Second Chance Christmas. Tanya Michaels

ask her if she’s happy. She’s had years of practice managing me and our parents, and she keeps deflecting us. Maybe if you’re the one who confronts her, you’ll catch her off guard enough to make her think about it. Call her, and I’ll never bother you again.”

      “I’m telling you, she won’t listen to anything I say.”

      “Maybe, maybe not. How will you know if you don’t try? I don’t think you’re prepared for how focused I am when I want something.” She put her hands on her hips. “This is my hometown, too, Justin. We could run into each other a lot in the next few weeks.”

      He really, really should have gone straight home tonight. “Your parents are decent people. Do they know you’re out threatening the populace?”

      “Not the populace, slick, just you. Think I’m an unstable pain in the ass now? Wait until the person who’s always been the steadying influence in my life moves to California.”

      That far away? The information thudded to the pit of his stomach. “I’ll call her before Thursday night.” Even if Elisabeth hung up on him, he would have fulfilled his end of the bargain. “But the next time you spot me in a public place, Miss Donnelly? Forget you know me.”

      * * *

      SINCE NONE OF the patrollers had seen their waitress in half an hour, Justin volunteered to go to the bar for a couple of waters and a coffee for Grainger. Trying to get through the crowd gave him some appreciation for what salmon had to endure to swim upstream. For the most part, all he could do was move when the crush of people around him did and try not to knock anyone over whenever movement halted—not that there was enough room for someone to actually fall in this throng.

      The teeming mass thinned out slightly near the restrooms as some reached their destination, but others entered the fray, trying to return to their tables. He found himself face-to-face, body to body, with Elisabeth. Recognition burned through him, the visceral acknowledgment of this woman as his lover.

      Ex-lover.

      Very ex. But his five senses didn’t register the change of status. Her dress reminded him of a trench coat, buttoned down the front and belted with a knotted sash. He wanted to tug it, to unwrap her. Unlike her sister’s crazy five-inch heels, Elisabeth wore a pair of leather boots that disappeared beneath the hem of her dress. It suddenly seemed urgent to find out how high up those boots went.

      Aware that her startled expression was blossoming into one of disapproval, he tried not to picture her wearing nothing but the boots.

      Color climbed in her cheeks. “You’re in my way.”

      “Or you’re in mine,” he countered with a grin. “Depends on how you look at it.”

      She huffed out a frustrated breath and angled her body sideways, wiggling so that she had room to pass between him and the wall to his left.

      Follow the beautiful redhead or continue his trip to the bar? He changed direction before he even finished the thought. The bar could wait. “I don’t know if you saw me on the dance floor with Lina—” who’d certainly been doing her part to sell the spectacle “—but nothing happened between us.”

      “That’s why you’re stalking me?” Elisabeth cast a quelling glance over her shoulder. “To clarify a meaningless dance with my mule-headed sister? Because I was deeply concerned about your publicly seducing her in the span of a three-minute song. Thank God you’ve cleared up the matter or I never would’ve been able to sleep tonight.”

      Her waspish sarcasm was invigorating. Everyone thought of Elisabeth Donnelly as levelheaded and reserved. It was a perverse point of pride that he could ruffle her feathers.

      Now that they were farther from both the bar and the restrooms, there was more open space around them. He took advantage of the opportunity, gently steering her toward a recessed indentation in the wall. It was the kind of alcove that had probably housed a pay phone in the days before everyone carried a cell.

      She swatted his hand away from her shoulder. “I have friends waiting for me.” The light caught the diamond ring she wore.

      “It’s true, then.” Seeing the proof of her engagement was different than hearing about it from Lina. Something unpleasant rippled through him, like the chills he’d experienced last time he had the flu. “You’re getting married.”

      She met his gaze, her expression challenging. “Yes, I am.”

      “And moving away?”

      “Not that it’s any of your business, but yes. Heading to California, trading snowboards for surfboards.” Her words had a rehearsed quality, as if she’d made the same crack to others. Her pinched expression didn’t reveal any eagerness for the relocation.

      “How’s Kaylee feel about it?” he asked softly. Justin knew what it was like to lose a parent. He couldn’t imagine how much worse it would have been for him as a kid if his aunt had uprooted him and his siblings, removing them from the warm support of the community.

      Fury sparked in Elisabeth’s eyes. “Don’t you dare ask about her like some concerned friend or kindly uncle. You made it pretty clear you don’t give a damn about either of us, or about anyone else but yourself.”

      The unexpected words wounded him. She couldn’t really believe that, could she? “Now wait a—”

      But she’d already twisted away and was merging back into the press of happily tipsy patrons. Justin’s instincts screamed at him to follow, to plead his case, but the rational part of him knew it was smarter to let her go.

      Letting her go had always been the right choice.

      Chapter Three

      Wednesday was a busy day on the mountain. Justin had reported for work at seven-thirty in the morning, starting with a rundown on the day’s weather conditions and post assignments. Shortly after tourists began hitting the slopes, a skier had broken her wrist. Justin took her by toboggan to get medical attention. After an early lunch, he assisted with some training and taught a CPR class. The entire day felt like one fast-paced blur of activity, and before he knew it, he was in his SUV headed to Arden’s for dinner.

      His sister, like his ex-girlfriend, was also engaged to be married. Soon Arden would become Mrs. Garrett Frost. Garrett spent as much time in Cielo Peak as he could, but his family’s ranch a couple of hours to the east required his attention. Whenever Garrett couldn’t be in town, Justin made it a point to check in on Arden and two-month-old Hope. Plus, Arden was a terrific cook. It was no hardship to exchange the occasional night of his bachelor lifestyle for one of her home-cooked meals and the chance to cuddle his niece.

      As much as Justin loved baby Hope, the day she’d been born had been one of the scariest of his life. Arden and Garrett had been temporarily estranged, and the cowboy hadn’t been anywhere near Cielo Peak when Arden went into premature labor. Justin had been with her at the hospital while doctors explained the complications and dangers she faced. He’d been terrified he was about to lose another loved one.

      When he was ten, his mom had died the week after Thanksgiving; his father passed away a few years later. Justin and Arden had been raised in part by an elderly aunt but mostly by their older brother, Colin. The Cade siblings had banded together in a tight family unit, which had expanded when Colin married. Tragedy lashed out at them again when a car accident took Colin’s wife and toddler son. If anything had happened to Arden...

      But she was fine, Justin reminded himself. His niece was a healthy, beautiful baby, and his sister was ecstatic about her February wedding. She made frequent jokes about how she and Garrett had approached their relationship backward, but Justin privately doubted she’d change a thing that had brought them to this point. She’d never been happier.

      When he turned onto Arden’s street, Justin’s mouth fell open in disbelief. Her entire house was outlined in twinkling white lights. The trees in the yard were adorned with red and green bulbs that blinked in a frenetic pattern. A spotlight