Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
T he drive to Schwartz’s cabin took almost two hours, and Janelle tried to convince him to blindfold her for only the last hour. She’d claimed a proclivity toward car sickness, which wasn’t altogether untrue. By the time they bumped their way down a gravel road that seemed to go on for miles, she felt a little bit queasy.
“You doing okay?”
It was the first time he’d spoken to her in at least forty minutes. She’d given up trying to make conversation after thirty minutes of one-word answers and unintelligible grunts. Schwartz Patton was a lot of things, but gregarious wasn’t one of them.
“I’m fine,” she said, recognizing a note of strain in her own voice as she reached up and adjusted the blindfold. “Are we almost there?”
“Yep. Just a couple more minutes.” He fell quiet for a few beats, and Janelle figured that was the end of the conversation.
The low rumble of his voice surprised her. “Look, I’m sorry about the blindfold. It’s for your own protection. If anything happens—” He stopped, and Janelle wondered what he was about to say. “I just don’t want any risk that you’d be able to direct someone here where they could find you.”
“Find me, or find you ?”
He didn’t respond right away, and Janelle wondered if she’d crossed the line. But hell, it wasn’t a big secret he’d kept himself hidden from his own family all these years. She didn’t understand why, but she was grateful he’d agreed to break his self-imposed solitary confinement for her.
“Here we are,” he said, bringing the truck to a halt. She started to reach up to remove the blindfold, but Schwartz’s hands moved faster than hers. She felt his large palms slide over the back of her skull, his fingers moving in her hair as he untied the knot. The fabric fell away, but his hands stayed where they were, cupping the sides of her head.
His gaze held hers, and Janelle didn’t blink, didn’t move, didn’t breathe, waiting for him to say something. The intensity of those gray-brown eyes was like nothing she’d experienced before.
“You can take the wig off now.”
“Oh.”
“I’ll get your stuff.”
Janelle blinked as he dropped his hands and turned to open the truck door. Okay . So they wouldn’t be having a lot of deep, meaningful conversations in this little cabin in the woods. Janelle picked up her purse and slid down from the truck, her pulse still ticking a few beats quicker than it should have.
Schwartz was already moving ahead of her toward a rustic-looking log cabin with a green metal roof. A curl of smoke drifted up from a chimney, which made her feel both comforted and ravenous for a smoked-caramel latte from her favorite coffee shop. Valentino’s Cup would probably go out of business without her swinging by a dozen times a day to drink her own body weight in caffeinated goodness.
Up ahead, Schwartz was setting down her bags and unlocking the front door and?—
“Holy God in heaven, what is that?!”
Janelle screamed as the monstrous shaggy beast bounded toward her, its tongue lolling out to expose teeth the size of small daggers. She scrambled backward toward the truck and grabbed the door handle, but it was already locked and the animal was gaining on her.
“Janelle!” Schwartz yelled. “Stay put. Just let him sniff you.”
“Sniff me? As foreplay to devouring my internal organs?” She gripped her purse to her chest like it would offer any sort of protection from an attack. The creature moved closer, its enormous tail practically knocking down trees as it approached.
She swallowed. “What the hell is it?”
“Haven’t you ever seen a dog before?”
“Not one that looks like a werewolf.”
“That’s part of it. He’s part wolf, I mean. His name’s Sherman.”
“Sherman?”
The animal didn’t appear to be devouring her, though it slobbered on her shoe as it bent to have a sniff. Realizing she wasn’t about to be the creature’s dinner, Janelle reached out one tentative hand to touch an ear the size of a fur-covered sail. The wolf-dog snapped its head up, and before Janelle could draw her hand back, it dragged its tongue over her knuckles.
She gave a squeak of surprise, not sure if the thing was showing affection or having a taste test. But then the tail wagged, and the beast gave her hand another sloppy slurp.
“Sherman,” she repeated, a little less terrified this time. She scratched the monster behind one ear, and it gave a soft moan of pleasure and flopped on the ground at her feet.
She looked up at Schwartz, who was watching her with a funny half smile.
“Sherman, like the military general?” she asked. “Isn’t that how everyone in your family was named? Sheridan and MacArthur and Grant and Schwarzkopf and?—”
“Come on,” Schwartz said, the half smile vanishing as quickly as it had come. “Let’s get you inside.”
