by Lucy Evanson
Cora hadn’t returned, and although he was still pretty sure that the blizzard outside would turn her around and send her back, he was becoming less and less certain as the minutes ticked by. Nathan went to the kitchen window and stared out. Even in the short time since he’d arrived home, the weather had become much worse; the panes of glass shuddered in the window frame as the wind threw itself against the house.
He turned from the window and saw that she had unwrapped his sandwich and left it on a plate for him. It was stunning how quickly things could change sometimes. Twenty minutes earlier he’d been hoping to come home and have lunch with his wife, and she’d evidently been hoping the same thing. One rescue from a villain later, she had decided that she’d rather take her chances out in the storm than spend another second with him. Nathan went to the table and picked up the plate. The sandwich tasted fine. It was everything else that had gone bitter.
He put the plate down and strode to the door, only taking a second to throw on his coat before he hurried down the stairs. Gotta make this right, he thought, and as he stepped out into the blinding, swirling snow, he realized that he would have done the same thing even on a beautiful spring morning. If the sun had been shining and birds had been chirping, he still would have gone after her. She was all he had left.
He followed her footprints out to the street, where they almost immediately became lost among the mushy carriage tracks that had cut through the snow. Nathan had a pretty good idea of where she had gone; she had always spoken fondly of her old landlord, so chances were good that she was going to ride the storm out over there. Maybe she’d even spend the night if she really wanted Nathan to worry.
He hurried over that way, keeping his eyes glued to the ground. He still couldn’t see her footsteps, but it would have been difficult to see anything in this mess. Hardly any light came down from the gloomy skies, and in the slush he couldn’t make out anything. The odd thing was that as he got to Willow Street, it looked like nobody had gone down that way at all. There were no footprints and certainly no carriage tracks.
Nathan went down the street, scouring the ground for any trace of someone’s passage until he arrived in front of the boarding house. The yard and the walk up to the porch were pristine, covered with a soft blanket of undisturbed snow.
Where the hell could she be? He turned and hurried back the way he had come. About the only other place he could think of would be the saloon. Nathan nearly ran all the way to Main Street, bursting into Sally’s, then Miners’ Oasis, then Bill’s. He was almost glad to find that she wasn’t in any of them; the men that had decided to take refuge in the bars didn’t exactly look like the cream of Mineral Point’s high society. But that still left him exactly where he started: pacing in front of their apartment, trying to find his wife.
I can’t find her anywhere in town, he thought. So maybe…she’s not in town. He threw a glance up the road. Surely she wouldn’t be going to the house. Nathan started walking, keeping his gaze fixed to the slush in front of him. There. And there. Two footprints, now nearly filled with fresh snow, pointing their way out of town.
Nathan lifted his head and stared out into the blizzard. She had nearly a half-hour head start and it was blowing snow so hard that he could barely see past the next house. I’ll never find her on foot.
He looked to the neighboring property. Nathan had never formally met the people who lived next door, but they had a very large, fenced-in lot where he’d often seen a pony. Today, of course, the lot was empty. But Nathan was guessing that the small barn in back was occupied. Well, if they’re going to get me for marriage fraud, they may as well throw horse theft in there too.
He ducked under the fence and set off running. As soon as he opened the barn door, sweeping away the drift that had built up in front of it, the pony—a gorgeous all-gray Welsh Cob—regarded him with a deep brown eye.
Nathan murmured quietly as he approached and softly stroked the Cob’s long neck. “I wouldn’t normally do this, but I don’t see any way around it,” he said as he went for the saddle. “Help me out and I’ll have you back here before you know it.”
Nathan wasn’t one of those people who believed that horses had special powers of communication. However, he’d also been around horses enough to know that they were amazingly intelligent. Regardless of the reason, he wasn’t about to wonder at how the pony so calmly let itself be saddled up and led quietly out into the storm. There would be time to think about that later on.
