Blade Landon sat forward in the saddle and listened. He swore he heard a woman screaming, but what would a female be doing out here in these parts? His ranch was a mile back and nothing was out here but snow and an ice covered pond.

He watched his dog, Pepper, run across the pond. “Pepper, you better not fall through, because I don’t want to have to come out there to get ya!” he yelled when the dog stopped and started barking. His tail stood straight up like it did when he spied a pheasant. He was the best hunting dog around.

“What you got over there?” He nudged his horse in the sides, knowing this pond like the back of his hand. It was pretty shallow where Pepper was, but he rode around the pond to the other side. He urged his horse out onto the thin ice knowing the horse’s hooves would break through to the bottom. That’s when he saw the woman’s hand reaching upward.

“Damn!” he shouted as he dismounted and walked out to where she was, his boots breaking the ice and finding bottom. He reached over and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards him until she lay on the shallowest part.

He bent down, picked her up, and laid her on the bank, making sure she was breathing. She was. That was a good thing. He couldn’t do much to get her warm out here. He tossed her up onto his horse and mounted behind her, hightailing it to his ranch as fast as he could.

Pepper ran alongside him the whole way, barking frantically. Damn dog was more human than animal in his estimation. The mutt knew it was important to get the woman home. When he arrived at his place, his ranch hands ran out. Old Tom was the first to get to him even though he walked with a limp from a bad hip.

“What you got there?”

“Some fool woman went and fell in the pond. If I hadn’t come along when I did, she’d be a goner for sure. He dismounted and pulled the woman off his horse into his arms. Blade strode up the steps and across the front porch, as Tom opened the door for him. Blessed heat curled around him. His jacket and shirt were wet from holding her against him, and he welcomed the warmth. “Tom, heat some bricks so we can wrap them up and lay alongside her in the bed. I’ll get her upstairs, undressed and tucked beneath some blankets. Have one of the men bring those bricks up the stairs.”

“You gonna undress her?”