Wild Heat (Northern Fire)

by Lucy Monroe

  He felt bad for her, but sometimes she took her fussing too far. She just always thought she knew what was best for everyone and had a tendency to act on that belief.

  He’d been told he shared that particular trait.

  “I just took too much food,” Kitty offered, and Tack hated that she felt the need to lie.

  Gran winked at Kitty and exaggerated her Scots accent. “Dinna worry yourself, lass. We’ll put up your leftovers and you can have them for lunch tomorrow.”

  Now that was his practical gran.

  “Oh, that would be so kind,” Kitty said, sounding more emotional than the offer warranted.

  Gran nodded as if that was the end of it, and Tack had no doubts it would be. There wasn’t a person at the table who would defy his gran when she had that expression on her face, not even Tack’s mom.

  They had strawberry shortcake for dessert, made with his gran’s scones and berries frozen last summer. It had always been one of Kitty’s favorites.

  Tack wondered which of the women who shared the Homestead’s kitchen had remembered that. He wasn’t surprised when he learned it had been his mother.

  Her concern tilted toward consideration more often than intrusiveness.

  Shila offered to split one of the desserts with Kitty, claiming she was too full for a whole one. Considering that his teenaged sister was self-conscious about her body, the offer might even have been genuine. Tack was pretty sure she’d made it for Kitty’s sake, too, though.

  “You don’t mind sharing?” Kitty asked.

  “No way. It’ll keep me out of trouble with Gran.” Shila gave Gran a suitably cowed expression, which earned her a mock glower. “She hates when the food from her garden goes to waste, much less her scones.”

  Kitty smiled and accepted.

  Shila allowed Kitty to divide the dessert in the bowl without comment and Tack knew his sister had seen Kitty’s food ritual for what it was. He wasn’t surprised. Not after what he’d learned about eating disorders.

  A whopping eighty percent of people suffering from an eating disorder were teens. His sister had probably witnessed behavior like Kitty’s firsthand.

  Tack’s eyes skimmed around the table to see how the rest of his family was taking the additional evidence that Kitty had a compulsive need to divide her food.

  Most of the clan were too busy with their own dessert and conversation to even notice, but he saw a look of comprehension dawn over his mother’s sweet face. His gran didn’t appear surprised or critical. Emaa was nodding with approval.

  Tack wasn’t sure of what, whether it was her granddaughter’s obvious sensitivity, her daughter’s belated discretion, or even Kitty’s food ritual.

  * * *

  When it came time to leave, Cian stepped up to Kitty. “You came in with Tack, yeah?”

  “Yes?” Kitty asked rather than stated.

  “I’ve got a mended nightstand to return to Miz Alma for the B and B,” Cian said like that was all that needed saying.

  Used to his cousin’s more taciturn nature, Tack explained to Kitty, “He’s offering you a ride home so I don’t have to drive the opposite direction before heading home.”

  “Oh, I…” Kitty looked up at Tack, uncertainty in her expression.

  He shrugged. “Thanks, Cian. I appreciate it.”

  Kitty’s eyes darkened with disappointment before she masked it, but there was nothing Tack could do about that. He didn’t see any way of going ahead with their plans to go back to his place without causing speculation among his family.

  And if he took her aside to talk when they’d be seeing each other at work tomorrow morning, it would be just as suspect. He only hoped she realized that.

  “Yes, thank you, Cian,” Kitty said in soft tones. “I didn’t mean to be an inconvenience for Tack. If I’d brought my tennis shoes, I could have walked back to the B and B. It’s only a few miles. I probably should have driven myself in the first place.”

  Well, crap.

  From anyone else, he’d know she was being overly polite and expected to be contradicted. Kitty, however, had always been stubborn. She would have walked the six miles between the MacKinnon Homestead and the Knit & Pearl rather than put anyone out.

  Her claim she should have just driven herself was a direct reprimand to Tack. He knew her well enough to know she was implying that if it was so inconvenient to take her back to her home after they had sex, he shouldn’t have made plans to do it in the first place.

