by LuAnn McLane
After placing her purse on the nightstand, Claire opened the door to the bathroom and smiled again. Everything was modern but vintage-style, from the pedestal sink to the high-tank toilet. But when she turned and spotted the double-slipper claw-foot bathtub, she put her hands to her chest. “Oh, absolutely amazing!” She hurried over to the freestanding faucet and admired the porcelain details on the hand shower and immediately felt the desire for a long, soothing bubble bath with soft music and flickering candles. She wondered whether she should ask Jesse if he had any votives, but as soon as his name skittered through her brain, she envisioned him lounging in the tub, cowboy hat tilted back, a longneck dangling from his fingers, and the need for his back to be scrubbed, and then maybe his chest, and then …
“Oh, stop!” Closing her eyes, Claire inhaled a deep breath and blew it out. Just thinking about Jesse brought a heated flush to her face, and she put her cool hands on her warm cheeks and groaned. Leave it to her to finally find a man who could make her melt like butter on a hot biscuit and have him live hundreds of miles away.
But she pushed that thought aside and, as promised, found everything she needed in the medicine cabinet. After washing her face and brushing her teeth, she headed back into the bedroom, clicking on the cute little lamp perched on the nightstand before she turned off the overhead light. She slipped beneath the crisp sheet and pulled the cozy down comforter up to her chin and sighed. “The day started off pretty normal,” she murmured, and then shook her head in wonder. Although her work as a stylist was fast-paced and hectic, her social life was pretty low-key. Stuff like this just didn’t happen to her. Claire smiled slowly. It was about time she added an adventure to her predictable life. But her smile faded when she looked at her purse and thought about her cell phone tucked inside. Claire considered calling her sister, Chloe, but then sighed. She had talked to Chloe and her mother just this morning, so they wouldn’t be worried as of yet. But soon she would have to break her snowbound news to them all. “That is not going to be fun.”
Another sigh escaped Claire as she leaned her head back against the squishy feather pillow. She folded her hands above the blanket and glanced around. She simply could not tell her protective parents that she was stranded in a remote mountain cabin with a complete stranger. Claire imagined the National Guard swarming in helicopters or a SWAT team perched in the trees. Oh, this isn’t going to be good. While nibbling on her inner cheek, Claire contemplated the situation and then suddenly snapped her fingers. She was sleeping in a bed and Jesse promised a hot breakfast… . She was staying at a bed-and-breakfast! “Yes!” she said, and in the still of the night her voice seemed to ring out. “Oh no,” she squeaked with a wince, and put a hand over her mouth, hoping Jesse didn’t hear her silly outburst. With that thought, she quickly turned off the light. “Oh … no,” she repeated in a much lower tone. It was dark. No, not just dark.
Pitch. Black. Dark.
And oh so very quiet.
Claire swallowed hard and brought the blanket all the way up to her nose, as if the fluffy feather comforter would somehow shield her from things that go bump in the night….
Ahhhhhhoooooh!
Oh crap—correction. Things that howl in the night and maybe go bump, too. When another ahhhhhohhhh rang out into the night, Claire swallowed and with a weak laugh sang, “Werewolves of London.”Tugging the covers nearly up to her eyeballs, she said, “I’m Team Jacob, so please don’t eat me.” She shook her head, thinking this was feeling more like a B horror movie than R-rated Hallmark.“R-Rated Hallmark is way better,” she mumbled, and was very close to calling out for Jesse but refrained. It’s just the wilderness, you little city slicker.
“Okay, calm down and just relax.” Claire attempted to fall asleep, but she realized that although it was so very, very dark, her eyes were wide-open. After a few minutes her vision adjusted, but then the previously lovely furniture seemed to be lurking in the shadows ready to pounce. Feeling absolutely absurd for being so scared, she pressed her lips together and squeezed her eyes shut.
Realizing she would never fall asleep being this tense, she willed her limbs to relax one by one as if in the cooldown part of her Pilates class. After a while her method began to work and she started to drift off to sleep….
