Camry instantly sobered, spun around, grabbed their sleeping bags, and headed to the snowcat.
Luke smiled at her stomping away, and rubbed Tigger’s head with the short beard he’d started growing three days ago for their camping trip.
Oh yeah, it was going to be a very interesting adventure.
Camry gritted her teeth as she grabbed the handle to keep herself from flying into the windshield, rethinking her brilliant idea of teaching Luke how to drive the snowcat. “Are you aiming for every damn rock and fallen log?”
“It’s not like they’re marked with BUMP signs.” He shoved Max into the backseat. “I can’t see them because Max keeps breathing on the glass and fogging it up.”
“Wait. Stop here,” she said. “I think this is the turnoff we need to take.”
“You think?”
Cam scowled over at him. “It’s been years since I’ve been this far north. I’ll get my bearings once the sun rises.” She reached over and shut off the engine, opened her door, then nearly fell out when Max shoved past her. “Okay, you overgrown brat, it’s time we set down some rules,” she said, lunging after the dog. She took hold of the lab’s head and held him facing her, her nose only inches from his. “One, you wait until I tell you it’s okay to get out. And two, you stay in the backseat with Tigger. You try to crawl in the front with us again, and you’re riding on the roof with our gear.”
“That put the fear of God in him,” Luke said, walking around the snowcat with Tigger in his arms. He stopped to look at their surroundings in the stingy light of the breaking dawn. “It might have been years since you’ve been up here, but I just spent two months scouring these woods. This tote road leads up the south side of Springy.” He pointed in the other direction. “And that way will take us closer to the lake, and eventually around to the north side of the mountain.”
“Then we should go that way,” she said. “Since your trajectory data points to the satellite’s having come in from the north.”
“Except that it couldn’t have,” he contradicted. “Based on its orbit at the time it malfunctioned, Podly should have crashed into the south side of Springy.”
Cam stopped packing down the snow to make a spot for Tigger and looked at him. “So are you suggesting we search the same woods you already spent two months searching, or do you want to look where the satellite really is? Because I happen to know it’s on the north side of the mountain.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “How?”
“Because I watched its entire descent.”
“You actually saw it?”
Cam took Tigger out of his arms and set the dachshund in the circle she’d stomped down. “Winter was having her baby right then, and my other sisters and I were sitting down on the dock in front of her home, waiting for the big arrival. That’s when we noticed what we thought was a meteor streaking through the sky, heading right toward Springy Mountain. It was coming from the north, traveling south. We all saw it, but just then Mom came out of the house and shouted to us that we had a brand-new baby niece.” She shrugged. “I completely forgot about it until Saturday, when you told me Podly had crashed north of Pine Creek last June.”
Luke stared at her, his jaw slack. “Then I guess we head north, don’t we? Wait. You said you were at Winter’s house. She had her baby at home?”
Cam nodded. “My mother and all my sisters had their babies at home. It’s sort of a MacKeage tradition.”
His jaw went slack again.
“What’s so odd about that?” she asked. “Women have been having babies at home since we lived in caves.”
“But what if something went wrong? You’re miles from the nearest hospital.”
Seeing that Tigger was done with her business, Cam set her in the snowcat, then turned back to Luke. “I guess you could say that it’s also our tradition to have relatively easy births.”
Luke’s expression turned unreadable. “So if you were to have a baby . . . would you be expected to have it at home, too?”
“Expected? No. Each of my sisters chose to have her babies at home with a midwife, but they weren’t expected to. In fact, Daddy practically begged them to go to the hospital.” She started looking around for Max. “But if I ever do decide to have children, I would likely follow tradition.”
Luke took hold of her sleeve and turned her to face him. “Does that scare you?”
“It’s a moot point, since I’m not having kids.”
“Because they’ll steal your passion for science?” he asked softly.
“And because I want it to be my choice, not the universe’s.”
“Excuse me?”
Camry eyed him for several heartbeats, then sat down on the track of the snowcat with a sigh. “Okay, since you’re madly in lust with me, I suppose you have a right to know why I’ve been . . . reluctant to have intercourse.”
He snorted, but then held up his hand when she shot him a scowl. “Okay, we’ll go with reluctant.” He sat down beside her. “So what’s the universe got to do with your having sex?”
Cam hesitated, wondering just how much of her family background she should disclose. But the more time she spent with Luke, the more she realized he wasn’t at all like any of the men she’d dated. He was . . .
Hell. For the first time in her life, she was tempted to risk it all on a man.
And since he would be risking it all, too, he certainly deserved to know what he was getting himself into, didn’t he?
She pivoted to face him, made several attempts to start, then finally said, “Have you ever heard the saying that the seventh son of a seventh son is gifted?”
He arched a brow. “I believe I’ve heard something to that effect.”
“Well, my mother was supposed to be the seventh son of a seventh son, but when she was born a girl, everyone thought that was the end of that. But instead of the end, Grace Sutter’s birth was actually the beginning of an even stranger axiom. You see, Mom and her six brothers, and her sister Mary, were all born on the summer solstice.”
He leaned away, both eyebrows raised in disbelief. “All eight kids?”
