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“Knock it off and pay attention to what you’re doing.”
“Oh, relax! I’m good. In fact,” she added, her voice rising, “I’m done!” She stepped onto the platform at the end of the rope bridge and threw both hands into the air in a victory pose. “I did it! By myself!”
Sure, he thought, not counting his shouted instructions and constant watchfulness. But damned if he could deny her the victory dance. “Yeah, you did. Enough celebrating. Now we go hit the climbing wall.”
“Wow, way to pop my balloon.”
“You want to be congratulated?” he asked. “Do it all, then we’ll talk. Now climb down, take this silly excuse for a dog and let’s hike to the wall.”
“Climbing a wall?” Her features fell like a kid faced with a pop quiz. That only lasted a second or two, though. She lifted that stubborn chin of hers and said, “Fine. Let’s do it.”
“Damned if I’m not starting to like you,” he said and had the satisfaction of seeing surprise flicker across her face.
“Thanks.”
He watched her climb down from the platform and walk toward him with a spring in her step. The little dog on the end of the red leash jumped and pulled, trying to get to her, so Jericho dropped the leash and the poodle raced to Daisy. The tiny dog was scooped up and cuddled while it wiggled in ecstasy.
Jericho thought briefly that he couldn’t blame the animal for the reaction. In fact, he almost envied the ridiculous little dog. “Jericho?”
Her voice sounded confused. “What?”
She smiled at him. “Just wondering where you were. I was talking to you and you just zoned out.”
Well, that was humiliating. “I was thinking about the wall,” he lied.
“Oh. Okay.” She sounded disappointed now, but added, “Let’s go and get it over with then.”
Get it over with. Hmm. That had been his plan in bringing her up here. Walk her through, watch her fail and get her off the mountain. What the plan was now, he wasn’t sure.
“So,” she asked as Nikki trotted ahead of them, “why’d you freak when I suggested you bring kids up here?”
“I didn’t freak,” he said, and assured himself that was true. A man who’d spent as many years in the military as he had wouldn’t be “freaked” by the idea of having kids run amok at his camp. “I was just…surprised by the suggestion.”
She pushed a low-hanging bough out of her way, ducked her head to pass under and said, “I don’t know why. In my old neighborhood, there were dozens of kids who would have loved to be here for a week or two.” She took a moment to glance around and he followed her gaze.
Early morning light tipped the edges of the pine branches. A soft wind sighed through the trees and a bright blue jay shot through the air like a colorful bullet. The woods never failed to center him. To give him the sense of peace that was as elusive as it was sought after. Just the thought of having dozens of teenagers rampaging through the forest he considered a sanctuary was enough to make him grit his teeth. But Daisy clearly liked the idea.
“Kids in the city have no idea really. What a world with no sidewalks or freeways looks like,” she said wistfully. “They’ve never seen the stars the way you can up here and I’m sure they’ve never heard silence so deep.”
“I’m not set up to have kids here,” he said, guiding her around a stack of boulders. “This is a leadership camp. We train CEOs and other corporate types how to use teamwork. How to count on each other and learn from each other. How to overcome negatives and turn them into positives.”
“All of which kids would benefit from learning,” she pointed out.
“Not my job,” he insisted. What the hell would he do with a dozen or more kids running wild on the mountain? Hell, just the liability issues alone would be staggering.
“You talk tough, but you’re not such a hard guy, Jericho King.”
One dark eyebrow lifted when he glanced back at her. “Don’t kid yourself.”
“Oh, I’m not,” she said, smiling into his scowling face. “See, I’ve talked with Kevin, your cook—who is, I hesitate to point out, barely more than a kid himself—”
“He’s twenty.”
“My point exactly,” she said smugly. “Anyway, he told me that not only did you hire him here with no references, but that you’re also loaning him the money to go to the Culinary Institute of America. So he can be the chef he dreams of being.”
“That’s different.” And real damn irritating to find out that Kevin was shooting his mouth off. Jericho was going to have to have a talk with the kid.
“How is it different?”
He wasn’t sure. Kevin had wandered up to the mountain a little more than a year ago looking for work. He’d been scrawny and exhausted from carrying around a chip on his shoulder for so long. He’d had a rough life but he’d stood up to it and made himself into a good kid despite the odds. He’d proven himself in the kitchen so quickly that Jericho had kept him on. Now, he was helping the kid get a start. No big deal.
Gritting his teeth, he said, “The difference is, I didn’t go hunting down a bunch of kids to sponsor. Kevin found us. He just showed up and wouldn’t leave. Besides, he stopped being a kid a long time ago. He’s been on his own since he was fifteen and—”
“And you gave him a chance to be what he wanted to be,” Daisy said, laying one hand on his forearm. “I’m just saying it would be nice if other kids had the same opportunity.”
