She's Got a Way (3 page)

“Really.”

“Don't roll your eyes at me, Piper. Yes, really.”

“And you're not at all concerned about how that might work out?”

“Oh, I'm completely concerned.” Luke sighed. “Oliver's plan, as of this morning, is to give them a week and send them home.
My
plan is to make like a lynx and disappear as soon as they arrive.”

“Now that's the big, brave Luke I know.” Piper patted his sleeve.

“Piper?” he growled.

“I know.” She laughed. “Shut up. But before I do, I can't help but warn you.”

“About what?”

“About the fact that you generally pretty much suck at letting other people loose in your space. Especially strangers.”

“Well, lucky for us all, I'm too busy to care.”

“Okay.” She sighed. “You go with that. But I'll bet you a Bellinis special that you cave by day three. There's no way you're going to let some hoity-toity housemother from some hoity-toity school take over your camp.” She shook her head. “Not. Gonna. Happen.”

“We'll see, Pipes. We'll see.” He looked out at the lake, feeling his shoulders drop. “Not really my camp anymore, though, is it?”

*   *   *

Four hours later, Luke heard the van before he saw it, but still hadn't managed to quite extricate himself from the climbing ropes he was untangling by the time it pulled to a stop in front of the administration cottage. It was exactly what he'd expected—a shiny BMW with the Briarwood logo emblazoned on the side, and he tried to compose his features into a welcoming, tolerant smile as he waited on the lawn.

The sooner they started, the sooner it'd be done, after all.

And at least there wasn't a network van behind it.

“Be nice.” Piper growled in his ear as she joined him. “Even if it kills you.”

“Oh, it's definitely going to kill me.”

“Do it anyway.” She pasted a huge smile on her face as the double doors opened in the back. “I'll take the girls into the dining hall. You deal with the housemother. I guarantee you she doesn't want to be here, either.”

Whatever,
he muttered inside his head. But for the sake of pretending to be an adult about the whole thing, he conjured up his best smile and walked around to the driver's side of the van. When he caught sight of the woman stepping out, though, he stopped short. This was no steely-haired old bird in a flowered dress. No. She had sleek, dark hair, a wrist full of gold bangles, and curves in all the right places. He blinked, then peered into the backseat, searching for the housemother. Had Briarwood sent them with a hottie driver?

“Mr. Magellan?” The woman raised her eyebrows, her hand outstretched, and he realized she'd probably said that once already. Crap.

He shook her hand quickly. “It's Luke.”

“Gabriela.” She pointed a finger toward her chest, and he blinked hard.

“Wait.
You're
Gabriela?”

“Yes. I promise.”

“Sorry.” He smiled. “You're just … not exactly what I was expecting, from your title.”

No, she was
nothing
like he'd expected, and damn, she was holy-shit gorgeous. If she was a day over thirty, he'd be shocked. She had on a lavender-colored sleeveless shirt that probably cost more than his groceries, and jeans that came to just below her knees. Strappy leather sandals with pink-painted toenails completed her look, and if ever there was a woman who'd set foot on Echo property and looked less like she belonged, it was her.

“I left my housemother curlers and bathrobe back at the dorm, since I wasn't sure what your facilities would be like. Brought my fuzzy slippers, though.”

“Touché. I apologize.”

“It's okay.” She winked. “I'm not a big fan of my job title, but the headmaster is
very
attached to it. I'm kind of stuck.”

“What do the girls call you?”

“Gabi.”

“Well, welcome to Camp Echo, Gabi.” He pointed to Piper. “This is Piper. She'll be handling the kitchen this summer for us.”

Gabi reached her hand out to Piper, smile still in place, then motioned for the girls to join her. “This is Sam, Eve, Madison, and Waverly.” Her bracelets clinked softly as she pointed to each of them.

Piper clapped her hands. “I just made cookies. How about I take the girls in for a snack while you two get acquainted?”

