Snowbound - Harlequin.com

40 SNOWBOUND
She ached as if she’d competed in a triathalon yesterday.
Sinking into the hot water was heavenly. The
foot of the tub was slanted, and she barely held her
chin above water. She actually floated, and gave a
moan of pleasure. Someday, she, too, would have a
bathtub like this.
If the water hadn’t cooled, she might never have
been able to make herself get out. That, and the realization
that her stomach was rumbling. She’d barely had
a bite or two last night, and the hamburger she’d eaten
at three-thirty or so yesterday afternoon seemed like an
awfully long time ago.
Her bra would do for another day or two, but she
added her panties to the pile in the corner and slipped
on the jeans. She would offer to do the wash; somehow,
the idea of the handsome, scarred stranger downstairs
plucking her dirty panties from the pile and dropping
them in the machine was too much for her.
The flannel shirt, well-worn, hung to midthigh and
she had to roll the sleeves four or five times. Fiona dried
and brushed her hair, leaving it loose around her face,
then hung her towel on a rack and left the bathroom.
The sound of running water came from behind the
closed door to the boy’s bathroom. Someone else was
up, then.
When Fiona stopped in the door to the girls’
bedroom, Willow jumped up. “My turn.”
Erin had appeared now as well, and she shrugged. “I
have to go get something clean to put on first anyway.”
As usual, she looked exquisite this morning, her
black hair glossy in a plait, her skin smooth. Fiona had