Sisters of Spirit, Pure Romance Set

by Nancy Radke

  “I don’t know. Don’t you think you’re....uh....” Jo paused, unable to speak freely.

  “No, I don’t. You already told him you want to date me.”

  “So I did, but—”

  “You coming or not?”

  She wanted to. Oh, how she wanted to. Jo turned so she could see her grandfather. He was talking to her father, who was shaking his head, saying, “She’s twenty-three. I can’t stop her.”

  “Humph” Knocking over his coffee cup, her grandfather scrambled to his feet and stomped out of the kitchen, muttering dire threats against Adam.

  Putting her hand over the mouthpiece, Jo said, “Will you need me this morning, Dad?”

  “Not today. Go ahead.”

  Lifting her hand, she spoke to Adam. “I’ll be ready when you come.”

  “Bring a swimsuit. See you.” He hung up.

  Jo stared at the receiver. She didn’t know how much of the conversation Gramps had heard, but his reaction hadn’t seemed as explosive as it had two days ago. Maybe he was getting resigned to the idea.

  Jo walked over to where her father was sitting, silently observant. “Here’s your lunch.”

  He took it from her. “Thanks. I take it Adam’s coming this morning.”

  “Yes.” Her eyes sparkled in anticipation. “Is Gramps okay?”

  “He seems to be. Just don’t throw Adam at him too fast.” He stood up to leave. “See you this evening.”

  As her father closed the door, Jo turned to Karen. “I’m leaving in twenty minutes. If we hurry, I’ll have time to help with the dishes.”

  “Don’t bother, I’ll do them.”

  “Would you?”

  “I’m cutting out a dress today. With the men working straight through, I won’t have to stop until supper. So I’ll clean up. You go get ready.”

  “Thanks. I smell like the barn.” Jo said, racing up the stairs.

  “That’s never bothered you before,” Karen yelled after her.

  It took Jo the entire twenty minutes, five to shower, ten to dry and style her hair, and the other five to dress. She rejected her new T-shirts in favor of an old mossy green one that accented her hazel eyes — and was nice and loose. Pulling on a new pair of jeans and moccasins, she was ready just as Adam’s truck rolled up the drive.

  “Thanks, Karen,” she yelled as she took the steps two at a time and ran out the door, hopping into Adam’s blue pick-up almost before it pulled to a stop.

  “What’s the hurry? Running away from something?” he kidded as he reversed to turn and go down the drive. She sat back with a sigh of satisfaction. “Or maybe,” he added, “you couldn’t wait to see me again.”

  She glanced his way. He was too sure of himself. And looking fit and rugged in jeans and tank top. There should be a law against muscular men wearing tank tops.

  “I wanted to put on a good act for Gramps.”

  “Did you tell him where we’re going?”

  “No. He didn’t wait around to hear. But he’s no longer telling me to stay away from you.”

  “Great! I like your T-shirt,” said Adam. “It matches your eyes.”

  “Thanks. I bought some new ones yesterday, but I was afraid we might be crawling through barbed wire and I didn’t want to risk tearing them.”

  “There are gates where we’ll be today.” He shifted down, the truck inching up the last hill into the timber. It was a four-wheel-drive with high clearance, so they traveled easily along the mountain roads.

  “Our gate was left open—the one to the mountain pastures. I had to close it as I went through yesterday,” she said. “I could see where a truck had driven through.”

  “Were there any tire prints? Enough so Sheriff Allerton could get a cast?”

  “No. I don’t think so. The edges were not clear.”

  “Slide over,” he said. “You’re too far away.” In agreement, Jo scooted to the center of the bench-style seat.

  Adam caught the fragrance of her hair and sniffed. “Umm, you smell good.” He sniffed again. “Coconut?”

  “My shampoo.”

  “I like it.”

  The road ran along the rounded tops of the mountains, so it was fairly level for stretches. Adam shifted into fourth and swung his arm across the back of the seat, above her shoulder. “This is a super way to go to work. It could become a habit. Cuddle up a little more.”

