Jake's Biggest Risk (Those Hollister Boys) (23 page)

“Whipped cream?”

“Yeah. I can’t wait to taste it on you. Better than any ice cream sundae.”

To Barbi’s astonishment, her face actually heated. Hell, she wasn’t a virgin to be embarrassed by something like that, though maybe it was because
Brendan
had said it. She wouldn’t have expected a guy with his background to have such sexy fantasies. Still, it was nice that he’d gotten rid of all that morning-after awkwardness with an assumption they’d be together again that night. It made things much easier.

“Uh, okay,” she said, and his delighted laughter followed her out the door.

* * *

H
ANNAH
MET
WITH
the rescue squad fund-raising committee on Friday morning and showed them the two photographs Jake was donating to their Christmas in August raffle. He’d emailed the digital files to a processing company he’d worked with before, asking for a rush job on the printing and framing. One of the photos had been taken in early-morning light, the other at sunset. And while they were from virtually identical locations, the lighting made each unique.

“They’re beautiful,” Gwen exclaimed. “And the custom framing...it must have cost a fortune.”

Hannah shook her head. “According to Jake, the company donated their time and supplies when they learned it was for a fund-raiser.”

“Excellent, and I see they’re signed,” said Vince Gilson.

“The framer fixed it so Jake could sign and date the outside mattes, then fasten everything down tight. Jake has also provided a certificate of authenticity stating these are limited first-edition prints.” Hannah turned one of the photos around so everyone could see the envelope affixed to the back.

Gwen rubbed her hands together. “This is great. We’ve been selling the raffle tickets locally, but it’ll really pick up now that people can see the photos. I also emailed the information to a number of businesses in Seattle and Portland. When I checked our PayPal account this morning, over a thousand tickets had been sold.”

Everybody looked suitably impressed.

“To be honest, I was worried Mr. Hollister would change his mind about donating the prints and we’d have to refund the money,” Gwen confided. “Now I can relax.”

“Jake believes in supporting rescue workers,” Hannah said. She didn’t add what he’d told her about the Inupiat villagers saving his life. It wasn’t a secret—articles about the plane crash had spoken of the Inupiat rescue efforts—but he didn’t like talking about what had happened in Alaska. And if she said anything to the committee, somebody might mention it to him.

Ironically, in their phone conversation before Jake arrived, Andy had mentioned his client was determined to return and finish the photographic study of polar animals as soon as he was fit enough.

Hannah’s breath caught at the prospect, yet she didn’t have any right to complain or ask him to stop recklessly risking his life.
It’s just because he reminds you of Collin,
she tried to tell herself. She’d never forgotten her first love, and losing him in such a terrible way had always stayed with her. It was just her bad luck to get involved with another adrenaline junkie.

Except Jake
wasn’t
an adrenaline junkie, and that argument was no longer believable.

“Now that the raffle business is concluded, I want to be sure everyone knows the times they’re supposed to be at the booths for the street fair,” she said.

The festival started a week from Monday and she was frazzled about getting everything done. Well...she was mostly frazzled by Jake and trying to figure out how big a mistake sleeping with him had been.

Or maybe it hadn’t been a mistake.

She was annoyed that he had the gall to act as if he knew more about love than she did, but she
had
gotten a little set in her ways...not that she needed to get blasted out of those ways by a man guaranteed to break her heart. And Danny’s heart. Except that was going to happen no matter what—her son already adored Jake.

Jake’s travel stories
were
exciting, and they debated and argued and kept each other on their toes. And sometimes she saw a loneliness in him that caught her throat.

Even his growing fondness for Louie showed there was more to him than his skill with a camera. He’d never admit it, but he’d become goofily attached to the stray kitten, playing with him, letting him sleep on the bed or ride around on his shoulders. She’d even spotted a number of pictures he’d taken of Louie, though he’d hastily made an excuse about experimenting with interior locations and not wanting to let his skill at photographing animals get rusty.

It was frustrating. Jake had so much to offer, yet he was stubbornly determined to spend his life on glaciers and mountains and in jungles, detached from people.

Pictures were fine and he was a great artist, but why couldn’t he let himself be more than just a camera?

* * *

L
ATER
THAT
EVENING
Brendan waited for Barbi, practically jumping out of his skin every time a car drove by outside. He didn’t want to think she might have changed her mind, but it was always a possibility.

When the clock ticked over to ten-thirty he was convinced she
had
decided their night together was more than enough. Luigi’s stopped delivering at ten on Fridays and Saturdays, and it wasn’t a big town. It was less than ten minutes from one side of Mahalaton Lake to the other.

Then there was a knock and he lunged off the couch.

“Hiya, Brendan,” Barbi said as he opened the door. She was holding a pizza box.

