“Listen, let’s not discuss this anymore,” Tasha said. “No need for apologies. I’ll find out what you guys need and I’ll gift it to you in your names, I’m so grateful for all your help.”
“Absolutely not,” Jake said sternly. “Please don’t. This is the first time I’ve been able to do something for my brother and his soon-to-be wife. I’m doing this out of love. Find a poor person in the Tongass National Forest if you want to donate, but leave me out, please.”
C.J.’s throat thickened. “I don’t know how to thank you, bro.”
“Having you come home like this is thanks enough.” Jake went over and hugged his twin. How different this family has from the world Tasha had come from amazed her all over again.
Jake smiled at her. “Just knowing my brother is happy and in love is thanks enough. You’re an extraordinary woman, Tasha. I can see why he’s crazy about you. He finally met his match.” Jake bent down and hugged her. “You just focus on getting better.”
It was Cole’s turn to speak. “I’ve lived through a tragedy, Natasha,” he said. “Up here in Alaska we take care of our loved ones. I could never accept anything from you. I’m doing this because I love the Powells and I’m already nuts about you. Too bad I didn’t meet you first.”
C.J. bumped his shoulder. “Hey, that’s my future wife you’re hitting on.”
“It wouldn’t matter if I hit on her, Chris. Just like Sammi, you Powell boys have a charm that causes women to fall in love with you and never even look at another man. Lucky devils.”
“Do I hear envy in your voice, Cole?” Jake teased.
Their friend’s brows lifted. “You’ll never hear me admit it, pal.”
Jake shoved him. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. I’ve got to get home to check a fish station, then I’ve got a date with Sammi.”
C.J. FOLLOWED COLE AND Jake out of the cabin and stood on the dock while they climbed into the float plane, then stayed there as Jake talked into his satellite phone to him.
“Roger, roger?”
“Ten-four. Over and out. The phones are working. Hopefully, they’ll work during a storm. I guess we’ll see?”
“Nah. We’re going to head out before the storm hits. It should just be rain, but you never know. We’ll fly back in two days to check on you.”
“And do some fishing.”
“Yeah, hope so,” Jake replied.
“You guys took good care, stocking the cabin. We’re going to be fine.”
“I’ll be checking in with you,” Jake repeated.
“Okay. Have a safe flight and thanks.”
The plane started up. The propeller whipped up the water, sending a chill breeze that forced C.J. to back away. Watching them take off from the glacial lake was like viewing a movie. The plane soared up against a backdrop of craggy cliffs and green forest, climbing higher till it flew over the snowy peaks and out of sight. The sound of the plane’s engine echoed for some seconds, then faded to silence.
C.J. chewed his lip. Now came the hard part. How to keep his hands off his fiancée till she felt better.
TASHA PRETENDED TO READ the legal briefs she’d asked the D.A. to fax to Jake’s office in Alaska so she wouldn’t worry about what was going on with her cases. Jake had been thoughtful enough to pick them up for her. Gratitude filled her heart.
Her foot didn’t hurt as much, thanks to the fact she hadn’t been moving since their arrival at the cabin, but the distance C.J. was keeping between them was driving her crazy. He’d barely talked to her before he’d gone out to fish, leaving her to nap and read. As she looked up at the cabin’s skylight now, she saw rain beating against it, yet the place stayed warm and dry.
Talk about a romantic setting! It seemed they were the only two people in the world, tucked away in the forest, with a wood-burning stove for heat. It didn’t matter that rain fell and the wind howled outside. She was safe and sound with the man she loved, the man she wanted to marry. Her sexy fiancé.
Fiancé… She could hardly believe it. But the diamond on her finger was proof.
She loved being with him in his natural habitat. Tasha could see this was the man behind the mask he’d worn in San Francisco. He was so very wonderful. She needed to draw him out and show him how much she loved him.
“THE FOOD SMELLS marvelous, C.J. What did you catch?”
