So Hard To Forget Part 6

"Those are bets for services. For fun. I don't gamble for money---ever."

"Ah, ! see. You split hairs for your own purposes.,"

"You got it." He was too near, making her uncomfortably aware that she was naked under the robe. If he made a pa.s.s at her, she doubted she'd have the willpower or the inclination to resist. She quickly stood up and he did the same, leaving them closer than ever. She cleared her throat, took a step back and repeated her question. "What's the bet?"

"A walk in the moonlight this evening if I win, and if you win, I'll personally serve you dinner."

There was a catch somewhere. She just couldn't see it yet.

He'd learned a valuable lesson that first morning fishing. Watching her cast, to quote a clicht, was like poetry in motion. Her movements were smooth and graceful, her aim as accurate as a sharpshooter getting a bull's-eye. Max realized that winning this particular bet wasn't going to be easy.

But again, either way he was a winner. He'd prefer an evening gazing at the moon with Nicole in his arms, but if he lost and had to serve her dinner, more than likely he'd be eating with her, too. Somehow he'd have to make it an intimate meal, just for two. He was mentally planning ways to keep those two young big ears Reed and Ash, away. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"And I thought I was the only one with cobwebs for brains this early in the morning. I said, if you'd leave, I could get dressed."

"I'd be more than willing to stay and help. You know, do up a few hard-to-reach b.u.t.tons. I'm even pretty good with a comb and brush."

"I'm sure you are, but no thanks." Nicole ran her fingers through her hair, still not in the least embarra.s.sed by her i e, "Go away, Max."

She watched him leave, and when the door shut behind him, she sighed with relief. It wasn't wise to flirt with the devil, but for the life of her, she couldn't seem to keep away from him.

As Max left her room, he felt an unexplainable pang of regret. It was too d.a.m.n easy. For a second he even felt guilty. The fact was, though Nicole wasn't Sandra and didn't have her exceptional qualities, he was fascinated, maybe even infatuated, with her just the same. Then he reminded himself that he had a promise to keep and plans to finalize. He could ill afford to let emotions, recriminations or his personal feelings get in the way.

Nicole found it" didn't take long to shower and dress. If she lingered longer over her makeup, she tried not to think of the reason why. And if she rushed around her room, discarding one pair of jeans for another newer pair, or a tan knit shirt for a yellow cotton shirt, she tried to deny she was excited about the picnic.

When at last she yanked open her door, she almost screamed with surprise at seeing JD standing there with his fist raised to knock.

"Jeez, you scared the h.e.l.l out of me," he said.

"You didn't do my heart a lot of good, either. What's wrong?"

JD stepped back and out of her way. "Nothing's wrong. That good-lookin" fellow told me you and he was gonna have lunch together. A picnic. He asked if he could put it together. Is it true?"

"Yes." She wouldn't look away from his probing gaze. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"Naw. And don't go getting" your dander up at me. He's spent time here talking to me and the missus. No fancy airs with him. I like him."

"I hear a "but" in your voice, JD. Spit it out."

He quickly filled the commercial coffee-maker with water and fresh-ground coffee. "Ain't got nothing against the young man, and I think you need some fun." He gave her a rough pat on the shoulder and cleared his throat. "Oh, h.e.l.l and d.a.m.nation, you know what a fussbudget Henny-Penny is. She just doesn't want you getting" your heart broke like the last time. You be careful."

"I'm smarter and a lot wiser now. It'll take more than a pretty face to turn my head, make an a.s.s of myself or generally screw up my life.

As for my heart, I'm not sure I have one left to break. So you don't think I should go on the picnic?"

JD slipped the ap.r.o.n over his head, turned the bill of his baseball cap to the back of his head, then securely tied the ap.r.o.n around his waist. "I ain't said that." He gathered the ingredients for his cloud-light biscuits together in a bowl and began mixing them together. "I like him. Honest, I do. Me and the missus think you deserve some fun. Just walk careful, that's all."

She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "I'll tiptoe."

"Ain't no use you poking fun at me." He tossed flour on the gla.s.s-smooth wooden table in the center of the kitchen, scooped out a huge clump of sticky dough and slapped it on the table.

"I'm sorry, JD. You know I'd never make fun of you."

"Don't know no such thing. But since you come home, you've changed. Gotten harder. Cynical."

"You think so?" Nicole followed him as he slid a pan of biscuit dough into the oven. "Dad said the same thing a couple of times. I thought he was just being his ornery self."

"Never known Charlie to be far off the mark when he's callin" a spade a spade. Have you?"

"No. I guess not." She watched as he pulled a slab of bacon from one of the refrigerated lockers, slammed it down on another table and began slicing it into thin strips.

