James narrowed his eyes back at her, mimicking her glare, and his smile only widened as she bristled further.
“So did you break my stove?” he questioned casually, breaking the silence.
“No!” she huffed.
“Burn your supper, and then throw the whole works away rather than lower yourself to clean it?”
She flushed, knowing she had actually tossed primavera due to its very looks in favor of a protein bar. “Your stove is in my vehicle, I’ll have you know. I meant to return it all along, I just-”
“Take it easy, I’m just giving you a hard time,” he chuckled.
Alex pushed the remainder of her salad away, miffed. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you, in or out of uniform.”
“Touché,” James responded to the jibe. “Onto the question of the day. Why have you returned to this little old town?” His brows furrowed. “Couldn’t be back for more hiking... that was definitely a fiasco... I’m surprised you made it out of the woods in one piece. Hmmm... So Alex, could it be that you’ve missed my boyish good looks and irresistible charm?”
There was no way now she was going to admit she was looking for him. “Sorry to disappoint you, James. I don’t go for boyish. I’m more for the tall, dark, and ruggedly handsome type. ”
“There you go again, Lovey, you’ve got this thing about youth. I’m probably older than you.”
“I’m twenty-eight,” Alex stated challengingly.
He stared at her quietly, steepling his fingers.
“Well?” she prodded.
“Twenty-seven,” he finally drawled. “But... signs sure seem to point that I am much more mature than you.”
He had swiftly turned the tables back on her again with a flash of that taunting, sarcastic grin. Infuriating. Alex had been sucked right back into verbal sparring with this guy, even though it had not been her intent at all. She needed to stop this. Hell, she had come here to apologize. She’d only made another mess.
Ginny approached with a huge platter of meat and potatoes. It was time for her to go before things got any worse. “Ginny, could you wrap it? I lost my appetite.”
Jamie rose abruptly, and plopped some cash on the table. “On me, Ginny.”
Alex just watched his hurried departure in mute surprise. “Catch you later, Lovey,” he muttered in her general direction, and headed for the door.
~~~~~~~
It was annoying. Jamie had found himself caught right up once again by that shimmering intensity in Alex’s eyes, the hazel orbs had literally glistened with it.
The eyes always get me, he thought ruefully, as his gaze had slanted down her slender nose and across those full, sexy lips.
Even as she smirked over being one ridiculous year older than him, he noted how that mouth had a pouty aura, the bottom lip slightly fuller, and profoundly kissable.
Jamie now pushed the image away, disgusted, and wondered for the second time around why he had actually bothered. He was curious, sure enough, but it was becoming quite apparent that trying to get to know Ms. Winters was a lot like trying to sniff a bloom on a cactus plant. You always got pricked in the process.
“James, wait…” he heard her call to his retreating back. “I, uh, don’t forget about your stove.”
“Oh, I didn’t forget. You can keep it.” He tossed the words lazily over his shoulder, and continued on, noting irritably that at the bar, Len was guffawing behind his beer mug. With a sarcastic wave, Jaime ducked outside.
The night air was bracing, the temperature having dropped considerably. The cloying darkness of early evening had lifted, and a few stars now patterned the black void above. He breathed deeply, shoving his hands roughly into his jeans pockets.
Although it was Friday night, he had a long day ahead of him tomorrow. It would suit him just fine to head on home early.
“Hi Mouse,” he nodded at the menacing shadow who had magically appeared, as if conjured up from the pits of Hades, to loom four inches above his own six feet of height. But Mouse’s nature was anything but hellish, and he had biceps that could rock a sixty pound bale of hay through the mow like it was nothing but feathers and fluff.
“Jay-me.” Mouse’s speech was impaired from an injury sustained in early childhood, and he had grown up with the stigma of the severely retarded, even though his IQ was only a handful of points below normal. People were either afraid of him or ignored him completely, and both responses had the same detrimental effect on Mouse’s monumental shyness.