Sherman flipped over and jumped to his feet, then trotted after his master into the cabin. Janelle followed, not sure what she’d said to irritate Schwartz. The man was a mystery, which was probably part of what made him so stupid-sexy.
Don’t get any ideas, she warned herself. He’s your bodyguard, not your boyfriend.
The interior of the cabin was small and sparse, but surprisingly tidy. There was a kitchen off to the left, with a set of cast-iron pans hanging over the range. Next to that was a small oak table with two ladder-back chairs. Straight ahead sat a large leather sofa the color of an old saddle. Not that Janelle had ever seen a saddle in person, but she recognized the color from the Pottery Barn catalog.
Off to the right, she saw two doors leading into what she assumed must be?—
“Bedrooms,” Schwartz supplied, answering the question she hadn’t wanted to ask. “Plural. That one’s normally my home office, but I’ll be sleeping on a rollaway bed in there so you can have the king-size bed in the other room.”
Janelle stared at him, then shook her head. “You? On a rollaway bed? What are you, six three, six four?”
“Six five. So?”
“Holy cow. You must be the tallest of all the Patton kids?”
Schwartz scrubbed a hand over his chin. “It’s been a few years since our mom lined us up and made pencil marks on the wall, but yeah. Probably.”
“Then there’s no way you’re going to fit on a rollaway bed. You’d probably break the damn thing.”
He folded his arms, looking oddly amused. “I ordered it extra-long.”
Janelle felt her gaze drop to his crotch. She realized in an instant what she’d done and snapped her gaze back to his face, but it was clear from the smirk now crossing his features that the slip hadn’t gone unnoticed. She felt her face flame as she lifted her chin.
“I’ll take the rollaway,” she insisted. “I’m upending your whole life here. I’m not going to steal your bed, too.”
For a moment, he looked like he might argue. Instead, he shrugged. “Suit yourself. I’ve gotta warn you, though, I get up early.”
“And you need me to bring you breakfast in bed?”
The startled look on his face almost made up for her lame attempt at humor, and she felt strangely satisfied watching him sputter.
“What? No. I just meant the rollaway is in my office. I like to start work early.”
“How early is early?”
“Six, maybe six thirty.”
She felt herself blanch at that, but held it together. “That’s fine. As long as you’ve got good coffee, I’ll be fine.”
“I suppose that depends on your definition of ‘good.’” He nodded toward the kitchen, and Janelle followed his gaze to the world’s tiniest coffeemaker. At least, she thought it might be a coffeemaker. The handle was rusted, and the glass carafe was so grimy it looked like someone had rubbed it in the dirt. Beside it sat a tin of Folgers coffee grounds. She stared at it for a few beats, trying not to feel grim.
“Folgers was one of my first clients,” she said. “I’m a graphic designer. I helped redesign that logo eight years ago.”
“Huh.”
“The version on that can hasn’t been in stores for at least seven years.”
“You don’t say?” Schwartz shrugged. “Not much of a coffee drinker myself.”
“You drink the blood of young virgins for breakfast?”
“Something like that. Well, you’ll get your exercise making the coffee anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
“The well where we get our water is about a mile from here,” he said, nodding toward the door. “It’s just uphill from the outhouse. I hope you like roughing it.”
Schwartz was still laughing quietly to himself twenty minutes later. It probably looked more like scowling than laughing, but the sentiment was there.
Okay, so maybe it hadn’t been nice to convince Janelle the cabin had no indoor plumbing. He’d expected her to be a froofy city girl, but he hadn’t expected her to be so spirited.
Or so ridiculously beautiful.
He’d watched the horror flash in those striking pale blue eyes, seen all the color drain from that perfect heart-shaped face as she gripped the handle of her fancy-looking purse.
But she hadn’t uttered a word of complaint. Just nodded and took a really deep breath and asked him where the bucket was.
“For what?” he’d asked.
“I’m going to get some water. It’s going to be dark soon, right? I want to do my share of work around here, and I’d rather go find the well while there’s still daylight.”
He probably shouldn’t have let her get halfway down the gravel drive before he yelled for her to come back. But hell, he’d been enjoying a rear view that was just as sexy as the rest of her.
When he showed her the real bathroom—complete with an oversize antique claw-foot tub and a tile shower he’d installed himself, thank you very much—the look of relief on her face was almost palpable.
“Thank you,” she whispered, turning to look at him with eyes that shimmered in the light from the antique copper fixture.
