Northern Encounter (13 page)

She ran, slipping and sliding down to where he lay still on the snow, bright red blossoming and staining the white beneath him. Blood. He was bleeding from his head. Panic threatened to swamp her. Oh, God. She was out in the middle of nowhere. That crack had been his head.

Did she dare move him? How could she not? She could wait for him to come to, but what if he didn’t? His Suburban had a two-way radio but they’d come
a long way via sled and she couldn’t just leave him here while she went back to radio for help. And what if the eagle came back and attacked him again while he lay injured and defenseless?

The way she saw it, there was only one option. She had to hook Kobuk up to the sled, put Clint onto it and get him back to the truck. Then she had to drive him back to town to Dr. Skye.

She pushed aside her alarm, forcing herself to inhale deep, calming breaths. Exactly how she was going to accomplish all of that she wasn’t exactly sure, but she didn’t have any choice. Clint’s life depended on her figuring it out.

T
HE LIGHT WAS TOO DAMN
bright and his head hurt like a son of a bitch. He tried to put his hand up to block the light.

“Easy there, Clint! Hold on just a few more minutes. I’m almost done with the stitches,” Dr. Skye Shanahan said, her tone crisp but soothing.

“Stitches?”

“Yeah, you decided to split your head open on a rock when that eagle knocked you down.”

It came back to him in snatches. The eagle heading toward him…impact…falling…his head hitting a rock in the snow…and then nothing until now. Small wonder his head was throbbing.

“Almost done…yep, good thing Tessa’s level-head ed and resourceful.”

“Is she okay?” She had to be okay. Anything outside of that wasn’t an acceptable option.

“I’m fine,” Tessa said from somewhere in the
room, but he couldn’t see her. It was amazing the level of comfort simply hearing her voice brought to him.

“You sure you’re okay?” he said.

“I’m sure. I’m fine. How do you feel?”

He attempted to laugh. “I’ve been better.”

Dr. Skye jumped into the fray. “She’s far too modest to ever tell you, so I’m going to tell you that you owe Tessa. She hooked Kobuk up and loaded you on the sled. Then she got you and the dog into the truck and drove you here to me. As it stands, with a day of rest, you should be fine. You wouldn’t have had nearly such a good outcome otherwise.”

Nelson moved into Clint’s peripheral vision, handing something to Skye.

“Thank you,” Clint said in the general direction of Tessa’s voice. In all the years he’d been a guide, he’d never been in this situation where a client had been forced to step up and bail him out.

“You would have done the same for me,” she said. “Actually you did yesterday at the glacier. And I know how you feel because I’ve never been so scared in all of my life.”

“Okay. Got you all back together again,” Skye said.

“I don’t feel anything.”

“You don’t now, but you will. Here, sit up slowly…easy does it.”

Clint sat up slowly, swinging his legs over the side
of the table. Tessa sat in a folding chair in the corner, blood on her parka. She’d said she was okay. “That blood’s mine, right?”

“Yep. From when I was getting you onto the sled and then into the truck.”

He could see the blood had dried by now. “If it doesn’t come out, I’ll buy you another jacket.”

She smiled, shaking her head, and his breath caught in his throat at her sheer loveliness. “No you won’t. It adds character, and when someone asks, I’ve got a good story to tell.”

“I’m definitely buying you another one. I don’t need to get the reputation as the Alaskan wilderness guide who fell and busted his head open.”

Skye snickered as she scrubbed her hands at the corner sink. “It’s not particularly macho, is it? Oops. Sorry, guess I shouldn’t have said that.”

“It’s okay. It’s part of your charm,” Clint said with a smile. “But no, I don’t need to get a reputation as a wuss guide.”

“Okay, I won’t tell the story,” Tessa said, her smile fading. “Was that typical eagle behavior?”

“Of course not or I would never have taken you there. I’ve never known one to do that before.” Tessa seemed to have some kind of different energy about her. First there had been the wolf marking the tent, then the eagle attacking him.

“The eagle was sending a message,” Nelson said as he moved about the room in his quiet way, throwing
away the remnants of items Skye had used to stitch Clint up.

“What kind of message?” Clint asked, not questioning or doubting Nelson’s veracity. Nelson’s father was the village shaman, and while it didn’t always pass down through families, Nelson was a shaman in training. Both men had insights into the spirit and animal world others didn’t possess.

“The message was to you, for you, about you, so only you can know the answer to that.”

