Snowbound - Harlequin.com
Snowbound - Harlequin.com Snowbound - Harlequin.com
272 SNOWBOUND He knew she didn’t mean physically. He still wasn’t altogether sure he had survived emotionally. But maybe…maybe he would make it. Because of her. “I was able to visit the survivors in the hospital. Except for one. He, uh… It was touch and go. I guess he did make it. I don’t know if that’s such a good thing. He lost his eyes, and his face is just…” God. He was touching his scar again. “Oh, John,” she whispered again, and this time she took his hand. “I screwed up bad. I was so full of myself that I didn’t listen to warnings.” “You were trying to do something very, very good.” “Was I?” he asked out of anguish and a painful need to be honest. “Or was it all arrogance? Was I doing it for me? So I could go home filled with pride because I’d left a mark, I’d somehow changed the path of history. How bad can Americans be?” he mocked himself. “That soldier, he was great with the boys. The boys are the best, they’re champions, because of him!” Now she had both his hands. She squeezed until he met her eyes, his own undoubtedly revealing more of himself than he’d ever meant to bare. “Was that it?” she asked. “Or did you need to feel human? To have something outside the suffering and the politics and the hate? To offer that to them, too?” He stared at her. Yeah, that’s what the boys had been to him. A slice of something remembered, something enjoyed.Adults sharing their skills, boys challenging each other for their places in the pecking order, preening for girls, thrilling to demonstrate their supremacy on a field.
JANICE KAY JOHNSON 273 Just like that, he bent his head and wept. Fiona scooted closer, wrapped her arms around him, and held him. “They were…such great kids,” was the only coherent thing he said. “You would have done anything to protect them,” she murmured as she held him. “They knew friendship when they saw it. Even their parents must have known it, or they wouldn’t have let them come.” “Why?” he begged. “Why, God? Why?” She was silent for a moment, the hand that had massaged his shoulder pausing. “There aren’t always answers,” she said at last. “But that doesn’t mean you have to bear total responsibility, either. That kind of hatred is…is unknowable, I think. To us, at least.” Her simple, sad words touched a chord in him. Was it possible to accept that he never would understand in any way he could get his mind or heart around? That he could live anyway, even find happiness despite guilt and grief that he might never quite lay to rest? Was she offering him that happiness? Was that what her kiss had meant? What she’d intended when she said her offer would remain open, “Even if it took forever”? John wiped his face roughly with his shirtsleeve, then asked, “Can I use your bathroom?” “Second door on the left.” Washing his face didn’t improve materially how he looked; his eyes were still too swollen and bloodshot. But, hell, he couldn’t hide in here, not like he’d done on her last night at the lodge when he’d awakened to
- Page 222 and 223: 222 SNOWBOUND Of course, the sex wa
- Page 224 and 225: 224 SNOWBOUND ing his nose and his
- Page 226 and 227: 226 SNOWBOUND His heart was as froz
- Page 228 and 229: 228 SNOWBOUND Seeing her start to t
- Page 230 and 231: 230 SNOWBOUND “I really thought
- Page 232 and 233: 232 SNOWBOUND Scammell had arrived
- Page 234 and 235: 234 SNOWBOUND “Do you ever talk t
- Page 236 and 237: 236 SNOWBOUND Do you have nightmare
- Page 238 and 239: 238 SNOWBOUND The boy’s was even
- Page 240 and 241: CHAPTER FOURTEEN THE EVENING OUT wa
- Page 242 and 243: 242 SNOWBOUND stiff with anger and
- Page 244 and 245: 244 SNOWBOUND checked out the bathr
- Page 246 and 247: 246 SNOWBOUND listening to somebody
- Page 248 and 249: 248 SNOWBOUND Yeah. There it was, t
- Page 250 and 251: 250 SNOWBOUND logged and farmed in
- Page 252 and 253: 252 SNOWBOUND patio he had helped h
- Page 254 and 255: 254 SNOWBOUND He sank back into the
- Page 256 and 257: 256 SNOWBOUND bulk around the middl
- Page 258 and 259: CHAPTER FIFTEEN SOMEHOW, after the
- Page 260 and 261: 260 SNOWBOUND “He is so into rule
- Page 262 and 263: 262 SNOWBOUND straight, her demeano
- Page 264 and 265: 264 SNOWBOUND they would have, and
- Page 266 and 267: 266 SNOWBOUND “No.” His eyes we
- Page 268 and 269: 268 SNOWBOUND “Thanks,” he said
- Page 270 and 271: 270 SNOWBOUND of developing posttra
- Page 274 and 275: 274 SNOWBOUND the hoarse sound of h
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- Page 278 and 279: Choose the romance that suits your
- Page 280 and 281: Choose the romance that suits your
- Page 282 and 283: Choose the romance that suits your
- Page 284 and 285: 60EBOOKEND For 60 years, Harlequin
JANICE KAY JOHNSON 273<br />
Just like that, he bent his head and wept. Fiona<br />
scooted closer, wrapped her arms around him, and held<br />
him.<br />
“They were…such great kids,” was the only coherent<br />
thing he said.<br />
“You would have done anything to protect them,” she<br />
murmured as she held him. “They knew friendship<br />
when they saw it. Even their parents must have known<br />
it, or they wouldn’t have let them <strong>com</strong>e.”<br />
“Why?” he begged. “Why, God? Why?”<br />
She was silent for a moment, the hand that had<br />
massaged his shoulder pausing. “There aren’t always<br />
answers,” she said at last. “But that doesn’t mean you<br />
have to bear total responsibility, either. That kind of<br />
hatred is…is unknowable, I think. To us, at least.”<br />
Her simple, sad words touched a chord in him.<br />
Was it possible to accept that he never would understand<br />
in any way he could get his mind or heart<br />
around? That he could live anyway, even find happiness<br />
despite guilt and grief that he might never quite<br />
lay to rest?<br />
Was she offering him that happiness? Was that what<br />
her kiss had meant? What she’d intended when she said<br />
her offer would remain open, “Even if it took forever”?<br />
John wiped his face roughly with his shirtsleeve,<br />
then asked, “Can I use your bathroom?”<br />
“Second door on the left.”<br />
Washing his face didn’t improve materially how he<br />
looked; his eyes were still too swollen and bloodshot.<br />
But, hell, he couldn’t hide in here, not like he’d done<br />
on her last night at the lodge when he’d awakened to
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