  He spit an epithet out under his breath.

  Kitty ignored him.

  “My truck’s the dark blue F150 with a hard-shell.” Cian turned and went out the front door.

  The fact that he’d given Tack and Kitty a minute alone indicated Cian had felt the underlying tension in Kitty’s words, even if he didn’t know what it meant. He’d probably heard his cousin swear too.

  “I’d better get my leftovers. See you tomorrow, Tack.” Kitty pivoted and headed toward the kitchen without another word.

  And then she was gone, leaving Tack standing there feeling like an idiot for more than one reason.

  First, he’d pissed Kitty off, which meant he’d hurt her. That made him feel like a pile of steaming moose dung. Second, he craved her body with the desperation of an addict. He’d been sporting wood all night because of what he knew was coming later. He’d never been so grateful for the cover of a table.

  And he’d given up his chance for satisfaction without a second thought. Before accepting Cian’s offer on Kitty’s behalf.

  He was an idiot.

  “Something wrong, brother dear?” Shila smirked up at him knowingly.

  He frowned down at her. “Why would you ask that?”

  “Um, because you look like a grizzly with a sore paw.”

  “What is it with my family always comparing me to a bear?” So his name meant grizzly bear; they didn’t need to harp on it all the time.

  “Maybe because you act like one?” Shila asked sweetly.

  And there was only one way his mood was going to improve. Making a decision that had nothing to do with his sister’s teasing, Tack spun on his heel and headed out the front door.

  He didn’t bother saying good-bye to Shila or take time to wish his family good night. He’d catch hell from his mom and grandmothers for it later, maybe even his da, but Tack had something he needed to do.

  * * *

  Caitlin went out the back door in search of Cian’s truck, equal parts irritated and hurt. She’d thought Tack was looking forward to making love again later as much as she was.

  Discovering he couldn’t even be bothered to turn down his cousin’s offer of a ride for Caitlin was more than a little demoralizing. Seriously, how hard could that have been?

  She came to a stop in the leveled gravel parking area next to the old family home; no sign of a dark blue truck with a hard-shell was in evidence. While the sky was cloudy as usual, the sun wouldn’t set until after ten. So there was plenty of light to see by.

  The F150 and Cian were both gone.

  Nonplussed, Caitlin turned in a circle as if that would somehow reveal her ride home. Had he pulled around to the front of the house, thinking she’d leave through the “company” door?

  “I sent him on his way,” Tack said as he stepped out from behind his truck, his dark gaze fixed on her.

  She kept her distance, not taking anything for granted. “Why?”

  “We had plans.”

  “They didn’t seem all that important to you inside.”

  “Cian’s offer blindsided me.”

  “He wasn’t asking for your left kidney. He didn’t even actually offer me the ride home. You did that for him.” She did nothing to hide her irritation at that fact.

  “He told you he was taking a delivery to your aunt.”

  “So?”

  Tack sighed. “If I turned him down, everyone would wonder why.”

  “They didn’t used to.” Tack and she had been inseparable right up until she pushe
d him away. “No one cared.”

  Neither of their families had made a big deal of it back then. But then, they’d been best friends for a long time.

  “You really believe that?”

  She frowned. “Yes.”

  He shook his head. Like she was deluded.

  Maybe she had been.

  “My family, and yours, too, thought you’d get your wanderlust out of your system going to college in California. They figured we’d come back to Cailkirn, get married, and have lots of Grant-MacKinnon babies.”

  “They did?” Her gran and aunts had never even hinted at that. “No, they couldn’t have.”

  She’d been so adamant she wasn’t spending the rest of her life in the small backwater town of Cailkirn, Alaska.

  He nodded with a harsh jerk of his head. “We all had dreams we had to let go of, Kitty. The loss of that dream hurt my family. It hurt your gran and your aunts, though I’m not sure Miss Elspeth ever gave up hope of you coming home.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. You weren’t responsible for the hopes of other people. It wasn’t your fault you didn’t love me. It took me a while to realize that, but you can’t dictate feelings.”

