MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN

by Christine Rimmer

  More chairs were pulled up at Oggie's table. Amy wanted a cherry cola and Brendan asked for his usual whiskey straight up.

  When Eden came over to the bar to get the drinks for them, her eyes were shining so bright she looked like a kid on Christmas Eve. Eden was just nuts about the family and Jared hadn't the faintest idea why. If you asked him, he thought they were all more trouble than they were worth.

  But then, no one was asking him.

  As soon as Amy and Brendan were settled in with their drinks in front of them, some damn fool dropped a quarter in the jukebox and there was Patsy Clime singing "Crazy." And then what? Brendan pulled Amy to her feet. Sam grabbed Delilah. The two couples went swaying out onto the little square of floor by the curtain to the card room.

  Jared was careful not to look at them. It was enough to make a man sick. No four people had a right to look that happy in a screwed-up world like this one.

  A few minutes later, Jared's middle brother, Patrick, came in. Thankfully, as far as Jared was concerned, Patrick was alone. Jared didn't think he could stand looking at another happy couple right then. Patrick joined the family table and ordered a drink to be sociable, but Jared thought he looked a little down.

  Which made sense. Patrick's ex-wife had recently taken their two daughters and moved out of state. Also, Chloe Swan, who'd been in love with Patrick for years, had run off a couple of months ago with a stranger. Since their messy breakup a decade ago, Patrick had kept Chloe at a distance, insisting she and he were no more than friends. But ever since she'd gone, everyone said Patrick had been mooning around like a motherless calf.

  For a few minutes after the glum Patrick's arrival, Jared felt a little better about things. It was a welcome relief to see another man without an ear-to-ear grin on his face.

  But then Oggie and Eden got to talking about the restaurant they were going to open next door come spring, and Patrick perked up. Apparently, as Eden had mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Patrick was in on the restaurant deal and enthusiastic about it as well.

  Jared's spirits grew darker.

  More customers came in. It was turning into one of the busiest nights Jared could remember. And there were almost as many women in the place as there were men. The Hole in the Wall was now the kind of bar where a man could bring his lady and not worry if he'd end up having to protect her honor from some yahoo who'd had one drink too many. That was due to Eden's influence, of course.

  Yeah, Eden was a damn wonder, all right. Jared scowled and mixed more drinks.

  Around ten, when the atmosphere was more like that of a large, successful party than a busy night at a bar, three single men came in together. They were all big and young—college buddies out in the sticks on a camping trip from the look of them. Jared knew their type on sight. Their bulging muscles and good-natured arrogance gave them away. Jocks. Probably football players from the size of them.

  Over near the curtain to the back room, three single women were sitting together, sharing a girls' night out and seeming to be having a pretty good time. The three jocks homed in on the women and had them surrounded in seconds flat.

  The ladies put up not even token resistance. They smiled and flirted and helped the jocks find three spare chairs—precious commodities in the filled-to-capacity bar.

  Eden slipped through the crowd to take orders from the newcomers. Jared, who was mixing more drinks right then, watched her out of the corner of his eye. He knew how careful she was about getting ID from anyone who looked to be under thirty, and he was a little uneasy about how she was going to handle these guys. You just never knew about jocks, especially when they'd just found themselves some women to impress. They might get hostile about having to show they were old enough to drink.

  But Eden proved equal to her task. From that distance, Jared couldn't hear what was said. But he saw that she smiled and made some kind of joke, because both the jocks and the women laughed. Then the three men were whipping out their wallets and handing her their ID's. She gave each one of the ID's a good look before she handed them back in the order she'd collected them.

  As Eden returned the final ID, its owner grabbed her hand, turned it over and planted a kiss in the heart of her palm. He looked up at her and said something. Eden's slim back stiffened.

  Jared set down the shaker of margaritas he was mixing. His gut was clenching, his whole body gathering…

  And then Eden pulled her hand away and made some light remark that sent another wave of laughter over the group at the table. The big jock who'd kissed Eden's hand laughed the loudest. The woman sitting next to him, the most attractive of the women, didn't laugh at all.

