CHAPTER 9
Carly wasn’t sure what had come over her, except she wanted to be with Ethan. His mom had been so nice. His brother and sister-in-law stood there not correcting Mrs. Forrester. It seemed so easy to let her assume. No one interrupted to say she wasn’t with Ethan, not in that way. Zak and his wife, Sabrina, had to have known. She had talked to Zak when she called the lodge and asked to speak to Ethan. Certainly, if Ethan and she were close, she would have his number and wouldn’t have been calling the lodge asking for him. It felt like a conspiracy. Like everyone in this lodge wanted her with Ethan, except for Ethan.
He guided her past the front of the prow-fronted lodge where a huge rock fireplace stood. He wasn’t saying a word. Typical. She’d find a way to make him talk. Even if she had to look at him as a business project, the subject of her next article, whatever she had to do to get him to speak.
She craned her neck up, looking at the rock-covered chimney. It went up three stories. The ceiling had large natural wood rafters and what looked like knotty pine wood paneling. The comfy-looking leather sofa covered with blankets called to her. Maybe if she buried herself under a blanket, her deception would magically disappear. Ethan’s mother had made the assumption she was more than a guest, and she’d let her believe it.
She glanced around the gigantic room with its log walls, and decided it was more than a lodge, it was a retreat. “This place is amazing.”
Ethan set down the bags while she took in every aspect of the lodge’s aesthetic appeal. “It is, isn’t it?”
A tingling sensation crept over her skin, as though they weren’t speaking about the lodge at all. Or maybe she secretly hoped they were talking about more than the lodge. She wanted to speak rationally about the issue at hand. It wasn’t every day she became someone’s fake girlfriend for the weekend. “It seems I read somewhere that you and your brothers built this place yourself?”
“Yes, we did most of the log work, the basic structure of the building. We had to hire out the electrical and plumbing, but we did a large part of the work ourselves.”
“How did you do it? I mean how did you come up with this idea? You know, for a lodge out in the middle of nowhere.”
“Gold Creek was a town before we moved here. We thought it was an ideal location. It has hunting, fishing, a hot springs, a lake. It’s perfect for outdoor recreation. We hired a designer, but the log work itself took a lot of trial and error. We went through a lot of chain saws.”
She kept noticing the details of the logs, the track lighting, the colors of the stones. “Not all the logs are the same size.”
“That’s because they aren’t manufactured logs. They’re cut from Alaskan spruce trees. The trees were cut, peeled, and varnished by my brothers and me. The notches fit together because we took chain saws and made them fit.”
“Wow. There really is such a rustic appeal to the place. I was trying to put my finger on why it feels so…so warm and welcoming, part of it has to be the logs themselves. Every single one of them is unique. Not put through a mill and made to all be the same size and look alike.” She hummed in quiet appreciation. “I can’t imagine all the work and time that went into this. How long did it take you to build it?”
“We worked on it over the course of three summers. The first summer we cut all the trees. We let them dry a year, then the next summer peeled and varnished them, the next summer put them all together. We also gathered river rocks to build the fireplace. That was a job, too.”
She noticed the pride in his voice, the determination. “I’ll bet. You and your brothers working together like that…it must have bonded you.”
Ethan shrugged. “Yeah, you could say that. We managed to not kill each other.” He gave a half-hearted smile. “Nobody has mentioned it quite like that before.”
“Working together toward a common goal, especially over the course of several years bonds people, especially a family.” It would be nice if Ethan and she worked together toward a common goal other than an interview with Dane. She could think of other goals that had nothing to do with hockey.
“We are pretty tight.”
“It’s obvious by the way you all interact with each other.” They reminded her of being home with her brothers and the banter that went on between them.
“Now the only brother you have left to meet is Dane. And he’s the reason you’re here,” Ethan said matter-of-factly and picked up the bags.
Mentioning Dane was like splashing cold water on their conversation, which she hoped had begun to turn warmer. Obviously, Ethan had other ideas and she took his cue to keep moving. She reached for the wooden rail of the stairs that were open to the living room areas and three-story windows. She looked outside as the sun sank behind the mountains.
The second story had an open loft area and small sitting room with a spectacular view. The frozen lake and the Brooks Range became shrouded in darkness as the sun dipped out of sight. “I can’t get over this place. I have to say again how amazing it is.”
“Maybe we’ll get lucky and see the Northern Lights tonight.”
Carly took note he said we and a shiver dribbled through her limbs. Could there be any kind of we for Ethan and her?
She glanced over her shoulder at the determination on his face. Reaching beyond the walls he’d erected would be no small task. The fact that he’d had a short conversation with her about the lodge was a start. She’d like to find a way to talk. Really talk about things, rather than being angry at each other over half-truths.
“My room is the second door on the left,” he said from behind her.
“Should I go inside?” she asked hesitantly.
“Yes, it isn’t locked. We purposely didn’t book any guests this weekend so we could have the lodge to ourselves.”
She opened the door to his room but didn’t step inside. She swung around to face him, their bodies only a short distance apart. A déjà vu image of them standing like this at the hotel just like they were now, flashed through her mind. Sticking to the subject at hand, she said, “And here I am ruining your family time together.”
