Snowfire

by French, Colleen

  She preferred the company of her dogs to human companionship. The dogs were loyal and affectionate, and they didn't call people liars. She shook her head wondering how she got herself into messes like this. She didn't want to take Alex back to her cabin. She didn't want to be responsible for him. All she wanted was to be left alone.

  When night fell, Gabrielle stoked the fire in the old stove and laid down on the floor beside Alex. Begrudgingly, she spread her parka over them both, turning her back to him.

  "I don't bite." Alex's voice came out of the darkness.

  "You sure?" she asked, the sarcasm plain in her voice.

  "You'd be warmer if you moved closer." He propped himself up on his elbow, staring at her through the darkness. With the door to the woodstove closed, there was barely enough light to see the outline of her slim body stretched out beside his. "You're shivering."

  "And you're going to take care of that for me, are you?" She wrapped her arms around her waist, hugging herself for warmth.

  "You're awfully suspicious."

  "Not suspicious, just realistic."

  "Look Gabrielle, the farthest thing from my mind right now is taking advantage of your feminine wiles. And I use that term lightly. You've nothing to fear from me. Dressed like that, it's hard for me to believe you'd have to worry about anyone." He rolled onto his back. "Now come on. Roll over. You'll be warmer next to me."

  Reluctantly, she inched her way closer to him. He was right. Sharing body heat was important out there. Still, she wished it wasn't him. She was warmer next to him, but still, her body trembled as an unfamiliar shiver raced through her veins. Her arm brushed against his, and she recoiled. Her ears rang with Alex's laughter.

  "Come here; you're shaking like a rabbit." Before Gabrielle knew what was happening, he had wrapped her in his good arm and drawn her against his hard body.

  "Take your hand off me!" she insisted between clenched teeth. She strained against him, surprised by his strength in his invalid state.

  "Hush and go to sleep. I told you I won't hurt you. I'm cold, too."

  Gabrielle opened her mouth to speak again, but then clamped it shut. She shouldn't be doing this. She knew she shouldn't be letting this man touch her like this, but the truth was she was much warmer.

  When she finally relaxed, Alex spoke again. "That's better. Now go to sleep. You said the snow was almost stopped. Tomorrow we'll go back to your cabin."

  She sniffed. "You mean tomorrow I'll load you in my sled and take you back. You won't be doing any walking for some time."

  Alex scowled in the darkness but said nothing. She certainly was a woman who liked to rub in a man's mistakes. Not much of a woman at all as he saw it. Her breath was even now. He could feel her chest rising and falling beneath his hand. Even through her bulky sweater he could feel the curve of her breast. He groaned inwardly pushing all thoughts of Gabrielle from his mind. He had to be crazy to find her attractive, her and her waspish tongue.

  Gabrielle breathed slowly, trying to calm the flutter in her stomach. She could feel his hand pressed against her side, his warmth radiating through her. She wanted to roll away; she wanted to sleep on the other side of the room, outside with the dogs even! She didn't want to be laying next to Alex like this. She didn't want to feel his warm breath on her cheek. But she stayed, drifting off to sleep.

  With the coming of light in the morning came the sound of rapping on the door. "Gabrielle? It's Jack. You all right?" He rattled at the door she had tied shut from the inside.

  Jack? Gabrielle's eyes flew open. Recoiling from Alex's touch, she leaped up to run to the door. Was she mad to have her arm flung over Alex like that? "Jack," she called. "I'm coming." Thank God it was Jack. He would know what to do with Alex; he would know how to get rid of him.

  Gabrielle untied the knot of string that held the door shut and flung it open. "Jack!" She grinned, half-tempted to throw her arms around her friend.

  The native bore a broken-toothed smile. "You all right, Gabe?" He stared through the door at the waking Alex. "No harm come to you?"

  "No, no. I'm fine." She motioned to Alex, feeling her cheeks redden. "Mr. Alexander was beaten by his partner and left to die on the river path. I found him when I was out running the dogs." Why did she feel like she had to explain? She had never had to explain anything to Jack before.

  Jack nodded his head, his inky-black, shoulder-length hair sweeping the collar of his seal-skin coat. "He bad off?" He stepped inside the door, and Gabrielle closed it.

