“Who are you?” he demanded.
“Kris.”
“Kris? That’s a boy’s name. Is that part of your disguise?”
“It’s not a boy’s name. It’s ambiguous,” I snapped. “Kris is short for Kristene.”
“Kristene what?”
“Kristene…H-hunt.” Crap, this wasn’t good at all.
“Which part of town did you come from, Ms. Hunt?”
I racked my brain for a name, any name, but I couldn’t think of one.
“Don’t lie to me. Which part of Arrow Lake are you from?”
“I’m not from Arrow Lake. I’m from Minneapolis.”
His eyes widened. “You were here earlier. You’re the lady who inquired about the rental. That was a lie, wasn’t it? Why’d you break into my rental office?”
“I’m looking for my sister.”
“Your sister doesn’t live or work in my rental office now, does she?”
I frowned. “Obviously not.”
Something softened in his demeanor. He ran his hand down his beard. That’s when I noticed his perfect lips and his thick arms, as well as the fact that he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring. A guy in his shape couldn’t have been single. Through his thin white shirt, I made out the outline of a profound well-defined torso. He was even built like a freaking lumberjack.
“You’re the guy who answered the phone. Kamaz. The owner,” I said, finally able to think straight instead of wondering if this guy was going to strangle me to death with his thick hands for nearly burning down his cabin.
I shivered and instantly wrapped my arms around myself.
“Stand up,” he commanded.
“What? Why?” I asked, breathless and confused.
He just looked at me. He didn’t repeat himself. What had I gotten myself into? What was he going to do to me?
“Look, I already said I was sorry. I promise to pay for the mess I caused. I have some money but it’s back at my motel room in my bag. If you can just let me leave tonight, I promise I’ll come back and pay you.”
Kamaz examined me again, taking in everything. Every single inch.
“Who’s here with you?” he asked.
I pressed my lips shut. There was no way I was going to tell this man that I was alone. The look he gave me when I didn’t respond told me he already knew the answer.
“Do you realize what you burned up back there?”
I shook my head, trying to recall what else was on the desk besides some papers. If I was comfortable being completely honest with him, I would have informed him that he needed to be more organized. I had worked in rental offices before and his records had not been in the best order. There had been unopened bills, paperwork, and work orders strewn all over the desk. He was disorganized.
“I didn’t notice anything specifically. Just paperwork. I was only looking at your rent rolls to see if I could find where my sister had gone,” I told him.
“What do you know of rent rolls?” he scowled.
“I once worked as a landlord’s assistant and also once at a hotel, but please…I didn’t intend for this to happen.”
“Right. Of course you didn’t. But here’s the thing…I pay my employees and vendors with checks. Some of them are even paid in cash. You didn’t just burn up a desk and some paperwork. So tell me, what will I tell my people tomorrow when they come to pick up their money?”
This time, I couldn’t swallow my guilt.
“I’ll pay you back—”
“Do you have thousands of dollars lying around somewhere in your motel room?”
I shook my head.
“So, is that another lie?”
“I haven’t lied about anything. I told you I’d pay you back what I can. And what I don’t have, I’ll work for it. I’ll work wherever you need me. Just tell me what to do.”
“Inside,” he said. “It’s getting too cold out here.”
I had to admit. My teeth chattered and the tips of my fingers felt like ice. Reluctantly, I rose to a standing position.
“After we talk about the payment, then you’ll let me go?” I pleaded.
He nodded, opened the door, and stepped aside.
As soon as I crossed the threshold, the warmth engulfed me. Hints of cinnamon and an evergreen scent wafted towards me. The home was beautiful and spacious. It reminded me of some of the mansions I’d worked out of back in Minneapolis.
“Would you like me to hang up your coat?”
His voice startled me.
“Sure.” I shrugged out of my coat and handed it to him.
“You always wear men’s coats?” he asked. “Or is that part of your disguise?”
“After I got here, I realized my jacket wasn’t enough when it started snowing. The shop I went to didn’t have any more women’s coats. None of this was a disguise. It was just to keep warm.”
“When you called me about a cabin, couldn’t you have just told me that your sister had been here and that you were looking for her?”
I shrugged. “I thought I did, but I wanted to rent a cabin too. This is the first time I’ve been to a place like this. I was a little upset that you were sold out. And I thought it would’ve been much easier to start looking where I knew my sister once lived.”
“Here’s the thing. This isn’t some motel where you can stay a night or two and just check out. My tenants stay for weeks. Months even. I even have a few that have been here for years.”
“The sign said long-term rentals, so I figured that was the case. I thought you’d have something available,” she said.
“My units are booked, sometimes months in advance. Lots of campers like to seek shelter when bad weather is expected, so I got a lot of last-minute renters this morning.”
I smiled. “I guess I should’ve known. This area is so beautiful with the mountains and all that. I’m sorry about your rental office. I wish I could take it back.”
“We can’t take it back, but I’m glad no one was hurt.”
“Yeah, that would have been a disaster.”
