The Stranger in Her Bed

by Janet Chapman

  "Taking a nap," Damon said. "She claims she's tired from working a lot of overtime for you lately."

  Ethan turned back to the lake, shrugged out of his jacket, and rolled up his sleeves. "She's a bit of a micromanager," was all he said as he carefully made his way down the rocks lining the shore. He turned and held out his hand. "Do you happen to know where she picked up that nasty habit?" he asked as Damon handed him one end of the rope.

  That question got him pleasant smiles from both men. "She comes by it honestly," Damon said, uncoiling the rope.

  Ethan stepped into the freezing water, sucked in his breath as it seeped through his pants and boots, and carefully started feeling his way toward the sled.

  "Maybe that's why bébé has such rotten luck with men," Jean-Paul said softly in French, his comment obviously aimed at his brother. "She has no tolerance for bossy boyfriends, and no respect for those who let her boss them."

  So Anna had a bit of a problem with bossy boyfriends, did she? Not that that was news. "Why do you call her baby and beautiful child?" Ethan asked. "She's a bit past that, don't you think?"

  He glanced back to see Damon shrug. "It's what we've called her since the day she arrived," Damon told him as he fed out more rope. "Can you tie it around both skis?" he asked when Ethan reached the snowmobile.

  Numb from the waist down, Ethan nodded, gritted his chattering teeth, and reached below the surface to slide the end of the rope through the ski handles and tie it off. He centered the knot so the pull would put even pressure on both skis, then walked to the side of the sled and turned the handlebars toward shore. "Okay," he said, planting his feet as best he could on the slippery ice. "I'm ready."

  Both men had their own jackets off and their sleeves rolled up, and both took hold of the rope and started pulling. The sled pivoted with a sudden jerk, splashing freezing water onto Ethan's chest. Growling through his teeth, he righted the machine when it started to tilt, and slowly walked beside it as they dragged it to shore. But with less then thirty feet to go, the sled suddenly stopped moving. Ethan looked up to see the men standing with their hands on their hips, smiling at him.

  It wasn't a nice smile, either.

  "Do you have a sister?" Jean-Paul asked.

  "No. Two brothers," Ethan said as pleasantly as he could, considering the numbness in his legs had started shooting needles of pain up his spine. "Why?"

  "Because having a sister might help you understand what we wish to… impart to you," Jean-Paul said.

  "And that would be?"

  "Two things, really," Damon clarified. "A promise from us, and a sincerely given warning."

  "Shall we start with the warning?" Ethan suggested tightly.

  Jean-Paul nodded. "Very well. We feel we should warn you about Anna's… ah, trail of broken hearts, shall we say?"

  "She has a trail of them?"

  Jean-Paul nodded. "She doesn't do it on purpose," he said. "She just breaks men's hearts."

  "We think it's because of a childhood crush she had on a boy when she was ten or eleven," Damon explained. "It's like she measures each man she meets to him, and none of them can live up to his memory."

  "And so you're warning me to…?"

  "To guard your own heart, Knight," Damon offered.

  "She doesn't do it on purpose," Jean-Paul repeated.

  "Yeah, yeah, I got that," Ethan muttered, the needles of pain now shooting across his shoulders as his muscles violently knotted. "Thanks for the heads-up. And your promise?"

  Damon's sinister smile returned as he folded his arms over his chest. "We wish to give you our collective promise that if you break our Anna's heart, we will hunt you down, crush every bone in your body, and feed your guts to the wolves. Then we'll go after your family, and not stop until NorthWoods Timber is nothing more than a memory around here."

  O-kay, that was certainly plain enough to understand.

  Ethan nodded. "Both points taken, gentlemen."

  They also nodded, reached down and picked up the rope again, and finished dragging Ethan and his snowmobile to shore.

  "The lane seems to have melted enough to travel, so we're off to bring Anna her truck, then go buy her some groceries," Damon said as he tossed down the rope and unrolled his sleeves. "Can we pick up something for you in town?"

  "A very large bottle of bourbon would be nice," Ethan said, shrugging on his jacket and heading to his cabin. "You can just leave it outside my door."

  Chapter Twelve

  The warm front that arrived on Friday had continued straight through the weekend, melting the snow and turning the plowed areas to mud. Ethan sat basking in the brilliant afternoon sun with his feet propped on his porch rail, swirling an icicle in his glass of bourbon as he contemplated Anna Segee.

  He had never known a woman like her— not in his everyday dealings, and definitely not in the bedroom. It didn't seem to matter what she put her mind to; Anna approached life with the vitality of a powder keg waiting to explode. She had exploded in his arms night before last, and he was still experiencing lingering shock waves. Anna Segee was the first woman who not only matched him in bed, she had come damn close to making him lose his infamous control. Which was why he'd better find a way to tone her down before their little affair killed them both.

  Ethan took a leisurely sip of his bourbon and watched the two Segee brothers say good-bye to Anna as they stood between Jean-Paul's pickup and her late-model SUV, both vehicles covered to their roofs in mud. The old pickup Anna had bought from Gaylen Dempsey was parked beside Ethan's cabin, since she'd loaned it to him to go to Loon Cove earlier today.