  "Toes were bad, but I think he's going to make it. I found him in time." She stood between Alex and Jack, looking from one to the other.

  "Morning." Alex gave Jack a nod. "We're glad to see you."

  Jack lifted a black eyebrow studying Alex but said nothing. Gabrielle moved to the stove to get her pan and start hot water. "He's right. I could use some help getting home. He can't walk, and he's a load for my dogs. They're young to be hauling in snow this deep. They're barely broke." She dipped snow from outside the door and put the pan on the stove to melt. "How'd you find me, Jack?"

  He stood in the middle of the room staring blatantly at Alex. Gabrielle couldn't help smiling as she watched Alex squirm. Jack did what he pleased, having none of the social mores of the white man. If he wanted to stare, he stared.

  "I came to the post yesterday," Jack said evenly. "You were gone. I started walking."

  "You were out there all night?" Alex asked in awe, struggling to sit up. His chest ached with every movement.

  Jack shrugged, turning from Alex. "Didn't leave the post 'til after dark."

  "You didn't sleep?" Alex winced as he moved one leg and then the other.

  "I didn't sleep." Jack dropped his pack to the floor, dismissing Alex without a glance. "I brought meat for the dogs," he told Gabrielle.

  "Oh, good. They haven't eaten since the night before I left." She grabbed a piece of wood from the floor and threw it into the old stove. "You came just in time. I've burned all of the fuel in here. I was going to have to go looking for dry wood this morning."

  "I will feed the dogs. You have your tea. Then we go." Jack picked up his pack off the floor and stepped outside, closing the door behind him.

  Alex inhaled sharply. "Quite a character," he remarked.

  Gabrielle whipped around. "He's my friend."

  "A little blunt isn't he? Probably not much of a conversationalist at a party."

  She noted the hint of a teasing tone in his voice.

  "Jack is what he is. A good friend. He'd do anything for me."

  "So how did he find us?"

  Gabrielle shrugged. "I don't ask. He probably wouldn't say anyway. He knows about this squatter's cabin, too. Good guesser, I suppose." She poured her heated water into her tin cup and threw a few tea leaves into it.

  "You don't really believe that do you?" Alex watched Gabrielle as she moved about the room gathering her things. Beneath the baggy woolen pants and heavy sweater, he could make out the slim form of a shapely woman.

  "I told you. I don't ask. He just knows things sometimes. He knows when I'm in trouble. His mother and father were the same way." Gabrielle could feel a tightening in her chest as images of her foster parents flashed through her mind. A sad smile played on her lips. Even after all of these years, she still missed them. They had been so good to her. They had given her such a wonderful childhood.

  "Sounds pretty odd to me." Alex stroked his growing red beard.

  "Well, Mr. Alexander, what might be odd to an outsider is perfectly normal here. We live among the natives of the Tanana, and we accept without question." She refilled her cup with hot water and handed it to him. His hand brushed hers as the cup passed between them, and a pleasant shiver ran down her arm. She turned her back to him. "We'll take you back to my cabin on the sled, and then we'll decide what to do with you."

  Alex sipped the hot water with a trace of mint in it. "I haven't thanked you properly."

  "It isn't necessary," she answered gruffly.


  "It is, and I'll repay you somehow. I know you don't want to be burdened by me, and I'm sorry."

  Something in Alex's voice made her turn to him. She studied his azure-blue eyes for a moment, caught in their depths. "I said it's all right. You helped me, remember?" She smiled the way she had smiled that day on the steamer, and Alex grinned. She was beautiful when she smiled.

  Chapter Four

  ". . . cabin's a bit small, isn't it?" Alex leaned against the door frame, catching his breath. Pain shot up his legs nearly rendering him senseless. Only Jack's arm wrapped securely around his waist kept him upright.

  "This isn't the Full Moon Hotel, Mr. Alexander," Gabrielle replied irritably. She glanced at Jack. "I suppose you'll have to put him in my bed for now."

