by Amy Summers
“So do I,” she whispered, then stood, testing her legs. “Shall we get going?”
He came up beside her, reaching out to steady her with a hand on her arm. “Do you think...?”
“Yes,” she snapped, pulling away from his touch. “I’m fine. Let’s go.”
As they began to trudge up the trail, she risked one quick look down the mountain to where her backpack had ended up, a couple of hundred feet down among jagged rocks. That could have been her, she realized. It made her breath come a little faster.
But the going was easier without the heavy load on her back. She was stiff from the fall. Brett found a long, strong branch that he quickly fashioned into a walking stick for her, and though she resisted it at first, she quickly found it did make walking a lot smoother.
They made their way down off the steep slope and into a high valley crowded with black oaks and coarse grasses. The sun was threatening to disappear behind the western range. She watched the back of Brett’s head and wondered how much longer this would take. He hadn’t wanted to make any predictions when they started out, though he had warned her it could be overnight. And now her sleeping bag was at the bottom of a cliff. Great.
But it would all be worth it if they could find Chelsea unharmed. She couldn’t have explained just why Chelsea was so important to her, but the fact was, the animal meant everything right now. She was the only family Kendall had. Or would ever have.
She’d dreamed of having a family once. She’d married Gerald with high hopes. Even though he was much older than she, she’d expected he would want children. But it was soon obvious that children were something he didn’t want at all. She shuddered, casting away memories.
“What time do you think it will get dark?” she called up to Brett.
He only half-turned toward her. “Two more hours,” he said. “Time to rest.”
He stopped abruptly and dropped his backpack to the ground. She stopped too, swaying a bit and hoping he didn’t notice. She was more tired than she’d ever been before in her life. Her feet felt like lead, her arms like bloated things. She sank to the ground, her legs sprawling.
“Here you go.” He came to her with the wet handkerchief again, and this time she was too tired to resist. Closing her eyes, she let her head fall back and let him dab her face and her neck. It felt heavenly, cool and comforting. She didn’t even move when she felt him pushing aside the collar of her shirt. But suddenly his lips were on her skin, warm and exciting, and she gasped and jerked away.
“Sorry,” he said calmly, pouring more water onto the handkerchief as though nothing much had happened. “Your neck just looked so delicious, I had to taste it.”
She glared at him, outraged, clutching the spot where he’d been as though to wipe away the feel of him. “What did you do that for? You don’t even like me.”
He laughed aloud. “Honey, ‘liking’ has nothing to do with it.”
Her cheeks were flushing again. She’d done more blushing in one day with this man than she’d ever done before.
“Wonderful,” she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. She pulled her legs up into a crossed position and grabbed hold of her walking stick again, as if to protect herself with it. “I’m supposed to be flattered?”
“I couldn’t care less whether or not you’re flattered,” he told her, his blue eyes frankly admiring her. “More to the point, are you interested?”
Words failed her. He was asking point-blank if she wanted to sleep with him, wasn’t he? She was sure she had done nothing, absolutely nothing, to give him signals that she might be available. She counted on that, her stern exterior, to let men know she was closed to that sort of thing. It made her furious to think her barriers had failed.
“You go after women like you go after game, don’t you?” she challenged him, her hand tightening on her stick. “With a loaded gun and a lust for the kill.”
Brett’s face hardened. “Listen, Ms. Kendall MacKenzie,” he said evenly. “I’ve never killed for pleasure. I don’t enjoy watching anything die.”
She drew in her breath sharply. His tone was like a slap in the face. But she wouldn’t back all the way down. “It’s quite apparent what you do enjoy.”
He grimaced, narrowing his eyes as he stared at her. “Is it? Somehow I didn’t think you were getting the message.”
