* * *
She was waiting outside on the sidewalk when he drove up the next morning.
She was dressed all in white, from her cotton shirt to her slacks to her sneakers; her golden hair was pulled back from her face and held in place by a white ribbon.
How could a woman look more beautiful each time you saw her?
“Hi,” she said, smiling as she climbed into the Porsche and settled into the seat beside him.
“Hi, yourself.” Zach smiled back at her. “Got the keys?”
Eve nodded. “Keys,” she said, plucking a skeleton key from her shoulder purse, “and a map. We’re all set.”
He nodded, shifted gears and moved out into the road.
“Good.”
“The realtor said the trip should take about two hours, maybe a little more, depending on the road.”
Zach glanced in the rearview mirror. “Traffic should be fairly light, for another hour or so, anyway”
“She was talking about the road from the highway to the cabin. It’s pretty narrow, as I recall, and its got more twists and turns than a snake, and——”
“You remember this place pretty clearly, don’t you?”
Eve looked across the console. Was there an edge in Zach’s voice? No. It had to be her imagination. He was looking at the road, smiling just a bit, the picture of relaxation in his white cotton pullover sweater and faded jeans.
It had to be her, reacting to her own nervousness.
“Yes,” she said, “I suppose I do. The weekend I spent here was so terrific and such a surprise that——”
“Why don’t you take a look at that map, Eve? Plot us a way out of the city along some alternate route. I was wrong about traffic being light this morning. It’s starting to build already.”
There wasn’t much traffic, not that she could see, but Eve nodded.
“No problem. Just give me a minute.”
Zach watched as she spread the map open in her lap and bent over it, her bright hair falling over her face. She lifted her hand, tucked the strands behind her ear, and as she did, the cap sleeve of her shirt rode up, exposing the pale, golden skin of her underarm.
For some foolish reason, the sight made his throat constnct with an almost unbearable tenderness.
What was wrong with him this morning? He’d been seesawing back and forth since he’d awakened, one minute whistling like a schoolboy at the long day that lay ahead with Eve, the next wondering what in hell he was so happy about. This was a Saturday, sure, but it was just an extension of the work week.
Besides, only a fool would be happy to take a woman to a place that obviously held such sweet memories for her.
Why in hell had he ever agreed to this trip?
Zach scowled at the road ahead. Not that Eve’s memories mattered, one way or the other. What she’d done before she met him was her business. What she did afterward was her affair, too. Eve was stunning, and there was no denying the strong physical attraction between them, but he had no claim to her.
And he didn’t want any. The last thing he wanted was to get involved again. He’d had the moonlight and roses and the promises-of-forever routine—and look where it had landed him.
“Here we go.” Eve looked up from the map. “If you take the next off ramp——”
“Never mind,” Zach said briskly. “You were right. We’ll stay where we are—the traffic’s not bad at all.” He cleared his throat. “So, how’d it go with Burton?”
Eve made a face. “His agent’s a jerk. He says he’s too busy to meet with me next week, but he finally agreed to look at a script. So I sent him one, and sent one to Dex, too, along with a note.”
“Is that what the note says?” Zach grinned. “Dear Dex, your agent’s a jerk. Best wishes, Eve Palmer?”
She laughed and lay her head back. “I only wish! No, I was the soul of diplomacy. You know, I told him what a terrific actor he was, and how I’d love to see him in this role, blah, blah, blah.” She sighed. “I stroked his ego until it made me want to gag, but who knows if it was enough?”
The thought of her stroking any part of Dex Burton, even his ego, made Zach’s hands tighten on the wheel.
“Listen,” he said, “I can always call Burton instead of you getting stuck with it.”
“Thanks, but I don’t think you could convince him.” Zach looked over just in time to see that familiar lifting of her chin. “But I can do it,” she said, “and I will.”
“Well, let’s not worry about that today. Tell me more about this cabin. How far off the beaten track is it?”
“Far enough. Most of the trip’s not bad, but you end up on a road that winds up the mountain. Rocks on one side, vertigo on the other.”
“Not your cup of tea?”
She laughed. “I learned to drive in Minnesota,” she said, “where the word ‘flat’ was defined.”
Zach laughed, too. “Well, you’re in good hands. I learned to drive in the Rockies. In a car very much like this one, come to think of it.”
Eve turned her head toward him. “Nice.”
“Oh, yeah.” A grin tilted across his mouth. “Especially since it was the old man’s, and he didn’t know a thing about it.”
“What do you mean?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “He had a Porsche that spent its life in the garage. Well, heck, that seemed an awful waste, so I swiped his keys, had a duplicate set made and took off.”
“And?”
He sighed. “And, he had me brought back.”
“Cured you of borrowing what wasn’t yours, huh?”
“No.” He shot her a grin. “Just made me more careful about getting caught.”
Eve laughed, and then she sighed and shifted into the corner of the seat.
“You said you have brothers?”
“Yeah. And a sister.”
She smiled wistfully. “It must have been fun, growing up with other kids.”
“Were you an only child?”
