Lacie Barton
WindSwept Narrows
Book Nineteen
Karen A. Nichols
Copyright 2012 by Karen A. Nichols
Smashwords Edition
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Chapter One
Wolf.
Lacie Barton had never seen one so close, or so large in her life. Regal, she thought, opening the front of the large drawing pad. Tawny, pale brown eyes remained on the majestic creature not twenty-five feet from her while her left hand held the pencil and began recreating his image on paper.
Eyes of gold returned her stare. Not a single reflection of concern from either of them. It was barely five on a late April afternoon, the sun was still strong and sent light flashing over the myriad of colors in the sleek coat. She allowed her gaze to leave his eyes, travel over the long, hard body and taking in the natural shades of browns, greys and black. But mostly he was dark silver. His tail was down, his paws planted firmly and securely in the mixed grasses outside the fence that surrounded the far side of the resort.
She sat cross legged on the grass, her large drawing pad on one of the wide stone benches that dotted the resort property. Long, straw colored hair had been woven into a simple braid very early that morning. After six hours of chasing toddlers, it had become frayed, tendrils of golden straw had slipped free and framed the oval shaped face. Fingers rose and absently tucked a cluster of stray hair behind one ear as she continued to sketch.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she said softly as she drew. “It’s not safe. Humans just aren’t safe,” she told him sadly. She looked toward the large expanse of green state park to the south. It was thick and dense but would there…was there…enough of what a wolf and his pack would need to survive?
“You look very healthy,” she continued absently, smiling slightly when he laid down, his large head resting over a pair of crossed paws. Alert gold eyes watched her. She thought maybe he was curious. “You don’t look like you’re curious. You actually look like you have humans figured out. Which really would be a coup.”
Her head tipped slightly to the side, words printed around the drawing she had finished. Protective. Majestic. Solitary.
“It’s not always a fun thing to be solitary, though, is it?” She asked quietly. “But you don’t seem sad. It’s almost like you’re on duty. I’ve seen you…in the distance. I hope no one else sees you.”
Lacie turned the page for another set of sketches and looked up to find her subject had gone. Pale lashes blinked in amazement. She straightened. A long, slender neck straining as she scanned the expanse of green grasses in all directions. Just vanished, she realized, and very silent.
She left the sketch pad on the bench, standing up and striding closer to the eight foot chain link fence. Slim fingers curled through the open metal. She went to her toes, trying to see further. How could he just vanish that quickly? She turned back to the bench, one foot up and pulling herself onto the surface to peer out over the grass and toward the sloping beach of rocks and sand that led to Puget Sound.
She turned to step down, all the breath inside her freezing and eyes shooting wide.
“Oh, god…” Lacie forced in a fast gulp of air. “Sorry…I didn’t see anyone…” She stared for a startled minute at the palm held up for her.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you. I was out walking and heard your voice,” he said quietly, his palm moving slightly and lips tilting at the corner when her hand came from her side and fit against his. “I didn’t see anyone. Who were you talking to?”
“Oh…umm…that’s just…just talking to myself,” she finally managed with a little nod. She stepped to the ground and quickly pulled her hand back.
“May I?” He gestured to the large drawing pad, lifting it and opening the front cover while she was still digesting the question.
“Oh…no…I’d rather…” Lacie winced and pulled her palms back from snatching the pad from his hands. Damp palms were rubbed over the sides of her jeans, feet moving slightly to put a little distance between them. She didn’t know where the word came from in her mind but it was there. Again.
Wolf.
She paced off a few steps before turning back, antsy. She didn’t like people looking at her work. Which made no sense, she argued, since it appeared in children’s books all the time. But that wasn’t the point, she argued back with a frown that sent the full bow of her lips into a little pout. She raised a palm, one finger up but no words answered her request.
“I’d really prefer…” She tried again, clearing her throat loudly. She watched the pages slowly turned and froze in place when a pair of deep brown eyes lifted from the pages to meet her gaze.
“You’re very good,” he said quietly, taking in the halo of golden straw curls framing her face, the slight pout to her lips and wide, pale brown eyes. Fawn eyes, he thought. Prepared to run at the first off sound or movement.
“I…thank you,” her tongue was out, trying to moisten her lips. He didn’t belong out here, she thought abruptly. He wore the suit well, tailored and professional. Longish dark hair fell in controlled chaos, layered and full. Like the pelt of the wolf, she thought briefly, unaware that her breath had quickened at the comparison.
“You forgot the word predator in your descriptions,” he said as he closed the drawing pad and gave it over to the hands anxiously wanting it returned.
“I don’t see him as a predator,” Lacie answered simply, holding the pad against her and moving to where she’d left her pack.
