Читать книгу Safe in My Arms - Janice Sims - Страница 13

Chapter 3

On Sunday morning, Mina was on a ladder polishing the twin wooden totem poles that flanked the entrance to the lodge. She made it a habit of doing this last task just before new arrivals were expected. The two-story entrance never failed to impress the guests who thought the intricately carved door, with its images of deer, bears, foxes and elk, lent an authentic air to the lodge.

Her grandfather’s intention when designing Beck’s Wilderness Lodge was to marry two cultures: his—African-American—and his wife’s—Native American. Everywhere in the lodge were reminders of the cultures: throw rugs, wooden sculptures, woven baskets and wall hangings. Three stories in height, the pinewood lodge had guest rooms on every level, plus there were cabins on the property’s periphery for those who wanted more privacy.

Mina hummed as she worked. She was looking forward to taking guests on camping trips in the mountains, showing them where the fish were biting or where the rock climbing was good.

“Hello, Mina,” said a deep masculine voice from behind her.

Mina instantly recognized that voice. She smiled and turned slowly so as not to lose her balance on the ladder.

Jake grinned up at her. “I have to say, you look good from this angle,” he joked. “But then, you look good from every angle.”

Mina laughed and climbed down. “Jake, what are you doing here?”

* * *

Jake’s brain took a minivacation as his eyes feasted on her feminine curves in jeans and a T-shirt, and the way her skin seemed to glow.

He could have stood there all day, watching her, but his brain finally kicked in again, and he considered her question. When he’d gotten to Cherokee, he’d taken a room at a small motel in town. The next day the special equipment Granger had promised to send had arrived. While he was waiting for Betts’s men to put in an appearance, it had occurred to him that during their information-gathering regarding the plane crash, they would inevitably find out that Benjamin Beck, who had a reputation as a mountain man in these parts, was instrumental in leading rescuers to the crash site. Therefore Jake thought he should be nearby should Betts’s men decide to interrogate Benjamin Beck and his granddaughter. That’s why he was here on this fine Sunday morning.

But he couldn’t tell that to Mina, of course.

“The company I work for has plans to salvage the plane’s cargo. I’m just waiting for the team to arrive so we can get started. In the meantime, I need a place to stay. Do you have any rooms available?”

* * *

Mina continued to smile at him. Her eyes roamed over his face. The cut on his forehead was healing nicely. He was freshly shaven. In jeans, a light jacket and a polo shirt underneath, he looked fit and healthy, vibrantly alive. The way he was looking at her made her blush, and she hadn’t done that in a long time. Before she knew it she’d be giggling like an airhead, and she couldn’t have that. It was undignified.

Besides, she shouldn’t let herself get carried away. Even if she was wrong about his being a drug dealer, he could be a very handsome nutcase. Someone who’d fixated on her because she’d come to his rescue.

What was it he’d asked? Oh, yeah, were there any rooms available? Her heart thudded agitatedly. “We’re booked up,” she told him apologetically. If there was one guest in the whole world she didn’t want to turn away, it was this man. Then she remembered something. “But there’s a cabin left. I’m afraid it costs a bit more than a room.”

“I’ll take it,” Jake said without hesitation.

Mina beamed at him. “All right, follow me.” She looked down. “No luggage?”

“Still in the car,” Jake said. “I’ll get it later.”

Mina stepped off the porch and Jake followed. The morning air was cool on her skin. The sky was a pale blue with a few cumulus clouds. The pungent scent of the surrounding pine forest was in the air, which, to Mina, made this day a sensual treat.

“I never did get your last name,” she said to Jake as they walked toward the cabin, which sat about fifty yards from the lodge.

“It’s Wolfe,” said Jake. “And yours?”

“Gaines,” Mina answered.

Their eyes met briefly, and Mina looked away. “Where are you from, Jake Wolfe?”

“Originally Crystal River, Florida,” Jake said. “But my family moved to the Bronx, New York, when I was seven, so I consider that home, now.”

“New York,” said Mina, delighted she’d been right about his accent. “When we met, I thought you sounded like you were from there. I met quite a few people from New York when I was serving.”

Jake nodded. “I imagine you’ve met people from all over the world.”

“That’s true,” said Mina pleasantly. But she didn’t want to talk about the military, so she quickly asked him another question. “You must travel a lot, too?”

Jake smiled. “A little too much for my taste,” he said. “My dream is to someday own a small farm with pigs and chickens and maybe a cow or two. To sit on the porch with my wife and bounce the grandkids on my knee.”

Mina laughed. “You’re much too young to be entertaining thoughts like that. And what does a man from the Bronx know about farm animals?”

“My grandparents owned a farm in Crystal River. I would go there every summer. Those were the happiest times of my childhood.”

“Well, we don’t have any cows, but we do have horses. I can take you on a trail ride, if you like.”