He led the Cob quickly across the field and opened the fence gate; the one good thing about the blizzard was that there was nobody outside to see them. In only a minute he was in the saddle and they were headed out of town, Nathan’s eyes scouring the terrain ahead.
Once they had departed Mineral Point proper, it became easier to follow Cora, and harder to keep going. The lack of other footprints made hers stand out easily, even though in many places the wind had entirely filled them with fresh snow, causing them to lose track several times. The drifts were rapidly getting deeper, sometimes spooking the pony as they fought their way ahead.
Nathan leaned forward and patted the Cob’s neck. “We just need to get up to the top of the next rise,” he said, almost to himself. “We’ll stop and take a look around from up there.” He kicked his heels and the pony darted ahead, charging through the drifts and heading for the tree line that ran along the ridge.
There was nothing to be seen from atop the hill. The field below was a sheet of pure, unbroken white; her footsteps had been entirely covered now. He could barely even raise his head to look across the valley to the next hill; between the bitter cold and the driving snow, it wasn’t fit for an animal out there, let alone a young woman. Nathan spurred the pony on and they started down the slope, the wind howling overhead as if to warn them away.
It wasn’t until they had reached the belly of the divide that Nathan could even make out the trees on the next hill. They stood there like warriors braving the onslaught of the storm, unmoving and tall. And there, at the foot of the trees, something out of place. A little bundle that shouldn’t have been there.
Cora. Finding her—like this, anyway—was almost worse than not finding her at all. He could see that her cloak was entirely coated with snow; only a dark hole where her hood opened could be seen. She looked tiny there and she was not moving. Nathan kicked the pony hard, sending it racing up the hill, and though the blood was rushing through him, he’d never felt so cold in his entire life.
She didn’t respond at all when he took her into his arms, and the chill of her skin as he brought his face to hers was terrifying. He pressed his ear to her face and could hear only the thinnest breath escaping her. The wind kicked up again then, screaming overhead as if to celebrate winter’s claim on another victim. Nathan raised his face to the sky and screamed himself, but his cry was swallowed by the wind as if it were only a whisper. It was almost dizzying to see so much snow in the sky, pouring down around them relentlessly, and for a moment it was all he could do to close his eyes and hold her cold body against his.
We’ll never make it back to town, he thought. Leading her on the pony will take us an hour, and I don’t think she’ll last that long. He turned and looked down the hill toward Dodgeville. But we can make it to the house in twenty minutes. The decision had been made for him. He laid Cora as gently as he could across the saddle, took the reins in his hand, and plunged down the other side of the hill.
The rest of the trip was hellish, if only hell had been made of snow and ice instead of fire and brimstone. Nathan didn’t dare go as quickly as he would have liked, for fear of Cora slipping off the saddle and falling to the ground; instead, he went at a fast walk, his head constantly swiveling between the terrain in front of them and Cora’s limp body atop the pony.
She seemed dead to the world, and he prayed that it was only a figure of speech as they finally reached the property and he led them up the long drive to the house. Nathan leaped up the porch steps, but of course the f
ront door was locked. He and Cora had made sure to lock the place up tight last time they were there. He wasn’t just going to waltz in.
Nathan led the pony around back to the kitchen door. There was a small window with four panes of glass, and Nathan grabbed a log from the firewood pile, quickly knocking through the glass in the lower left pane. He tore off his bulky coat and slipped his arm through the hole; his fingers slipped and slid over the metal handle but it was too far out of reach.
“Come on, goddammit,” he muttered. Shards of remaining glass bit into his shoulder as he forced himself even farther through the hole, and finally he twisted two fingers around the handle and was rewarded with the click of an opening lock.
He pushed the door open and then went for Cora, sweeping her up in his arms and racing inside. The house was dark and nearly as cold as the outdoors; his first thought had been to set a fire roaring in the front room, but as he stood there in the huge space he realized that it would take hours to warm up in there. And Cora didn’t have hours.
