Chapter Five

A man must put grain in the ground before he can cut the harvest.

Rann pulled into the driveway and spied Season and Duna kneeling beside a wooden crate on the side of the garage. Season looked up when his SUV came to a halt. He slid out from behind the wheel, flung the door open and walked over to them. After he looked toward the back seat and gave a stern warning to Rook to behave.

"Look," she said. "Duna discovered a litter of kitties in the garden shed."

All wondrous expression and beguiling smile, she reminded him of a small child watching a falling star tumble to earth for the first time. But she wasn't dressed as one. The lemon-colored sundress overlaid with white filmy lace complimented her long, tanned legs and open-toe sandals. She'd pulled her hair back into a causal knot at her nape, allowing several wispy strands to frame her oval face. He thought her beautiful when he found her in the woods, and again this afternoon when she returned from school, but nothing had prepared him for the wholesome, earthy woman seated on the ground tonight. She looked completely within her element, as though she belonged to the earth and the magnificent background of towering pines and birch trees.

"Huh, you mean they were just born?"

Duna shook his head. "No, they look to be a week old. The moms usually find their way into the shed when they're about to give birth and then hide them from the world for a spell."

"Want to hold one?" Without waiting for his answer, Season eased a gray ball of fur from the crate and passed it into his open hand. "I'm sure it isn't the first time an outdoors man like you has seen a newborn kitten."

"You'd be wrong." He held it in front of his face for closer inspection and marveled at the mini-miracle. And then he wondered what else he'd missed in his chaotic childhood.

He sensed Season coming to her feet beside him. "Here." She held her hand out. "We better return her before her mom starts hissing and spitting. Besides, I'm starving."

Rann relinquished the kitty and stretched out his arm toward the Cayenne. "Your coach waits."

"And what a coach it is. What is it, anyway?"

Damn, he wished he'd grabbed a rental car. He couldn't count on Rook to leave the interior in one piece, and instinct told him, she wouldn't be impressed with flashy rides and fat wallets. Would she be surprised to discover he wasn't either? "A Porsche Cayenne." He opened the passenger door for her and she slid into the seat. "It's not mine, belongs to the company."

He skirted the front of the vehicle, opened the door and settled in behind the wheel. She was already making friendly with Rook by the time he turned to her. "So where we headed?"

"I thought you might like SudZ. Casual but nice, and it's on the lake."

"We talking burgers and fries?"

"The best cheeseburgers in Pine Bay."

With her direction, they pulled onto a dirt trail shrouded in giant oaks, maples and wild ferns. A short time later, he brought the car to a stop, shut off the ignition and helped her from the passenger seat. Snuggled into a cove on the lake, the green, one-story restaurant came into view…and the beautiful sunset dropping behind its brown shingled roof. A volleyball game was in full play on the beach, and from somewhere close, the haunting wail of loons kept company with the staccato shrieks of gulls diving for their evening meal. An image of Chicago's skyline flooded his vision and paled in comparison to the magnificent vista before them. What he wouldn't give to walk away from it all, Chicago, the job, his mother.

A man greeted them at the door and escorted them to a table overlooking the beach. He dropped off menus and promised to return soon.

Season's gaze wandered to the window and beyond, which didn't surprise him. "You're not going to look at the menu?"

She shook her head. "I know it by heart, and always order the same thing, cheeseburger with Swiss, hold the onion, curly fries and Coke."

"Think I'll have the same. Saves me from having to look when I'd much rather be looking at you. I meant to tell you earlier how lovely you look tonight."

Green eyes met blue. "Thank you, but…."

"But?"

"I don't think we should go down that road."

"What? I can't give you a compliment?"

She dropped her chin. "Yes, it's a nice thing to say but that's all it is. I don't want you getting any ideas because I agreed to have dinner with you."

Talk about piercing his heart with a dull-edged blade. "Why did you agree to have dinner with me?"

"The truth?"

"Nothing but."

"Duna seemed to like you and he has zero tolerance for rudeness. To him, every stranger is a friend and I-I didn't want to upset him."

The waiter returned to take their order. Rann waited until the man was out of earshot and then leaned over the table. "Bullshit."

"What! Why else would I agree to have dinner with a man who sneaked onto our property with plans to steal it out from under us?"

"I didn't sneak and I wouldn't steal anything from anyone." He snorted. "Besides, no one could make you do anything you didn't want to, not even Duna."

