by Vella Munn
“Now you sound like my sister. All right. Get your tail up here in two days, and I’ll take you and your lady friend on a tour of the neighborhood before we settle down to business.” Hawk gave Dean a list of things he needed that he wasn’t able to obtain in the remote areas where he spent most of his time, brushed off Dean’s complaints that there wouldn’t be room for Dean’s or Calley’s luggage along with Hawk’s junk and hung up after telling Dean that he’d already made plane reservations for him, but would change that to accommodate Dean’s friend.
Dean leaned back in his seldom-used chair. He’d been back at the university for several weeks now, long enough for the novelty to have worn off. There was no denying that getting back out in the field was exactly what he needed. Calley had said she wanted to see the state where he’d done much of his work. Hawk’s request meant juggling schedules, but Dean was already mentally packing for a trip north. Calley would want to go; he didn’t have any doubts about that.
Although Dean wasn’t the kind of man who usually planned elaborate surprises, he was looking forward to seeing Calley’s expression when, instead of eating at her place, he took her to a restaurant. They’d have a leisurely dinner, talk over their day and look into each other’s eyes. And then, when what he really wanted to do was take her back to his place and make love to her, he’d ask if she had any plans for the weekend or if she might find time for a quick trip to Alaska.
“Alaska? This weekend? Dean, you’re crazy!”
“That’s entirely possible,” Dean admitted. Candlelight was dancing in Calley’s pale hair. Her face was muted by shadows. Although she was in slacks and a sweater, she’d put on a little makeup for the occasion. With her sitting across from him, Dean had hardly been able to concentrate on selecting something to eat. They’d been sitting here talking for at least ten minutes; he hadn’t let go of her hand in that time. Quickly he filled Calley in on the conversation with Hawk, at least most of it.
Calley sighed. She met his eyes, for a moment no emotion riding in them. Then Dean saw what he’d been waiting for. A smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “Alaska…” She sighed again. “Just like that.”
“Just like that. We don’t have anything that pressing going on right now. We can juggle things around.”
“Alaska? Now? You’re sure?”
Dean squeezed her fingers. He hoped she’d never lose her enthusiasm for life. “Would you like to talk to Hawk? If you don’t believe me, maybe he can convince you.”
“I believe you, Dean.” Calley blinked. When again she met Dean’s eyes, her own were shining. “Where will we be staying?”
Dean explained that Hawk had arranged for hotel rooms in Anchorage for all of them to stay in during the conference. But once that was over, they, and any public officials they could drag along with them, would be taken on a tour of the park. “I told him you’d never been there before. If we can get out of here on Thursday, Hawk promised to give us the busman’s tour of the lakes and farm country around the city before the conference.”
Calley lifted Dean’s right hand and brought it close to her mouth. She brushed it with her soft lips. “It sounds perfect. Can’t we leave tonight?”
“Tonight I have planned.”
After a dinner neither of them had much interest in, Dean took her back to his place, where their intentions of deciding what to pack took a back seat to the emotion that had taken hold of them while at the restaurant. It was, Dean made note of, the fourth time they’d made love since the day of Melinda’s wedding. It was also, he was certain, the best time.
After lingering Iovemaking that left him stripped of any strength, Dean lay awake with Calley sleeping on his chest. He played with her hair, listened to her breathe, thought about the gentle inroads she’d made in his life. From the day he’d met Waina, he’d known they came from different worlds. It wasn’t like that with Calley. She was passionate about the same things that concerned him; she never tried to hide from reality. There was strength and substance in the woman. He could, he admitted, place his life in her hands if it came to that. There were times while they were at the Flathead when he’d hated her strength, and that might happen again, but it was that same strength that was bonding him to her now.
Despite dangers that Calley couldn’t guess and he didn’t want to face, sharing the next few days together was what they needed. It might answer the one essential question. He’d given her everything he had to give physically. Was he capable of doing the same with his emotions? “I’m not everything you think I am, darling,” he whispered. “I wonder if you can live with that. I wonder if what you feel for me will survive.”