She hoped he remembered their time at the hotel, like she did.
His dark gaze penetrated into her, his expression serious. “We plan family time, but it’s not usually just our family. We invite friends and someone from town is always coming over. If nothing else, Sabrina probably has a yoga class scheduled.”
At least they were having a conversation. It was progress. “Really? Yoga?”
“Yes, really.” Ethan gave the smallest of smiles and her heart melted a little. Even if she had a feeling his smile had to do with his sister-in-law, rather than her. She decided she’d do a lot to see that smile. A whole heck of a lot.
He lifted the duffle bag in his hand. “You can go inside.”
She strode down a short hallway before stepping inside not just a room but a small apartment. “This is comfortable.”
“I live here most of the time, except when my fireman duties in Anchorage require me to be there. So I have two homes.”
Carly walked past the king-sized bed with a pony wall separating it from a small sitting area. “This is a nice place.”
“Thank you. I’ll sleep on the couch.”
Too bad their pleasant conversation had to switch directions. “You shouldn’t have to give up your bed. Couldn’t I just stay in one of the other rooms?”
Ethan stopped squarely in front of her, his dark eyes narrowing. “My mom wouldn’t think you’re my girlfriend if you stayed in another room.”
The heady masculine scent of him surrounded her and she mentally transported to their night together. “Oh yeah, right.”
She remembered the feel of him, the taste and the smell of him. She wanted to stay in the same room with him. Her fingers itched to reach out and trace the line of his jaw, kiss the scar near his eye. “I seemed to have messed things up. I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right.” He backed away, retrieved some discarded shirts and
threw them in a laundry hamper. “I wasn’t expecting company. Otherwise I would have cleaned the place up a bit.”
She wanted more than he was willing to give, and more than she imagined she could want. The idea of it stunned her. After all, she was a journalist, here to get a story, and yet being around Ethan made her think of anything but her job. “The place looks fine. Nice, actually.”
This wasn’t like her. She had her work, but suddenly her job didn’t seem important. She had moved to Alaska for work and now Ethan Forrester distracted her from her task. Everything in her life had been about climbing the ladder in a male-dominated industry.
Carly thought about Ethan’s sister-in-law, Sabrina. Their meeting had been brief, but she had a feeling the woman would be willing to share more about Ethan with her and maybe help her find a way to get past his defenses. “So your sister-in-law teaches yoga classes? That’s cool. I like yoga.”
“Yeah, I never thought I’d see yoga classes at the lodge. She showed up on our doorstep last fall, with no reservation. No one was here except Zak…and, well, he didn’t have the heart to send her away. I guess the rest is history.”
She sensed a charming story. “Why was Zak the only person at the lodge?”
“It was in the fall. Everyone was hunting.”
She loved a good story and couldn’t wait to hear more about it. And hearing Ethan talk about his family eased the tension between them. Carly glanced up at a beautiful portrait of a dark-haired woman in a metal frame positioned squarely in the room where no one could miss it. She asked, “Who is that?”
Ethan answered immediately. “My wife.”
CHAPTER 10
“Your wife?” Carly couldn’t believe her ears. “You’re married?”
“I was married.” Ethan moved to the window and stared into the darkness. “She died.”
“Oh.” A whoosh of tension immediately left her body. Not due to his wife being deceased, but because for a split second she’d thought she’d slept with a married man. And she noted that he didn’t say, she was my wife but used present tense instead. “I’m sorry. What happened?”
“Car accident,” he said quietly.
She hoped he’d elaborate but wasn’t surprised when he didn’t. It wasn’t like the guy was very forthcoming with information. “How long ago?”
“Five years.”
“I’m very sorry.” Carly figured he must have been married at a young age because she didn’t imagine Ethan was thirty yet.
The room was eerily quiet. Her curiosity got the better of her. “How did the car accident happen?”
“A pile up on the Seward Highway.” He swung around to face her. “There was a motor home, a fuel truck, and a couple other vehicles on the deadliest strip of highway in Alaska.”
She didn’t know what to say. She’d already said sorry, so it didn’t seem necessary to say it again, but the words were there. “I…that must have been very hard on you.”
“It was.” His voice sounded hard and bitter. “So we have this problem. My mom thinks we’re dating.”
“I shouldn’t have let her assume. I should have said something…”
“I didn’t tell you my real identity before. We’ve both made mistakes.” His tone sounded completely disengaged from the conversation.
“I’ll only be here for a day or two, or however long it takes for me to speak with Dane. Then you can tell her I had to go back to Anchorage. Which is the truth. There won’t be any harm done, okay?”
“Right. No harm done.” He crossed his arms and gave a brief nod.
“You say that as though you don’t believe me. I don’t want to hurt you, or your family, or cause you any trouble.” Blowing out a long breath, she contemplated what to say. She wanted to comfort Ethan and remove some of the pain he carried with him, but she was here for one purpose, and letting Ethan Forrester into her heart wasn’t part of the plan. “I just need to do my job and my job is producing this article about Dane.”
