Jenny Cussler's Last Stand (21 page)

“Hey, she wasn’t at the sweat, was she?” Jenny said to no one in particular.

“No, I don’t think she could. I heard her say...she’s...um...you know.”

Jenny turned a questioning look toward Kate, who wasn’t given to stuttering.

“What?”

“She’s...” Kate threw a glance toward Brad and Tim. “It’s her time. We can’t go to the sweat then. I heard Auntie Martha and Celia talking.”

“Ohhh,” Jenny said, throwing another look in Celia’s direction. “Well, I never thought about it, but I guess...”

Brad and Tim looked away hastily.

“Well, I think we’d better get going,” Brad muttered. Jenny eyed Brad with envy. Soon, he would be at the sweat lodges with Clint...an unclothed Clint. While Brad might not necessarily appreciate the significance of the event, Jenny most certainly did.

She and Kate followed the men outside and bid them farewell.

“So, what do you want to do now?” Kate asked as they paused to scan the campground.

A cloak of darkness had descended, bringing with it cool air, and Jenny wrapped her arms around herself. The bright burning fire near the community area beckoned, and the sound of laughter and chatter appealed to her. If she sat by the fire for two hours, would she be able to see Clint heading to the showers? Did people sit by campfires for two hours? She was determined to find out.

“Let’s go mingle.” She pulled Kate along with her toward the light.

Though quite a few people seemed to be in the common area tonight, Jenny and Kate managed to find two cut log “seats” around the briskly burning fire. There seemed to be no paucity of men, so obviously not every male had gone up to the sweat.

“I haven’t seen Steve this evening. I need to talk to him.” Though she’d almost forgotten about Lisa’s revelation of her newly single status in the sweat lodge, the fire reminded her that she had matchmaking to do...if she could.

“Oh, really? I thought Mr. Native America was the guy for you.”

“Oh, please,” Jenny said automatically. Then she relented. “Okay, he’s definitely the only thing I can think about right now, that’s the truth. But I need to talk to Steve about something else.”

“Tell me,” Kate urged.

Jenny glanced at her and hesitated.

“I can’t. I wish I could, but I can’t. It’s not my business. It’s not all that serious, and it has nothing to do with me,” she rushed to clarify, “but...”

“Okay,” Kate relaxed on her wooden seat. “I understand. I’m sure you’ll tell me if and when you can. Though I’m not sure if Clint will understand.”

Jenny swung her head toward Kate. “What does that mean?”

“Oh, just that he couldn’t keep his eyes off you at the river...when you were talking to Steve. If I’m not mistaken, I think he was jealous.”

“Oh, really!” Jenny scoffed, though her heart began an uncontrollable racing. Clint had been watching her? Jealous? Was it possible?

“Really,” Kate repeated. “So, what are you going to do?”

Jenny leaned forward to stare into the fire. Was Clint gazing at a fire at the same time?

“About what?” she said, distracted by images of dark slanted eyes, sweat running down a bronzed masculine chest, sleek wet black hair as a head emerged from the cool water of a pond.

“About Clint, silly!”

Snapped out of her reverie by the magic name, Jenny jerked her head in Kate’s direction.

Her first instinct was to pretend she didn’t know what Kate was talking about, but she gave that up as disingenuous.

Kate waited with raised brows. Jenny clucked and turned back to contemplate the fire with a sigh.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I just don’t know.”

“Well, it’s worth thinking about. He
is
single. It doesn’t sound as if he’s attached. He seems to like you, and I’m pretty sure you’re smitten. You could commute.”

Jenny shook her head slowly, arbitrarily denying to Kate the very thoughts that ran through her own mind...constantly.

“I know
I’m
smitten, as you say.” She threw Kate a quick half smile. “But I can’t imagine why he would be...uh...smitten with me. And I don’t think long-distance relationships work, do you?” She squared her shoulders and grimaced. “At any rate, I just met the guy. I don’t know anything about him. He could be an alcoholic or a wife beater, for all I know.”

“Who?”

Jenny jerked her head to see Steve standing quietly behind them, hands shoved in the pocket of his down vest.

“Steve,” Kate chirped. “How come you’re not at the sweat?”

Jenny wondered the same thing. How could he not be at the sweat...where Clint was?

Steve rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish grin.