A little before dawn Calley awakened. She was curled, naked, next to Dean’s warm body. As her thinking processes returned, she tried to mentally place herself and Dean in Alaska. Yes, she was eager to see as much as possible of the state. But it was more than that. Alaska had claimed Dean for more than a year; it was there that he’d fallen in love and seen that love die. Calley was aware of the pocket of himself that Dean kept from her. She thought Waina might be the reason for the wall between them, but she couldn’t be sure. It frightened her to think about confronting that wall, but it had to happen if they were ever going to be more than lovers.
Lovers. Calley’s mind caught on the word. She loved the reality of being Dean’s lover. In four short days she’d gone from an unrelenting restlessness to having her every physical desire satisfied. Dean touched places within her that had never been touched before, struck emotional chords she’d never known existed. He’d taken her so far in four days. How much further he might be capable of taking her both frightened and excited her.
“Are you going to sleep all day?” she whispered. She let out just enough breath for it to reach his ear.
Dean sighed. He turned over, reaching for her. “You’re here.”
“Of course I’m here. Where did you think I’d be?”
He didn’t answer that. “Don’t leave.”
“I won’t leave you, Dean.” Calley shivered when she heard her words. She was exposing so damn much of herself. Maybe more than was safe.
But it was safe this morning. Dean took her with grace and consideration, strength and energy. He took control of all of her; she loved him for what he was doing. When his weight was over her, she reached for him and brought him down to her. She ran her hands over his smooth, muscled back and arched her spine to receive him. No matter what the future might bring, this time with Dean was perfect. She wanted commitment, but until she knew him and her heart completely, she would take these moments.
They showered together. Calley relished the pleasure she received when he covered her breasts with his palms and lowered his head to brush his lips over the valley between them. In the past a small part of her had always flinched from the total vulnerability that came from exposing herself to a man, but she wanted Dean to touch every inch of her. She was his this morning; he had to understand that.
“Are we going to be sharing the same room in Anchorage?” she asked while he was drying her with long, sensual strokes that left her weak.
“Do you want to?”
You must know I do. She answered in the only way that didn’t need words. The towel dropped to the floor as she pressed her body against his. He lifted her off her feet, wedding them together. Calley buried her head against Dean’s chest, drinking in his masculine scent. Her legs were wrapped around his hips. Would she ever get enough of him?
Later that day, as Calley tried to work, she thought back on the way she’d acted in his bathroom with a kind of wonder. Calley had never considered herself a sensual woman, but Dean had unlocked that side of her nature. Or maybe he’d created it. She’d have to ask him about that someday as a way of letting him know how much her present joy hinged on what he was to her. If something happened to shatter the perfection they’d begun to create, she wasn’t sure she’d survive intact.
Dean called twice to remind her of things she needed to pack. He dr
opped by her office late in the afternoon with a book on Alaska he thought she might want to read and wound up accepting her invitation to dinner. They spent Wednesday night at her place.
Early Thursday morning Steve drove them to the airport, and they left for Anchorage aboard a commercial flight. Calley sat next to the window, taking her eyes off the view only when Dean spoke to her. She was prepared for the majestic snow-capped mountains the plane passed over, but the size of Anchorage spreading out toward the mountain slopes took her breath away. “I had no idea it was so big,” she exclaimed. “It’s a real city.”
“Yes, it’s a city.” Dean chuckled. He leaned across her for a glimpse of the tent camp turned metropolis that they were approaching. “Hopefully we won’t have to spend too much time here.”
Calley nodded. She recognized the beautiful Chugach Mountains and Cook Inlet. With arms of the inlet cradling the city on both the northwestern and southern sides, it was easy to believe that half the state’s population was centered in Anchorage. “It’s hard to believe there was an earthquake here,” she admitted. “Are there many signs of it left?”
