Force Of Nature

by Peggy Webb

  “Thank you, sir.”

  Hannah nearly burst with pride. In addition to everything else, Hunter had absorbed her quick lesson in Southern courtesy and manners.

  “If Anne and I can help you in any way with your adjustment, all you have to do is call on us.”

  Hannah hugged both parents an extra long time.

  “It was a beautiful evening,” she said, “in every way.”

  As she and Hunter left the garden, Michael and Anne disappeared inside the gazebo.

  “I like your family, Hannah.”

  “They like you, too.”

  Hannah pulled away from Belle Rose and they didn’t talk again until they were on the river road going home.

  “Did I pass the test?”

  “With flying colors.”

  He grew quiet for a while, and then he said, “I should have let you teach me to drive.”

  “Why?”

  “Because if I were driving I’d stop the car in that thick grove.”

  “Why?”

  “I want to mate with you.”

  Without a word Hannah swerved the car onto the dirt lane. Hidden amidst ancient oaks and massive magnolias, Hunter stripped off their clothes and positioned her on the forest floor. As he drove into her, he lifted one single cry to the moon.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  December 25, 2001

  Christmas in Hawaii! I can hardly believe it.

  It’s all Michael’s doing. A big surprise. When I started trying to plan Christmas around everybody’s schedules, he said, “Anne, the children are starting families of their own now. Let’s let them create their own Christmas traditions.”

  “How can we have Christmas without a gathering at Belle Rose?” I said, and he told me, “We won’t. We’re starting a new tradition.”

  Then he pulled out two tickets to Hawaii. I whooped and hollered and hula-danced till Michael begged me to stop. He was laughing so hard he swore he was about to split his sides.

  This is a dream come true. I’ve been wanting to come here for years, but Michael was always off on a mountain somewhere or one of the children had a major emergency or Mother was getting married again.

  It just never happened, and frankly I didn’t know how this trip would work out, being away from home at Christmas and all, but I’m here to tell you that I love it! Every sun-filled, magical moment.

  Lord, I feel like a teenager! Michael and I eat coconut straight out of the shell and drink exotic beverages that take the top off my head. Every night we walk hand-in-hand along the beach. Last night we found a deserted spot and wrapped a blanket around ourselves and made love standing up. He mounded sand up for me to stand on so I would be tall, then dug himself into a pit so he would be shorter. It wasn’t a very successful way to make love, but the forbidden thrill of it all made us giddy. We laughed all the way back to our cottage.

  Oh, the cottage we rented is lovely. It has a thatched roof and coconut trees outside the window. Strange and exotic birds serenade us while we lie under our mosquito netting as naked as the early Polynesian natives.

  I’m sleeping like a baby now…and have been ever since our anniversary celebration. I will never forget how magnificent Michael was, standing in the middle of the room taking command. I fell in love with him all over again.

  I told him so that night after everybody was in bed, and he said, “Anne, I plan to make you fall in love with me every day for the rest of our lives. And that’s a promise.”

  It’s a promise he has kept. Whether he’s leaning against the doorjamb playing blues on his harmonica or sitting naked on a towel while we picnic on the floor or leaving a mustache of shaving cream around my mouth from an early-morning kiss, I fall in love with him all over again.

  Oh, God, I don’t want this to ever end. Even when I’m a hundred I still want to be falling in love with my Michael.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Hannah and Hunter spent Christmas at her cottage in the woods. They saw in the New Year on the bluff overlooking the river, making love under a tent of warm quilts.

  A few days later she sent in her story on the wolves of Denali. The remainder of the month passed in a blissful blur. When she wasn’t posing for one of his paintings, they were making love.

  She knew her fairy-tale existence had to come to an end, but she held on as long as she could. After all, Hunter had to get enough paintings ready for a show, didn’t he?

  His paintings were scattered throughout the house, huge canvases, many of them filled with images of Hannah. Her favorites, though, were the oils he had done of his wolf brothers. Painting from memory, he had captured them in poses that only one who had lived among them would ever see. There was one of Whitey and his wife playing in a mountain stream, one of them nuzzling each other underneath a full moon while the rest of the pack slept nearby, one of Whitey’s wife mourning his death. Her grief was so real Hannah could feel it.

  His newest one was of Hannah beside the campfire while a wolf-like figure watched from the shadows. Sensuality leapt from the painting. Looking and remembering, Hannah grew hot.

  “Do you like it?” Startled, she whirled to face Hunter. His bold gaze raked her, and he smiled. “I can see that you do.”

  “The painting is unbelievable.”

  “So was what I saw from the woods that night. It took every ounce of restraint I had to keep from ravishing you that evening.”

  “What held you back?”

  “Caution. I didn’t want to scare you away.”

  “I had many feelings for you. Fear was not one of them.”

  “I know that now.”

  Their eyes locked, and she reached for the top button of her blouse. It slid to the floor and Hunter bent over to take one turgid nipple into his mouth. She leaned against the wall while waves of sensation washed over her. She cupped her breasts and offered them up to him like a feast before gods.

  For a small eternity he teased her nipples with tongue and teeth. Then drawing her deep into his mouth, he began to suckle. She went limp with pleasure and would have slid to the floor if he hadn’t scooped her up.

