The reality of the situation swung in on him like a door slamming and hitting him in the back.
“Shit!”
He rolled out of bed, heading straight to the small curtained window that faced into his back yard. Lily scrambled out the other side of the bed and began scooping up her clothes. Christian parted the curtains just enough to peek out into the daylight.
“Oh, shit.”
He rubbed the stubble on his chin and stared out into a pristine white world. The yard that separated his house from the courtyard was blanketed in fresh snow. Lots of it. The pink-tinged light of a dawn that was mostly spent cast shadows on the glittering wonderland.
“What is it?” Lily asked.
She stumbled up behind him, her chemise and drawers already on. He stepped aside long enough for her to see the trick Nature had played on them.
“No!” she repeated placing a hand on the icy glass. “No, this can’t be happening.”
He took a deep breath. “Nothing is happening yet.”
She whipped to face him, as furious as if he had planned the snow himself. “I can’t be seen with you this early. How much did it snow? Can we even get out of the house? It’s a school day!” Her last breathless statement was the most panicked of all.
He spread the curtain wider, assessing the situation. It was hard to tell from the yard alone.
“I don’t think school will start on time on a day like this,” he said.
Lily shook her head. She pushed away from the window and charged around the bed to continue dressing.
“This was a terrible, reckless idea,” she muttered as she fastened her corset. “If I’m seen, if anyone suspects what happened between us, I will lose my position at the school, my place at the boarding house….” She trailed off into comments too low for him to hear.
Christian turned away from the window, ready to face the gallows. This was his fault as much as hers. If he hadn’t lost one head and listened to the other….
He stopped short at the sight of Lily. Her hair was a wild mess of black around her shoulders. The white of her chemise and corset in contrast to the warm brown of her skin, the rise of her breasts against the fragile material and one of her slender legs propped on the bed as she tugged a wool stocking on sent a jolt of need through him.
On second thought, his little head had the right idea. He took a deep breath and smiled. He should have been thinking of a way to get her out his door and back to her boarding house. He should have been plotting how to keep her reputation as spotless as the snow outside. Instead he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, just watching her. How bad would it be if they were discovered, really? If the worst happened, he would rescue her.
When she was finished with her stockings her eyes snapped up to meet his. “What are you doing?” she demanded.
Perfect and wild. White underclothes, brown skin, black hair, and a dark red mark near the base of her neck that he could still taste. Yes, she was his and anyone who held her at fault for that would have to talk to him about it.
“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he said.
A fury of emotion flickered across her face, passion, tenderness, and anger.
“And you’re the most naked thing I’ve ever seen,” she shot back and bent to scoop up his pants. She marched around the bed to shove them at him. “Get dressed and help me get out of here.”
She turned to walk away but thought better of it and spun back to him. Without warning she leaned into him and kissed his lips. He blinked in shock.
“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen too,” she said, “but not right now.”
This time when she pulled away she meant it. Her whole focus poured into finding her clothes and getting dressed. Christian gave in and dressed himself, half in his clothes from the night before and half in clean things from his bureau.
“I’ll get you home safe,” he promised her. “It’s still early and it snowed. People will stay indoors because of the snow.”
“I wish I could believe you,” she muttered.
His own mix of emotions, indignation and amusement, knotted his gut.
“You can believe me, sweetheart,” he argued. “I will get you home without anyone seeing you.”
She sent him a doubtful look, then tried to tack a smile on the end. It wasn’t convincing.
Their perfect night was over. Christian strode past her and into the front room to find his winter things. She followed and was dressed in her coat, hat, and mittens before he had finished lacing his boots. As soon as they were secure, he stood and marched to the door, grabbing his coat from its hook and throwing it on.
“Stand back,” he told her, holding out an arm as if opening the door would cause an explosion. If anyone was within sight of his house, it just might.
He turned the handle and opened the door. Light snow and icy air swirled in over his toes. The snow was at least eight inches thick but powdery.
“We’re not stuck,” he murmured, motioning for her to come forward. “And it looks like no one is out yet.”
“Are you sure?”
He turned to look at her as she crept up to peer over his shoulder. The weight of her hands resting on his back as she studied the outside world was enough to make him smile again.
“If you think it’s too much of a risk, we could always go back to bed.”
She met his eyes. Her scowl gave way to worry far too quickly. It was enough to convince him to risk life and limb to keep her feet dry.
“All right, let’s go.”
He took her hand, the wool of her mitten soft against his skin. Together they stepped out into the snow. He shut the door behind him and led her through the yard to the side-road that passed between his house and the courthouse and the surveyor’s office on the other side. Still not a soul was in sight.
“It’s quicker to go down Main Street,” he thought aloud as they paused in the ankle-deep snow, “but we’re more likely to run into people.”
“We can’t be seen.” Lily let out a breath that misted in the air between them. “But I’d rather get there as quickly as possible.”
Christian nodded and led her on. He walked as if he had every right to be there, eyes flickering from side to side as though he didn’t. They reached the turn onto Main Street, but still the town was silent.
