Snowfall

by Lainey Reese

  Dedication

  To Daddy, who is half American Indian and half Mexican and raised me with a love and respect for both of those amazing cultures.

  Chapter One

  Ashley tried not to drool. The way-too-handsome-to-be-a-doctor Dr. Eagle Feather looked around the campsite. He had the strong, proud features of his heritage—tawny skin over a high forehead and piercing brown eyes so dark she could hardly tell the pupil from the iris.

  He so classically fit the Hollywood version of a handsome Indian brave that she had trouble focusing on what he was saying to her. Her mind kept wandering to fantasies involving loincloths and being carried away on horseback. She wasn’t even going to look at the black silky hair that fell like satin down to the middle of his back. If she did, she was afraid she’d humiliate herself by reaching out and tangling her hands in it.

  “Miss Turner?”

  It took a moment to register that he was waiting for her reply, “Oh, sorry. Ashley. You can drop the Miss and just call me Ashley.”

  “I’m sure you have to be aware of the unusual habits of the cougars up here.” He turned his back to her and looked at the breathtaking view. They were at the lookout area of the campground. Some of the most stunning mountains in the U.S. were spread out before them in an explosion of fall colors.

  She owned this campground. She had shed blood, sweat and tears for the last three years to carve out the sites and nature trails. She’d hiked every inch of this mountain and knew it like the back of her hand. So of course she knew exactly what he was talking about. Ashley was all for the expedition until he dropped the next request on her.

  “We would like your permission to stay in your cabin with you for the winter to study them. The winter is too harsh and the wildlife too unpredictable to risk a tent base.”

  Ashley was glad he was facing away from her. It gave her time to compose herself. If he’d been facing her he would have seen her jaw drop to her chest. Well, at least his comment did the trick—she no longer had trouble being distracted by his looks.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Eagle Feather,” she began, and then sputtered to a stop when he reached out a hand and held a finger up.

  “It’s Doctor, actually, but you can just call me Jake.” Then he grinned at her over his shoulder. “Or Eagle if you prefer.”

  Ashley felt a flush sweep over her face. It was as if he knew about the Indian brave visions she’d had running through her mind, and he was teasing her about it.

  “Well,” she said, marching up to stand next to him, “that’s just going to be impossible. You are welcome to use the campsites, but I’m sorry. I am just not going to have my home invaded by strangers for the whole winter. Once the snow starts, that’s it. Everyone who is still here when the first big storm hits stays here, and I’m not willing to make that kind of commitment.”

  He faced her with his big hands braced on his lean hips and gave her a smile. “Ashley, I’m not asking you to marry me. Just let me and my partner Poncho use a couple of spare rooms. You won’t even know we’re there. If you like, we’ll even share a room.” He reached out and ran a hand from her shoulder to her wrist. “But if you have any mercy in you at all you won’t make me sleep in the same room with him. That’s one Mexican who loves his beans.” She smiled at his joke even as she pulled her arm from his grasp.

  “I’m sorry, Jake…Doctor…um…Jake.” She fumbled for a title that fit him, thrown off by the jolt his touch had given her. “The money you offered is great. Unfortunately the answer is still no. I really am sorry.” Then she walked away.

  If she had known just how stubborn and just how much trouble he was going to cause her she might have stayed and pushed him off the mountain.

  Over the next three months Ashley didn’t go a day without thinking about him. Not because of his dashing good looks. Not because of his silky charm that could so easily coax a smile out of her. Not even because of all the heated steamy sex dreams she kept having about him. If it had been for any one of those reasons she would have been just fine. It was because the man refused to give up. He turned up everywhere. Whenever an errand took her into town, no matter which part of town, he was there. If she didn’t go to town he showed up at the campsite. Or called.

  She told herself she hated him, that he was a pest. She tried not to think about the jolt of pleasure she felt every time he came into her line of sight or she heard his deep voice. She didn’t know why she started saving the daily voicemails he left her. She told herself that it was a record of proof of harassment, but she didn’t believe it.