  Life was good, he decided as he lifted his glass to the departing Canadians, their tires making an obscene sucking sound as they oozed up the lane leading to the main road. "Good-bye and good riddance, you overprotective bastards," he said through his pleasant smile as Damon Segee nodded in return, his own expression conveying the promise to feed Ethan's guts to the wolves.

  "Got any more of whatever you're drinking?" Anna asked as she made her way up the muddy path to his cabin, finally choosing to plod through the rotting snow when she nearly fell. "I hope it's at least ninety proof."

  "Hard weekend?" he asked, leaning over to pull up another straight-back chair beside him. He handed her his glass when she sat down with an exhausted sigh and propped her feet up on the rail beside his. "I guess so," he said with a chuckle when she downed the rest of his drink in one gulp.

  "I nearly took your shotgun to them," she said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand as she held the glass out for him to refill. "They had me up until midnight last night trying to persuade me to follow them back to Quebec today. They even promised they'd make Daddy let me open a specialty lumber division at our Debec mill." She shook her head. "They just don't get it. I don't want anyone giving me anything; I want to earn it on my own."

  "They're just being brothers," he told her, setting the half-empty bottle of bourbon back on the porch. He picked up what was left of the icicle he'd broken off the eave, waiting until she took another long gulp before he could drop it in the glass. "I imagine they were a bit shocked to see what you'd spent your inheritance on."

  She looked at him questioningly.

  "Didn't you buy Fox Run with the money you inherited from your vitamin-popping grandparents?"

  She merely shrugged. "What did the three of you talk about when you pulled your sled off the ice yesterday?"

  "They didn't tell you?"

  She snorted. "If it doesn't further their cause, they don't tell me anything."

  Ethan took the glass from her. "They mentioned something about a trail of broken hearts you'd left behind in Quebec. Though they did say you didn't do it on purpose," he added with a chuckle.

  She dropped her feet and sat up straight, gaping at him.

  He took another sip, letting the bourbon slide down his throat more slowly before he said, "And while I was standing knee-deep in freezing water, they also explained what would happen to me and m

y family if I broke your heart." He raised the glass in salute. "Wasn't that friendly of them?"

  "You didn't take them seriously."

  "I always take threats seriously, Segee."

  She snatched the glass out of his hand and downed the entire contents before holding it out for him to refill.

  He shook his head and took the glass from her, setting it on the porch beside the bottle. "You're wasting good bourbon. And tomorrow's Monday, and I've heard the Knights have been known to fire people who show up to work with a hangover."

  "I think I can handle a couple of— " She stopped in midsentence, her attention turning to the pickup pulling up beside the cabin. "Isn't that your brother Paul?" she asked. "And Jane. Jane Trott is with him!" she said excitedly if not smugly, standing up and rushing down the steps.

  Paul got out of the truck, but Jane didn't. Ethan stood up, accepting the fact he wasn't going to get Anna to himself anytime soon, and watched a grim-faced Paul say something to his tearful passenger before he got out and walked to the porch. Anna had rounded Paul's truck, opened Jane's door, and was quietly talking to her.

  "What's up?" Ethan asked Paul.

  "Jane and I got married yesterday in Bangor."

  Ethan could only stare at his brother in silence.

  "She's four months pregnant. And we're just coming from telling her parents," Paul said, disgust in his voice. "They went ballistic, saying this was all they needed on top of Pete's accident." He looked up at Ethan, his expression defensive. "I didn't marry her out of obligation. I love Jane."

  Ethan shoved his hands in his pockets. "I believe you. Congratulations, then. Have you been over to tell Dad, Alex and Sarah, and the kids?"

  Paul shook his head and finally walked up on the porch, bringing his gaze level with Ethan's. "After what happened at Jane's house, I couldn't talk her into going over to tell them." He shook his head. "I don't know why, but she's afraid of you and Alex. She agreed to come here because we thought you were still at home, but she started bawling again the moment she saw you." He gave Ethan an inquiring look. "We need someplace to stay for a few days until we can find our own place, or until Jane calms down enough that we can move in with Alex and Sarah at the sporting camps."

  "Why is she afraid of us?" Ethan asked, surprised. He and Alex had never been anything but nice to Jane.

  "Because she's somehow come up with this crazy notion that everyone— and you and Alex in particular— will think she got pregnant so I'd have to marry her." Paul made a helpless gesture with his hands. "Because of Alex's first wife, and… and Pamela Sant," he finished softly, his eyes not quite meeting Ethan's.

  Ethan looked toward Paul's truck and saw that Anna had coaxed Jane out of her seat and, with her arm around the still-sobbing woman, was leading her up the muddy path to her house.

  He looked back at Paul and shrugged. "It's obvious we don't have a good track record when it comes to girlfriends." He reached out and pulled Paul into a bear of a hug. "Congratulations, brother," he growled, roughly patting him on the back. "You and Jane will do well together. She's a good woman."

  Paul snorted, though he returned Ethan's hug just as robustly. "Not according to her parents, she's not. Her mom actually had the nerve to compare Jane to Madeline Fox."

