Page 54 of Stubborn as a Shadow

He froze. Stunned. The towel dropped to the floor with a muted thud.

“Oh Magic! I am so sorry.” I crouched down to scoop up the disgusting thing. I wadded it up in my hand and hid it behind my back. Gah. Why was I acting like this? I swore my mane was all in tangles around him right now.

“I’m sorry, I thought this was a bedroom…” Nelson backed away slowly. “I just wanted to grab a blanket.”

I laughed as I followed him out of the bathroom. Bubbles danced around my head. I sounded hysterical, but I needed to take his mind off being hit in the face with my spit towel. “It sure is cozy in here, hey?”

Cozy was the polite way of saying amazingly tiny, right?

Then he glanced around the main room again. His gaze bounced from corner to corner. When his gaze returned to me, he was frowning. “There isn’t a bedroom, is there? I didn’t think the place was that small. We should…” He eyed the door.

Seeing such an unexpected opportunity to leave this whole moment behind, I sprang into action. “Yes, yes…”

My borrowed slippers slapped against the floor as I skipped to the door and flung it open. The wind and snow howled around me, but I didn’t stop. I plunged into the great outdoors. One step. Two steps.

Then my foot kept going without my permission. Whoosh. I was down. Snow flew up all around me.

That had not been part of my plan.

I scrambled to sit up. My hands were covered in snow. My legs were covered in snow. My whole body was covered in snow.

Cold, wet, melting?—

Oh!

Mother Magic was listening to me! She’d answered my unvoiced wish by giving me the opportunity for a freezing snow bath. How… um…kindof her. I scooped up a handful of snow and scrubbed it over my face.

Ouch… That nipped.

I’m sure I saw a documentary about people doing snow spas, bathing in the white stuff shrank pores or something. At the time, I just kept thinking about how that wouldn’t be the only thing shrinking. But no one in the show had minded, probably since there was a hot tub close by.

I wished we had a hot tub too.

“Morgan! Are you okay?” Nelson kneeled beside me.

I blinked at him as I wiped the last bit of snow off my face.

“What are you doing?” His forehead was all furrowed with worry as his gaze swept over me from head to toe. The corners of his mouth dipped down too.

I held out a fistful of snow to him. “Did you want to try it? It’s quite refreshing.”

He blinked at my hand. “Uh. No. Let’s go back inside. You must be frozen. What were you thinking?” He hauled me to my feet, which continued to slip over the ice and snow. He grabbed me around the waist and held me up. Oh. This was fun. I was beginning to really like how he manhandled me. “Let’s go before too much snow gets inside.”

“Right. Sorry.”

He hauled me into the cabin and kicked the door shut behind us.

“The fire is nice and flame-y,” I said as my teeth chattered. “It’s already so toasty warm. You did a superb job!”

It was a bit of an exaggeration—the fire hadn’t warmed the room much at all yet. Of course, it probably hadn’t helped that I’d opened the door to the blizzard—but Nelson seemed like the kind who would benefit from a bit of praise.

He disappeared into the bathroom without acknowledging what I’d said. I could hear him opening doors and drawers. A minute later, he came out with a fresh towel. “Here. You should dry off. It’ll be easier to warm up if you aren’t covered in melting snow.”

As I accepted the towel, a full body shiver rolled over me.

“Come on,” he said, guiding me gently toward the fire.

He really was the sweetest. I grinned up at him. This situation was coming together brilliantly.