“Could use some help next weekend. It’s time to clean out the haymow, get ready for the new stuff coming. You gonna be around?”
“Yup. Sure Jay-me.”
Jaime smiled and reached out to thump Mouse affectionately on the shoulder. Then he realized that Mouse’s attention had been diverted elsewhere. Alexandra Winters was poised on the top step, juggling her boxed dinner and her purse. Mouse broke into his wide, toothy grin and Jaime bit back a chuckle at her nervous look.
“James,” she began, “Please wait a moment. I want to talk to you.”
So she was not to be deterred by the presence of the Incredible Hulk, Jamie thought wryly. Dear Lovey obviously wasn’t used to being walked out on.
He sighed. “Okay Alex, this is Mouse.”
“We met,” she muttered. “Hi again...umm Mouse.”
“Hi a-gen. Oww-lex.”
“Close enough.” She gave Mouse a quick smile and started sidling uneasily down the stairs.
“James, listen. You’re going to take your stove back. I’m sorry for all this fuss. I don’t want this on my conscience.”
“What? You have a conscience?” he questioned lightly.
She bristled and then simply stormed away toward the quiet parking lot. No back talk, no sarcastic jibe to cut his pride to the quick? He decided to follow her slender form between the rows of cars, now dark beasts of metal that hulked in the absence of light. His damned curiosity was getting the better of him again.
Alex pulled open the tailgate and crawled into the bed, cursing when her head connected with metal. James had a moment to view an upturned ass in curve-hugging Levi’s.
“To bad the moonlight’s so poor,” he muttered.
“Yeah, I can’t see a thing,” her voice returned, slightly muffled as she rooted through whatever stuff she had piled in the back. “I should have pulled this out earlier, but I wasn’t sure you would be here. They told me you might at Headquarters, though.” Her face appeared as she crawled back out on her hands and knees.
“So you were looking for me?”
“Yes,” she admitted. “I wanted to return your stove.”
“Here, let me help you.” He offered his hand.
“No, I’m fine.” She scuttled off of the back, cracking her elbow on the edge of the tailgate. “Shit, ouch!”
“Jesus, Alex.” Jamie couldn’t help a chuckle. Then a little fist collided with his bicep smartly. “It’s not funny. I’m not used to this damned beast of a truck yet.”
“Yeah, I guess it must be quite a change from the beamer.”
“What makes you think I drove a BMW?” she asked in a quieter voice. She was standing close to him. In the darkness, her features were indiscernible; both softened and shaped by the shadows themselves. He could make out the tip of her nose, the fullness of her lower lip that had fashioned itself into a pout again, and the glimmer of her eyes. Alex tossed her head, and he heard the whisper of soft hair as it whisked across her cheeks and shoulders. “Well?”
“Just a feeling. If not a beamer, then a Mercedes. Where is this hubby of yours, anyway?”
Instead of answering, Alex reached behind her and pulled out his stove. “Here it is, still in working condition. Thank you for lending it to me.” Her voice was stiff and formal once again.
He gritted his teeth. She had flicked his question off like a small, insignificant insect. “No problem.” He took the stove and sighed. “Why must you be so damned defensive and prickly, Alexandra?”
> Was there a glimmer of tears on her eyelashes? Jamie bent closer through the flickering shadows, and then placed his hands on her shoulders when a little droplet slipped from the corner of one eye and down the curve of her cheek. She was crying.
“Hey,” he murmured. “What is it, Alex? I really don’t understand what’s going on here.” Against his better judgment, he pulled her a little closer, drawing her into the circle of his arms. And it felt just a little too good.
She actually rested her head on his chest for the space of ten seconds, and then he felt her trembling.
He squeezed her a little tighter. “What’s up here? Maybe I can help you, Alex.” Even as the words came out of his mouth, he knew they were wrong. His touching her was wrong. It wasn’t just for comfort.
She came alive then, pushing back against his chest, breaking free of the circle of his arms, and setting him off balance. He was pretty sure she was choking back sobs.