  "The Madeline Fox?" Ethan repeated with pretend shock, heading down off the porch. "Madeline may have slept with every man in town, and gotten several of them to marry her before she had to move on to greener pastures," he said as he walked with Paul to Anna's house, "but the one man who got her pregnant was the only one she couldn't get to the altar." He threw his arm over his brother's shoulder. "There's something ironic in that. Don't worry, we'll make Jane feel welcome."

  Paul heaved a heavy sigh of relief. "So we can stay here for a couple of days? Anna shouldn't mind, seeing how she and Jane are friends."

  "I've got the only cabin that's livable, and it's so small you need to go outside to change your mind," Ethan said, thinking fast. He stopped and looked at Paul. "I tell you what. You and Jane can have it, and I'll bunk with Anna— as long as you give me your word you won't make our arrangement common knowledge in town."

  Paul raised a brow. "You and Anna?"

  "You got a problem with that?"

  "No, no problem," Paul said, clearly amused.

  "But let's not mention this to the women just yet," Ethan added, climbing the stairs of the main house. "I'll tell Anna this evening, when I show up with my toothbrush in hand." And the brand-new box of condoms he'd driven all the way to Greenville to buy this morning.

  * * *

  "I suggested you invite Paul to dinner so you could talk things over," Anna said as she led Jane to the house. "I didn't mean for the two of you to run off and get married."

  "Paul was adamant," Jane said with a final sniffle. "When I called him Friday to invite him to dinner Saturday evening, he rushed over the minute he hung up the phone." She looked at Anna through red-rimmed eyes while she wiped her nose with a mangled tissue. "He must have heard something in my voice, because he arrived at my sister's house with a panicked look on his face. And I just burst into tears and blurted out that I was pregnant."

  Anna led her to the kitchen, eased her down in a chair at the table, and put the kettle on to boil. "What did Paul do then?" she asked, keeping one eye on Jane as she got down Grammy Fox's beautiful old china teapot.

  "He… he was wonderful," Jane said with a stifled sob. "He pulled me into his arms and told me everything would be okay. Then he helped me pack a few of my clothes, and we waited until my sister got back from Bangor— Jenny comes home weekends to spend time with her kids. Anyway," she said with a steadying sigh, "the moment she walked in the door, Paul hustled me out to his truck, telling Jenny he was taking me on a minivacation until Monday. I had calmed down by then, so I don't think she suspected anything. She was just happy to see me and Paul together again. Pete's doing well, by the way. He's getting out of the hospital Tuesday or Wednesday, and should be able to attend the benefit dance on Saturday, though he'll be in a wheelchair."

  "That's great news," Anna said, opening a cupboard and taking down one of the five boxes of maple leaf cookies Claire had sent with Damon and Jean-Paul. She carried the box to the table. "Is this what you wanted, Jane?" she asked softly. "For Paul to marry you?"

  "I don't know," Jane said in an equally soft whisper. She lifted her chin. "But I love him. And he says he loves me, and that he's been miserable since we broke up."

  "And Cynthia What's-her-name?"

  "He said he was just trying to make me jealous, that there wasn't ever anything between him and Cynthia Pringle. They didn't… they never…" She looked down at the table. "He said he told Cynthia right from the start that he still had feelings for me, and he told me they were just friends and she was helping him make me jealous." She looked back up at Anna. "Cynthia's moving to Boston next week. She got a job as a paralegal at some big law firm down there."

  "Honest to God," Anna said, shaking her head, "I swear men are denser than dirt. Look at what the two of you went through over a simple misunderstanding."

  "It's all my fault," Jane said, rushing to her new husband's defense. "I made such a scene when I saw him talking to Cynthia that day in the Drooling Moose."

  Anna smiled. "Well, maybe a little. Just because Paul was talking to another woman doesn't mean he was going to leave you for her. You all went to school together, didn't you?"

  "Cynthia stole my boyfriend when we were in eighth grade," Jane said in her own defense. "She's really pretty."

  "No prettier than you are," Anna said, going to the stove when the kettle started whistling. "So okay, you're married. Now what?" she asked as she poured the boiling water over the tea bags in the teapot.

  "I have no idea." Jane gave a deep sigh as she opened the box of maple cookies. "We didn't think past getting married. And our one-night honeymoon," she added with a cheeky grin. "Paul splurged for a beautiful motel room, and took me out to a really nice restaurant for dinner."

  "And you said your mom and dad exploded when you told them?"

  Jane merely nodded, since her mouth was full of cookie.

  "And you haven't told Paul's family yet?"

  "Uh-uh," Jane said, swallowing quickly. "I couldn't survive another scene like that right now." Her eyes clouding with worry, she glanced toward the living room. "Do you think Ethan's out there giving him hell?" she asked in a stricken whisper. "Where will we stay tonight?"

  "Right here," Anna said, placing the teapot on the table and sitting down to pour the tea. "I can have one of the upstairs bedrooms ready in twenty minutes. Though you might want to put the mattress on the floor, as the old bedsprings squeak," she said with a crooked smile, bobbing her eyebrows.

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