by Jean Barrett
Allison warmly complimented the woman on her efforts and then asked her about the flowers missing from the chapel.
Dorothy shook her head. “Well, that’s sure funny. I haven’t been out there yet so I didn’t know. There are no extra arrangements in that big cooler in the kitchen, either, only your bridal bouquet and a lot of loose flowers I thought were leftovers. But I guess those were what didn’t get made up for the chapel.”
“Did Nils say anything when he got back home yesterday?”
“Just that by the time he’d turned on the heat and the water over here Teddy had arrived. He was already unpacking his flowers when Nils left again. Said he expected to work right through the day and into the evening. Nils asked him if he minded staying alone on the island, and he said he’d be too busy to notice. Well, you know what a loner he is, anyway.”
“I’d call him,” Allison said, “but he was closing his shop right after this job and going off somewhere for the holiday.”
There was an expression of pure exasperation on her face. Lane didn’t blame her. A weekend that was meant to be memorable was turning out to be complicated and difficult. And looking no easier, she thought as she remembered she had a severe challenge of her own. She’d have to spend this entire weekend somehow resisting the man who had once meant everything to her.
* * *
THEY GATHERED in the lounge for drinks before dinner. There was an enormous stone fireplace with an inviting blaze, deep leather chairs and a fragrance of pine in the air. Nothing could have been more appropriate for a festive Christmas Eve. There was even a tall tree in one corner waiting to be decorated by everyone after dinner.
And yet, Lane realized, toying with a glass of white wine she’d accepted from Dan, none of the party was really relaxed. Allison and Hale certainly weren’t, she thought, observing them on the sofa they shared. She was telling him about the missing flowers and how they had no choice now but to decorate the chapel themselves. Hale was dutifully sympathetic, but the strain between them was obvious.
And Jack...well, Jack was fighting for patience and fast losing the battle. Ronnie Bauer had trapped him again. Something about her having heard that powdered dinosaur bones made excellent aphrodisiacs, and could this be true? Jack, wearing a Nordic sweater that accentuated the breadth of his shoulders, looked positively dangerous. He kept glaring in Lane’s direction, as though Ronnie might be her fault.
She wasn’t, but Lane wasn’t ungrateful for Ronnie. The woman had intercepted Jack as he was heading obstinately in her direction. Besides, Veronica Bauer was an entertainment in herself. The rest of them were casually dressed. She wore an alluring black number that revealed a pair of impressive breasts, which she managed to thrust in Jack’s direction at every opportunity. Her jewelry was also very much in evidence. Allison had confided to her that the divorced Ronnie had money from her second husband and that she was recklessly spending every dime of it.
“It’s the wind,” Dan said, joining Lane where she stood by the tall windows that overlooked the bay.
“Pardon?”
“That’s making all of us a little tense.”
He had an uncanny ability for reading her thoughts. But he was right. The wind had risen since sundown and was blowing in strong gusts around the lodge. There was an unsettling quality about it.
“Look,” he said, indicating the view.
She turned, gazing out at the frozen expanse lit by a strangely hazy moon. What appeared to be dust clouds were moving erratically over the ice. It was an eerie scene.
“The wind is whipping up the ground snow. If it blows any harder, there will be whiteout conditions on the bay by morning. Won’t allow the ice fishers to go out, but it shouldn’t bother us up here.”
No, Lane thought, it shouldn’t matter. It was the night before Christmas and an idyllic wedding, but the weather shouldn’t matter. Nothing was supposed to matter, or interfere, but too much did.
The conversations around the room were lagging, with some of the party casting impatient glances in the direction of the dining room, when a rasping voice exploded into the lull. “You’re all dead!”
Startled faces swung in the direction of the doorway to the adjoining library. A figure was lurking there in the shadows, clutching what looked to Lane like a medieval crossbow. The wicked weapon was trained on the occupants of the lounge.