"Well, my advice, whether you want it or not, is to shake off the anger over Roger. Get back to the girl you was. You can't be thinkin" every man is like that b.a.s.t.a.r.d ex-husband, "cause that just ain't so. Go on that picnic today and find the old Nicky. Be yourself. Don't take things so serious like and for heaven's sake have fun. Laugh. And if that blue-eyed man kisses you, give him back as good as he gives.. Just remember to be the one to walk away smilin'."

Nicole laughed as she checked the biscuits in the oven, then began washing the fresh strawberries. Of course JD and her father were right. For a year she'd been moping around. In her heart she knew she wasn't responsible for her marriage failing. Yet, alone at night, she rehashed and examined every detail, trying to find where she'd gone wrong. The problem, she realized, was that she was still angry--at Roger and at herself. She'd been made to look the fool, had been lied to and deceived---and it d.a.m.n well hurt.

JD shoved another pan of biscuits into the oven, then glanced at the big kitchen clock over the doorway. "Better get movin'. Henny-Penny and the boys'll be here, and you ain't got the coffee urn filled or not bing set out yet."

She'd carried the weight of guilt entirely too long. It was time to stop whining and feeling sorry for her self and get on with her life. She was sick of being angry with the word for something she had no control over. d.a.m.n tired of living like a nun, too. It was time to move on with her life, forget Roger Seevers.

He scratched a place over his right ear, then reset-tied the baseball cap. "Fer what?"

She kissed him on the check. "For reminding me I'm still alive and kicking and it's okay to do crazy things again."

"Is that what I done? Guess I'm smarter than I thought, after all."

CHAPTER SEVEN.

SHE'D RUSHED through the morning, dropping off the guests along the river, constantly checking her watch. She couldn't understand it. She was as excited as a teenager antic.i.p.ating her first date. A couple of times she'd tried to enter the kitchen, but was shooed away by Max and an amused Penny. They were cooking up more than food in there.

At noon the morning cycle was repeated, only in reverse. She picked up the fishermen and returned them to the lodge for lunch. Then she waited again, but this time she had company. Reed and Ash, full of excitement for real adventure, paced the front porch, waiting for Hal, Preston, George and Clarence to finish lunch.

Finally the men left with the two boys. Larry, who preferred evening fishing, would spend the afternoon resting on the porch with a pair of binoculars, gazing at the birds and the wildlife. Without considering how eager she'd appear, Nicole raced through the lodge, shoved open the kitchen door and skidded to a stop when she saw only Penny. "Where's--"

"He's waiting for you by the Jeep."

As Nicole pa.s.sed her, heading for the back door, Penny said, "You've got the color back in your cheeks and that gleam in your eye, Have fun, child."

Nicole winked and kissed the older woman on her softly wrinkled scented cheek. "Thanks. Call me if anyone needs me."

"Go have fun, Nicky, and stop worrying. Everything has a way of working out."

Nicole sailed down the steps and across the yard to the garage. She spotted Max leaning against the side of the Jeep, waved, then hastened her steps. As she drew closer, she couldn't help but notice how snug his jeans were or the way his knit shirt pulled across his chest. Calm down, Nicky. He's a guest, here to have fun. d.a.m.n, she could manage that. Just as she reached him, she laughed out loud at her own thoughts.

"What's so funny?" Max asked. Something seemed different about her, but he couldn't figure out what it was. He liked the way she moved, her long legs reaching out and eating up the distance between them. As she rounded the Jeep and climbed into the driver's seat, he didn't try to hide the way he scrutinized her from head to toe. She didn't have that graceful hip-swing motion most women had. Nicole moved with an aggressive stride that brought to mind strength and self-a.s.surance---attributes he'd never thought of as alluring, but they fit her and were d.a.m.n s.e.xy to him. He strolled around to the pa.s.senger side and climbed in.

Nicole started the Jeep, then twisted in the seat to see where she was going before she backed out. She knew he had never taken his eyes off her and felt the flush of heat in her cheeks. No. He was not going to make her feel awkward again. Shifting her gaze from the driveway to his face, she stared back. Those blue eyes never wavered from hers, but changed from curiosity to something stronger. It was like a current of electricity shooting through her, leaving her a little breathless. She didn't know if it was desire or anger that caused her reaction. Or maybe it was the crystal-clear message she read. He wanted her. Though unspoken, she knew.