He was sitting on the ground, his weight on his right arm which was stretched out behind him. Kendall’s eyes were drawn to movement by his hand. For just a second she looked at it, trying to puzzle out what it was, and then she saw it clearly as it raised its head preparing to strike. She’d seen rattlesnakes before. This one was only inches from Brett’s hand, its reptilian neck arched, its poisonous fangs ready. Without conscious thought, reacting only to raw instinct, she lashed out with the walking stick. A primitive yell exploded from her chest at the same moment, and she hit the thing with all her might, leaping to her feet as she did it, stunning the snake back against the ground.
Brett had his knife out so quickly she hardly saw what he was doing. In seconds he dispatched the poor snake and threw its remnants into a nearby patch of manzanita. Then he turned to look at her.
“My God,” he said softly. “I thought you were hitting me with that thing.”
She wanted to laugh. It was funny, really. She’d never done anything so completely without conscious reason before in her life. She’d acted purely on instinct. And it had turned out right. How strange. How magical.
Brett was frowning at the brush around them. “I don’t know how I missed seeing him,” he grumbled. “I don’t usually miss things like that.”
“Too busy kissing necks, I guess,” she said smugly, but the sharpness was gone from her voice. “Just a little reminder to keep your mind on your work.”
He grinned at her, his gaze newly appreciative. He still could hardly believe she’d taken such a decisive action and done so well at it. “We’re even now,” he told her. “That wipes the slate clean.”
She was proud of what she’d done. She felt good about it. But that didn’t mean she was ready to be buddies.
“No it doesn’t,” she told him. “I hired you, so whatever you did was in the line of duty.” She smiled, mischief in her eyes. “When I saved you, it was an act of human charity. You now owe me.”
He shook his head, his gaze steady on her. “How is it that, no matter how we mess around with the equations, you always end up with the winning number?” he asked. “Why is that?”
“I guess I was born under a lucky star,” she said.
“I guess so.”
He was too close to her again. How had this happened? The laughter faded from his eyes and something clouded and unreadable took its place. Kendall looked away quickly, squaring her shoulders.
“Shouldn’t we be getting on?” she asked, her voice reflecting her uneasiness. “I mean, it’s going to be dark soon...”
He lifted his hand and reached toward her. This time she didn’t flinch away, but he was merely taking a dried leaf from her hair. Stepping back, he looked up into the mountainside.
“We’re there,” he told her. “Unless I miss my guess, your puma is up there. See that patch of lupine?” He pointed it out to her. “Right behind that is a whole series of water erosion caves. I’m going to check them out. You stay here.”
“No!”
“Kendall, get real.” He stopped and followed her line of vision to the rifle strapped to his pack. He sighed. “Okay.” Reaching back he loosened the weapon and placed it carefully on the ground. “I’ll leave it here. Will that make you happy?”
She was tired, and she knew she wasn’t up to an exploratory hike at this point. “Yes,” she said wearily. “Just promise me you won’t hurt her.”
Something flashed across his handsome face. “I won’t hurt her,” he said curtly. And then he was off, climbing quickly through the rocks and scrub brush until he was out of sight.
Kendall felt all her energy drain out, and she sank to th
e ground. She’d been through a lot already, and the day wasn’t over yet. Her bruises hurt. As time passed, more and more aches were cropping up to nag at her. She didn’t want to complain to Brett about them. She wasn’t sure what was making her more tired, the exhausting hike, or the rampaging emotions.
She wasn’t used to these ups and downs. She’d been living a life determinedly on an even keel for the last few years. Her emotions were reserved for her animals. It had been a long time since she’d allowed herself to feel anything—even anger—for a man.
People always told her to watch out, that wild animals could hurt her. They didn’t know what “hurt” was. Sure, animals could inflict physical damage. But when it came to real pain, emotional pain, only humans really knew how to turn the knife in a wound.
Now she was stuck up here in the mountains with this macho man, this Brett Carrington. Fate was hardly kind. She’d needed a tracker to help her find Chelsea, but why couldn’t he have turned out to be a little old balding man or one of those dirty, ragged, laconic wilderness types with absolutely no sex appeal. Instead—Brett. He was too darn attractive.