Shit, was she crying? Dammit, he hadn’t meant to do that.
He took a step back, trying to put some distance between them. “Look, why don’t you take a bath or something?”
“What?” She raised one arm and turned to sniff under it. “Are you saying?—”
“Dammit, no. I wasn’t suggesting you stink.” Schwartz raked his hands through his hair, wondering how he’d gotten so bad at this.
Ten years in a remote cabin trying to hide from your ghosts will do that to you.
He cleared his throat. “I’m just saying you’ve been traveling a long time. Why don’t you get settled in, maybe wash your hair or rub daisies on your face or whatever the hell women do to feel refreshed.”
She smiled. “I didn’t bring any daisies.”
“Lichen, then. Whatever.”
She smiled again, and Schwartz felt his gut twist. “A bath sounds heavenly. Do you mind if I use some of the Bal d’Afrique bath oil I brought?”
“I have no idea what you just said, but if it’s behind closed doors, I don’t really care what you do to yourself in here.”
“I got it at Barneys. It’s scented with neroli, African marigold, jasmine, black amber, and cedar. It’s a hundred and twenty bucks for this little bitty bottle, but so worth it for the way it makes your skin feel.”
“I’ll put that on my shopping list,” he muttered, trying not to think about the way her skin might feel pressed up against his. “Go on,” he said, nodding toward the bathroom. “I’ll make dinner.”
“Do you have to go out and shoot it first?”
“Maybe. If I’m not back by Wednesday, send Sherman out to drag my carcass home.”
“I’ll have a taxidermist stuff you and mount you on the wall.”
He laughed, surprised to realize she could dole out the teasing as well as she took it. “Make sure he poses me angled a little to the right. Gotta show off my good side.”
She nodded and made her way toward the office where he’d set her bags. When she got to the doorway, she turned back to face him.
“Thank you, Schwartz. For everything.”
He nodded. “Don’t mention it.”
By the time she emerged from the bathroom an hour later, Schwartz had dinner almost ready. He’d grilled up burgers on the barbecue he kept just outside the cabin, and even made the extra effort to cut up tomatoes and lettuce so she could pile her burger with rabbit food. Wasn’t that what city people did?
Must be, since she devoured the damn thing like she hadn’t eaten for a week, then sat looking sheepish and beautiful with her cheeks rosy and her hair damp from her bath. She’d ditched the ugly black wig and the dark eye makeup she’d worn for her journey. She smelled fucking amazing, so that expensive oil might be worth it after all.
She dabbed her mouth with her napkin and folded it on her plate. “I was hungrier than I realized. Thank you.”
“No problem. Want dessert?”
“You baked dessert?”
“Do I look like Betty Crocker?” He shook his head. “Pop-Tarts.”
“What?”
“That’s what’s for dessert. And breakfast. Sometimes lunch and dinner, if I’m rewarding myself for something.”
“You like Pop-Tarts?” She looked amused by that, like he’d just confessed he enjoyed dressing up in women’s underwear and parading around the cabin.
On second thought, there was no judgment in her expression. Just surprise.
“‘Like’ is not a strong enough word for how I feel about Pop-Tarts,” he said. “I love Pop-Tarts the way Sherman over there loves having his butt scratched.”
“That’s a beautiful metaphor.”
“Yeah. I’m a regular fucking poet.”
Janelle grinned and stood up. “Well then, allow me to serve desert. Where do you keep the Pop-Tarts?”
“Second cupboard on the left. Right above the sink you didn’t notice earlier.”
Just like he wasn’t noticing her ass. Or the way her hips swayed as she moved around the kitchen counter. Nope, he didn’t notice any of that.
“You have no idea how relieved I am to know you have indoor plumbing,” she said.
“Don’t get too comfortable. Tomorrow I’m planning to teach you to split firewood.”
“I’m going to tell myself you’re joking.”
“Nope. ’Fraid not. You didn’t bring your ax?”
“Oh, sure,” she said, stretching up to reach the cupboard and revealing a perfect soft strip of skin beneath the hem of her shirt. “My ax is in my Louis Vuitton suitcase right next to my shotgun and my bear traps.”
“Bear meat isn’t bad in a stir-fry.”
“I should have packed my wok.” Janelle rolled her eyes and pulled open the cupboard door. “Holy cow, you weren’t kidding. You must have a hundred boxes of Pop-Tarts in here.”