“So, after I told you that I didn’t have any units, you came back out to search my office?”
“I went to the motel up the road and checked in there. Should’ve done that to begin with since they were cheaper. Truthfully, I don’t have much time or money. I have to pay my rent back home in addition to my lodging bills here. It was a last-minute thing, but I’m sure my sister would do it for me if she thought I was in trouble.”
He frowned. “You think she’s in trouble?”
“No…” I sighed. “I mean, maybe. I don’t know. I haven’t heard from her in a while and I just want to make sure she’s okay.”
“Would you like something to drink? Some coffee or tea or something?”
“Yes. I could use something warm to drink. Tea would be great.”
We walked into the kitchen and he pulled out a seat for me. As I sat, I watched as he shifted around the kitchen, grabbing a tea kettle and two canisters of loose tea from the cabinet.
“I’ve got green and black. Which one?”
“Either is fine.”
I examined the kitchen. There was a lot of clutter on the counter which was just about what I expected. Everything was clean and there wasn’t any sign of a dirty dish or anything like that though. The refrigerator was huge, so I figured he either stored a lot or ate a lot. There were magnets stuck to the fridge. Alphabets and numbers to be exact. I recognized one word, or rather, one name—Roy.
Kamaz didn’t seemed bothered by the lack of space as he worked on the counter. But his organization skills or lack thereof wasn’t the only thing piquing my attention. My gaze wandered on the back of him. He had arms that were thick as logs, a broad back, large shoulders, and an ass that seemed just too good to be true. He looked like he camped out at a gym, but something told me that he built that body working with everything but weights.
He turned around and leaned against the counter while he waited for the water to heat up.
; “I didn’t see your car. Did you walk all the way here?”
“No, of course not. The motel clerk told me that you have some interesting wildlife roaming around so I decided against it. I parked my car right alongside the main highway. It’ll be okay until I leave tonight, right? It’s a rental.”
“Should be there. Yeah.” He shrugged.
“Are you Roy?” I asked.
“No. Do you know Roy?”
I pointed to the fridge.
“Roy’s my nephew. I should go check on him in a bit to make sure he’s not up there playing video games or something.”
I smiled. “You have a really nice home. It sounds so peaceful around here. No noise from the train or the highways. Your family’s so lucky.”
“It’s just Roy and I,” he stated. “I take care of him.”
“Oh. Well then…his parents must really look up to you, trusting you with their kid.”
His demeanor changed. It almost seemed like I had dampened his spirits somehow. Before I could comment on anything else, the kettle whistled. He turned around momentarily and then brought a cup of tea and placed it down in front of me.
“What do you think happened to your sister?” he asked, settling back in the kitchen chair.
“I don’t know. She was traveling with friends…her boyfriend, I think.”
I wrapped my fingers around the mug and took a sip, allowing the hot beverage to soothe my throat which was sore from all the screaming I’d done.
“Did you try the Sheriff’s office?”
“I called and filed a missing person’s report about a week ago. When that didn’t get me anywhere, I decided to come up here myself. The Sheriff’s office was the first place I checked when I came here. Because my sister’s an adult, they weren’t much help. Apparently, she’s not the only person missing. There are plenty of unsolved cases. I couldn’t believe the number of missing and wanted by police signs posted when I was riding through town.”
“Unfortunately, people go missing all the time. Sometimes, they even go missing intentionally. We have the mountains and thousands of acres of uncharted territory and forests for anybody to hide out in for a good while.”
I frowned. “Are you suggesting that my sister would deliberately hide out in this town?”
“I don’t know your sister, but I’ve been living here all my life. If she wanted to disappear, this would’ve been a good place to do it. But you believe she’s in some kind of trouble, right?”
I shook my head. “I hope not. We had a fight. An argument. I thought she’d be okay, but then she didn’t return my call.”
“The weather is bad. Cell phone reception sucks depending on which part of the mountains you’re in. And we have more snow coming tonight. If she’s still in Arrow Lake, chances are that she’s hunkered down somewhere.”
I sighed. “I hope so.” I didn’t know what I’d do if anything happened to her. We’d been together through thick and thin. She was the only family I had.
Kamaz looked toward the window and then back at me again. “I’ll tell you what. You don’t have to leave tonight. Snow was about a foot deep on the ground and it’s still falling. I doubt you’d make it back to your motel. Why don’t you stay for tonight? The sun will come up in the morning and roads might be a little safer then.”
“I don’t want to be a bother.”
“As long as you promise not to set fire to my house. I’ve got a kid to feed and shelter.”
“I won’t. Thank you.” I raised the mug to my lips and gulped down more of the warm tea.
“I have a second master’s suite on this level with a bath attached. I figured that’d be more convenient than the smaller room upstairs.”
“I really appreciate this. I promise I’ll leave tomorrow morning.”
He nodded.
I looked down at my fingers wrapped around the mug. “And, of course, we can talk in the morning about how you want me to pay you for the trouble I caused.”
Kamaz scratched his chin. “How long did you say you’ll be in town for?”