Where else did I see a fireplace? There had been another one, he was sure of it. Of course. The master bedroom. As he ran up the stairs, Cora let out a soft moan that nearly split his heart in two. “Just hold on,” he whispered as he brought her into the bedroom and laid her on the bed, pulling off her wet, freezing cloak.
She was soaked through and cold as ice. Nathan hesitated only a moment, then peeled off her dress, stripping her down to her chemise, before tearing back the covers and putting her into bed as gently as he could.
He nearly flew down the stairs for firewood, kindling and matches, and in only a few minutes had a decent fire going in the bedroom. Once he was sure that the fire had caught, he went to Cora. Her skin, always so milky, was paler than he’d ever seen it, and when he laid his hand on her forehead it was as if he’d gathered a palmful of ice.
My poor girl. He leaned over to kiss her and pulled the blanket back to lay his head against her chest. Her heartbeat was soft and her breathing was shallow, but still she lived. He covered her carefully, said a quick prayer for her and then turned back to the fire. There was nothing else he could do at the moment, and there was still work to do.
Nathan moved chairs closer to the fire and laid out her clothes to dry, then went outside to tend to the pony. The barn was fortunately unlocked, as there was nothing within to protect other than straw and old blankets, both of which Nathan made use of. Once the pony was settled in, he returned to the house and cleaned up the kitchen, sweeping the broken glass into the ash canister and stuffing an old towel into the broken window to stem the rush of cold air into the house. He stepped out onto the porch to gather snow into a kettle; she would probably need something hot to drink eventually, and he had no idea where the well was located. After finally mopping up the slush he’d tracked in and setting the kettle to boil, Nathan returned upstairs.
The bedroom was quite a bit warmer now, although she still was as pale and cold as she had been when he’d left. Nathan went to the fireplace and picked up the poker, then stabbed at the burning wood, trying to stoke the flames even higher. When the heat felt heavy on his cheeks, he stood up and glanced over at the bed. She looked peaceful sleeping there, but that didn’t mean everything was going to be okay. He turned back to the fire and let out a sigh. It was a hell of a thing, to have done everything you could and know that it still might not be enough.
She was going to freeze to death. The thought had come into her mind, but she had been too cold, too exhausted, too overwhelmed to do anything about it. Cora had stayed sitting there by the tree on top of the hill, and the last thing she had seen was a field bathed in white. It was fiercely cold and the wind was pulling tears down her cheeks, but she had to admit that it was beautiful in a way. Then her eyes closed, and she felt like she was truly about to rest.
When she opened her eyes the first time, she immediately recognized the bedroom at the house, although she had no idea how she’d arrived until she saw Nathan there, standing by the fire. Of course, she thought. He was there for me when I needed him. Again. The room was still cold and she let herself fall back asleep; she dreamed of being slowly covered by a blanket of white, but this time the blanket was warm and soft.
The next time she opened her eyes, it seemed much later. The fire was still burning, but low in the fireplace, and the window to the veranda merely reflected the flames, rather than letting through any light from outside. Nathan was sitting in one of the chairs by the fire, staring into the flames like a man who would gladly toss in all of his worries and cares, if it were only possible.
The room was warm and the bed was cozy. She would have happily let herself drift into slumber again, but it wouldn’t be right to leave Nathan there worried about her. She cleared her throat and called to him.
His head whipped around. “Oh, thank God,” he said, practically leaping from his chair. He was at her side in a moment, kneeling on the thick rug by the side of the bed and taking her hand between his. “I thought I’d lost you forever.”
His hands were wonderfully warm on hers. “Not yet,” she whispered, her voice cracking. He reached for a glass of water which was on the nightstand and handed it to her; it wasn’t until she felt the water on her lips that she realized how thirsty she was. She drained the glass before handing it back to him.
“How are you feeling?”
“Better,” she said. “I thought I was a goner out there, though.”
