Sabrina struggled to keep up with his long strides across the uneven surfaces of rocks, but she heard the unmistakable tone of sorrow in his words. Happy memories, but certainly, he missed his father.
“Is that why you chose this place to build the lodge?”
“One of the reasons, yes.” He stopped suddenly and turned his head. He peered through the thick groves of trees.
“What is it?” Sabrina asked.
“I thought I heard a moose.”
“What kinds of sounds do they make? Do you mean you heard one walking?” she asked.
“No, I either heard him grunt, or he was scraping his antlers on something.”
“Really? Why would he do that?”
He turned around and gave her a charming half-smile. “It’s the rut.”
“The rut? Is this a trick question? What’s the rut?”
“It’s breeding season.” The tour guide voice was gone. Replaced by something else, not condescending, but maybe teacher-like.
“Oh.” She felt really foolish now. Heat crept up her neck.
“Bull moose lead pretty uneventful lives most of the year, except for mating season,” he said.
She didn’t really need an explanation. She could figure it out. “I get it. I’ve just never heard it called ‘the rut’ before.”
“Bull moose quit hanging out with their buddies and search for cows. Their buddies become their competition instead. They all want the right to mate with the cows, and so the rut begins.”
Whether she wanted an explanation or not, apparently she was getting one.
“The bull moose scrape their antlers against the trees, they piss all over everything, then they roll in it. In fact, they don’t even eat during the rut. They only think about one thing, and how they’re going to get it.”
He eyed her with such intensity. He wasn’t a tour guide or a teacher now, but something else. She returned his stare and said, “I think I got it.”
His matter-of-fact spiel of general information about moose started again. “That’s why after the rut some moose are malnourished and start the winter with not enough fat, and they die in the cold, or get taken down by wolves.”
She just nodded, uncertain of what to say and she wondered if they were only talking about moose.
“Bulls make low-pitched grunting noises,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if that’s what I heard. Anyway, we don’t want to be near a bull moose this time of year when they’re all pissed off.”
“I completely agree,” Sabrina said. Maybe she should be worried being out in the wilderness with no one around for miles. She’d never been anywhere so remote. “Makes perfect sense.”
Zak eyed the riverbed before walking across the rocky shoreline again. “Just a little bit farther.”
Sabrina stayed close to him, not letting too much distance separate them, but had to practically run to keep up with him. Regardless of the uncertainties of this place, she wasn’t worried about her safety. He was adorable, the way he spoke about the rut. All seriousness, and yet she wondered if he wasn’t trying to tell her something else. Then again, maybe all this fresh air was playing tricks with her intellectual common sense.
“Here’s a good spot.” He pointed to an area along the shore with jagged edges and thin layers of rock.
“Looks fine to me.” Like she had any idea whatsoever where a good place to pan for gold would be. She was so completely out of her element she didn’t even try to fake it anymore. “Should I be worried about a moose or wolves?”
He set the backpack on the ground and pulled out a miniature metal shovel. “No, I won’t let anything happen to you. You’re safe with me.”
And that was the crux of it. Even in a place completely foreign to her in every way, she did feel safe with him. But her feelings for the man went much deeper than safety. He was rugged and handsome. He was smart and entertaining. The guy could cook, played Scrabble, took her gold panning…what couldn’t he do?
“Do you know anything about gold panning at all?” he asked.
“Nothing at all,” she admitted, and although she wasn’t going to say, she didn’t believe for one moment they would actually find gold.
“Gold is heavier than dirt, rocks, and other materials, so when we load up the pan, just remember that the gold will sink to the bottom, and don’t worry about it floating away.” He took the shovel, dug a scoopful of dirt, and put it in a pan. “I’ll show you.” He pointed to the edge of the stream where he had used his shovel. “See these pockets in the bedrock?”
She squatted down beside him. “Yes.”
“Watch me.” He shook the pan back and forth a few inches below the stream water. “Then you can give it a try.”
“Okay.” She was amazed. She was going to pan for gold. She would never have imagined doing something so crazy, so industrious, so down-to-earth.
“Move the pan back and forth gently, not too hard, because you don’t want all the materials to slosh out, just the lighter stuff. You want the gold to sink to the bottom of your pan.”
“I understand.” She was so close, squatting beside him alongside the creek, so far removed from her familiar world. She could envision being transported into another time, a time during the Gold Rush days, when people were full of hope and enthusiasm for a new future. She glanced at his face, his beard stubble, and his determined expression as he shook the pan back and forth.
He turned and held her gaze with his gray-green eyes. “Would you like to try?”
Try a future with new dreams and hopes? Yes, absolutely, she wanted to say. But she brought her thoughts back into the present time and said, “Sure.”
He handed her the pan and held his hands over hers. “Shake it back and forth, like this.”
His hands on hers sent warmth through her limbs, even though icy cold water sloshed over her fingers. “Do you really think we’ll find gold?”
“You won’t know unless you try.” His words were true, and held more wisdom about life than in searching for gold. “Keep sweeping the lighter materials off the surface.”