“Hi.”

He pulled her into a kiss that seared right through his soul. Yet when he lifted his head, he could see she looked pale, which wasn’t any surprise considering their lack of sleep the night before...or the fact she’d been working since early that morning.

“Did ya get the whipped cream?” she asked with a grin.

“Sure did. Have you eaten?”

“Luigi always feeds me, but I brought some pizza for you so we’d both have garlicky breath.”

Brendan almost refused, but there was a flash of pride in Barbi’s eyes. “That’s great.”

She put the pizza box on the coffee table and they sat on the couch. The pizza was his usual sausage, onions and olives, but he decided not to wonder if there was a hidden message in that. He steadily ate a couple of pieces, anxious to take up where they’d left off that morning, then glanced over at Barbi.

She’d fallen asleep.

Though disappointed, Brendan was also glad. She worked hard, and they could make love after she’d gotten some rest.

Groaning a little, he got up and put the rest of the pizza in the refrigerator, then returned and lifted Barbi’s legs onto the couch. She was really quite small and delicate—it was her attitude that was big...the defiant attitude that he’d despised and now found so appealing.

Maybe he’d
always
found it appealing, but it had scared the hell out of him to feel that way. A man didn’t change who he was in a week or a month. Or even a year. But he
was
changing. While he couldn’t totally abandon his upbringing, he was seeing a new way of doing things.

He put her feet on his lap and slipped off her shoes.

One day at a time,
he thought.

Yet at some point he had to make a decision about his life, and that included a real commitment to staying in Mahalaton Lake. The people here weren’t stupid. Deep down they’d probably guessed he wasn’t really putting down roots. So maybe taking care of their legal needs should include making them feel he was one of them, and not just passing through.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

O
N
S
UNDAY
NIGHT
Danny turned on his side as Hannah tucked the blankets around him.

“Are you excited about vacation Bible school?” she asked.

“Uh-huh. Are we really gonna camp out?”

“You sure are, just like the olden days.” The counselors had come up with a new idea this year—the VBS had deliberately been scheduled for the week before the Christmas in August celebration started, with the theme centered around ancient biblical journeys. They were going to have the kids sleep over the first and last nights at the church, pretending to be the ancient travelers to Bethlehem...the wise men, the shepherds and the other people going to be counted in the Roman census.

“Where’s Badger, Mommy?”

“Probably putting Louie to bed,” she said. She suspected when Jake went back to his old life, they’d end up giving the cat a home. “I’ll go check on him.”

Danny yawned. “Okay.”

Hannah waited a few minutes until she was sure he was soundly asleep, then walked over to the lodge. Jake met her at the door. “Your dog thinks he’s a nursemaid.”

She stepped inside and saw Badger doing his best to give Louie a bath, while Louie, greatly improved in appearance and looking fatter over the ribs, just wanted to play with his tail.

“Badger, come.”

The retriever gave her a slightly harried look, probably similar to the one she’d worn when Danny was a baby and
nothing
was going the way the baby books said they were supposed to.

“Where do you think we should go this week?” Jake asked, freeing Louie from Badger’s overenthusiastic grooming and draping him over his shoulder. A loud purr instantly rumbled through the air.

Hannah reached up to rub the top of Louie’s head. “Oh, I thought we could go down to Mount Adams and maybe to the other side of Mount St. Helens. A two-day trip to allow for extra time with your camera.”

“Sounds good for Wednesday and Thursday. But what about hiking part of the way up Mount Mahala tomorrow?”

She hesitated. “We’ve talked about that. The best views are pretty high.”

“I’m tired of taking it slow. I’d like to go tomorrow.”

“Fine.” Hannah walked over and grabbed Badger’s collar, tugging firmly. “Come on, boy, Danny wants you.”

The retriever’s ears tilted forward at the name and he followed her obediently, though he looked at Louie on Jake’s shoulder, a worried wrinkle between his eyes.

“It’s okay, Badger,” Jake surprised her by saying. “I’ll take care of Louie. You don’t need to worry about him.”

It was probably the first time he’d ever tried talking to the dog as if he could understand, and Hannah’s heart ached even more.

* * *

J
AKE
KNEW
H
ANNAH
wasn’t entirely comfortable about hiking Mount Mahala with him, but it wasn’t as if he was suggesting they go up Sagarmatha. While pretty, Mount Mahala was one of the more minor peaks in the Cascades, barely high enough in elevation to maintain its three small glaciers.

Besides, Hannah had said there was a trail where mountain-climbing gear wasn’t required, and he wanted to push his leg harder than he’d been able to on the less-strenuous trails they’d taken to date.

Badger came along the next morning, trotting easily on the forest paths and on the steeper rocky tracks.

