Jenny Cussler's Last Stand (16 page)

“Oh, good! I just thought that since you left so abruptly after I mentioned requesting your group, that...” Celia took the opportunity to nestle up against him as she threw back her head and favored him with a sparkling smile.

With a harried glance in the direction of the community area, Clint dropped his hand and stepped back.

“Well, if you’ll excuse me, Celia, I still have a few things to do, soooo...” He backed away from her and climbed back up the wooden steps to the porch.

“Okay, Clint. Well, I’ll see you in a few minutes then. I’m glad to hear I didn’t make you mad. I can’t tell you how worried I was.”

Clint looked over his shoulder, shook his head and smiled. Wherever did she get that idea? He really didn’t think about her enough to get angry with her. She was a pest more than anything. He raised a brief hand in farewell, and as he did so, he cast a last glance at the community area. Kate stared directly at him, and Jenny had turned around and watched, as well. She was too far away for him to see the expression on her face. He glanced back at Celia, who waved at him, adjusted the top button of her blouse, smoothed her long, blonde hair, and sauntered off down to the communal area with a smile. When Clint returned his gaze to Jenny, she stared in their direction for a moment more before she turned around.

Clint sighed heavily, shook his head, and pushed open the door of his cabin. That hadn’t looked good for him. For all they knew, Celia and he had been...

He slammed the door shut and slumped against it. What the heck was he going to do about that woman?

Which woman?
his inner imp questioned.

“Both of them,” he muttered. “Celia is driving me crazy, and so is Jenny. Just not the same way.” He took a deep breath and straightened. There was no time like the present to do damage control. He opened the door and stepped outside to see what damage Celia had managed to cause.

He made his way down to the common area and strolled up to Jenny, Kate, Brad, and Tim. A quick survey of the area showed Celia had taken a seat by Steve nearby.

“Well, how is everyone feeling after lunch? I think we’re going to have to take a field trip this afternoon so everyone doesn’t get sleepy. What do you think?” He kept his eyes on Jenny, who seemed slow to turn around.

“Really?” Kate squeaked. “That sounds great! Where are we headed?”

Clint, grateful for Kate’s enthusiasm, grinned. Jenny had finally turned around and now surveyed him with a blank face. He blinked and tried to convey a message to her with his eyes, but he wasn’t even sure what he wanted to say. Don’t read into what you saw? Nothing happened?

“I think we’ll take a trip down to the lake this afternoon, about a twenty-minute walk.”

“Oh, great!” Kate chirped.

“Aw, man, how come we can’t be in your family?” Brad said though he grinned to take the sting from his words. “I’m up for a boondoggle.”

“What do you think, Jenny?” Clint couldn’t help himself.

“Oh, sounds good,” she said, without meeting his eyes. She turned around to face the table once again, but not before Clint saw her throw a glance in Celia’s direction. Or was she looking at Steve?

Clint swallowed hard and nodded.

“Okay, then, I’ll see you all in the group room in a few minutes.” He moved away and headed for the building. Was Jenny interested in Steve? Had he missed that? What an idiot he was! She had taken a walk with him yesterday, hadn’t she? He was a good looking guy, single...and white.

Clint resisted the urge to turn around. He stepped inside the empty group room and went over to the window to watch the group at the picnic tables. Jenny smiled once again as she listened to something Kate was saying.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and chewed on his lower lip for a moment. It seemed clear he needed to leave her alone. He reviewed the events of the past two days as he wondered exactly when he’d developed his crush on her. It seemed likely it was the first moment they met, because he couldn’t remember any time in her company when his heart wasn’t racing.

Clint watched the group stand, then checked his watch. They were coming back to the room. He breathed in, plastered a civil smile on his face, and prepared to welcome their return.

****

Sam Two Dogs and Auntie Martha declined to make the trek to the river, claiming advancing age and aching knee joints, but George was game. To Jenny’s delight, he positioned himself next to Celia with avid attention and thwarted her obvious attempts to drop back and walk with Clint, who was accompanied by Steve. The trail out of the camp through the forest was narrow, allowing only two people to walk side by side.

“That girl is going to trip and break her neck if she doesn’t turn around and face front,” Kate chuckled. “She’s cracking me up.”