“Just a few days. I’m paid up through the weekend at the motel and then I have to check out. That’s why I’m hoping for a quick reunion with my sister.”
“You said earlier that you were available for work. If you had the chance to earn a bit of cash while you were here in the form of a temporary job, would you take it?”
“I would, but…”
“But what?”
“I already owe you for the things I burned up,” I said. “Why would you give me a job?”
“The job I’ll offer you will be more than enough to cover the damages and any other expenses you incur while in town. Could even give you a few more days at the motel.”
“Really? What would I do here?”
“You said you worked as a landlord’s assistant, right?”
I nodded. “I have. I was there for a little over a year.” I recalled the things I’d done for the landlord and summarized the tasks as best as I could for Kamaz. He seemed impressed by my knowledge of the rental industry.
He leaned back in his chair. “Things are going to be a bit busy for me over the next few days, maybe even the next week or so. The lady that comes to help me every now and then has taken a month off to spend time with her family and then she’ll be taking some time off for a surgery. Would you be interested in a job assisting me at the rental office? Nothing too taxing or labor intensive. You’d just answer calls, field any complaints to me, and if there’s an issue at any of the units, you’d have a list of maintenance guys to call and schedule a repair. It’s really all very easy, I just need someone there to do it.”
I chuckled softly and even blushed a little. “I’m a stranger. Are you hiring me…offering me a job on the spot?”
“I hire strangers all the time. I’ve even been known to hire a few drifters against my colleagues’ warnings. I have more than one business going here, by the way.” He cleared his throat and leaned forward. “If you would…honestly, I’m in a bit of bind. I was going to uh…hire someone anyway. I could really use the help and interviewing people would be one less thing I’d have to worry about. And it’d only be for a few hours a day.”
I smiled. “I…I don’t know what to say.”
“You can say no. I know what happened back there was an accident, and people do crazy things when they’re backed into a corner or are in a bind,” he replied.
“Ummm, but I came to look for my sister. If she’s not in Arrow Lake, I’d have to—”
“You’d have to leave, I know. I’ll understand when the time comes.”
“Okay.” I looked around me, wondering what I’d just gotten myself into. But was this really a blessing in disguise? There wasn’t even the slightest trace of my sister here. It would take more than a few days to find her, or at the very least, where she’d been spotted last.
“If you want, think about it tonight. We can discuss in the morning.”
“That’s a great idea.”
“Good.” He leaned forward in his chair, setting his forearms on the table. “Are you hungry or anything? I can heat up some soup.”
“No. I ate before I left the motel. I’m just really tired. It’s been a long day.”
“Right. So uh…” He stood. “I’ll show you where you’ll be staying tonight.”
“Okay. So, what’s your name? Besides Kamaz.”
“Viktor. Viktor Kamaz.”
I smiled “V.K. I remember seeing those initials somewhere.” I rose from my seat and took my mug over to the sink to rinse it and clean it.
He joined me near the sink. When he took the mug from me, our fingers touched, and our gazes met. Just like before, his eyes were hardened and almost distant. The longer I looked, I noticed something else. It was some emotion I couldn’t quite pinpoint.
He placed the mug on the counter. “Don’t worry about this one dish. I’ll get it in the morning.”
“Thank you for this. I guess I took on more than I cou
ld handle coming out here alone.”
He grinned. “I could say the same for myself sometimes.”
“Maybe we can help each other out.”
He examined me briefly with his lips parted like he wanted to say something. Then he stepped aside and led the way from the kitchen, moving across a great room and down a dark narrow hallway.
When Viktor left me in the room that night, the weight on my shoulders felt a little lighter. I was one step closer to finding my sister. But something else weighed heavy on my mind. Viktor had admitted to being in a bind, and whatever he lacked must have been serious enough to hire little old me on the spot.
Or maybe I was just thinking about this too much. I didn’t even know Viktor. Had only just met him. It was a good thing he hadn’t ratted me out to the cops. That wouldn’t have ended well for me.
Either way, he needed help with his business, and I needed time to find my sister.
Chapter Five
Viktor
Roy rolled his toy truck around in the kitchen while I made what I envisioned was a good effort to cook breakfast. This was the first time in months that I’d offered a guest a room in my own home. But the last guest wasn’t like Kristene Hunt. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a woman in my house other than to tutor Roy or to deep clean the interior.
Oddly enough, I wasn’t angry with her for causing the fire in my rental unit. I should have been. I mean, who breaks into a private cabin and searches through the files? She’d been that desperate to find her sister. I felt sorry for her when I found out, but there was a better way. Over the years, I’d gotten better at calling people’s bluff, and I could tell that Kristene was genuinely worried about someone.
She seemed young. Innocent. Gullible even. It was a good thing I wasn’t a bad guy. There were plenty of guys like that living around here that would’ve taken advantage of her. If she knew what was good for her, she’d find her sister and leave as soon as possible.
Wife for the Lumberjack: A Single Dad Mountain Man Romance Page 3