He let go of her hands and she continued to shake the pan.
“You’re doing great. Now let the water seep in a little at a time, sweep, and shake again.” He leaned in and she smelled the earthy scent of him.
“I can’t believe I’m gold panning. I never would have thought—not in a million years,” she exclaimed.
“If you hadn’t flown up here, what would you be doing now?”
She continued to shake the pan back and forth like he’d instructed her. “Well, I’d probably be sitting on a beach in Hawaii.” Staring down at the dirt in her pan, she continued, “At first I couldn’t decide if I should just go to my honeymoon destination…alone, or…go someplace else. I just knew I needed to get away.”
“What made you decide to come up here?”
“My friend Melody convinced me and I decided I needed an adventure. I’ve been to Hawaii before. Sometimes you have to try something else. Something different.” She gazed up at him. “You won’t know unless you try.”
He smiled at her and she got the pleasure of seeing his dimple again.
“Or at least that’s what I’ve been told.” She smiled back at him. A flush of warmth raced through her. Everything was quiet for a moment except for the water rushing over the rocks.
Zak reached for her pan and locked his hands over hers again. “Now you’ll want to make more of a circular motion.”
The silty grayish-black dirt washed away and what remained were shining flakes. “Oh, my gosh, that’s gold isn’t it?” she exclaimed. “I didn’t really think we’d find any.”
“I’m hurt,” he said dryly, a wounded expression etched over his face. “You doubted me.”
“I won’t doubt you again.” The idea that she had panned for gold and actually found some made her practically giddy.
“I’ll get a jar out of my backpack for you. So when you go home, you’ll be able to show everyone.”
Zak squatted back down beside her and sucked the flakes of gold up into a small tube. She marveled at the flakes floating in her vial and was eager to add more to the small amount she’d accumulated. “I can’t wait to try again.”
“Go for it,” he said. “Keep it up and you might suffer from gold fever.”
She laughed. “Nah, but this is really fun.”
He nodded his agreement and she saw the sparkle in his eye. Zak loved this land. It was part of him. Like gold hidden in the layers of bedrock, he wasn’t going anywhere. He wouldn’t be content anywhere else.
They continued to pan side-by-side along the edge of the creek. Sabrina managed to gather a pea-sized amount of gold in her vial. It wasn’t much, but she was completely thrilled.
She’d glance at Zak as he worked diligently over his pan. A small twinge of guilt laced through her at the idea of keeping him from his work. Her father always worked, no matter how much she begged him to stop. “I’m pretty tired,” she said. “Maybe we should get back. You’ve been an excellent tour guide. Actually, better than excellent. Thank you. And I’m sorry for keeping you from your work. I promise I won’t keep bothering you.”
“Yeah, I’m having a terrible time,” he replied sarcastically, then shook his head. “The work will still be there tomorrow.”
They walked to the four-wheeler. Breathing in the earthy scent of him pushed her over the edge of reason. The man was too attractive, too attentive, and too courteous. She slid behind him on the four-wheeler and clung to his waist. They drove back to the lodge and Sabrina determined she wanted him like she’d never wanted any other man before. But were pursuing her desires the right thing to do? Especially knowing she’d be leaving soon. How could she put him out of her mind? For one thing, she had to quit insisting that he spend time with her. She was good at manipulating. She was, after all, her father’s daughter.
The four-wheeler came to a stop and Zak turned off the motor. They sat quietly for a moment, then Sabrina reluctantly released her hold on his waist. She vowed to keep her distance from him for the rest of her time here. She was leaving soon.
He turned to face her, his warm breath tickling her ear. “What do you think?”
I think I can barely breathe, she wanted to say, but instead she opted for, “About what?”
“Should we have dinner in, or do you want to go to the café?” He slid off the four-wheeler. “You look a little flushed. Are you okay?”
“Of course, I’m fine.” Sabrina stood beside him and decided in that split second to confess all. “I shouldn’t have asked you to play Scrabble. I knew I’d win. Then I manipulated you into taking me out to see more of Gold Creek, then—”
He stepped toward her so fast the backs of her legs bumped the four-wheeler. He reached for her face and cupped her jaw in his big hands. The soft sound of his voice uttered a single word. “Stop.”
“But you were right, in a way, I did set you up.” Her heart raced, the feel of his hands on her face made her dizzy.
“Stop,” he said softly again, only with a more gravely tone. “I’m going to do something I should have done earlier, okay?”
She gazed into his gray-green eyes and noticed flecks of gold in them, not so unlike the gold she’d just panned in the creek. Her heart galloped faster. “What’s that?”
“I’m going to kiss you,” he stated simply.
She nodded. Finally, this is what she’d been waiting for, what she’d been wanting.
His lips were warm and soft and gentle on hers. She heard a mewling sigh escape from her own throat.
Their lips parted and he stroked his finger along her collarbone, followed by a trail of kisses down her neck. “No more talk of setting anyone up or manipulation,” he said.