“Right.” He gave her another quick nod. “I’ll talk to Dane. My mom will expect us for dinner. Maybe after we eat, Dane will speak with you.”
“That would be great.” The faster she got away from Ethan, the better. “Is there a flight out of here tonight?”
“No, not tonight.” He uncrossed his arms and strode across the small apartment. He stopped at the window before turning back to her. “Travis can fly you back to Anchorage tomorrow, though.”
“Really? But isn’t the point of the weekend for your family to spend time together? If Travis is flying me home, that defeats the purpose.”
“He wouldn’t mind flying you back,” he stated simply.
“Is there another place I could stay in town?”
“Yes, there’s a bed and breakfast, but we’ve kind of ruined that option since you’re supposed to be with me, staying with me, in my room.” He thought of everything.
“Oh, yeah, that’s right.” The guy completely unnerved her. She was losing her focus and she hated that. She was a better journalist than this. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“No. You won’t. I’ll take the couch. You get the bed.”
“Sure.” Great. She’d be sleeping in the same room as Ethan, but not actually sleeping with him. This was going to be loads of fun. Hell, may as well make it a party and bring on the champagne.
No sense in taking her disappointment out on him. “I appreciate your help, Ethan, I really do.”
She had to believe he wanted to get rid of her as soon as possible. So maybe she’d get her story and find a flight back home tonight with another airline. Either way, she needed to focus. She prided herself on her work ethic, and being near Ethan jumbled her thoughts and made her very unfocused. He acted so distant and gruff, but she remembered how playful he’d been with her when he wore his mask. She wished she could see that side of him again.
But just standing there talking to Ethan without touching him wasn’t doing it for her. She needed to keep her hands busy. Yes, she wanted her story, but she wanted Ethan, too. And he was so closed off from her now, she barely recognized this man as compared to the Knight she’d been with a week ago.
Ever since that morning when she saw him without his mask, she wanted to touch him again.
“I said I’d help you,” he said under her breath and turned to stare out the window.
Yes, he did. He’d made himself vulnerable to her in a small way by telling her about his wife; she needed to open up to him as well. “Yeah, well…I hate asking people for help. I hope you know that. I hated making that phone call to you.”
“Why? Because you were still wishing I was Dane?”
“What?” She couldn’t believe her ears. “Why would I wish you were Dane?”
“He’s the handsome, successful hockey star. You went to bed with a prince and woke up with the toad.” He forced a laugh that sounded angry instead of happy. “Kissing the toad didn’t turn me into a prince for you, did it?”
“I can’t believe you would say that.” Her face heated and she strode to him. She had the urge to hit something, but she resisted. “I slept with you because I fell for you.”
“You thought I was my brother.”
She poked her pointer finger into his chest hard. “I despise the egos of most sports stars. You weren’t like that. You are the person I fell for, not your brother. You.” She poked his chest a few more times for good measure. “Don’t you get that?”
“I get a lot of things.” He grabbed her wrist.
Currents of warmth raced through her hand and arm. His heat, his strength, everything about him turned her on and she wanted him again. “Do you get that—dammit—I’ll say it again. I fell for you, Ethan. You.”
“You would have never spoken to me if you had seen my face.” His eyes bore into hers and he let go of her hand.
Her blood pounded so hard in her veins she saw red. “How dare you,” she ground out. “You are implying that I slept with you only because I thought you were your
brother. Well, catch a clue, would you? And give me some credit. You think that’s the only way I can get a story or something?”
“No, I wasn’t thinking that at all. This has nothing to do with your story.” Ethan’s brows furrowed and he looked away.
“Then what were you thinking?”
“I told you…like I said, you would have never slept with me if you’d seen my face.” Making eye contact with her, he continued, “You would have never talked to me if you’d seen me…if you’d known I wasn’t Dane.”
With her anger nearly to the boiling point, she began to see where his insecurities were. Maybe if her face was scarred she’d feel the same, but he had to know she didn’t care if he was scarred or not. But at the same time, she still saw red. Her hands shook, so she fisted them at her sides. “It was your voice, your smell…conversation with you is what attracted me. I broke every rule in my journalist ethics handbook when I slept with you! And I’m still angry with myself over that, but you were too irresistible.”
A husky-type dog with a pink collar suddenly appeared by Carly’s side and she flinched.
“That’s Bunny,” Ethan said. “She’s Zak and Sabrina’s dog.”
She looked at the dog, then again at Ethan. “Have you listened to anything I said? You are so stubborn, I want to slug you.”
A cough sounded from behind her. “Ah, sorry to interrupt. Bunny, come here.”
Carly swung around to see Zak standing in the doorframe and glared at him for the interruption.
Zak shrugged and scrunched up his face. “Being stubborn is a family trait, I’m afraid. He comes by it naturally.”
“I need some air.” Carly shook her head and patted the dog on its head before she left Ethan’s room.
* * *
ETHAN STARED at the open doorway after Carly marched out.
Zak stood there looking lost in his own house. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I didn’t know where Bunny went and wasn’t sure if your guest was afraid of dogs.”
“Apparently not.”
Melting His Alaskan Heart Page 7