  Laughing at his boldness, Jo slid a little closer, but her contentment was short lived.

  “Where shall we go on our honeymoon?”

  “Honeymoon? What honeymoon?”

  “Ours.”

  “We aren’t going on a honeymoon.” Trust him to come up with a subject like that.

  “But where would you want to go? You’ve got to have a honeymoon after the wedding,” Adam explained patiently as if she was the one not being reasonable.

  “Not me. I agreed to a mock engagement, only.” She tried to straighten away from him but his arm stayed her.

  “Take it easy. Once we announce our engagement, people are going to ask questions. It would be nice if we had some answers to give them. Now where would you like to go, love? Portland? Or Spokane?”

  So this discussion was only to cover themselves if people asked? Strangely, the knowledge depressed Jo, as if the rock she thought was gold, turned out to be iron pyrite, fool’s gold. “Not particularly. I don’t like towns that well.”

  “Same here.”

  “So, if we must plan this, let’s make it somewhere close. How about our `Alps of Oregon?’ We could either stay in Joseph or at the lodge by the lake and take daily rides into the Wallowas. How long is this honeymoon supposed to last?”

  “A week at least. No self-respecting honeymoon lasts less than a week. Would you like to camp out?”

  “Yes. I love the high alpine country.”

  He nodded. “A girl after my own heart...a pack trip in the Wallowa Mountains. We’d have to wait till most of the snow is gone. Let’s see, we’d need a tent and several horses—”

  “Two fishing poles—”

  “And a sleeping bag,” he stressed.

  “Two bags,” she corrected dryly. “Or were you planning on going alone?”

  “Oh, no,” he assured her. “One bag — extra large. This is a honeymoon we’re planning. That’s the most essential item.”

  Her active imagination had already placed her in the bag with him and from the look on his face he was enjoying the same image. Stubbornly she wrenched her mind away. She could conjure it up again tonight, when it was safer. Her face was far too revealing, and if she could read his thoughts...

  He was getting too realistic. Pretending was easier if you acted like it was real, but enough was enough.

  Adam pulled off the road at a wire gate. The trailing dust cloud caught up and covered everything, and Adam waited to let it settle. Then he opened his door, pulled out a salt block and carried it over to the wire gate. Inside the pasture he set the block over a foot-high metal stake driven into the ground, the blocks being manufactured with a hole in the middle so they could be anchored down in such a manner.

  Putting the wire gate back up, he climbed in and drove toward the next area.

  “There’s one problem, Adam. We needn’t get engaged until the end of this summer. So we wouldn’t be planning a summer honeymoon...unless it’s for next summer.”

  “Do you think Karen and Johnny will wait that long?”

  “It’s not long.”

  “It mightn’t be to you, but it is to them. Let’s see how Gramps takes it. We might be able to speed things up even more. How’d he handle my call this morning?”

  “I don’t know. He stampeded out of the kitchen after my first statement. I don’t think he heard any more.”

  “Hum. How’s your dad reacting?”

  “He’s on our side, although sympathetic with Grampa’s dilemma. Poor Gramps must be bewildered by my sudden switch to the enemy, deserting him without a word.”

  “He won’t be able
to turn a blind eye to our dating. Keep plugging away, Jo. Even if he doesn’t appear to listen, he’ll know what’s going on — and get used to it, eventually, however reluctantly.”

  How simple Adam made it seem. Of course, she could change her grandfather’s mind — as long as Adam said so. His confidence gave her renewed confidence. Like measles, it was catching.

  “Well, one thing is certain,” she said. “We can’t tell folks we’ll be getting married this summer.”

  “Why not?”

  “If we did, people would send gifts...or plan showers. Then we’d have to return them.”

  “I guess so.” Pausing to consider this, he finally said, “Tell folks we’ll get married next spring. That should be far enough away.”

  “Right,” she said, glad to end that discussion. It would give them time to break the engagement without complications.

  If Adam still wanted to break it by then. Would she? Or would her foolish heart be caught in Adam’s snare, refusing to leave when released?