  Jack chuckled deep in his throat, half carrying Alex to the frame bed that ran along the east wall. Gabrielle and the red-haired stranger had been scrapping like sled dogs since early morning. In all the years he'd known Gabe, she'd never behaved like this, and it amused him. If he didn't know better, he'd think she was stuck on the man. Jack dumped Alex unceremoniously onto Gabrielle's bed and went outside to care for the dogs.

  For a few minutes Alex just lay there, waiting for the pain to subside. His face was ashen white, his lips tightly compressed.

  "It's good that it hurts," Gabrielle offered from across the room. She pulled a precious sulfur match from a tin box over the fireplace and struck it, lighting the wood shavings that littered the inside hearth.

  "That right?" Alex groaned.

  "Yup. When there's no pain, that's when you begin to worry. Only live flesh can hurt. I don't think you'll even lose any toes."

  That's a relief," he responded dryly. His eyes were open now as he studied her back.

  Gabrielle spun around. "Look Mr. Alexander—"

  "Alex," he interrupted.

  "Alex," she conceded with a nod of her head. "I'm not any happier about this than you are. What? You don't think I've got anything better to do than drag fools around on my sled?"

  "At least you're not one to dwell on things." Alex was resting on his side now, his head on a duck-down pillow.

  Gabrielle ignored his comment. "Now, if you could just keep your mouth shut long enough for me to do a little thinking, maybe I'd be able to come up with a way to get you out of here."

  Alex watched her as she turned her back to him and knelt to feed the newborn flames that licked at the woodshavings. Slowly she added small bits of kindling, then branches as thick as her wrist. She worked in silence, each movement fluid and unwasted. Alex could tell that she had followed this ritual many times. Finally she lifted a log and dropped it onto her masterpiece, then she turned back to him.

  "Have you got any money?" She was stripping off her parka now and hanging it on a wooden peg near the door.

  "Not any more I don't. You think they took my coat and boots, but left me the money?" He laughed ruefully.

  Gabrielle made a face. "I wouldn't be laughing if I were you. You haven't got any money to pay anyone to haul you out of here, and by the time you can walk, the passes will all be closed for the winter."

  "What about your friend Jack? Wouldn't he get me out? I could send money later."

  "Not for all the gold he could carry on his back. Jack doesn't do that sort of thing. He cares for himself, his family and for me. You're lucky he carried you in the door here. I thought he was going to leave you on the sled for the winter."

  Alex raised himself up on one elbow. "God damn, woman, you've got a sharp tongue!"

  Gabrielle grinned. "So I'm told." She lifted her chin. "And I'm proud of it. I don't take anything from anyone, men especially."

  "A man hater are you?"

  She shook her head. "I don't think so. I'm just not going to be pushed around." She tugged her red, wool hat off her head and ran her fingers through her short, curly hair.

  "For a woman who hates men, you're doing an awfully good job of disguising yourself as one."

  "I told you, I don't hate men. And I dress like this because it's comfortable and it's safe." She tossed her hat onto a peg and crossed the room to him.

  "That how you live? Safe?"

  "I try." She reached for the sleeve of the seal-skin jacket Alex wore and gave a tug, removing it for him. Jack had loaned it to him for the sled ride back to the cabin.

  "Not much happiness in playing it safe," Alex murmured. "You're not happy, are you?" He caught her hand, but she pulled away.

  "Perfectly happy. Let me get a look at your feet."

  "Habitual liar too?"

  Gabrielle turned to meet his gaze. A sarcastic remark lurked on the end of her tongue, but she bit it back. What was it about this man that grated on her so? He just stared at her. He should be grateful, she thought, tearing her gaze from his. He should be apologetic. She tugged at the wool socks she'd put on his feet this morning.

  "Ouch!" Alex cried out. "You're ripping the flesh off my bones."

  "Oh hush. Don't be a baby. You don't know what pain is. I once saw my papa saw off a man's leg, right there on that table." She indicated a rectangular wooden table burdened with crates near the fireplace. "And he lived to tell about it."

  Alex squeezed his eyes shut. She pulled off the other sock, but this time he didn't flinch. Who did she think she was this little up-start? He was nearly old enough to be her father.

  "I've a salve to put on that will take away some of the surface pain. It's one of Jack's wife's recipes."

  "He has a wife?" Jack swallowed hard, battling the pain.

