Madelaine got there just as he tried to get up.
“What on Earth are you doing here, woman?” he asked, but there was no anger in his voice.
“Saving you from these criminals!” Madelaine supported his weight as best as she could to help him stand up. Luke scoffed at that but didn’t say anything. He made a noise as if he was in pain, and although he didn’t seem strong enough to walk at first, he grabbed her hand with a firm grip as she pulled him back in the direction she’d come from.
Madelaine took the lead, pulling Luke along as she went. They managed to hide in different places along the way—behind stacks of firewood, in stalls, and even underneath a large crate, but nobody seemed to follow them. Everybody was preoccupied with something else, which worked in their favor.
Luke didn’t fight any of her decisions; he just went along with whatever direction she chose. Madelaine took him back behind the church, then toward the schoolhouse where Tinsel was. She’d found an overhang where someone had stored some hay over winter, so her mare was protected, and she even had some food to munch on.
Both buildings stood at the very end of the small town, so they were unharmed, since the attacks had happened more on the other side of town. Madelaine pulled Luke inside the back of the empty schoolhouse.
“Maybe we can hide here for a minute to catch our breaths,” she said, as icy clouds formed in front of their mouths with every breath they took. Luke nodded and slowly slid down one wall, all the way to the wooden floor.
“Are you hurt?” she asked, worried that his injuries might be worse than what he let on. The most obvious injury was his left eye, which was pretty swollen. There was blood on his eyebrow above it.
“Just a little,” he said, with a crooked smile. She was relieved when she saw that he was joking with her.
Daylight was fading fast, and the room they were in was already dark, but the single window toward the front provided enough visibility for them to see and move around. Madelaine quickly realized that this was used as a storage room, and the shelves lining one whole wall contained several items that could be useful.
The first thing she grabbed were woolen blankets. There was an entire stack of them, and they smelled a little musty, but they would have to do for now.
“Here! Put this around you!” she said to Luke as she draped the blankets over his legs and body. “You should put one behind you and sit on one as well, it’ll keep the cold out of your bones,” she said softly.
“What about you?” he asked, his voice still raspy.
“I’m just trying to see what we could use. We might have to stay here overnight,” she said. She had no idea if that was true.
“We might?” Luke asked. Madelaine took it as a genuine question.
“Yes! I don’t know if we can return to Timothy’s place right now,” she said hesitantly.
“Where are Belle and Simon?” Luke asked.
“Mary took them and Buster to their hiding spot to keep them safe. I left to go find you,” Madelaine explained, rubbing her hands together as she blew warm breath onto her frigid fingers.
“Grab all of the blankets and come here,” Luke said as he slowly stood up, supporting himself on the wall behind him. Madelaine carried four more blankets over to him, and he spread two of them out beneath them. Then, he pulled Madelaine down as he got up himself. Luke draped several blankets over her, tucking her in as best as he could before moving to explore the room.
Madelaine wanted to protest, but she struggled to give up the warmth the blankets provided.
Luke came back with several candles, some used, some new, and he stacked them all up in a bucket he found at the bottom of the shelf. Much to her surprise, he’d also found some matches near those candles, and before she knew it, there were seven candles lit up inside the bucket, providing extra light and warmth.
When Luke finally returned to his spot, he pulled her close to him, draped his arm around her, and covered both of them with the shared blankets. Madelaine didn’t complain.
“Forgive me,” he said quietly, “but if we want to survive here tonight, we need to share as much body heat as we can.”
Madelaine nodded. She hoped that the room was dark enough that it wouldn’t reveal her blush. “How are you feeling?” she asked to distract from it.
“I’m fine. Couple of bumps and bruises. I’ve had worse,” he said, but when he tried to play it down by shrugging, the shoulder movement made him wince.
“I was so worried about you,” Madelaine said, snuggling a little closer to his side. “I never thought that Phineas could be so callous,” she added. Her body trembled with fear when she thought about how close Luke had come to being shot.
“I was worried about you, too,” he said softly. “Leaving you back at the ranch, not knowing what was going to happen to you and the little ones…” He broke off and turned his head to press his lips against her hair.
Madelaine closed her eyes and inhaled his scent. Despite their current, uncertain situation, she’d never felt so safe. Feeling his arms around her was deeply reassuring.
“What will happen now?” she asked, genuinely worried. “I wonder what will be left of the town tomorrow. I hope they didn’t destroy more ranches. It’s all so very terrible,” she sputtered with a shuddering breath.
“Right now, we can only wait and see. I don’t even know if we can pull off the original plan anymore,” Luke admitted. “I doubt the auction is going to take place tomorrow.”