Wheeling, Alexandra then scrambled up into the truck cab, turned over the ignition and peeled out with the tailgate still down. At the entrance, she must have realized her mistake, and slammed it back into park again to shut it back in place. Then she burned rubber again onto Route 6 like she was churning smoke at a truck pull.
Jamie merely watched her fumbling, erratic departure in speechless amazement. He wanted to be pissed off, but only found himself in a state of confusion. A screech owl sounded its eerie call somewhere in the darkness, and a reflexive shiver passed through him.
He’d recognized the wounded look in her eyes, and her jumpiness at being touched only confirmed his suspicions. Someone had abused that girl at some point. He knew when to leave well enough alone, he supposed, but it didn’t matter anyway. She’d made the decision for him.
Jamie shoved his hands down into his pockets again, beginning to feel the cool sting of the crisp night air. “Well, Alexandra, city or no, it looks like you have plenty of problems to deal with,” he muttered. He felt a heavy weight descend on his shoulders as he uttered the words. “Join the club.” He made his way slowly to his own vehicle, and headed for home.
~~~~~~~
Alex had wavered on the verge of telling him everything. Jamie’s big hands on her shoulders had been so disconcerting… they felt both forceful and tender at the same time. When she smelled his scent up close, a strange shiver had gone through her body. In that crazy millisecond all she wanted was for him to hold her. Tightly.
That one shimmer of fierce longing was enough to shake her back to reality. She had put her hand against his chest and pushed. It accomplished nothing, initially, for she only felt the hardness of his body, the play of smooth muscles as they contracted at her touch beneath his shirt.
James was right about one thing. He was no boy, but a man, pure and simple, and she damn well knew it. He knew that she knew it.
In a sudden fearful burst, Alex had torn free of Jamie’s grip, and ran to the front of the truck. She hopped inside, turned the key in the ignition, and slammed it into drive. Twenty yards into her escape, she realized that she had left the tailgate down, and came screeching to a halt again.
She closed it hurriedly, and then chanced a look into the rearview when she was back inside. James was a dark form in the distance, standing there and watching her retreat.
“You idiot!” she cursed at herself, and the tears flowed in like a torrent as she tore off onto Route 6, letting the darkness of the road ahead swallow her.
Waiting for Eden
~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 7
The note on the kitchen table read, “Be back in a while, there are warm-ups in the fridge. Love, Mom.” Jamie retrieved the Tupperware bowl and stuck it in the microwave on reheat, then plopped down at the table. He rubbed his forehead, realizing it was the first time that he had sat down all day. Long forestry rounds again.
He’d been taking up the slack for Max Weikert, who was going on sixty-seven, and had a good touch of arthritis in his joints. Max had thumbed his nose at retirement, though, ascertaining that the forestry service was what kept his joints oiled at all.
Not that Jamie minded all the running. Being in the mountains pleased him to no end. In his book, the only thing that came close was plowing up the fields in the springtime, when the soil smelled so fresh and ripe that you practically expected the sod to turn green with new growth before you finished tilling it.
With his first bite of homemade chili, his thoughts turned again to his mother and her note. It was a bit odd, for a Thursday night. She rarely went out on a weeknight.
Diana Sheldon had started dating again a few months back, after four years of seeing no one but her girlfriends since James’ father had died. Finally, Wayne Connor had come along, and had livened up her social life a bit. Connor owned a small motel near Cross Fork, and was a decent enough man, but he worked evenings, at least during the week. Their usual outings fell on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons.
His thoughts drifted inevitably toward his father. The loss was still there, and still as fierce as ever. Time had healed the pain a bit, but the strange emptiness remained, like he had somehow lost a vital organ through the process of grief.
Only he hadn’t suffered physically from it. It seemed to him just the opposite. Jamie had shouldered the responsibility of caring for his family eagerly, moving back in with his mother and little brother without regret. And he was a stronger man for it. Family was everything.