As they climbed higher, the avalanche lilies appeared, their showy blossoms nodding gently in the light breeze, growing so thickly they could almost be mistaken for ground cover.

The names of the flowers rolled off Hannah’s tongue, blending together in his head—columbine, lupine, shooting stars, penstemon...tiger lilies. The tiger lilies looked like something he might see in formal gardens. Hannah explained it was a wild lily that was so popular with gardeners, a lot of people thought they were domesticated bulbs gone wild.

When they approached the first snowfields, Hannah stopped to put on a jacket and Jake followed suit, though he wasn’t cold yet. The biggest problem was his leg; it was aching badly from the effort of keeping it straight, and he dreaded having to call a halt. Luckily they soon reached a small widening of the trail and Hannah cleared her throat.

“I thought this might be a good place for you to work.”

Jake’s jaw was clenched from the strain of climbing with a heavy pack of equipment, and he was drenched with sweat, but he turned his head and everything else was forgotten. To the north, one of the larger peaks stood sentinel over the surrounding range, a giant that looked sleepy and peaceful, belying the geologic power that lay beneath.

As for Mount Mahala, old-growth forest surrounded the base and lower slopes, and below was Mahala Lake. The town wasn’t visible from their vantage point and the lake was the distinctive milky green of glacial meltwater.

Hannah was gazing intently up at Mount Mahala. “‘The whole mountain appeared as one glorious manifestation of divine power, enthusiastic and benevolent,’” she quoted softly, “‘glowing like a countenance with ineffable repose and beauty, before which we could only gaze in devout and lowly admiration.’”

“John Muir,” Jake said absently. “From
Steep Trails
. One of the climbers I knew as a boy loved that quote. He planned to leave a copy at the top of Sagarmatha, but he didn’t make it.”

“Maybe he’ll try again someday.”

Jake shook his head. “His body is still up there. When someone dies too high up, it isn’t always possible to recover them. The oxygen is too scarce, and more lives could be lost.” He looked at Hannah. “Doug loved the prayer flags in Nepal. I tried putting one up for him after the accident, but Josie didn’t like it.”

“Your mother has strong views.”

“Yeah. I...uh, I’ve put them up since.” It was the first time he’d admitted it to anyone, but now it seemed all right with Hannah. “I’ve never seen any harm to the practice. If nothing else, it’s a form of remembrance.”

She touched his arm. “I hope it makes you feel better.”

“It does,” Jake confessed. “And it’s funny, I’ve mentioned some of the Tibetan and Nepalese spiritual practices to Ruth and she wasn’t the least bit offended, even though they have a different religion.”

“I don’t recall you talking about that with your grandparents when they visited.”

“Well, I thought about what you said...about making up my own mind about the MacDonalds, so I’ve called them a couple of times. They don’t seem to be the way Josie described them—all dogmatic and Bible-thumping. Maybe they’ve changed.”

“People
do
change,” Hannah said, looking thoughtful. “But I’d better let you work.”

She went over to a low rock and sat down, Badger leaning against her leg as Jake selected a camera. Before his accident he’d believed solely in the here and now,
the provable
. It wasn’t so clear any longer.

* * *

J
AKE
WORKED
FOR
at
least six hours before he noticed Hannah walking up and down and swinging her arms. He vaguely recalled gulping a cup of coffee and swallowing a sandwich in the middle of those hours, but little else.

“Cold?” he called.

“I’m not warm. We’re above the snow line.”

Damn
.

Hannah was far too nice. Toby would have been complaining from the minute they’d started up the mountain.

“Sorry about that. Let’s go.”

Hannah came over and helped pack the cameras. She was becoming proficient with his equipment, handling it carefully and ensuring everything was secure in the packs.

The hike down was slow. Jake’s leg and knee had seized up badly and he noticed Badger stayed close to his side, rather than ranging ahead, the way he usually did. Hannah didn’t say anything for a long time, though she periodically cast worried glances at him.

“Did you bring any pain medication?” she finally asked.

He almost snapped at her, then managed to control the impulse. “No, I just need the hot tub. It’s better than anything else.”

“We’re miles from a hot tub, Jake.”

“I’ll get there. And taking a pill might make me woozy enough to slip.”

“I know.”

It was another three miles to the Wrangler, and by the time they got there, Jake’s muscles were shaking.

Hannah drove down the mountain, and the jolting over dirt and gravel roads was enough to make Jake’s jaw tighten again. Clearly, he hadn’t recovered as much as he’d hoped, and the knowledge sat in his stomach, in a cold, indigestible lump.

“Don’t we have to pick up Danny from your parents’?” he asked when she drove straight through town to Huckleberry Lodge.

