Heart of the Wild (9 page)

"Yeah." His eyes held hers again, and this time she felt something pull on her heartstrings. Something real, something shared. They were sharing old hurts, and it felt so natural, so good. She remembered what had made her fall in love with Amory eight years ago; his love of nature and animals, for one thing. He had compassion for people; he was loyal, and, oddly enough, it was the loyalty to her father that destroyed what they might have had.

"I'll get another one, some day," he said quietly, and returned to cleaning and gutting the game. Minutes later he wrapped them in freezer paper, and stuck them in the huge chest freezer against the wall of the lean-to.

"How's the hand?" she asked, glancing at the small bandage, and taking his hand in hers for a moment.

"A little stiff and sore, but I disinfected it." His voice went softer as his eyes traveled to their hands.

Her cheeks had to be flaming, they felt so hot. She let go of his hand slowly, not wanting to put meaning to it.

"Funny," she mused aloud, moving away from his disturbing presence, "—but I don't remember us talking like this eight years ago."

"We didn't share much of ourselves back then," he cleared his throat and looked away again. "Youth makes you shy and backward at that age. Too many hormones crowding you I guess. And…you didn't need to talk as much then."

Kasie nodded.

It would do no good talking about the past. And yet, the need lingered.

Needing a distraction, she scanned the lean-to quickly, taking in the homemade canned goods along one wall.

"My, you're stocked, aren't you?"

Amory nodded, a slight smile lingering on his handsome face as he turned away from her, to put his knife in the deep-welled sink once more. He rinsed it, and set it into a drawer under the counter.

"My neighbors and I trade off meat for vegetables."

"Nice trade off."

Then he was staring at her again, coming closer until he was right in front of her. Her heart stopped beating for a few seconds; her throat went dry, and her eyes evaded his.

"Are you sure you're not afraid of me, Kasie?"

Only of falling in love with you again.

"N-no, of course not."

"Good."

He walked right past her. She let her breath out, disappointment mingled with relief. She had forgotten his charisma, something she had never fully understood. It was like a spell, his charm.

They went inside the cabin without another word, shutting the snow and wind from the warmth of the cabin.

"Why aren't you wearing the clothes we bought yesterday?"

Kasie glanced on the big bed where a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt lay sprawled. "Because I must not have paid much attention to size. They don't fit. I never should have gotten them."

"There's a parka in the closet that should work nicely for going in and out of the lean-to. The one you picked out is warm, but not good enough for blizzard weather."

Kasie glanced at the clothes."So, where is Tanka?"

"He should be here any time now."

"Do you think he'll remember me?"

"He'll remember."

"I sensed he didn't like me back then."

"And why is that?"

"Just a feeling."

"He liked you, but he thought you were too young."

She nodded. "He was right. I was terribly naïve back then. I liked him. He had such a sense of humor."

Amory shot her a quizzical look. "Yeah, I guess. Well, feel free to make yourself at home, Kasie, I'll be back before dark."

He went to the closet and took out a few things before returning to her side.

"W-where are you going?" She prodded him. After all, it wasn't as if he was going down to the local grocery store or cafe. This was the big middle of nowhere, and he was leaving!

His eyes took her in, with one sweep of those long dark lashes. Amory didn't know he was sexy; he had no idea.

"I'm gonna get a line on Ole Blue. See if he's been bothering anyone else around here. If I don't, the rangers will get wind of his snooping, and take care of him for good. You stay put, you'll be just fine."

"Stay put? Not on your life. I'll come with you," she declared, grabbing the jeans her father had paid for, and pulling the curtain around the bed so she could change.

"No." His voice held no room for argument. "It's no place for a woman. Besides, your father might arrive any time."

Kasie shook her head adamantly, as she scrambled from the curtain in her new jeans and shirt outfit. Kasie shrugged her indifference away, her interest piqued at chasing a bear. "A woman? What's that's supposed to mean?"

He turned to stare her down.  His eyes moved slowly over her tight jeans and she she was swallowed in."It means you don't belong out there."

"Now look, I was raised in this kind of country. Don't be such a male chauvinist, Amory. And don't judge me so quickly. I was a Girl Scout, remember? You practically trained me yourself. You know as well as I do that I'm as capable as any man. Besides, I've still got a little of that tomboy in me."

Humoring her for a second, he smiled again, as though her words warmed him. "Look, I'm proud you were a Girl Scout, and I'm even glad you still remember the tomboy, because the way things look around here, you just might need that experience. But you're not coming with me, and that's all there is to that, honey."

The way he called her honey, so naturally, as though it were commonplace, as though it just tumbled out of his mouth before he realized it, both confused and pleased her. At least he no longer considered her a brat. Still, he hadn't that right any longer. She needed to establish that fact. And she wasn't about to let him leave her.

"Of course I am," she blurted out, as the jeans slipped another inch off her hips and she hiked them up with a quick jerk on the belt.

"Oh, no, you're not!"

"You can't just leave me here alone."

"Can't I?" He bent his head a little closer. "You just said you were a Girl Scout, didn't you?" His finger dotted her nose, and an electric current a half-mile wide raced up her spine. When would she learn not to react to this man?