“I’m glad you think she’s so funny.” Jenny watched Celia throw a look over her shoulder in Clint’s direction. He walked head bent, seemingly in earnest conversation with Steve. She wondered what they were talking about. “She’s getting on my nerves.”

“Now, why is that, pray tell?” Kate turned an amused look on her.

Jenny rolled her eyes. “Well, the visit to Clint’s cabin, for starters. As if you didn’t know.”

“Know what? That we both saw her? Or that you about died when you saw her at his cabin? She never went inside, you know. I was watching.”

“I know. You told me already. But what was she doing there? Who needs to go to one of the counselor’s cabins? What if there is something else between them that I don’t understand?”

Kate snorted. “There she goes again...trying to find out what Clint’s doing. If George didn’t have a hand on her elbow every time she tripped, she would have fallen by now. That guy seems quite smitten with her.” She raised a brow and eyed Jenny. “I don’t think Clint is interested in her. I’ll admit that the other night I had my doubts, but I think he’s doing his best to avoid her.”

Jenny admired Clint’s broad back as he walked next to Steve. They were of the same height and build, one so dark, the other so fair. What were they talking about?

“At any rate, what are you thinking about, anyway? Are you planning on having a quick fling here at camp?” Kate ignored Jenny’s quick protest. “Thinking you’ll be pen pals or something? Or better yet, give up your job and move here to the reservation?” Kate opened her arms expansively. “Well, actually, not here...the reservation down below.”

“Don’t be silly,” Jenny forced a gurgle of laughter from her throat. “Certainly not. I’m
not
having a fling at summer camp, and I’m
not
planning on shucking my job and moving here to the plains of Washington.” She returned her gaze to Clint’s back. “He is handsome, though, isn’t he?” She drew in a deep breath and let it out in a heavy sigh.

“Mmmm-hmmm. He is that. So is Steve, for that matter. I can’t help but think he’d be more compatible for you, since you both have jobs with the VA, and you mentioned you were from Portland.” Kate clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh. “That is, if you were inclined to fall in love at ‘summer camp’ as you call it.”

“Well, I’m not, so let’s drop the subject. I don’t think my heart can take it.” She grinned and turned her head forward to enjoy the view...of a tall, dark-haired man in blue denim shirt and jeans walking through a quiet forest of birch trees and evergreens.

They crossed over the dusty gravel road on which they’d arrived and clambered down a slight embankment to continue walking along the well-worn path. Within minutes, Jenny could hear the sound of rushing water, and a cool misty spray began to float through the air. The group bunched up at a small cut in the hillside, bordered by several large trees, and the line spread out in single file as they descended the narrowed trail down to the riverbank.

Jenny’s heart raced when she saw Clint waiting at the top of the embankment. He extended a hand to Kate and helped her down. Then he turned to Jenny. She had no choice but to put her hand in his open palm. The sensual warmth of his hand sent a thrill up her arm, and she looked up into his eyes before she stepped down the trail.

“Are we okay?” he asked as he held onto her hand.

She blinked for a moment and swallowed. “Sure,” she answered lightly. He didn’t release her hand. The rest of the group had already gone down.

“No, not the pat answer again. I mean...are we really okay? I know you saw Celia at my cabin.” He gave his head a quick shake. “That wasn’t my idea. I have no earthly idea why she came up there. I would have much preferred to open the door to your face.”

Jenny’s eyes widened and she mouthed an “oh.” Clint blinked, his face bronzing only slightly less than Jenny’s pink cheeks.

“I can’t believe I just said that,” he sputtered over a nervous chuckle. “What a dumb thing to say. You must think I’m such a flirt.”

“No, no. I-I...” Her upper lip had begun to perspire, and she suspected her hand was doing the same. She cast an anxious glance at the group now gathered on the rocky riverbank. “They’re waiting.”

Clint’s eyes followed hers, and he nodded. “I know. I know. I have to let you go. I just wanted you to know...”

“Thanks,” Jenny said, and she climbed down the steep dirt trail knotted with the roots of the trees which clung to the side. She heard Clint following closely behind her. Her knees shook, and she suspected not from the descent. The skin under the hair on the back of her scalp tingled.

I would have much preferred to open the door to your face.

