Читать книгу Shadow Mountain - Leona Karr, Leona Karr - Страница 8

Chapter Four

Caroline left Danny sitting on the floor, watching as a red racer careened around a track. He barely gave his mother a quick glance as she said, “I’m leaving now, Danny. You stay here with Cassie and Felicia.”

“Okay.” His face was flushed and his eyes bright. “I’m ahead of Cassie two laps.”

“You’re going to miss a curve going that fast,” Cassie retorted as if she’d learned that lesson the hard way. “Wait and see! Then I’ll catch up.”

“No, you won’t.”

Felicia gave Caroline a reassuring smile as she eased down in a nearby chair and picked up her sewing basket.

“I’ll be back before lunch,” Caroline said. Everything seemed to be under control. She couldn’t find any rational reason for a lingering apprehension. Quit being an overprotective mother, she told herself, but the lecture didn’t do much good. She wished they’d never left home.

Her chest tightened. What home?

After leaving Felicia’s apartment, she walked the length of the hall to her rooms and spent a few minutes making up the beds and putting things away. Because of her limited finances, she’d shopped for only enough clothes for about a week. One of her first challenges would be to find the laundry room.

After glancing at her watch, she decided she’d go downstairs and see if Stella was ready to give her the tour of the lodge that she’d promised and tell her what rooms she wanted redone.

The eating room was empty except for Trudie Benson who was clearing off the buffet. When Caroline asked about Stella, she nodded. “She had breakfast and I think she left to talk to Tim Henderson. He’s the year-round manager-caretaker, you know.”

Caroline remembered that Wes has mentioned Tim before.

“Well, you’ll probably find them in his office. It’s just down the hall at the back of the house. It has an outside entrance so Tim can come and go without having to traipse through the whole house. He spends half his time outside checking the property and overseeing the two stablemen.

“Maybe I shouldn’t bother them.”

Trudie waved away the objection with her chubby hand. “Tim doesn’t stand on ceremony. Besides, if Stella isn’t there, he’ll probably know where she is.”

Trudie’s instructions seemed simple enough, but Caroline soon discovered that the hall didn’t continue in a straight line but made several abrupt turns. She passed a couple of narrow stairways rising to the floor above. She hugged herself against a penetrating chill in the dank, shadowy hall. The only sound was her own steps vibrating on the planked floor.

When the silence was broken by a floating echo of Stella’s laughter, Caroline let out a breath of relief. Quickening her steps, she reached a door that opened into a low-ceilinged room with one window and an outside door. The furnishings were meager: a desk, a couple of straight-back chairs and some gray metal file cabinets.

A muscular man of about forty, with a weathered face and sandy hair was half sitting on the corner of the old desk and smiling at Stella who stood close by.

Both turned quickly in Caroline’s direction when she appeared in the doorway. From their startled expressions she couldn’t tell whether she’d interrupted something personal or they were just surprised to see her.

Stella waved her in. “Come and meet Tim Henderson. He’s the boss around here.”

“Hardly,” he objected with an easy smile.

“I told you about her, Caroline Fairchild. She’s the decorator who’s going to help me put a little class in this place. And about time, too,” Stella added as if she’d fought more than one battle on this subject.

“Welcome to Shadow Mountain,” he said, shaking her hand. From his slight Western drawl, Caroline assumed he was another Texan. “Reckon you gals are going to be pretty busy, all right.”

“You better believe it. Maybe we’ll start here.” Stella gave him a teasing smile as she glanced around the packed office.

“Not on your life, honey.”

“Oh, you men. Wes has already warned us to leave his suite and the gun room alone. You’ll be sorry when you see how beautiful the rest of the lodge turns out.” She turned to Caroline. “I’ll show you the lodge and we can decide where we’ll start first.”

Tim walked with them to the hall door. “I hope you can keep a rein on this gal. She can be a handful sometimes.”

Caroline wondered if he was speaking from experience.

As they walked down the hall, Stella explained, “We have our own generator, water supply and telephone service via Telluride. Cell phones are useless here. And no house mail delivery. We order groceries from Telluride or go after them ourselves.”

As they toured the main floor, Caroline was thoroughly frustrated with Stella’s ambivalence about making any decisions about basic changes she wanted. They could end up with a hodgepodge of fabrics, colors and furnishings that completely lacked harmony and balance.

Caroline was ready to call a halt to the unorganized approach and suggested they spend the afternoon going over some basic plans.

“Oh, I can’t,” Stella said. “You’re on your own for the rest of the day. We’ll get together again tomorrow morning and go over some ideas.”

