She liked them. She liked Charles and Barbara, and Megan, and Vaughn. They had been nice to her and made her feel welcome. Even the fact that they practically lived in a castle hadn’t seemed to affect them. They seemed like just ordinary people.
Daniel had told her his parents were practically retired. Charles still did some work with his company, but he said it practically ran itself these days.
Barbara, it seemed spent most of her days decorating the house. As far as hobbies went, it seemed like a great one to have. They had invited her back anytime - with Daniel or without him. Of course, she wouldn’t go without him - didn’t want to even think about it.
Speaking of not thinking about it, she had for the most part avoided thinking about her memory loss. She was too busy enjoying herself. She hadn’t seen any more of the neighbor. She didn’t blame the woman for not bothering her anymore. After all, Madison had slammed the door in her face - something she wasn’t proud of, but it had served the purpose.
Daniel came through her car - something he made a point of doing every time he got a chance.
“How’s it going?” he asked, standing next to her.
“It’s going good,” she said, feeling her face flushing, as she remembered those lips on hers just last night, before he had said goodnight.
“I can’t wait until lunch,” he said.
With that comment, she did blush. They had spent of most the lunch time yesterday under the aspen trees making out while the guests ate at the inn. Daniel had shown her a large hidden rocky area in a secluded place next to the stream. It had been cold, but they hadn’t noticed. She desperately hoped they hadn’t been spotted by any of the tourists.
“Me either,” she admitted.
“Do you want to eat today?”
“Probably should.”
“I brought some sandwiches.”
“You did not!”
“I did. Made them myself this morning.”
“I’m impressed.”
The man in the blue and red scarf looked in their direction, then got up to head to the bathroom. Again.
“Does that man seem a little strange to you?” she asked.
“I didn’t really notice.”
“You notice everything.”
“I’ve been a little distracted.”
Madison looked away, but couldn’t help smiling.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he said.
She nodded and watched him go. She was so incredibly fortunate. Daniel was not only handsome, but he was kind, intelligent, thoughtful. And she was so falling in love with him.
When the passengers started to murmur, she looked out the train window. It was snowing. She knew she would never get tired of looking at the snow falling in the mountains. It was one of the most serene things she could imagine.
The man with the blue and red scarf came back, sat in his seat, and shifted around, looking a little agitated.
“Sir, are you all right?” she asked him.
“I’m fine,” he said, tightening the scarf around his neck.
“If you’re feeling the elevation, it sometimes helps to sit back and close your eyes.”
Turning toward her, he pierced her with bottomless black eyes. “I’m not feeling the elevation.”
“Ok, great. Let me know if you need anything,” she said, backing away from him and looking away from that intense piercing gaze. Once again, she had a strong sense that something wasn’t right about him.
A passenger, a little boy from the next car over, walked between them. When she looked back, the man stood up, and brandished a pistol at her, then swung it around. At first no one seemed to notice that he had a gun. Then people began screaming.
Madison froze. She just stood there staring at the gun. Slowly she backed away until she was standing at the edge of the train car, against the windows.
The man waved the gun. “Shut up,” he demanded.
Madison slowly slid down until she was sitting on the floor, her gaze glued to the gun. The train slowed as it started the assent over the cliffs.
“What do you want?” a man, stood up and asked the gunman.
“I want you to shut the hell up!”
“Okay,” the man said, holding up his hands and sitting back down.
“Everyone just stay where you are and shut up.”
Madison kept her eyes closed - images of the gun and the man swirled in her mind.
As she lost all sense of what was going on - she blanked out into oblivion and lost consciousness.
When she came back to reality, Daniel was standing over her. “Madison, honey, look at me.”
She did look at him and focused on his face as she remembered the gunman. “There was a man....”
“It’s okay. A passenger from the next car came looking for his son, saw what was going on, and took him down.”
“Where is he?” she asked, trying to look past him.
“He’s unarmed and being watched.” He gently grasped her chin and turned her face to his. “Madison,” he said. “What happened? Did he hurt you?”
“No. I don’t know,” she said, and the tears started down her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she put her arms around his shoulders and buried her face against him as her body wracked with sobs. “I’m so sorry. I let you down.”
He stroked her back and cooed softly. “You did no such thing.”
Her crying slowed and she leaned against him, emotionally spent. “Please don’t fire me.”
“Madison, how can I fire you?” he asked. “I love you.”
He couldn’t help but tell her. The feelings had been bubbling up, overwhelming, inside of him. This was a different feeling from thinking she was adorable and gorgeous, even different from knowing that he wanted to marry her. This was a feeling of protection. He didn’t want anyone to hurt her - ever.
“You do?” she asked against his chest.
“Yes,” he said. “I do. I do. I love you.”
“And I love you.”
He held her so close, he couldn’t get her any closer.
“Do you need anything?” one of the passengers asked as they waited to disembark.
