Snowbound

any reason… Oh, dear.”

Great. He’d been a jackass again.

“That’s all right. I…hinted.”

“If you need help you can get it from the Veterans

Administration, can’t you?”

“I don’t need it.” The gravel in his voice startled

even him. He cleared his throat. “What I need is to…decompress. This is my way of doing that. Be around people in limited doses. Get over being jumpy without

a barrage of noise around me all the time.”

She looked doubtful even though he could tell she

was still embarrassed. “Is it working?”

Some days he thought so. On others, when he awakened from a nightmare with his heart pounding and a bellow raw in his throat, he wasn’t so sure.

“I feel better than I did when I tried to go back to

work at Robotronics.” Which was truth, so far as it went.

“It is peaceful up here.” Shouts from outside drifted

up, and her mouth curved. “Or was, until we darkened

your door.”

“You’ve been good guests,” he forced himself to say.

“Why, thank you.” She sighed. “I suppose I’d better

go check on the kids.”

He stepped aside and let her pass him, a flowery

scent lingering for a moment even after she’d disappeared into the hall. Had she brought perfume…? No, he realized; she’d used one of those fragrant bath beads.

John glanced toward the old-fashioned tub, picturing her letting her bra drop to the floor, then slipping off her panties before stepping in. He’d seen her long

legs when she changed yesterday in front of the fire.

Imagining the rest of her naked body came easily. Had

her hair been loose, to float on the water when she sank

down into the tub? Or had she bundled it up?

Loose. Definitely loose. Her hair had still been wet

when she came down for breakfast.

A groan tore its way from his throat. Damn it, what

did he think he was doing? He had a shaky enough hold

on reality.

He forced himself to scan the bathroom with a

practiced, innkeeper’s eye before following her

downstairs.

As predicted, Amy was the one to have come in and

was shedding her outerwear in front of the fire. Water

pooled on the plank floor around her boots.

“It’s freakin’ cold out there.” She shivered and

hugged herself.

“It was nice of you to go even though you didn’t want

to, for the sake of everyone else,” Fiona said.

Reaching the foot of the stairs, John paused to hear the

girl’s answer to the teacher’s kindly retooling of motives

he was pretty damn sure hadn’t been that altruistic.

“Even though I went out to be nice, Troy, ” she said

the name with loathing, “made this big snowball and

smashed it against my face. He’s a…a creep. ”

“Well, you did go out to have a snowball fight.”

“But he walked right up and did it! He’s such a jerk.

Him and Hopper, too.”

How sad romance was when it died. A grin tugging

at his mouth, John crossed the huge great room, opened

the heavy front door and went out on the porch.

Snow still floated from the sky, obscuring the landscape. The steps he’d shoveled last night had disappeared again.

There seemed to be a free-for-all going on, snowballs

flying, accompanied by shrieks and yells. With the snow

still falling, the teenagers were indistinguishable from

each other, all blurred in white. They were thigh deep and

higher in the white blanket that enveloped the landscape,

the shed and the cabins he could usually see from here.

John raised his voice. “Time out!”

The action stopped and heads turned his way.

“When you get cold and decide to come in, everyone

go get an armful of wood and bring it. Pile’s just around

the side of the lodge.” He jerked his thumb toward the

north corner.

“Girls, too?” a voice squeaked.

“Girls, too.”

He went back inside, where Amy was elaborating on

what pigs all boys were, while Fiona soothed with

common sense. As far as he could see, the girl was a

spoiled brat, but what did he know?

Not that much later, the kids did all carry in wood,

and all three boys and one of the girls willingly went