  Three more blocks were set out in different areas, all close to the road. “Only two more left, close together. We have to go through this pasture to get to them,” he announced as he drove through the last gate.

  “Karen said Gramps took some of your lease.”

  His face darkened, a black cloud covering the sun. She wished she hadn’t brought the subject up. “He did that.”

  “What happened?”

  “He paid off someone in the department. When I went to renew my lease it wasn’t there.”

  “Was it bad?”

  “Yes. I had to sell off some of my breeding stock, couldn’t carry that many on the pasture left.” He ground out the words, the vehemence strong in his voice.

  “Are you sure he got it unfairly?” she asked, unwilling to believe it.

  “Yes. He was trying to ruin me,” he accused. “Just about did. But the market took a drop and I came out ahead, having sold early.” He chuckled. “Served him right.”

  Jo turned her face away, her thoughts in turmoil. It didn’t sound like the years had softened the blow. She’d have to take care.

  It took about ten minutes to get to the next pasture, mainly because they had to proceed at a crawl over the bumpy track. “That storm’s building, Jo. When, do you think?”

  “Tomorrow. It’s not ready. Not yet.”

  “Here we are.”

  Ahead of them lay a tiny gem of a lake, shimmering clear and blue in the sunlight, bisected neatly in two by a wire fence. It lay in a meadow of low bushes and high grass, surrounded by timber, completely cut off from the world. Jo was sticky with sweat and dust and the crystal clear water looked extremely inviting in the still air.

  Adam stopped the truck near the fence separating the two pastures. “You like it? It’s not much of a lake, it dwindles to almost nothing by late August, but it serves as water for both pastures.” He took out two blocks, walking out to place one on one side of the fence and one on the other.

  “It’s delightful,” Jo called, and ran down the bank to the water’s edge. She walked out onto a log anchored in the mud bank, and bent down to feel the water. It was pleasantly cool. Cupping some in her hand, she splashed her hot face, letting it trickle down her neck.

  “Did you wear a suit?” he asked.

  “No. Mine is on its way out from Virginia. I should have it by next week.”

  His dark eyes shifted lazily over her. “Well, we could always go skinny-dipping. I’m game.”

  “No, no way.” Jo scrambled hastily off the log.

  “Why not?” He was grinning broadly now and Jo couldn’t tell if he was teasing or not. “I always swim here in the early summer. In the buff. The water’s warm. Clean, too. I won’t be moving the cattle in for a few days, so now’s the time.”

  “Not without a suit.”

  “You don’t need one. There’s only you and me.”

  He was teasing, wasn’t he? “That’s one too many.”

  “It’ll be a lot warmer here than at our lake in the Wallowas. Those lakes barely lose their ice before they freeze again.” He walked over to where she was standing. “This one is—”

  “I’m not swimming in your lake.” Her heart was beating rapidly as she tried to think of some way to talk him out of this idea. She scowled fiercely at him and he laughed.

  “Don’t you trust me?”

  She nodded uncertainly. “Maybe, but...I won’t go swimming without a suit.”

  He shrugged. “I saw a lot of you last night, Jo.”

  She swallowed. “That was different.”

  “In what way?” he persisted, capturing her hands in his.

  “Well, it was dark—”

  “Not that dark!” He smiled at her excuse.

  “And I didn’t realize....” she added frantically, then stopped. She had, at the end, and after the initial embarrassment passed, it hadn’t mattered that much.

  “Yes?”

  “It’s the idea...swimming without a suit. I just couldn’t.”

  “Ah...that’s the problem?”

  “And at least, last night I had my bra and skirt still on.”

  “Yes, you did at that. So you don’t care to go skinny dipping in the daylight?”

  “Or anytime,” she added, so he wouldn’t suggest coming back here at night.

  “Even on our honeymoon?”

  “Adam, don’t joke about that.” Confused, she struggled to pull away from him and he released her instantly.

  “Have it your way,” he said, reaching up to untangle her hair where the wind had whipped it around as they drove. “I hope you don’t mind waiting while I swim a little. I have to check on the fence wires, make sure the lower strands are intact for when the water recedes.”