  Eden turned and left the table. The big jock watched her go. Jared knew just what that college boy was looking at. For the last two weeks, he himself had looked at exactly the same thing whenever he forgot to stop himself.

  Jared remembered his job. He picked up the shaker of margaritas and poured them out swiftly into salt-rimmed glasses. "Hey Jared, what about my drink?" Rocky complained.

  Jared poured out a straight shot of tequila, grabbed the salt and a wedge of lime and put it all down in front of Rocky. "There you go, Rock," he said in a voice so patient and low that poor Rocky, cringing back, almost fell off his favorite stool. "Will that take care of it?"

  "Er, uh, yeah. That's it. You bet. Thanks a bunch. That's great—"

  Jared turned away before Rocky could finish groveling. He set the margaritas before the customers who'd ordered them and watched as Eden approached him.

  She smiled. "A pitcher of the dark stuff for the all-Americans back there. And another round for the ladies. Plus two tall ones for the guys at the pool table." She was already setting up the glassware for him to use. The woman was so damned efficient it set his teeth on edge sometimes.

  He poured the drinks. He told himself he was not going to ask, "What'd he say to you?" But somehow, he did.

  "What did who say?" She was busily arranging the drinks on the tray, looking extremely unconcerned. But she gave herself away when her hand hit one of the drinks and it nearly spilled.

  Jared steadied the drink and captured Eden's evasive gaze. "Don't play dumb. Just tell me what he said."

  She looked at him for a moment. Then she gave up her pretense that she didn't know who he was talking about. Her wide mouth pursed. She spoke very quietly. "Stop it. I handled it."

  His voice was equally soft. "What did he say?"

  "Let it go."

  "Tell me. Now."

  Eden said nothing.

  Over at the family's table, Oggie was in the middle of a long, involved joke about a salesman and a pair of silk stockings. Down the bar, someone called for a refill. Behind the curtain to the back room, a winner at the poker table crowed in triumph. The jukebox droned on, a sad song about a desperado who would not surrender to love.

  Neither Jared nor Eden noticed any of this. The boisterous crowd all around them had spun away. There was only the two of them, will to will.

  They had an understanding. They were temporary business partners and no more. Yet he wanted to know what the other man had said to her. And she would not tell him, for fear of a fight.

  Then Eden said in a low, even whisper, "Please, Jared. It honestly was not that bad. And it's over. It's done. Don't make trouble. Please."

  Jared's fist, clenched on the bar, slowly and reluctantly relaxed.

  Damn her, he thought. She would have to go and ask him so nicely. What the devil could a man do when a woman said please, except give her what she wanted?

  And hell, in spite of how tight he was wound up, he really didn't want to spoil things for her. He knew she was as proud as a peacock over the way the place was cooking tonight. And she had a right to be proud. It was her triumph, her proof that she'd done real wonders with his father's dingy saloon. A fight would spoil everything, and he knew it damn well.

  "All right," he said.

  "Thank you." Her smile was tremulous, brimming with silent gratitude. Jared dr
ank in her shining eyes, her petal-soft mouth and sweetly flushed cheeks—and that heated, hungry longing down inside him almost took control.

  The urge was on him to reach across the bar that separated them and wrap his hand around her soft nape. To pull her toward him, just enough that he could put his lips against hers.

  One quick, hard kiss. That was all it would take. And every man in the place would know who she belonged to. And anyone else who messed with her would do it at his own risk.

  "Jared?" Her smile had changed. Her sweet mouth was slightly parted.

  Damn her. She knew.

  And she wanted him to do it, to stake his claim on her.

  He thought of Sally, who had died and left him. And of Belle, who'd betrayed him and then taken the two boys he loved from him without a single backward glance.

  He reminded himself, as damn near impossible as that was to do while he was looking at Eden, that he was never going to put his heart and soul in a woman's frail hands again. And besides, he had to remember that he had nothing left to offer a woman anyway. His heart was a dried-up husk, and he was an unemployed lumberjack, his prospects dim at best.