Caroline swallowed back a protest. A myriad of initial decisions had to be made before they could proceed. Spending only half days working out the details could extend the project almost indefinitely.

Caroline would have made an issue of the matter if she hadn’t already agreed to spend the late afternoon with Wes and the children.

“I’ll show you the workroom and you can get set up there,” Stella said as if she sensed Caroline’s impatience. “I’ve made a collection of magazines, books and articles that offer some good suggestions. You could look them over and see what you think.”

“That might be a place to start,” Caroline agreed.

When Stella showed her the workroom and Caroline saw the pile of material stacked on a long work table, she silently groaned. It would take more than one day to go through that collection.

“I set up my laptop and printer.” Stella motioned to a small table. “I thought that would be an easy way for you to make some notes. Anything else?” she asked.

“No, that’s fine,” Caroline lied. The woman hadn’t given her any clues about what she had in mind nor any specific changes she wished to make in any of the rooms. Caroline was thoroughly frustrated. If Stella had already decided on some definite ideas, this would be the time to share them, but she left Caroline alone in the workroom without another word.

As Caroline sifted though a pile of books and a dozen magazines, all new, she didn’t see any signs that Stella had gone through them. Usually clients marked specific ideas that they liked or turned down pages for easy reference.

Caroline leaned back in her chair, suddenly overwhelmed by the project ahead. How could she hope to please Stella when she didn’t have a clue how to begin to shape her nebulous ideas?

When she left the workroom and returned to Felicia’s apartment, Danny and Cassie were happily playing with clay. If her son had missed her, there was no outward sign of it.

“Time to go downstairs for lunch,” she told him.

“I don’t like that stuffy old dining room,” Cassie said, wrinkling up her pert nose.

“Me, neither,” Danny echoed.

“Why don’t I fix the children something here?” Felicia offered.

“Yay,” they said, almost in unison.

Caroline laughed. “All right. I’ll be back after lunch to get you for your nap, Danny.”

When he groaned, she reminded him that they were going horseback-riding later in the afternoon.

“Oh, I forgot.”

“I don’t want you to fall asleep on Cassie’s pony.”

“Blackie will keep him awake,” Cassie promised with a grin.

On the way downstairs, Caroline realized she would much rather have stayed and had lunch with the kids. When she reached the dining room, she was even more regretful.

Dexter was the only one there. He was wearing burgundy leather pants and a plaid shirt that only emphasized his beefy build and pot belly.

“Hi there, pretty lady,” he greeted her as she came in, immediately rising to his feet. He stayed at her elbow while she selected soup and salad from the buffet and then ushered her over to the table where he was sitting.

“Where’s Wes?” she asked pointedly as he guided her chair to the table.

“Oh, he’s holed up in his suite, working. The price of being rich, I guess. He has to keep on top of things no matter where he goes. No rest for the weary—or the rich,” he added, grinning. “Wes has probably talked to a dozen big shots this morning, keeping the wheels of commerce moving, you know.” His tone was tinged with something that might have been jealousy.

“It’s too bad he can’t relax when he’s here,” Caroline said, already impatient with the man’s boorish manner.

“Oh, I think he does. This lodge has really been a godsend. It’s one of the blessings his grandfather left the family. I doubt that Wes or his father would have built it. When his parents died Wes inherited all the family property and fortune held in escrow for the oldest living male Wainwright.” Dexter gave Caroline a knowing wink. “Wes is quite a catch for any gal who plays her cards right.”

Caroline forced herself to say lightly, “I imagine there are plenty of downsides. How many times has he been married?”

“Just once. He married a Texas beauty queen, Pamela Labesky. Wow, that gal could send any man’s desire into orbit just looking at her. She was something else and once Pamela set her silver tiara for Wes, he didn’t have a chance. Ruined him for any other woman, that’s for sure.” Dexter looked thoughtful as he speared a link sausage and popped it in his mouth. “Too bad Pamela only enjoyed her good fortune and Wainwright prestige for a few years. You know about the plane crash?”

“Only that Stella said she lost her husband in one.”

“The same crash. Wes would have been with them if something hadn’t come up at the last minute to keep him in Houston. Stella and Shane were already at the lodge. Wes pilots his own plane, you know. Anyway, Delvin and Pamela decided not to wait for him and they hired a pilot to fly them to Colorado. Bad decision. There’s a dangerous downdraft when landing in these mountains. The pilot miscalculated.”

“How awful.”

“Wes took it pretty hard. The tragedy was tough on him, that’s for sure.”

“How long ago was that?’

“Cassie was only a few months old when the plane crashed. And then there was—” He broke off as Shane came into the room.