She nodded. “But here’s where it gets even more improbable. Mom had seven daughters, and all of us were born on the winter solstice.”
Luke snorted. “Now you’re just messing with me.”
Cam took hold of his sleeve and looked him directly in the eye, letting him see she was deadly serious. “My sisters’ children have been born on random dates throughout the years, all except for Fiona, who was born on this summer’s solstice. And Winter is Mom’s seventh daughter.”
“It’s just a date on a calendar, Camry. Millions of kids have been born on one of the solstices. But what does any of that have to do with your reluctance to have sex?”
“Well, there’s another tradition in our family,” she said, dropping her gaze and letting go of his sleeve. “It seems that all six of my sisters got pregnant the very first time they made love to their husbands,” she whispered.
He said nothing for several heartbeats, then softly asked, “And were they all virgins when they met their husbands?”
“No. Or at least several of them weren’t.” She stared off into the woods. “I believe Winter was. Heather got married when she was eighteen, so she might have been, too. But I’m pretty sure Megan, Sarah, Chelsea, and Elizabeth weren’t.” She looked over at Luke. “But their virginity is not the issue. Every one of them got pregnant the very first time they made love to the man they eventually married.”
“And so you’ve never gone all the way because you’ve been afraid that . . . what? That you might get pregnant and then have to marry the father? But birth control is very reliable today.”
“That’s what Megan and Sarah and Elizabeth thought. I know that Sarah was on birth control pills, and Megan told me Jack used a condom. But don’t you see? It’s like the universe picked out their husbands for them.”
“They didn’t have to marry those men, Camry. That was their choice
.”
“But they loved them.”
“Then what’s the problem? Everything worked out for the best.”
She stood up, crossing her arms to hug herself as she faced the woods. “But what if I want to love someone and not have babies with him?” She spun around to face him. “Where is it written that I can’t have one without the other?”
He walked over and cupped her face, rubbing his thumbs across her cheek, and Cam was startled to realize she was crying.
He pressed his lips to her forehead, then pulled her into his arms and held her against his chest. “It isn’t written anywhere, Camry. If you ever decide to get married, it will be to the man you choose, not who the universe chooses. And if you have a baby with him, it will be the choice of both of you.”
“But I want to make love to you,” she whispered.
He tilted her head back and looked down at her in surprise. “You do?” He grinned somewhat drunkenly. “You’ve fallen in lust with me?”
She buried her face in his chest again. “I don’t know what I’m feeling,” she growled. “Other than confused. What if we make love and I get pregnant?”
“You won’t. We’ll take precautions.”
Cam melted against him with a heavy sigh. “Father Daar says that if a baby’s wanting to be born, no contraceptive will stop it.”
“Father Daar?”
She looked up at him. “He’s an old priest who used to live in a cabin up on TarStone, but now he lives on the coast with Matt’s brother, Kenzie Gregor. Daar’s been around forever, and presided over my parents’ and all of my sisters’ weddings. And he’s always told us girls that if a child is wanting to be born, it will be, and that we just have to accept what Providence decides.”
Luke gave her a crooked smile. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but for a scientist, you have some really strange notions.”
She nestled back against him. “I can’t help it,” she said with another sigh. “I was born into a really strange family.” She looked up at him. “So . . . are you still in lust with me? Or have I managed to scare you off?”
He arched a brow. “That would depend on if your father is going to come after me with a shotgun. Greylen strikes me as rather oldfashioned.” He grinned. “Is that the real reason your sisters married the men who got them pregnant?”
Cam toyed with the zipper on his jacket. “And if Daddy did come after you with a shotgun,” she asked, finally looking up into his eyes, “would you make an honest woman of me, or jump on the first plane back to France?”
“Hmmm . . . I don’t know.”
Cam squirmed to break free, but Luke pulled her back against him with a laugh, and tucked her head under his chin. “Give me a minute here, MacKeage. On the one hand, I’m no more ready than you are to think about having a baby, but . . .” He ducked his head to look her in the eye. “But the more time we spend together, the more in lust with you I get. And I do have a whole box of condoms that I’d hate to see go to waste. But then . . .” He suddenly set her away, shaking his head. “Nope, I’m too tired right now to know what I’d do. So let’s head north, find a place to set up camp, and have a nap.” He spun around and headed into the woods in the direction Max had gone. “Don’t worry, you’ll be the first to know what I decide,” he said over his shoulder.
Cam stood gaping at him walking away. Of all the . . .
Wait. Had he been teasing her?
But nobody teased her. Ever. They didn’t dare, because they knew that though she occasionally got mad, she always got even.
Cam suddenly smiled. So he wanted to have a nap, did he?
She just as suddenly scowled.
He’d brought a whole box of condoms?
Chapter Thirteen
By the time they finished setting up camp halfway up the north side of Springy Mountain—after stopping at Megan and Jack’s building lot to refuel the snowcat—Camry was so exhausted that she didn’t care if she died a virgin; she simply didn’t have the energy to get even with Luke.