“No, we’ll be okay,” Daniel said. He knew he needed to get back to his passengers. But he couldn’t leave Madison. Not just yet.
This had something to do with her memory loss. His gut was certain about that.
“Madison,” he had to ask. “Do you remember anything?”
“The man. The gun. He shot her.”
“Madison, sweetheart, no one got shot.”
She looked at him, searching. Then leaned against him again, seeming to need him to hold herself together. “He didn’t shoot her?”
“No, baby. No one got shot.”
“Then?” Not finishing her question, she was quiet, holding onto him, her hands clutching his uniform.
“Are you okay now?” he asked, his voice against her ear.
She nodded against him.
“Okay, I’ve got to get back to the passengers.”
“I’ll help you.”
“No, you sit here,” he said, pulling her up with him and nudging her to the nearest seat.
By the time they reached the inn where they were stopping for lunch, turning around, and dropping off the gunman where he would be picked up by law enforcement, Madison had regained some sense of balance. Half a dozen passengers had come up to her to express their empathy at her reaction to the gunman. She knew it had to have something to do with her memory loss. Of course, she couldn’t tell them that. She could only apologize that she hadn’t been there for them. No one seemed to blame her.
Daniel, however, had been the most sympathetic to her.
She waited as the last of the passengers disembarked. Then Daniel was at her elbow. “I wonder what he wanted,” she mused.
“The gunman? Who knows. Sometimes people are just crazy.”
As they watched, the man was led off the train and placed on a helicopter.
“H
as anything like this ever happened before?”
“Not to my knowledge. Most people just want to ride the train and have a good time.”
“He must be a very lonely man.”
“A crazy man,” Daniel said.
“Do you think they’ll press charges?”
“He held a gun on my girl. You better know I’m going to press charges.”
“Your girl?”
“My girl and my train.”
“Your train?” She looked at him and considered what had been in the back of her mind for some time. “Daniel?” she asked. “Your train?”
He ran his hand along her hair, seemed to consider his response. “Yes,” he said softly. “My train.”
She looked at him quizzically, needing more information.
“Actually, it’s my family’s train, but I hold a large share.”
“Then that explains everything - the house - the hiring.”
“Does that change anything?” he asked, searching her eyes.
She shook her head. “How could it?”
“I don’t know. It could. I wasn’t up front with you.”
She smiled. “You didn’t tell me everything about yourself and I can’t tell you anything about me. Yet.... we still have these feelings.”
“These incredible, wonderful feelings.” he said. Then he kissed her.
She sank into the kiss, leaning in against him. When they kissed, she could not get enough.
Daniel backed onto a seat and pulled her into his lap. Then his lips were on her cheek, then her neck. Her body was alive and tingled all over.
“I want you so much,” he said into her ear.
“I want you, too,” she said. “Daniel, I might just explode.”
He laughed. “Not yet,” he said, “not until you know more about who you are and not until you’ve agreed to marry me.”
“You’re so difficult sometimes.”
“You have no idea how hard it is to resist you.”
“I might have some general idea if it’s anything like resisting you.”
“You’re much more irresistible,” he insisted.
It started to rain, quickly becoming loud and heavy on the roof.
“Do we have to go in?” Daniel asked, nibbling on her bottom lip.
“No,” she said, “never. We can stay this way forever.”
“And you would surely drive me insane.” He stood up, and held out his hand. “Come on. I’m hungry.”
“Always,” she said, groaning as he pulled her toward him.
“Tonight,” he promised. “Tonight, come out with me and meet my friends. Then go back to driving me crazy at your place.”
“Okay,” she would have agreed to absolutely anything at that moment.
Chapter Nine
“What are you drinking?”
“Just soda,” Madison said, for the third time in half an hour. She had to speak over the vintage eighties rock screaming from the overhead speakers. Duran Duran was the current artist.
Daniel hadn’t let go of her all night. When they sat at the table, he had moved from holding her hand to putting his arm around her to hold her close.
“Ok,” Adam said, “let me know if he drives you to something stronger,” he winked at his friend, Daniel.
“Don’t pay him any mind,” Randi said. “He’s just sore because Daniel found you without his help. He’s been trying to set him up for ages.”
“Where are you from?” Jerri asked.
“Houston,” Madison said, going with the story she’d been thinking through all afternoon.
“Really? Which part?”
“Near the Galleria,” Madison said, and winced inside. She had no idea where that came from.
“My aunt used to live there and I spent some time there visiting. Nice place.”
Oops. “It’s the best shopping.”
“I loved it. Mark won’t let me visit her anymore.”
“That’s too bad,” When she turned around, Madison turned and whispered in Daniel’s ear. “Would you tell me I couldn’t go shopping?” she asked.
“Are you kidding? I want you to go shopping. In fact, I’ll go with you if you like.”
Madison grinned and kissed his cheek. “Somehow I have trouble picturing you in a shopping mall.”
