After such cataclysmic lovemaking, Abigail had no interest in leaving this room. Ever. Evidently Luke didn’t want to, either. He’d disposed of the condom and climbed right back in bed to cuddle with her.

She gazed into his eyes and smiled at the gleam of satisfaction there. “You look happy.”

“I am. You look happy, too.”

“I absolutely am. But do you think you should check the weather?”

“No.” He leaned down to nuzzle her earlobe. “I don’t really care what—” He paused to listen as a muted chorus of Going to the Chapel drifted in from the living room. “Oops. My bad. Should have anticipated that. Probably woke up the dog, too.” With a sigh, he climbed out of bed, put on his boxers and left the room.

Abigail got up and grabbed her robe from the closet. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who was trying to reach him. When she walked into the living room, he was in the process of returning the call. Delilah sat gazing up at him in adoration, her tail thumping the carpet.

He put the phone to his ear. “Hi, Mom! No, I’m not home, but I’m safe and warm, so no worries.” He walked to the window and rubbed his fist over it to clear the condensation. Delilah followed.

“Yes, ma’am, she’s sitting right here beside me, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. We sure did get a ton of snow, didn’t we?” He motioned Abigail over and stepped back from the window. “Wow. That must be a record or something.”

She walked to the window and stood on tiptoe to see through the circle he’d created. While she’d been cavorting with him in the bedroom, Mother Nature had dumped a mountain of snow on Eagles Nest. A symmetrical lump near the building had to be the cab of Luke’s truck. He wouldn’t be driving it tonight.

She stepped away from the window and glanced at Luke, eyebrows raised.

Giving her a quick shrug, he continued to talk to his mother about the weather. “Really? The Interstate, too? Good thing we’re not out in it, right?” He paused for a moment and cleared his throat. “Well, it turns out I’m camped in Abigail’s apartment. We brought some paperwork up here and…” He rolled his eyes. “I’m not surprised that you’re not surprised.”

He ducked his head and scuffed the carpet with his bare foot. “My truck’s nearly buried. What’s the routine around here? Does a snow plow come through?” He nodded. “Okay. I’ll go out there first thing. Listen, don’t let Dad shovel in the morning. I’ll be over early. I’ll either fix the snow blower or use the shovel. I—hi, Dad.” He glanced at her and winked.

Well, good. Evidently he was fine with his parents knowing that he’d be spending the night with her and all that implied.

“Yes, sir, I know you’re perfectly capable of shoveling, but you need to be fresh as a daisy to give your sermon, right? Promise you’ll wait for me. Great. Love you both, too. I will. See you tomorrow.” He disconnected. “My folks say hello.”

“That’s nice. And it’s sweet that they called to check on you.”

“Yeah, it is. My mom drives me crazy sometimes. And I love her with all my heart.”

“I know you do.” She stroked his lightly furred chest. “You have a really big heart, too, so that’s a lot of love. You…what are you grinning about?”

“Delilah’s sitting on my foot.”

She glanced down. Sure enough, the dog’s rump rested squarely on Luke’s bare foot. Delilah looked up, her tongue lolling out in a doggie grin. “Does she do that for a reason?”

“To get my attention. She wants me to play with her.”

“I’m fresh out of dog toys, but I—hang on, I have just the thing. I’ll be right back.” She started down the hall.

“I’ll go with you.” He followed her and so did his dog. “If you and I aren’t headed back to your warm bed, I need my jeans and shirt.”

“I could turn up the heat.”

“That’s silly.”

“Not to me. I like the way you’re dressed.”

“Glad to hear it. But there’s no point in jacking up the thermostat. After I play with Delilah for a while, she’ll be ready to pack it in for the night. Me, too, in fact.”

“You don’t want to tackle more of the receipts?”

“Nope. In fact, how would you feel about spreading the job over several evenings?”

Yes. “You wouldn’t want to drive home every night, I suppose.”

“Wouldn’t be practical. We might work late.”

“Uh…I get up at three.”

“So we wouldn’t work late. But you never know when a storm might come up. Better to figure on staying.”

She laughed. “Absolutely. You’d need to bring Delilah.”

“I would.”

“You might want to bring her food and her dishes.”

“Definitely.”

“And her bed.”

“That, too.”

