He pulled off his shirt and jeans and threw himself on the bed and winced when he realized that this wasn’t the box spring queen-sized number he had at home. Propping up the two meager pillows, he leaned back, threw his arm above the head, and stared at the markings on the wall’s wood paneling.
The bedside lamp gave the room a warm, cocoon-like atmosphere, something that would be conducive to sleep, if he could stop thinking about Leanna.
Getting to know her again was going to be an uphill battle. Good luck, he thought. He switched off the lamp and turned on his side. He would need it.
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Chapter 3
Leanna slung her lightweight backpack over her shoulder and accompanied the campers onto a ramp leading to the Benedict Island Queen, piloted by Marcum. The Park Service had asked if she would go along with the campers to ensure that they were introduced to the pristine facilities of the island with the least amount of shock.
“Besides,” Dick Langtry had said, “that way, we’ll be showing them that we have an eye on them too. And then, maybe, they’ll leave the island the way they found it—clean.”
She had thrown in a pair of binoculars, a small bottle of water and a book, along with a map of the island. She’d be returning to the mainland in the evening on the Queen.
As they drifted away from the mainland, Leanna looked up at the powder blue sky. She stood on the bridge with Marcum as he steered the eighty-foot boat through a canal, after which it widened into a vast expanse of water.
“You can tell those folks they can rest easy for a while.
It’ll be an hour and a half before we reach the island. You have your work cut out for you with tourists starting to come in.”
He was right. Tourist season had started in earnest and visitors swarmed Pelican Harbor and ambled down Main Street. They wanted to go to the island, some from curiosity and some from being hardcore campers.
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Leanna looked at the small group of young men and women carrying heavy backpacks that probably contained tents and supplies. They would, no doubt, be hiking and camping in designated areas on the island.
Before boarding the Queen, she had assembled them in the Park Service office for a reminder. “I’d like to go over the rules on the island. No fires allowed, all trash must be carried out, not burned or buried, and no dumping wastewater into any streams or the lake.”
As they boarded, Leanna told them, “An hour and a half until we reach the island. So just relax and enjoy the boat ride.”
Her gaze wandered idly over the passing scenery. Then, she stiffened, wondering if she’d run into Bryce.
The boat finally approached the sandy dockside landing of Chippewa Bay. All around them the land had blossomed into lush greenery. A small wooden shed, painted white, served as a point of entry and departure for campers and other visitors to Benedict Island. Here the boat docked and its passengers disembarked.
“Okay, ladies and gentlemen, let’s assemble here for a few minutes before we go in different directions.” Leanna looked at a group of faces turned expectantly toward her. She knew they were eager to get going and didn’t want a lecture from the tour attendant, but she still had to do her bit.
“For those of you who don’t want to hike it all the way, there are at least two ferries that circumnavigate the island, the Osprey and the Voyager, which start at the other end of Lake Superior at Grand Huron. After arriving at Boulder Ridge both vessels sail around the island in a clockwise direction.
You can use either of them to go from one point to the other.”
After she finished briefing them, the group trudged off into the woods in different directions, leaving her heady with 34
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the essence of freedom. She wished Kai could have come along. But she had left her with Alice, who wanted to work on her garden today and had invited Kai to help.
Leanna came to a clearing in the woods where a row of shops stood with colorful window displays. Through the window she saw a toy moose, which would make a nice present for Kai. She went inside, bought it and followed the trails again.
A mellow scent of wild flowers and birch bark filled the air, made sweeter by the sun’s warmth. The woods were getting denser. She heard footsteps on the thick layer of leaves. She turned around but nobody was there. The yelp of a puppy came from a distance. Stop it; you’re imagining things, she told herself. But the footsteps continued, heavy and persistent. Then, a deep voice made her turn back and look straight into Bryce’s bemused eyes.
“Well, now, I’ve seen everything. Instead of wolf tracks, I run right into a woodland nymph.”
Leanna choked back her annoyance at being taken unawares and hearing Bryce cough up a silly remark like that.
She felt gauche, lacking in control. She tugged at her khaki shirt to make sure it hadn’t crumpled up at the waist.
“What are you doing here?” She probably sounded like a den mother scolding a cub scout who had sneaked off without telling her.
Bryce laughed and raked his gaze over her. His jacket pocket held an assortment of pens and pencils and short rulers, and he carried a duffel bag that looked half empty.
Leanna glanced behind him and around the tree-shaded thicket; certain she’d see a puppy.
“What are you looking for?” Bryce looked behind him and then around the area.
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“I thought I heard a puppy.” She expected him to laugh outright at the wildness of her imagination.
“Matter of fact, behind that clump of trees there’s a den with wolf pups. That’s probably the yelping you heard.
Wolves mate sometime in February and the female delivers the pups in April. By late summer they’re practically adolescents.”
