Clyde pulled off to the side of the highway and got out. Without conscious thought, Kathryn fastened her attention on Wade as he vaulted from his truck, dressed in old cutoffs, a T-shirt and loafers. Her stomach lurched with unfamiliar sensations as she watched the smooth movement of his lean coordinated body. He wasn't handsome in the conventional sense, but his wonderful bone structure, deeply tanned skin and medium-length dark blond hair gave him a compelling attractiveness. She watched, entranced, as the soft breeze disheveled his hair, and tendrils drifted across his brow.
Both men sauntered over to the driver's side of the station wagon. Wade leaned his head inside, took one look at Kathryn sandwiched between the other two and said, "Come on out, Kathryn. There's no sense getting squashed when I have an empty truck."
She shook her head frantically. "I'm fine right here. Really."
"Stop being diplomatic," Alice chided with a smile. "You'll be much more comfortable driving with Wade."
"Go on," Clyde urged, leaving Kathryn no choice but to comply. Once again fate had conspired against her.
"Thanks," Laurel whispered. "Now I can breathe."
John said absolutely nothing, but Kathryn didn't miss the strange stare he gave her and Wade before he got out of the car so she could slide across the seat.
Her ponytail bobbed as she walked around the front of the car and came face-to-face with Wade. She went cold then hot as she felt his penetrating gaze follow the outline of her body beneath a washed-out yellow T-shirt before dropping to her long tanned legs exposed by a pair of faded blue running shorts. White tennis shoes completed her outfit; unfashionable, she knew, but it couldn't be helped. She hadn't had time to do any shopping and nothing else in her wardrobe fit.
"Shall we go?" he murmured in a low deep voice that took her back five years.
With a sense of déjà vu she accepted his help and climbed into the cab of the truck. Maybe it was her imagination, but she thought she felt his fingers press briefly against the soft warm skin near her underarm before he released her to close the door.
And maybe she was losing her mind, because his grim expression was the first thing she noticed when he got in on the driver's side and started the engine. Without saying a word, he followed Clyde's Dodge and trailer onto the highway and they drove for several miles before he so much as glanced at her.
"For your information, Dad said he wanted to have a little talk with John and suggested you ride with me."
"I see."
"I don't think so. According to the folks, John hasn't been the most pleasant person to be around lately."
Kathryn lowered her head, not anxious to pursue the subject any further, particularly since Alice had revealed the source of John's pain. "Growing up is never easy."
His harsh laugh surprised her. "Thus speaks the voice of experience."
"If you don't mind, I'd like to change the subject."
"So would I. Let's talk about your divorce."
Her throat practically closed up. "I'd rather not." "That's why you're so tense, isn't it?" he observed with uncanny perception. "You're brittle as glass, Kathryn. One day you'll shatter if you keep the pain locked in."
"I'd prefer to talk about your fiancée," Kathryn countered. "What's she like?"
His jaw hardened. "For one thing, she's open. For another, she's honest, which is more than I can say for you."
Her fingernails dug into her palms. "She sounds like a paragon. Congratulations."
"Sarcasm doesn't become you," he answered so calmly she felt her blood pressure rise.
"Look, Wade. Maybe it's best we don't discuss our personal lives."
"I don't know how we can avoid it, but I'm willing to leave the matter alone for the moment. What's important is that we pretend to get along while we're on vacation. Your visit is vitally important to the family―in fact, that's why Dad's having his little talk with John. The others won't thank him if he's the reason you decide to leave again."
"I'm not sure what you're implying, but I'll only be in Afton for a short time, and John's behavior has nothing to do with anything."
"How short?" he demanded.
"As I told you last night, I have a career to think about," she exclaimed, linking her hands together.
"Career be damned. What if I told you the folks have hired a contractor to remodel the second floor of the store as an apartment for you?"
"What?"
"It's meant to be a surprise. I imagine they were going to tell you at the lake."
"But I couldn't possibly live here!"
"Why not? You used to tell me you loved Afton and would never want to live anyplace else."
"Wade, I was young when I said that. I didn't know anything about the world."
He swore softly. "Now you're sounding like John and Laurel. As if living here has somehow deprived or diminished you."
"You're twisting my words."
"Am I? Then you tell me what you really meant."
Heat seemed to blaze from her cheeks. "I'm a math teacher, for heaven's sake."
"So take a position in one of the high schools around here. The world is crying out for decent math teachers."
She grabbed at the first excuse she could think of. "The salary is hardly comparable to that of a university's."
"Surely your ex-husband pays you enough alimony to compensate for the drastic drop in your income."
Through clenched teeth she said, "You seem to have some inflated idea of Philip's financial status. Although it's none of your business, I've received all the alimony I'm going to get from him. I'm on my own now."
"Are you telling me the truth?" His eyes glittered dangerously.
"Why would I lie? We both wanted the divorce over and done with." In truth her conscience hadn't allowed her to take money from Philip once she'd left California. It wouldn't have been right, and she couldn't have lived with herself.
"What kind of man is he?" When she glanced at him, she saw a dull red flush stain his cheeks. She knew he only looked like that when he was truly angry.