Responding to pure instinct at what she saw, she grabbed the material of his shirt with both hands, jerked him to her and planted a kiss on his lips. It was supposed to be a quick hard kiss to let him know she was well aware of what he was trying to do and that she wasn't one to be teased or taken lightly. The kiss was supposed to send him a message that she wasn't a pushover and was up on all the moves. The kiss was supposed to be a lot of things, but not deep and wild with such a rush of emotions. It wasn't supposed to make her hot or have him breathing hard as he wrapped his hand around the back of her head to keep her mouth from leaving his.

She realized whatever the kiss was meant to be, it hadn't made the statement she'd intended. Or had it? Nicole pulled her head back, keeping their lips only a hairbreadth apart. "That's what you wanted, wasn't it?" she asked.

"Partly." She'd taken him by surprise, a lovely one, but he hadn't expected it or seen it coming, and was having trouble separating his thoughts of Sandra. But Sandra would never have been so bold. Sandra was shy and sensitive, not at all the reckless type..

"You've been eyeing me since you arrived. Watching my every move, haven't you? I haven't missed the way you looked at me, either."

"Like how?" He couldn't ever remember being called on eyeing a woman. Confrontation wasn't one of Sandra's strong points. She never would have challenged him. "When?"

His fake show of confusion made her smile and give a husky laugh. "Like this morning in my room. Don't tell me you weren't thinking about kissing me then."

"I won't." Her curly hair, so unlike Sandra's, felt like silk slipping through his fingers as she pulled farther away. "I wanted to do a lot more than kiss you this morning. Do you know you have a very s.e.xy mouth?" He'd been thrown off guard by her boldness but recovered quickly. "The rest of you looks pretty tantalizing, too."

She chuckled as she reversed the Jeep down the drive. "You don't scare or back off easily, do you?"

"Ah." He watched the rise and fall of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "Is that what this is about? Was that kiss meant to be a deterrent?" He shook his head, smiled, then leaned a little closer, letting his breath tickle her ear as he said, "I hate to tell you, but you only whetted my appet.i.te for you." He doubted if Sandra ever would have entered into that sort of banter with all its s.e.xual undercurrents.

A thrill of danger sizzled through her, making her nerve endings jiggle to life. There was an edge of s.e.xual tension between them. She felt the soft inner shudder of excitement, something she hadn't felt in ages, and savored it.

He was disappointed when she didn't have a quick comeback. Instead, she turned her attention to where they were going. His pulse was racing, his finely tuned senses alert to every nuance in her voice. He wasn't ready to drop the subject. The fact that she wanted to linger over her victory excited him and delighted him. She was not a novice but an experienced player in the game. He leaned back and relaxed.

Nicole decided to take him to her special spot on the river. They were quiet during most of the drive, each lost in thought. It was Nicole who broke the silence. "What's your life like in the big city, New York?"

He'd been mired down in his plans, and it took a moment to grasp what she'd asked. "Boring. I work and go home."

"Yeah, sure. With all the wonderful theaters and plays, restaurants and nightclubs, to say nothing of the excitement of--what was it you called your company and what you did--a security consultant?"

He realized he'd made one fatal mistake. He'd misjudged her intelligence. It wasn't that she knew what his company was; it was that over the past couple of days, she'd let him dance around her pointed questions when all the time she was wise to what he was doing. "We do private investigations, surveillance, offer bodyguard service and consultations for security."

She didn't know what had come over her. Playing with fire, and taking unnecessary and dangerous chances was out of character. She'd always been straightforward in what she wanted. At first Roger had loved what he called her bawdy sense of humor and her s.e.xuality. His opinion seemed to change when he achieved tenure. Her outspokenness embarra.s.sed him. As did her casual taste in fashion. The most humiliating incident was when he told her that her s.e.xual aggressiveness turned him off. That announcement had cut deeper than all the rest. It had made her unsure of herself I Now, of course, she realized that Roger was a self-indulgent control freak. Her gut reaction said Max was an eager sparring partner, but her logical side, the doubts Roger had planted, made her hesitate.

Maybe she'd come on too strong and needed to back off a little for a while.

"Do you enjoy your work?" she asked, hoping to steer them onto neutral ground.

Max became aware they'd turned off the main track that pa.s.sed for a road and were on what appeared to be a less-used path. They were also on an upward slope. "Not anymore. I'm sick to death of it." The feeling behind his statement surprised him.

"That's why you and your partner came to Dawson"

S?" ".

"To relax and fish, yes." He was suddenly suspicious of the line of questioning, wondering if she knew more about them than she was letting on. Maybe she knew about Bedford. Then he dismissed his concerns. There was no way she could know about their client, and there sure as h.e.l.l wasn't any way she knew about Sandra.

Nicole had always been good at judging people, except for Roger, and felt that Max was being very careful of what he told her. She let it pa.s.s and pulled the leep off the path and under a stand of trees, turned off the ignition and climbed out. She eyed the big picnic basket in the back. "I'll get the gear and rods. You get the food."