  He’d be surprised how false his belief was. Caitlin had refused to let herself love Tack and she’d managed to marry another man.

  “You don’t want to build up their hopes again,” she surmised, realizing at the same time that neither did she.

  The knowledge she’d hurt others more than she’d ever been aware didn’t sit well with Caitlin and she had no desire to do so again.

  “There’s no reason to allow false expectations to develop. They will only end up hurting the ones who indulge in them.”

  Was he warning her? Telling her if she got her hopes up, they were bound to be dashed?

  “But you sent Cian away.”

  “He’s not just my cousin. Cian’s one of my closest friends. I trust him.”

  Like Tack no longer trusted Caitlin.

  “You don’t think he’ll mention that he didn’t end up driving me home after all?”

  “I asked him not to.”

  “Oh.” Which meant what?

  “I explained about our arrangement.”

  “You told him you’re having sex with me so I’ll eat?” Did Cian find that as strange as Caitlin did?

  “Of course not.”

  Relief coursed through Caitlin. She hadn’t really liked the idea of Tack telling Cian about that. She was healing, darn it. She’d like to be seen as the competent woman she’d worked so hard to become again. “What did you tell him?”

  “That we’re both adults. You’re divorced, not some innocent. He knows I’m not ready to settle down. The sexual attraction between us isn’t going anywhere. For right now we’re enjoying it.”

  “He was okay with that?”

  “Why wouldn’t he be? This may be small-town Alaska, but casual sex happens here too.”

  “So you told me.” And she didn’t like thinking about that in relation to Taqukaq MacKinnon.

  “Cian was worried I was setting myself up for a fall like eight years ago,” Tack added in a tone that said how ludicrous such a concern was.

  “I’m sure you set him straight.”

  “Yeah.”

  “So, you’re taking me home?”

  “After.”

  The banked embers of desire burst into flame inside her just like that. “After.”

  * * *

  Caitlin pulled up in front of Nik Vasov’s restored Victorian home at the north of town. She’d come to Cailkirn determined to get her own life together and avoid complications, even friendship.

  After accepting that she wanted to be Tack’s friend again, Caitlin had recognized the truth that avoiding relationships wasn’t going to get her where she wanted to be anyway.

  A strong and healthy woman with a normal life.

  It hadn’t taken her long to realize someone else needed a friend and that was Savannah Vasov. Whatever was going on between her and Nik, she could do with a friendly face.

  And Caitlin was going to offer that.

  She climbed out of her gran’s ten-year-old Subaru, the dark green paint as pristine as when it had been driven off the lot. Of course, gran kept the little hatchback garaged and had had it repainted twice.

  Caitlin rang the doorbell and waited on the veranda for someone to answer.

  Someone fumbled with the lock and then the door swung wide. Joey grinned up at her, his eyes round with surprise. “Hi, Miss Grant.” He yelled over his shoulder. “Mama, it’s the nice lady from the plane.”

  Savannah came rushing up, a look of panic on her face. “Joey! You know you aren’t supposed to answer the door.”

  “But, Mama, I thought it was my new friend.”

  “It doesn’t matter, young man.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Joey looked down at the floor. “May I go upstairs?”

  Savannah sighed and ruffled her son’s hair. “Sure, sweetie. I’m sorry I yelled.”

  “You didn’t, Mama. Not really.”

  “I did and I’m sorry.” Savannah offered a strained smile to Caitlin. “Come on in. I’ve just made a pitcher of sweet tea if you’d like a glass.”

  “I know I stopped by unannounced. If this is a bad time…” Caitlin let her voice trail off, offering the other woman an easy out.

  “Oh no. Not at all. I get a little testy when Joey answers the door, but I’m really happy you came by.”

  “You know Cailkirn isn’t like the city. He’s probably fine opening the door on his own.”

  “I’m not sure, what with the cruise ships docking now and so many strangers in town.”

