“You don’t enjoy the power a nineteenth century man has over a woman?” she asked. Dan’s eyebrows rose.
“Sure I do, but I’m thinking I prefer my women stubborn and independent.” She probably couldn’t see the wide grin on his face. Their hike to reach the Madison Valley may not get any easier, but anything they faced from here on certainly would be much more bearable, now that they seemed to have reached an understanding.
Chapter 16
Jana slowly opened her eyes to the crackling sounds of wood burning and the hushed voices of a couple of men mulling about. Other than the faint glow from several campfires, the gray sky barely offered enough light to see by. She inhaled a deep breath, wondering how early in the morning it was. The subtle clean scent of soap suddenly overpowered the smell of wood smoke, and Jana awakened fully.
Her head wasn’t resting on her bundle of spare clothes, as it had the three previous nights, but rather on something firm and warm. Awareness seeped into her that she was molded up against a solid, warm body. Her hand rested on top of a man’s chest, his heart beating steadily beneath her palm.
She didn’t move. Memories of the previous evening came flooding back to her. She’d crumbled, folded like an accordion. She simply couldn’t continue being angry with Dan anymore. What he had done - his lies - still stung, but the sincerity in his voice when he again told her how sorry he was, had been real. He’d been foolish to leave Aimee’s journal laying on his desk the day John Hastings saw it, and then made a terrible mistake in judgment when he agreed to the superintendent’s offer. Jana could see the turmoil and anguish in his mind over his bad decision. She only hoped they wouldn’t be too late to correct Dan’s error, and prevent the tragedy of Matthew Osborne’s murder.
Now she had to struggle with her own dilemma. Her feelings for Dan were more powerful than anything she’d ever experienced. He’d made it quite clear that he wanted a deeper relationship with her than a simple friendship. She couldn’t think of anything she wanted more at the moment, either. Dan had proven last night that he would keep her safe, and that he cared for her. The Crow who had tried to barter for her had kept his distance.
What would happen when they returned to the future? Was it even possible for them to get back home? Jana didn’t want to think about the possibility of remaining here in the past. It was a life that Aimee had wanted, but it wasn’t a life for Jana. What about Dan? He seemed to fit into this time period quite well. From what she’d observed, he was enjoying himself here. He was so much like the way she remembered Aimee, she could very well see him opting to stay in the nineteenth century.
If he chose to remain in the past, would she even consider such an option for herself? This was not a life for her. Could she give everything up, just as Aimee had done, and follow her heart? Jana paused. Here, they had no other alternative but to stick together. What about in the twenty-first century? Would a relationship with Dan even work in the future? She had her nursing career in California, while Dan was still finishing school in Montana. He would never want to move away from Yellowstone, not that she could ever ask that of him. But a long-distance relationship wasn’t something to consider, either. It would never work.
Don’t put the cart before the horse, Jana. She’d gone out with plenty of men who spouted words of love and commitment, sometimes even on the first date. More often than not, she’d come to the conclusion that men said these things with one goal in mind. Once they realized she wasn’t so easily wooed, they’d quickly walked away. She remembered the pact she’d made with Aimee when they were silly schoolgirls to remain pure until their wedding night. It hadn’t worked out quite like that for Aimee, but Jana hadn’t met the man yet who could wear down her resolve.
Lying here next to Dan, she inhaled deeply of his subtle soapy scent. He hadn’t asked for a commitment, and he certainly never said he loved her. Not that she’d expected him to. They barely knew each other. Last night, she hadn’t hesitated at his suggestion that she sleep next to him, rather than on opposite sides of the campfire, as they had done the previous nights. Dan had built a fire a short distance away from the rest of the group, and she’d gone willingly into his arms when he beckoned to her.
Heat suddenly crept up her neck, burning her cheeks. Wordlessly, Dan had pulled her into his arms, and held her close. He’d simply told her to go to sleep. Nothing else. She remembered the twinge of disappointment that he hadn’t kissed her again.