  Chapter Two

  “Honey, if you would just see reason. You can’t keep spending so much time alone. You’re going to turn into one of those crazy cat ladies.”

  Ashley smiled at the shudder in her aunt’s voice. “Impossible, Aunt Lulu, I like dogs, remember?”

  “Don’t be a smart-ass. You know what I mean.”

  Ashley rolled her eyes and pretended to strangle herself. “Look, it’s not gonna happen. I only spend winters alone, and I like it that way. In the summer this place is crawling with people. It’s a freakin’ metropolis seven months out of the year. Once the snow starts it’s my time, and that’s the way it’s going to stay.”

  Before Lulu could reply, Ashley heard the unmistakable crackle of the CB radio coming from her office. Saved by the bell, she thought. “Aunt Lulu, I love you. I gotta go. Dad’s calling on the CB. Tell Gran I love her. I’ll call soon. Bye.”

  Maybe it was her dad’s fault. He was a loner too.

  The CB radio started crackling and snapping, a lot of snow on the ground meant a lot of snow on the radio.

  A couple twists of the dials and one solid thump of frustration and she finally got a clear enough signal. “Hey, you stubborn mule. When are you going to give up and get a satellite phone? You caveman.” Ashley smiled when her dad’s warm chuckle came over the speaker.

  “I don’t need one of them damn things. The CB works just fine. Already got me a cell phone thanks to you. Don’t know why I need the thing, never use it.”

  Ashley sighed. “You can’t always be in the truck, Dad. What happens when you’re away from the rig and something comes up? And don’t say pay phone. Look around. They are obsolete, same as a CB.” It was an old argument and one of their favorites. There was nothing Ashley and her dad liked more than squabbling with each other.

  “Well,” he broke in, “Never mind that. Happy birthday, baby. Did you get your present?” It was impossible to miss the mean chuckle in his voice, no matter that he tried to hide it.

  “Yes, Daddy Dearest, I did and thank you ever so much.” Disgust and exasperation dripped off her words like melting ice cream. Dad had always been terrible at buying gifts. That had been Mom’s area. It was well-known and accepted that he was clueless as to what to get anyone, let alone a little girl.

  The first birthday they had alone he’d bought his eleven-year-old an action figure doll from some cartoon. It was a mutated bad guy complete with a snarling face and razor claws. Ashley had nightmares for a week before he took pity on her and threw it away. Eventually, it became funny, and he started looking for the worst possible thing he could find for her. A package of plus-size granny panties, a truck stop coffee mug with the logo from an oil company, even a jock strap for her sixteenth birthday. He’d told her it was a chastity belt.

  Now she sat at her desk and looked at the hula dancer alarm clock. Her faux grass skirt swayed, marking the seconds with each twitch of her hips.

  When the alarm went off, those hips shook with such force Ashley was sure they were going to break. “Dad, I think you’ve outdone yourself with this one. I love it.” They talked for a while longer and then said goodbye with the promise to talk again next week.

  “Well, Apollo,�
� Ashley said to her mammoth dog, “It’s my birthday. Let’s celebrate.” She ruffled the fur behind his ears and gave him a quick kiss before pushing up from her desk and heading for the kitchen. It was only two in the afternoon, but there was no one around to think worse of her if she started her celebration early. It wasn’t every day a girl turned twenty-five.

  Twenty-five was still young but Ashley felt like it’d just snuck up on her. There was so much that she hadn’t ever tried or experienced. She poured herself a glass of Merlot and stood staring out the sliding glass door off the dining room. The view was awe-inspiring—mountains and snow and trees. To her the solitude was soothing. A comfort where most would find it unsettling. During winter it was impossible to get in or out. The snow obliterated the trails to the road, and the current cougar problem discouraged most from trying. She had a sturdy, reliable snowmobile if an emergency came up, but she was always prepared for the winter months here. Summer was soon enough for people. The campers and hikers invaded every year and that was plenty. For now she just basked in the beauty that surrounded her and sipped her wine. Ignoring the nagging voice in her head that whispered life was passing her by.

