Snowbound - Harlequin.com

JANICE KAY JOHNSON
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never seen her break out in acne, sweat or even frown.
The only adopted child of a cardiac surgeon father and
a mother who designed exquisite linens that sold at
high-end department stores, Erin was invariably composed
and quiet. She was a straight-A student and the
star of the Knowledge Champs and Hi-Q teams, but no
more than a ripple on her brow would show when she
made a mistake or was outmatched. Fiona often
wondered if she was anywhere near as serene as she
appeared, or whether she suffered from the pressure of
having to live up to such high-achieving parents.
Fiona made a face. Big assumption on her part.
Maybe Erin’s parents were easygoing despite their
career successes. Fiona had only met them once.
“Sleep well?” she asked, as they went downstairs.
Erin nodded. “Except Willow kept talking in her sleep.”
“Could you understand what she was saying?”
“Once in a while. But it didn’t really make sense.
Like once she said, ‘Why did you fall down?’And when
I asked what she was talking about, she said, ‘You fell
over that blue thing.’”
Fiona laughed. “That sounds pretty normal. Dreams
hardly ever make sense.”
“I guess that’s true.” At the foot of the stairs, she
looked shyly at Fiona. “Do you ever have ones where
you can fly?”
“Not fly, but bounce. And stay up for a long time. Do
you actually soar?”
“Uh-huh. Everything’s tiny below.”
Somehow that seemed rather aptly to symbolize
Erin, who often kept herself apart from her peers. Fiona