His eyes appraised her possessively. She knew he wanted her as much as she wanted him. “I caught a nice-size rainbow trout. Jake would have been impressed.”
“Sounds yummy. You’ve set the table beautifully. Thank you.” She found it difficult to talk when he looked at her like that. She wanted to get closer, so put the brief down to reach for her crutches.
“Let me carry you.”
“No. I need to keep up my strength. This is the first time I feel energetic enough to try. Just let me?” she begged.
He stood ready to catch her in case she fell, but she made it to the table easily and sat down on the bench. How fortunate she’d been in shape before the fire. Her arms had strength she didn’t know they’d possessed. “That was easier than I thought.”
His gaze continued to travel over her intently. “You look very tempting tonight, Benny.”
She smiled. “Are you sure you’re not the one taking drugs?”
“Oh, I’m sure.”
Tasha glanced down at herself, trying to figure out how jeans tucked into a boot and a green layered sweater looked attractive. She felt rumpled and put together like a rag doll. No makeup. And her hair…forget it!
“Now you’re the one who has taken me by surprise, Chris.”
C.J. got up and served fish and noodles on a metal plate for her. He also brought her a water bottle. Once he’d fixed himself food, he sat down on the other side of the picnic table.
“I wondered when you were going to ask me about that,” he said.
Tasha took a bite of her fish and couldn’t believe how delicious it tasted. Her problem was C.J. The currents of desire he sent across the table were making it hard for her to function, let alone use her utensils. Her body craved his, but he seemed to be keeping his distance, so she decided to play along, hoping she could lower his defenses.
“So where did ‘C.J.’ come from? No one up here calls you by that name. But to me it seems strange to call you Chris. Would you like me to?”
He rubbed his evening whiskers, which she longed to touch. “I don’t know if I want you to call me that. Chris is a name that belongs to my childhood in Alaska, my past. I left it here and went to the big city to be somebody, to become something.”
“And you did!” Tasha reached out and stroked his other hand, which was resting on the table. He responded by grasping hers, and the touch was electrifying. “You’re a captain of a fire station and a hero.”
“There’s more. I hurt my family badly as a teenager, especially Jake. We both liked the same girl. Jake thought he was going to marry her. Then he found out I was seeing her on the side. It broke his heart and he didn’t forgive me for years.
“I hated it up here. I had no idea Jake loved the girl so much he wanted to marry her. We competed over everything. Jake was the smart one. I was the athletic one. So I took off for California and changed everything.”
Tasha saw the pain in C.J.’s eyes. How sad to think competition for a girl had kept two brothers apart for years. “But you were just a kid then,” she murmured. “You can’t be so hard on yourself, sweetheart.”
“That’s what everyone in my family keeps saying. I thought going by the initials C.J. was a great idea. I refused to be Chris Powell from Alaska. Nope. I was C.J. Powell, a firefighter for the San Francisco Fire Department.”
“What made you pick San Francisco?” Tasha asked as she started to eat. C.J. was finally beginning to unwind.
“It had a cool climate and was on the ocean. And of course, it was far away from home. There was also the allure of just living in California.”
“I can relate to that.”
Sh
e felt his body stiffen. “So…what do you think of Chris Powell?”
That question stopped her right in the middle of taking a bite of trout. “Will you let me show you?” Tasha started to reach for her crutches, but he was there picking her up and carrying her to bed faster than lightning. He laid her down carefully so her foot wouldn’t be jarred.
She looked up at him. “No fair, Chris. I need you to lie down. I want to show you what I think of the man I can’t wait to marry.”
He stretched out next to her so she could lean on her elbow and stare at his face.
“First off, I love your hair and the way it curls around your ears.” She leaned over to kiss the hair there, causing him to respond in turn. “Next, your eyes tell so much of what you’re thinking and feeling.”
She pulled away a little to draw her lips across his rough jaw. It felt like heaven. Then she hovered just above his mouth, deciding how to say it. “I don’t care if you use initials or go by the name your parents gave you. To me you’ll always be Jeremiah, anyway.”