She was pretty sure she could handle that, though. She was cool, calm and collected. She’d decided long ago that passion would never be her downfall. She’d seen how it could destroy people. She’d seen it destroy Gerald. If she’d let it, if she’d really loved her husband the way she’d thought she would when she married him, it might have destroyed her too.
The sound of rocks falling first signaled Brett’s return. By the time Kendall looked up, there he was, his face closed and unreadable.
Kendall sprang to her feet. “Did you find her?”
He nodded. “Yes, I found her.”
Kendall laughed aloud with relief. “Can we signal them now? Will they come get her? How did she look? Was she hurt in any way?”
Brett hesitated, then shrugged out of his pack before he spoke. “Something’s happened, Kendall,” he said quietly. “Chelsea...” He shook his head. “I think you’d better come and see for yourself.”
Kendall’s face fell. She didn’t ask any more questions. “Which way?” was all she said, and then the climb to Chelsea’s cave began.
Chapter 3
“Kendall!” he called after her. “Wait a minute. Not so fast.”
She whirled, breath short. “What is it?” she demanded. “Tell me what’s wrong with her.”
He caught hold of her arm, calming her. “I don’t want you to be scared. It’s not what you think. I mean, she was hurt a little in the accident and this trek today was something she’s not used to, but... since you didn’t prepare me, I don’t think you know.”
“Know what? What is it?” She wanted to shake words out of him.
Conflicting emotions chased across his face and ended in a grimace. “Just wait until you see,” he said again. “But don’t be upset. There’s nothing you can do about it now...”
Infuriated, she pulled away from him. “Oh!” she cried out in frustration. “Then take me to her!”
He led her up onto a path that rounded some boulders, then climbed again across a steep slide area where the rocks slid under their feet and Kendall lost a foot of progress for every yard she gained. Her mouth was dry and her heart was beating fast. Small fragments of prayer swam in and out of her mind. “Oh please, please, don’t let her be hurt...”
Finally they made it to the ridge, and Brett stopped her.
“We’re almost there,” he said, whispering. “We don’t want to disturb her. Go quietly.”
She knew enough from working with animals to know that calm and slow movement could make all the difference. Even a favored pet like Chelsea could react badly when startled. So she nodded curtly. “All right. Let’s go.”
She glanced at Brett and saw that he’d taken a tranquilizer gun out of his backpack and put it in his belt.
“You’re not going to use that,” she said fiercely.
His face didn’t change. “Let’s go,” he said.
“Promise me,” she insisted, standing her ground.
His blue eyes narrowed. “I’m not planning to use it now unless I have to. But you’re going to have to face it, Kendall. We’re going to have to use it to get her out of here.”
She shook her head, refusing to respond to that. He gestured for her to follow him. They crept up to the edge of the cave and he motioned for her to stay back while he stretched up and looked inside.
“Okay,” he whispered, backing off to give Kendall room and handing her the flashlight at the same time.
She wanted to ask how Chelsea was, but the words stuck in her throat. Now that the moment was here, she hesitated, almost afraid to find out what the problem was. Steeling herself, she stretched up and stared into the darkened interior. The beam from the flashlight bobbled about as her hand trembled. She steadied it against a rock, and stared intensely into the shadows. There was a lump of something furry there, but she couldn’t have identified it as Chelsea. Not yet. She resisted the urge to call to her animal. What if it weren’t hers, after all? Moving slowly, painfully, she trained the beam on the animal.
“Chelsea!” she whispered, heart leaping. But the big cat blinked into the light and then went back to doing something Kendall couldn’t make out. “What’s she doing?” she whispered to Brett, but even as the words were leaving her lips she began to make out the two little pink, squirming hunks of newborn flesh beside her cat. “Oh my God. Are those what I think they are?”
Brett looked up at her, incredulous. “Hasn’t she ever had kittens before?”
“No! Those are hers?” Kendall couldn’t believe it. She slid back down to face Brett. “How did this happen?”
“Come on, Kendall,” he scoffed. “You can’t be that naive.”