“Why?” More than curiosity flowed with the single word, his foot on the bench as he continued watching her. A tingle of humor swept through him when she met his eyes, head up and shoulders back.
“Because he would only take care of his pack. His family. A predator is one who preys without cause,” she shrugged slightly. “At least to me, it is. Humans are predators. Very little rhyme or reason for some of their behaviors.”
“Interesting view,” one corner of his mouth curved. “A very good, detailed rendition. Do you sell your drawings?” He almost laughed at the stunned expression that took over her face, her head shaking. “Too bad. I like the pencil drawing. It would look good on my office wall.”
Lacie opened the pad and very carefully pulled the large sheet of paper free, handing it to him. “I can make another when I see him again.”
Mason Wells straightened up, both feet planted as he accepted the drawing with an incredibly odd stream of emotion coursing through him. He looked down at the stark, clean drawing.
“You neglected to sign it,” he said softly, his gaze steady when she stepped forward, using the pad
to brace the paper and neatly printing her name in the lower corner. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Good bye,” Lacie smiled and hitched her pack on one shoulder, long legs crossing the manicured grounds toward the employee housing.
Dark eyes watched her go, taking in the low, solid boots; snug worn jeans and a sweater that was at least a couple sizes larger than she was. Sleeves were shoved to her elbows revealing long, slim arms and slender, expressive fingers free of any jewelry.
He moved thoughtfully off in the opposite direction, rolling the drawing and going directly to his room. He propped the drawing against the lamp on the bedside table, fingers up and pulling the silver blue tie free. He knew just where to take it for framing.
Now he had a name to attach to the woman he’d only seen from the window of his resort suite. Now he knew what she was doing at the fence for hours on end for the last two weeks. He tossed the suit jacket to the back of the chair next to the bed, opening the first couple buttons on his shirt before going to where he’d set up his laptop.
He read through the copy his admin had provided for the property cleaning costs when the western sunlight caught movement in the distance outside the large window. His head shook slightly as she sunk to the ground, the drawing pad open as she used the bench for her table.
He spent an hour working, glancing now and then out the window. She hardly moved from the spot. He knew from the pages filled with drawings that a lot of it was from her imagination, not from what she was viewing in front of her.
And she didn’t class wolves as predators. That he found intriguing.
Chapter Two
It was just after five on Monday when Lacie had her drawing pad tucked beneath her arm and wandered over the dry ground to her favorite place to sit. She was working on characters for the new book she’d received when she looked up into the clear blue sky, eyes closed for a minute as she tried visualizing what she wanted. When she opened them again, her breath caught in her chest.
“Hello…” She said softly. “You move very quietly,” she turned to the end of her pad and a clean page, her pencil moving expertly over the paper. “You shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t leave the forest. You should be off some place running free.”
He stood for several long minutes, just watching her. Long, slender head tipped slightly when she spoke to him. He moved closer to the fence, black nose twitching and eyes alert and watching. Intent, as if he were critically assessing her.
Lacie allowed her gaze to move very slowly over his form. From the firm muscles of his haunches to the large, purposefully set paws, he was built to survive, she decided. When the loud commotion began far to her right, her attention was momentarily drawn away from him. When she looked back, she caught barely a glimpse of a tail vanishing far to the left in the underbrush.
She whispered fervently to herself. “Run, run, run!”
Two men carrying rifles approached from the far right, looking meaningfully at her with raised brows.
“You see that wolf?”
“Toward the brush by the beach,” she answered, pointing off to the right and down the beach. “Why are you chasing him? He hasn’t done anything. He hasn’t harmed anyone.”
“It’s a wolf,” was their only response, turning shoulders toward her and heading in the opposite direction.
“Do you work for the resort?” She called out loudly, hands clenching the chain link fence tightly.
“Hell no!” Loud laughter filled the evening air.
“You lied to them,” said a firm, deep voice behind her, making her hold her breath as she spun around.
“Oh, god…do you have to sneak up on me like that?” She whispered hoarsely, going to the bench and closing her drawing pad and snatching up her pack.
“You lied to them.” He repeated, admiration in his tone.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she returned loftily. “Phone,” she mumbled, patting down her pockets and frowning, opening her pack and hands rummaging with mounting aggravation. “Phone…damn…my sweater…” She pulled the cords tight and blinked at the hand held up to her, the flat phone lying in the center. “I…thank you!” She whispered fervently, taking it and turning in the direction the men had gone.
She tapped in the emergency number and pulled a sharp breath into her chest.
“What is your emergency?”
“My name is Lacie Barton. I’m at the far south west corner of the WindSwept Narrows Resort. I just saw three guys in the state park behind us with big rifles! In the park! There’s little kids on the beach and…and…”
“Slow down, ma’am. You saw men with guns?”
