Cabin Fever

by Felicity Heaton

  Jack watched her in silence as she gradually dozed off. Checking his watch, he saw that it was gone midnight. He stood up and walked to the window, pulling the curtain aside a touch and looking out into the night. The windows were plastered with snow, the wind driving it up the side of the valley and bringing it down on the cabin with a vengeance.

  There was no way they were going to be getting down for a few days at least. The road would be impassable now, even in his Hummer.

  He looked over his shoulder at Kate where she was curled up on the armchair and dozing softly. He hoped that her sister and her friends were safe like he'd told her they would be. He hadn't seen anyone on the way up, and there had been no sign of vehicle tracks in the snow.

  Walking over to her as she began to snore quietly, he smiled and carefully picked her up, moving her to the couch that she'd been sleeping on when he'd first seen her. Pulling the covers over her, he tucked her in so she wouldn't be cold and then sat back down in the armchair and looked at her.

  She was going to be a complication in the plan.

  He knew it.

  Chapter 5

  Kate frowned as she slowly awoke. She felt stiff and sore, and her ankle hurt when she tried to move, making her remember her fall yesterday. She looked at the fire where it was still burning and wondered if last night had been a dream, some delicious fantasy brought on by the pain of her ankle.

  Pushing the covers aside, she sat up and gingerly put her foot down on the floor. She cringed as it throbbed and then stood with the assistance of the arm of the couch. Hobbling to the window, she opened the curtains and stared at the outside world.

  The snow was still falling but it was lighter than it had been last night. It looked as though the wind had dropped at some point and now the fat flakes were just dancing merrily down from the white sky above. Her eyes sought out her Jeep where it was hidden beneath the snow and then followed the funny peaks and troughs of the snowdrifts to where his Hummer was obviously parked. The wind had forced the snow against one side of it until she could no longer see it, but the other side was almost clear of snow, there was only a light covering on the silver doors.

  She peered down at the snow below the window. The gale had pushed it right up against the cabin, bringing it up to just below the windows and sealing them in. She couldn't see the porch, and the fence that ran around its perimeter was lost in the drifts.

  "I made coffee to perk us up."

  She jumped as his voice broke the silence and she realised that it definitely hadn't been a dream. Turning slowly, she gave him an embarrassed look as he chuckled.

  "Didn't mean to scare you,” he said, holding a mug out to her. “I didn't know how you took it ... so I went with black and sugary, the way I like it."

  "Black and sugary sounds good. Thanks.” She smiled, taking the mug and inhaling the aroma of the coffee. She looked out of the window again.

  "It looks bad out there. Don't think we'll be getting down for a few days at least."

  Kate didn't like the thought of her sister being without her for a few days. She knew that Jayne and Helen would take good care of her, but for some inexplicable reason she felt as though something bad was going to happen.

  "We could ski down.” Her tone was distant as she stared unseeingly at the snow outside.

  "Powder is too soft. We'd probably cause an avalanche and your ankle isn't up to it,” he said.

  She frowned as she looked at him and then down at her ankle.

  "It's fine,” she said and then tried not to wince as she put her weight on it to show him.

  "Yeah ... it's fine,” he said sarcastically as she gritted her teeth. He caught hold of her arm, led her over to the couch and made her sit down on it.

  She watched dumbly as he put his coffee down and then knelt in front of her. Her eyes followed his fingers as he carefully unwrapped her ankle, gently cradling her foot in his hand.

  He placed the bandage to one side and she bit her lip when his fingers brushed lightly over her skin, making warmth dance up her leg and causing the butterflies to jig in her stomach again. She swallowed hard as he closely inspected her ankle with a soft touch.

  Jack frowned at how badly bruised it was. She'd clearly had a lucky escape from whatever had happened to her. The soft tissue around her ankle was swollen, making it look twice the size of her other, slender, one.

  Carefully wrapping the bandage back around her ankle, he made sure that it was done properly this time and fully supported it.

  When he looked up at her, she gave him a lopsided smile that he knew meant she was waiting for him to pronounce his verdict.

  "You can't ski on that.” He felt as though he'd just broken her heart when the smile faded from her face and she sighed. “Sorry."

  "It's fine,” she said again and he realised that she said that a lot.

  Clearly, it wasn't fine. She wasn't happy with his opinion on the state of her ankle and he knew that if he hadn't been there she would have attempted to ski to town.

  "Just because I can't ski on it, doesn't mean I can't walk on it.” She stood and it took a moment for what she'd said to sink in.

  She was crazy. Her ankle would give way before she made it a mile. All she was going to do was make the damage worse and get herself a cold in the process. He sniffled and wiped his nose, cursing the fact that his cold wouldn't go away. He didn't have time to be sick.

  He watched her hobble back to the window and stare out of it. She wrapped her arms around her waist. Her hands held her sides, pulling in her jumper and emphasising her figure to him. His temperature rose at the image of her that flashed into his head and he shoved it away, blaming his temporary flush on his proximity to the fire.

  "You're not serious?” he said, getting to his feet.

  She looked over her shoulder at him. “I'm going down the mountain and there's nothing you can do to stop me. It's my decision, and it's final."

