Between Strangers by Linda Conrad Page B

in her mind. What had gone so wrong that he suddenly needed to work hard? It also seemed their walk had taken too long. Had he become blinded by the swirling snow? She’d read of such things happening, and the thought of it produced nightmare images in her head.
    â€œWe’ve arrived,” Lance announced right at that moment. “I’ll just carry you up onto the front porch before I set you down. It’s covered and fairly dry. Then I’ll go retrieve the keys and let you two inside.”
    She felt him climbing what must have been the stairs. When he gently lowered her to her feet, she peeked out from the blanket.
    â€œStay here,” he thundered. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
    As he disappeared, Marcy tightened her grip around the baby. Angie had fallen fast asleep against her shoulder and now lay there like a heavy lump of mashed potatoes.
    Marcy checked their surroundings. They were standing before a wide door, underneath an overhanging cover that dipped low toward the ground on the front side. A light next to the door illuminated the porch, or it might have been as dark as a cave. Bobby and Vicki must have their outside lights on a timer.
    Without the warmth of Lance’s chest, the cold began to seep right into her veins. She stomped her feet in an effort to stave off the icy sensations creeping steadily inside her clothes and beginning to numb the lower half of her body.
    Moving closer to the door in a fight to get out of the wind and stay a little warmer, she hoped thatLance would hurry back. And she tried to bury the fear that coming here was a big mistake.
    Meanwhile, Lance was fighting with the combination lock on the storage building attached to the side of the house. The temperature had all of a sudden dropped dangerously low, and his fingers refused to work properly. He knew the cold meant that the snowfall would probably slow soon. But then in short order the wind would drive what was on the ground into huge drifts covering everything over with a blinding haze of white.
    He needed to pick up the keys and get back to Marcy and the baby fast.
    At last the lock clicked open, and Lance didn’t waste a second reaching inside for the house keys that he knew were hanging on a nail just inside the door. Once he had them, he jammed the lock shut and headed back to the front porch.
    When he first rounded the corner of the house, he didn’t see the two females. Oh, man. Marcy hadn’t stepped out into this whirl of snow, had she? He set his jaw and prepared for the worst.
    â€œMarcy,” he called over the roar of the wind. “Where are you?”
    When he heard a muffled noise coming from a darkened alcove on the porch, his heart started up again. Closing the distance between them in two hefty strides, he wrapped his arms around both of them and began moving toward the front door. The key went smoothly into the lock and the door thankfully swung open with little trouble.
    â€œLet’s get you two inside and warm,” he said with a gruff voice.
    After shuttling them inside and slamming the outer door behind him, Lance flipped on a light and moved the whole group forward into the great room. “You stand in here a second, but don’t take off your coats until I have a chance to turn up the thermostat.”
    He unwrapped the blanket from around their heads and let it drop to the floor. Most of the accumulation of snow had already dropped off it onto the porch. As Marcy’s face came into view, his breath caught in his chest. The tip of her nose was pink, which he hoped was actually a good sign. But her eyes were glazed and her cheeks were the palest color of white he’d ever seen on a human.
    Not sure what to do for her first, he felt conflicted. But he had to do something—and fast.
    â€œDon’t try to move,” he croaked. “Wait.”
    Lance never moved so fast in his life. In seconds he had pushed up the heat. He blessed