"He was wonderful, if you must know."
There was a brief pause. "Then why did he divorce you?"
She turned her head to stare out her window. "Because I wasn't a good wife to him." "Why not?"
"Not all women are cut out for marriage, like Alice."
"You're lying to me, because if that was the case he would have divorced you long ago. Were you unfaithful to him? Is that why he isn't willing to part with any more money?"
His assumption was so close to the truth she was speechless. She felt the blood drain from her face. "I think this line of questioning has gone far enough."
"The hell it has." He floored the accelerator. "So who was this man who got you to betray your marriage vows?"
"I already told you it's none of your business. How would you like it if I asked you something that intimate and personal, like how long you've been sleeping with your fiancée?"
"I didn't know you were so curious," he responded with a wry twist of his lips, "but if you re ally want to know, I'll tell you."
Kathryn was mortified by what she'd said and wished she could disappear. "I doubt your fiancée would appreciate the intimate details of your life being discussed with anyone else." "She'll never know."
"That's disgusting."
"Maybe, but then you and I have shared a rather unusual relationship, haven't we? As I recall, we used to be able to talk about anything-and we came close to sharing everything."
Her body shook so hard she was sure he could feel it. "That was a long time ago, when you were very young and I should have known better."
"I wondered when we'd get down to that. I have news for you, Kathryn. Our age difference never meant a damn thing and if you were honest, you'd admit I'm right."
"It made enough of a difference that I wouldn't take advantage of your youth and inexperience."
"I know in my gut that I could have persuaded you to sleep with me. And if I'd been concerned only with
gratifying my own desires, I would have."
"That's where you're wrong, Wade." But her assertion sounded less than convincing; somehow she realized he was speaking the truth.
"Am I?" His questions had a way of getting under her skin, tearing down the fragile defenses she'd built around herself, the careful explanations she'd contrived. "Surely by now it's occurred to you that I allowed you to escape from my bed only because you weren't ready for a total commitment."
"T-that's not true."
"Isn't it? I was there, remember? And at that moment, the only thing we cared about was what we felt in each other's arms. Nothing else, including age, had any meaning."
"You're exaggerating what happened," she said, trying to dismiss the most significant moment in her life.
"If that's true, then I wonder why you ran off to San Diego the next day."
"Because it was time to go and I had plans for my life."
"And they were so important you left before Allie and Dad could get back from their trip to say goodbye? I hardly think so."
"You can believe what you want, Wade."
"Oh, I do. As far as I'm concerned, it was your damn guilt over getting involved with a family member―a younger family member―even though we're not actually related. You were supposed to be my aunt Kathryn, and that made our feelings for each other forbidden. So your guilt sent you flying and at some point you decided to hate me to ease it. And you've gone on hating me ever since."
"As I recall, those were your first words to me yesterday," she threw back.
"I never hated you, even though I thought I did. Oh, maybe for a while, but that was because you had shattered my ego by marrying another man so soon after leaving Afton."
His admission made her want to tell him the truth, that far from hating him, she was afraid of what he made her feel and long for. That because of him, her relationships with other men were doomed from the start. "I admit that I left Afton with a heavy burden of guilt. We are related through marriage, Wade. I wasn't particularly proud of what I did. I should have had more sense."
"I didn't know pride or sense had anything to with it. We found ourselves attracted to each other. It happened, and there was nothing sinful about it, only what you concocted in that fertile imagination of yours.”
"That's easy to say now," she whispered.
"Because it's the truth," he said reasonably, persuasively. "Now that you've reached the venerable old age of thirty, don't you think it's time to stop using hate as the excuse to stay away from home? You certainly have nothing to fear from me. We've both grown up since that summer and ought to be able to coexist peaceably enough."
"I agree."
"So I no longer have to worry that memories of our lovemaking have anything to do with your reasons for not moving back to Afton permanently?"
"Of course not."
A glimmer of satisfaction darkened his eyes. "Good. Then I expect you not to turn down the folks when they put their proposition to you." At the shocked look on her face, he added, "Let's not pretend anymore. You don't have a job yet. There's no reason for you not to stay."
Before she could refute his statement, he had slowed down behind Clyde's car to pay the entrance fee to Teton Park and flashed the attractive female ranger a smile. When the woman reacted openly to his charisma, Kathryn experienced feelings of jealousy, then chastised herself for responding like a lovesick teenager.
Maybe that was what was wrong with her. Maybe she had a case of arrested development. Surely they couldn't have traveled the eighty-odd miles from Afton without her being aware of anything but Wade. Somehow, when she was with him, everything else receded into nothingness. That was how it had always been when she was around him, and the realization terrified her.
"Hi!" Laurel suddenly made an appearance at Wade's open window. "Can I ride with you two the rest of the way?"
"Sure. There's room."
"Thanks. I need a breather." She made a grimace that told its own tale and ran around to the other side of the truck. She hopped in next to Kathryn who was forced to slide along the seat closer to Wade. Inevitably her left arm and thigh brushed against his; her skin seemed to sizzle with the contact. She held herself rigid and tried surreptitiously to ease away an inch or two, enough to prevent touching him.
