Jace (and Berni, watching) gasped. “Now she stands up for herself,” Berni muttered in disbelief.
“You can’t stay here in this storm. These shacks are about to fall down.”
“What does it matter to you?” Nellie yelled at him. “I am nothing to you.”
Jace was across the porch in seconds, his face furious as he grabbed her shoulders. “You could have been everything to me, but you chose your family over me.”
“I am not a dog, Mr. Montgomery, to follow you blindly. I love my family, and of course I’d believe them over you. Wouldn’t you believe your family over a stranger?”
“I’m not a stranger. I’m—” He broke off.
“You’re what?”
“Nothing,” he said, and he dropped his hands and took a step backward. “You have to return with me.”
“I most certainly do not. I am an adult. I got out here by myself, and I can return without your help.”
“I guess you can at that,” Jace said, his face hard. “Good day, Miss Grayson. Perhaps we’ll meet again.” He turned and started to walk away.
“Freeze!” Berni shouted, and the picture did freeze, Nellie at one end of the porch and Jace at the other, his back to her. “I have never seen two more hard-headed people in my life,” she muttered. “I know the course of true love is never supposed to be smooth, but this is ridiculous. Now let me think.”
She looked at the two of them under the porch, the rain pelting down, then smiled. “What are the sexiest words in a romance novel?” She deepened her voice. “ ‘We’d better get you out of those wet things. It looks like we’re gonna be here all night.’ ”
Berni grinned, then snapped her fingers. A huge bowl of butter-dripping popcorn appeared. She leaned back in her chair. “Go to it, kids. You’re on your own. If you can’t handle it by yourselves from here on, you don’t deserve a happy ending.”
Chapter Twelve
Jace turned back at Nellie’s scream. The end of the porch where she’d been standing was gone. It had collapsed under the weight of the rain, and Nellie was nowhere to be seen. He covered the distance to the end of the porch in two strides and saw Nellie floundering about in a deep pool of water. He didn’t think about what he did but jumped in after her.
“Nellie, are you all right?”
“Yes,” she yelled back, gulping water and clinging to him.
The pool was deep but not very big, so he was able to pull her to the side in just a few strokes. He grabbed her waist and, finding a toehold, pushed her up to the safety of the muddy street.
“Let’s get out of here,” he shouted when he was out of the pool. Rain was beating him in the face. He put his arm around her protectively, and they began to run to the old stables where her buggy and his horse were tied. But just as they reached the building a brilliant flash of lightning lit the sky and thunder cracked over their heads. Jace’s horse reared, Nellie’s horse reared, and both horses broke away from where they were tied. Jace pulled Nellie to him as the two horses ran past them into the rain.
Jace stood for a moment staring after the horses. He knew he had not only tied his horse but shut and bolted the stable door. The door hadn’t looked rotten enough that the horse could have broken it so easily.
A shiver from Nellie made him turn his attention to her. With his arm still around her he led her down the street to a dilapidated old house that was failing in on one side, but he could see a chimney, and he hoped the fireplace was still working.
There was firewood stacked inside the house, and after checking to see that the flue was clear he built a fire, blowing on a little pile of dried sticks and paper. It was some time before he had the fire going and he turned to look at Nellie. He knew he was wet and cold, but Nellie’s lips were blue.
“Do you have anything else to put on?” he asked. “Is there something in the buggy?”
“I…I don’t know,” Nellie said, teeth chattering. “It’s Aunt Berni’s buggy.”
“I’ll go see.” He went outside into the rain, ran to the half-rotted stables, and searched the carriage. He found a small lap robe and the picnic basket. Bending over to protect them from the rain, he ran back to the house. Nellie was shivering even harder. He knelt and threw more wood on the fire, then opened the basket and withdrew the tablecloth.
“It doesn’t look like there’s a chance of this rain letting up, and I can’t find the horses until morning.” He looked up at her. “Maybe you’d better get out of those wet clothes. You can wrap this around you.”
Silently Nellie took the tablecloth and walked to the far side of the room. Her hands were so cold she had trouble unfastening the buttons of her dress. She kept glancing at him, at his broad back as he knelt before the fire. She didn’t, understand why she’d been so angry at him earlier, but she hated his insinuation that she was interested in him for his money. The last thing she cared about was his money. If she had’ realized that he loved her, she would have lived with him in the worst hovel in America.
When she was down to her chemise and knickers she hesitated to remove them, but they were cold and clammy next to her skin. She looked at Jace and her hands began to tremble even more, but this time not from the cold. With shaking fingers she removed all of her clothing and wrapped the tablecloth about her bare body. She unpinned her hair and shook the wet mass about her shoulders.
She walked back to the fire and stopped a little behind Jace. “You look cold, too,” she said softly.
“I’m all right,” he answered, and there was hostility in his voice.