Dalton's Undoing

by RaeAnne Thayne

  "I suppose, if it's all right with the other parents."

  "You all just warmed up," Caroline exclaimed. "Are you sure you want to go back out in the cold?"

  The children gave a resounding answer in the affirmative and scrambled up from the chairs to climb back into their cold-weather gear.

  Half an hour later, they were being pulled up the hill in turns by Cole on the snowmobile, who appeared to be having the time of his life.

  Caroline had volunteered to go with them to keep an eye on the children while the others stayed behind to watch a holiday movie. Though Jenny hadn't wanted to spend another minute with Seth, she had also hated thinking of the pregnant woman standing out in the snow.

  "I'll do it," she insisted, so here she sat on a bench overlooking the sledding hill.

  At least she didn't have to endure more stilted conversation with Seth. After dragging her into this whole thing, he had been astonishingly quick to disappear.

  The minute Cole had the snowmobile tow rope figured out, Seth spent a few moments starting a small fire in a small cast-iron outdoor fireplace nearby, then claimed he had some things to do inside the horse barn that couldn't wait.

  She hadn't minded sitting alone watching the children. It gave her a chance again to savor the magnificence of the setting. She found a raw grandeur in the snow-covered landscape with the backdrop of wild, rugged mountains.

  Though sunset was still a few hours away, the afternoon sky was already beginning to turn lavender and it had started snowing again, big, fluffy flakes that made her want to catch one on her tongue like the children on her playground.

  After a moment, she gave into the temptation and stuck out her tongue. Of course, it was at that instant that Seth walked out of the barn, apparently finished with what had been so urgent.

  She jerked her tongue back into her mouth and kept it firmly planted there as he stood at the open doorway watching her. She had to hope he hadn't seen that completely childish impulse, though she had a feeling it was a vain hope.

  After a moment he pulled the door closed behind him and approached her, looking solid and dark and almost predatory against the snowy white landscape.

  She hated herself for the little flutter in her stomach but couldn't seem to control it.

  He sat down beside her on the bench. "Looks like they're having a good time. This was always the perfect sledding hill when we were kids."

  She couldn't quite manage to wrap her mind around the image of this wholly masculine man in front of her as a gleeful child sledding down the hillside.

  "This is much more fun with deeper snow," he went on. "You'll have to bring Morgan and Cole back in a month or so when the conditions are a little better."

  The chances of that were fairly slim, she thought. "I can't believe we're still a week away from Thanksgiving and your mountains have more than two feet of snow."

  "Better get used to it. We probably won't see bare earth again until March or April at the earliest. The higher elevations might be two or three months after that."

  She shuddered, earning a laugh from him. "Didn't your dad warn you about our winters before you moved down from Seattle?"

  "He told me they were on the harsh side but he's promised me the summers make up for it."

  He smiled a little, though she thought he was still distant. "That's true enough. My mother always says if you complain about the winter, you don't deserve the summer."

  "I guess I should watch my mouth, then."

  "Just find a winter sport you enjoy, like ice climbing or cross-country skiing. That tends to give you a completely different perspective on the cold weather."

  The idea of that wasn't very appealing, since she figured she was probably about the most unathletic person in town. "Does curling up by the woodstove with a good book count?" she asked.

  He grinned. "Sure. And you get bonus points if it's at least a book about winter sports."

  "I'll have to dig through Dad's library to see what I can find about hockey or ice fishing," she said with a laugh. "I'm all for coming up with anything to make the winter pass more quickly."

  "If you're not much of a cold-weather lover, what brings you to Pine Gulch?" he asked. "I would think a school principal could find work just about anywhere."

  "Maybe. But I couldn't find my dad anywhere but here. He loves Pine Gulch. After the divorce, he offered to come live with us in Seattle but I knew he would hate it there. All the friends he made after he retired are here and he's got a rich, fulfilling life. The fishing, the photography, his monthly poker game with his friends in Jackson. I couldn't drag him away from that."