  He laid her on the hooked wool rug beside the hearth. Reflections from the flames licked over her skin as he stripped off her jeans. Hunter followed the path of firelight with his tongue, found the seat of her passion and plundered there. She spiraled upward, then came crashing back down and shattered into a million pieces.

  Tangling her hands in his hair so she could hold him close, she whispered, “This…yes, only this.”

  He was all she needed, all she wanted. He was sun and wind and stars, moon and rain and comets. He was her universe.

  Kneeling over her, he cupped her breasts, then ran his hands over the length of her body, softly, ever so softly. Though he didn’t say the words, it felt like love.

  “I want you in me,” she whispered. “Now.”

  She opened herself to him, heart, body and soul. Cradling her hips he buried himself deep, and though she didn’t say the words, she gave him love.

  With firelight flickering over them they explored each other’s bodies until they were both sweat-slickened and heaving. And when the flames began to burn low, he lifted his head and shouted his completion to the moon just showing over the windowsill.

  A river of passion flooded her, and she wanted to hold it inside forever. She didn’t want to move. Not ever.

  “Hunter,” she whispered, then drew him down and buried her face in his solid wall of chest. She inhaled his scent and tasted the salty dampness of his skin.

  Needing no words, he rolled them to their sides and began to caress her back—long, soft strokes that felt like heaven. Hannah closed her eyes and gave herself up to tenderness.

  The phone jarred them awake. She and Hunter were still cuddled on the rug in front of the hearth. She eased herself reluctantly out of his embrace.

  “I’ll get it,” she said, though there was absolutely no possibility that he would.

  For one thing, as far a
s the outside world was concerned, Hunter Wolfe did not exist. For another, he hated the telephone. He called it a loud, intrusive, disruptive nuisance.

  Mostly, Hannah agreed. She called it a necessary evil.

  She padded across the den and picked up the phone. It was her editor.

  “Am I calling you too early, Hannah?”

  “No. I’m an early riser.” Usually. Since Hunter had come into her life, she kept all kinds of bizarre hours, up sometimes until 3:00 a.m. cavorting under the light of a full moon, and sleeping till noon.

  God, she was getting spoiled. She could easily adapt to a life without clocks.

  “I just wanted to tell you this piece on wolves is the best thing you’ve ever done.”

  “Thanks, Jack.”

  “The readers are going to love it. Especially the animal preservationists. God, Hannah, if this story doesn’t elicit sympathy for the plight of the wolf, then our readership is made of stone.”

  “That’s what I was hoping to hear.”

  “What about the wolfman, Hannah?”

  She jerked her head toward Hunter as if someone had suddenly crashed through her doorway and pointed a gun at him.

  “What? What do you mean, Jack?”

  “I noticed you didn’t mention one word of him.” Hunter had come to stand beside her, and she could tell by the tenseness in his muscles that he sensed danger.

  “No, I didn’t. I tried to keep the story tightly focused.”

  “It would have made a hell of an addition to the story, Hannah, how they raised him and all that.”

  “I don’t agree.”

  There was a long silence, and then Jack said, “You got pictures of him, didn’t you?”

  “When I took that fall, I lost all the film in the camera, plus one other roll.”

  It wasn’t a lie. What she didn’t tell him was that she still had some earlier shots of Hunter, some of them superb.

  Jack got quiet on his end of the line, and Hannah shifted from one foot to the other. Hunter drew her back against his chest and leaned down to whisper, “Do you want me to take care of him for you?”

  She covered the receiver with her hand and whispered, “How?”

  “I can scare him to death.”

  “Thanks, but I can, too.” She grinned at Hunter, then turned her attention back to her editor. “Jack, if you’re not happy with this story, I can take it somewhere else.”

  “No…no… I’m happy, Hannah. It’s a great story…fabulous.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Positive. Look, sorry I called so early. Go back to bed, and when you’re ready for another assignment, just give me a call, okay? There’s a story in Tahiti I’d like to talk to you about.”

  After she’d hung up, Hunter sat on the sofa and pulled her onto his lap.

  “He wanted pictures of me, didn’t he?”

  “Yes, but I told him no.”

  He retreated into a deep and lonely silence that scared Hannah. Where had he gone? Back to Denali where the winter snows were piled higher than her head and the daylight hours were so short the land was caught in a net of perpetual night?

  “You should do a story on me, Hannah.”

  “No! I won’t exploit you. I will never exploit you.”

  Silence fell over him again, and Hannah got cold with fear.

  “It’s almost time for me to go,” he said.

  What was there to say? Don’t go? Please stay?

  When she didn’t say anything, Hunter added, “When I make myself known, the press will hound me. I want you to do a story on me, Hannah.”

  “I can’t.…”

  “You can. And if you don’t, you’re putting your career in jeopardy.”

  “Maybe with Jack, but I have other sources for my stories.”

  “Think about it… I give you an exclusive and I’m not only spared the hassle of dealing with a baying pack of hounds, I’m assured of getting a balanced interview from a thoughtful, intelligent woman who really likes me.” He grinned at her.

  “How do you know I really like you?”

