2
“Y ou all right?” Jared asked the sobbing woman seated behind him in the van. He could barely see her behind the wad of tissue she clutched to her face.
“F-f-fine.” She sniffed.
“Is there anything I can do?” he asked.
“No.” Cat waved a tissue at him. “I’m fine. I’m just not very good at goodbyes.”
“No kidding?” he asked, relieved to see a watery smile brighten her blotchy face and red rimmed eyes. “I was beginning to think there wouldn’t be enough left of you to soak up with a sponge.”
“That bad?” She grimaced and stroked Lucy’s soft head where it rested in her lap.
“Yeah.” Jared nodded. “I’d say it’s about the worst display of tears I’ve seen since Scar murdered Mufasa.”
“Sorry. I’m just not feeling all Hakuna Matata right now.”
“Understandable.”
She bit her lip and studied his profile warily. “For the record, I’m not usually such a sniveler.”
“It’s fine. Maybe if more people were capable to sharing their feelings, the world wouldn’t be such a mess.”
“That or we’d all be walking around in hip waders,” she joked.
Jared smiled, relieved to see she’d recovered her sense of humor. To say this morning had been rough would be a dramatic understatement. He knew it would be years before the vision of her saying goodbye to her brother would fade from his memory.
Wrapped in Cameron’s arms, she’d sobbed into his shirt as though the anguish of being parted from her brother was just too much for her to bear. Julia had broken down and cried while Cam had remained stoic, although his lips had wavered a bit. Jared had been surprised to find his own eyes dampened at the sight.
Her sobs had ripped into him, and he was sure he’d never heard a more forlorn sound in his entire life. One thing was certain, no one could accuse the woman beside him of lacking feeling.
“Where are we anyway?” Cat asked, glancing out the window at the highway that stretched before them.
“We’re nearing the New York border,” he said.
“That’s it? We’re already behind schedule,” Cat fretted. “I had this all planned out.” She reached into the glove box and pulled out a set of colored index cards. “Oh, this is not good.”
“What?” Jared asked, trying to read the card over her shoulder.
“Twelve o’clock,” she said. “Twenty-minute stop for lunch. And if we’re not even at the border, then we can’t use the rest stop I’d planned. Well, that obviously needs to be revised.”
“You’re kidding, right?” he asked.
“Kidding about what?”
“Kidding about being behind schedule and designated rest stops.”
“Organization is the key to any large undertaking.” She primly crossed her ankles.
“No, flexibility is the key,” Jared disagreed.
“I’m flexible,” she protested.
“No, you’re a control freak.” He tapped the stacked index cards in her lap.
“I am not,” she said. “I just like order.”
“Life isn’t a lesson plan, Teach,” he said. “You have to learn to relax.”
“I am relaxed,” she argued.
“We’ll make it to Arizona in plenty of time,” Jared promised.
“I know we will because I have a plan B, a plan C and if necessary, a plan D.” She wagged the cards at him.
Jared raised an eyebrow and glanced at her, but said nothing.
An awkward silence settled between them, leaving Cat to wonder if he’d even grasped how serious she was. She let her gaze drift to his hands where they held the steering wheel. She could see the prominent blue veins on the backs of his hands that flowed in between his square knuckles. His fists were tanned and weathered from long hours of hard work. His fingers held the steering wheel loosely, but with total control.
She imagined that was how the mysterious Jared McLean lived his life. In total control, but always on the fringe. Never in the center of the turmoil. She’d noticed during the past twenty-four hours that Jared was not a talker. He was a watcher. He discussed neutral topics, but any questions directed at his personal life were sidestepped, deflected or ignored. Boy, did his aloofness bug her. Every conversation was a one-way street to nowhere.
A wet lick across her palm jarred her from her thoughts, and she glanced at the wriggling puppy in her lap. Lucy was full of energy from her long nap, and Cat dutifully rolled down the window to let Lucy stick her head out, while keeping a firm grip on her collar even though her halter was clipped into the seat belt buckle.
