He didn’t speak for a long moment. Instead, quietly, gently, he stroked her hair as he dragged in several deep breaths.
Kate’s heart pounded wildly in her chest. She longed to look at him, to gaze into his eyes again. She was puzzled by the intensity she’d seen there. Fear, yes, doubt and anger, too, but there was something more, something deeper that she didn’t recognize.
She longed to tell him she loved him, just the way he claimed she did, but the thought didn’t make it to her lips. Love was a strange, unpredictable emotion, so painful and difficult. Her eyes held his and she tried to smile, but her mouth wouldn’t cooperate.
Her fingertips mapped out the lines of his face, as she strove to reassure him with her touch when her words couldn’t. He captured her wrist and brought her palm to his lips.
She’d just opened her mouth to speak, when Bill Schmidt came crashing into the room. “Rorie Franklin will be over as soon as she can.”
“Thanks, Bill,” Luke said without looking away from Kate.
“Uh, I’ll be leaving now, if you don’t need me.”
“Fine. Thanks again for your help.”
“No problem. Glad you’re all right, Kate.” He touched his hat and then was gone.
“Someone should help you out of those clothes,” Luke said, half smiling, “and I don’t think I should be the one to do it.”
“I’m fine. I can undress myself.”
Luke didn’t seem inclined to challenge her statement. She floated toward the bathroom door and ushered him out, then shut it softly.
Once she started undressing, she discovered that Luke hadn’t been too far wrong when he’d suggested she needed help. By the time she sank into the warm water, she was shivering, exhausted and intensely cold again. But the water felt wonderful, although it stung her tender skin. When the prickling sensation left her, she was almost overwhelmed by the sensation of comfort. She sighed deeply, closed her eyes and lay back in the tepid water.
“Kate,” Luke called from the other side of the door, “are you okay in there?”
“I’m fine.”
“Do you need anything?”
“No,” she assured him.
A sudden thought made her bolt upright, gasping. Luke could have died searching for me. She closed her eyes and whispered a prayer of thanks that the events of this traumatic afternoon had turned out as they had.
She must have sobbed because Luke called out, “What’s wrong? It sounds like you’re crying.”
“You…could have died trying to find me.”
“I didn’t.”
“I know,” she said hoarsely, biting her lip. “I’m glad. I wouldn’t want you to die.”
“That’s encouraging,” he answered with a soft laugh.
Dressed in her flannel pyjamas and long robe, her hair hanging wetly against her shoulders, Kate let herself out of the bathroom. She looked like something the cat had proudly dragged onto the porch, but at least she felt better. A thousand times better.
Luke was sitting in the kitchen, nursing a shot glass of whiskey. Kate had very rarely seen Luke drink straight liquor.
“I blame myself,” he muttered. “I knew about the storm and didn’t warn you.”
“Warn me? That wouldn’t have made any difference. I would’ve gone into town anyway. I had to be there before noon if I was going to get the apartment. You couldn’t have stopped me, Luke. You know that.”
Luke shook his head grimly. “What I can’t understand is why moving away from here is so all-fired important that you’d risk your fool neck to do it.”
“Mrs. Jackson said she’d have to give the apartment to someone else if I wasn’t there.”
“She wouldn’t have understood if you’d phoned? You had to go look at it in a blizzard?” He urged her into a chair and poured a cup of hot coffee, adding a liberal dose of whiskey before handing her the cup.
“I already told you I couldn’t wait. Besides, it wasn’t snowing when I drove there,” Kate said patiently. “Please don’t be angry, Luke.” She reached for his hand, needing to touch him.
He clutched her fingers with his own. “Kate, if anything should convince you we ought to get married, this is it. You need me, Princess, can’t you see that?” He released her hand to brush the damp curls from her forehead. “How many times do I have to tell you that before you’ll believe it?”
“Oh, Luke,” she moaned, feeling close to tears.