“Hardly any,” Dean explained. “You’re looking at the state’s commercial heart.”
A few minutes later their plane touched down. Dean waited until most of the passengers had debarked before helping Calley into the aisle. “You aren’t going to embarrass me by gawking like a tourist, are you?” he asked in a stage whisper.
Calley gave him a mock glare. “My instamatic’s in my pocket. Where’s the sled dogs? Melinda will have my head if I don’t have pictures of them.”
“Then you’re going to have to go around without your head,” Dean pointed out. “It’s the wrong time of year for snow sports.”
Hawk was waiting inside the airport. Although Dean had told Calley little about the man, he was exactly what she expected of someone who had the responsibility of supervising a national park. He was taller than anyone else in the room, but it was more than his height that singled him out. Hawk carried himself with a confidence that seemed to radiate from him; the others in the crowded room kept their distance.
All except Dean. Pulling Calley along with him, Dean reached Hawk and thrust his hand into the Alaskan native’s work-tempered paw. “You’re getting fat on bear meat,” Dean said, punching at Hawk’s rock-hard middle. “It must be those long winters and soft living.”
“Soft living? I should expect that from a man who thinks roughing it is not having running hot water.” Hawk turned toward Calley. “I take it you’re here to keep an eye on this man. He needs all the help he can get.”
Calley looked up at Hawk. She liked what she saw in the man’s eyes. There was intelligence and compassion and a certain timelessness lurking within the deep-set black eyes. Although he was dressed conventionally, she guessed that he wouldn’t be at Anchorage International Airport, surrounded by brightly costumed tourists, if there was any way he could avoid it. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you,” she admitted. She stuck out her hand, liking the firm but not intimate way he took it.
“You might not say that after you’ve seen me in action,” Hawk explained as he led the way toward the crowded baggage area. “I’m not going to mince words around those so-called sportsmen. They’re going to find out they’ve bit off more than they can chew when they try to take me on.”
Dean laughed and shared a wink with Calley. “Think of all the money that hunting would add to the Alaskan economy. You’d probably get your salary doubled. Surely you aren’t going to deny hunters the opportunity to dump a bundle in the state.”
“You damn well better believe I’m going to deny them anything.” Hawk snorted before grinning at Calley. “I hope you came up here ready for a fight. Dean tells me you’ve been gnashing your teeth since you found out what this little meeting’s about.”
“I have been,” she reassured the big man. “Any congressman who votes to enlarge hunting privileges in this state should be recalled.”
Hawk wrapped his arm around Calley’s shoulder and gave her a squeeze. “You know how to pick them, Dean. This one’s on our side.”
After collecting their luggage, Hawk drove them to the downtown hotel where the weekend meeting was going to be held. Calley saw just enough of Anchorage to realize that what she’d heard of the residents’ love of plants and flowers was true. Every home seemed to have a garden, and the public buildings all displayed elaborate flower beds. Hawk left them alone long enough to unpack, but he was back a half hour later, pacing the spacious living area. “What say we blow this place?” he suggested as soon as Calley came out of the bedroom dressed in her trusty blue jeans and warm sweater. “You aren’t one of those women who spend their free time shopping, are you?”
Calley patted her jeans. “Do I look like a clotheshorse? Dean said you’d made some rash promise that had to do with a tour of the area outside the city.”
“Now you’re talking,” Hawk said with a grin. He pulled Dean to his feet and propelled him through the door. “Remember the time we saw those eagles gorging themselves near Haines? That was one time we really messed up by not having cameras. No one would believe us,” Hawk said as the trio reentered the rental car. As Calley listened in fascination, the men told her about traveling up the Chilkat River northwest of Haines for a view of eagles feeding on salmon carcasses. Hawk explained that groundwater seepage kept a section of the river thawed even in the middle of winter. The area served as home for some two thousand bald eagles that built seven-feet-deep nests. “There were at least a hundred of them perched in trees or stalking the riverbank the day we were there,” Hawk explained. “When those creatures dive after a fish, it’s a sight to take one’s breath away.”