  “I have my ways.” His ways were already stirring to life.

  “You certainly do.”

  When he twisted her around so she was straddling him, she was more than happy for a respite from the disturbing conversation. The thought of his leaving terrified her.

  Although it was not like Hannah to retreat from a problem, she secretly hoped Hunter wouldn’t bring up the subject of leaving again. She knew she was being selfish and unreasonable, but still, she wanted just a few more days cocooned with him. A few more days to prepare for the inevitable.

  Was that too much to ask?

  The greatest thing about Hannah’s place—besides Hannah herself—was the five-hundred-acre forest. When he was disturbed he always sought solace there.

  He stood on the bluff overlooking the river thinking of his future. The prospect of leaving her and making his way in the world shouldn’t have scared him, but it did. Fighting for his life in a frozen land filled with peril had frightened him less than facing an uncertain future in a society largely unknown to him.

  Hannah was still reluctant to do an exclusive interview. She still protested that she would never use him, never exploit him.

  He had known that from the beginning. Instinctively. Otherwise he would never have left Denali. He would have taken his chances with the team sent in to capture him.

  He had told her that, but to no avail. Still she resisted. How could he convince her?

  Hannah didn’t hear the door. She didn’t hear footsteps. She didn’t hear a sound, but suddenly she knew Hunter was in the room.

  She tingled all over with awareness.

  She turned from her computer to smile at him. “Hunter… I didn’t hear you.”

  “Good. I haven’t lost the skill of silence.”

  “No, you haven’t.” She didn’t miss the note of nostalgia in his voice. Did she hear longing, as well?

  “You miss Denali, don’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  Though she tried not to take his answer personally, pain sliced her heart.

  Oh, God, if she didn’t get a hold of herself, she was going to be in terrible trouble.

  “If I said I’m sorry I took you out of there, I’d be lying. I’m not sorry.”

  He strode across the room and cupped her face. “Neither am I. I want you to know that, Hannah.”

  “All right.”

  “I want you really to understand… I have no regrets…only gratitude.” He pulled her close and held her so tightly she almost lost her breath. “I don’t know what would have happened to me if you hadn’t come along. I will always be grateful to you, Hannah.”

  Gratitude wasn’t all she wanted from him, but it would do. It would have to do, for how could she say all that was in her heart? How could she say I love you without putting a cage around him? The timing was wrong. He had to be free to reclaim his birthright. He had to go into the world unfettered.

  Love should be a choice, not a chain.

  “I understand,” she said. Nothing more.

  “I need to talk to you.”

  “Here or outside?”

  Hunter loved it that she knew him so well. Certainly he would have preferred the outdoors, for even though he had been in Mississippi for months now, he still sometimes felt stifled inside.

  But winter had come to the South with a vengeance…or as much of a vengeance as it ever did. Overnight the temperature had dropped twenty degrees. He wouldn’t expose Hannah to the elements.

  “Let’s sit by the window,” he said, and she laughed.

  “Even when you’re not outdoors you want to see the outdoors. I should tear out all the windows and put in bigger ones. I should build a few glass walls.”

  It was the first reference she had made to any kind of future with him. Hunter filed her words away. He would think about them another time.

  Right now he had to stay focused. One thing at a time. Th
at was how he had survived and eventually conquered the wilderness, and that’s how he would survive and conquer this new world.

  Until then.…

  He studied Hannah’s profile, the high cheekbones and-beautifully sculpted jaw, the lush lips and wide green eyes. Desire pulsed through him, fierce and insistent. With this woman it was always that way.

  He could spend almost every waking moment buried in her, and still it would not be enough. A hundred years would not be enough. A thousand.

  Hunter reined in his libido. He had things to say, things to do. The future wouldn’t wait forever.

  “The first thing I need to do is contact my relatives.”

  She sucked in a sharp breath. That was the only sign of her turmoil.

  “Then I’ll need to fly to New York,” he added. “I’m sure there will be legal tangles.”

  “I can help you make those arrangements.” Her smile was bittersweet. “I know how you hate the telephone.”

  “I can’t do this without you, Hannah.”

  “You can, of course, but I think I can set things up and smooth the way with a few calls.”

  “I’m not talking about a few calls. I want you to go with me…if you can.”

  “Of course I can. But are you sure?”

  “I want you at my side all the way. And after I’ve scared everybody witless by coming back from the dead, I need you to tell the story of my survival to the world.” He captured her hands…and her eyes. “Will you please do that for me, Hannah?”

  The battle she waged showed on her face. There were several tactics he might have used to win her over quickly, but he waited. He wanted her with him all the way, but he wanted her to choose to come.

  “If I say no?”

  “I will understand. I’ll go to New York and take care of business…just like Elvis.”

  She laughed so long and hard she had to wipe tears from her eyes. It took someone very close to her to see that they weren’t all tears of mirth.

  “Good lord, you never cease to amaze me. What all have you been watching on television?”

  “I’ll never tell. Why don’t I show you, instead?”

  The future could wait, but he couldn’t, not another minute, not another second. He gave her a hooded look and clothes flew every which way. Then he scooped her off the sofa and positioned her on the floor.