Once Upon a Time...the Glass Shoe by Kay Hooper

Author:Kay Hooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Fiction, General, Non-Classifiable, Historical
ISBN: 9780553220315
Publisher: Bantam
Published: 1989-09-30T23:00:00+00:00

Six

The storm raged, more or less, for two days. There were intervals of calm, but they never lasted long. The old house groaned and creaked in wind gusts of over forty miles an hour, and blowing snow was driven against the windows until it was almost impossible to see anything else.

They kept a fire going all the time in the den fireplace, mainly because the furnace went out twice. The first time it happened, Amanda went down into the basement and spoke sternly to it, adding a well-placed kick for emphasis.

“A furnace,” Ryder told her severely, “is a piece of machinery, not a stubborn human.”

“It worked, didn’t it?” Amanda retorted.

They both listened to the soft roar of an undeniably working furnace, and Ryder was forced to admit that her tactics had accomplished their objective.

When the heat went off on the second day, it was

Ryder who unearthed a tool kit left by some of the workmen and descended into the basement.

“It’s an electric furnace,” he told Amanda and Penny in the kitchen as he was preparing to go down. “My business is electronics, after all.”

Amanda, who had a strong feeling that electric furnaces were somewhat different from electronic games and computers, ventured to say, “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

“It’s just a piece of machinery,” he said, and gave them both a step-to-one-side-you-peasants look as he picked up the toolbox and turned away.

They watched him disappear down the stairs to the basement. Amanda glanced at Penny. “What do you think?”

“I think we’d better bring in more wood and keep the fire going. Just in case. The wind’s dropped for the moment, and Nemo needs to go out anyway.”

Feeling slightly guilty at doubting Ryder’s electronic expertise, Amanda nonetheless shrugged into her coat to go help bring in wood. She told herself firmly that it wasn’t Ryder she was doubling, not really. It was just that the furnace had baffled men who specialized in furnaces.

So they brought in wood and added some to the fire in the den. All the rooms not in use had been closed off, the furnace vents shut so that all available heat would be concentrated in the occupied parts of the house. Ryder had repacked his things and moved to a second-floor bedroom near Amanda’s so that they could close off the entire third floor.

“Now I’ve got a shower curtain,” he had said gravely.

Amanda had managed not to look too guilty about the room she’d first assigned him, and had merely asked if there were enough blankets on his bed.

That had been the night before. Now, helping Penny fix supper in the big, warm kitchen, she listened to the increasing wail of the wind outside and, occasionally, a curse that floated up the steps from the depths of the basement. There were a good many bangs and thumps as well.

Amanda went down a half hour later to take Ryder a cup of hot coffee, but returned rather hastily, trying to smother giggles.

“Not just a piece of machinery after all?” Penny murmured with a smile.

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