His touch and his words sent a quivering sensation low in her belly. She opened her mouth to say something about how he could manipulate her any way he wanted, but he kissed her again and only a low moan escaped her lips.
His hands cupped her waist and lifted her up. Air pumped out of her lungs at the abrupt lift. “What are you doing?”
“I’ve tried to resist you, but I can’t.”
“Don’t resist me. Please don’t.” She wanted this man in unexplainable ways. And now, finally, she knew he wanted the same.
“Wrap your legs around my waist. I want to feel your thighs pressing against my ribs.”
She did as he asked. She hadn’t been excited about her own wedding night, but now, maybe she understood what Susan was asking her. This was entirely different. But still, the idea of it scared her just a little bit.
He gripped both of his huge hands around her. “You feel so good. I don’t want to let go.”
She wrapped her arms around his chest and clung to him. She refused to hesitate because this is what she had wanted. “Then don’t.”
He turned around and carried her up the steps of the lodge, across the expansive porch, stopping when her back hit the front doors. “Sabrina? Is this what you want?” he asked.
“Yes.” His big warm arms wrapped around her like she was always meant to be there. She felt safe and protected. Everything that happened up to this point—the cancelled wedding, the flight to Alaska taken on a whim, the lodge being empty—all of it was meant to happen. Fate had intervened, and the wheels of her life all pointed to Zak Forrester.
* * *
SHE DOZED, then opened her eyes to notice Zak stoking the fireplace in his room. She watched his muscles as he walked naked before her. The heat from the fire radiated across her skin, but the heat inside the core of her body was still sizzling.
Zak came back to the bed and wrapped his arms around her. They looked into the flames. Regaining her breath, she shimmied her bottom backward to make the skin contact between them tighter. “I would have come to Alaska sooner had I known this is what was waiting for me.”
“I would have sent you an engraved invitation. But I am sorry for what you’ve been through. Although, I feel like there’s more to your story other than being an abandoned bride,” Zak said, and his tone sounded serious.
She didn’t want to be serious. She was enjoying the playfulness of being with him. “Jilted bride isn’t enough for you?”
“You’re making a joke.” He levered his index finger under her chin and forced her to look into his eyes. “But it isn’t funny at all and if that guy, whoever he is, were to show up here, I swear I’d beat him to a bloody stump.”
That feeling of being protected crept over her, just like when they were gold panning: she was safe with him. “Don’t worry, he won’t show up here.” She traced her finger along his rippling abs and belly button. “And I think I believe you, but there’s no need for violence.”
“I grew up with three brothers. I’ve been in a lot of fights.” He stared into the fire, as though thinking back to his past. “I don’t lose. I never lose. Well, except in Scrabble against you.”
A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she thought about him as a young boy. “So you mean to tell me you’ve never lost a fight with your brothers?”
“I’m the oldest and the biggest. I’ve never lost a fair fight.”
“Ah ha…so what constitutes ‘fair’?”
“Fair is one-on-one. I’ve never lost a one-on-one fight with any of my brothers,” he clarified.
Sympathy surged inside her. She scooted up on the bed to lean against the headboard. “They would gang up on you then?”
“Sometimes.”
“But that isn’t fair!”
“Do you feel sorry for me?” His tone was teasing.
“Are you telling me the truth—would they really gang up on you?”
“Yes, but I’m sure I deserved it.”
He grinned sideways.
“What did you do to them to deserve it?”
“Oh, I don’t know…” He moved his warm hand across her belly. “I suppose I tortured them a bit.”
Her breath caught. “Tortured them how?”
“You know, pin them down until they said I was the smartest, most handsome, best brother ever.” Leaning down to kiss her neck, he rolled her nipple between his finger and thumb, then plucked at it ever so gently.
Her heart strummed in her chest. “So, you’re good at torture, is that what you’re saying?”
“I think so.” He moved his mouth to cover her nipple, sucked for a moment, then let go. “You remind me of the perfect California girl. Blonde hair, blue eyes; I even see your tan lines from a string bikini lingering. You’re beautiful, you know,” he said.
A nervous laugh bubbled from her mouth. If he only knew how perfect she had aspired to be—so perfect, she had nearly married the wrong man.
“Tell me more about Sabrina Tate,” Zak whispered in her ear. His warm breath made pulsating heat erupt between her legs.
“Not much to tell.” She shrugged.
“I think not. What college did you go to? What part of California are you from?” He kissed along the inside of her neck and along her collarbone.
She ran her hands over the stubble on his chin. “You’re making it very difficult for me to concentrate. I feel like I barely know my name, let alone where I went to college.”
“Where? What college?” His fingers stopped trailing over her breasts.
“UCLA. How about you?”
“UAF.”
“Which stands for what?”
“University of Alaska Fairbanks.”
“Have you been to California before?”
“Hey, I was the one asking the questions. I’m sensing you don’t want to tell me about yourself?” he said with a serious tone.
“That isn’t true. Nothing about me is important except I’m here with you. I knew this is where I was supposed to go.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Her Alaskan Hero Page 7