  “Go ahead. I don’t mind. Uh, you do have a suit, don’t you?”

  He grinned, nodded, and striped off his tank top and jeans, revealing the sculpted body of an athlete in training, barely covered by navy racing trunks.

  The morning sunlight touched his skin with bronze fire.

  Jo shivered and took a step back, because to go forward — which she wanted to do — would have sent her into his arms.

  Picking up a pair of pliers, Adam made a shallow dive into the still water and swam over to the fence line. Starting at one end he followed it out, diving down as he went along to check the lower strands.

  Jo watched him, envious. Oh, for a suit. The water lay before her, cool and inviting, adding to his persuasion.

  She had on her black bra and panties. They covered better than some bikinis. Being slightly padded, they weren’t revealing. And in the water, he couldn’t see much, anyway. She could strip down while he dove.

  She realized she was trying to talk herself into a swim and doing a mighty good job of it. This was how she usually got into trouble.

  It all depended on Adam. Could she trust him? He had drawn the line last night...and the water looked so cool and refreshing.

  She was going to talk herself into it, sooner or later, so she might as well go in. In and out, a quick dip while Adam was busy. Her T-shirt was long enough to make a good “cover up.” Hurriedly stripping off her jeans and moccasins, Jo ran out on the log and jumped in.

  The lake was deeper than she expected and she went completely under, coming up cool and refreshed. Ah! Wonderful. Shaking the water out of her eyes, she saw Adam smile and wave and continue with his inspection. Finished, he swam back and forth, making waves but staying away from her as she swam.

  Jo struck out in a crawl to the other side and back, four times, then did a backstroke. This was bliss, and she watched the rolling thunderheads that were forming at tremendous heights.

  My mother would have ten cats if she could see me swimming like this, thought Jo. But what did I buy this silky black thing for, if not to attract Adam? And what am I doing in this lake right now, except waiting for him? And asking for trouble. I’d better get out. Lying on her back, sculling slowly, Jo didn’t spot Adam coming up under
neath until his hands gripped her waist.

  Disregarding her startled squeal, he pulled her into a vertical position, her back to him. Now that it was too late, she pushed, trying to get some leverage, but the water nullified her movements. He was standing on the bottom, but the lake was too deep for her to do the same.

  “Calm down, love. I told you I wouldn’t hurt you — and you know it — so relax.”

  His hands shifted, turning her around to face him, and as she saw the warm smile in his eyes, her momentary doubts fled. She smiled back at him, her face lifted to his, eyes shining in happiness.

  “How do you like my lake?”

  “Your lake is super. There’s only one thing wrong with it.”

  “What’s that?” Tiny wrinkles appeared as he frowned.

  “There’s a man-eating shark in the middle.”

  His hands tightened on her waist, mock-threatening. “Just for that, young lady—”

  “No, no...it’s a perfect lake, really.”

  “Calling me a shark. I could ask you to call me something nicer, before I let you go,” he teased, nibbling on the side of her neck. A frisson of excitement played its way across her, and she laughed to shed its effect.

  “A shark, a lovely, tanned shark.” She squealed, laughing, as he play-acted taking a huge bite out of her arm, his eyes challenging her. “Adam.”

  “That’s better,” he stated, his lips continuing to travel up her arm and across her shoulder, brushing at the water clinging to her skin. Caught in the sweet drama of the moment, she held her breath, anticipating his lips reaching hers. If he didn’t kiss her, she was going to be very disappointed.

  Lifting his head, Adam stopped, all teasing gone. His lips hovered, tantalizing, less than a heart beat away from hers. His half-closed lids only partially covered the fierce desire flaring within his eyes.

  Jo felt herself tremble with anticipation as she met his piercing gaze and heard the harsh intake of his breath as he read the message in hers.

  His head swiftly closed the distance, but he surprised her by nibbling gently, teasing her mouth open. Suddenly fired by the irresistible desire to meld herself to him, she pulled herself closer, tightening her arms around his sun-browned neck and kissing the droplets off his lips and neck and cheeks.