But every time he had to brake or turn, Kathryn was jostled against him. She prayed he couldn't hear her heartbeat hammering out of control. Fortunately Laurel was so busy exclaiming over the magnificent view of the Teton Mountains Kathryn doubted her niece was aware of the tension filling the cab. She sincerely hoped Laurel didn't notice the way her gaze was repeatedly drawn to Wade's lean bronzed hand palming the gearshift near her knee. More often than not, his fingers grazed her sensitive skin, and she discovered she craved those feather-soft caresses.
When they arrived at the Coulter Bay parking area, she felt a keen sense of disappointment as Wade got out of the cab to help Clyde, depriving her of even that brief intimacy.
The next half hour became a blur of activity. The boat was lowered into the water, and once again Kathryn found herself alone with Wade when the rest of the family made the first run across Jackson Lake to Elk Island. John stood at the helm with an agreeable smile on his face.
"Maybe Dad's talk did some good, after all." Wade's comment coincided with her own private thoughts. For the thousandth time, she was struck by their uncanny ability to read each other's minds.
Kathryn watched until the old motorboat was only a speck in the distance. Inhaling the fresh mountain air, she gazed up at Mount Moran looming over the dancing blue water. There was no sight like it on earth. She opened her mouth to express her feelings to Wade, only to find him studying her upturned face with an intensity that set her pulses racing.
"You love this place as much as I do," he murmured in a low voice. "You'll never convince me you could be as happy living anywhere else."
Because what he said was so true, Kathryn didn't attempt to deny it. Instead she excused herself to visit the general store, needing to put distance between them. When he looked at her like that, she could almost believe he was able to see into her soul. And since she was afraid to analyze those hidden feelings and motives too deeply, she didn't dare leave herself vulnerable to his conjecture.
She went into the little market, bought some groceries she wanted to contribute to the family supplies, then visited the rest room, the last bastion of civilization. There were no facilities of any kind on Elk Island, which meant campers had to bring in absolutely everything they needed. But that was part of the fun and made the trip an adventure.
By the time she went back outside, John had returned in the boat. As she approached, he and Wade were in the process of loading the kayaks and extra drinking water.
"I don't see the parasail," John muttered.
"It's still in the back of the truck."
"I'll get it," Kathryn offered, eager to be of some use. She found it stuffed neatly in a duffel bag and alongside it, Wade's fishing-tackle box and fly rod. In two trips she brought everything to the dock and they were ready to go.
Once they'd cast off, John drove the boat at a wakeless speed toward the buoys.
"Time for your 'Mae West.'" At Wade's words, she looked up to see a grin break out on his face as he lowered an orange life preserver around her neck and shoulders. The unexpected warmth in his lopsided smile made her heart tum over. "In that ponytail, you look about sixteen."
"The sun must have blinded you," she said, unable to prevent a slow smile of her own, briefly for getting what a dangerous game she was playing. She shouldn't allow herself to get close to him. Nothing had changed. He was still five years younger, with his whole life ahead of him. But even more, he was her sister's stepson, and he was engaged to be married to a woman named Amy. Faced with such indisputable facts, she shouldn't be having this much trouble remembering why she had to stay away from him.
But when she would have turned aside, Wade's eyes narrowed on her softly parted m
outh, as if he contemplated kissing her. She stood there helplessly while he proceeded to tie the ends of the life preserver beneath her quivering chin and across her chest.
When John opened the throttle beyond the bay, Kathryn wasn't ready for the sudden lurch of the boat. She fell backward as it plowed through the wakes of the other crafts. Thanks to Wade's quick reflexes, she was caught around the waist in time to avoid a nasty bump on the head.
Later she told herself everything would have been all right if Wade had let her go as soon as she regained her balance. But somehow his hands slid over her hips, drawing her close to him in a quick compulsive movement.
For the space of a heartbeat she melted against him and felt the low groan deep in his throat before he abruptly set her free. In a daze, she watched him work his way between the kayaks to the front of the boat and engage John in conversation, as if she didn't exist.
But for Kathryn, nothing would ever be the same again. Because, despite honor, despite decency and common sense, the sexual attraction for Wade was still there, and infinitely stronger than before.
CHAPTER FOUR
"YOU'RE NEXT, Aunt Kathryn! Everyone else already had their turn!"
While John and Wade were out in the boat, Laurel spread the parasail over the sand, then helped Kathryn into the harness and began fastening the straps.
Three college-age boys in a ski boat had pulled up to shore and were watching them with unabashed interest. One of them called out, "How about the two of you coming for a ride with us when you're through?"
"No, thanks," they shouted back. "Then what about dinner later on?"
"We're busy," Laurel called over her shoulder. "We'll show you a better time than those dudes out on the lake."
"If they're not careful, John'll start swinging," Laurel confided with a laugh.
"I wish they'd go away. I haven't done any parasailing for over five years and don't need an audience when I plop in the water instead of taking off."
Meant for Each Other Page 4
