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"Did I?"

Sipping his coffee, Finn tried to hide his smile, but Carrie saw it and s his eyes on her, he slid the deck of cards across the table

Shuffling the cards, Carrie glanced up and smiled ever so sweetly "Women aren’t stupid, you know"

"I never said they were Heartless, yes, but a few I’ve happened upon showed ence"

Carrie suspected he was purposely atte list of words that best describe you, Finn Dalton"

"Better ould be realist"

"Oh, puh-leese" She drawled out the word and laughed despite herself

Finn did, too, and the surprise of hearing his amusement caused her to fumble and lose control of the cards, which scattered across the tabletop

"You should laugh ether the deck

"Really?"

"Yes, really"

His eyes shone, and despite his grizzled appearance, she found hirooht even be considered handso at him because he frowned and barked, "What?"

"Oh, sorry" Carrie quickly looked away and dealt the cards

"You’re staring at me"

"I know"

"Why?"

This question was harder to answer She couldn’t very well ad that came to mind "I want to remember what you look like, and I doubt you’d let me take your photo"

He immediately frowned "For that article you intend to write?"

Instead of answering, she kept dealing the cards and then waited while he cut the deck

The second game proved they ell matched Finn won, but not by much

"Tie-breaker?" he asked

"Of course," she responded It surprised her how much she enjoyed thisthe cards, he dealt

"Do you do anything special around the cabin for Christlanced at her above his hand "It isn’t even Thanksgiving yet Why are you asking about Christuess it’s on my mind A lot of the stores already have their decorations up"

"You’ve got to be joking"

"I’ruoes all out for Christmas"

"Of course," she said, as she counted out her score "Although I live alone, I put up a tree, hang garlands, and decorate with holly What about you?"

He finished counting out his hand "What aboutfor ht now"

"I wasn’t," she said, groaning It see she asked was suspect "You don’t have a Christ him, he probably didn’t like Christmas at all "Is it just another day for you and Hennessey?"

"For the most part, yes I’ll sometimes join Sawyer and his family or fly to Fairbanks and spend Christmas Day with friends"

It made Carrie feel better to knoouldn’t be alone unless that hat he chose "Good"

"Good?" he repeated

"Yes I would hate the thought of you spending Christrinned, as if her comment amused him "Despite what you think, I enjoy ood part of the time here, but I have a condo … elsewhere"

"You do? But how do you support yourself? I mean, before the book"

"I have all the work I ith the state, checking on the pipeline" He grimaced, as if he’d said far et I said that"

She panto her lips closed There was far more to Finn than she realized "Listen, this isn’t related to anything I ht write, so relax"

They broke for lunch Finnin the rocking chairs A glance out thetold her the wind had died down and the snow had stopped

"Myher cell phone Thankfully, her battery wasn’t dead, but coverage this far north si to happen "I told her I’d phone, and I haven’t Is there any way I can get word to her?"

"I have a satellite phone, but it isn’t cheap"

"I’ll be happy to pay whatever the charges are I won’t talk long"

"Having you out of h"

Carrie frowned "Ouch I thought ere getting along so well, too"