  As she stroked one hand down the dog’s head for comfort and sipped her wine, she squinted into the horizon. What she saw caused a sense of foreboding to settle in the pit of her stomach. She was moving before she was sure what she saw was what she thought it was. Snarling and stomping into her outer gear, she rushed outside and onto her snowmobile just as the small plane landed in her cleared patch about a mile from her home.

  Chapter Three

  “Uh oh, man. She don’t look too happy to see us,” Poncho Reveras said to his friend and coworker as they climbed out of the plane. “Hey man, how ’bout I leave the lion taming to a braver and dumber man than me and start unloading?” He took another glance toward Ashley and added, “On the other side of the plane.”

  “Hey, Jake,” Ashley said with rage coming off her in waves. “I told you no. I told you no to the three letters you sent. I told you no the fifty times you called on the phone, and I told your bosses no when you sicced them on me.” As she ranted she flung herself off her machine, whipped a rifle up to her shoulder and aimed it right in his face. Damn if he didn’t find it sexy as hell.

  “You know, you could put an eye out with that thing.”

  His smile faltered a little when she lowered the barrel toward his buckle and said, “It’s not your eye I’ll be aiming for.”

  “Look. Enough of this. The university will pay you for any inconvenience we put you through. This is the only place that an expedition could survive up here. The cougar population is exploding. You know that. They are throwing the natural balance way off. If we don’t get them under control, people are going to get hurt.” When the rifle never wavered and her unspoken “Who cares?” echoed as loud as a shout, he turned his back on her and started helping Poncho unload.

  “We’re staying. You shoot us and you’ll just have to play nurse while we’re here. Now, as much as I’d like you waiting on me hand and foot, I think it would be in your best interest to put the gun down and help us load up. Good thing you brought that sled, else we’d have a heck of a time getting all our equipment to the house.” He kept his back to her and continued to unload. He had no idea what he was pulling out of the plane, all his focus was behind him. He was ready to face-plant in the snow if the stubborn woman decided to call his bluff and start shooting. Jake was more surprised than relieved when instead of gunshots he heard the engine start. He turned with a curse and this time wasn’t surprised in the least to watch the ornery woman drive off in a flurry.

  “She didn’t leave the sled,” Poncho said.

  “She also didn’t shoot,” he said back with a cocky grin, “so it’s already working out better than I expected.”

  Poncho started mumbling in Spanish about crazy Indians and even crazier women while the two of them unloaded the plane. They had a lot of equipment and gear and none of it was going to stay in the plane. It was going to be a long, hard job getting it all to the cabin in this snow.

  “Jake Eagle Feather.” Ashley stormed around her kitchen, slamming cupboards and the things she pulled out of them as she started cooking. “The nerve of this guy,” she ranted to her dogs. “Who does he think he is? He can’t get away with this, you know. They are leaving in the morning, even if I have to shoot him.”

  The dogs listened attentively, eyes tracking her back and forth as she motioned to them with whatever she had in her hands at the time. They were well used to this. She talked to them constantly and although she wasn’t quite the cat lady level of crazy that her aunt thought she was, she was uncomfortably aware of how close she was getting to that point. Nevertheless, she loved her dogs. They listened and never complained. They snuggled when she needed comfort and were always on her side. They were also fiercely protective. Jake was right about the cougars—the dogs had saved her more than once from them.

  It made it worse that he was right. Those cats weren’t scared of anything. They kept coming closer and closer to the house and camp areas. Cougars were by nature shy and invisible hunters, easily scared off by loud noises and people. The ones on this mountain didn’t seem to know that they were supposed to be that way. Instead they were brazen. And lately nothing but the dogs seemed to scare them off.

  Ashley shook off the thought of those two idiots out there weighed down with gear and trekking it to the cabin instead of watching out for themselves. They were here because of the cats, after all. She told herself they’d be fine and continued cooking.

  As she ranted less and looked out the windows more, the dogs didn’t say a word—another reason she loved them.