She hesitated. She never talked about her childhood. It was too painful and too revealing.
“I don’t know what I was,” she said, after a minute. “My mother left me on somebody’s front porch with a note that said she hoped I’d get a good home.”
Zach reached out and took her hand in his. “I’m sorry, Eve.”
“Don’t be. It was a long time ago.”
“What happened? Were you adopted?”
Eve shook her head. “I went into foster care. By the time the courts decided if I could be adopted—if I’d really been abandoned or not—I was too old for anybody to want me.” She smiled. “And too gawky.”
“You?” His hand tightened on hers. “Gawky? I doubt that.”
“Trust me,” she said, with a little laugh. “I was spindly, like a colt, and just about as awkward.”
He smiled at her. “But you didn’t stay that way.”
“No.” She smiled, too, but the smile quickly faded from her face. “No, I didn’t. By the time I was in my mid teens, I’d—I’d begun to mature. I was in another foster home by then, and…”
“And?” Zach said gently.
Eve hesitated. Tell him, she thought. Tell him why you could never have done the things he accused you of. Tell him how baffled you’ve always been by desire…
But it was too much to say, and too soon to say it. Instead, she smiled and shrugged her shoulders.
“And,” she said, “I wasn’t happy. So I saved up the money I earned baby-sitting, slipped out of the house one night and never looked back.”
Zach’s fingers curled through hers.
“I wish I’d met you then,” he said gruffly. “I’d have done my damnedest to have made you happy.”
You are making me happy.
The realization was swift and stunning, and for an instant, she was afraid she’d said the words out loud.
But she only smiled, and squeezed his hand tightly, and when he felt the press of her fingers and saw the muscles in her throat work, Zach felt as
if she’d reached straight into his chest and wrapped her fingers around his heart.
CHAPTER EIGHT
BY THE time they reached the turnoff that led to the cabin, clouds had turned the sunny morning almost as dark as Zach’s mood.
The closer they got to their destination, the sorrier he was he’d come.
Mud from the unseasonal rains that had hit these mountains recently had turned the road into a miserable, slippery track with enough holes to make him glad the Porsche had such responsive steering. The mountain was on his right, a drop-off to nowhere was on his left, and parts of the shoulder had given up completely and slid down the steep incline.
Why would he even consider paying what it would cost to transport a cast and crew and equipment one hundred and fifty plus miles up a mountain?
Why would he want to shoot a film in the middle of nowhere?
But mostly, he kept wondering why he’d ever agreed to bring Eve to a place where she’d spent a weekend with another man.
There was no sense kidding himself. He’d thought—he’d hoped—that this day would turn out to be pleasant and relaxing, and that it would mark a turning point in their relationship.
But it wasn’t working out like that. Instead, he was sitting here feeling sorry for himself, trying not to be jealous of some faceless guy who’d once brought Eve up this same road.
And he had no right to be jealous. He’d meant it when he’d told Eve their relationship was going to be strictly business.
Okay. Zach’s jaw knotted. Okay, so maybe he never should have made that promise. Maybe, deep in his gut, he’d known he wanted a more personal relationship with her after all.
So what? That still didn’t give him the right to give a damn about some lover she’d had long before she met him.
He’d had more than his fair share of relationships with women over the years, both before his marriage and certainly after. He expected his women to be faithful for as long as an affair lasted, but he’d never given a damn about their pasts.
And yet here he was, thinking about the last time Eve had come up this road, wondering if she still thought about the guy who’d brought her, if her pleasant memories of the cabin were linked to the man or the place.
“Idiot,” he muttered.
“What?”
Zach glanced at Eve, swallowed dryly and looked at the road.
“I said…ah, I said, I wonder what idiot designed this road?”
Eve shifted into the corner and turned toward him.
“You, too? I’ve been thinking that for the longest time, but I didn’t want to say anything.” She gave a little laugh. “I didn’t want to do anything to distract you. I mean, I could see how hard you were concentrating.”
Zach laughed, too. If only she knew what he’d been concentrating on, that she was the greatest distraction he could imagine.
“Zach? Do you think maybe we ought to turn back?”
“Yeah,” he said dryly, “oh, yeah, I sure do. But I haven’t seen a strip of road wide enough to turn a bike around, much less a car.”
“Well, for whatever it’s worth, I’m sorry I dragged you up here. If I’d known——”
“Come on, don’t be silly. You had no way of knowing this road would give the Baja a run for its money.”
He glanced at her, for the first time seeing the tilt of that resolute chin, and he could have cursed himself for his selfishness. Wrapped up in his own stupid thoughts, he’d never stopped to think how Eve might feel about finding herself on a narrow ribbon of washed-out gravel perched a few hundred feet in the air in a Porsche that might just be going faster than it should.
Zach eased his foot off the gas pedal.
“Not that I’ve driven the Baja,” he said, flashing her a quick smile, “but I have put in time on some tracks that are every bit as miserable as this one.”
It was an immodest boast, but he told himself he was only doing it to take Eve’s mind off things. And it worked. She turned toward him, head cocked and eyes wide.