Luke heard a snicker from the little herd of teens, then saw Gabi's smile break for a brief second as she shot the offender a death ray.

“I think a snack would be lovely. Thank you, Piper.” She tipped her head graciously. “Girls, why don't you head in with Piper, and I'll catch up to you?”

A chorus of mumbles served as their reply, and Luke fought not to sigh. After they'd disappeared up the pathway behind the admin building, Gabi closed the van door, sliding her hands into her pockets.

“Thank you for making space for us for the summer. I imagine you've got a full camp already.”

He blinked. She imagined
what
?

“Um, no. We don't actually have
any
campers this summer.”

“What?” Her eyebrows pulled together. “What do you mean, you don't have any campers?”

“Camp's closed, Ms. O'Brien. Briarwood shut us down. We're scheduled to open back up
next
June. Maybe.”

“But … why would they shut down the camp?”

“They want some changes made before we open under their umbrella. This summer's all about making those changes happen. So…”—he waved an arm around the empty beach—“we're closed.”

“I don't underst—” She looked around nervously, probably taking in the lack of activity for the first time. He followed the path of her eyes, seeing the empty dock, the canoes tied up in rows, the gaping holes in the trees where sleeping tents had stood in years past. “There's really no one here?”

“Just me and the camp director, and now you guys.”

“So…” Her eyes returned to his. “I'm confused. Priscilla Pritchard sentenced the girls to …
camp
. There
is
no camp. Does she—she can't possibly know this … right?”

The last word was quiet, and for a moment, Luke actually felt a pang of sympathy for her. Here she'd been sent to the boonies with her rule-breaking cretins for the month, and she'd probably pictured a pristine camp on the shores of a pristine lake, with pristine cabins and a full-service dining room.

His pang faded quickly. Of course that's what she would have expected. It's what Briarwood types
always
expected. He sighed. It's probably what she
could
realistically expect next year, if all went as Briarwood planned for it to.

But for now, she was going to have to deal with what they had. Which was not much.

He cleared his throat. “Not sure about your use of the word ‘sentenced.' And I don't know what your headmaster knew. I didn't have those conversations with her.”

“She knows.” Oliver's deep voice came from behind him as he reached out a beefy hand toward Gabi. “Hi. Oliver Black. Camp director, past tense. She didn't tell you the camp's officially closed?”

“No.” Gabi shook her head, looking a little bit like a deer in the headlights. “No, she didn't. I don't understand. This is never going to work. You guys aren't even an operational camp. I—I need to make a call.” Gabi reached back into the van for her phone, but when she pulled it out, she frowned. “There's no cell service here, is there?”

“Nope.”

“Is there a phone I could use?”

Oliver grimaced. “If you're calling the headmaster, I'm afraid she isn't going to answer.”

“Why not?”

“Well…” He looked from her to Luke, like he was debating whether to continue. “Seems she had a four o'clock flight.”

“A four o'clock
what
?” Luke heard the growl in Gabi's voice, and he almost laughed. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, then looked at both of them. “There must be a mistake.”

“Sorry, honey. No mistake.” Oliver pointed at the pathway where Piper'd led the girls. “We've hired a part-time cook to help you out, but it looks like you're stuck with us for the month. Let's get the girls settled in, and in the morning, we can figure things out.”

She took another deep breath, glancing at her watch. “I can't even … there's no way … we can't stay here.” She looked around at the surrounding woods, which were practically silent, save for the birds and squirrels chattering away in the trees. “So you really have no counselors?”

“Nope.”

“No programs? No schedule?” She put up her fingers as she listed. “No nature hikes and origami and swim lessons?”

“None of the above.”

“So what are
you
doing this summer, if the camp's closed?”

Luke smiled tightly. “I'm the … camp handyman. Oliver's the previous director. And right now, our job is to get the place shipshape for next year. So we'll stay out of your way, but you'll be on your own with your girls.”

