couldn’t imagine any place more beautiful.
“Actually, I did have a reason for taking you out to dinner,” Russ said. “I want to give you a present.”
“Really?” Winnie loved presents and she especially loved surprise gifts. “Any particular reason?”
“Well, your birthday’s coming up next month. And I would have waited, but this was a deal too good to pass up.”
He handed her a red envelope with her name on it.
With quivering hands, Winnie opened the envelope. “A whole weekend at a spa! Oh, Russ, what a thoughtful gift. And it’s that fancy one in Austin-” She squinted at the card again. “But it’s for this weekend.”
“The sooner the better, right?”
“I’d have to leave tomorrow.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. I’m sure Betty and Glory can cover for you, or you can rearrange a few appointments.”
“Oh, honey, this was so nice of you, but Betty’s daughter’s baby shower is on Saturday and I can’t miss it, I’m one of the hostesses. Maybe the spa will let me reschedule. You think they will?”
“They’re always booked months in advance, is what I hear. Sorry, Mom, I didn’t know about the baby shower.”
“Well, I’ll work something out,” Winnie said, “even if I have to schedule my spa visit for next year.” She stepped around the table to give Russ a hug. “This was really generous of you.”
He shrugged. “It’s been a good year at the store. I think as hard as you work, you should pamper yourself every so often.”
“Can I get one of those mud baths?” Winnie asked. “It might be worth missing Betty’s shower for a mud bath.”
“You can get whatever you want.”
Russ had ordered the shrimp scampi, but he hardly tasted it when it arrived. He’d just wasted several hundred dollars, not to mention the fifty bucks he’d shell out for dinner.
What was worse, tomorrow he was going to be dealing with a very ticked-off Sydney Baines. He’d forgotten to tell her about the hidden door behind the staircase that led to the bathroom.
Chapter Seven
By early afternoon of the next day, Sydney was ready to gnaw her own arm off to escape from the cabin in the woods.
She’d nearly frozen to death last night, despite the fact she’d rolled herself up in feather comforters like a caterpillar in a cocoon. The sink in the kitchen would have featured running water if she could have figured out how to make the pump work, which she couldn’t.
Last night for dinner she’d eaten all the granola bars and finished almost all the bottled water from the two backpacks. At a little after six the sun had gone down and the cabin had become pitch black-no electricity. Though Russ had started up the generator, it had conked out less than an hour after his departure.
Now, grimy from not bathing and grumpy from lack of sleep, she was resorting to the canned food she’d found in the cabinets-none of which had labels. The Texas heat had apparently melted all the glue that adhered the labels to the cans and they’d fallen off, perhaps years ago.
This morning she’d had cold barbecued beans and succotash for breakfast. For lunch she’d had a real treat-cold split pea soup and unsweetened cherries. She’d have opened more cans and hoped for something better, but with the crummy little crank can opener, the task of opening had taken her fifteen minutes per can and her hand was killing her.
She was back to wanting to kill Russ. She would wait until he’d led her out of this godforsaken wilderness. Then she would conk him on the head, steal his car and drive herself straight to the Austin airport.
She couldn’t believe she’d let herself get talked into this-and all because a studly guy had flexed his muscles and batted his blue, blue eyes at her.
Yeah, killing him would be something of a waste. Maybe she’d have sex with him first.
Oh, God, what was wrong with her? She hadn’t had any coffee this morning, for one thing. She’d found some coffee and an ancient percolator. But the percolator didn’t have a plug, even if there’d been anything to plug it into, which there wasn’t. Apparently it required a heat source and Sydney could not for the life of her figure out how to light the antique woodstove. She had wood and she had matches, but throwing matches onto the wood hadn’t accomplished anything. After using up almost an entire box of matches, she’d given up.
Maybe she should have joined the Girl Guides when she had the opportunity, but the prospect had horrified her and she’d sworn she would run away from home if she had to wear one of those uniforms.
Okay, so she couldn’t kill Russ, and sex was out of the question. When he finally arrived to take her back to civilization, she wasn’t going to speak to him. That’s what she’d do. Give him the silent treatment.
Unfortunately, when he finally did arrive some time in the early afternoon, he found her sitting cross-legged on a sunny spot on the porch, fast asleep. She was warm for the first time since the previous day and her stomach was full. Since she was completely sleep deprived, she’d succumbed to fatigue. She’d planned on greeting him with an icy stare and a haughty sneer-not rubbing her eyes and struggling to wake up like a child awakened too soon from her nap.
“Sydney.” He gently shook her shoulder. “Hey, Sydney, you okay?”
“No, I am not okay,” she managed, but her voice sounded all bedroom muzzy instead of royally ticked off.
“Did you find the bathroom?”
“If you’re referring to the world-class facilities over there,” she said, pointing to the outhouse, “yes, I did.”
“I’m so sorry. There’s a bathroom inside, but I forgot to show you where it is.”
“There is no bathroom in that cabin,” she argued. “I checked every single door.”
But when he led her back inside, he walked over to a wood-paneled wall under the stairs. All you had to do was press on it. A previously well-hidden door sprang open.
“You mean, there was a bathroom here the whole time?” She could not believe this. She’d endured that disgusting outhouse for nothing!
Sure enough, the tiny bathroom featured all the amenities-well, the bare minimum, but it looked like heaven to her.
“I’m sorry,” he said again. “I’ve never brought guests here before. I forgot the door was hidden.”
“Yeah, well, you neglected to mention a few other things-like the fact I’d have to build a fire if I wanted to heat food or avoid freezing to death, or the fact I needed to know how to repair a generator.”
“Something’s wrong with the generator? I thought you’d turned it off.”
“It quit working right after you left. And you could have warned me that sleeping would be impossible. I don’t know what kinds of creatures live out here, but they were having a party and I think a bear was trying to get into the cabin. At one point I actually got up and locked myself in the closet. And they say the city is noisy.”
“No bears here,” he assured her.
“Then what was it?”
“Raccoon, probably, or maybe a skunk. They’re always looking for a handout.”
“Just get me out of here, okay?” So much for the silent treatment.
“Okay. Did you find anything in those boxes?”
“Oh, yeah, I found loads of stuff-about Bert Klausen’s family. Certainly nothing about yours.”
At least Russ looked a bit guilty.
“Bert’s no more your cousin than he is mine. Admit it. You dragged me here to get rid of me. You’re hiding something.”
“Bert