Jana moved her sore and aching limbs. She would never get used to sleeping on hard ground. Leaves and grasses were simply no substitute for her soft mattress at home. She stretched her legs, and slowly inched away from Dan. Cold air seeped through her clothes when she lost contact with his warm body, and she shivered involuntarily. Dan’s arm tightened around her, and pulled her back up against him.
“You’re awake?” she whispered, her heart rate increasing.
“Yeah,” he replied quietly. “Maybe we should get an early start,” he suggested, but made no move to release her.
“Maybe we should.”
His chest heaved, and his arm relaxed. It was still too dark to make out his features, but she could feel his eyes on her. Behind them, the camp was starting to come alive. Men moved about, speaking in hushed tones. Jana had no desire to remain in this camp with the Indians any longer.
“Let’s go, then,” she said, and pushed herself off the ground. Dan followed, and headed toward the fires. Jana watched his silhouette as he communicated to the men that he was leaving. One man thrust a bundle at him, and Dan removed something from his pocket and handed it to the Indian. After the exchange, Dan called out in a commanding voice, “Come on, woman. Let’s be on our way.”
Jana sighed. She couldn’t help but smile softly. Yup, Dan Osborne would fit into this time period just fine. She groaned and lifted the pack off the ground, and heaved it onto her shoulders. So much for him carrying the pack, as he’d said he would do last night. Hopefully they wouldn’t have far to go before Dan offered to lighten her load.
*****
The sun crept slowly above the mountains to the east. With the bright glow to their backs as they made their way further west, Jana didn’t have to squint too much. She desperately missed having her sunglasses. About a mile from where they had left the Indian camp, Dan stopped and removed the pack from Jana’s back.
She let out a long, drawn-out sigh, and rotated her aching shoulders to loosen the tension in her muscles. A small part of her felt guilty that Dan had carried the pack without complaint for three days.
“Where’s the nearest restaurant,” Jana said. “I could go for a nice big omelet.”
Dan’s eyebrows rose, and he grinned. “Omelet, huh? All I have is some cold venison and trail mix, but I heard you don’t like nuts. We’ll stop in a while, and have some breakfast.” He shouldered the pack, and his hand reached out to graze her arm. Jana glanced up at him. The warmth and tenderness in his eyes caused her heart to do somersaults.
She quickly turned and continued walking. She sensed he wanted to say something, and do more than merely touch her arm. Jana mentally shook her head. She wasn’t ready for things to move so quickly. Three times she’d kissed him with more passion than she’d ever kissed a man, and her intense awareness of him, and the feelings he evoked in her, frightened her more than the long journey through uncharted wilderness. In the deep corners of her mind, she still held some reservations due to the fact that he was Aimee’s descendant. And how much he reminded her of her best friend. And that he’d lied to her.
Dan fell in step beside her. “If we make good time, we might be able to reach the hot springs in three or four days,” he said conversationally.
“Hot springs?” Jana echoed.
“Mammoth,” Dan clarified with one word.
Jana turned her head to look at him. “We’re going to Mammoth? Isn’t that out of the way?”
“It’s the easier route to get to Madison. We could go over the Blacktail Deer Plateau, but honestly,
I’ve never hiked in that area, and I hear the terrain is really rough. In our time, it’s a bear management area, and off-limits to hiking. I would assume that even in this time, it’s a prime grizzly habitat.”
Jana cocked an eyebrow. “You’re telling me, Mr. Ranger, that you’re afraid of walking through bear habitat?”
Dan grinned. “No, but you’d make a tasty meal for a bear, and I’m not willing to risk that.”
“All I have to do is outrun you,” she said, a wide smile on her face. It was so easy to tease and banter with him all of a sudden. Jana’s heart felt light as a feather, and the strenuous up and downhill hiking seemed far less tiring today.
“Watch it, Miss Evans, or I just might accept the next offer some Indian brave makes for you.” He grabbed hold of her hand, and pulled her up against his chest. Jana sucked in a deep breath. His teasing, twinkling eyes suddenly turned dark. Jana recognized the look for what it was. Adrenaline surged through her. She swallowed nervously, needing to get control of her senses.