Her face fell, and again, he felt guilty, but for Christ's sake, it wasn't his fault she'd been sent up here. Not his fault she was stuck here for the summer with four little rich girls to entertain. He had a job to do, and as much as he hated it, it did
not
involve helping this gorgeous stranger out of her own mess.

“Well.” She stiffened her shoulders and raised her chin a notch. “I will do my best to stay out of your way, as well.”

Luke nodded. “I'm sorry to be blunt. Just trying to be clear about where things are at. Briarwood bought us, but Briarwood hasn't staffed us at this point. We've got a property to bring back up to code, and we've got only two employees. Piper Bellini's offered to help us out on the food end as much as she can, but that's it. You're looking at Camp Echo as it stands right now. We just don't have the manpower to create a surprise four-week program.”

“Understood.” She nodded, but the mad-spots on her cheeks hadn't faded a bit. “I'm not entirely sure
what
I understand, but it's too late to turn around, at least tonight. Maybe you could show us to our cabins, then? So we can be out of your way?” Gabi got her keys ready, like she was about to drive down some sort of flower-strewn pathway to her two-story cottage with its maid service and full bath.

“We don't have camper cabins, Gabi.”

“What do you mean—you don't have cabins?” She peered around him, and he knew she could see the admin cottage and the dining hall, but no other structures, since his own cabin was up over the hill. He could practically feel the fear, not to mention the barely bridled anger, radiating from her skin.

He crossed his arms again. “We have tents.”

“Tents?” She narrowed her eyes. “You're not serious.”

“Dead serious.” He pushed away from the van, motioning for her to follow. “But I'll be happy to show you to yours.”

She reached for his elbow, touching it lightly, then pulling back quickly like she hadn't meant to actually do so.

“Please tell me you're joking.”

He turned around. “Look, this isn't Camp Ritz. We have tents.”

“Oka-ay?” Her eyes darted left and right. “But what about … wildlife? I mean—because the girls will ask. What kinds of creatures do you tend to have … here?”

“You mean, which kind can get into tents? Or which kind doesn't generally bother?”

“Not funny, Mr. Magellan.”

“It's Luke.”

“It's not funny,
Luke.
”

He put up his hands in a placating motion. “We have a lot of wildlife. But as long as the girls follow the rules, they shouldn't have a problem.”

“Okay.” She took a shaky breath. “And you'll tell us those rules before dusk?”

“If we have time.” Then he put up a hand. “I know. Not funny. Come on. Follow me. I saved you a special bearproof tent.”

“They make those?”

He stopped and turned, almost making her crash into him. The smell of her perfume
did
crash into him, and the sweet spiciness of it wasn't at
all
what he expected. Dammit. He did not want to like anything about this woman, including how she smelled.

“Gabi, have you ever
seen
a bear?”

“No.”

“Have you ever seen a
picture
of a bear?”

“Of course.” She rolled her eyes.

“How about their teeth?”

“Um…”

He smiled, then turned back down the pathway. “There's no such thing as a bearproof tent.”

 

Chapter 3

“You said we had a tent.” Five minutes later, Gabi stared at a twelve-by-twelve-foot plywood platform surrounded by pines. She'd grudgingly admit that the clearing was gorgeous—tall, tall trees, pine needles carpeting the ground, and a cacophony of bird sounds coming from every direction.

But there was no tent.

“It's in the storage shed.” Luke pointed at the boards, right now covered with pale orange needles. “But it'll go right here.”

“Who's going to put it up?” She hated the words as they came out of her mouth, already having a pretty good idea what his answer was going to be.

“The girls should.”

Gabi laughed nervously, picturing her four girls having to figure out how to put up a tent. It was so not going to happen, even with her help. She'd never put one up in her life, either.

“Does it come with directions?”

“Nope. Just a lot of parts. But I'm sure they'll figure it out. Tents aren't all that complicated.”

“So you're thinking that on day one of arriving here at Camp Echo, these girls should have to figure out how to build their own sleeping structure?”