The dogs cooperated, and immediately settled down on their new doggie bed inside the large tent she and Luke had just pitched. Getting Luke to cooperate, however, was another matter entirely, as the man appeared jumpier than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
“I told you those PowerBars were loaded with sugar and caffeine,” she muttered, stripping off her outer clothes.
He looked up from unlacing his boots. “We’d be camping in a snowbank right now if I hadn’t eaten them,” he said, waving at the tent they were in. “I’ve been awake for over thirty hours.”
Stripped down to her long johns, Cam crawled into the sleeping bags she’d zipped together. “If you’d taken a nap like I did yesterday, instead of sneaking out to buy condoms, you wouldn’t have needed to eat them. Now you won’t be able to sleep.”
“Oh, I’ll sleep, all right,” he said, crawling in beside her.
Luke then let out a yawn—which made her yawn—and folded his hands on his stomach. But instead of falling asleep, Camry noticed he started twiddling his thumbs as he stared up at the tent roof. “You do realize that as soon as your father discovers one of his groomers is missing, he’s going to know you’re the one who stole it.”
“I know.”
“Which will lead your mother to believe that you’ll be home for Christmas.”
“Go to sleep, Luke.”
He stayed silent for all of sixty seconds. “Only Grace didn’t seem to be worried about Christmas,” he murmured, apparently talking to himself as much as to her. “She asked me to have you home by the solstice.”
Even though her eyes were closed, she could tell that his thumbs had stopped twiddling and that he was looking at her. “I thought it was strange at the time, but now I know it’s because it’s your birthday.” He snorted. “As well as all your sisters’ birthday.”
“Go to sleep, Luke.”
A full ninety seconds went by before she felt him roll toward her. “And since your big day is December twentieth, I’ve been thinking maybe we could hop on a plane after your birthday party and spend Christmas with my family in British Columbia.”
That got her eyes open. “What?”
Propping his head on his hand as he faced her, he rested his other hand across her belly to cup her opposite hip. “It’ll be fun,” he said with an eager smile. “Mom and André are dying to meet you, and Kate is beside herself with curiosity. She’s been sending me at least ten text messages a day for the last week, asking about you.”
“You told your family about me?”
“Of course. And I promised that I’d bring you home to meet them.”
“But why?” Cam whispered, horrified at the thought of meeting his family, considering she couldn’t even face her own. “What did you tell them about me?”
He suddenly flopped onto his back, folded his hands on his belly, and stared up at the tent roof again. “I told them that just as soon as I worked up the nerve, I was going to ask you to marry me.”
Camry bolted upright. “You what!” she attempted to shout—only it came out as a squeak.
He hadn’t really just mentioned the M-word, had he?
He also sat up, and took her suddenly trembling hands in his. “I was going to wait until after we found Podly and you made up with your parents to ask you.” Two flags of red rose into his shadowy beard. “In fact, I even planned to buy a ring and get down on one knee, but . . .” He lifted her hands to his mouth and kissed them. “But when you told me about your strange family traditions yet admitted you wanted to make love to me anyway, I started thinking that maybe I should take blatant advantage of your confusion and propose before we made love.”
He let go of her hands to close her gaping mouth, then immediately placed his finger over her lips to keep her from saying anything.
Not that she could have.
“I realize this is rather sudden for you, so I really don’t want you to give me an answer right now.”
“B
ut you’re only in lust with me,” Cam managed to whisper behind his finger.
He reached down and took hold of her hands again. “Oh, I’m definitely in lust with you. But while we were hiding in the maintenance garage, I realized that lust doesn’t hold a candle to the intimacy we’ve shared this past week.” He took what appeared to be a fortifying breath and held her hands to his chest, over his solidly beating heart. “So, Camry MacKeage, would you do me the honor of considering spending the rest of your life being intimate with me?”
She dropped her gaze to her hands clasped in his. “I-I have to think about it.”
He released what sounded like a relieved sigh and flopped back on the air mattress, pulling her with him and snuggling her up against his side. “Thank you. But while you’re thinking, I’d like you to consider one more thing.” He tilted her chin up for her to look at him. “Marrying me just might be your chance to trump the universe.”
“How?”
“By your getting married before you make love to your husband. That way you can’t ever question that you’re the one doing the choosing, not Providence.”
Cam tucked her head into his shoulder and stared across his chest. “But what if I marry you, then we make love, and I don’t get pregnant?” she whispered, clutching his shirt in her fist. “That would mean you’re not the man I’m supposed to marry.”
His chest fell on a heavy sigh. “Camry, sweetheart, you have to stop letting your fear that something might or might not occur dictate your life. Your only basis for assuming that what happened to your sisters has any bearing on what will happen to you is your belief that tradition is even a tangible integer. But the very fact that your sisters loved the men they married precludes any direct correlation to their getting pregnant. If you were to develop a matrix, with tradition being X and seemingly related occurrences being Y, I believe you would see how rarely they actually intersect. In fact, I’d be surprised if such an equation could even be written, because—”
Camry stifled a yawn and melted bonelessly against him with deep and utter contentment. Because honest to God, the very fact that he was lecturing her made Cam’s heart swell with the realization that he truly loved her!
A Highlander Christmas Page 12