His eyes danced in the glow of the wood-burning stove. “Two can play this game, Benny. You just didn’t realize you’re playing with a master.” He rolled her over and stared down at her lovingly.
“A master, huh?” she teased. “I didn’t know you could master anything.” Her comment produced a flash of the competitive C.J. she loved to rile.
“I have my masters in engineering from San Francisco State University, remember?”
“Oh, I know. And it just about killed Tim. He kept rambling on that the only degree that mattered was from City College of San Francisco, where you guys got your fire science degrees.”
“Tim never could get over that I continued on with school,” C.J. said musingly.
“I don’t think he cared. He was happy being an EMT. He didn’t have the dreams you did, C.J.”
“You just called me C.J.”
“I just can’t think of you as Chris. Is that okay? At least for now.”
“With you, anything’s okay.”
“Really?” She was through talking, and brought his face down to hers. She wanted to be kissed in the worst way.
“One more thing, sweetheart.”
“Ugh…what now?”
“You’ve told me Tim was always in competition with me. Why did you say that?”
“Oh, honey, you were better than he was at the academy, at school and you excelled at the department. You have this way that draws people to you. It was a healthy rivalry, but he was jealous.”
“I had no idea. He had your unconditional love—no question, no strings, no liabilities.”
“Except for me, C.J. I paid the price all those years, following him around like a fool.”
“No, Tasha. You weren’t the fool. He was, for not seeing what an exceptional woman he had loving him.”
Tasha drew C.J. closer. “I’m grateful for those years. Without them I would never have met you.”
He began to rub her stomach. Then his hand traveled slowly to her face where he cupped her cheek. “Do you really mean that? Are you over Tim?”
“C.J.!” Her body was alive and her mind barely coherent. In a voice thick with emotion, she said, “I would never have let you into my life and heart if I wasn’t over him. He was a crush. A lasting one, but a crush. With you I’ve finally found out what it means to be loved by a man who’s real, not a friend who can’t give that kind of love.”
He sealed her words with a heart-stopping kiss. Tasha loved the feel of his muscular body on hers and ached to touch him. When she started to unbutton his flannel shirt, he let her. Underneath lay a tight fitting T-shirt, allowing her to explore his pectorals and biceps.
She could feel his body tremble each time her hand caressed him, and finally broke the kiss. “Are you hurt?”
“No,” he answered raggedly. “Why?”
“Because every time I touch your body, you…react.” It worried her.
C.J. drew her even tighter and gazed into her eyes. “I’m restraining myself. My body is shaking from desire, and this contact with you is driving me to the breaking point. I don’t know if I can resist you.”
“Why are you trying?” Tasha felt hurt.
“Because you are hurt physically, and you’re on medication. The last thing I’m going to do is take advantage of you in this state.”
If she thought she couldn’t love him more, she was wrong. All the ideas and thoughts she had about C. J. Powell the playboy had no basis in reality. “I feel fine right now.”
“I love you, Natasha. I can’t wait to marry you one day soon.”
“I love you, too.”
Then all resistance was gone and C.J. took over. He reached for her, sliding his hand up her back to her neck, to tilt her head in a way that made their kissing more intimate and passionate somehow.
He was moving his palm under her shirt, beginning to inch it upward, when the cabin door opened with a bang.
Chapter Ten
“That was easy.” A woman’s voice rang through the cabin.
C.J. grabbed his flannel shirt and sat up, clutching the rifle he’d placed by the bed earlier.
Tasha recognized the man who walked into the room—one of the scarier boyfriends Daphne strung along. He was tall and burly, with a pale complexion set off by multiple tattoos and piercings.
“Dale!” she cried. “What are you doing here?”
“I can answer that for you, boss.” In walked Daphne. “As soon as I heard you didn’t die in the bombing, I about lost my mind.” Her eyes were wild with fury. “You have to understand. The White Is Right supremacists who are supporting my undercover life are very unhappy with me that you’ve escaped death twice now.”