He shouldered the duffel bag he had let drop to the ground. “I was looking in on the new family when I saw you.”
“Were you following me?”
“Of course. A beautiful woman alone in the wilderness. I was just making sure you’d be okay.” There was not the slightest hint of embarrassment in his outrageous claim.
Leanna laughed in spite of herself.
“I was hoping it would be you.”
“Really? Why?”
“To show you what I do here.” He threw open his arms.
“This is my work space in a manner of speaking. I want you to see it, like I used to want you to see my lab back in civilization. But here we’re looking at animals in their natural habitat. Here is where life is really lived.”
Leanna flushed at his mention of their time together all those years ago. He hadn’t forgotten. Neither had she forgotten the passion and the fervor with which he had introduced her to his life of scientific study. She had been flattered that he had thought of her as an intellectual equal.
But that hadn’t been enough.
“Life also includes houses, mortgage payments and grocery bills.”
“You have a way of turning the tables on me.” A muscle twitched in his jaw. “Nothing compares with life in the raw as here in the woods. “Let me show you.”
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Bryce held out a hand as naturally as if he were beckoning to a child. “Come on. You’re going to have a rare treat. You’ll like wolf pups.”
His hand, firm, protective, clasping hers made her senses spin. Breathless though she was, Leanna allowed herself to be carried away by the charade that she encountered wolf pups every day.
He led her by the hand as they tiptoed their way over thick roots and mats of damp leaves, trying not to make a sound.
“We don’t usually go looking for pups in the spring.
Disturbing the dens at that time might harm the pups, being so young. But in the summer, we try to approach the dens to count the pups by listening to their howling.”
Leanna walked alongside Bryce, her hand still in his, although he seemed unaware of
it in his quest for the den. His tread slowed and softened his footfalls. He put a finger to his lips, stopped short, and pointed to a spot darkened by tree shade, so that the whole area looked like a cave. From where they stood they saw a wolf and her pups, small, gray and white little things tumbling around the mother.
Leanna backed away as though stung by a scorpion. Cute as they were, they symbolized what tore Bryce and her apart.
“This is as far as we go.” Bryce seemed to note her sudden reserve.
He took out a small notebook and scribbled something in it. “We try to identify the den sites by giving them names.
When the newborn pups appear, wolf packs shift from being nomads to a more settled way of life. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
“Interesting you should say that,” Leanna said once they were out of the den’s vicinity.
“Why?”
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“Aren’t humans the same way too?”
“Except that their lives become more complicated when their minds intrude.”
Bryce walked on with a purposeful stride and forced Leanna to take short, quick steps to keep up with him. Had she hit a nerve that rankled? She let his comment pass.
“Since I’ve seen The Tug, it’s only fitting you see where I’m bunking. Do you have some time?” He gave her a searching look.
Stick to your resolve, a small voice shrieked inside her head.
Leanna looked at her watch. The boat would be docked at Chippewa Bay and she could go there and wait until it was time to leave. In her backpack she had a book that would keep her occupied.
“Actually, I have to get back to the boat.”
“The boat?”
“The one in which I brought a tourist group.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask you what you were doing here.
So that’s what’s keeping you busy these days.”
“That and the store.”
He had been so amiable and charming she would have to find a way of leaving that would cause the least amount of friction. Bryce looked puzzled and disappointed when she declined his invitation.
His face hardened. “You have time to take tourists who trample all over the island, scaring away wolves, but no time to see how the study is conducted.”
Leanna felt every nerve tighten. “Aren’t you presuming too much? For one thing, we haven’t seen each other for ions of time. For another, you don’t have the right to criticize the tourism that’s bringing revenue to the island. You can’t expect to have the island turned into a wildlife sanctuary just 38
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so you can study wolves.” As she felt her spirits sag, Leanna turned away and scanned the horizon.
“Wolves here are at risk. There’s been a steady decline to about only fourteen or so on this island since the 1980s.” His voice sounded uncompromising, yet oddly gentle.
She would have felt like a heel if she hadn’t reminded herself that a workaholic like Bryce would tack on any explanation to justify his vocation.
“It’s not about wolves or land or tourism. You’re just offended that I won’t go along with you. That’s what it’s been about all those years ago. It’s just you all the way.” She turned to face him and waited for him to reply. Perhaps she’d said too much. She felt hollow inside. If only she hadn’t had these feelings for him still, she could have laughed her way out of his company, joked about their earlier relationship even. But where he was concerned, a cache of emotions had built up and they couldn’t be swept away.
“Of course, that’s why you ran away without
explanation.”
“Obviously, it didn’t upset you enough to come looking for me.”
“If you had wanted me to, I figured you’d have found a way to let me know.” He gave her a long look, his gaze still holding her. “Did you want me to chase after you? Were you pregnant, Leanna?”