And then she heard it. Scratching at her window! Her eyes opened wide and she strained to see what was trying to come in and get her, but could see nothing but shadows. Her heart pounded double-time, but when all she heard was silence, she blew out her held breath and had to start the whole Pilates thing all over again. She was only to her thighs when the scratching began and then quickly accelerated to banging.
Dear God!
Claire wanted to shout for Jesse, but with every ounce of courage in her body she eased from the protection of the comforter and then leaned over and turned on the lamp, wanting to see her would-be attacker in the light. Swallowing hard, she crept over to the window, shoved back the drapes, and, fully expecting to see some sort of eerie, beady-eyed creature of the night, sucked in a breath, ready to let out a bloodcurdling B-movie-worthy scream for Jesse to come to her rescue.
“A tree branch!” Claire whispered hotly, and allowed the drape to fall back in place. “Well!”Totally ticked at her scared-silly self, she stomped over to the bed and slid under the covers. Still grumbling beneath her breath, she snapped off the light and slammed her eyes shut. “It was only a stupid tree branch,” she muttered darkly, but then thanked her lucky stars that she hadn’t made a fool of herself by screaming. A girl could take only so much humiliation in one day. She yawned and this time made it all the way up to tensing and then relaxing her butt before falling fast asleep.
The aroma of bacon frying filtered into Claire’s brain before she was fully awake, causing a dreamy smile before she snuggled back into the soft, squishy bedding. She really needed to invest in some feather pillows. Must be the hotel restaurant making breakfast, she thought with a sleepy sigh. She inhaled deeply and was delighted to smell coffee brewing as well. Still, she opted for more sleep, but her stomach rumbled in protest. With a groan she slowly lifted her eyelids while stretching and wondering why her muscles protested in odd places.
“Ohmigod.” It suddenly all came flooding back to her befuddled brain. She was in Jesse Marshall’s cabin in Whisper, Colorado, with nothing but the clothes on her back. She peeked beneath the covers. “Okay, make that his clothes on my back.” Oh yeah, and she had made passionate love to him on a rug in front of his fireplace.
And now she had to go down there and face him.
Claire closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath. No biggie; we’re adults, she reminded herself with a firm nod. This sort of thing happens all the time….
Just not to her.
Claire’s stomach rumbled again and she rolled her eyes. She was going to have to face the music sometime, so it might as well be now. With a short determined nod she tossed back the covers and padded in Jesse’s big socks into the bathroom. “Oh, dear God, where are my panties?” she asked in a high-squeaked whisper. She reached up and felt her breasts.“And my bra?” And while washing her hands, she looked into the oval mirror and winced. What was usually carefully flatironed hair had become a bed-head-starting-to-curl mess, and with her makeup washed off, her freckles stood out prominently and her eyelashes were spiky ginger instead of jet-black.The impact of not having her luggage was really starting to settle in.
Claire shoved her fingers through her hair, but it didn’t really help at all and she suddenly felt a little bit like crying. She opened the medicine cabinet and prayed to find mascara, foundation, and eyeliner. “Damn!” She stared at her bare-naked freckled face and wild hair and shook her head. Handsome-as-sin Jesse Marshall was about to have a Coyote Ugly morning….
But over the years Claire had become adept at hiding her insecurities, and so she squared her shoulders and headed down the stairs. Although her heart was hammering, she entered the kitchen with a big smile. “I smell coffee.”
/> Jesse turned around from the refrigerator with a carton of eggs in his hand. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yes, thanks,” she replied, and willed herself not to blush. Redheads were experts at blushing and she was no exception.
“Not scared, I hope.”
She waved a hand sideways and managed not to reach up and try to tame her hair. “Not at all. I found the complete and utter darkness and absolute quiet very peaceful.”
Jesse arched one dark eyebrow as if trying to decide whether she was serious. She got that a lot. “Really?” Unlike her, he looked devilishly handsome with messy hair and wore his low-slung gray sweatpants well. A long-sleeved red T-shirt stretched across his shoulders and hugged his biceps. She was further distracted when he bent over and retrieved a carton of orange juice from the fridge. She angled her head and gawked. Wow, he had the best butt ever. He straightened and gazed at her expectantly. “You weren’t?”