  Refusing her would be pointless. He could see in her eyes how resolved she was. He had a choice now. He either let her go down the mountain alone, or he went with her. The voice at the back of his mind said that he would be better off without her around to complicate matters. He pushed it away, his heart telling it to shut up. There was no way he could let her go alone.

  "You're sure?” He couldn't help asking the question.

  Her eyes darkened and her lips compressed.

  "I have to get down,” she said in a deadly tone, her expression backing up the seriousness of her words.

  "It's a fool's errand,” he said and then looked at the world outside the window. The snow was still falling quite heavily, obscuring the view and making the scenery blur into it, turning the world into a hazy white cloud with little definition. It was going to be dangerous walking down the mountain. The road he'd come up wasn't in good repair and the trees would be heavy with snow. There was a high chance that some of the older branches would fall in the storm. He couldn't let her go alone. His whole being revolted against the idea. He'd rather she was a complication in his plan. If she left, he'd spend the whole time worrying about her. “Since you've said you'd go alone I've got no choice but to go with you."

  "Really, you don't have to. I know this mountain like the back of my hand. I could walk down to town blindfolded.” Her voice had a note of anxiety in it and her look had changed to one that he couldn't quite make out. Was she worried about being out there with him? She was fine here with him so it couldn't be that. His offer to go with her had made her apprehensive and he wanted to know why. A shaky smile settled on her lips. “Honestly, I've had quite enough of guys trying to help me down mountains or attempting to rescue me."

  He raised a brow at that. Rescue her? Like some knight in shining armour? Like one of those heroes in the books he'd seen beside the couch? He wanted to laugh at that.

  "Need rescuing often?” he said with a smile.

  Kate gave him a half smile when he looked at her, his eyes betraying his amusement at what she'd said. She
hadn't meant it to sound like that. She just didn't want him thinking that he had to come with her because she couldn't cope alone. His offer sounded a lot like chivalry to her and it was something she was sorely unaccustomed to. The guys she knew wouldn't go as far as holding a door open for a woman, let alone helping them down a mountain. She was pretty certain that most of the men she'd dated would have left her to go down alone.

  "Once in a while,” she said, trying to make light of the turn the conversation had taken.

  His smile faltered a little and he stepped towards her. She tensed on instinct, her eyes following his hand when he brought it up and wrapped it carefully around her upper arm. They fixed on it, partly to avoid his eyes when he spoke and partly because she was fascinated with how strong his hands looked. How could such strong hands have a touch so light and gentle? They looked rough but the way they held her was almost tender. His touch expressed his concern for her without her even needing to see his eyes or read his face.

  "I'll accompany you so when you get tired you have a way back.” His hand slipped from her arm and she stared at it, following its path as it lowered to his side and he walked away from her.

  She stared absently at him while he stoked the fire. How would him being with her give her a way back when she got tired? She wasn't going to get tired. She could walk down this mountain. It was barely a few miles and her ankle really did feel better today.

  Besides, how would he be of help?

  Her whole body flushed with prickly heat when she remembered him carrying her last night. She could almost feel his strong hands gripping her, carrying her as though she weighed nothing, and holding her as though she was the most precious thing in the world. She'd never felt like that in a man's arms. She'd felt so cared for, so safe. The only time she remembered feeling something close to it was when her father used to carry her up to bed when she was small. Something about his embrace, something about him, made her feel safe, as though he'd never let anything bad happen to her.

  She shook her head to clear it of the ridiculous notions spinning around it. She barely knew the guy. There was no way she could be forming an attachment to him. It was just the bad weather and isolation making her feel this way, like she'd thought it was yesterday. When they made it down to town, everything would return to normal, including her feelings.

  Her eyes fixed on him again, studying his profile while he idly prodded the fire. She wondered what he was thinking while he stared at it with such a pensive expression.

  "I should get changed,” she said when he turned around to look at her, his eyes meeting hers and making her heart race a little.

  He stood and dusted the back of his jeans down. “Don't suppose you've got a room I can use?"

  She swallowed hard and firmly shut her lips, trapping the words her brain had flippantly thrown into her mouth. There was no way she was even going to joke about him using her room. She struggled for control and smiled when she felt safe to open her mouth.

  "You can use the room across the hall from mine,” she said and then nodded towards the stairs. “I'll show you."

  She started towards the stairs, trying to walk normally so he didn't have a reason to mention her ankle and going down the mountain. She had to get down. She couldn't leave Connie down there with her stepbrother. He was probably winding her up by now about the fact that she was apparently stuck up here alone. None of her friends would know that Jack had been arriving late.

  Limping up the stairs, she tried to think of the best route down to town. The road was probably the safest but it would also be the snowiest. Going through the woods meant walking over some very uneven ground and treacherous slopes but the trees would have protected it from the brunt of the storm. The snow there would be thinner. The trouble was, the route through the woods was almost half as long again when compared to the road. There was no way she'd make it that far.

  Heat swept through her again when she thought about Jack and his offer. Was he really going to carry her back? Maybe he had another plan. She hoped he did. There was no way she could let him carry her for any great distance. She'd melt into a puddle of goo in his arms if he did that.