  "Serve the drinks," he told her. Then he turned to take an order from a man who'd just slid onto the only vacant stool down at the far end of the bar.

  He knew she stared after him, for the briefest of moments. But Eden Parker was a pro. Before he could mutter "What'll it be?" to the man at the end of the bar, she had hoisted her tray of drinks up high and was off to weave her way between the full tables.

  Jared kept an eye out as she served the six at the back table. He didn't miss the speculative sideways looks that the biggest of the three men kept giving her. But the college boy said nothing this time, and Eden was careful never to look at him. And then the woman beside him, not pleased at all with the interest he was showing in their waitress, tugged on his arm. The big jock turned to the woman with a slow, sexy grin, and Eden slipped away.

  Oggie caught her as she passed the table where he still held forth, keeping everyone in stitches. "Give us all another drink, gal. And make it snappy."

  Eden laughed, a bright, sparkly sound that seemed to prod at Jared's empty shell of a heart. "Watch it, partner. You are in no position to get pushy."

  Sam advised, "She's right, Oggie. You get pushy, and I'll be pushing you … right out the door."

  "All right, all right. Jeez. What's the damn world coming to? A man can't even be an s.o.b. in his own damn bar." He pretended to look sorry. "Could we all have another drink. Please?"

  Eden agreed that they could.

  Midnight approached and went on by. Everyone was having a hell of a time. Brendan and Sam pushed the tables back a little more from the small section of cleared floor, and more couples ventured out to dance to the jukebox. Eden moved, swift and sure, between the tables, stopping to take an order, or to laugh at a joke. And Jared waited on the people at the bar and mixed the drinks and made sure there was plenty of cocktail mix and fresh popcorn.

  At the back table, three romances appeared to be in bloom. The all-Americans and their new girlfriends danced and laughed and drank a bit more than was good for them. Jared almost quit keeping tabs on them. The one who'd tried to make a move on Eden was plenty busy as the night went by. He seemed thoroughly absorbed in the woman who had pulled him down next to her when he and his buddies first entered the bar.

  She was a pistol, that woman. Small and slim, with a pretty, catlike face and short brown hair. She'd set her sights on the big blond college boy and she wasn't letting him slip through her paws. She pulled him onto the little section of dance floor and she plastered her trim little body up against him. As the jukebox played on, she clung to him like a new coat of paint.

  Jared actually had to suppress a grin when he watched that little pussycat of a woman stalk her all-American prey. His opinion, the more he watched the two of them, was that the college boy didn't stand a chance.

  In fact, seeing that the catwoman was going to keep the college boy from getting anywhere near Eden, Jared felt his mood improve marginally. He began to believe that he might make it through this night without busting anybody's teeth after all.

  But then Eden dropped off her tray, grabbed her purse from behind the bar and made the high sign that told him she was taking a bathroom break. She disappeared down the back hall to the ladies' room, which was all the way out back, through an outside door off the parking lot.

  Not five minutes later, he noticed that the catwoman was sitting at her table all alone.

  * * *

  Eden was too flushed with the success of the evening to pay any attention to who might be watching when she went outside. And she was also in a hurry. She was the only waitress on a very busy floor. She wanted to relieve her bladder and run a quick comb through her hair and get back to work.

  She gave a little grateful sigh when she got out to the parking lot and saw that there wasn't a line. Even better, the door to the ladies' room opened right then. Angie Leslie, a beautiful brunette who lived across the street from Sam and Delilah, stepped out.

  Angie smiled. "Be my guest." She held the door.

  "Thanks." Eden smiled back.

  Then she slid around Angle into the ladies' room and latched the door behind her. Quickly she relieved herself. washed her hands and straightened her hair. She glanced at her watch. Only four minutes since she'd left Jared alone in there.

  Thinking of Jared, she couldn't help smiling. Her face in the mirror blushed as pink as a strawberry daiquiri. He'd wanted to beat some sense into that smug jerk at the back table, for her sake. And he hadn't done it, also for her sake.