Looking around, he saw the place was totally different from the other locations he'd fished. She was sharing something special with him, and as he followed her through the forest of trees and undergrowth, his heart raced with excitement- Then he could hear the river, a soothing sound, the splash and slap of water pouring over rocks. As they came out from the thicket of trees, she stepped aside, He could only stare. : A cascading waterfall Seemed to sprout from the ::.

center of a fern-covered rocky cliff. Trees and more ferns clung to the banks of the river, tinting the water emerald green. Max looked into the depths and could see the dark shadows of fish swimming around the rock-strewn bottom.

A light breeze caressed his skin. Gazing down, he watched shadows from the overhanging trees move on the surface of the water. There was a strong scent of damp earth and an unidentifiable sweet fragrance in the air. It whirled around him, and he felt a tug of longing to be one with the land. The desire to lose himself and let his worries fly away on the breeze overcame any other needs real or imagined. He dropped the picnic basket on the bank, then took his waders and rod from Nicole.

KNEE DEEP IN THE RIVER, feeling the gentle tug of the current, Nicole figured from the way her stomach was growling that they'd been fishing for about two hours. She reeled in her line, removed the fly and stored it away on her vest pocket, then shouldered her rod and headed for the bank. "I'm starving, New York."

He glanced over his shoulder, surprised to hear a human voice. "San---" He caught himself just in time. But for a second his eyes had played tricks on him. The sun had caught her blond hair and highlighted her face in a way that made him think he was seeing Sandra. "Montana. You quitting?"

Shaking her head, she couldn't hide her smile. She'd seen that disoriented lost-in-another-world look too many times not to recognize it. "I'm going to break open the picnic basket and see what you threw together." She slipped out of her waders and stored her gear, then returned to the riverbank, squatted down and washed her hands and face in the cool water. She hadn't thought to bring something to dry off with, so she pulled her shirt from the waistband of her jeans and patted her face and hands. Max was suddenly beside her, washing up, too, and she smiled at him.

"I'd go fishing with you any day, any time, any place," he said.

She nodded, at a complete loss for words. He'd just given her the greatest of compliments. "Same here." She'd fished with him the first day, but he'd seemed nervous, distracted, his movements clumsy. Today he was in top form and she'd had to work to outcast him. Only a true fisherman understood the need for quiet and inner reflection while fishing. It was more than just casting a line in the water, catching a fish. That was the easy part.

Fly-fishing was an art, almost a religion. It was mental strategy, cunning and the determination of the fisherman to pit his knowledge against nature. He had to read the river, study the current and the way the insects swarmed over the surface. It was the way the fish were swimming that counted. She'd met few serious fishermen who liked to hold a conversation with another while plying his art. They were sportsmen of few words, p.r.o.ne to converse in hand signals, grunts and nods.

Max made a production of spreading out the blanket Penny had packed. He motioned for Nicole to sit then did the same. He kept the basket between them and star led handing her wine-gla.s.ses, plates, napkins and a couple of forks. At last he took out the sealed containers. "I hope you like red wine with chicken."

"Sure." She tried to peek into the basket, but MaX quickly closed the top, so she jerked away. "What kind of chicken?"

"Fried, and some special Warner potato salad." "Yours? Did you actually make it or did Penny?" "I want you to know I made everything.

Fried the chicken like my dear old Texas grandmother taught me." He laughed at her look of surprise. "You didn't really think I was actually a New Yorker, did you?"

"Well, yes. Though I did wonder about the accent. It's not exactly Eastern, but neither do you have a Texas drawl. I never would have guessed. Where are you from? Houston? Dallas? Some other big city?"

"Try a d.i.n.ky dusty hick town. I joined the service and saw the world. I guess I lost the accent somewhere along the way." He took her plate from her and began to fill it. "What about you? How much of the world have you seen?"

She was so hungry she didn't even stop to think what she "was saying as he placed a crispy brown breast and a wing on her plate. "Outside of Montana, I've been to Berkeley and a few other towns in California."

"From your tone of voice, I take it you weren't impressed?"

"You're right. It was made perfectly clear to me that I was a country girl and should stay where I belonged."

"That's rubbish."

She took a bite of the crunchy chicken, savored the moist meat. Once she'd swallowed, she smiled. "I believe your chicken's better than Penny's. Did she ask you for your recipe?"

"No, but she watched me like a hawk eyeing a field mouse. I don't imagine she missed a thing." As he took a forkful of potato salad, he suddenly realized what it was about her that bothered him. Rarely did she talk about herself. She was usually too busy asking questions.