C.J. cocked his rifle. “I guess we’ll have to make them unhappy a third time.”
Dale held up a sawed-off rifle in one hand and a grenade in the other. “Captain Powell? I suggest you put that gun down or we’ll blow up this cabin now, like we did the office and her condo.” His evil expression told Tasha he meant what he said.
She nudged C.J. in the shoulder. “Put the gun down.”
“Now that’s a good little Tasha.” Daphne, dressed in rain slicks and boots, walked over to her side. She obviously had a plan and was dressed for the Alaskan weather.
Tasha kept her voice calm. “How did you fly up here during this terrible storm?”
“That’s the beauty of being so ensconced in your world. I have friends in the D.A.’s office, if you know what I mean.”
“What kind of friends?” Tasha was shaking and tried to press herself against every inch of C.J.’s body she could feel.
“Well, let’s just say the D.A. you work with has an assistant who has a very big crush on me. I was able to get him to sneak me into her office. Once inside, I was able to find out all about your plans the FBI approved the other day.”
“That assistant will be in very big trouble when it gets out.”
Daphne looked as if she was going to laugh. “Honey, you actually think this is going to end well?” She came over and pinched Tasha’s cheek. “Anthony was a liability. I don’t think he’ll be speaking to anyone again.”
Tasha gasped.
“Don’t worry. It wasn’t too painful for him.”
“That doesn’t explain how you managed to get here in this storm,” Tasha said.
“Easy. Dale and I, and our friend Nick, who’s a pilot, jumped on the next plane to Ketchikan. From there we rented a float plane and set up camp here early this morning. We camouflaged the plane with a tarp. Since I had the information of your flight plans, all we had to do was wait for the right time to strike.”
“Let me get this right, Daph. You and your White Is Right group have been trying to kill me to stop IAs from coming into the country?” She took a deep breath. “So it’s all been a lie?”
Tasha refused to show this insane woman any emotion. She had to control all tears.
Daphne clapped her hands. “Bingo, boss.”
> C.J. rested the gun on his lap. “I want to know what’s going to happen to Tasha when I put the gun down.”
“Oh, so you really do care.” Daphne’s maniacal laughter filled the tiny space. “This is precious. Tasha finally gets her Prince Charming and she’s going to lose everything. I couldn’t have planned this better.”
“What’s going to happen, Daphne?” C.J. pressed.
“None of your damn business,” she called over her shoulder as she began to walk out the door. It was then that the hood of her jacket fell to her shoulders. At once Tasha noticed some tattoos she’d never seen before on Daphne’s neck. One was a swastika. How had she missed them?
“Wait, Daph. When did you get the new tattoos?”
“New?” She looked delighted to finally be revealing herself. She pulled out a knife from a side strap of her boot. “Oh, it’s been so fun to fool you. They’ve just been covered with makeup. Like you said—it’s amazing what it can do.” Touching her neck, she said in a brittle tone, “See? This tattoo is for the Aryan race. And this one is for my brother.” The latter was a bloody cross with tears dripping from each side.
“What happened to your brother?”
Dale looked agitated, standing at the door wearing a vest full of weapons. “Come on, Daphne. We need to kill them and get out of here.”
She walked over to her boyfriend. “You don’t call the orders. I do. Is that understood?”
Tasha’s tactics were working. She had to keep Daphne talking while C.J. devised a plan. If not, she could at least go with them and let C.J. live. Negotiation usually calmed down an intruder. Since Tasha came from such a rich family, she’d had to learn about kidnapping. Thank heavens her father had insisted on her learning a few techniques.
Dale hung his head, apparently embarrassed by her chastisement. “Yes, Daphne.”
“So,” Tasha said, “you were telling me about your brother. What happened?”
Daphne swung around the room like a tiny bee with a sharp stinger. In her case, it was a sharp knife pointed at Tasha. “Why would you care about some poor little white girl growing up in the border town of San Ysidro, California? You only care about the immigrants.”
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