“I like,” he said with keen interest.

Mina shook her head. “You are an enigma, Jake Wolfe. I would never have taken you for a farm boy.”

“Tell me more about you,” Jake urged. “I’ve been wondering why you left the army. You’re so young to have made captain. You must have been on the fast track.”

“I’ll tell you someday, if you stick around long enough,” Mina promised, “but not today.”

They arrived at the cabin, and Mina bent to retrieve a key that was hidden beneath a potted plant on the porch. She saw Jake watching her with a surprised expression. “Crime is practically nonexistent around here. But we do suggest you keep the key with you at all times.”

She unlocked the door, and they stepped inside. Jake expected something rustic. Instead the cabin’s pine floors gleamed. The furnishings were modern and the decor tastefully done. “You have a full kitchen,” Mina said as she showed him around. “And a full bath.”

The inside air was fresh and clean. There was a flat-screen TV in the living room and a phone on the desk by the window.

“There’s Wi-Fi,” she told him. “And we also have laundry service. Just phone the front desk, and someone will come get your laundry and deliver it when it’s done. No room service. But we do have a dining room, and we serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.” She pointed to the desk and said, “A list of our amenities is on the desk, along with a TV guide and how to access our Wi-Fi. Oh, we also have a lounge, nothing special, just a place where you can kick back, have a drink and listen to the jukebox.”

Jake stood still and watched her as she walked around the cabin pointing things out. He wondered if he made her nervous, or if all that pent-up energy he sensed coming off her was normal for her. “Mina,” he said softly, “I want you to know I’m not a stalker or anything.”

She looked startled for a second, but quickly replaced that expression with a slow smile. Her dark-brown eyes met his. “I’m not going to lie and say the possibility hadn’t crossed my mind,” she stated honestly. “You’re still a mystery to me. But, rest assured, I’m more than capable of taking care of myself.” She cocked her head, continuing to smile at him. “Okay, you’re not a stalker. What are you?”

“I’m a man who’s very interested in getting to know you better,” Jake said. “I like you, Mina Gaines.”

“That might be because I pulled you out of a downed plane,” she said with a grin.

“It might be,” he admitted. “Then again, it might not.” He crossed the room to her. As he got closer to her, Mina’s body responded to his nearness. She felt a magnetic pull toward him. Even though she still hadn’t fully tossed out the idea that he was a criminal.

He reached up and gently touched her cheek. “I’m here because when we were in the mountains, I looked into your eyes and I recognized a kindred spirit. We’re both lonely, aren’t we, Mina?”

Mina grasped the hand that touched her cheek and squeezed it. Her emotions were so intense at that moment, her heart so full, that she didn’t dare speak for fear something ridiculously sentimental would come out. How could he know how alone she felt without Keith? How desperately she wished she could go back three years in the past and change the outcome of that momentous day that had ended with him gone forever.

No, she couldn’t say any of that to a man she’d known barely seventy-two hours. A man she was physically attracted to—but she wasn’t yet sure what kind of man he was.

So she smiled at him and said, “I’d better get back to work.”

She let his hand drop and made for the door. “You can come to the front desk and sign in at your leisure,” she said in parting.

“All right, I’ll do that,” he said, smiling.

Mina felt his eyes on her as she left, but she didn’t turn back around. That would have encouraged him further.

* * *

Mina was kept busy around the lodge the rest of the day. She did a little bit of everything, filling in when an employee failed to show up for work, doing minor repair jobs, even helping out in the kitchen.

She glimpsed Jake a couple of times during the course of the day. Once she spotted May Crowe, the young Cherokee woman who worked at the front desk, flirting outrageously with him. Jake had looked up and seen Mina, and given her a friendly wave as she passed through the lobby with a cart full of clean linen.

She’d seen him once more, in the dining room when she was helping to serve the meals. He was eating alone with his laptop open on the table. Many of the guests were either texting, talking on their cell phones or, like Jake, working on their computers while enjoying a meal.

Mina sighed as she headed back to the kitchen after serving a couple from Charleston, South Carolina, who were celebrating their fortieth wedding anniversary. Everyone was in their own world.

* * *

Jake surreptitiously watched Mina out of the corner of his eye. He wondered what he’d said to make her run away from him this morning. Admitted that he was lonely and he’d recognized the same thing in her? Had he been too presumptuous?

He’d enjoyed the sirloin steak, baked potato and garden vegetables, and now he was checking his emails. He would much rather be somewhere with Ms. Gaines. In his profession it was sometimes hard to maintain personal relationships. He could be on assignment for months, during which he would not be in contact with a significant other. Not many women would put up with that kind of life.