"Besides, it looks as though you're going to have enough problems just keeping your clothes on."

"That's all right, I'll manage," she protested, pulling the shirt up and tying it under her breast.

"I've got a neighbor with a kid about your size, I'll check with him when I get back."

Him! Yes, she was built more like a gangly young boy than a woman. Just once, she wished she could fill out clothes like a curvaceous woman, just to show him a thing or two. He probably still saw her as a tomboy.

"Great!" she said, not able to harness all her anger.

"Look, I'd take you with me, but I'm not sure what I might run into. You're safer here than out there. I don't want to have to worry about you, too."

Worry? About her? Since when did he ever worry about her?

About to refute his statement, she noticed that he had turned and left without another word.

Suddenly determined, she grabbed his gun from the corner of the kitchen where he had left it, the parka he had mentioned, and stalked out the door. She didn't intend sitting in a cabin all day, waiting on her father. If she had to be stuck here, she at least wanted to enjoy it.

Although he was out of sight, she tracked him. He left big clear prints too, and Kasie had no trouble picking them up. The fresh snow made it easy.

Kasie felt exhilarated, chasing Amory like a child playing hide and seek games. She'd show him a thing or two about women. Where did he ever get the idea that women were helpless little creatures?

It had been much too long since she had had fun; since she'd lived with her father, actually. A computer programmer didn't get an excursion like this very often, she reasoned. For the past three years she had felt like a "Walter Mitty", dreaming of outdoor adventures that she wanted so badly to experience again. She wanted adventures she could some day tell her children about. If she had any children. If she ever married. If, if, if.

Little did she know what Amory was up to. He had baited a trap, and was waiting for her to walk into it.

Without warning, Kasie was flung high into the air, dangling from a low branch of hemlock. She screeched at the top of her lungs.

"Amory, you get me down from here, this instant!"

Coming from behind a clump of heavy brush, he roared with laughter. "Some scout you are! You walked right into it. Now, are you going to be a good little girl, and go back to the cabin where you belong?"

"I will not. Are you going to cut me down?"

"Nope," he drawled, his smile widening, "I'll see you on my way back, then."

"Amory, this isn't funny," she yelled indignantly.

"Oh, I don't know. Depends on which angle you're looking at it from," he said with a grin, and started trotting off.

"Amory?" she screamed, but she was obviously screaming at a brick wall.

"Do you give up?" came a voice from nowhere in sight.

"Not in your lifetime," she bellowed mutinously.

"Too bad. Better keep that shirt on, it might get a little cool like that." He emerged from a bush not far away, and smiled as he glanced at the exposed section of stomach.

He turned again and was almost out of sight when she yelled, "Wait—Okay, I give up."

With a triumphant laugh, he returned to the scene of his crime, and climbed the tree halfway to cut the rope from which she was dangling. When he did, she fell to the ground with a loud thud.

"Why, you swine!" she hollered, as she tried in vain to catch her fall. Straightening herself, she stalked toward the cabin, muttering every foul name she could think of, as she rubbed her backside.

She could hear his laughter halfway back to the cabin. He allowed her no dignity in her surrender. He was a hard foe. What nerve. The gall! It would serve him right if she reported this crude little incident to her father. If anyone could straighten Chayton Amory out, it was John Douglas.

But then, who's side would her father take? She hadn't contemplated that. After eight years, she couldn't be certain of anything. She hadn't just walked out on Amory and their impending marriage, but her father, as well. A tinge of guilt burned the pit of her stomach.

The morning seemed ruined. What had started out as a nice day was over. Chayton Amory had ruined her day, for the second time in two days.

A noisy bird followed her with song from the treetops, and she stopped to glance upward.

"Oh, shut up, what do you know?" she hollered aloud at the songster.

Safely back at the cabin, Kasie's anger festered. Damn Amory's hide for leaving her alone in the middle of nowhere. He expected her to find her way back. Expected her to! How could he be sure she would? Perhaps he didn't care. Perhaps he wished she'd fall off a cliff and break her neck, and he'd be done with this whole affair.

As the day wore on, Kasie's anger thinned. She began busying herself with supper preparations. Not that she cared whether Amory ate or not, but she wanted a good meal.

She went to the freezer and dragged out a bag marked chili. Back inside the cabin, she put it in a pan of shallow water to thaw. Could she cook? She'd show him. He had no idea what culinary delights she had learned since leaving her father.

Once she had everything in preparation, she shrugged heavily, realizing that there was little to do. She glanced at the old trunk at the foot of the bed. She really shouldn't pry, but then, why not? He had barged back into her life, uninvited. Why shouldn't she do a little barging, too? She was just beginning to dig into it, when she heard an unfamiliar noise coming from just outside the kitchen window.

Thinking it was Amory, she put the lid down on the trunk and went to the window.

It seemed very still outside.

"Okay, Amory, you can come out of those bushes now. I know you're out there," she said as she cracked the window, but heard no reply.

Ignoring it, she started to move away when suddenly a loud rushing noise scared her, and the bushes outside gave a big heave. Out came the biggest, blue-black bear she had ever seen in her life. But then what did she know; she hadn't seen any bears except at the zoo.