  Jenny paused, surprised by her compulsion to confide in him. She wouldn't have thought it possible but Seth could actually be a comfortable conversationalist, if she could put her hormones on hold.

  "At the same time, I knew my children needed him. Especially Cole. A boy his age needs strong male role models. Since his father's not in the picture anymore, I had to do something. When the principal position opened up at the elementary school, it seemed like an opportunity I couldn't pass up."

  Their situation wasn't perfect, but she couldn't regret moving here. She was trying to do the best she could.

  "So that's why you took the job at the elementary school and moved to town?" he asked. "To be near your dad?"

  "I had to do something. Cole was in trouble almost all the time in Seattle. I hoped moving him here would steady him a little. Of course, six weeks later, he managed to steal and wreck a classic car," she said wryly.

  "He's doing a good job of making it right, though."

  "You know, the first month or so after we moved here, I thought I'd made a terrible mistake. These last few weeks have been much better. Whatever you've been doing with Cole, thank you."

  Seth raised an eyebrow at her words and she saw surprise flicker in the deep blue of his eyes. "I haven't done anything but put him to work," he answered.

  "Maybe that's exactly what he needed. A project to focus on. Or perhaps simply someone taking an interest in him. I don't know what it is, I only know things have improved considerably since he started coming out here. He doesn't seem to hate either me or Idaho as much as he used to."

  "I'm glad," he said simply.

  They sat in silence for a moment, broken only by the distant shrieks of the children and the snap of the fire in the little stove.

  This was nice, she thought. Too nice. She could feel herself slipping under his spell again—and this time she couldn't really blame the man, since he wasn't doing anything but sitting there.

  She was relieved when Cole pulled up to them a few moments later, breaking the fragile mood.

  "Your turn, Mom," her son said. "Hop on. You can use Morgan's inner tube."

  Jenny shook her head vigorously. "No. That's okay. I like my legs unbroken, thanks."

  Astride the snowmobile, Cole flapped his arms and made a clucking sound. "Come on. Morgan's gone down six or seven times and she's only nine. Is she tougher than you?"

  "Oh, without question."

  "Come on," Cole cajoled. "Everybody's having a great time. You can't sit down here the whole time."

  "You'll have fun," Seth joined in. "You can count this as your first experiment in winter sports."

  She gazed at the two males, so physically dissimilar but so surprisingly alike, then sighed and rose from the bench.

  "I'm blaming you when this goes horribly wrong," she told Seth with a laugh as she climbed onto the snow-mobile behind her son.

  Her smile faded when she realized Seth was staring at her mouth. Awareness bloomed in her stomach and she was almost grateful when Cole gunned the engine and started up the mountainside.

  * * *

  He needed to get out of there.

  Fast.

  All his lofty intentions were being shot straight to hell the more time he spent with Jenny Boyer.

  He watched her on the snowmobile behind her son as the boy climbed to the top of the hill.

/>   Even from here, he could see the tension in her posture. She clearly didn't want to be up there but she was doing it anyway, refusing to let her fears hold her back. He admired that in a woman.

  He admired a lot about her. He liked the way her eyes lit up when she talked about her children, he liked the way she seemed to sincerely listen to a person, he liked the way she was willing to laugh at herself.

  He let out a heavy breath. What the hell good did it do to count down all the things he liked about her? The grim fact remained that Jake was absolutely right. She deserved somebody better than him, somebody who wasn't always looking around the next bend.

  He'd been crazy to come out here again. He should have just holed up in the barn until she was gone, taking her big green eyes and her lush mouth and her sweet-as-sugar smile with her.

  From here, he could see her arguing with her children, then a minute later she climbed onto the inner tube. She sat there for a long moment, then nodded to her kids, who gave her a push.

  She shrieked then he heard her exclamation turn into a delighted laugh that seemed to reach right through him and tug at his insides.

  He should make his escape while he had the chance, he thought. He even turned around and headed for the barn but he'd only made three steps when he heard the laughter cut off into an abrupt scream.

