The silence grew until it pressed out against the walls of the kitchen. Liam started to be afraid it would blow the whole house apart. Then where would they be? They’d have no choice but to sit together in his truck. Which was even smaller than the house.
“Mina—”
“The reason I’m—like this…” She gestured at her face. “The reason I don’t seem cool about this, maybe, is what I’m trying to say—”
“What is it?”
She held the mug even tighter in her hands. “I was going to use that sample to get pregnant.”
Sweet, sweet relief moved through him like a wind off the mountains. Visions flashed into his mind. Mina, her belly round and beautiful, the baby inside his child. The way her cheeks would flush as she glowed from the pregnancy. A little baby, cradled in her arms…and then his arms. And all of it starting the old-fashioned way, with Liam braced above her in the bed, looking down into her satisfied eyes as she traced a path along his chest with one fingertip…
Woah. No. That was way too much. He had no right to be happy about what she’d just said. No right to imagine it going any way. But he couldn’t stop his mind from going along down that path. His heart ran free with all those visions like a horse set loose in the pasture. Would it really be so bad, if Mina were pregnant with his child? He didn’t think so.
“I’m going to go outside. I need some fresh air.”
He watched her get up from the table as if there wasn’t a storm raging outside. Instead, he stood and took the mugs to the sink, tipping them in one by one. It didn’t take long. When he’d rinsed them both out, he followed her into the main room. Mina stood at the open door, looking out into a pure white wall of snow. Unblinking.
“I forgot it was storming,” she said, the wind wrapping around her voice and tossing it back into the cabin.
“Happens to the best of us.” He went to the door and reached over her. But just when he was about to shut it, something caught his eye out in the swirling snow. Liam squinted. Then he reached for his coat, shrugging it on at top speed and stepping into his boots. “You stay here,” he told Mina. “I’ll be right back.”
“What is it?” The last part of her question was stolen away on the wind.
Five steps from the house, Liam plunged into a deep swell of snow. It was coming down fast, spurred on by heavy winds. This was nothing to mess around with. People could get disoriented in storms like this and never find their way back. For a series of moments, he heard nothing but his own breath and the howl of the wind. Maybe he hadn’t seen anything. Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him in an attempt to get him out of an uncomfortable conversation. Liam lifted his boot to take one step over a ridge of snow, then put his foot down where it had been.
A puppy shivered in the snow, curling around itself in an attempt to keep warm. The poor thing shook and quaked. Liam’s hands felt frozen through to the point of pain, and he’d only been outside for a few minutes. He scooped the puppy up in his arms and turned around. Relief coursed through him, electric in its strength. He could still see the house. The light was dimmed by the snow, but it was still visible. He hadn’t gone so far off track that he couldn’t get home.
He pushed back through the wind. Tiny shards of ice slammed themselves against his face. His eyelashes froze. He couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that so little time had passed. Cold was a worthy adversary, and add in the snow? The dog had been very, very lucky.
The door to his cabin opened wide as he came the last few feet and tumbled back into the heat. Mina’s eyes flashed with concern. “What happened? What did you see out there? Was it my car?”
“Not your car.” He opened his arms and showed her the puppy. It was small and thin and cold most of all. “I’ve got to warm him up. Could you grab a can of hash from the cupboard and put it in a bowl?”
They both broke away at the same time from the moment of awe that the dog had survived. Energy surged through Liam. He hadn’t felt this rush of teamwork for a long time. He was a solo man out on the circuit, and his focus made him different from his competitors. He liked to party, sure. Could always be found at the bar for a round after the day was done. But while Liam made it a regular habit of finding the most beautiful girl in the bar, he kept it to once every couple of weeks. The rest of the time, he spent practicing.
He kicked off his boots and moved to the bedroom. Liam pulled open the linen closet with one hand and yanked out a handful of towels. He threw one onto the bed and lowered the puppy down into the little nest. Then he used two others to rub him dry. The puppy’s muscles relaxed under his hands, and the sniffs from his snout got louder and steadier with each passing moment. Liam kept rubbing. The poor thing had been outside for who knew how long, and the cold had gone straight to his bones. But Liam wasn’t going to accept that. He rubbed and rubbed and rubbed, and finally the puppy stood up and shook. He bent his nose to Liam’s hand and sniffed him out. Then he gave a short little bark, like a greeting.
“That’s better,” Liam told him, taking the ball of fur back into his arms. “What were you doing out there, man? It was freezing. That could have turned out terribly.”
Mina waited for him in the living room with the bowl full of hash, an empty bowl, and a bottle of water. He’d forgotten about it in the rush to get the puppy warm. The three of them settled wordlessly in front of the fireplace. Mina put the bowl down and the puppy dashed over, digging in as if it was his first meal in a long time. For all they knew, it probably was. She emptied the water bottle into the other bowl. They watched as the puppy ate and ate, then switched to lapping up water. Liam reached out to stroke the puppy’s back. Soft fur. New. “I wonder if he was abandoned,” he said quietly. “It happens out here sometimes.”
“I don’t know who would abandon a dog in weather like this.”
“Could be they let him loose when there was no snow on the ground. You know—like four hours ago.” Mina laughed, and he was seized with the desire to be the only one to make her laugh and make her laugh frequently. Every day. Every hour.
“Have you ever seen him before? Roaming around?” Mina kept her eyes focused on the puppy.
“No,” Liam told her. “I don’t have the faintest clue where he might have come from. It’s not the breed my brother has on the ranch. But I can ask him when the snow lets up.”
Mina blushed. When the snow lets up. He had no idea when the storm would be over, but until then, they’d be in the cottage together. With his sperm acting as the elephant in the room. Ironic.
“What are you going to name him?” she asked after a while.
“Lucky,” he answered instantly. “Because he was lucky you opened the door when you did.”
5
Mina had really put her foot in her mouth this time. Seriously? That was how she’d popped the question? By blurting it out over hot chocolate? She was so embarrassed that her mortification could have heated the whole cottage. That schnapps had gotten the better of her. Good thing she was a total lightweight, if a dash of schnapps could make her so bold.
She kept her attention on Lucky, the new puppy. Be thankful, she thought. And for a few minutes, she let herself float on that gratefulness. It was a horrible thought—that someone might abandon a little puppy like Lucky. But in the end, she’d opened the door at just the right moment. With the storm the way it was, and heavy wind, they might not have heard him even if he came up to the door and scratched.