“I’m drawing a blank. Don’t you have an inkling or something?”

Nelson slowly shook his head. “No. The message must be filtered through you. It will come to you.”

Skye looked at Tessa. “Okay. Get him back over to Merrilee’s.”

Clint frowned. “No one has to get me anywhere and why would I go back to Merrilee’s?”

“You’ve sustained a head injury. Most likely you’ll be fine but you need to take it easy and be observed for the next twenty-four hours. Merrilee’s expecting you.”

“But—”

Nelson interrupted him. “Bull drove out and picked up the sled—”

“I didn’t want to take the time to get it into the truck,” Tessa said.

While the sled only weighed about thirty-five pounds, it was a freight sled which meant it was a
little bigger and it could be awkward to get into the back of the Suburban if you weren’t used to it.

“No worries.”

“Bull’s got it and he’s taking Tessa snowshoeing this afternoon.”

“That’s not necessary.” She was his obligation and he’d take her. Plus, he wanted to spend what time he could with her.

Skye piped up. “It’s absolutely necessary. The poor woman doesn’t need you passing out because you’re an idiot and begin to hemorrhage out on a snowshoe trail in the middle of nowhere.” God, he loved the way she made him sound like an invalid and a liability, but there was no arguing with what she’d said. Tessa’d already had to more than rise to an occasion once today.

Skye handed him a bottle. “Your head should feel better in a little bit, but in a couple of hours it will start to hurt again. You might want to take one of these before it gets too bad. It’s easier to control pain before it gets bad than trying to dial it back once it’s happened. And now, much as I’d love to hang out and chat, Nelson and I have other patients to see.”

Clint stood and shrugged into his coat, putting the pill bottle into his pocket. “Thanks, Skye. See you later, Nelson.”

“Sure thing.” Skye sent Tessa a warm smile. “Why don’t you join us for dinner tonight at Gus’s? Dalton and I are usually there around six.”

“Sounds good.”

It didn’t escape his attention that the two women had really hit it off. Actually, Tessa had really hit it off with everyone except his grandmother.

He waited until they’d cleared the waiting room and were outside in the cold that bit at his stitches before he gave her accolades. “I’m damn impressed you knew how to harness Kobuk in, then got me on the sled and back to the truck.”

Tessa shrugged and grinned at him. “I told you I like to know things. It can come in handy and it did today.”

“You’re no wilting flower, I’ll give you that.”

“Hel-lo. I told you that from the beginning, Mr. Sisnuket. You just didn’t listen.”

No. He’d been too stubborn to hear what she’d been saying.

T
HAT EVENING
, T
ESSA TRIED
not to feel maudlin when she and Clint joined Dalton, Skye and Nelson for dinner at Gus’s. This was her last evening in Good Riddance so she should be making the most of it rather than mourning the fact she had to return to Tucson tomorrow. She straightened her back and pasted a smile on her face. There’d be plenty of time for maudlin when she returned home.

“How was the snowshoeing today?” Nelson said.

“It went well. I got some great footage.” Bull
was a nice man and she’d enjoyed his company well enough…but she’d missed Clint something fierce.

In fact, it was beyond disconcerting just how much she’d missed him. How could she feel this way about a man she’d only met days before?

Everyone around the table nodded but it was Nelson who spoke up. “Many people are under the misconception that we sit up here and hibernate all winter, but there’s lots to do and see, even if the days are short.”

“And cold,” Skye tacked on.

Everyone was laughing when Jenna showed up at their table sans Tad. “Hey. Would you mind if I joined you for dinner?”

An empty chair sat between Nelson and Skye.

Dalton spoke up, “Not a bit. Have a seat. Do we need to round another one up for Tad?”

Tessa very churlishly hoped not. She didn’t like the man and she didn’t want to share her very last evening in Good Riddance in his company.

Jenna slid into the seat and waved a dismissing hand. “He won’t be down, unless it’s to go to the bar. He’s upstairs sulking because I told him I’m not going back with him.” She gave an oh-well shrug and smiled around the table at large.

Tessa noted that everyone, probably including her self, looked stunned. “Are you taking a later flight?” she asked.

“Nope. I’m not going back at all. I’ve decided I’m going to stay.”

Skye looked at Jenna, her eyebrows raised. “Stay as in stay here? In Good Riddance?”

“Uh-huh. Here in Good Riddance. I like it here and Curl said I could do nails over at his place. And I thought I’d talk to Gus about maybe helping out here now and again.”