Apparently Dexter preferred gossiping when no one else was around. He quickly changed the subject and asked Caroline how the redecorating was going.

She made a non-committal answer then purposefully gave her full attention to her lunch.

Shane made no attempt to join them and slumped down at a window table by himself. He had the standoffish air of an adolescent and the common belligerency that went along with it. Caroline finished her lunch as quickly as possible and wasn’t pleased when Dexter left the dining room with her.

“Why don’t you let me show you around the place?” he offered, trying to take her arm. “You haven’t been down to the stables yet, have you?”

“The children and I are going riding with Wes this afternoon,” she told him quickly. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“I bet you are,” he said with a slight smirk. “All the women enjoy Wes’s company.”

She refrained from making a caustic reply about his own apparent lack of charm in that area. Being trapped under the same roof with him was going to test her endurance for repulsive men. If Wes left the lodge, she hoped to heaven he took Dexter Tate with him.

AFTER A LONG NAP, Caroline and Danny made their way down to the social room to meet Wes. She’d changed into jeans and the bright sweater she’d worn the night before. Danny wore a pair of new overalls and a denim jacket. She was glad she’d invested in boots for both of them.

The social room was empty. No sign of Wes nor of Cassie. Caroline felt an instant pang of disappointment. Maybe something had come up and Wes had changed his mind—or he’d forgotten.

No, Cassie wouldn’t let him forget, Caroline decided. Not that willful little girl. Thank heavens she and Danny seemed to have taken to each other—at least for the moment.

As the minutes passed, she was beginning to think he’d completely forgotten their date when she heard Cassie’s high-pitched chatter floating down the hall.

Caroline smiled at Danny. “Here they come.”

The little girl darted into the room ahead of Wes. She was dressed like a movie-star rodeo queen. White fringed pants matched a fringed studded vest and white boots. Her cowboy hat was the same shade of red as her satin shirt.

She grinned from ear to ear as she put one hand on her hip and demanded, “Well, what do you think?”

Danny missed the nature of her question. “I think you’re late.”

“Spoken like a true man,” Wes said, chuckling. “Sorry, I got held up by a telephone call. Anyway, I sent word ahead to the stable. The horses should be saddled up and waiting.”

Cassie danced ahead of them down a worn path under a canopy of ponderosa pine trees. Danny followed at her heels. Wes fell into step beside Caroline and she realized that she was nervous and rather ill at ease.

Maybe she’d given him the wrong idea about her riding ability? After all, a farm horse wasn’t in the same league as a prancing thoroughbred. What if she made a complete fool of herself?

At that moment, she realized how much she wanted to impress this rich, handsome Texan. Why, she didn’t know. In a few days he’d be gone and most likely she’d never see him again. Still, her feminine vanity wanted him to remember her as a capable horseback rider.

When they reached the stable her misgivings were doubled. Wes nodded toward a restless sorrel mare all saddled up and tethered beside two small shaggy ponies, one black and one dark brown. Two middle-aged stable-hands nodded at Wes and then went about their business in the barn.

Cassie immediately ran over to the ponies. “You can ride Blackie,” she informed Danny. “He’s kinda old. I like Cocoa best.”

“They’re both gentle,” Wes quickly assured Caroline. “We bought them from a Texas breeder who specializes in Shetland ponies. They’re a good mount for children. Strong and muscular, but rein-easy.”

Caroline began to relax. The saddles, harnesses and stirrups were proportionate to the size of a small rider. This could be a wonderful chance for her son to experience his first horseback ride.

“I’ll walk along beside Danny,” Wes told her. “We’ll follow the path around to the western end of the lake. You can ride ahead if you’d like and we’ll catch up with you.”

“Why don’t I walk with Danny and you ride?”

“Because I want you to enjoy yourself,” he replied flatly and his tone brooked no argument.

He cupped his hands and helped Cassie up into the saddle. As she took the reins in her little hands, she grinned at Danny. “Race you to the lake.”

“Cassie! We’ll have none of that,” Wes said sharply and quickly helped wide-eyed Danny mount the other pony. “I’ll keep the reins for a while, Danny,” he said reassuringly. “We’ll just go for a nice walk.”

As Caroline led the sorrel mare out of the barn, Wes watched. There was an easy, confident stride in her movement that pleased him. Nothing about her was showy or pretentious. Deftly she arrange the reins in her hands and patted the mare’s neck. As Wes watched her swing easily into the saddle, he smiled to himself.

She hadn’t lied. She settled back in the saddle as if she were born to it.

Maybe they could go for a real ride before he left, he mused. He’d like to take her up one of the rugged trails and show her God’s country from the top of a mountain ridge.