“Let’s cross here and walk along the porches on the other side,” he said.
She nodded and they pushed out into Main Street, digging a furrow in the snow as they went.
The street cleaners were out shoveling at the far end of Main Street by the train station. Christian heard Lily gasp but kept moving forward. The shovelers were too far away to make out who they were. No harm had been done yet.
When they stepped up onto the porch in front of the newspaper office Christian let out a breath. So far so good. The snow must have convinced more than just him and Lily to have a late morning.
He squeezed Lily’s hand and picked up his pace along the wide stretch of connecting porches. It was ridiculous of him to be so worried about being seen with her. He loved her. He was sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wanted to marry her. What difference did it make if they were seen together in the early morning? All this subterfuge was unnecessary. He should even—
The door of Michael and Charlie’s shop swung open as they passed. Lily yelped and Christian gasped, “Jesus, Michael!”, heart racing.
“Christian? What are you doing out here so early?” Michael stepped out into their path.
At the same time the door to the jail opened across the street and Lieutenant Wilkins tossed a mug of something out into the snow. He glanced up.
Christian swore and pushed past Michael, pulling Lily with him into the darkened store. She ducked in, peering over her shoulder with genuine fear in her eyes. Michael followed them and shut the door.
“I would ask what on earth you’ve been up to, but now I have a fairly good guess,” Michael said. His lip
s twitched in that enigmatic grin of his as he glanced to Lily.
“Shut up,” Christian said, more for the grin than his words. He glanced quickly around the store then started for the doorway to the back room. Lily still held fast to his hand. “Can we cut out the back way?”
“I don’t see why not,” Michael shrugged and followed them. “I take it you’re not in the mood to be seen?”
“Not at all,” Christian grumbled.
He shot through the curtained doorway and straight into a stack of empty crates. They crashed to the floor, one splintering.
“Ssh!” Lily admonished him.
“Sorry,” Christian apologized, as much to Michael as to her. “We’ll try not to wake Charlie and the baby.”
“They’re not here.” Michael chuckled and flicked on the electric lights. He was enjoying the scene far too much for Christian’s comfort. “We’ve more or less moved into the new house, so they’re there. When I saw the weather last night, I decided to sleep in the old apartment so I could open the store in plenty of time to sell shovels and brooms.”
“You would,” Christian muttered and pressed on through the storeroom.
“I’m so sorry,” Lily whispered an apology as she trailed Christian down the narrow row of shelves. Her cheeks were bright pink from more than just cold.
“Don’t be,” Michael said. “I highly approve of women chasing after what they want.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Christian said as they reached the back door. “His wife tells him what to think.”
“All wives tell their husbands what to think,” Michael added. “Smart husbands listen.”
He skipped ahead of them and unlocked the back door. It slid open wide enough for Christian and Lily to sneak out onto the stairs that led to a wide alley between two rows of buildings.
“You didn’t help us,” Christian said over his shoulder as he helped Lily down the slippery stairs. “You didn’t see us.”
“I most certainly did not,” Michael agreed, then shut the door behind him.
Christian tightened his grip on Lily’s hand and kicked his way through drifted snow between the buildings.
“Will he keep his word?” Lily asked.
“Who, Michael?” Christian nodded. “If Charlie tells him to, he will.”
They stole down the snowy alley all the way to the road that ran parallel to the train tracks. By the time they rushed out into the open again, Christian was willing to concede that running into Michael as he opened the store was the best thing that could have happened to them. They’d made it through the heart of Cold Springs without a soul being the wiser and the road that led to Viola Jones’s boarding house was clear of people. His sense of humor about the situation returned.
“Want to stop and make snow angels?” he teased Lily.
She glared at him with all the fury of a thousand angels. “I want to keep my job and my reputation.”
“Come on, now. It’s not that bad.” He whisked her along the snowy road. “If you lose your teaching job I can think of plenty of other jobs for you. Cooking for me, cleaning for me, keeping my bed warm. I pay well.”
She let go of his hand long enough to punch his shoulder. “You are an arrogant—”
“Bastard. I know, I know.” He laughed. He couldn’t help it. He hadn’t felt so light with joy in years.
That joy was dented when they reached the boarding house.
“Oh, no,” Lily whispered, desperate to the point of tears, when they reached the closed gate at the front of Viola’s garden.
Deep protectiveness flared under his light heart. “What is it?”
“I can’t go in the way I came out.” Lily placed a hand over her chest, panting with the effort of running and with worry.
Christian faced the house, assessing the problem in front of him. There was a light on in one of the upstairs windows, but the rest of the house looked quiet. The front garden was untouched and snow had drifted onto the covered porch. The door was most likely locked.
“How did you come out?” he asked.
“Through the cellar door in the back.”
He barely stifled his laughter in time.
“You snuck out of the cellar to rendezvous with me?”
She glared at the grin he couldn’t keep off his lips.