“I fell asleep after dinner. Can you believe it? I just woke up. Man, I really wanted to go to the sweat.” He pulled up a log, and Jenny and Kate scooted their own seats apart so that he could sit between them. He stuck his hands back in his jacket and hunched down a bit. “It’s getting cool out here. I’ll have to catch the sweat in the morning.”

Sweat...Lisa!

Jenny leaned in and whispered.

“Steve. I have to talk to you later.”

He turned to her with a curious look and glanced at Kate.

“What is it, Jenny?”

Jenny peered around him toward Kate and gave her head a quick shake. She wasn’t sure when she could talk to him in private.

The three engaged in desultory conversation for a short while. Jenny took time to watch the people moving in and out of the circumference of the warmth of the fire. On the hill above, she saw Lisa climb the steps to the restroom, and Jenny cast Steve a quick glance out of the corner of her eye as he talked to Kate. Steve and Lisa both lived in the same state, the same area, really. A match between them would be lovely. She couldn’t wait to talk to him.

As if on cue, Kate rose and stretched her arms over her head with a mock yawn. “Okay, you two. I’m going to head back to the cabin and read before I fall asleep. If I can make it that long. I’ll see you guys later.”

“I’ll be in to get my things shortly,” Jenny said.

“See ya.” Kate moved off with a backward wave.

“Get your things?” Steve tilted his head in an inquiring gesture.

Jenny blushed. “Did I say that? Oh, my toothbrush...you know, before I go to bed.”

“Ah.” Steve gave her a friendly smile. She wondered for an instant why his Nordic blond looks didn’t bring a tingle to her toes. He was extremely handsome...and nice, a perfect combination. She noted irreverently that the flickering light of the fire did not do him justice.

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

She bit her lip, suddenly unsure of her matchmaking skills. So far, the week indicated she lacked any sort of common sense. Perhaps it was the high altitude.

“Well, as you know, we went to the sweat tonight.”

“How was it?”

“Fine, but that’s not my point. Lisa was there...in my lodge.”

Steve’s ears literally perked up, Jenny was sure of it.

“Oh?” He shifted in his seat to face her. “And?”

Jenny dropped her eyes for a moment, wondering if she was making a mistake interfering, wondering how much she could reveal without betraying the confidences of the sweat lodge. She was certain that the secrets revealed were sacred within the confines of Native American spirituality. Still...love was at stake. If Clint jumped up in the middle of a lodge—not that he would be able to stand—and yelled, “I’m in love with a redheaded woman named Jenny,” she would certainly want to know about it.

“Well, okay, so this is the thing.” Her words nearly tripped over each other. “I suspect that the things spoken of in the sweat lodges are confidential...sacred.”

Steve nodded. “They are.”

Her heart sank. What could she say?

“Okay, so without revealing any secrets, let me say that I believe Lisa is single...and unattached.”

Steve’s eyes widened, and he let out a sigh as if he’d been holding his breath.

“I thought she was...involved. I’m sure she was last year.”

Jenny shook her head. “No longer.”

Steve wiped his hand across his brow, although his forehead appeared dry.

“You’re kidding,” he said inconsequentially.

“Nope.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you can probably make some overtures...get to know her...maybe ask her out.”

“Ask her out?” Steve’s voice rose an octave.

Jenny couldn’t hold back a chuckle. She patted Steve on the knee.

“There, there now,” she hummed. “You can do it. She seems very nice.” Somewhere in the recesses of her mind, it was like watching her doppelganger...her mirror image. Did she look this indecisive when the subject of Clint came up?

Steve gave her a small smile, which didn’t smooth the knot between his eyebrows.

“I never thought... I mean, she was always out of reach.” He turned to stare at the fire. “Do you know what I mean?”

Jenny followed his eyes. Fire... “Oh, I most certainly do.”

Steve grabbed her hand and held it in his. “Thanks for telling me, Jenny.” He drew in a deep breath. “Do you think...” The sentence trailed away.

“What?”

“Do you think you could...talk to her...for me?”

“What?” This time, the word came out in a squeak. What had she gotten herself into? She could hardly find the courage to talk to a man she yearned for. How was she going to manage to facilitate a romance for someone else?