She jerked her head back up and blinked at him.Wait, what did he ask? “Weren’t … what?”
“Frightened.”
“Bffft … no,” she scoffed, and then added, “That werewolf scratching at my window turned out to be a mere tree branch.”
Jesse set the eggs down onto the island and chuckled. “So you heard the howling?”
“Um … yeah.” She nodded, and Jesse thought she looked completely cute standing there uncertainly in his big floppy socks and her bottom lip sucked between her teeth.Without her makeup she was a fresh-faced natural beauty, and her warm, bed-rumpled appearance made him want to walk over there and kiss her senseless. But although she managed to smile and joke, Jesse sensed a bit of uneasiness and he wanted to squash it.
“Have a seat. Just tell me whatever you want,” he offered, and when her eyes widened slightly, he realized his comment sounded suggestive and he could have bitten his tongue. “For breakfast,” he added lamely, and noticed her blush. “But first come on over and grab a mug of coffee. There’s cream and sugar.”
“Thanks. I could use some.”
Oh, so could he, but he wasn’t thinking about breakfast. Seeing Claire in his clothes was somehow so damned hot, and knowing that her bra and panties were lying on the sofa was getting him going. He was just about to turn away when she stumbled in his too-big socks and fell forward. Jesse reached out to catch her and with his arms around her took two steps back, landing against the edge of the counter. He felt the full impact of her braless breasts and groaned.
“I’m sorry! Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he said, but his voice sounded strained.
“I am such a train wreck!”
“Yeah, but a cute train wreck.”
“Those two things don’t go together,” she said.
“With you, they do.”
She frowned. “I’m trying to decide whether that was a compliment … and hey, your hands are on my ass.”
“I know.This time I meant to do that,” he admitted with a grin, but then sobered. “Claire, I couldn’t sleep last night.”
“B-because of the howling?”
He reached up and tucked his hand beneath her chin.“No, because all I could think about was you.”
She laughed softly and pushed away from him. “Yeah, you had your eggnog goggles on.” She lifted both palms in the air. “Now look at me. Freckle-faced, wild-haired Amazon chick.” She lifted a lock of her hair from her shoulder. “When I wash this mane without product and a flatiron, it will be a crazy mass of curls.”
Jesse shook his head slowly, thinking that she just didn’t get it. “I want to sketch you.”
“Sketch me?”
“Yes, you need to see how truly beautiful you are.”
She angled her head. “I have a mirror. I know what I look like.”
“Not through my eyes.” Jesse wasn’t sure whether he truly meant to say that out loud, but now it was out there, so he persisted, “Will you pose for me, Claire?”
Her mouth opened and then shut, and Jesse could sense her fear but also curiosity. She looked down at his shirt and then said, “You mean in my business suit?”
Jesse shook his head from side to side. “Not that suit.”
“You mean …” Her eyes widened. “Oh!” Her cheeks turned a deep shade of rose.
“Please?” For some reason this suddenly became important to him. He took a step closer and put his hands on her shoulders. “No pressure, but just so you know, this isn’t a smarmy come-on. I’m an artist and I have an eye for beauty.”
“But I’m not—”
He put a fingertip to her mouth. “You are. Beautiful.”
She moved his finger from her mouth and put her hands to his cheeks. “You already make me feel beautiful, Jesse.”
Claire gazed at him with stark honesty and once again her quiet admission reached inside and grabbed Jesse in places that had remained dormant for a long time.When her smile trembled, he simply had to lean in and press his mouth to hers. He kissed her tenderly and then said in her ear, “Ah, but I want you to know it. Own it.” He nuzzled her neck and then asked, “Will you do it?”
When she looked at him for a long, silent moment, Jesse thought she was going to refuse, but then she put a gentle hand on his chest and nodded slowly. “Yes,” she answered softly, “I will.”
