The Warden's Lantern by Joselyn Vaugh

This short story starts with Barbara, an accountant for Elmer's company that studies storm and weather data, searching for a ghost story legend of a disembodied lantern seen swinging in the dark by an abandoned prison.  Barbara almost gets run over by Elmer on his motorcycle and when he stops to warn her of the bad weather to come. The two get stuck by felled trees and missing keys.  They are forced to take shelter in the abandoned prison and and have some sweet moments trying to warm up in their drenched clothes. 

They see a light that Elmer tries to explain away with data, but Barbara isn't convinced.  The pair eventually make it back to Elmer's house where they warm up in a beautiful setting of a cozy fireplace, and Barbara wearing Elmer's pajamas, to do some more research.  Even though Elmer tries to be the gentlemen, Barbara takes it to mean that he isn't interested in her. She doesn't think that Elmer will ever notice her as more than an employee but she has brought an adventurous side in Elmer that he thought he'd lost and an adventurous side of herself that she never knew she had.

I enjoyed reading Joselyn Vaughn's story,  you can tell that she has a great imagination and loves writing.  Joselyn also has a fun blog at http://www.joselynvaugh.wordpress.com/ where she talks about her family, running, projects and writing.  You can also read excerpts from her books there and she also tells what songs inspire her books, which I thought was really interesting.