“Dan, please . . .” she stammered, her voice shaky. “You’re moving way too fast for me.”
“I’m standing perfectly still right now, Jana,” he said, his sensually deep voice sending chills down her back. She pulled her hand out of his grip, and took a step back.
“We need to get to Madison,” she said firmly. “We need to focus on what to do about John Hastings.” She led the way up a steep incline, eager to put a little distance between them. If he held her in his arms again, kissed her the way he had done the night before, she’d be a goner. The hill was steeper than she had anticipated, and she grabbed hold of low-hanging branches of pine trees, and roots that jutted out of the ground to aid her in her struggle.
“You’re right,” Dan said behind her. “But it’s hard to focus on other things with the kind of view I’ve got directly in front of me.” She gasped in surprise when his hands clasped her hips, pushing her onward. Jana redoubled her efforts, glancing upward to see how much further it was to reach the top of this hill. Her thighs and calves burned in protest, but she gritted her teeth and pushed on. If only she could move faster, and get away from Dan’s warm hands. Just before they reached the summit, he released his hold on her and sprinted the last few yards past her up the hill. With a wide grin on his face, he waited for her at the top.
“Show off,” she mumbled, catching her breath when her feet finally touched level ground.
“What’s that you were saying about outrunning me if we meet up with a bear?”
Jana glared at him in response, wondering how to wipe that satisfied smirk off his face. Dan pulled his backpack from his shoulders and dropped it to the ground.
“I think this is a good place to stop and eat something.” He paused, gazing out at the vast valley below. “Just look at the view.” He made a sweeping motion with his arm in a half-circle. As far as the eye could see, one mountain carpeted with pine trees stretched out before another. In the far-off distance, a river flowed through the valley, twisting and turning like a coil of blue twine. A hawk soared lazily above them in the endless blue sky.
“A man could lose himself here forever,” he mumbled, almost to himself. “Leave all his modern-day worries behind.”
Jana stood beside him, glancing up at his face. The look of longing in his eyes as he stared off into the distance sent an icy jolt of fear through her heart. She’d been correct in her earlier assumption. Was he seriously entertaining ideas of remaining in the past?
Tentatively, she touched his arm. “Is it really so bad in modern times?” she asked softly. His head turned toward her, as if noticing her for the first time. A slow smile brightened the somber look on his face.
“Not anymore,” he said. “Not since I deceived you to come back into my life.” The smile disappeared, and his jaw muscles visibly clenched.
Jana avoided his eyes, and gazed at the vast wilderness before them. Her heart and mind waged war with one another. Her heart told her to let herself go, and just give in to her feelings, while her rational mind warned her to tread with caution. He’d lied to her once already. She had forgiven him, but Jana couldn’t help but wonder what it would take for her to cast all doubt aside and trust him completely.
Chapter 17
Jana stretched her sore limbs, and opened her eyes. Bright sunlight filtered through the canopy of lodgepole pines. Their warm rays couldn’t keep her from shivering. There was a definite chill in the early morning air. The loud chirps and calls of countless forest birds announced the new day. After seven nights of sleeping on nothing but bare ground, she thought she would be used to it by now. No such luck. Her aching body parts reminded her of her soft mattress back home.
All things considered, she and Dan had been fortunate so far with the weather. A few afternoon thunderstorms that blew quickly through the mountains had been their only inclement weather. Hovering under some dense spruce trees had been enough during those times to prevent a thorough soaking.
A loud crackling and fizzling sound caught her attention. Dan was up and about before her, as usual. Although he couldn’t provide the soft comfort of her bed at home, he did keep her quite warm at night. They no longer slept at opposite sides of the campfire. When he had casually suggested on their first night since leaving the group of Indians that it would serve them both better to sleep together for warmth, Jana had raised a skeptical eyebrow.
Dan’s arms shot in the air in a mock defensive posture. A purely devilish grin had spread across his face. “I’ll keep my hands to myself. Scout’s honor.”
