The man in row three didn’t seem to be quite right.

He had already gone to the restroom four times before they even left the station. Now that they were headed uphill, he looked a little pale. He was bundled into heavy wool coat and had a blue and red plaid scarf wrapped around his face. When she’d walked past, she’d noticed he had bloodshot eyes that darted away from her gaze.

Perhaps he had altitude sickness.

Maybe she was imagining things. It was only her second week on the train, and she still didn’t have a handle on everything the passengers did.

Just yesterday, a young tween girl had refused to sit in her assigned seat because she had been facing backwards on the ride home.

Madison had finally convinced her traveling companion to switch seats with her so that she wasn’t facing backwards.

Back to the man in two three, she had no idea what was up with him. As far as she could tell, he was alone. That in itself was a little odd. They got mostly couples this time of the year along with a few families and retired people.

Since it was winter, they were only taking three cars up and all the cars were enclosed.

She’d ask Daniel whenever he came through the next time.

Thinking of Daniel put a smile on her lips. Three nights ago, at his family’s house - no, his family’s estate, her heart had nearly burst with a feeling of belonging. He’d shared his large, wonderful family with her and it had been just - well, wonderful.

She liked them. She liked Charles and Barbara, and Megan, and Vaughn. They had been nice to her and made her feel welcome. Even the fact that they practically lived in a castle hadn’t seemed to affect them. They seemed like just ordinary people.

Daniel had told her his parents were practically retired. Charles still did some work with his company, but he said it practically ran itself these days.

Barbara, it seemed spent most of her days decorating the house. As far as hobbies went, it seemed like a great one to have. They had invited her back anytime - with Daniel or without him. Of course, she wouldn’t go without him - didn’t want to even think about it.

Speaking of not thinking about it, she had for the most part avoided thinking about her memory loss. She was too busy enjoying herself. She hadn’t seen any more of the neighbor. She didn’t blame the woman for not bothering her anymore. After all, Madison had slammed the door in her face - something she wasn’t proud of, but it had served the purpose.

Daniel came through her car - something he made a point of doing every time he got a chance.

“How’s it going?” he asked, standing next to her.

“It’s going good,” she said, feeling her face flushing, as she remembered those lips on hers just last night, before he had said goodnight.

“I can’t wait until lunch,” he said.

With that comment, she did blush. They had spent of most the lunch time yesterday under the aspen trees making out while the guests ate at the inn. Daniel had shown her a large hidden rocky area in a secluded place next to the stream. It had been cold, but they hadn’t noticed. She desperately hoped they hadn’t been spotted by any of the tourists.

“Me either,” she admitted.

“Do you want to eat today?”

“Probably should.”

“I brought some sandwiches.”

“You did not!”

“I did. Made them myself this morning.”

“I’m impressed.”

The man in the blue and red scarf looked in their direction, then got up to head to the bathroom. Again.

“Does that man seem a little strange to you?” she asked.

“I didn’t really notice.”

“You notice everything.”

“I’ve been a little distracted.”

Madison looked away, but couldn’t help smiling.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he said.

She nodded and watched him go. She was so incredibly fortunate. Daniel was not only handsome, but he was kind, intelligent, thoughtful. And she was so falling in love with him.

When the passengers started to murmur, she looked out the train window. It was snowing. She knew she would never get tired of looking at the snow falling in the mountains. It was one of the most serene things she could imagine.

The man with the blue and red scarf came back, sat in his seat, and shifted around, looking a little agitated.

“Sir, are you all right?” she asked him.

“I’m fine,” he said, tightening the scarf around his neck.

“If you’re feeling the elevation, it sometimes helps to sit back and close your eyes.”

Turning toward her, he pierced her with bottomless black eyes. “I’m not feeling the elevation.”

“Ok, great. Let me know if you need anything,” she said, backing away from him and looking away from that intense piercing gaze. Once again, she had a strong sense that something wasn’t right about him.

A passenger, a little boy from the next car over, walked between them. When she looked back, the man stood up, and brandished a pistol at her, then swung it around. At first no one seemed to notice that he had a gun. Then people began screaming.

Madison froze. She just stood there staring at the gun. Slowly she backed away until she was standing at the edge of the train car, against the windows.

The man waved the gun. “Shut up,” he demanded.

Madison slowly slid down until she was sitting on the floor, her gaze glued to the gun. The train slowed as it started the assent over the cliffs.

“What do you want?” a man, stood up and asked the gunman.

“I want you to shut the hell up!”

“Okay,” the man said, holding up his hands and sitting back down.

“Everyone just stay where you are and shut up.”

Madison kept her eyes closed - images of the gun and the man swirled in her mind.

As she lost all sense of what was going on - she blanked out into oblivion and lost consciousness.

When she came back to reality, Daniel was standing over her. “Madison, honey, look at me.”