  He jerked back around just in time to watch her spiral off the inner tube. The tube went one way and she went the other. To his horror she rolled three, possibly four times, then she lay horribly still about twenty yards from the bottom.

  He was already racing up the slope before she came to a stop, his heart pumping like crazy. He reached her just seconds later, astonished by his protective impulses. He wanted to grab her close and hang on tight.

  "Jen. Talk to me, sweetheart."

  She didn't answer, though he could see her chest rising and falling beneath her winter parka. He unzipped it just as Cole roared up on the snowmobile.

  "Go down to the ranch house and get my brother Jake," he told the boy, whose face was as white as the landscape around them. "Hurry."

  "Right. Okay."

  He gunned the snowmobile and took off down the road and Seth turned his attention back to Jenny.

  His brother might be the doctor in the family but years of ranch living and dealing with various mishaps had given Seth a basic knowledge of first aid. He ran his hands over her but couldn't find any broken bones.

  By now Miranda, Tanner and the girls had gathered, watching him solemnly as he examined her. Tanner and the younger girls looked terrified and even the normally sensible Miranda seemed anxious.

  The snow had kicked up in the last few moments and giant flakes drifted down to settle on her still features, alighting on her eyelashes, in her hair, on the curves of her cheek.

  By his estimation, it would take Cole ten minutes or so to ride down to the house, grab Jake and drive back up here. He couldn't bear the idea of Jenny lying out here in the snow all that time.

  Besides that, the children needed to be inside where they could get warm. All of them were going to be shocky soon if they didn't go inside.

  Making a split-second decision, he scooped Jenny into his arms. Moving her some place warm and dry outweighed the first aid axiom about not moving her, he decided. Jake would probably yell at him, but he knew his brother would have done the same.

  "Miranda, I'm taking Ms. Boyer inside. Come with me and take the kids into the kitchen, okay? I've got some cookies and I think there's some hot cocoa mix somewhere in there. Morgan, Nat, I need you two to help Miranda with Tanner."

  "What about my mom?" Morgan asked. Her features were pale with fright. He could only hope she didn't have an asthma attack just now since he wasn't sure he could cope with a second crisis.

  He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile as he carried Jenny into his house. "She just bumped her head a little when she fell off the inner tube but I'm sure everything's going to be fine. Aren't we lucky to have a doctor so close? Jake will take care of her, I promise."

  "Why are her eyes still closed?" she asked as he set her mother down carefully on the coach.

  He'd been the one pushing her to go on that tube, he thought with guilt. "Have you ever fallen at the playground and had the wind knocked out of you? That's what happened to your mom."

  He took time away from his worry over Jenny to give Morgan a quick, reassuring hug. She seemed to find comfort from it—and so did he. "Go on into the kitchen with the others and as soon as Dr. Jake takes a look at her, you can come back and talk to her, okay?"

  "She always stays with me and holds my hand when I'm having a flare-up. Will you stay with her?"

  "I'm not going anywhere, honey," he promised.

  With one last anxious look, she went into the kitchen and he turned his attention back to Jenny.

  She looked so frail against the dark maroon leather of his couch. A moment ago she had been laughing with him and complaining about the weather and now she was so terribly still.

  He pulled her coat open and was running a hand over her again, looking more carefully this time for anything out of the ordinary when her eyes fluttered open.

  She gazed at him for a long moment, her eyes hazy and baffled, then she blinked and seemed to become more alert by the second.

  "Seems like a lot of trouble to go to just so you could cop a cheap feel," she mumbled, her voice hoarse.

  Relief flooded through him and he closed his eyes for a moment and said a silent prayer of gratitude. She couldn't be at death's door if she could manage a tart comment like that.

  He grinned, fighting the urge to pull her into his arms. "That was just a side benefit. And believe me, it wasn't cheap in the least."

  To his surprise, she smiled back, then winced at the movement.

