Frontier Inferno (2 page)

Of course, traveling, that could make anyone a little scruffy. But Heather’s single bag couldn’t contain even the basic “survival gear” his ex needed. And her black jeans, low boots, and worn bomber jacket did not indicate a fashion maven.

One of Diana’s biggest issues had been his lack of willingness to enter her father’s business and make “real money,” so she could have the lifestyle she’d grown up with. Last he’d heard, she’d found a guy willing to do that, and a big society wedding loomed.

“Is the town just this one street?” Heather’s wide eyes met his over Billy’s head, reminding him to keep his thoughts on a G-rated level. “Where does everyone live?”

He began to ask where she came from again, but he feared if he pushed too hard she’d throw herself out onto the highway. She’d definitely avoided answering the question back at the store. “Some of the storekeepers live in the apartments over their shops. Lots of them are not even here right now; they go south while they can. Others, ranchers and such, live a ways out, in cabins on their land.” Eyeing her trim, black-clad form, he wondered whether the pierced eyebrow and row of earrings rising up the shell of her ear indicated a woman more radical than he could handle.

Handle her?

He was giving her a lift, not preparing to bundle her off to his bed. But wouldn’t it be nice to wake up cuddled next to her sweet body? Maybe spooned with his cock nestled in the crack of her ass, rising to the occasion….

“Dad!”

“Chris, watch out!”

He slammed on the brakes, sliding on the highway asphalt and missing a tall moose cow and her gangly calf by inches. Unlike back home, where drivers were warned not to cause an accident by swerving away from an animal—up here a moose could take out the vehicle, driver, passengers, and all. In Alaska, he’d learned to swerve and stay alive. Of course, watching the road helped to avoid the necessity more often than not.

As he guided the fishtailing truck past the wildlife and back onto the pavement, his heart thudded in his ears and he cast a careful glance toward Heather and Billy to find them clinging to one another…laughing.

“Wow, is riding these roads always like this? What’s next? Dive-bombing by bald eagle?” she asked. His passengers’ light and dark blond heads together made his heart ache for a moment until he realized what he’d done. Through negligent daydreaming, imagining this woman who had not given him the slightest signal of any interest to be naked in his bed, and with his cock in a very compromising place no less, he’d almost killed them all.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “Yes, most people arrive unscathed at their destination.”
If the driver keeps his mind on the road
.

“My dad is a great driver.” Billy’s emphatic support made him smile, but the guilt rose again. He was a serious man with a serious job. A single dad who didn’t need to lose focus because a pretty woman appeared on the horizon.

He didn’t avoid dating because he missed the princess—raising Billy and handling his career as an elite smokejumper took all his time and attention. No matter how warm and sweet she might be, and even if Heather would accept an offer to dinner in the Lodge’s famous restaurant, he couldn’t afford to ask.

Why did that make him ache, in his chest as well as his pants?

After they left the scene of the almost-accident, Chris kept his eyes on the road where they belonged. No more moose crossed their path, and with Billy as tour guide, the chatter in the cab continued nonstop. Fewer than ten miles lay between the town of Castle and the Lodge, so it didn’t take long before the magnificent log structure rose before them.

“The highway goes right up to the door…and ends?” An adorable crinkle formed between Heather’s brows. But he only looked for a second. A second near miss would be embarrassing. “What if you want to go farther? Isn’t this on the way to your house?”

“Lots of questions.” He turned between two giant pines and parked in the small lot in front of the Lodge. Unlike hotels in most areas, the facility had no need for a parking structure. Their guests came by plane and train. Only locals had access to their own vehicles. “But, in short, the ‘highway’ is the route to the lodge, with offshoots to the homesteads and camps in the area.”

“Sure is different up here.” She shook her head and climbed out, reaching into the bed of the truck for her pack. “Anyway, I know you need to get home, on whatever path or track that involves. Thanks for the ride.”