It didn’t take Calley long to realize that being born and raised in Alaska hadn’t blunted Hawk’s love of the wilderness. In answer to her question, he explained that his parents had named him Robert after a bush pilot who brought supplies to their village, but the name Hawk was stuck on him at an early age. Hawk tried to tell Calley that it was his keen eyesight and survival instincts that led to the nickname, but Dean interrupted to set Calley straight. It turned out that Hawk had been a skinny youngster with a larger than usual nose. “I’ve seen some old pictures of him,” Dean supplied. “He was all beak back then. He’s just lucky they didn’t call him Buzzard.”
“Enough,” Hawk interrupted. “Where to, Calley? Your wish is my command.”
Calley thought for a moment. “I wouldn’t mind a quick tour of the city, but after that I’d like to see the farmland Dean told me about. I kept looking for it while we were coming in, but I didn’t see that much flatland.”
What struck Calley about Anchorage wasn’t so much its international flavor as the profusion of flowers throughout. Her earlier glimpse was just a taste of what existed. “Despite rumors to the contrary, the whole state isn’t one big glacier,” Hawk said. “You wouldn’t believe the summer homes around the valley lakes. I have a friend who owns a sailboat. As soon as he puts away his snowmobile, out comes the bathing suit. Now his kids are pushing for something with a little more power so they can waterski.”
Calley shivered. Although the day was warm enough that she didn’t need a jacket, all it took was a glance at the snowcapped mountains to make her admit that waterskiing and sailing weren’t sports she associated with Alaska.
She almost changed her mind when Hawk took them into the Matanuska Valley. Nestled between mountain ranges was dairy land, wheat fields and acres of vegetable gardens. This time it was Dean who filled in the blanks. He explained that years ago over two hundred families had settled in the valley and turned to farming. Although only a fraction of them stuck it out, the area remained a fertile pocket. “She’d like to see the Old Believers, Dean,” Hawk said. “Too bad there isn’t time to take her to the Kenai Peninsula.”
Before Calley had a chance to ask Hawk what he was talking about, Dean pulled her next to him in the back seat. “The Old Believers are a sect of Ru
ssian Orthodox Christians,” he explained. “They cling to traditional ways of farming. The women wear long dresses and head scarves. The men are all bearded, and the children have daily religious training. Whether you share their beliefs or not, you can’t help but be moved by their life-style.”
“Oh,” Calley whispered. One more aspect of Dean’s personality was being revealed to her. Since they’d gotten into the car, he’d let Hawk do most of the talking, saying just enough for her to realize that he was enjoying himself completely. Now he was telling her that he was capable of doing more than just observing the world; the world was constantly shaping him. Calley nestled against him, more interested in the man than in her surroundings.
From the valley it was a short drive into the mountains where the road no longer resembled a modern highway. While Dean and Hawk reminisced about fishing in icy streams and hiking to Matanuska Glacier, Calley was content to gaze at the mountains. Hawk pointed out sheltered hillsides where purple-blue lupine grew and indicated where in winter they would find frozen waterfalls. At Calley’s prompting, they drove to Matanuska Glacier, a twenty-seven-mile-long ice river that stretched back in time to the Ice Age.
She had no words for her first look at a glacier—a monster tongue sawing its way down a cut in the mountains. It seemed to Calley that they had left earth and entered another galaxy.
“Out of the car, woman,” Dean ordered. “There’s no way I’m going to bring you all the way to Alaska without getting you out onto a glacier.”
Calley wasn’t sure her boots were made for walking on sheer ice, but with Dean and Hawk on either side of her, she managed to walk the better part of a mile. What struck her most about the frozen, slippery surface was its utter lifelessness. It had been sculpted by wind and melt and glowed with a silvery-blue aura that seemed capable of drawing her into its depths.