Bryce’s presence affected her the way it always had. But this time it wasn’t going to work. Leanna moved away instinctively and insulated herself with physical distance from him. “Don’t you think you would’ve known if I were? I didn’t want to tie you down when your work meant everything to you.” Leanna held her breath. Would he let it go now?
Obviously, he was curious about Kai. She just hoped his curiosity wouldn’t go any further.
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“So that’s it. You were sulking because I didn’t want to get married then. And I thought you were different. I thought you’d understand.” His tone was civil despite his anger.
Leanna was relieved the querying mood that compelled him to ask about Kai had passed. She couldn’t take much more of him hovering around that topic. She needed time to decide when and how she’d tell him about Kai in her own way. It certainly wasn’t now, when they were both strangers to each other.
Once she settled the dilemma in her own mind, Bryce’s remark caught her on the defensive. “Do you have to be so smug? Don’t you know the difference between ‘tying the knot’ and ‘commitment?’” Leanna’s face flushed and she pulled away mentally from any tenderness she might have felt.
She had taught herself to do that when something upset her.
“I was very involved in my work then. You didn’t understand.” He turned to her. “What is it, Leanna? What are you looking for?”
“Obviously, not you. And don’t bother playing the intrepid psychologist, or maybe that’s part of your credentials. Studying wolves leads you to study human beings.”
“You’d be surprised how much you learn about people when you study our other co-residents on this planet.” He cocked an eyebrow, which she found so comical that she had to suppress a smile.
They hadn’t progressed very far on their trek back to where the trail forked, one going deeper into the woods, and the other toward the shops in the clearing.
“I saw that you were involved with your work. That and the fact that I was redundant.” Leanna looked him in the eye to challenge him to a verbal duel.
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A stony expression descended on his face. Then it vanished, almost as if a memory had resurfaced and he was trying to gain control of its ferocity. “If that’s your opinion of things, you’re welcome to it.” His voice was mellow, almost philosophical.
Surprised at his reaction, she stared at the change that had filtered through his voice and manner. It appeared as if, after so many years of absolute nothingness, two people could still rekindle the embers of their love, given the right moment.
But then another thought intruded. His line of work took him into the woods for too long, and he hadn’t seen a female for the longest time, so naturally anything in a skirt, figuratively speaking, was fair game. Well, she wasn’t available.
Leanna quickened her step. “Don’t let me keep you from your work.” She noticed that all he had to do was keep to his usual long strides to maintain his pace and keep her at his side.
How infuriating! As usual, he didn’t seem to have to make any effort to get what he wanted, however minor.
“You’re not.” He spoke as one would talk to a sulky, not very bright child. “At the clearing, where you’re obviously headed, I take off in another direction toward camp. And contrary to what I’ve said, I wish you the best in your job as a tourist guide.”
“Something you wouldn’t understand. People wanting to enjoy the natural beauty of the island.” There I go with the lecturing tone again.
“Which won’t remain beautiful for too long. My colleague, Fred, has been here on wolf studies before and he’s seen changes to the island. Changes for the worse.”
“Such as?”
“Commercialization. If wolves go, it’ll be only a matter of time before birds and other animals start disappearing.”
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“A one-man champion, aren’t you?”
“It can begin with one man.”
> His quiet pride wasn’t lost on her, and she had to admire it as she cast a sideways glance at him. There was no pomposity, only an undercurrent of concern.
She said nothing. She just had to get away from him before the sparks ignited inside herself. Once or twice, she’d caught him glancing at her.
Her thoughts forced her to quicken her steps even more.
“You’re in some kind of hurry to get away from me, aren’t you?” He moved closer toward her. “I’m not going to compromise your virtue. Isn’t that what well-brought-up ladies call it? I haven’t the slightest intention of kissing you either. So, you can forget hoping for that.” He said the words tentatively, as if testing the idea.
Leanna flushed at his remark, which sounded to her like self-protection. “The audacity of you! I wouldn’t kiss you if you were the last person on this planet. I hope I never see you again.”
“Really? Then why are your lips pursed like that? Take your compact out of that bag of yours and look at yourself.”
“I don’t carry compacts.”
“Of course. How could I have forgotten that? One of the things I liked about you was your complete indifference to your spectacular looks. And, despite what you might think, it won’t upset me too much if I don’t see you again either.” He tossed out a dry laugh.
Leanna’s backpack had been sliding off her shoulder while she walked as fast as she could to keep up with him. With a firm grip she hitched it up again and strode off without a backward glance.
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She saw the clearing up ahead and the shops open for business. She decided to browse there in the shops before going to the Chippewa Bay dock.
What was she going to do about Bryce? When she ran into him it was like being sandbagged between the eyes and then being told to ignore it. Still, she’d be able to deal with her predicament—she’d been in tight places before.
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