“Yes…yes…going into the woods! That’s not allowed, right? Not in a park with kids!” Lacie chewed on the corner of her lip, going to her toes on the bench and still able to see the men moving in the trees. “And the wildlife reserve is off limits to that kind of thing!”
“I’ve dispatched some officers to your location.”
“Thank you!” She quickly closed the phone, fingers around it as she gripped the chain link fence. She paced the bench, realized she had the phone in her hand and held it out to the man watching her. “Oh. Thank you.”
She moved to the edge about to jump to the ground when his hands were up and at her waist, lifting her before she could protest. Her hands kind of fluttered and landed on his wrists before he tipped his head slightly and stepped back.
“Oh…well…thank you again,” she shoved her palms into her pockets and continued pacing, jumping a little when she saw the lights of the police car in the distance.
“All of this to keep a wolf safe,” he said quietly, fascinated by the animation on her face.
“It’s a state park. No weapons allowed,” she shrugged, lifting her pack and reaching for her drawing pad. Her head shook slowly. “I don’t know why he keeps coming out of the woods, though. He has to know he’s safer in there. Trees and brush and caves…I don’t understand why he keeps coming up here.”
“Perhaps he has a crush on you,” he said, the corner of his mouth tilted slightly, dark eyes meeting the stare she offered. “The police are coming to speak with you,” his gaze left hers to motion behind her and he caught of glimpse of momentary panic. “Take a deep breath,” he said softly, watching her do as he suggested before she turned.
“Officers,” Lacie said anxiously.
“Miss Barton? You phoned in the call about the men with weapons?”
“Yes. Three of them,” her gaze shifted to the side toward where they had gone off into the cluster of old growth. “Did you find them?”
“We did. They claim to have seen a wolf.”
“Really? In the middle of a bustling city?” Lacie offered only a small shrug.
“Would that justify their weapons, officer?” Mason asked curiously.
“No, it would not, but…” The officer looked from one to the other, his notebook out. “Your name, sir?”
“Mason Wells. I’m staying at the resort.”
“Where can you be reached, Miss Barton?”
“I work at the child care center. I’m a teacher there,” she answered easily, giving him the phone number. “I don’t understand why they thought it was smart to carry guns into a state park. I’d think the wildlife had a better right to the property than they did, but…thank you so much for responding,” she said with a bright smile aimed at each one.
“That was very efficiently and even coolly handled, Miss Barton,” he said with a soft hint of admiration in his voice.
“Humans are predators, remember? No rhyme, no reason for their behavior,” she said angrily, sighing and turning toward the buildings. “Good bye and thank you for not…” She stopped, closed her eyes and allowed her head to drop forward. “Just thank you.”
“Have you had your dinner yet this evening?” His stride toward her was casual, paced and slowed when she looked back at him. The expressive, wide eyes broadcast confusion, even bafflement this time, he tho
ught with a grin. And silence. “Are you married or engaged or seriously dating, Lacie?”
“Dinner,” she said thoughtfully, looking out toward the fence. “I don’t smell like dinner. He doesn’t look at me like dinner, though, either.”
“Hmm…no, probably not,” Mason put his hand gently on her elbow and walked over the grounds to the concrete skirting the large buildings.
“I mean, he’s a seriously healthy looking wolf. Not skin and bones kind of thing,” she rambled with a little frown, blinking and looking around. “I…where are we going?”
“Dinner. I asked, you accepted,” he said with simple arrogance.
“There’s nothing wrong with my memory or my brain,” she informed him flatly, shifting the large pad beneath her arm and sighed. “But dinner would be nice. No, I’m not married or dating or engaged. Are you?”
“Currently completely free,” he answered. “We can order room service and talk.”
“I…room service?” Her gaze went from the expansive lobby of the resort to the elevator opening before them. “I don’t go to hotel rooms with strangers. Especially strange men. This isn’t…”
“I promise to mind my manners, Lacie. I have a few business things I need to check on, regrettably,” Mason met the doubt and suspicion. “If it helps, I’m friends with too many of the principles surrounding the resort. I can get you references.”
Lacie swallowed a lot of doubt. That only meant people would never believe her over one of their friends. Or was that the thoughts of a prey before it becomes a meal? “I should have taken my drawing pad home.”
“I’m pretty sure it’ll be safe in the suite, Lacie,” Mason said with a low chuckle. “You said you’re a teacher?”
“Yes. Creative teacher for the kids,” she answered, very aware of the warm palm on her elbow, guiding her along the corridor to the end room. Room. Her mind whimpered a little when he pushed the door inward and gestured. “It’s vital to help children express themselves and art is many forms can do just that.”
WindSwept Narrows: #19 Lacie Page 1