“That’s not nice,” he said.
“Okay, you two. Save that until later,” Adam said, sitting next to Daniel.
“What did you do in Houston?” Jerri asked, turning her attention back to Madison.
“Besides shopping?”
Jerri nodded.
“I worked for a large company.” Vague, but plausible.
Jerri nodded again. The music was overwhelmingly loud. “Nice,” she said.
Madison breathed a sigh of relief. So far, so good. She was believable. Unfortunately, that sigh of relief was breathed too soon.
“What made you come to Durango?”
Madison glanced at Daniel.
“Not what’s keeping you here,” Jerri said, with an exaggerated eye roll.
Madison laughed. “My family used to come here when I was growing up,” And that, she believed was about as close to the truth as she could probably concoct.
“So, you just came for a vacation.”
Madison nodded. “And I decided to stay for awhile.” More than likely true.
A slow song came on the speakers. “Dance with me,” Daniel said.
Madison knew he was just rescuing her, yet her heart tripped at the idea of dancing with this man she was falling in love with. He stood up, held his hand out to hers.
Out on the crowded dance floor, Daniel pulled her to him and swayed gently. “What do you think about the eighties music?” he asked.
“It’s my favorite,” she said, against his ear.
“Good,” he said, “mine, too.”
“Your friends seem nice,”
“They like you.”
“I hope so.”
They were silent for a bit, just enjoying the closeness, the music - the intimacy. I could so get used to this. She allowed herself, just for a moment, to imagine that it could happen. That she could stay here in this life - with this man. Grow old with him. The idea was seductive - pulling her in.
“Have you had any new memories?” Daniel asked, pulling her out of her fantasy. “Or was that just a good cover story?”
She was annoyed that he had destroyed her fantasy and so abruptly brought her back to reality - a reality she didn’t want intruding on the moment. “You believed me?” she asked.
“It sounded believable,” he said.
“Good enough,” she said.
He stood still. Nudged her back so he could see her face. “When did that become good enough?” he asked. “Madison, what’s going on?”
She shook her head. “This charade is too much, Daniel. I’m pretending that my life is normal, but it isn’t.”
“Madison,” he said, looking intently into her eyes. “Just because you can’t remember your past doesn’t mean your life isn’t normal. If you’re happy.... Madison, are you happy?”
“Yes,” she said, looking away from him.
“If you’re happy, then your life is better than normal. Who cares how you got here? All I care about is that you are here in my life. That I love you and you love me. You don’t need a back story to tell my friends. If you want to, we can go tell them the truth right now. But they don’t care. They’d find it interesting, sure, but all that really matters is that we love each other. That’s what’s important.”
She looked back at him. “You’re right.”
He pulled her close, held her tight. The song changed. People came and went all around them. They didn’t move.
“Madison,” he said, “no matter what happens, no matter what you find out, I want you in my life.”
She pulled back, looked into his eyes. “Why are you saying this? Do you know something?”
“No, but I think maybe you do. And you aren’t ready
to tell me yet. Maybe you aren’t even ready to tell yourself. Just don’t ever forget about us. Promise me, Madison.”
“I could never forget about you.”
“We don’t know what the future holds. You forgot someone. I can guarantee that. And I don’t want to be another someone that you no longer remember. If you’ll promise me you’ll do whatever it takes to remember us, then I’ll believe you.”
She swallowed hard. Daniel was right. She had forgotten a lot of people. Maybe she was even married. It occurred to her in that moment, that was very likely one of the reasons Daniel insisted that they wait before moving their relationship beyond anything more than kissing. If she was married, at least they would know that they hadn’t made love. But wasn’t an affair of the heart worse than anything sexual? Especially since they were anything but platonic. Those kisses were sooo seductive. She didn’t know if she could manage without them. Not now. Not now that she knew.
This thing with Daniel, however, was deeper, more true, than anything else. He was right. She had to remember. She had to do whatever was in her power to make sure she remembered him - that she remembered them.
“I promise,” she whispered.
Chapter Ten
Daniel stood under the eve of the depot and looked out toward the train. He was thankful that it was winter. Thankful that there was only one train each day. It was his habit to spend one day of each week on one of the other trains just to make sure everything was running smoothly. He, however, did not want Madison to travel without him. Especially after what had happened with the gunman just yesterday.
She was vulnerable. And the scary thing was she didn’t know just how vulnerable she was.
Though passengers were trickling in, he was tempted to cancel today’s run. The rain was too intense. It was probably snowing in the high country and no one liked to be stranded up there. Even though, he thought fondly, he had enjoyed it quite a bit the last time he had been stranded at the inn.
At the least, he assured himself, bringing himself back to reality, he would wait until the scout car came back with the cleared go-ahead. If they left late, then so be it.
Pretend You'll Stay (Winter Kisses Book 2) Page 12