He had been lucky once. Her name was Jamesa, but everybody called her Jami. They were married fresh out of college. She was a brilliant attorney, and it was his intention to work his way up to Special Agent in Charge in the DEA. They wanted children but agreed to wait five years before starting a family. He regretted that decision today, because they never made it to their fifth anniversary. Jami was killed in a car accident in their fourth year. It was Christmastime, and she was driving up to New York to be with her family. He was going to join her later. The police report said she was driving across the Brooklyn Bridge when she had to brake suddenly, hit an ice patch and spun out of control.

After Jami’s death, Jake’s only salvation had been work. He’d asked for the toughest assignments. He’d gotten his first undercover operation and helped bring down a Colombian drug lord. The Betts case was his second time undercover. But now, after more than five years without Jami, he was seriously craving a real life again. He wanted to be in love and go home to the same woman every night. He wanted the happiness that adoring someone more than life itself brought. Was he lonely? Damn right, he was lonely as hell.

That night he sat on the porch of the cabin where he was staying and looked up at the night sky. Out here, where there were no streetlights, it seemed the sky was somehow bigger than in the city. Tonight the velvety black canopy was graced by a huge yellow moon. Next to its illumination the stars faded into the background. The temperature had dropped a good ten degrees since sundown, and he felt the bite but was too transfixed by the sky to worry about a jacket.

“Had a nice day?” Mina asked as she strolled up. Earlier he’d seen her going into a cabin that sat several yards behind his and figured she must live there.

“One of the best days I’ve had in a long time,” he told her truthfully. He rose and offered her his hand as she climbed the steps to the porch.

His nostrils flared at the feminine scent of her skin. She smelled freshly showered, and a faint, clean flowery aroma wafted from her. This was also the first time he’d ever seen her in a dress. She had killer legs.

After she was seated in the chair beside his, she took a deep breath and said, “I’ve been thinking about what you said about both of us being lonely, and I think I ought to tell you, just so you’ll know—yes, I’m lonely. But it’s because I’m mourning someone. I was engaged to him when he was killed in action three years ago. Since then I haven’t dated anyone and, frankly, I think I’ve forgotten how the process works.”

For a moment or two, Jake was too stunned that she would open up to him like this to say anything. His heart went out to her. He felt her pain because he’d been exactly where she was. In some ways, he was still there. He didn’t think he would ever stop mourning the loss of Jami. But after five years he had learned to compartmentalize. Jami resided in a corner of his heart reserved only for her. And getting on with day-to-day living took precedence, because it was how he survived. He knew Jami wouldn’t want him to fall apart because she was gone. She would want him to get as much out of life as he possibly could.

He reached out and grasped Mina’s hand in his. “I know we’ve just met, Mina, but the dramatic way we met makes me feel as if we’re already friends. Do you know what I mean?”

Mina smiled at him. “As if we’ve gotten the preliminaries out of the way,” she said softly.

Jake was nodding his agreement. “Yes, so maybe you would feel comfortable enough to tell me about the man you loved.”

* * *

Mina took a deep breath and exhaled, then for the next twenty minutes she told him all about Keith and how they had complemented each other. She could be a hothead. He was a thinker, so cool, calm and collected that his attitude had rubbed off on her, making her a better soldier and a better person.

“You said I must have been on the fast track to have made captain so young,” she said softly. “You were right. My dad’s an ex-army general, and my goal was to become a general someday.

“But after Keith died I lost my ambition. And when your ambition’s gone, what’s the point? I felt as though I was just going through the motions. So I didn’t reenlist when my time was up.”

“How’d you end up here?” Jake asked.

She told him how she’d spent some time back home in Raleigh with her parents and her sisters. She had four sisters. One of them was presently working in Africa. All of them were accomplished women with great careers. She was the odd one out, with no real direction. Her grandfather had suggested she come up here and give running the lodge a try. He had no one to leave the place to when he died, and she had no immediate plans for the future.

“I gave it a try and I liked it,” Mina said now with a note of humor in her voice. “I’ve always been an active person, and this life suits me.”

Jake inhaled and exhaled. The clean mountain air was invigorating. “I can see what you mean. This is the life.”

Mina laughed softly. “I’m glad you like it. You know you could be in a luxurious suite at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort. They have over eleven hundred rooms, plus a casino and a world-class entertainment center where top country music artists perform every weekend...”

Jake leaned over and kissed her in midsentence. He let her lead him, waiting for permission to deepen the kiss. He would have been satisfied with just the taste of her lips on his tongue. After a moment, Mina sighed softly and gave herself to him. Her hand came up to caress his cheek and she leaned into him. Jake marveled at how sweet she tasted and how well the two of them anticipated each other’s needs. It was a gentle kiss. It was a kiss to seal what they each knew was happening between them, a meeting of kindred souls.

When they came up for air, she heard Jake say, “Thank you for trusting me enough to confide in me. Now, let me tell you about my wife.”

Mina went from mellow to ballistic in an instant. His wife?