“I think somebody has to make a pit stop,” she called to Jared over the noise of the open window.
Jared glanced at the poofy tail gleefully pounding his shoulder and back at Cat. “There’s a rest stop coming up in a few miles. We can probably run her around there.”
Cat nodded, and turned her attention back to Lucy. The puppy’s ears were flapping in the breeze, her mouth was open and her tongue was hanging out as if she were laughing. What a knucklehead, she thought, feeling a rush of tenderness for her baby.
The rest stop was crowded with campers and station wagons. Noisy children chased each other in the summer heat while their parents reclined in the shade.
Clipping Lucy’s leash to her halter, Cat climbed down from the van. Jared grabbed the cooler Julia had packed for them and led the way to a large patch of shade beneath a nearby tree.
The late afternoon air was sticky with humidity, and the grass they sat upon clung to their skin. Lucy lapped greedily at the water Cat put in her bowl.
“Sit, Lucy,” Cat ordered as she pulled a bag of dog treats out of the cooler. “Let’s practice your new trick.”
Cat knelt in front of Lucy and raised her right hand.
“High five, Lucy,” she said. “High five.”
Lucy patted her paw against Cat’s hand.
“Good girl,” Cat said and rubbed her ears. “Good girl.”
Lucy scarfed her treat and flopped onto the cool grass with her chew toy. Cat glanced up and saw Jared watching her.
“Isn’t she smart?” she asked.
“Not bad for a sissy dog,” he agreed.
“Sissy dog?” Lucy protested.
“Well, she is a poodle,” he said.
“A Standard Poodle,” she corrected. “They’re special.”
“Hmm,” Jared grunted and handed her an ice-cold pop and a fat turkey sandwich. Cat peeked into the contents of the cooler. Julia was a wonder. There was enough food in there to last them three days.
“My brother has excellent taste in wives, don’t you think?” she asked.
“No doubt about it, he’s a lucky man,” Jared agreed, taking a healthy bite out of his sandwich.
“How come you aren’t married?” she asked, curiosity beating out good sense.
“How do you know I’m not married?”
“No ring.”
“So?” he challenged her.
“What kind of wife would let her husband hitchhike across the country?” Cat asked in exasperation. “Or, for that matter, let him drive three thousand miles with another woman?”
“Are you planning on eating sometime today?” Jared eyed the sandwich in her hand.
“I was just asking.” She shrugged. “You’re not very open about yourself, are you?”
“No,” he answered between mouthfuls.
“Why?” she persisted.
“Eat,” he ordered and nudged her sandwich up against her lips.
Cat frowned, bewildered by his reticence and more curious than ever. She couldn’t help it. His silence intrigued her. She’d noticed he kept everyone at arm’s length – even Cameron.
She bit into her sandwich and continued to ponder her traveling companion. During the past twenty-four hours, she hadn’t learned one tangible fact about him. She didn’t know anything about him, really, except that he was an old friend of Cameron’s and he lived in Arizona.
Cat watched Jared take up Lucy’s leash and walk her toward a copse of trees on the other side of the rest stop. She smiled at the unlikely pair as they were accosted by a group of children. Lucy was in her glory. Flopping onto the ground, with her belly in the air, she couldn’t get enough of the small hands eager to pet her. To Cat’s surprise, she saw Jared doing the high five-trick with Lucy. The kids were amazed and took turns trying it as well.
The quiet giant soon had a gaggle of children tugging on his arms and clinging to his legs. He looked like a big, blond tree that had spouted children. She chuckled as he tried, to no avail, to disentangle himself from his fan club. It wasn’t until their mothers called them that the children reluctantly left their new friends. Cat tried to hide her laughter by repacking the cooler as Jared and Lucy returned.
“What are you laughing at?” a deep voice growled in her ear.
“Me? Laughing?” Cat turned to find her face just inches from his. She felt her smile collapse as her pulse pounded in her ears. Those dimples of his were surely lethal.