“No. Vacation Bible school started today. The leaders are having the older kids sleep over as part of the lesson.”

“Oh. So Danny is away tonight,” Jake murmured speculatively, though he was hardly in any condition to take advantage of Hannah’s unexpected freedom.

“Don’t get any ideas,” she warned as she parked near the front door of Huckleberry Lodge.

“Does that mean you’re refusing to share the hot tub with me? I can’t think of a better way to relax and get warm, can you?”

* * *

H
ANNAH
WAVERED
. I
T
was a cool day, and though they’d had the heat on during the drive back, she was still chilled. And her muscles would stiffen up even more, no longer being accustomed to such strenuous hiking, so she could imagine how lousy Jake felt. He had set the pace with a grim determination. Impatience was his biggest barrier to recovering.

“Uh, sure. I’d love to.”

“Good, I’ll meet you on the deck.”

Jake headed into the lodge, limping heavily, with Badger sticking close to his side. Over the past couple of weeks the hesitation in his gait had almost vanished, but Hannah wasn’t surprised it was back. At least if the overexertion was a problem, Owen would have something to say about it when he came tomorrow for Jake’s therapy.

Hannah changed into a swimsuit and grabbed a robe, then hurried over to the lodge. A fire had been lit in the master bedroom, and Badger and Louie were lying in front of it in obvious bliss. The golden retriever still treated his new feline friend like Little Orphan Annie, but Louie was starting to show his independence, so the relationship would quickly equalize.

Outside, Jake was already in the churning water. Hannah dropped her robe on a bench and slipped into the warmth with a sigh. A bathtub was okay, but it couldn’t compete with a hot tub.

“I’m surprised you haven’t installed one of these over at Silver Cottage,” Jake murmured after a long time, the lines of strain on his face beginning to ease.

“Until you leased the lodge, we were always able to come over and use this one between our short-term renters.”

“You still can use this one. I invited you, remember?”

“You just did that to annoy Brendan.”

“I was bored and he’s an easy target. How did he take it when you broke up with him?”

“He was a perfect gentleman.”

Initially, Hannah had felt guilty about Brendan, but now she suspected he’d forgotten all about her.

While Barbi and Brendan might be an incongruous pair, there was a rightness to it, as well. Brendan needed someone who’d lighten him up, and Barbi needed someone solid and dependable, willing to make a commitment and stick to it.

So do I,
Hannah thought dismally.

Brendan obviously wasn’t the right man for her, but she still hoped to find someone with his solid values...and Jake’s sex appeal. Hannah squirmed at the thought. She strongly suspected that Jake was naked beneath the churning water, and just the thought was enough to send prickles shooting through her tummy.

The sun was low in the sky, and she closed her eyes, letting the bubbling water swirl around her. When the timer for the jets ran down she stayed quiet, listening to the sounds of evening. A few minutes later the cry of a loon rippled through the air.

Jake sleepily opened his eyes. “That was a loon, right?”

“Uh-huh. Some people think it sounds like a weird sort of laughter, so that’s where the expression ‘crazy as a loon’ comes from.”

“I probably would have guessed it had something to do with the moon. You know, loon...lunar?”

“Mmm. You should see the birds with their young. They’re wonderful parents. Amazingly affectionate, swimming with their babies or carrying them on their backs. I’m so glad they’ve come back to the lake.”

The cry came again and they were both silent, listening to the haunting, flutelike notes.

“I’ve gotten pictures of a large bird with a baby on its back,” Jake murmured. “Black-and-white spotted, with a black head and a couple of bands below. I’m sure they’re loons from the photos I’ve seen in books.”

Hannah smiled with delight. “That’s great. They’re really shy, which is partly why their nesting habitat has shrunk so much.”

“I didn’t go near them, just used my telephoto lenses,” Jake assured her. “Shall I put the jets back on?”

“I’ll do it.” Hannah stood before he could get up, turned the timer on, then slid into the water again.

“Chicken.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “About what?”

“Seeing me in my birthday suit.”

“Ha. That’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”

“True. I just don’t see the point of wearing shorts. And to be honest, I didn’t think about it before you came out in your swimsuit. I might tease, but I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“You didn’t.” The reason she’d wanted to turn on the jets herself was out of concern for his leg, but he probably wouldn’t want to hear it.

“I got an email from Toby last night,” Jake said unexpectedly. “He and his fiancée got married in Hawaii last weekend.”

“And you disapprove.”

“No.”

Hannah lifted an eyebrow and Jake sighed. “I’ve finally accepted it. But I’m still going to miss him. I never expected to have an assistant, then the magazine foisted him on me for a trip to Indonesia. I’d cracked a couple of ribs and they thought someone should go along and do the heavy lifting.”