“That’s great,” Skye said, still looking a bit stunned but welcoming nonetheless. “It’ll be nice to have another woman in town.”

“Hey, you can come by sometime and I’ll do your nails. I don’t even mind staying over one evening for you since you have a busy schedule.”

“That would be fantastic,” Skye said. “I don’t think I realized how much I missed that.”

“You just say when and I’ll hook you up with a mani/pedi.”

Dalton, Nelson and Clint all chimed in on welcoming her to Good Riddance.

Tessa nodded and smiled but inside her gut was churning. It took her a few seconds to realize that what she felt was envy. Tomorrow she’d get on a plane and return to Tucson, but Jenna got to stay in Good Riddance and be a part of the community and the people sitting around the table.

Dalton whistled under his breath. “Nope. I bet Tad is not a happy camper right now.”

“He took it a little worse than I thought he would.
Especially when I told him I wanted to keep the ring.”

“That’s two wives he’s lost to Good Riddance—well, a former wife and a future wife,” Clint said, speaking up with a grin. It was apparent there was no love lost for Tad Weatherspoon by anyone around the table.

“Oh, he’s not divorced from Merrilee,” Jenna said. “She’s still his wife.”

“The hell you say,” Dalton said.

Skye’s eyes grew big as saucers. “What?”

“Yeah. Can you believe it? All this time he’s refused to give her a divorce just to be a meanie. But now she won’t divorce him because she doesn’t want me to marry him.” She looked around the table giving another one of those hapless shrugs. “I heard him on the phone with his attorney. He thinks I’m an airhead so he didn’t even bother to be too quiet while I was blow-drying my hair. I might be an airhead but I’m not deaf. And he called Merrilee an ugly name which I thought was terrible because I think she’s a really nice person and everything. So, I decided I didn’t want to marry someone like that, plus he lied to me about his age. Can you believe it? I’ve been wanting something to do other than shop and go to the spa and I like it here, so I’m going to stay.”

Tessa, who had only met all of these people a few days ago, felt invested in them nonetheless in a way she’d never felt before. All she could think was how
frustrating that must have been for Merrilee to have left a man but still have him control a degree of her life for all of these years.

“Well, that certainly explains why things have been tense between Bull and Merrilee for the past few days,” Nelson said.

No one at the table was gossiping. It was clear that everyone was simply concerned.

Dalton smiled, nodding. “Well, that’s all about to change. If you’re not going to marry him, then Merrilee can sign those papers. And if Tad wants to start balking again, well, he’ll be hard-pressed to find a flight out of Good Riddance to get him back where he belongs.”

Clint laughed. “Never piss off the man who’s in charge of the plane that gets you out of town.”

As crazy as it might sound, Tessa knew they’d make it happen. The entire community would back Merrilee and come hell or high water, she’d be a free woman before Tad Weatherspoon went back to Georgia with his tail tucked between his legs.

And that was precisely why she didn’t want to get on that plane tomorrow.

N
O KNOCK PRECEDED HER
bedroom door opening. Tessa had known he would come to her.

Silently, they crossed the room to meet in the middle. Clint wrapped his arms around her, enfolding her. She smoothed her hand over his head, giving wide berth to his stitches. “How are you?” she asked.

He brushed aside her concern. “I’m fine.” He tangled his hands in her hair, his lips seeking hers.

There was a sweet fire behind his kiss, and in the play of his tongue against hers. He eased her onto the bed and slowly, mouths fusing, hands roaming, they divested each other of their clothes until nothing was left but the slide of skin against skin.

There was no need for extended foreplay. They belonged together. Clint plucked a condom from the bedside table and rolled it on. Spreading her legs for him, Tessa grasped his buttocks, urging him forward.
In one smooth motion, he was inside her and she gasped from the sensation of him filling her.

Nothing had ever felt so right. So good.

He braced his arms beneath her knees and then, leaning forward, grasped her arms, pinning her to the bed. It wasn’t a position of aggression, but it was definitely a stance of dominance which left her all the more turned on. She willingly submitted to him.

The wolf gave in to the eagle.

Once again, he claimed her as his own with a kiss, this time delving soul-deep inside her, nearly bringing her to tears.

Together, as one, they climbed higher and higher until they soared together, both shattering in each other’s arms.

Afterward, they lay together, entwined, Clint still buried deep inside her for what could’ve been a life time. No other man would ever measure up to Clint Sisnuket. She felt as surely marked by him as she’d felt marked by the wolves.