“Excellent.” Jesse let out the breath he had been holding and felt a surge of joy. He kissed her lightly on the lips and said, “Okay, now, how do you like your eggs?”
Chapter Eight
After a big breakfast of fluffy scrambled eggs, crisp bacon, and hot biscuits, Claire enjoyed a long soak in the luxurious bathtub. Jesse had refused to allow her to help clean up the kitchen and told her to take her time before coming down for the sitting. He needed to gather his equipment and said he would let her know when he was ready. After toweling dry, she located some lotion and smoothed it over her skin while trying not to think about walking downstairs in nothing but Jesse’s big robe. She squeezed all the excess water from her hair and wished she had some product. Blow-drying without a diffuser would make her hair a big frizzy ball, so she wiggled her fingers through the waves and let her hair air-dry.
She entered the bedroom and sat on the bed, then reached for her purse. She dumped out the contents, hoping to find some makeup. Her cell phone thumped onto the comforter and seemed to scream, “Call your mother!”
“Oh, okay!” Claire picked it up but couldn’t muster up the courage to listen to her parents’ disappointment when they found out she wasn’t going to make it home for the holidays. Maybe she could just send a text message.
She looked at the time, and since she shouldn’t be arriving in Atlanta for several hours, she decided to leave that emotional task until later. “Yes!” she said when she spotted a sample tube of mascara, a pressed-powder compact, and sheer coral lip gloss. Perfume! Sweet! She dearly missed her eyeliner and foundation, but this stash at least gave her a bit of polish, so she opened the compact and applied what little she had. With a happy smile she picked up her small spray bottle of perfume. After untying her robe, she slipped it from her shoulders and sprayed some on and in the process caught a glimpse of herself in the oval mirror standing in the far corner of the room.With a pounding heart she walked over and gazed at her naked reflection.
Like a prizefighter dancing in a ring, every little imperfection seemed to reach out and take quick jabs at her confidence. Her breasts were too full, her hips were too rounded, and her thighs too thick. She reached up and touched the riot of unruly curls tumbling over her shoulders and eyed her freckled face with a frown.
“What in the world was I thinking?” she whispered, and reached for the robe and secured the sash tightly. After sitting down on the edge of the bed, she inhaled a deep breath.“I can’t do this.”
Claire sat there for a few minutes with her hands folded. She was wondering what to say to Jesse when she heard a soft rap on her door. “Come in.”
“Hey there.” He filled the doorway looking so handsome that she wanted
to throw a pillow at him. Or maybe kiss him. “I brought you a glass of wine.”
“Jesse, it’s not even noon.”
He shrugged his lumberjack shoulders. “No clocks, no schedule. This is my vacation,” he replied with a grin that was way too sexy. He took two steps into the room and extended the glass to her.
“It’s called a staycation.”
“It’s not what I had in mind, but it’s working for me. All I know is that I woke up this morning wanting to relax and not worry about a damned thing.” He reached over and put a fingertip between her eyebrows. “Get rid of that frown.”
“Are you always this cheerful when you’re snowed in?”
Something like surprise passed over his face. “Funny, but I’ve never been what you would call cheerful.” But when Claire started to comment, he said, “Listen, I’m all set up downstairs, but if you don’t want to do this, it’s perfectly okay.”
“I want to.”
“Good.”
“I just … can’t.”
“Then I’ll sketch you with the robe on.”
She raised her eyebrows.“Really?” She should have been relieved but instead felt an unexpected shot of disappointment.
He nodded and then extended his arm toward her.“If that’s what you prefer. Come with me.”
Claire slipped her hand into his and immediately felt a little feminine flutter. She had been single for so long and seeing couples holding hands always hit her hard with longing.There was just something so sweet, so romantic about it, and his hand was so big, so masculine, that he once again made her feel delicate … girly.
“Make yourself comfortable on the rug in front of the fire.”
Claire nodded but felt heat in her cheeks when visions of what they did there last night filtered into her brain.