  Even better, she had seen the look in his eyes after he'd agreed to leave well enough alone. He'd come that close to grabbing her and kissing her. She knew it.

  Soon enough, he would kiss her. She knew that as well.

  And, oh, how she was longing for it to be sooner rather than later.

  The fact was that over the past two weeks, Eden Parker had come a long way in admitting to herself what she wanted.

  "Okay, okay," she said to her own reflection in the mirror. "Settle down there, girl. So you're in love. With an absolutely impossible man. Love finds a way. Give it time. Let it happen."

  She glanced at her watch again and realized she'd wasted two minutes grinning like a lovestruck fool and talking to herself in the mirror. She fumbled in her purse until she found her lipstick. After freshening her lips, she hooked her bag over her shoulder and pulled open the door.

  There was another woman waiting her turn outside. Eden exchanged a quick smile with her and the woman disappeared inside, latching the door behind her as Eden had done.

  And then Eden turned for the back door to the bar, only to be brought up short when she collided with a man coming out.

  "Hey, baby. Been looking for you. Where're you going in such a big hurry?"

  It was the big all-American jerk. The floodlight over the door to the bar clearly illuminated his chiseled features.

  Eden didn't bother to suppress her groan of annoyance. "It's none of your business where I'm going."

  She slid to the side to go around him. He moved to block her path. "My name is Lew. What's yours?"

  "Get out of my way," she instructed wearily. Eden had spent a lot of years tap-dancing away from overly amorous creeps. Since she'd come to North Magdalene, it hardly happened anymore. She suspected that was because of her connection with the Jones Gang. Generally, in North Magdalene, it was considered downright foolish to invite the wrath of any one of the Joneses. People just didn't do that.

  But Lew hadn't been in town long. He waxed poetic. "God, you are gorgeous. I've got a thing for leggy red-heads, you know."

  "Look. I'm not interested. Step aside, please."

  "Call me Lew. And like I said inside, I'd like to find out if you're a redhead everywhere…" He reached out.

  Eden stepped back and avoided his grasp. "I said I'm not interested." She was stalling, think
ing she only had to hold him off for a moment or two. Someone was bound to come outside.

  And she was right. Eden had barely finished thinking someone would come, when someone did. The back door to the bar swung open on a long squeak.

  Eden started to breathe a sigh of relief. But her sigh caught in her throat.

  Beyond the threshold stood the one person she didn't want to see right then: Jared. His eyes were as cold as steel, his mouth set and grim.

  Suddenly the fight she'd managed to avert earlier seemed distressingly imminent all over again.

  * * *

  Chapter 10

  « ^ »

  Eden was sure the big jock would turn to see who was standing in the open door.

  But right at that moment, the man was oblivious to all but the object of his desire. "My name's Lew. Say it. And give me a kiss. And then maybe I'll let you go."

  Had she still been alone with Lew, Eden might have become nervous at that point. But Jared was there. Suddenly dealing with Lew seemed the least of her problems.

  Right then, in that unnerving way that Jared sometimes had, he vanished from beyond the door and reappeared directly behind the big man. Jared tapped him on the shoulder.

  Lew's amorous expression became one of mild surprise. He turned. "Huh?" He looked Jared up and down. "What's your problem, barkeep? Can't you see the lady and I are having a little talk?"

  Jared spoke to Eden. "You have anything more you want to say to Lew, here?"

  The relief Eden felt was lovely. Jared was being reasonable after all. "No," she said quietly. "I've got nothing more to say to him."

  Lew's square jaw clenched. "So what? I've got plenty to say to you."

  Jared cut in. "You're not getting the message, Lew. What you've got to say doesn't matter, if the lady's not interested."

  Lew's face grew flushed. "She's interested. She's just not admitting it yet. And besides, it's no business of yours. You stay out of this, barkeep, or I'll…" Lew left his threat unfinished, as if to emphasize the gravity of it.