“You know, I always thought that kissing someone was just a physical motion, where you’d feel the lips touching, but nothing else. But that is not true. It’s so much more…” Madelaine stopped herself, because she didn’t even really know what she was saying. She couldn’t put into words whatmoremeant. Just thinking about all of it made her shiver, and a small tingle trickled down her spine.
“You have to promise me not to tell anybody what I’ve just told you, okay?” she said, still giggling. “This is our little secret.” She bribed Tinsel with a handful of grains.
Leaving her stall, Madelaine went to check on the other horses in the barn, filling up their water from the inside well pump—which had been an ingenious idea by whoever had come up with it—and she gave all of them extra hay, as well as some grain as a treat. As of right now, there was no telling how longthis storm would go on for, so she wanted to make sure that they would be fine until tomorrow.
Wrapped up in her shawl and coat, Madelaine went to open the barn door from the inside, but she needed to push a lot harder against it than previously. She’d barely managed to open it far enough to squeeze through when she was greeted by a ferocious wind gust that almost knocked her over.
She tried to pull the handle to close the sliding door, but it didn’t move. She needed to pull it with both hands, so she was forced to let go of her hood and coat, which immediately whipped around her body like a huge sail. Fighting the cold wind gusts, she strained to dig her heels into the deep snow to move the large door, but to no avail. The thing didn’t even move an inch.
Suddenly, she heard a familiar howl—Buster!
At first, she couldn’t see the bloodhound in the blizzard; she could only hear his distinct howl coming nearer. Then she saw the large shadow approach her, seconds before he barreled right into her, almost knocking her over.
“What are you doing here, Buster? Did you get out?” she called out to the huge dog, who was clearly excited to see her.
“What are you doing out here?” A familiar voice called out to her before she could see him.
Luke.
He appeared just like Buster had—a tall, large shadow amidst the whirling snow, walking in long strides straight toward her. Why was her heart racing all of a sudden?
“I came home early because of the bad weather,” he yelled against the wind, “and when I couldn’t find you in the house, I had to wake up Simon to find out that you had gone to the barn, alone? Why would you do such a thing?” he exclaimed in a rush of words. He seemed annoyed as he stood so close in front of her.
Holding onto her hood and coat, Madelaine tried to look up at him. “I had to check on the horses, to make sure they were okay…”
Luke grabbed her shoulders, turned her around, and pushed her through the tiny opening back inside the barn before he and Buster followed her.
Madelaine didn’t know what she should feel about the fact that he had just touched her like that.
“I’m not mad,” he said, closing his eyes for a brief moment. He continued with a slightly softer tone. “But don’t you know that Alvarez stays here overnight when the weather is this bad? He has a room in the other end of the barn, behind the tack room,” Luke explained, pointing toward the back.
“Alvarez is here?” Madelaine gasped. Her eyes darted in the direction Luke was pointing, and she saw a faint light falling into the walkway between the stalls, all the way at the far end of the barn. How had she not noticed it before?
Her hand flew to her mouth when she realized that she had told Tinsel all those things, thinking that she was entirely alone. Alvarez could have heard every single word she’d said!
“Oh!” was all she could muster. With the howling storm raging on the outside, maybe Alvarez hadn’t heard her come in. Or rather, she really,reallyhoped that he hadn’t.
Luke raised one eyebrow at her reaction. “We have to go now, or I will have to carry you back. This storm is shaping up to be one of the bad ones,” he said.
“Then let’s go!” Madelaine exclaimed. She darted back toward the opening in the door. As soon as she stepped outside again, her billowing coat pulled her like an oversized sail.
Luke followed her, and the two of them worked together to get the barn door closed. Luke pushed against the back, while Madelaine pulled at the handle. After the third attempt, the large door finally moved, and they could shut it properly.
The blizzard had reached a level Madelaine had not experienced before. She could barely see her hand in front ofher face. Before she could walk a single step, Luke grabbed both of her hands, twisted himself slightly below her, then pulled her arms over his shoulders and her onto his back. Madelaine yelped at the manhandling.
True to his word, Luke carried her—piggyback style—closely following Buster’s distant howling, all the way to the back door of the house.
***
When they finally burst into the kitchen, Luke was out of breath.
When he set Madelaine down, he saw that her entire face and hair were covered with snow, and he realized that her hood must have blown off in the wind. With him holding her arms to carry her, she had no way of covering herself. He remembered her shouting at him, but he’d been too focused on getting her back to the house. Now she had snow in her eyes, her ears, her nose, and her eyebrows were caked with it.
She glared at him. Obviously, she wasn’t too happy.
“I am so sorry!” he exclaimed, as he began to brush the snow off her. Madelaine immediately jumped away from him.
“Get off! What do you think you’re doing?” she asked loudly.