Chapter Twelve

As Jenny took the last few steps off the trail, she glanced at the group gathered on the riverbank. Almost as if of one mind, they all stared at Clint and her. Certain their delay would be the center of some speculation, and unable to avoid the unmistakable anger in Celia’s eyes or the curious tilt of Steve’s head, Jenny wished herself under one of the numerous rounded pebbles which dotted the shoreline of the small river which fed into a lake. She dared not turn around to look at Clint.

“Well, there you are,” Kate sang out with a smirk. “We’ve been waiting for you! Did you two get lost?”

Jenny refused to turn around to look at Clint, and she moved to the far edge of the group and faced the lake with what she hoped passed for absorbed interest. While the dark blue-green body of water fed by the small but enthusiastic stream was indeed beautiful, she couldn’t focus on anything but one voice.

Clint raised his voice to be heard over the burbling of water over rocks. “Thanks for waiting, everyone! Well, what do you think of our little watering hole? The summer camp kids love coming down here to swim and play. You’re welcome to come down here yourselves when we’re not in group. You see that log out there? You can swim out to it, hang out, and sun yourselves.”

Jenny brought her eyes into focus. A large fallen tree lay across the middle of the little lake, its massive trunk indeed an inviting perch above the water line. The original home of the tree, a rocky cliff dotted with more evergreens on the far side of the water, provided an illusion of privacy, making the term “watering hole” particularly apt.

“Right now, we’re just going to hang out for an hour or so until we return to camp. Just a break to help us get through that sleepy time right after lunch!”

Jenny threw a surreptitious look over her shoulder. Clint’s black hair gleamed brightly in the sunlight and dazzled her eyes. She wondered what he would look like swimming in this little lake with his hair wet around his face. A tingle started in her toes and worked its way up her body, and she pulled her head forward, wriggling her feet inside her boots.

“This is a great spot, isn’t it?” Unbeknownst to the bemused Jenny, Steve had moved up to stand beside her. She looked up at him and blinked for a moment while she tried to bring his face into focus.

“What?”

“This lake, the river. It’s great, isn’t it?” He rested tanned hands on his hips and surveyed the scene before them.

Jenny followed his eyes. “Yes, it is,” she responded automatically. She remained alert for the sound of Clint’s voice behind her, but she could no longer hear him as the crowd dispersed. She didn’t trust herself to look around. What if her eyes gave everything away? What if everyone saw how she felt about him?

“Imagine living on a reservation like this, where the enrolled tribal members and their guests are the only people with access to all this beauty. If it were in public hands, it might have been sold off long ago for condominiums and vacation cabins.” Steve’s voice carried a wistful note that resonated with Jenny, although she wasn’t sure they yearned for the same thing.

“I see what you mean,” she said. She strained to hear Clint’s voice but could not pick it out of the general rumble of voices behind her.

“I’d love to live here...on the reservation. Wouldn’t you?”

Jenny raised startled eyes to Steve’s friendly face.

“What?” Had he read her mind? Could he tell she’d begun to dream of doing such a thing...with Clint as the center of her fantasy?

Steve bent his head to peer into her face with a grin. “I was saying I’d love to live on the reservation here. Boy, you’re a million miles away, aren’t you?”

Jenny colored. “I’m sorry. Yes, I am. I’m just daydreaming,” she said as she turned her eyes back to the lake.

“About Clint?”

Jenny jerked her head to stare at Steve. She longed to look over her shoulder to see if anyone had overheard, but kept her back rigid.

“What! No! What are you talking about?” She regretted the question. She didn’t want to know what compelled him to say what he had, yet she hung on his next words.

His blue eyes popped open, and he put up his hands in a mock defensive gesture.

“Whoa! I was just kidding...I think. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.” He offered her a hesitant placating grin.

Jenny gave in to her obsession and snuck a quick peek over her shoulder. Clint rested on a boulder under the shade of an enormous pine tree, his legs crossed at the ankles and arms locked across his chest. Celia, George, and several other group members hovered nearby chatting, while others sat near his feet, virtually surrounding him and lending the scene a surreal sense of adulation. Jenny snorted under her breath and snapped her head forward, but not before she saw Clint raise his eyes in her direction.