She did look at him and focused on his face as she remembered the gunman. “There was a man....”

“It’s okay. A passenger from the next car came looking for his son, saw what was going on, and took him down.”

“Where is he?” she asked, trying to look past him.

“He’s unarmed and being watched.” He gently grasped her chin and turned her face to his. “Madison,” he said. “What happened? Did he hurt you?”

“No. I don’t know,” she said, and the tears started down her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she put her arms around his shoulders and buried her face against him as her body wracked with sobs. “I’m so sorry. I let you down.”

He stroked her back and cooed softly. “You did no such thing.”

Her crying slowed and she leaned against him, emotionally spent. “Please don’t fire me.”

“Madison, how can I fire you?” he asked. “I love you.”

He couldn’t help but tell her. The feelings had been bubbling up, overwhelming, inside of him. This was a different feeling from thinking she was adorable and gorgeous, even different from knowing that he wanted to marry her. This was a feeling of protection. He didn’t want anyone to hurt her - ever.

“You do?” she asked against his chest.

“Yes,” he said. “I do. I do. I love you.”

“And I love you.”

He held her so close, he couldn’t get her any closer.

“Do you need anything?” one of the passengers asked as they waited to disembark.

“No, we’ll be okay,” Daniel said. He knew he needed to get back to his passengers. But he couldn’t leave Madison. Not just yet.

This had something to do with her memory loss. His gut was certain about that.

“Madison,” he had to ask. “Do you remember anything?”

“The man. The gun. He shot her.”

“Madison, sweetheart, no one got shot.”

She looked at him, searching. Then leaned against him again, seeming to need him to hold herself together. “He didn’t shoot her?”

“No, baby. No one got shot.”

“Then?” Not finishing her question, she was quiet, holding onto him, her hands clutching his uniform.

“Are you okay now?” he asked, his voice against her ear.

She nodded against him.

“Okay, I’ve got to get back to the passengers.”

“I’ll help you.”

“No, you sit here,” he said, pulling her up with him and nudging her to the nearest seat.

By the time they reached the inn where they were stopping for lunch, turning around, and dropping off the gunman where he would be picked up by law enforcement, Madison had regained some sense of balance. Half a dozen passengers had come up to her to express their empathy at her reaction to the gunman. She knew it had to have something to do with her memory loss. Of course, she couldn’t tell them that. She could only apologize that she hadn’t been there for them. No one seemed to blame her.

Daniel, however, had been the most sympathetic to her.

She waited as the last of the passengers disembarked. Then Daniel was at her elbow. “I wonder what he wanted,” she mused.

“The gunman? Who knows. Sometimes people are just crazy.”

As they watched, the man was led off the train and placed on a helicopter.

“Has anything like this ever happened before?”

“Not to my knowledge. Most people just want to ride the train and have a good time.”

“He must be a very lonely man.”

“A crazy man,” Daniel said.

“Do you think they’ll press charges?”

“He held a gun on my girl. You better know I’m going to press charges.”

“Your girl?”

“My girl and my train.”

“Your train?” She looked at him and considered what had been in the back of her mind for some time. “Daniel?” she asked. “Your train?”

He ran his hand along her hair, seemed to consider his response. “Yes,” he said softly. “My train.”

She looked at him quizzically, needing more information.

“Actually, it’s my family’s train, but I hold a large share.”

“Then that explains everything - the house - the hiring.”

“Does that change anything?” he asked, searching her eyes.

She shook her head. “How could it?”

“I don’t know. It could. I wasn’t up front with you.”

She smiled. “You didn’t tell me everything about yourself and I can’t tell you anything about me. Yet.... we still have these feelings.”

“These incredible, wonderful feelings.” he said. Then he kissed her.

She sank into the kiss, leaning in against him. When they kissed, she could not get enough.

Daniel backed onto a seat and pulled her into his lap. Then his lips were on her cheek, then her neck. Her body was alive and tingled all over.

“I want you so much,” he said into her ear.

“I want you, too,” she said. “Daniel, I might just explode.”

He laughed. “Not yet,” he said, “not until you know more about who you are and not until you’ve agreed to marry me.”

“You’re so difficult sometimes.”

“You have no idea how hard it is to resist you.”

“I might have some general idea if it’s anything like resisting you.”

“You’re much more irresistible,” he insisted.

It started to rain, quickly becoming loud and heavy on the roof.

“Do we have to go in?” Daniel asked, nibbling on her bottom lip.

“No,” she said, “never. We can stay this way forever.”

“And you would surely drive me insane.” He stood up, and held out his hand. “Come on. I’m hungry.”

“Always,” she said, groaning as he pulled her toward him.

“Tonight,” he promised. “Tonight, come out with me and meet my friends. Then go back to driving me crazy at your place.”

“Okay,” she would have agreed to absolutely anything at that moment.