  She cleared her throat, frowning when she tried to get a grip on herself and her imagination. She told herself to focus on the task at hand—getting down the mountain. That was all that mattered.

  Jack watched her until she disappeared from view. Picking up his bag from where he'd dumped it the night before, he looked at the stairs that Kate had gone up and then followed her.

  He peered into each room, looking for her with his kit bag slung over one shoulder. He found her in the last room. It was the only bedroom with a fireplace and he figured that it must have been hers because she was rifling through a suitcase that was on the bed.

  "Knock, knock,” he said and she glanced over her shoulder at him.

  "Sorry ... just wanted to find a change of clothes. Wearing the thing you slept in the night before isn't really my scene.” She pulled a pair of blue jeans out of the suitcase and followed them with a thick cream roll-neck sweater.

  "Didn't mean to disturb you.” Jack watched her pick up a brush off the side. She ran it through her dark hair vigorously until it was smooth and shined, and then tied it back into a ponytail. He pointed to the door opposite hers. “This room?"

  She walked over to him and he stepped to one side to allow her room to pass. His eyes followed her while she crossed the hall. She pushed the door open and looked at him.

  "Ryan and Jonathon were going to share it but I guess they won't need it now. The other rooms are full of girly stuff and I don't think you'll want to sleep in the small room downstairs,” she said.

  He walked into the room and looked around. It was smaller than Kate's room, but it was still quite big for a bedroom in a cabin. Dumping his bag down on the end of the bed, he sat down beside it.

  He bounced slightly.

  "Seems comfy enough.” He smiled at her. He'd slept in worse conditions than this on the job. The bed was almost as comfortable as the one in his London apartment.

  "I won't be long. I'll just go get changed and put the fires out and then I'll be ready to leave.” She shot him a smile and then went to leave but she turned back and pointed down the hall. “If you want a bath or a shower, or um, you know ... anything else ... the bathroom's down the hall near the stairs."

  Jack nodded. “Noted."

  "It has no lock,” she added.

  He smiled at the worried look on her face. “Noted. Knock before entering."

  Kate smiled back at him and then went into her room and shut the door. She sighed as she looked at the outfit she'd laid out on the bed. It was hardly the most attractive thing she had in her wardrobe but when she'd packed, she'd figured that she was going to spend her vacation with just girls and she'd sensibly left all her best clothes back home.

  For some reason, Jack made her wish that she hadn't.

  She could stand feeling a little chilly for the sake of looking good around him.

  Shimmying out of her sweat pants and top, she changed into new underwear and frowned at herself in the mirror. She hadn't even packed the good underwear.

  Not that it mattered. It wasn't as though anything was going to happen between them. For a start, she barely knew the guy. On top of that, he was one of Nick's friends. And on top of that, he was in no way going to be looking at her in that way. He was so out of her league.

  So, he'd thrown her the odd smouldering look last night that had set her heart and body on fire, but that didn't mean anything. It didn't mean that he felt something when he'd done that and she really didn't want anything to happen if it was going to be one sided. She'd been burnt enough times by guys that had played her.

  But she'd never felt such an instantaneous attraction to a man before, or at least not on this level of intensity. Her eyes couldn't meet his without her feeling weak at the knees. Okay, she had a bad ankle, but it even happened when she was sitting down.

  So
mething about him pulled her in, and she felt powerless to resist him.

  Maybe he did have the ‘it’ she was looking for. Maybe this chemistry between them wasn't one sided.

  She jumped when there was a knock at the door and her heart skipped a beat.

  Quickly putting her jumper on, she pulled on her jeans and buttoned them up as she walked to do the door. Opening it, she gave him a breezy smile as he looked at her.

  He'd changed.

  He was wearing a navy blue sweater and black jeans, both of which hugged his body and accentuated his build. The darkness of the material made a stark contrast against his creamy skin, and made her realise just how close to black his hair was. She wondered if it was possible for him to look any more gorgeous.

  "Hey,” he breathed the word at her, his eyes full of something akin to fire and his voice low and soft.

  She swallowed down her feelings, pushing them into the pit of her stomach and ordering them to stay there, at least until she'd known him long enough to warrant such emotions.

  "Hi.” She smiled nervously.

  Jack's eyes coursed down over her cream jumper to her blue jeans. They showed off just how curvaceous she was and his eyes followed the shape of her figure. He smiled at her bare feet and realised that she clearly hadn't been ready when he'd knocked. Bringing his eyes back up to her face, he found her staring straight into his and he blinked languidly as she continued to smile, mesmerising him with it.

  She was incredible. Soft and feminine but with such an edge of determination about her. She'd shown him on more than one occasion how strong willed she could be and like she said—she didn't need a man to save her. Her words had rung of disappointment in his side of the species and he kept finding himself wondering just what men she'd been out with in the past. Clearly none of them had met her expectations. They were either all blind to how beautiful she was and so stupid that they couldn't keep a girl happy, or she had really stringent criteria, impossible for any man to meet. A thought crept into his head while his eyes roamed her face, taking in the delicate curve of her lips and the sublime shape of her jaw, and it both surprised and shocked him.