the vegetation as Eric shouted directions from above: “More north. To your left.”
And there she lay.
His shoulders tightened when he reached the crumpled remains of the young woman. She’d probably fallen to her death on the same day she’d fought with her boyfriend. He shoved his hands into his pockets to keep from touching, from trying to make it better.
He still watched, wanting with everything in him for her to take a breath.
Too small. Tangled brown hair. Pale skin. So battered. He swallowed hard. Mimi had probably looked like this when the searchers found her. Sweat trickled down his back, the sun slicing through the thin air with unholy glee. A tree and shade waited only a few feet away, but he couldn’t move-as if standing over her would somehow make up to her that her life had been cut short. That someone should have protected her.
As he tried to do.
And hadn’t succeeded, had he? Mimi, his sweet, quiet submissive, who’d depended on him for everything and had cried when he’d uncollared her-she’d ended up just like this.
“God, I’m sorry, sweetheart,” and he wasn’t sure who he was talking to. Mimi or this poor young woman. Too young. They were too young to have died.
Legs braced, throat clamped shut, he stood vigil for them both.
Kallie took a long, slow breath. Like deep water, the air had a warm layer with the fragrance of dusty pine needles, and a cool, tangy layer from off the snowpack. The late afternoon sun scorched her shoulders as she led her group through a green mountain meadow. On the far side, a gurgling stream curved snakelike through the grass and then flowed across granite outcroppings in a series of miniwaterfalls. The fine spray moistened the air.
She turned to watch the Lowerys, a family from Serenity Lodge, so apparently the Lodge also booked
Their children followed. Ten-year-old Cody, who stopped to investigate something in the grass. A budding scientist.
Like a big-footed puppy, Tamara ran across the meadow to the stream and started to climb down to the lower falls.
Bringing up the rear with the packhorse came Ryan. At twelve, he was the image of his father and horse mad. Kallie sympathized. After she’d been dumped on Uncle Harvey, she’d practically lived in the stables for months.
As the horse and boy approached, Kallie took the lead. “Go play. Coco will still be here when you’re done.”
Ryan gave her a shy, sweet smile before darting away. With a forlorn look, Coco turned his head to watch. The Missouri Fox Trotter doted on children.
Kallie laughed and slapped his neck. “C’mon, old boy. Let’s get this stuff off you. He’ll be back soon enough.”
An hour later, Kallie had the tents set up near the edge of the forest: one for the parents, one for the children, and hers, located a little distance away. While the kids gathered firewood, arguing over who’d found the most, she set up the stone-lined cook area. Steak and biscuits for supper. Much nicer than the freeze-dried foods needed if there wasn’t a packhorse.
She rose and stretched, then checked her clients. Part of guide service was figuring out what each individual wanted-whether to be left alone for romantic moments, or to have thrills and challenges, or education. Right now, Laura and Mark sat on a sunny rock, their feet in the water. Holding hands. They’d been married almost twenty years and still held hands.
Kallie bit her lip at the pang of loss. After the Fourth, Wyatt and Morgan had watched her as intently as Mufasa guarded a gopher hole. They’d tried to entice her into poker games, fishing at the creek, even chick flicks-doing everything possible to keep her occupied. They needn’t have wasted their time, considering Jake hadn’t called. Her two cousins eased up when they decided Jake’s interest in her had died.
Apparently they were right. Why would he want someone who told him to go away? The man could have anyone he wanted, after all. She’d spent most of last night fighting back tears because of him, and dammit, she never cried. She kept wondering what else she might have done, how she might have managed to see him without upsetting her cousins.
If Jake had really wanted her for more than sex-if he’d wanted to date her-would she have told Wyatt and Morgan to stuff it?
She sighed. She wished to see Jake so badly, to hear his rough voice and snuggle against his side. She gave a short laugh, knowing she definitely wanted more than just sex from him. Even if he’d been in a wheelchair, he’d attract her with his honesty, with that idiotic bravery that had him jumping into a flooding river to save an old drunk, with his ability to talk with anyone. How he’d wholeheartedly played the game on the Fourth, then enjoyed teasing the children afterward.
Damn him for being someone she wanted in her life, and for not wanting her back.
So she didn’t really have any decision to make, did she? She brushed the dirt off her jeans and went to check on the children. While Ryan and Tamara raced twigs down the stream, Cody pored over a field guide, trying to identify the tiny wildflowers. Lots to keep a guide busy and not thinking about “might have beens.”
Jake stopped at the edge of the meadow.
He rubbed his face, trying to forget the body of the young woman they’d found yesterday, the way her open eyes had stared, seeing nothing.
But Kallie was alive-in fact, she seemed more alive than anyone he’d ever met. He smiled as she teased the two boys, then picked up the little girl and turned her upside down. His muscles eased as he listened to the giggles turn into delighted shrieks when Kallie slung the child over her shoulder. Strong little sub and so vibrant she seemed to glow.
He needed to hold her.
After returning from the search yesterday, he’d felt eviscerated. A quiet evening talking with Logan and Becca hadn’t helped. The silence in his rooms had only increased the feeling that he’d turned to ice all the way to his bones.
Watching Kallie now was like stepping into the sunlight after sleeping in the snow. So much for his intent to stay away.
Jake shook his head. He should be at the lodge, doing his job, but he’d needed to see Kallie. To touch her and hear her laugh and watch her dark eyes turn soft when he kissed her. He’d had women, had loved before-bright, enjoyable loves-but he’d never had this…need…before, as if a part of him had gone missing.
Logan had grumbled about taking Jake’s place escorting a vanload of guests to Yosemite. But Rebecca had told Jake, “