There were gasps and a shrill little yip of alarm from Ronnie. Their reactions brought a shout of pleased laughter from the intruder as he moved forward into the light, revealing himself.
“Gotcha!”
“Stuie!” his mother shrieked. “You fiend!”
The teenager chuckled, waving the crossbow at them. “Relax. It isn’t loaded.”
Lane realized that Jack had managed to suddenly appear at her side. He was still trying to play her guardian angel and, damn it, she didn’t need a guardian angel.
“That kid has a sick sense of humor,” he muttered.
“It wasn’t just a joke,” Lane murmured. “He’s looking for attention. Haven’t you noticed how Hale and his mother manage to ignore him?”
Ronnie, however, wasn’t ignoring Stuart at the moment. “Put it down,” she demanded. “Where did you get that thing?”
“In there.” He jerked his head toward the library.
“There aren’t any bolts for the crossbow,” Allison interjected. “None of the collection is dangerous.” She moved behind Stuart, folding back the other wing of the double door to the library and flipping on all the lights.
The others crowded into the opening behind her to gaze at the wall-mounted antique weapons. The assortment represented every early age, ranging from maces to muzzle loaders.
“It was my father’s collection,” Allison explained. “But he made certain they were all neutralized. Even the sword points have been blunted.”
Ronnie shuddered. “Harmless or not, they’re still nasty things.”
Stuart certainly didn’t share his mother’s distaste, Lane noticed. There was a gleam of fascination in his eyes as he reverently stroked the edge of a halberd.
“Dinner, everyone.”
Dorothy’s welcome announcement summoned them to the dining room off the other end of the lounge. As they gathered around the table, Ronnie cast out another seductive net.
“I feel absolutely defenseless after Stuie’s little performance. I need a bodyguard next to me. Jack,” she implored, “you will sit beside me, won’t you?”
But Jack had no intention of being outmaneuvered again. “Good for you, Ronnie,” he agreed heartily. “There’s nothing wrong with a little old-fashioned male protectiveness when the situation calls for it. But whenever possible, I think it ought to come from family, don’t you? That makes you lucky tonight. You’ve got two strapping sons here, one for either side of you.”
Her game had been neatly turned against her. Stuart grinned while his mother glared at him murderously. But Ronnie, left without a choice, found herself flanked by her sons.
Jack, however, wasn’t finished. “Allison, of course, has her cousin Dan to guard her from any stray dragons. But Lane here...well, I’m the closest to family she’s got. Right, sweetheart?”
Lane would have looked like a fool sputtering objections to what the others must regard as mere playfulness, though she knew better. In any case, he didn’t give her the opportunity. With the ease and swiftness of a military tactician, he installed himself beside her, his expressive mouth registering a smile of satisfaction. Lane felt her careful defenses already under assault. It was going to be a long meal.
Allison, amused by Jack’s strategy, was seated between Hale and Dan before she suddenly noticed the table setting. She glanced up at Dorothy, who was waiting to serve them. “There are only seven places. Why aren’t you and Nils and Chris joining us?”
“We’ve already eaten in the kitchen. Would anyone like freshly ground pepper for their salads?”
“Even if you were hired to help with the weekend,”
Allison persisted, “you’re friends, not servants.”
“Chris wanted it this way.” Dorothy’s response was quiet, impassive.
“But I didn’t intend—”
“Allison, let it go,” Hale cautioned her.
The uncomfortable moment passed, but a tension remained in the room. They tried to ignore the ceaseless wind blasting around the lodge as they concentrated on the savory beef burgundy that the caterer had provided for the occasion.
Dan, an able diplomat, made an effort to distract them. He told them how his Norwegian grandmother was responsible for the style of the house. Even the chapel was her design. It was his side of the family who had once owned the island. Neither Whitney cousin offered to explain how the property had passed to Allison’s father.
Lane endeavored to enjoy both the food and the conversation but, thanks to Jack’s potent nearness, she found herself with an appetite for neither one. Maddening the way he had his chair positioned so unnecessarily close to hers. She could actually feel the sensual heat of his hard body.