“You nearly were,” he said. “If I hadn’t have found you…I hate to think what would have happened.” He fell silent for a moment and she watched the firelight play in his eyes. “You know, it’s not the end of the world. So Emma finds out what Drake knows. So what? That still might not be enough to keep you from getting your inheritance.”
She let out her breath through gritted teeth. The one nice thing about nearly freezing to death was that Drake, Emma and all the rest of it had faded from her mind until Nathan brought it up again. “I don’t want to talk about that right now,” she said.
“Well, it’s just that it wasn’t worth running out in a blizzard.”
“I didn’t run out because of that,” she said. The fire may have died down a bit, but the room now seemed quite warm. “It was because of the way you spoke to me.” She scooted up a bit and realized that she was wearing only her chemise. Her cheeks flushed as she pulled the sheet up to her chest and arranged the pillow against the headboard so that she was sitting up.
Nathan’s eyebrows had risen a bit more than she liked. “The way I talked to you?” he asked. “What do you mean?”
“Saying that I couldn’t do anything without you—“
“I didn’t say that!”
“Saying that I need your help all the time—“
“Well, it sure looks like it, doesn’t it?”
If his aim had been to make sure that her blood was moving again, he had accomplished his mission. Cora could almost hear her heart pounding like a kettle drum, and she threw back the covers and hopped out of bed. Nearly nude or not, she wasn’t going to let him stand there and lecture her.
“You listen here!” she snapped, stabbing her finger at his chest. “I don’t need anybody’s help. Not yours, not anybody’s. You got that?”
The next thing he said was so quiet that she could barely hear him. “You need me,” he murmured, and he let a smug smile appear. “And I proved it twice today.”
Her hand flew to slap him, to wipe that damn smile off his face, but he must have been expecting it. He caught her wrist, then the other one. Then he threw her onto the bed and covered her mouth with his, sending his tongue into her mouth in a rough, passionate kiss.
And much to her surprise, Cora found herself kissing him back.
Chapter 16
It had been a long time—too long—since she had felt a man’s body against her own. Cora buried her fingers in his hair, pulling Nathan to her as if his mouth would somehow escape otherwise. She sucked hard on his tongue and felt his hand go to
her hip, where the thin fabric of her slip was the only barrier to her skin. She reached down and jerked hard on the silk, pulling it out from underneath his hand so that she could feel the touch of his skin on her own.
As his tongue slid over hers, her anger was replaced by an entirely different wave of heat, and without breaking their kiss she reached up to unbutton his shirt. Cora trailed her fingers over his chest as the fabric fell away, running her hands over the muscles that rippled just beneath the skin, letting her hands take in the strength of Nathan’s body.
This time she didn’t need to tell him to get undressed. He stood up and quickly stripped out of his clothes while she pulled off her chemise and lay back, waiting for him. Nathan stood there for a moment, looking down at her, letting his eyes linger on her curves before he rejoined her on the bed.
“Cora, you’re beautiful,” he murmured. Nathan lay down next to her and ran one hand over her, letting his warm skin slide across hers as he traced the outline of her arm down to her hip, then up her side to cup her breast. His touch sent a thrill through her, and she pressed his hand hard against her flesh as she leaned close to kiss him.
His mouth roamed over her face, kissing her lips, her cheeks, her chin. She arched her neck and he moved in close, letting his tongue dance over the soft skin of her throat as he dropped down to kiss her chest, gently taking her nipples between his lips. His mouth was almost wickedly hot on her as he sucked, and Cora felt her breath quickening as her nipples stiffened in his mouth.
She brought her hands to her breasts, rubbing them against his lips and waiting tongue. Seeing Nathan’s mouth on her was thrilling. Exciting. Intoxicating. She could feel herself growing warm between the legs.
“Kiss me again,” she whispered, and Nathan slid up in the bed to find her mouth with his. As their lips touched, his hands were everywhere, sliding over her chest to tweak the hard nubs of her nipples, tracing the curve of her hip, cupping her bottom and pulling her tightly against him.