To her utmost surprise, he’d remained true to his word. She remembered her heart pounding in her chest that first night, wondering what to expect. Would he kiss her? Would he stop at just a kiss? Would she be able to stop?
Lying down beside her, he’d pulled her up against him, and wrapped his arms protectively around her. He’d told her goodnight, and lightly kissed the top of her head. For hours, she’d lain there, unable to fall asleep while his breathing was slow and rhythmic. The relief and simultaneous disappointment had kept her awake into the wee hours of the night.
Jana’s mixed emotions were thrown even deeper into turmoil over the next three days. Dan had apparently taken her comment that he was moving too fast to heart. Plain and simple, he’d kept his distance. An occasional light touch on her arm followed by a warm smile, or a supportive hand on her back to help her up a steep hill or particularly difficult climb was the extent of his affections. True, he held her in his arms each night, but he may as well have been hugging his backpack to him for the lack of affection he showed her. He seemed completely indifferent.
As the days went by, Jana’s frustrations grew. She longed for his kiss, for the smoldering looks of desire in his eyes, even as she told herself repeatedly that she preferred this casual relationship. She often wondered if he’d changed his mind about her. Perhaps he liked his women to be more forward, and the fact that she told him to slow down might have been a complete turn-off for him.
With a loud groan, Jana pushed herself off the ground. A delicious smell wafted to her nose, and although it was a familiar smell, she couldn’t quite place the food that would give off such an aroma. She looked up to see Dan squatting by the fire, his little backpacking pot sitting on a flat rock near the flames. She blinked to focus her sleepy eyes, and gasped. Dan’s t-shirt was torn at the shoulder, and stained with blood, the red in sharp contrast to the white of the cotton. She scrambled to her feet, and hurried to his side.
“Dan! What happened to you?” She touched his arm, trying to find the source of the bleeding.
He looked up, a wide grin on his face. “I was getting you some breakfast,” he said.
Jana’s eyebrows drew together, and she shook her head slightly. “Breakfast? Wha –”
He pointed to the pot. “Not exactly restaurant quality, but I made you an omelet.”
Her confusion grew. “Omelet? Why . . . how,” she sputtered. Dan stood to his feet.
�
�Three days ago, you wanted an omelet,” he reminded her with a casual shrug of his shoulder. “I couldn’t provide you with one then, but I did this morning. Well, if scrambled eggs and some dried meat count as an omelet.”
Jana could only stare at him. He remembered her wishing for an omelet? Dan leaned forward, his forehead wrinkling as he looked at her expectantly. “I hope you haven’t lost your appetite for one.”
Too stunned for words, Jana tried to gather her thoughts. The sudden sensation of warm water lapping at her, seeping into her and wrapping itself around her heart filled her. Here she was, out in the vast wilderness with this rugged outdoorsman, jokingly asking for her favorite breakfast food several days ago, and he’d taken her words to heart and answered her wish.
“Yes, yes of course. I mean, no . . . I haven’t lost my appetite.” She tried desperately to find her voice.
“There’s coffee in the cup. I’m afraid we’re almost out.”
Jana looked up at him. She raked her teeth across her lower lip. “Thank you, Dan,” she said softly, and stepped up to him. She placed her hands on his shoulders, intent to reach up and kiss him on the cheek. He flinched, and inhaled sharply. Jana quickly pulled her hand away, and jumped back.
“Oh, my goodness,” her hand flew to her mouth. “I forgot about your arm. What happened?” She lifted the torn fabric of his shirtsleeve, gently prying it away from a nasty gash in his upper bicep. The blood had dried, making the shirt stick to his skin.
“Goose,” he said, glancing down at his arm.
“Goose?” She shook her head in confusion. “Sit down, let me clean that,” She pushed him toward a downed log. “That looks nasty.”
“So was the goose.” Dan held up his hand. “Eat first,” he said. “I don’t want my efforts to go to waste.”
Jana shot him a stern look. “Dan, if that gets infected . . . even a small injury can cause severe problems out here in the wilderness. You should know that.”
Yellowstone Deception (Yellowstone Romance Series Book 5) Page 12