  Chapter Four

  “Hey? Eagle? I think I lost my big toe. It snapped off the third time I fell and it’s been knocking around like an ice cube in my boot ever since.”

  “Shut up, Ponch.” But he said it with a grim smile. The house was less than thirty feet away. They were loaded down like a couple of pack mules. His legs were on fire and even with the extreme snow gear he was soaked and freezing. Poncho was in the same predicament. Both of them were in good shape, but a mile in three feet of snow, loaded with equipment would put even a Ranger under.

  Looking toward the house, his smile became less grim. It was a sprawling log cabin with two rock chimneys that had a welcoming curl of smoke coming from each one of them. The lights were on in the front windows, and he smelled something wonderful in the air. He quickened his steps and swore to himself if the ornery woman hadn’t made enough of whatever she’d cooked for the two of them he was going to strangle her.

  He was focused on the porch, each step a trial of endurance. He was wearing his snowshoes, but that required his walk to be a straddled march that was killing his gluts. Even with the snowshoes he still sank a little with each step and had to wrench up and out of the snow to take the next step, which was killing his quads. Focusing on the pain each step caused wasn’t going to get him there any faster, so he just watched the porch get closer and closer until all he saw was it and the warm glow from the front window.

  The cat came from out of nowhere. Between one grueling step and the next, he went down under two hundred pounds of tawny fur and quivering muscle. He was loaded down in gear and padded from his high-endurance snowsuit, so he didn’t feel fang or claw. Only incredible force. As the two of them rolled from the impact, Jake saw a flash of teeth and emerald eyes a millisecond before he heard that hissing, snarling growl that only a cougar could make. He didn’t think, training and instinct kicked in and he brought his knee up to the tender belly and shot his fingers toward the beast’s eyes, clawing as much as his gloves would allow. It reared back and tried to shake him off. He hung on, clinging like a burr. He knew that if he let go, the cat would go for his jugular and he would be dead.

  “Argh!” he yelled as it shook like a rodeo horse and his already tired muscles screamed in protest. Dimly he heard Poncho shouting and felt th
e cat shudder under an impact. Before he thought to guess what Poncho was doing he was hit hard in the shoulder, so he yelled again, this time at Poncho.

  What he said was lost in another roar from the cat and a new sound. Furious barking joined the cat’s growls and a second later the cat was barreled into by two snarling, jaw-snapping dogs. In a colorful roll of fur and the unspeakable sounds of animal voices locked in a life-and-death battle, the dogs saved his life and risked their own. Time seemed to slow in the way that it did during moments like this. Every second seemed to last an eternity. Every detail seemed magnified. Jake could see the ripple of the cat’s muscles as it fought the two huge dogs. Fierce snarls and thunder-deep growls made the soundtrack to the battle. Fur and snow flew in a flurry around them as they fought to survive.

  In what felt like hours but in reality was only seconds, the cat disentangled itself. It took a moment to crouch and pose, ready to fight should the dogs charge again. With one last hissing roar, ears pinned back and fur raised, it was gone. It disappeared into the trees as fast as it had appeared. The dogs, well trained and smart enough not to follow the cat into its territory, stood guard. There were three of them, he saw. The third had taken point and stood guard over Poncho and kept close to his charge. All three had their hackles raised and stood fierce and formidable in a semi-circle around the two men, not relaxing until they heard the call from Ashley.

  “Good boys. Stand down.”

  Jake turned from studying the dogs to look toward their owner. She was chalk white and stood with the warm light from the open doorway behind her. She had her rifle clutched in a death grip and even from this distance he could see how she quivered.

  First things first though. “Poncho,” he asked as he pushed himself up to a sitting position, “What in the hell did you hit me with?” He looked toward his best friend and partner while he rubbed at the shoulder that Poncho had damn near shattered with his blow. The lighthearted grumble had the desired effect and set the two others in motion. Ashley came pounding down the stairs, calling for her dogs, while Poncho shuffled over to him, dragging his shotgun in the snow.