Schwartz polished off the last bite of his burger. “Try the s’mores flavor—those are the best. The frosted raspberry isn’t bad, either.”
She shook her head as she pulled out two foil pouches and closed the cupboard back up. “I still can’t believe this is your vice of choice. Pop-Tarts?”
“You’d rather I sit out here in my remote mountain cabin and collect animal skulls?”
“I was thinking more like swilling bourbon or something. You really are an enigma.”
“Is that like an Eggo waffle?”
“What? No, an enigma?—”
“I know what an enigma is. A puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation. A person of puzzling or contradictory character. Something like that?”
She blinked, then nodded. “You are a tough man to figure out, Schwartz Patton.”
“Keep on trying,” he muttered, hoping like hell she wouldn’t.
He stood and picked up his plate, then carried it to the kitchen sink. He turned around to grab a fresh sponge out of the cupboard, and collided with something warm and solid and deliciously soft.
“Ooof.” Janelle pressed her hands to his chest and pushed back, peering up at him with an embarrassed smile. “Sorry. Just trying to get the toaster.”
“Uh, not a problem.”
“Tight space in here.”
“Right.”
“Very snug.”
“Uh-huh.”
Her hands stayed on his chest, the pale pink fingernails looking out of place against the frayed red flannel of his shirt. She smelled like flowers and sunshine, and it seemed very hot in the kitchen all of a sudden.
“Okay. So—toaster.” She took a shaky breath and pulled her hands back, and Schwartz kicked himself for missing her touch. As she busied herself unwrapping the Pop-Tarts and shoving them in the slot, he tried not to think of words like “shoving” and “slot” and “Janelle.”
Why was it so fucking hot in the kitchen?
He filled the sink with soapy water and wondered if he should just drown himself and be done with it.
“Can I help with the dishes?” she asked.
“No.”
“Please?”
“No.”
She was quiet a moment, and he did his best not to look at her. “Do you mind if I take this to bed with me?”
“What?” He looked up, half expecting to see her with a cucumber or a pepper mill or the paper towel rod or some other phallic-looking object.
For the love of God, why was it so hot in this kitchen?
“Oh—the Pop-Tart? Yeah, sure. Go right ahead.”
“Thanks,” she said, smiling at him oddly. “I didn’t realize how exhausted I was. Haven’t slept much for the last few days.”
“Okay then. See you tomorrow.”
“Good night, Schwartz. Thank you again.”
“Yep.”
He heard her footsteps tapping across the wood plank floors, and it was all he could do not to throw his fucking sponge on the ground and go after her.
From the back of the cabin, he heard her voice.
“Schwartz?”
“Yeah?”
“When did you pick these daisies?”
He looked down at his hands under the suds. “While you were in the bath.”
“Where on earth did you find daisies in the middle of the forest?”
“There’s a meadow about two hundred yards from here. Walked over while the burgers cooked.”
“I love them.”
“Good.”
“Thank you so much.”
“No problem.”
“They’re beautiful.”
“Yep.”
Just like you , he thought as he plunged his hands deeper into the soapy water and wondered how the fuck he was going to endure this assignment.
He was still wide awake well after midnight. He wished he could blame it all on Janelle and direct his grumpiness at someone besides himself, but the sad truth was that he had a lot of sleepless nights.
He’d close his eyes, having every intention of drifting off into a slumber filled with ponies and rainbows and dreamy shit like that. But instead, he’d see bodies. Dozens of them, way more than there’d been in reality.
In real life, there had been only nine.
Only nine .
The thought was so absurd, he almost laughed out loud.
Nine of his closest friends in the whole world. His fellow soldiers, men who were counting on him to get them home safely.
He’d let them down. He’d let them all down—himself, his men, their families, his own family.
What the fuck were you doing there, anyway? You had no business being there.
Schwartz closed his eyes and rolled over, hoping a change in position might help.
It didn’t.
Instead, he heard the blast of the rocket, the shattering of steel, felt the cold, hard?—
Soft?
Warm?
He opened his eyes, aware that he was no longer alone in his bed. He blinked a few times, not sure if he was dreaming about the fragrant skin pressed up against his bare back, the feel of warm breath on his shoulder, the fact that his boxers were becoming uncomfortably tight.
In the darkness, her voice was tiny. “Schwartz?”
“Yeah?”
“I need you.”