“Yes, you.” His voice dropped to a whisper as if he, too, was disturbed by their close proximity.
A cold nose and slurping tongue was thrust between them, and they both reared back when a wiggling Lucy tried to kiss them at the same time.
“Yuck! Dog germs,” Jared teased, wiping his face with the back of his hand.
“My dog does not have germs,” Cat retorted with mock pique. “Come along, Lucy. Let’s wait for him in the van.”
Jared watched as she strode back to the van with her nose turned up in the air. The curve of her lips gave her away, and he found it difficult not to laugh. Except this was no laughing matter, he’d actually thought about kissing her and this was just their first day out.
She was his best friend’s sister. He wasn’t supposed to want to kiss her. He tried to think of what he’d done recently to deserve this sort of torture, but nothing of this magnitude came to mind. He watched her settle the puppy into the backseat of the van.
Her curly hair shone golden in the sun as it escaped the ponytail she’d tried to force it into. The formfitting white tank top and denim shorts she wore left enough of her skin visible to distract a monk. He sighed.
He wasn’t surprised she’d asked him again about his personal life, only that it had taken her so long. She was, he noted, curious by nature. Like her brother, she was a meddler, a well-intentioned do-gooder who wanted happiness for those around her.
If he searched the whole world over, Jared knew he’d never find anyone more his polar opposite. He didn’t share his feelings, secrets, fears, or sorrows with anyone. He’d learned early on that to care was to be hurt. People could be ripped out of your life in a heartbeat. It just wasn’t wise to care too much, because you never knew when someone would be taken away. Jared wasn’t interested in that kind of pain.
Cat probably wouldn’t be happy until a man bared his soul to her. Jared would never be able to do that. Sometimes it was best to know when to beat a hasty retreat. He’d deliver her to her job in Arizona, but that was it. He wasn’t going to talk to her, touch her or care for her. And he was definitely going to stop picturing her as she’d looked this morning, with her sodden hair pushed back from her face, her soaked cotton nightgown clinging to curves she’d tried to hide with her arms, and stray droplets of water running down her skin like so many fingers. Yeah, he was definitely going to stop picturing her like that.
With the desperate resolve of a man trying to hold back the tide with his hands, Jared strode toward the waiting van. He replaced the cooler behind the passenger’s seat and turned to find Cat standing beside him, studying him.
Her eyes were a pensive blue, but flecks of green were still visible. He didn’t like the gleam in her gaze. It boded ill for his peace of mind and his privacy. She grinned at him, and he felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. She held out her hand, and he stiffened.
“What?” he asked.
She wiggled her fingers. “May I have the keys, please.”
“What for?”
“It’s my turn to drive,” she answered, following him around to the driver’s side.
“I don’t think so.” He chuckled.
“What do you mean ‘you don’t think so’?” she mimicked, her voice low and short with temper.
“I’m fine. I can drive the rest of the way,” he explained, motioning her toward the other side of the van. Lucy watched them through the window with her head cocked to one side as if listening.
“You can’t drive all day,” she protested. “You’ll be exhausted.”
“I’m fine,” he assured her.
“Well, I’m not. I want to drive,” she argued.
“Too bad. I’m doing the driving on this trip,” he answered, his own temper igniting at her stubbornness.
“It’s my van.” She glared at him. “If you weren’t here, I’d be driving anyway.”
“But I am here,” he said and opened the driver’s door. As he went to climb into the seat, she dashed behind him and wedged herself between him and the back rest.
“I’m driving!” she called out in victory.
“Catherine!” Jared unconsciously used her full name to reprimand her. “You’re making a spectacle of us.”
“Then let me drive,” she retorted.
“If I lean back, I’m going to crush you,” he threatened.
“Give it your best shot,” she dared him, as if she knew he wouldn’t.
“You’re behaving like a child.” Jared looked to his left and saw her butt wriggling just beneath his elbow. He quickly glanced away.
