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He got the truck door open and half boosted, half pushed her up onto the seat. She sprawled across it, dripping water.
The horse nudged him. If the animal hadn’t been so close he would have left it behind, but a lifetime of taking care of his livestock prompted him to tie the reins to the rear bumper. He wouldn’t be able to drive so fast that the horse couldn’t easily keep pace, even though every instinct screamed that he had to get to the house and get both of them warm.
He pulled himself onto the seat behind the steering wheel and turned on the ignition, then struggled to slide the knob that turned the heater on high. Hot air poured out of the vents, but he was too numb to feel it.
They had to get out of their clothes. The icy wetness was just leaching more heat away from their bodies. He began fighting out of his coat as he barked orders at Madelyn to do the same.
She managed to sit up somehow, but she had almost no coordination. She had been in the water even longer than he had. He didn’t have an easy time of it, but by the time he was naked she was weakly pushing her heavy shearling coat onto the floorboard. Ice crystals had already caked it.
He reached for her buttons. “Come on, sweetheart, we have to get you naked. The clothes will just make you that much colder. Can you talk to me? Say something, Maddie. Talk to me.”
She slowly lifted one hand, with all the fingers folded down except the middle one. He looked at the obscene, or suggestive, gesture—it all depended on how he took it—and despite the gravity of the situation a rough laugh burst from his throat. “I’ll take you up on that, sweetheart, just as soon as we get warm.” A sparkle came into her eyes, giving him hope.
His teeth began chattering, and convulsive shudders racked him. Maddie wasn’t shivering, and that was a bad sign. There were always a blanket and a thermos of coffee in the truck when he went out in the winter, and he pulled the blanket out from behind the seat. Even the simplest movement was a battle requiring all his strength, but he finally got it out and roughly dried them with it as best he could, then wrapped it around her.
With shaking hands he opened the thermos and poured a small amount of steaming coffee into the top, then held it to her lips. “Drink, baby. It’s nice and hot.”
She managed to swallow a little of it, and he drank the rest himself, then poured more into the cup. He could feel it burning down into his stomach. If he didn’t get himself into shape to drive to the ranch, neither one of them would make it. He fought the shaking of his hands until he had downed the entire cup, then poured more and coaxed Madelyn into taking it. That was all he could do for now. He focused his attention and put the truck in gear.
It was slow going. He was shaking so hard that his body wouldn’t obey. He was a little disoriented, sometimes unable to tell where they were. Beside him, Madelyn finally began shivering as the heat blasting from the vents combined with the coffee to revive her a little.
The house had never looked so good to him as it did when it finally came into view and he nursed the truck across the rough ground toward it. He parked as close to the back door as possible and walked naked around the truck to haul Madelyn out the passenger door. He couldn’t feel the snow under his bare feet.
She could walk a little now, and that helped. With their arms around each other they half crawled up the steps to the porch, then into the utility room. The downstairs bathroom was directly across from the utility room; he dragged Madelyn into it and propped her against the wall while he turned on the water in the tub to let it get hot. When steam began rising he turned the cold water tap and hoped he adjusted it right, or they would be scalded. His hands were so cold he simply couldn’t tell.
“Come on, into the tub.”
She struggled to her knees, and Reese pulled her up the rest of the way, but in the end it was simpler for both of them to literally crawl over the edge of the tub into the rising water. She sat in front of him and between his legs, lying back against his chest. Tears ran down her face as the warm water lapped against her cold flesh, bringing it painfully back to life. Reese let his head tilt back until it rested on the wall, his teeth gritted. They had to endure it because it was necessary; they didn’t have anyone else here to take care of them. This was the fastest way to get warm, but it wasn’t pleasant.
Slowly the pain in their extremities eased. When the water was so high that it was lapping out the overflow drain, he turned off the tap and sank deeper until his shoulders were covered. Madelyn’s hair floated on the surface like wet gold.
He tightened his arms around her, trying to absorb her shivering into him.
“Better?”
“Yes.” Her voice was low and even huskier than usual. “That was close.”
He turned her in his arms and hugged her to him with barely controlled desperation. “I was planning to keep that bull for breeding,” he said tightly, “but the sonofabitch is going to be a steer now—if he lives through this.”
She managed a laugh, her lips moving against his throat. The water lapped her chin. “Don’t ever get rid of that horse. He saved our bacon.”
“I’ll give him the biggest stall for the rest of his life.”
They lay in the water until it began to cool; then he pulled the plug and urged her to her feet. She was still looking sleepy, so he held her to him while he closed the shower curtain and turned on the shower, letting the water beat down on their heads. She just stood in his arms with her head on his chest, the way she had stood so many times, but this time was infinitely precious. This time they had cheated death.
The water rained over them. He turned her face up and took her mouth, needing her taste, her touch, to reassure himself that they were really okay. He had come incredibly close to losing her, even closer than he had come to dying himself.
When the hot water began to go he snapped off the tap and reached for towels, wrapping one around her dripping hair and using another to dry her. Though her lips and nails had color now, she was still shivering a little, and he supported her as she stepped carefully from the tub. He took another towel and began rubbing his own head, all the while watching every move she made.
Madelyn felt warm, but incredibly lethargic. She had no more energy than if she had been recovering from a monster case of the flu. More than anything she wanted to lie down in front of the fire and sleep for a week, but she knew enough about hypothermia to be afraid to. She sat on the toilet seat and watched him towel dry, focusing on the magnificent strength made more evident by his nakedness. He gave her a reason to fight her lethargy now, just as he had when she had been on the bottom of the pond.
He cupped her face, making certain she was paying attention. “Don’t go to sleep,” he warned. “Stay in here where it’s hot while I go upstairs to get your robe. Okay?”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“I won’t be but a minute.”
She managed a smile, just to reassure him. “Bring my brush and comb, too.”