“It’s not funny,” she hissed.
“Yes, sweetheart, it is. I’m flattered.”
She kicked his shin. The impact hardly tickled with all of her layers of skirts and the snow around them, but he half-yelped, half-laughed anyhow.
“I can’t go back that way because my tracks will be seen,” she explained in a hush that would have been a shout to rattle the roofs if the situation hadn’t been so touchy. “I can’t walk up the front path either for the same reason.”
Christian attempted to sober up.
“You could walk up the front path but tell them later that you had gone out and back in again.”
She stared up at him with flat doubt. It quickly melted to hope.
“It might work.”
She thought about it for another second, then nodded. She squeezed his hand and let go.
“Lily, wait!”
He reached out for her wrist, catching her and pulling her back into his arms. He couldn’t help it. The morning sunlight glittered off of the fresh, new snow and the hint of danger hung in the air. He held her close and kissed her one last time. The heat that emanated from her as she returned that kiss, mouth soft and searching, was enough to melt a blizzard’s worth of snow.
“I love you,” he said as he let her go.
Chapter Sixteen
Lily staggered back, lips tingling with Christian’s kiss. Her heart didn’t know whether to race or to stand still all together.
He loved her. It hadn’t all been a wicked exercise in seduction. Everything they had shared the night before—the intimacy of bodies joining and emotion laid bare—hadn’t been for nothing.
“I have to go,” she said, surprised that she remembered what words were.
She stumbled to the gate and pushed it open. Her fears of being caught out, of making tracks in the new snow, were forgotten as she rushed to the porch. Christian loved her. What did that mean?
It meant that she was vulnerable. It meant her whole life and everything she had worked so hard to build could come crashing down. It meant that her heart was suddenly too big for her chest.
She scurried up the porch stairs then turned to see if he was still watching her. Of course, he was. He was beautiful in the morning light, surrounded by the promise of new snow. Even hunched with his hands under his arms and no hat, obviously cold, and wearing that wretched, teasing, irresistible smile of his he was beautiful.
She loved him.
Now what?
The click of the front door being unlocked frightened every terrifying, romantic thought out of her mind. She gasped and turned to face her destruction.
The door opened a crack and Jessica popped her head out into the cold.
“Hurry!” she whispered. “Miss Jones just got up. No one knows you were out yet!”
Relief poured over Lily with such ferocity that her head swam for a moment. She turned to Christian and smiled. He let out a breath and returned that smile before nodding and heading off.
Lily jumped into the house. Jessica shut the door behind her with a hair too much force.
“So?” she asked. “How was it?”
“It was….”
She should keep her mouth shut. She should keep to herself, protect herself, and not say anything.
The glittering expectation in Jessica’s eyes touched her. The woman really wanted to know. As a friend.
“It was wonderful,” Lily whispered, her confession squeezing her throat with emotion.
The truth of it sent a ripple through her. It clashed against the cold that clung to her and she began to tremble.
Jessica must have seen the sudden rush of panic in Lily’s eyes. “Let’s get you o
ut of those things and up to your room,” she said, reaching for the buttons of Lily’s coat. “Do you have school today? Do they close the school when it snows?”
Lily shook her head, clenching her teeth to keep them from chattering. “I don’t know. I’ll have to report to the school to find out.” She yanked her hat off of her head, her loose hair tangled in waves around her shoulders.
As she was tugging her mittens off a door creaked upstairs. She and Jessica exchanged wide-eyed looks.
“What do we do?” Jessica whispered.
Lily gripped Jessica’s arm as the two of them waited.
Miss Jones appeared at the top of the stairs. “Who’s that?” She charged down, already fully dressed with not a hair out of place, scowling as though her home were being invaded. She blinked at the sight of Lily and Jessica. “What on earth are the two of you doing up at such an hour?”
“I…,” Jessica stammered.
“I thought I saw a shadow from my bedroom window.” Lily fumbled to find an excuse. “I was concerned it could be a thief, so I got up and went out to check.” Internally, she winced. In the current climate, even the mention of thieves was like pointing a finger at Sturdy Oak’s people.
Miss Jones continued down the stairs, her eyes narrowed. “Did you find those pathetic red miscreants lurking in the bushes?”
It was exactly the reaction she expected. A new emotion of friendship flooded through her. Guilt. What kind of friend was she?
“I did not,” she said, peeling off her coat. There was still time to salvage things. “And I do not for one second believe the man being held in the jail or any Indian is the culprit.”
She stepped to the row of hooks on the wall and hung her coat to avoid facing the censure she knew Miss Jones would radiate. Her hands shook so hard she missed the hook on her first attempt.
“What did you do to your bodice?” Miss Jones asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talk—”
The words died on Lily’s lips when she saw the ripped edges of her cuffs. The night before. Christian’s arms around her, his mouth over hers, his hands stroking her to sunbursts. Her face went warm at the thought. He loved her.
In Your Arms (Montana Romance) Page 19