“And you’re being a misogynist,” she snapped, but laughed when Lucy reached around the seat to lick her face.
“I am not. I’m just being practical.”
“Practical?” She peeked at him from beneath his right arm.
“Your brother warned me about your driving,” he answered. Jared hadn’t wanted to throw his friend under the bus, but she was giving him no choice.
“Cam’s just sore because I’m a better driver than he is.” She puffed out her lower lip to blow a wayward curl out of her eyes.
“Uh-huh,” he answered dubiously.
“Oh, come on, let me drive,” she pleaded, looking squashed between him and the seat. With her big eyes and pointy chin, she appeared so eager and earnest, Jared felt himself begin to cave. Damn it!
“On one condition.” He tried to sound stern. “You obey all of the traffic signs and drive the speed limit.”
“Of course, I will.” She snorted in disgust. “Sheesh, you make it sound like I’ve never driven before.”
“Have you ever driven anything this big before?”
“Well, no, but I’m anxious to try it.” She beamed at him.
Terrific. On top of being a meddler, she was a daredevil, too. Was any man ever so cursed? Jared slipped from the driver’s seat and walked around the van. If she did one thing, just one thing, wrong he was going to take over.
Cat winked at him as he slid into the passenger’s seat. “Now was that so tough?”
He glared at her.
A bang from the back of the van sounded, and they both started.
“I haven’t even started the engine yet.” Cat raised her hands in innocence.
“I’ll check it out,” Jared offered. He disappeared and Cat adjusted her mirrors and tightened her seat belt.
“Something must have shifted,” he said as he climbed back into the van. “I think it was that purple box back there.”
“What purple box?” Cat asked. “I didn’t pack a purple box. Are you sure it was purple?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” he said. “It was purple.”
“But I don’t remember packing a purple box,” Cat said. “What size was it?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Smaller than a bread box, bigger than a shoe box.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t blue?” she asked.
“I think I can identify the color purple when I see it,” he drawled. “Come on, we’re burning daylight here. Let’s go.”
“But I’m sure I didn’t pack a purple box,” Cat said. “Maybe I should go look at it.”
“Too late,” Jared said. “I stuffed it in another box for safekeeping. Besides it’s probably a present from Cam and Julia that you’re not supposed to find until you get to Arizona.”
“Oh, I love presents!” Cat grinned.
“Well then how about you give me the present of getting this van in motion?” Jared asked.
“Fine, you big spoilsport.”
“Hey, I’m just trying to maintain your schedule,” he said. “We wouldn’t want to fall behind, now would we?”
“Hmm.” Cat switched on the ignition and pulled out of their parking spot. The van was bigger than anything she’d ever driven before, and contrary to her blithe appearance she was a teensy bit nervous. The large steering wheel wobbled in her hands, but determined not to lose face, she reached back and patted the puppy on the head before she cruised down the on-ramp.
Once she’d merged with the westbound traffic, Cat cast a swift glance at Jared and sighed in feminine appreciation at the way his jeans clung to his lean hips and his blue T-shirt stretched to accommodate the movements of his muscle-hardened shoulders. He was masculinity personified.
Too bad he had a white-knuckle grip on the edge of his seat and his face was set in stiff lines as if he were bracing for a ride on a roller coaster. Humph! He was definitely one of those strong silent types. Well, strong was nice, but silent was boring. Cat was determined to have him gossiping like an old woman before the week was out.
They reached a motel in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania just after nightfall. It had been a push but they’d caught up to the schedule Cat had mapped out. Cat’s eyes were burning, her arms and legs were shaky with exhaustion, but she was pleased with the way she’d handled the van. Even Jared had relaxed his death grip on the dashboard.
The sign outside the motel blinked VACANCY in vintage red neon. Cat had never been happier to see anything in her life.
Parking just past the office, she switched off the engine and turned toward Jared and the puppy snoring loudly across his lap.
“I’ll go get us a room if you’ll stay with her,” she offered.
“ A room?” Jared repeated.