The back door banged and Diana Sheldon breezed into the kitchen. She dropped a picnic basket on the counter and washed up at the sink. “Where’s that brother of yours?”
“If I were to guess, he’s probably over at Jimmy’s working on that tired old Mustang again.”
“Well, if I know Aaron, he’ll have it up and running before long. He sure has a knack with engines.” She wiped her hands on a towel and gave him a sunny smile.
Jamie grinned back, for his mother’s smile was always good medicine for the wearied soul. Her long, chestnut hair was thick and rumpled, like she’d been out walking in the breeze for a while. Her eyes were deep brown and thick-lashed, accentuated by a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. She had a saucy, scheming look about her, like she’d been up to mischief.
“Picnic, mom?” he questioned with raised eyebrows and a pointed glance at the basket. “Who’s the lucky fellow?”
“No, I was just visiting the new neighbor. Dropped off a few goodies and such as a welcome. We had a nice little chat.”
Jamie’s brow furrowed, and he cleaned his bowl of the last drop of chili with a wedge of wheat bread. “New neighbor? Since when?”
“Since last week. I really thought you would have heard something of it by now. She moved into the Wilkens’ place. She’s fixing it up for horses.”
“She?”
“Yeah. Her name is Alexandra. Actually, she said she’d run into you before, and… how could you not remember her? Wow, she’s really a knock-out.”
He stared in surprise for a moment, and then laughed harshly. “Run into me, huh? Close enough I guess. We’ve certainly butted heads a couple of times.”
“She’s really pretty, don’t you think?” Diana prodded, with that glitter in her eyes again. Jamie merely snorted in disgusted response.
“Now, James. Anyway, we had a good, long talk, and she’s really got that place looking a world of difference already. It seems a lot of work for a young woman to take on. But she doesn’t seem to mind, she’s quite dedicated. I think she’s a charming young lady.”
His hands slapped down against the table top of their own accord. “Charming?” he bellowed. “We must be talking about different people. The Alexandra I know is an ill-tempered, ornery, stuck-up little city-” Jamie’s breath left him in a whoosh when his mother thumped him on the back.
“Bite your tongue!”
“And married,” he wheezed. “She’s not on her own, Mom. She’s got a city-bred uppity husband. What the heck did they buy the Wilkens’ farm for? A
weekend getaway place? If they think they have themselves an upper-crust estate, they’ve sure got another thing coming,” he snorted. “That place is going to take nothing short of a miracle-worker with a penchant for self-flagellation.”
“Jamie,” Diana replied tersely. “You need to learn to get your facts straight before you make rude assumptions. Alex lost her husband in an accident not too far back. She’s here because she’s making a new start for herself. Away from the city. Because she’s not that type, and she likes it here. Rein in your sarcasm a bit, please.”
Jamie’s mouth fell open like a trap door. Some of the pieces of the Alexandra-puzzle came together with a click in his head. His mother was watching him curiously, waiting for a response. The only thing that came to mind was the word, “Oh.”
Diana laughed. “Well, now that we have that settled, when you get a free second, you should go over and pay her a visit. She looks like she could use a few friends her age. She’s completely alone.”
“She’d maybe have a few, if she knew how to treat them,” he muttered.
“Ruffled your feathers, did she?”
“More like she plucked them, one by one.”
Throwing back her head, Diana laughed again, this time getting him to grin along with her. “Wish I could have been there to see that. You need to get your feathers rumpled once in a while. You’re too full of yourself.”
Jamie clutched his chest in mock pain. “Aah, another wound to my manly pride. Sharp-tongued females will be the end of me.”
“Just get your butt over there, and do the neighborly thing.”
“Don’t try any matchmaking, Mom. You know I have responsibilities.”
Diana’s face sobered, and as if on cue, the back door banged again and Tracey ambled in. Diana saw her son’s eyes cloud over like a curtain had swished itself starkly across them.
Waiting For Eden (Eden Series) Page 7