Withdrawing, he excused himself to the other side of the room. Within a few minutes he was back in bed with her, pulling her close, his arms wrapped around her.

Without filtering her thoughts, Tessa spoke from her heart. “Tonight at dinner, I was envious of Jenna.” She paused and rolled over, sliding her thigh over his. Then she opened herself, her heart,
in a way she’d never imagined she would. “I don’t want to leave tomorrow.”

C
LINT ROLLED TO HIS
side and watched the muted light flicker across Tessa’s face. He heard her words, but he knew what he knew. This time tomorrow night he would be in his own bed, alone again. And he’d known it from the beginning, known the inevitability. He wanted her to understand at least part of it.

“My mother lives in Montreal,” he said without preamble.

She didn’t look surprised, she merely nodded. “That’s who you lived with in Montreal.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes. She came with a documentary film crew. My father, who had been seeing a native woman, was hired as the guide.”

“I’m guessing he and your mother fell in love and that didn’t go well on any level.”

“Uh-uh.”

“Were he and the woman from the village engaged?”

“No, but they were just about one step shy of that. Her name was Cassie Chinoowa. And then the documentary film crew arrived. When the time came for the crew to leave, my father was torn. He couldn’t go to Montreal. He belonged here but he didn’t believe my mother could be happy here and he knew her being accepted by his people would be a huge
issue. But he loved her and she swore she’d be happy as long as she was with him. Of course, she didn’t deliberately deceive him. I’m sure she meant it at the time.”

“That must have really been awkward on lots of different levels.”

“Cassie was humiliated and broken-hearted. My grandparents were humiliated because their son betrayed Cassie and he did so with a white woman. It would’ve probably been better if my father had up and moved to Canada with her…or maybe not. I think it was just ill-fated from the beginning. You can guess the rest.”

“How old were you when you and she moved to Montreal?”

“Five. I was as miserable there as she’d been here. My mother’s parents weren’t happy to have a mixed race grandson in the first place. They’d been as against the marriage as my father’s parents. And to add insult to injury, I looked totally native.”

“Yes, you do. Let me guess that your mother is blonde.”

Clint nodded. “Scandinavian ancestry. That’s where I got my height. I came back when I was seven.”

“Did either of them ever remarry?”

“No. I think they really loved each other, probably still do. She just couldn’t live here and he couldn’t live there. If you consider Good Riddance’s popu
lation…well, it’s obviously not the place for a lot of people.”

“Do you see her often?”

“When I was younger she’d come out and visit in the summers but then I started spending my summers as a guide and it was very awkward between my mother and my father’s family so we saw each other less and less. She came to my college graduation and then I saw her a couple of years ago.”

“Now I know why your grandmother didn’t like me. It doesn’t make it right, but I at least understand now. Her attitude makes a little more sense.”

“She doesn’t want to see me hurt the way my father was.”

“It might also have something to do with the fact that she felt humiliated.”

“I’m sure that plays a role in her hostility.”

“It’s not hostility. It’s called prejudice, the same as it was when you went to Montreal and your mother’s family treated you shabbily because of your native heritage. And if she treated your mother the way she treated me, I can understand why it was difficult for your mom to stick it out.”

“Funny, I never thought of it from that perspective.” All this time he’d simply seen it as his mother not having what it took to adapt to life in the village, not that his grandmother might have made it as impossible for his mother as her parents had made it for him.

“You know your grandmother isn’t going to give up until you’ve married a native woman.” She hesitated and then continued, “Unless you stand up to her.” Once again she hesitated as if unsure of the boundaries. “You know, Clint, you don’t have to atone for your father. His choices were his choices.”

“Our whole family paid for his choices.”

“You were a kid, so yes, you were caught up in something outside of your control, but everyone else…they’re adults and how they react and respond to different situations is up to them and their choice.”

“But you understand—”

“What I understand is you’re determined not to be your father. I get that. But are you so caught up in not being him that you’ve lost sight of who you are?”

Clint didn’t have an answer for her. He wanted to unequivocally say no, but he couldn’t. He also wished he could tell her not to go tomorrow, but that didn’t seem possible either.

T
ESSA ROLLED THE LAST
of her clothes into her suitcase and looked around her room at the bed-and-breakfast to make sure she wasn’t leaving anything behind.