Billy slipped out beside her and took her hand again. She looked around, appearing confused for a moment, then took a tentative step toward the building. It dwarfed them, so close up, a towering structure erected for a very rich man a very long time ago. Even Chris couldn’t begin to get his arms around those logs. The building rose out of the surrounding woods, a benign behemoth offering a view of the inlet over the tops of the pines downslope. A pair of guests in ski gear exited the front doors and mounted an ATV pointed toward the peaks. He watched the couple roar away. One day he hoped to find time to learn the sport. Would rocketing downhill on a double black diamond run offer the adrenaline rush he got on the job?

Although, this year, they had a long way to ride to get to any snow. The clouds roiling overhead refused to release their burden of moisture. After such a dry winter, if nothing changed during the spring, wildfire season would begin early.

Lightning streaked the sky then—one, two, three, four, five seconds later—a boom of thunder.

“Dad, are you coming?” Billy waited on the porch, still holding tight to his new friend’s hand.

Chris hadn’t planned on going inside, but shrugged and hopped out of the truck, leaving the key in the ignition. Habits like that had become second nature. He’d be in trouble remembering how to live in the city if he ever moved back to Sydney. Not that he had the slightest desire to do that. Alaska had won his heart the moment he arrived for smokejumper training several years before.

Even if he didn’t have any plans to date her, maybe he could invite Heather to lunch in the coffee shop after she checked out the job situation. He had to feed Billy anyway. The bison burger wasn’t as mouthwatering as his new acquaintance, but still pretty good.

He needed to stop thinking like that. Or get laid.

Trailing them into the warm interior, he shed his jacket. A crackling fire burned in a fireplace large enough to roast a moose, though of course the leaping flames were not the main heat source. But it gave the room a coziness no efficient, modern furnace could offer, and appeared in the resort brochures.

Pausing in the middle of the giant room, she tipped her head back. “This place is massive. I didn’t know a log building could be so big.” She circled, taking Billy with her. Chris had never seen him attach to anyone that way. Not for the first time, he wondered how much his son missed Diana. She’d never been very motherly, and the boy didn’t say much about her, but still. Didn’t every kid need his mom? Was Chris selfish not to insist on sending him to her for at least a visit? Not that she’d asked.

“It’s the biggest building for five hundred miles, and one of the oldest.” A woman in a navy blue blazer joined them. “Hi, I’m Sandra, head of housekeeping when we’re busy, but concierge at the moment. You must be Billy’s mom?”

Chris sped up to join them, but before he got there, Billy said, “My mom lives in Australia. This is my friend, Heather, and she wants to work here.”

At his bold statement, concern fled. Chris had never met a kid more self-possessed. Billy could handle himself in any situation.

With a little smile and an odd glance at Billy, Heather untangled her fingers from his and extended her hand to shake the woman’s. “It’s true. Can you direct me to Human Resources?”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Unfortunately, we don’t have any hiring going on right now. Our summer staff is either returning or already been hired.” Heather’s face sagged, but as her hand dropped to her side, Billy grabbed it again, and Sandra’s gaze narrowed. “You seem good with children.”

Heather shrugged. “Billy is a great kid. I’m so glad he’s my first friend in Castle and he’s been showing me everything.”

Sandra flashed a smile. “Billy makes a solid reference. Listen, are you in a hurry? I have an idea, but you would need to speak to Mrs. Castillo and she’s not due to return for an hour.”

Heather paled. Why that reaction? But she recovered quickly. “Skiing?”

“Not exactly.” The concierge chuckled. “Although there are skis involved. Kind of.”

Chris laughed at the confusion on Heather’s face. “Let’s go to the coffee shop and grab one of its famous bison burgers. Then we can meet Kathryn when she returns.”

She shrugged. “I am hungry. Is it terribly expensive?”

“My treat.” He took her elbow to steer her and, by virtue of his renewed grip on her hand, Billy, toward the far end of the lobby. “You can leave your bag at the desk.

“Bison burger? Lots of buffalo around here, are there? Sounds delicious.” Her tummy rumbled audibly and she rubbed it, cheeks reddening. “Excuse me, I missed breakfast.”

“Yes, there are a lot of bison, and consider lunch a welcome to Alaska.” Maybe she’d missed dinner the day before as well. “Where do you come from, anyway?”

