Winter Baby

But maybe, just maybe, a year was long enough.

Wow. He pulled himself up with an embarrassed yank. That was damn cocky. And way off base. Sarah Lennox didn’t look at all like the kind of woman who would find it fun to share the sheets with some relative stranger during her winter vacation. Even more to the point, while she was friendly and polite, she hadn’t shown signs of being one bit overwhelmed by his manly dimples.

Not to mention how Ward would react if Parker started exercising his hormones again with the old man’s favorite great-niece. Ward might be in his late seventies, but he was still plenty tough enough to scatter pieces of Parker’s body all over a tri-county area.

Parker returned reluctantly to reality. While he and his ego had been taking that stupid mental flight, Sarah had already smoothed on the ointment. Now she was ready for the bandage. She gingerly placed a snow-white square of sterile gauze against the first blister, then started winding a strip of bandage around his hand to keep it in place. She seemed completely focused on her task, eyes down, lower lip clasped between her teeth intently.

Parker felt a little silly. It was just a blister, for Pete’s sake. And he was damned glad that Emma couldn’t see him. He probably looked like an over-eager lapdog, holding out his blistered paws so Sarah could make them better.

But he had to admit it was kind of sweet.

“Tell me,” she said as she tied off the bandage. “What’s really going on with my uncle and the ice festival?”

She let go of his hand and began on the other one. Parker flexed his fingers for a moment, testing the bandage, before he answered. He didn’t want to upset her. But maybe she could help him make Ward see reason.

“He’s putting up some serious opposition this year. Some of the merchants in town think he’s damaging them financially. They’re pretty steamed up over it.”