  "He does. And a daughter. They live across the river in a village." Gabrielle went to fetch a tin from her medicine chest and returned to kneel next to the bed.

  "So why does he come here?" The cold salve she spread smoothed away the pain, and his breath came easier.

  "We were brought up together. His parents cared for me when my father was gone."

  "Off on hunting trips?"

  "Off getting himself soused. My father was a drinker, Mr. Alexander." Gabrielle didn't know why she'd told him that. It wasn't his business; it wasn't anyone's. Her throat tightened. She wished her father was here right now. He'd know what to do with Alex; he'd know how to get rid of him. Who was she kidding? Her father had never made a decision in his life. It was Gabrielle who ran the trading post. She was the one who bought the supplies. She was the one who solved their day to day problems.

  "I'm sorry." Alex brushed her arm with the tips of his fingers.

  Gabrielle doctored his other foot in silence and returned the tin to its proper place. Without another word, she ducked out of the cabin.

  Indian Jack stood leaning against the cabin's exterior wall, a cigar dangling from his mouth. Gabrielle leaned against the wall beside him, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her wool breeches. It was barely supper time and already the sun was setting. For a long time the two stood in silence, listening to the call of a ptarmigan and watching the flight of a covey of grouse when one of the dogs spooked them from the brush. Finally, Gabrielle spoke.

  "What am I going to do with him, Jack?" She dug in the snow with the heel of her boot.

  "Not much you can do with him, is there?"

  She exhaled slowly. "He's the one, you know. The man who saved me on that street in Seattle. Taylor Would have had me if it hadn't been for Alex."

  "You feel like you owe him, huh?" The Indian blew smoke into the frigid air, watching the patterns it created before disappearing with the wind.

  Gabrielle wrapped her arms around her waist. It was getting too cold these days to be out without a coat. Even her wool sweater couldn't keep out the biting west wind. "I don't know what I feel. He scares me."

  "I could stay awhile," Jack commented matter-of-factly.

  Gabrielle laughed. "No, that's not what I mean. I'm safe enough. Good Lord, in his condition he can barely take himself to the outhouse. He wouldn't have the strength to wrestle a hare." She shook her head. "I can't explain it. He makes me feel funny. Know what I
mean?"

  Jack grinned. "Yea, I think I do. But you just watch yourself. Don't get tangled with that stranger. He doesn't belong here. He's not one of us."

  Gabrielle lifted her hands. "Oh no, you don't have to worry about that with me. You'll not find Gabrielle LeBeau with any man strapped to her side. Not ever."

  He chuckled beneath his breath. "So he's stayin', is her?"

  "Not for long he's not. Only until I can figure out how to get rid of him. Maybe Beans Magee will know someone who'd be willing to haul him out. Hell, I'd pay 'em myself just to get rid of him. What do you think? You think I can get anyone to take him out on his sled?"

  "Maybe."

  She slumped against the rough hand-hewn slabs of the cabin. "But probably not, though, huh?"

  "Probably not," Jack responded.

  Dejected, Gabrielle watched the setting sun. It was glorious there on the horizon with its brilliant yellows and golds against the stark white of the snow-filled trees. Finally, she pushed off the wall. "Guess I'd better dig up something to eat."

  Jack gave a nod but said nothing. He just went on puffing on the cigar and scratching a young pup's head.

  As darkness settled on the tiny cabin nestled on the bank of the Tanana River, Gabrielle moved about the cabin fixing the evening meal. She worked silently, beating the batter for flapjacks, ignoring the man who lay restless on her bed.

  Alex tossed and turned in the narrow bed along the wall, trying to find a comfortable position. The salve Gabrielle had spread on his feet eased the pain of the frostbite, but his broken arm ached beneath the homemade splint. Alex watched Gabrielle with an odd curiosity, finally breaking the quiet spell. "Where's your friend?"

  "Jack?" Gabrielle did not turn around. "Don't know. Gone."

  "Gone? Gone where?"

  "I dunno." She shrugged, ladling batter onto the cast-iron griddle that rested on the wood stove. "Probably home." The batter bit the hot griddle, and the room was filled with the sound of spattering grease.