  "What hurts, besides your head?"

  "What doesn't?" She tried to pull herself to a sitting position.

  He shook his head. "Take it easy. I'm not letting you go anywhere so you might as well relax for now."

  She obeyed, though he thought her compliance stemmed more from her lack of strength than anything else.

  "Nothing seems broken from what I could tell," he told her. "Any acute areas of pain?"

  "Only my head. Most of me is just one big ache except my head, which I'm afraid might be ready to fall off."

  "It wouldn't surprise me if you've got a concussion. You conked it pretty hard."

  She winced. "Graceful, as usual."

  Tenderness washed through him and he couldn't prevent himself from picking up her hand. Strictly to warm her cold fingers, he told himself, even as he savored the contact. "It was just your trajectory. You couldn't avoid that rock, no matter what you tried to do. Anybody would have crashed in the same situation."

  "Thank you for trying to make me feel better," she murmured.

  Her fingers curled in his and a terrifying tenderness seemed to soak through him. "Is it working?"

  She made a face. "Not really."

  They both shared a small laugh he found oddly intimate and again he had to fight the fierce desire to pull her into his arms.

  "Where are my kids?" she asked.

  "Morgan's in the kitchen with Miranda and the others and I sent Cole down to the house on the snowmobile for Jake. They should be here in a minute. Matter of fact, if I'm not mistaken, I hear an engine out there right now."

  Seth barely had time to pull his hand away from hers before Jake and Cole both burst into the house.

  Chapter Eight

  "I'm sorry about this," Jenny said five minutes later to Jake Dalton as he gave her a careful exam after banishing Seth and Cole from the room. "I feel like such an idiot."

  He smiled with the calm competence she'd noticed during Morgan's asthma-related office visits. "Don't worry about it. You're not the first one to ever tumble down that hill. I think all of us have done our share. Seth even broke his collarbone on that hill when he was around Morgan's age. I don't suppose he told you that, di
d he?"

  "No. He didn't mention it."

  "He saw some snowboarders on TV and thought he'd like to try it."

  "Oh, no," she murmured.

  "Exactly. We didn't have any equipment, of course, so he improvised with a piece of plywood he found in the barn. He was lucky he only broke his collarbone."

  She smiled, though she really didn't want to talk about Seth Dalton. She couldn't seem to shake the memory of that moment she'd awakened and found him examining her.

  In her dazed, half-conscious state, she had come dangerously close to wrapping her arms around him and holding on tight. A million sensations had poured through her as his hand touched her ribs, hungers she barely remembered from the early days of her marriage.

  She sighed and Jake Dalton gave her a curious look and pressed harder on her shoulder. "Is that a touchy spot?"

  "No. Sorry."

  "Well, I can't find anything broken. You've got a nasty goose egg where you fell and I suspect a concussion but I'd like to keep a closer eye on that headache for the next hour or so. I'd like you to rest here for a while so I can monitor your head, okay?"

  "I've been such a bother."

  "You haven't, I promise. I don't want you driving today so your dad is going to take Morgan and Cole home. I'll come check on you in an hour. If you're feeling better at that point, Seth can drive you home."

  "I'm fine now."

  "I'm sure you are. But you'll have to humor me, okay? It's a doctor thing." He winked at her. "I wouldn't want you to go home too early and drag me out of my warm, cozy bed in the middle of the night if you have any complications. Just rest, okay?"

  Her head threatened to throb right off her shoulders and she was exhausted suddenly. She nodded. Closing her eyes gave some relief from the pain anyway.

  She awoke some time later to find the room dark except for the flickering fire and next to it a pool of light from a floor lamp of entwined elk antlers. That glow illuminated an entirely too attractive man sitting in an armchair near the fire, a magazine open across his lap and a puppy stretched out at his feet like a pair of fuzzy slippers.

  He looked up suddenly as if sensing her gaze. When he saw her eyes open, he gave a slow, painfully sweet smile, and her heart seemed to skip a beat.