refused—as any future without Fiona
would be. And Liz was right in making him admit he
was afraid. If he were any kind of man at all, Tabitha’s
e-mail would have made him determined to fight for the
woman he loved.
“Maybe,” he mumbled. “Let me think about it.”
His sister tilted back her head to scowl at him.
“Okay. Yeah.” He squeezed his eyes shut on a wave
of vertigo. When that didn’t help, he opened them again.
“If you mean it…”
“I mean it.”
“Then you win,” he finally conceded.
She smiled, her face soft. “No, brother mine, you do.”