Crap
. There were going to be questions. She’d hoped to find employment with some mom-and-pop place in a small town. People who wouldn’t check her background. She’d had no idea there even
was
a Castillo Resort up here, and cursed herself for not checking. A simple Web site check would have been a great idea before landing where she did. The fake ID she traveled with had cost half her savings…but would it hold up? Maybe for a couple of weeks—long enough to get a little money together to move on.

An archway led to a cozy, diner-style room where about a dozen people sat at tables and in booths. If a big resort like this had so few customers at lunchtime, the season must indeed be slow. Eying the attractive meals in front of the happy, chattering people, she tried to remember when she’d last had anything beyond the crackers, nuts, and jerky she’d nibbled on from her backpack.

Two days.

Her stomach roared in protest and she clapped a hand over it, cheeks heating again. A rumble of thunder outside echoed it.

Billy looked up at her. “My tummy does that when I’m hungry. You should get pie, too, after.”

She laughed, unable to resist his somber tone and lifted her eyes to find Chris’s serious expression focused on her.

“Yes, we should have pie.” He paused at a booth and Billy slid in. Heather followed, soon bracketed by the two Elder men. A server in a black apron emblazoned with
Castle Lodge
arrived to hand them menus, but Chris stayed her with a wave. “Bison burgers all around.” He cast a questioning glance at Heather. “With fries?”

She would have eaten crow burgers at that point, but only nodded. After taking their drink orders, the waitress left them to themselves. Hunger overwhelmed Heather’s good sense because she couldn’t stop staring at the handsome firefighter to her left. Fortunately, his son’s chatter filled the silence the two of them generated, because she couldn’t think of a thing to say. Chris Elder’s masculine presence filled the booth, making it hard to draw in air. His shoulder jostled against her and his bicep, inches from hers, offered the kind of muscles she was just learning turned her on.

When their food arrived, the crisp, perfectly seasoned fries and juicy burger on a toasted bun gave her something to focus on—like not stuffing it down as though she were an animal that had been hibernating all winter.

Billy had no such qualms and finished his in five minutes. His appetite amazed her. “Dad, can I go play in the lobby?”

His father chuckled and agreed, but Heather’s nerves jumped to a new high. “Isn’t he kind of young to be on his own like that?”

Father and son gaped at her.

“In the lobby? What could happen to him, except getting too many candy bars from the gift shop manager who considers herself his adopted grandmother?” As Billy scampered out of sight, Chris cleared his throat. “Are you questioning my parenting?”

Now I’ve done it
. Drawing a breath, she tilted her head, met his intense gaze…and lost her soul. Blue eyes as deep as the ocean bracketed by small crow’s-feet held her prisoner. “No, I wouldn’t do that, I….” Unable and unwilling to stop herself, she rested a palm on his cheek and licked her dry lips. His curved into a smile.

“It’s okay. I didn’t think you would.” He leaned into her hand and tingles ran up her arm. What was she doing, touching a stranger like this? “Would you like to—”

“Mixed berry pie, on the house.” Two plates scraped across the tabletop next to their half-eaten burgers. “Oh, am I interrupting something?”

Heather yanked her hand back and straightened. Words tumbled inside her, so mixed with confusing emotions, she didn’t know if she could ever disentangle them.

“Thanks, Amanda.” He flashed the server his brilliant smile and she simpered.
Really? Who does that anymore?
  “No, we’re fine here.”

Heather returned her attention to her burger and fries, stuffing her mouth to avoid having to say anything.

“Okay,” Amanda said. “Let me know when you want the bill.”

“Sure will,” Chris replied.

With another glance over her shoulder, the woman returned to the other side of the room where a table waited to be cleared. Heather had no right to be jealous of the barely banked lust in the woman’s eyes. “You two dating?” She clapped a hand over her mouth.

He laughed. “No, Amanda is a friend.” His thigh brushed against hers, all that solid muscle a reminder of what would attract a woman, and she didn’t move away.

“She wants to be more.”
Why am I saying these things?
  She’d be gone in a couple of weeks and it wasn’t her business at all who he dated, no matter how attractive the man or how damp her panties grew at the touch of their legs. Damn! She slid a bit to the right, ate the last fry, then pushed the plate away. Dragging the pie closer, she asked, “Mixed berry?”