It was no accident either when, rescuing the napkin slipping from his lap, his hand came brushing against her thigh. She caught her breath, feeling as though fire had stroked her.
“Something wrong?” he murmured, his strong-boned face all innocence.
“Not a thing,” she assured him, and silently damned him for tormenting her. He was deliberately testing her, of course, wanting to know if she was still susceptible. Because whatever else had been wrong with their marriage, the sex between them had always thrived. Then she damned herself for her own weakness. Where Jack Donovan was concerned, she was still volatile.
Struggling for self-control as the interminable meal progressed, Lane focused on the conversation.
“The taxes and upkeep have become horrendous,” Allison was telling them. “Properties like this one are just no longer practical. And that, dear hearts, is exactly why I insisted on this weekend. My wedding here will be the last Whitney house party on the island. A week from Monday I sign the papers that transfer Thunder Island over to the new owners.”
There were exclamations of surprise around the table, Ronnie’s the most vocal. “You’re actually selling the place?”
“With regret but, yes, I am. It was the state of Wisconsin that made the right offer. They’ll preserve the island as a wilderness park. I’m glad about that and pleased that Dan, who already knows, will receive all the proceeds of the sale. The island would have eventually gone back to his side of the family anyway, according to Dad’s instructions and my will, so why should he have to wait for the results?”
Dan saluted her approvingly with his water glass. “Bless you for your generous foresight, because, while I’m as sentimental as the next man, I would never have survived the expenses of the place.”
“Oh, but the surprises don’t stop there,” Allison informed them mysteriously. “The state has several solid reasons for wanting the island, but one of them is positively extraordinary. An exciting discovery that was made just last fall when I was having repairs done to get the property ready for sale. And if you’re all good little girls and boys and clean your plates, Auntie Allison will show you before coffee and dessert.”
Dan leaned toward her. “Allison, do you think you should? The state did caution against any disturbance until they can bring in their team of experts.”
“The state doesn’t own the place yet. Anyway, we’re only going to look, not touch.”
“But there’s Chris and Dorothy,” he reminded her softly. “You know how they feel about—”
“I don’t see why they should be offended,” she interrupted him, her voice brittle. “After all, the thing will go public after the sale.”
Lane could see that Allison, after her earlier frustrations, was in one of her contrary moods. Dan, too, recognized her defiance, perhaps even realized that Chris Beaver was responsible for it. In any case, he surrendered the argument.
“Well, I don’t know about the rest of you,” Ronnie declared, “but I can’t stand the suspense.”
“Let’s do it, then,” Allison said, throwing down her napkin and coming decisively to her feet.
Lane, as perplexed as the others, followed Allison, who led the group through the swing door and into the roomy kitchen. Chris and the Askers, drinking coffee at the table and not expecting an invasion, stared at them in surprise.
“Sorry for the intrusion,” Allison apologized with a single-minded liveliness. “We just need to help ourselves to a few of the oil lamps from the shelves here. Here, everyone, help me to light these.”
Lane noticed that Chris, who must have understood her intention, had a mutinous expression in his dark eyes. He and his sister exchanged a rapid dialogue in Menominee. He started to get to his feet then, but Nils laid a restraining hand on his arm and shook his head. Dorothy, too, looked as if she wanted to object, but she lapsed into a stolid silence.
Jack, close beside Lane, shared her puzzlement when he muttered, “Just what are we getting into?”
“This way, children,” Allison instructed them blithely, opening a door in the corner of the room. “And watch your heads. There’s a low beam at the bottom.”
Ronnie peered suspiciously through the opening at a stairway that angled steeply to a cellar beneath the service portion of the house. “Lovely,” she complained. “Spiders and cobwebs. This had better be good.”
“It’s worth it,” Allison promised. “Jack, you will positively drool when you see.”