“I’ve been thinking about how we’ll handle her sleeping arrangement tonight.” She opened her hall linen closet.

“Me, too, now that I know I won’t be leaving. Which is awesome.” He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before walking into her bedroom.

She pulled a ragged towel from the bottom of the stack and raised her voice. “Since I don’t have a dog bed, will an old quilt do?”

“I’m sure it will. Do you have one you could put down for her?”

“I do. I just need a stool to get it.” With the towel in one hand, she went into the bedroom. “Once I bring it down, where should I put it?”

“At the end of the bed.” He buttoned his jeans and zipped the fly before reaching for his shirt. “If you’re okay with that.”

Darned if he didn’t look almost as sexy putting on his clothes as he had taking them off. “Whatever’s the best solution, but I guess if she’s in here with us, then you and I won’t—”

“Oh, yes, we will. Unless you’re tired of me already.”

“But won’t we disturb her?”

“Maybe not. We’ll experiment. We can tone it down a bit. Closing the door was fine that first time because she was zonked and didn’t even know we’d left. But if we shut her out all night after she’s used to being in with me, she might think I was punishing her for something.”

“I wouldn’t want that.”

He smiled. “You don’t look too sure about it, though.”

“Well, I—”

“I hope to spend more time in your bed, Abby. I’d like to have you spend time in mine. I want Delilah to get used to the idea.”

Her body heated. “I see.”

“Unless, like I said, you’ve already had enough of me.”

She eliminated the space between them, cupped the back of his neck and pulled him down for a hot kiss involving lots of tongue. Then she backed away. “There’s your answer.”

He took a shaky breath. “Message received.”

“And here’s your dog toy.”

“A towel?”

“Knot one end so she can bite into it and play tug-of-war with her.”

“Cool! And you’re sure you don’t care what happens to this towel?”

“Sure don’t. It’s hers, now. While you two are playing, I’ll make up her bed.”

“Thank you. That would be great. Show me where the quilt is. I’ll get it down for you.”

“Linen closet, top shelf.” She opened the door and pointed to the quilt.

“That looks like just what she needs.” He reached up, lifted the quilt down and put it in her arms. “She’ll be very happy with that. Thanks.” He gave her a quick kiss. Then he patted his thigh. “Come on, pup. Let’s go have some fun.”

Delilah followed him down the hall.

“Hey, Luke, do you want dessert before we go to bed? I didn’t offer you any tonight.”

Laughing, he turned around and walked backward. “Yes, you did.”

“I meant a bakery item, smart aleck. I have some double chocolate brownies in the refrigerator if that sounds good.”

“With you, everything sounds good.”

“Ditto, cowboy. Now go play with your doggie.” She took the quilt into the bedroom. She’d designated it for picnics, although since moving here she hadn’t gone on any. Or done much of anything recreational except recently, when Roxanne had suggested the occasional movie night in her apartment.

Roxanne and Ingrid would have noticed the heavy snow by now. Since she hadn’t texted since cancelling on them earlier, they’d likely drawn their own conclusions. They wouldn’t be surprised at the outcome, either.

Shaking out the quilt, she folded it into a size that resembled the dog bed at Luke’s house. He was utterly devoted to that pup. With luck he’d get to keep her.

Delilah’s playful growl drifted down the hall, followed by Luke’s soft laughter. “Get it, pup! Come on, put your back into it!”

She gave the quilt a final pat, tightened the sash on her robe and walked down the hall. Her bare feet made no noise as she headed toward the playing field.

“Atta, girl! Look at that, you almost pulled me over! Go, Delilah, go!” More fierce growling and more laughter.

She paused at the end of the hall, entranced.

Luke had twirled the towel into a thick rope. He held one end with both hands and his dog gripped the knotted end with her strong teeth. Delilah back-peddled for all she was worth, stretching the towel tight.

He’d rolled back his sleeves and was making a great show of pulling hard. The muscles in his forearms bulged as if he could barely hold on. Yet considering his weight and strength, he could have dragged the dog around the room if he’d tried. Instead he only tugged enough to give her the thrill of competition. She clearly was having a great time. So was he, judging from his wide grin.

Abigail stood very still so they wouldn’t notice her. As dog and man wrestled for possession of a raggedy towel, she quietly fell in love.