“Please,” he pleaded with the power of his bright smile. “Just tell her you know someone who likes her. Someone who’s single, employed, and available.”

“What...are we in high school?” Jenny couldn’t help laughing as she imagined saying those words to a woman she had only just met. Kate was the woman for this job.

“I don’t suppose Kate could—”

“No, you do it.” Steve gave her hand a tug. “The less people who know about my pending humiliation, the better.” His crooked smile tugged at her heart. She knew the feeling...

“Okay, I’ll give it a try. Tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Jenny. I owe you. You’re a doll.” To her surprise, Steve half rose and leaned over to kiss her cheek. He released her hands, and as he sat back down Jenny looked over his shoulder and saw Clint standing there in an arrested position behind Steve, just beyond the light of the fire, a towel around his shoulders.

The man she had waited almost two hours to see.

Chapter Fifteen

She could barely make out his expression in the darkness—eyebrows raised until they narrowed, forming a crease between his eyes. His jaw set, and he swung around and walked off toward the restroom.

“Clint,” Jenny called weakly as she rose. He didn’t turn around.

Steve turned around. “Was that Clint? Where’d he go?”

“To the shower, I guess,” she sighed over the lump in her throat. He must have seen Steve kiss her cheek. So much for her poorly thought-out plan to see Clint after the sweat. She lost all interest in the evening.

“Well, I’m going to head back to my cabin, so I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Steve rose. “Goodnight, Jenny. And thanks.”

“No problem. ’Night,” she said as she started up the hill, albeit at a slow pace. She didn’t want it to appear as if she were chasing after Clint, though her instincts urged her to do so.

She opted to head to her cabin and give the shower rooms a wide berth, but the sight of Celia standing on the wooden steps in some sort of juvenile tiny pajama shorts and a tight T-shirt with her hand on Clint’s arm as he stood on a step above her brought her to a standstill. Fairly sure she couldn’t be seen in the shadows cast by the dim lighting of the shower rooms, she waited for a moment, unable to stop herself from spying.

In Jenny’s opinion, Celia took entirely too long to drop her hand, and Clint seemed to be doing nothing to shake her off. What red-blooded man could resist the sight of a curvy blonde in such a teensy outfit? She thought of her own oversized dark blue sweatpants and sweatshirt, now folded and sitting on her luggage. How could she compete with a dainty, ethereal creature like Celia? Dainty, but deadly. The woman had a hunter’s instinct when it came to men.

“You aren’t going to get him that way, chickie!”

Jenny swung around to Kate’s voice. Kate carried a face towel over her shoulder and her toiletries tucked in the crook of her arm. She shook her head with a grin and nodded in the direction of the stairs.

“I’m heading in to brush my teeth before I hit the hay. Run and get your stuff. I’ll wait. I’m sure you don’t want to pass through that little conversation by yourself.”

“Okay, wait for me!” Jenny sprinted off to the nearby cabin, grabbed her toiletries and towel, and ran back outside to join Kate. She didn’t know if she was relieved or disappointed to see that Clint and Celia still stood on the stairs.

“Are you ready?” Kate said with determination in her voice as she moved forward.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Jenny said as she clutched her possessions to her chest. “Thanks for the escort.”

They picked their way across the uneven terrain until they neared the bottom of the stairs. Like a coward, Jenny kept her head down, allowing Kate to bulldoze her way through the extended intimate discussion between Clint and Celia.

“Excuse us, folks. Celia. Clint.”

“Ladies,” Clint said in greeting as he backed up. Jenny stared at his feet but couldn’t bring herself to look up at his face. From under veiled lashes, she caught sight of Celia’s extremely short pajama bottoms that revealed delicate white skin from her hips to her feet, which were encased in dainty pink flip-flops. Jenny took the last stair with one dusty tennis-shoed foot and zipped through the bathroom door behind Kate’s small but broad back.

“Oh, my word!” Kate dropped her toiletry bag on the metal shelf above the sink. “Did you see that girl’s expression when we barged through? Evil, I tell you, pure evil.” She waggled her eyebrows and grinned as she loaded toothpaste onto her brush.

“No, I’m afraid I didn’t. I can tell you what they were wearing on their feet, though.” Jenny rinsed her face and stared into the mirror. The absurdity of her hangdog look caught her by surprise, and she threw Kate a wry grin.