It was crazy but leaving Good Riddance was turning out to be one of the hardest things Tessa had ever done. And if leaving Good Riddance was difficult, saying goodbye to Clint Sisnuket was wrenching. Last night, she’d almost invited him to Tucson but she
couldn’t see him coming and even if he were willing, it was a bad idea. She’d confessed she didn’t want to leave, perhaps looking for some validation that she belonged here, with him. However, he’d made it abundantly clear they didn’t have a future based on the history with his parents and his grandmother’s attitude. And Clint wasn’t a casual kind of guy—she’d known it from the moment she’d met him.

Severing ties before she became any more attached seemed like the best plan. And somehow, some way, she had slipped up and become attached. Terribly attached. In fact, it seemed to her that her heart was breaking. But it was better to end it now than to get deeper and deeper in and more invested. She’d had enough heartache to last her a lifetime.

A knock sounded on her door. “Who is it?”

As if conjured up by her thoughts, Clint answered. “It’s me.”

He’d returned to his room this morning before the rest of the bed and breakfast guests were up and about. “Come on in.”

He entered, closing the door behind him. “I thought I’d say goodbye privately.”

Things felt unutterably awkward between them. When they’d first met there had been excitement tinged with reluctance and almost hostility, but this…this was painfully awkward.

“Okay,” she said, at a loss for anything to add to that.

He shifted from one foot to the other. “What are you doing for Thanksgiving?”

His question simply irritated her. “Right now I plan to be editing footage I shot here.” She zipped her case closed. There was a finality about it that wasn’t lost on her.

“That’s not what I meant. I meant who will you spend the day with? Some friends? Some other family members?”

What difference did it make to him? “I usually order take-out from someplace and work.”

“Take-out?” A disapproving frown drew his dark eyebrows together. “Alone?”

She wanted to slap him. How dare he give an implied criticism of her choices? She’d offered to be part of his life last night and he’d passed. “There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m not comfortable making myself a part of someone else’s celebration.” Her life was vastly different from his, where he was part of a clan and a larger community. “Besides, you forget I’ve been marked by the wolves so being alone is right in keeping with my totem.”

“No.” His dark eyes held her gaze. “Wolves aren’t solitary creatures. They live and travel in packs. A wolf totem indicates loyalty and intuition as well as spirit.”

Tessa wasn’t sure why, but that made her even more unhappy and disquieted. She squared her shoulders. What was her problem? She’d come here alone
and she was going home alone. And whatever had happened in between was just that, a lull, an interlude. To have wanted anything more was not only foolish, but dangerous.

“Thanks for showing me such great sights. I got some awesome footage and the videos should turn out well.”

She held out her hand. Part of her wanted to howl at the notion of shaking his hand, the other part of her thought she might shatter if he actually hugged her.

He shook her hand. “Tessa…”

“Take care, Clint.” She dropped his hand.

He hesitated and then said, “You take care, as well.”

She’d be alone just as she’d been and just as she was meant to be.

M
ERRILEE LOOKED AT
Tad and then glanced over her shoulder to Dalton. “Dalton, did you tell me that the plane’s at its weight limit and you’re not going to be able to get another passenger on today?”

Dalton shrugged. “Yep. And I’m booked up tomorrow too.”

“Then I guess you’ll have to line another plane up for me,” Tad said.

Just as Merrilee had anticipated, Tad was nice and pissed about Jenna’s decision to stay. Subsequently, he was now refusing, once again, to sign the papers.
Surely, sooner than later, since it had already been twenty-five years, the papers would be signed and she’d no longer be married to this poor excuse of a human being.

“That’s going to be difficult. Everybody’s pretty tied up now, pre-holiday rush and such,” Merrilee said.

“I know what you’re trying to do.”

He could sign or his sorry hide would be stuck here, where everyone knew Jenna had dumped him and Merrilee had moved across the continent to get away from him. Merrilee shrugged. “I’m just saying you could be here for a while.”

Tad glanced from Merrilee to Dalton and Bull who had come in mid-discussion. Merrilee saw it in his face the minute Tad decided. “Fine. I’ll sign the damn papers.” He looked at Dalton, his nostrils flaring. Tad snatched up a pen, and within three seconds, the papers bore his signature. He tossed the pen onto the desk and glared at Dalton. “Now do you think you can adjust the weight limits on your plane?”

Dalton grinned. “I’ll see what I can do about shifting some cargo deliveries to a different day.”

Merrilee felt as if a gorilla—make that jackass—was off her back. Bull turned silently and left the room. But she wasn’t sure if she and Bull were ever going to be right again.