He straightened in the chair and studied her while she tugged at her bottom lip as if her mind was trying to dissect his words. His libido kicked into high gear, the same as it had the moment he laid eyes on her. He loved her plump, rosy lips.

She'd never believe him if he told her right now that what he felt for her was so much more than lust or desire. Hell, he wasn't sure he knew what it was about her that stirred something deep inside him—a desire to be free of the chains drowning him, a longing to be a better person, a hunger for something wild and free and so beyond his reach, he didn't know how to grasp it anymore.

It wasn't social standing, material goods and fancy wheels. It wasn't a title and it sure as hell wasn't money. He'd known for a long time, he lived in a world in which he didn't belong, but now he knew he could no longer stay in that world. But how to get out? The scenes would be horrific, the battles bloody. His mother would stomp and storm and scream, and then she'd cry a watershed of tears. The tactics had always worked in the past.

"Besides, I thought we agreed not to discuss land."

"You're right." He felt her uncross her legs under the table and she stopped fidgeting with her fingers. "Sorry."

"Guess what I saw today?"

"A moose."

"Nope. A red-tailed hawk."

Her eyes widened but only marginally.

"Not just any hawk, mind you, but one with a blackbird in his talons."

"Wish I could have been there."

"I made sure you'd get to see it."

Enthusiasm laced her word. "How?"

"My equipment comes with a thermal imaging camera and I snapped a photo." He slid a napkin across the table. "Write down your email address and I'll send it to you."

One eye narrowed.

"Oh, for Christ sake, I'm not going to stalk you. I just thought you might want to see the hawk." He fanned a hand in her direction. "Forget it."

She picked up the pen the waiter left behind, scribbled on the napkin and handed it to him. "Guess one photo can't hurt."

Yes! A small victory…very small but I'll take it.

Tucking the napkin in his pants' pocket before she could snatch it from the table, he changed the subject. "Duna told me your parents died when you were ten. Must have been very tough."

"At first, yes. For a long time, I wanted to join them but Duna brought me back, taught me every day is a gift." A far-off look crept into her captivating eyes. "I learned early that life can be cruel and ironically perverse. Mom and Dad met in Hawaii when both were on vacation and fell madly in love. Within a year, they married and then I came along. Mom worked at the local arboretum as a tour host, Dad ran a small engine repair shop out of the garage. We were by no means rich but we got by just fine. Determined to return to Hawaii for their eleventh anniversary, they stashed away fifty bucks a month in a brown metal box they kept under their bed."

Spellbound by the story, and her, he barely noticed the burgers and fries the waiter delivered to the table. "The plane crashed on the way to Hawaii?"

She shook her head. "No, and that's the one thing I'm thankful for. They spent three days on the Big Island before booking a one-day tour to Kauai. Their plane went down in the Fern Grotto, a tropical rain forest. Duna said that's where they'd want to be."

"I'm so sorry, didn't mean to make you sad."

She waved a dismissive hand. "No, don't be. It is what it is and I've come to terms with their deaths."

"What about your grandparents, Duna's wife?"

"Nadya died before I was born. We have pictures of course, and Grandfather's shared memories. My mother's parents live in England. We stay in touch by phone and letters."

He took a bite of his burger and mouth full, nodded toward her plate. "Eat."

"Yes, sir."

When she leaned in over her plate, her enticing scent drifted across the table—a heady mixture of jasmine, musk and the earth. He noticed it when he helped her to her feet in the woods but up close, it drove him bat-shit crazy...in a good way. She had zilch faith in him or anything he said. He saw it in her body language and in how she looked at him at times, like he was a registered sex offender lurking around a school playground. He didn't blame her. If roles were reversed, he'd be leery too.

What would it take to win her over, have her look at him the way she looked at Duna with love and complete trust? He might never know, and felt a great loss at the thought. She belonged with him; he felt it with every beat of his heart, every cell in his body. And he'd do everything in his power to prove it.

While they ate, her eyes wandered to the view outside now and then. He downed the burger and fries and waited until she took her last bite. "How about a walk on the beach before we head back?"

She hesitated, but he saw the conflict in her eyes, a desire to catch the last rays of the sunset versus her aversion to his company. "Guess a short walk wouldn't hurt."

"Good. The burger was awesome but I need to ditch the calories that came with it."

After flagging down the waiter, he handed him his credit card. When the man returned, he thanked them for visiting SudZ and wandered off. They both stood and headed for the door, winding up on the shore of Knife Lake a short time later.

Season nodded west. "There's a trail that winds halfway around the lake before it forces us to turn back."

"Lead the way."