“Must be a chained brontosaurus, then,” Stuart said gleefully.
Allison led the way. They filed after her down into the shadowy cavity of the cellar that had been hewn out of the solid rock of the bluff. Lane was immediately aware of a mustiness in the air. Her eyes, adjusting to the dimness, made out the shape of the furnace crouching under the rafters like a squat beast. From somewhere overhead came the soft ping of a heating duct emitting air.
Jack, still provocatively at her side, murmured an intimate aside. “Reminds me of those nights when we’d rent a fright movie and snuggle. Remember?”
She didn’t answer him. It was too risky.
“Over here,” Allison called, gathering them at one end of the cellar where a temporary plywood barrier had been erected against the rock wall.
“The stones were crumbling here,” she explained, “and when the masons started to dig away all the rubble to set up a new, deeper wall, they found...well, you’ll see.”
Lane could now recognize a door in the plywood barrier. It had been fitted with a hasp and a padlock. Allison produced a key and started to free the padlock. Then she stopped, her face wearing a frown of annoyance.
“It’s already unlocked,” she said. “Not supposed to be. I wonder who forgot—”
“Allison,” Hale urged, “let’s get on with it.”
“All right, here we go. Hang on to your lamps, people.”
Spreading the door wide, she revealed a gaping black hole in the rock. The fissure, merely a crack when discovered, she explained, had been widened by the masons to permit a narrow passage. Allison, head low, squeezed through the opening, the others trailing after her in anticipation tempered by apprehension.
Lane felt a little like Alice in Wonderland when she stood erect on the other side, gazing in amazement around the natural cavern in which they found themselves. The oil lamps flung shadows over the limestone formations, intensifying the bizarre spell of the cave.
Stuart whistled in the hollow stillness. “Man, where are the vampires?”
The air was raw, and Ronnie shivered. “This is creepy. Let’s go back.”
“Wait,” Allison insisted. “You haven’t seen the good stuff in the next chamber. It’s perfectly safe.”
“Just how many chambers are there?” Jack wondered.
“Could be a whole labyrinth of them,” Dan said. “The place has yet to be explored. Or there might be only the two chambers. Workers must have just missed discovering the whole t
hing when the cellar was first excavated.”
“Now, if the tour will just step this way, please.” Allison directed them playfully as she led the way through another opening into a second, larger cavern.
When they had collected down at one end of the chamber, the oil lamps casting flickering pools of light, she pointed with delight. “There! Didn’t I tell you it was something special?”
Lane, along with the others, found herself gazing at a series of oblong depressions hacked out of the floor of the cave. Occupying each of the shallow, open pits was a skeleton curled on its side. The areas on either side of the human remains were rich with grave offerings. They could see implements of bone, copper beads, pots of assorted sizes and shapes, crumbling birch-bark baskets decorated with quill work and a variety of shell adornments.
“Oh, my God,” Ronnie cried, “it’s a cemetery!”
“An ancient one,” Allison said. “The state archaeologists can’t wait to get their hands on it.”
Jack was impressed. “I don’t blame them. It’s not my field, but this looks to me like the Archaic Indian period, and that makes it a real treasure. Even better, it hasn’t been disturbed through the centuries.”
“Probably,” Dan explained, “because the original way in was through the bluff face in the first chamber, and that was sealed off by a rock fall ages ago.”
“And all this time,” Hale mumbled darkly, staring at the skeletons, “they were waiting here in the blackness.”
Lane shuddered at his morbid observation.
“The petroglyphs!” Allison exclaimed, remembering. “You have to see the petroglyphs on the walls! They’re wonderful! Bring the lamps over to this side.”
The lights were carried to the other end of the chamber. And there they revealed something else waiting for them in the darkness. Something huddled down in the farthest corner that, once illuminated, brought them all to a horrified standstill.
It was Ronnie’s strangled cry that echoed in the cave. A sick, croaking sound. The rest of them were silent with shock.