“No, I mean... she’s never been mated.”
He shrugged. “I don’t think mountain lions are into artificial insemination,” he said. “Somewhere along the line, some male cat got to her.”
He handed her a drink from his canteen. She took a long swallow. “I know when it happened,” she said dully, pushing back stray hair with a weary hand. “I should have been more careful. We were moving animals and we put her in with Tiger, this big old cat who’s gentle around everyone and everything. I never dreamed they would... would...”
“Well, they did,” he said flatly. “And now we’ve got more than one little old puma to get down out of here. We’ve got a whole litter as well.”
Kendall closed her eyes for a moment. “They usually only have two or three.”
He nodded. “As far as I can tell, there are two. But she looks like she’s working on having another one to me.”
“How could I not have noticed?” she berated herself. “I just thought she was eating too much.” She shook her head and turned to go back. “What if I just went up and…?”
He restrained her, his hand strong and yet comforting on her arm. “No. She wants to be alone right now.”
Kendall looked into his eyes, her own beseeching his, as though begging for reassurance. “But we’re so close, really.”
He frowned. “Trust me on this. You may know Chelsea, but I know animals. She doesn’t want you anywhere near her. Why do you think she came so far to do this?”
Kendall stared at him, knowing he was right.
“But we’re taking her home, aren’t we? You’re going to call someone to come in and get her.”
He shook his head. “We can’t move her tonight. We’ll have to stay here with her.”
“What?” The reality of spending a night in the mountains with this man finally came through to her with the force of a punch in the stomach. “No!”
“Yes.” He gestured to the ledge. “We’ll camp out here to keep an eye on the entrance to the cave. She’s vulnerable to predators right now. We’ll have to stand guard for her.”
Kendall turned to look back up at the opening of the cave. “And then what?”
“In the morning we’ll call some men I
work with. I’m assuming you’re going to want to go to the expense of calling in a helicopter.”
“Of course.”
“Of course.” His tone was mocking. He studied the ledge as though deciding where it would be best to camp. “We’ll do that in the morning. We’ll have to knock her out with the tranquilizer. And when she wakes up she’ll be right there with her babies in whatever quarters you’ve got prepared for her. She’ll think it was all a bad dream.” He began using his boot to smooth an area, kicking stones out of the way.
Kendall knew he was right. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she’d had this idealized vision of herself leading Chelsea out on a leash. That had been impractical from the beginning and was surely impossible now. He was right. It was the only way.
Suddenly she remembered. “My sleeping bag. It’s at the bottom of that cliff.”
“That’s right.” He began pushing larger rocks together to build a fire pit.
“How am I going to sleep without it?” She glared at him. “Where am I going to sleep?”
He looked up from his task, his eyes glinted with mischief. “In my sleeping bag.”
She didn’t smile back. “Then where will you sleep?” she demanded suspiciously.
He managed a look of total innocence. “In my sleeping bag.”
Clenching her fists, she let out a sigh of exasperation.
“It just so happens I brought along my extra-wide down-filled bag,” he told her happily. “It’ll hold two.”
At first she’d been sure he was joking, but now she realized he really meant it. “You must be crazy. We can’t stay.”
“We have to stay.” He rose and faced her. “Look, it’s already getting dark. We can’t possibly hike out in time. Besides, Chelsea needs us to guard her tonight.”
He was right. Again. She watched numbly as he finished clearing the area.
“I’m going down to get the rest of the supplies,” he said, turning to favor her with a sweeping glance before he started off down the mountain. Kendall sat where she was and stared at the orange glow of the sunset. Just this morning she’d been a reasonably content woman busy making a place for herself and her animals. Now, just hours later, Chelsea had an entire new litter, and she herself was in the mountains about to spend the night in the wild with a man she hadn’t even known existed twenty-four hours before. This was crazy. This couldn’t be happening. How had she managed to get herself into such a silly predicament? She felt like someone waking up into a weird illusion. No control.
