Winter's Torment Read Online Free Page A

together a search party. That storm out there isn’t going to let up anytime soon. By the looks of it, it’s going to snow all night, and if it does it’s going to drop at least a foot of snow. If the wind kicks up, we’re gonna have a good old-fashioned blizzard and whiteout on our hands.”
    Henry quickly doused the flames in the firebox, moved his hot tools to the cooling tub filled with water, then quickly grabbed his hat and coat, hanging on a hook by the door. The thought that Winter could be out there in the snowstorm alone concerned him greatly. He couldn’t say that he knew her well, but he did admit to himself that he already cared about her. She had a vulnerability about her that tugged at his heart. She had had a tough time of it, and he wanted to be the one that helped her learn how to live again, to laugh again, and to love again.
    He dearly wanted a family, a mate for life, but he was also a patient man, willing to give Winter the time she needed to deal with her past, her present, and most especially her future. He hadn’t really minded sleeping in the barn last night. In fact, he had put himself in her shoes and realized that it was the only logical thing they could have done. If they weren’t ready to share the same roof, let alone the same bed, he had planned to give her a few days, no pressure, spending the time instead to get to know each other.
    With winter coming on, he was usually busy at the blacksmith shop, putting new rims on wagon wheels, shoeing horses, repairing tackle and wagon traces, among other things. Soon he would also be out in the fields stacking bales of hay for his cattle in strategic locations. He had built several lean-tos scattered throughout his property to offer them shelter from some of the worst of the winter winds that would soon sweep over the prairie.
    Still, for someone used to city living and most likely staying indoors when the weather was inclement, Winter would probably be frightened. Being from Maine, it was certain that she had experienced her share of winter storms, and probably more than her share of what they called nor’easters back there, but from inside a warm and cozy house. He doubted that she had ever been surrounded by hundreds of miles of prairie, unsure of where to find shelter, or how. The fact that the horse had arrived in town without her gave him great cause for concern.
    “I’ll meet you at the edge of town,” he told William, already hurrying outside the blacksmith shop to hitch up his wagon. “I’ll get my mare saddled.”
    “I’ll go home and grab blankets, water, and food for William to stow in the wagon,” Sarah said.
    So it was that together, they all busied themselves with one task on their mind.
    Find Winter. The sooner the better.

Scene 6
    Winter huddled in a cluster of bushes, shivering and stiff with the cold. She wished now that she had never left the security of Henry’s ranch, but how was she to know that an overcast day would turn into what turned out to be quite a severe snowstorm? She wrapped her heavy sweater tightly around her, but it did little to keep out the cold blasts of wind. Her bonnet kept some of the driven snow out of her face, but soon it was saturated.
    She sat with her back pressed into the bushes, her knees pressed close to her chest, her arms wrapped around her knees. She tried to make herself into a tiny ball, keeping her back to the wind.
    She knew that Henry had no idea that she had left the ranch, nor did she know how long he would remain in town. How would he know to look for her? Or where? The snow was four inches deep already, and in the span of an hour the tracks of her mare had been completely obliterated.
    She had hesitated to move too far in any one direction, and then the horse had suddenly lost her balance, perhaps stepping into prairie dog hole or perhaps it was a slip as her hoof slid off a rock covered with snow. Winter had nearly fallen off, and only by tightly grasping her knees and