  “Strangers who probably aren’t going to hike two miles north to come knocking on your door.”

  “You never know.”

  Caitlin didn’t have children, so she didn’t know if Savannah’s level of concern was normal or not, but she never remembered her gran being upset when Caitlin answered the door as a girl. Still, times were different.

  Savannah led the way into a beautifully remodeled kitchen. The mix of modern and traditional was too perfect not to be the result of a professional designer and she said so.

  Savannah looked around, as if seeing the kitchen for the first time. “I suppose so. I never really noticed, but if I’d thought about it, I wouldn’t have assumed Nik did the decorating.”

  “Not his thing?”

  “From what I can tell, work is pretty much his only thing.”

  “So, you’re on your own a lot?”

  “Well, me and Joey. Sometimes just me.” The other woman grimaced. “Joey is fascinated by Nik.”

  “And he doesn’t mind having your son around?”

  “No. I should be grateful. I am grateful. It’s just…”

  “You get lonely.”

  Savannah sighed, but smiled too. “Yes. I should be used to it.”

  “But in the city, there was more to keep you occupied and you had all of Joey’s attention.”

  “You’re pretty insightful.” Savannah opened a cabinet that turned out to be a façade for the fridge. “Sweet tea or juice?”

  “I’ll just have water.”

  Savannah nodded and pulled two glasses from the cupboard. She gave Caitlin her water first and then poured herself a glass of what she called sweet tea, but the clear amber liquid did not look like the treacle a lot of restaurants served by that name. “Would you like to sit in the parlor?”

  “I’m happy here.” Caitlin made good on her words by taking a seat at the kitchen table. “I actually came by to see if you and Joey would like to go on a hike with me. I’m not a professional guide, but we could do one of the simpler trails close to Cailkirn. What do you say?”

  “You have time? I thought everyone was incredibly busy now that the cruise ships are in the harbor.”

  “Gran and my aunts insisted I take the afternoon off.” Again. But since it had been her first free afternoon since the ship
s came in, Caitlin didn’t argue.

  “I thought Nik said you worked at MacKinnon Bros. Tours?”

  Caitlin smiled. “So, you and Nik do talk. At least a little.”

  Savannah’s smile wasn’t big, but it was genuine. “Yes, I suppose we do.”

  “Anyway, I only work there in the mornings.”

  “And you want to go on a hike with us this afternoon? Aren’t you tired?”

  “Nope.” When her gran told her to take the afternoon off, Caitlin had thought of the hike and planned to go alone if Savannah didn’t want to go with her.

  So, she’d driven to work and from work directly to Nik’s house.

  “I’d love to go, but Joey is supposed to spend the night with one of Nik’s cousins. She has a son the same age and another one two years older. Joey adores them.”

  The doorbell rang. “Speaking of, I bet that’s them now.”

  Caitlin waited in the kitchen while Savannah answered the door and waited through the sounds of Joey leaving.

  When she stepped back into the kitchen, the Southern woman looked a little lost. “He’s off.”

  “I’m sure he’ll enjoy himself.”

  “Yes.” Savannah gave Caitlin a warm smile tinged with gratitude. “I’m really glad you decided to take pity on me and spend your afternoon off showing a tenderfoot one of the local hikes.”

  “No pity involved. I’ve been away from Cailkirn for a long time and haven’t had the time to renew old friendships.” Or the inclination, but Caitlin left that unsaid. “We better get going, though. The days are getting longer, but it’s not summer yet.”

  “I’ll just go change.”

  “Wear layers. It’s still pretty chilly in the shade.”

  Savannah didn’t take long changing into her hiking clothes and they were on their way only a few minutes later. Caitlin drove back through town on her way to the trail she’d picked for their hike. It went up through a meadow behind town, into the forest, and circled back around to come out at the other end of the boardwalk.

  She and Savannah could do some shopping after the hike if they wanted, on the way back to the car.

  “It’s so beautiful here,” Savannah said as they crossed the meadow, and then she gasped and stopped. “Did you see that? It was a deer.”