Snowed by Pamela Burford Read Free Book Online Page B

more fixer bath,” he said, placing the picture in the last tray. When that bath was finished, he flicked on the normal room light and turned on the faucet, letting cool water run into the sink. “Why don’t you rinse it off?”
    “Me?”
    “Go on. It won’t bite. Just hold it under the water for a while.”
    Was it her imagination, or did his azure gaze hold a challenge? She’d have preferred handling a rattlesnake, but she gingerly lifted the picture and held it under the stream of water until he turned it off.
    He said, “Slap it on that board there.”
    She placed the photograph on a tilted board, where he carefully examined it under a bright spotlight as it drained.
    “Now just put it in that wire rack and you’re done.”
    As she did so, she felt his warm hand on her back. Just a fleeting pressure, but strangely reassuring.
    “Now that you’re an old hand at this, you want to do the next one yourself?” he asked.
    “Why not?”
    *
    “Shoot me,” Leah groaned as she slumped into a chair in the kitchen. She’d just deposited her borrowed skis, boots, hat, gloves, and jacket in the adjacent mudroom. The boy’s jeans she had on had been unearthed by James in the attic, and the oversize navy turtleneck was from his dresser.
    “Wasn’t that fun?” He followed her into the kitchen and started filling a kettle with water for tea. It was early evening and the sky had begun to darken as they’d completed their excursion around the grounds and made their way back to the house. “I told you you’d love it.”
    “I’m exhausted.”
    “Cross-country skiing is the best exercise in the world. Well, almost. Where in Arkansas do you live, Leah?”
    “Little Rock.”
    “Are your parents still alive?”
    She hesitated. “Yes. They live in Texarkana.”
    “The two-state city. What side are they on, Texas or Arkansas?”
    James knew his geography. “Arkansas,” she said.
    “What did your folks think about you slinging catfish at sixteen instead of going to school?”
    She shrugged. “We never had much money. It was time for me to get a job. And I did finish school
—
my shift started at four
p.m.
, and I studied during my breaks.”
    “That’s a hell of a schedule for a teenage girl. Didn’t you socialize at all? Date?”
    “School and work took preference. After high school I went to college part-time.”
    He turned from the stove to study her face. The candid admiration in his eyes warmed her. “Well, it would seem your old-fashioned work ethic paid off. Not many twenty-four-year-olds are successful business owners.”
    “Work ethic, huh? Daddy always said it was pure cussedness. A revered family trait.”
    Grinning, he reached into a cupboard for heavy ceramic mugs. “Leah. That’s a pretty name. Old Testament. Do your folks have biblical names, too?”
    She studied his back. When the water boiled, he poured it over tea bags. “You’re right,” she said at last, “you are inquisitive.” She wasn’t about to provide him with her parents’ names. As a young boy, he might not have known that the gardener was named Douglas Harmony, but he’d certainly remember a housemaid named Merlina Moody.
    “How about siblings?” he persisted. “Let’s see. You wouldn’t have a sister named Rachel, by any chance? If I remember my Genesis correctly.”
    “My parents are religious, but not that literal.”
    He carried the mugs to the table. “But you do have a sister?”
    “I had a sister.”
    “Oh.” He took a carton of milk from the fridge and sat across from her. His voice softened. “Sorry. Was it recent?”
    “No. I never knew her.” She forced all her mental concentration into the task of lifting the tea bag, squeezing it, dropping it onto a saucer. It was preferable to thinking about Annie. She added milk and sugar to the mug and took a sip.
    Time to turn the tables. “Tell me about your family, James.”
    “I have two brothers, younger than me. Mark lives in Denver
—
he’s a