“You mean, you drive racing cars?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Strictly amateur stuff, of course.”
She laughed and lay her head back against the seat.
“And to think I was ready to write you off as a bean counter.”
Zach grinned. “Never underestimate the bean counters of the world.”
“No. I can see that. How on earth did you get into racing?”
“Well, I’ve always liked cars.”
Eve raised an eyebrow. She reached out and patted the leather dashboard of the Porsche.
“Do tell,” she said wryly. “I thought Hertz rented Porsches to everybody.”
He chuckled. “Not exactly. But I’ve been a pretty good customer at my local dealership back East, so when I asked the manager to contact somebody out here and arrange a rental for me…”
“Couldn’t do without it, hmm?”
“I admit, I like fast cars. And racing. I even thought of turning pro once.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Well, it’s an expensive sport and I just didn’t have the money. I was just out of the Corps, going to college, and——”
“Let me guess,” Eve said with a little laugh. “You paid your own way through college.”
Zach nodded. “The old man and I were barely on speaking terms. He didn’t offer and even if he had, I wouldn’t have let him.” He shot her another quick smile. “The Corps taught me the importance of honor, integrity, independence—and that only a sucker thinks he’s going to fill an inside straight.”
The road angled into the trees, and Zach almost breathed a sigh of relief. The surface was even muddier, but at least they’d left the edge of the world behind.
“I agree,” Eve said. “About it being important to be independent.” Her smile tilted. “I’ve always had this little scenario in my head. About my mother, you know? How she must have been young, and dependent on her family, and how different her life and mine would have been if—if…”
She fell silent. She was doing it again, telling him things about herself she’d never told anyone. It was pointless, this—this giving away of little pieces of herself. And why would Zach want to hear these foolish confessions, anyway?
His hand closed around hers. “Listen,” he said gruffly, “if success is a path to independence, you’ll have plenty of it once Hollywood Wedding hits the theaters.”
Eve’s fingers tightened around his. “I hope so. But there are still so many loose ends…” She drew in her breath, then expelled it. “And I know I’ve made mistakes. Thinking we could use this cabin for a location, for instance—I must have been out of my mind.”
“Don’t tell me you’re starting to question all those great memories of the place?” he said in what he hoped was a light tone.
“No, not at all. But this road…we’d never be able to get anything up here, except by helicopter. And…” She leaned forward. “Look,” she said, “there it is. See? Just through the trees.”
The cabin stood in a small clearing, surrounded by the lush green of the forest. Zach pulled the car up beside it and shut off the engine. Somewhere off in the distance, thunder rolled softly across the mountain.
Eve swung toward him, her eyes bright. “You can see why I thought it would be perfect, can’t you?”
Zach felt his gut knot. What he could see was that this was the perfect place for a man and a woman to spend a weekend away from the world.
He shrugged, undid his seat belt and stepped out of the car.
“I’ll reserve judgment until I get a look inside.”
A heavy planked door swung open into a large, attractive, wood-planked room. A long, low sofa draped with a colorful afghan stood before a massive stone fireplace that dominated one wall. To the right was a small kitchen and beyond, through a partly open door, Zach could glimpse an enormous redwood hot tub set beneath a round skylight.
And to the left, within a sleeping area screened by a half-wall, t
here was a quilt-covered bed, a bed that looked as wide and soft as a cloud.
“I was right,” Eve said softly, “it is perfect.”
Perfect. The knot in Zach’s belly grew tighter. Perfect for the film—and for bringing that sweetly nostalgic smile to her face.
“Zach?” Eve swung toward him. “What would it cost to helicopter everything up here? We’ll only have a two-person cast for these shots, and——”
“Forget about it.”
“Of course. You’re right. It would be foolish to spend so much money.”
“Exactly.” Zach took her arm. “Let’s go.”
“Wait a minute!” She pulled away from him and walked to the center of the room. “I’ve got an idea.”
Zach stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Eve, it’s a long drive down. And I didn’t much like the looks of that sky, so if it’s all the same to you——”
“I know it wouldn’t be the same as using the cabin itself,” she said, “but what if we come back with a camera? Take some shots, some measurements…”
“What for?”
“We could build a set duplicating the cabin on a sound stage.” She smiled. “How’s that sound?”
“Forget it. I wouldn’t use this place if we could walk our stuff up here.”
Her face fell. “You don’t like it?”
“No,” he said grimly, “I do not.”
“Zach, come on. Remember the script?” She smiled as she walked toward him and put her hand lightly on his arm. “Think about that big love scene, you know the one, where the main characters realize their anger has just been a cover-up for their real feelings.” Her fingers curled around his arm; he could feel the heat of them burning through his sleeve. “Can’t you just see it? The fire in the hearth, the flames casting shadows over them…”
Thunder rolled in the distance.
“Time to go,” Zach said briskly, and turned toward the door.
“Dammit, Zach.” Eve stepped around him, blocking his way, her hands on her hips. “Why are you being so stubborn? Use a little imagination here, okay?”
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