Second Chance Christmas (The Colorado Cades) by Tanya Michaels Page B

choices should feel liberating. It will be fine, she told herself. Change built character.
    Elisabeth tried to draw her dad into conversation. “Steven has never been snowmobiling. Weren’t you planning a ride with some friends this weekend?”
    Her fiancé leaned back in his chair. “I wouldn’t want to impose. I—”
    “Nonsense.” Patti jabbed her husband with her elbow. “Graham would love for you to join them. Wouldn’t you, honey?”
    Elisabeth seized the opportunity to carry some plates into the adjacent kitchen in the hopes that the two men into her life, having been prompted, would fall into more natural conversation. She wasn’t surprised when Lina joined her less than a minute later. Elisabeth knew her twin had probably been itching for a chance to share her opinion.
    “Well?” Elisabeth kept her voice soft enough that no one would hear her over the running water as she rinsed dishes in the sink.
    “He’s cute,” Lina said. “I didn’t expect that.”
    Steven had gray eyes, classical features and thick blond hair. He wasn’t especially tall, but neither was Elisabeth.
    “You thought he’d be unattractive?”
    “Not exactly. You just sound so...platonic when you talk about him. Sort of an implied ‘he has a good personality.’ But it’s like you said earlier today, I’m an outsider and don’t have all the facts. Maybe I was wrong, and there is heat between you.”
    Elisabeth said nothing. Heat wasn’t her priority. She wanted a partner, not a radiator.
    Lina jabbed her lightly in the side, a habit she’d clearly inherited from their mother. “Is he, you know, good ?”
    “Are you really asking me about sex with our parents only a few yards away?”
    “That isn’t a reassuring answer. Don’t you—”
    “We’re waiting, not that it’s any of your business. So you’ll just have to wait until after the wedding for the full report.” That last bit was sarcastic. She had zero intention of giving her sister a play-by-play.
    “Waiting?” Lina’s shocked voice was appallingly loud.
    “Shhh! I don’t know why you’re so stunned. We’re not the first couple in the history of the world to wait for the wedding night—and it isn’t as if we have much longer to wait. Most of our relationship has been long-distance anyway, and the last thing we want to do is set a bad example for Kaylee.”
    “I see.” Lina arched an eyebrow. “And those times you kept Kaylee at your place while you were dating Justin? You and he never...?”
    Elisabeth’s face heated as she recalled a frenzied and unexpectedly intense late-night encounter in her laundry room.
    “Uh-huh. That’s what I thought,” her sister said smugly.
    “Completely different situations. For one thing, he and I had already established a physical relationship. And Kaylee wasn’t having nightmares then.” Those began after Michelle’s death. Elisabeth couldn’t think of a less sexy first time than to have her and Steven’s lovemaking interrupted by a sobbing child. All three of us would need therapy . “Steven’s offered to sleep on my couch while he’s in town. He’s a real gentleman.”
    Lina gave her a smile so dubious it bordered on pitying.
    “Stop looking like you feel sorry for me.” Elisabeth held up her left hand and waggled her fingers. “I’m the one with the good-looking fiancé and the diamond on her hand, remember? Living the dream.”
    “Funny.” Lina squinted at her, the mischief fading from her gaze. “I was always the one with the dreams of becoming the princess of a tropical island or running off to join a rock band. I thought your dream was to take over the lodge eventually and raise kids of your own in Cielo Peak.”
    “Yeah, well.” Elisabeth glanced toward the dining room. “Dreams change.”
    * * *
    O CCASIONALLY , AFTER J USTIN helped save someone, he received a thoughtful thank-you note or baked goods. On Friday afternoon, he helped save a freaked out twelve-year-old girl and received