Reluctantly, Jericho pulled free of her touch and said abruptly, “Maybe you should stop worrying about other people and give a thought or two to passing your own test.”
That kept her quiet for a while, but in the silence, Jericho’s mind raced with the thoughts and ideas she’d planted there. Damn it.
Six
Daisy was exhausted and every bone and muscle in her body ached like a bad tooth, but beneath the misery was a sense of accomplishment. She’d done it. So far she’d passed his silly tests and was well on her way to earning herself a place at his lodge. He wouldn’t be able to send her away now and she was that much closer to having the time to seduce him, make a child and have a family.
Over the past couple of days, she’d gotten to know Jericho King better than she would have by dating him for a month. Even though he resisted conversation, she’d been able to pry words out of him. And she’d had the opportunity to watch him. To study him. There was a sense of quiet confidence about him that was very attractive, and she had to admit that his stoic standoffishness only added to it.
There was a closeness between them now that under normal circumstances would never have happened so quickly. They’d worked together to make camp, to eat, to live. They’d slept curled up together…well, she thought, they had as soon as she’d moved over to him for warmth and stayed to snuggle. They’d talked more than most couples did in a week and they’d each learned something about the other, she told herself. He had learned that she wasn’t going to quit and go away.
And she had learned that he was unlike any other man she’d ever known. He seemed so solitary. So comfortable with his aloneness that Daisy was drawn closer and closer in an attempt to breach the walls he’d erected around himself so completely.
“These plants are edible,” he was saying, “if you dig them up and pound the root. Won’t be tasty, but it would keep you alive.”
She nodded as if she were making mental notes, but she didn’t care about edible roots. After all, she wouldn’t be wandering the forest foraging for food. Once her test was finished, she’d be at the lodge and wouldn’t step into the woods again without an experienced guide.
So instead, she watched the man. Jericho moved through the trees with a confidence born of self-reliance. He was a complex man. He hadn’t wanted her here and hadn’t made that a secret. But earlier, when he could have stood back and watched her struggle to climb the stupid wall—watched her fail—he hadn’t. Instead, he’d planted one big hand under her behind and boosted her up enough that Daisy was able to scramble to the top and then drop over the other side, victorious.
She knew she never would have been able to make that climb under her own steam. Hard to admit, but she simply didn’t have the upper-body strength to accomplish the task.
“Your best bet, if you’re lost in the woods, is to stay put,” Jericho told her, glancing over his shoulder at her to make sure she was paying attention.
“Hug a tree. Right.”
He shook his head and sighed. “But you wouldn’t stay in one place, would you?”
“Probably not,” she agreed cheerfully.
“Fine, so at least figure a way to mark your trail, so those looking for you can find you.”
“Good idea.” She gave him a wide smile and nodded as he showed her how to snap the ends of branches, or lay out rocks in an arrow pattern or— Oh, she thought, let’s face it. If she was lost up here, she’d probably die. So she just wouldn’t get lost.
“Wouldn’t it be easier if I never left the lodge?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said, straightening up to look down at her. “But you will. It’s in your nature. At least tell someone where you’re going when you do.”
“I can do that.” She smiled again. “You realize that you just admitted that I’m staying on?”
“I’m considering it. You passed that test,” he grudgingly admitted. “Though you still have to make the campfire yourself tonight and cook dinner you didn’t bring with you, not to mention making it back to the lodge alive.”
“I will.”
He ignored that. “We’ll find dinner, then the responsibility’s on you.”
“I can do it,” she said firmly. “You’ll see.”
He shook his head and sighed a little.
“So,” she asked, “what’s next, boss?”
“We’re headed home. We’ll camp by the river again tonight on our way back.”
“Let’s go, Nikki,” she called out and the little dog raced back to her, ears flapping, tiny feet flying across the pine needle–littered forest floor. Nikki paused in passing Jericho long enough to snarl at him, then leaped into Daisy’s waiting arms.
He muttered something she thought it was just as well she hadn’t quite heard. Then she asked, “So why did you help me? You could have let me fail, but you didn’t.”
He shrugged. “You would have made it. Eventually.”
“No, I wouldn’t,” she admitted, though it cost her. “I was beat and just hanging by my fingertips when you gave me that boost. So why?”
He stopped, looked back at her and with his features set in an unreadable mask, said simply, “I respect guts. And you’ve got ’em.”
When he turned around to continue leading the way to the river, Daisy inhaled sharply and felt a swell of pride rise up and burst inside her. It was a compliment casually given from a man who wasn’t used to giving them at all. She couldn’t have felt more proud and satisfied if he’d handed her a medal.
* * *
“You’re going to kill the bunny?”
Jericho heard the outraged tremor in Daisy’s voice and knew that he wouldn’t be eating rabbit stew for supper. He’d set the snare early that morning when they broke camp, knowing they’d be camping here again tonight. And he’d been pleased to find a nice fat rabbit waiting to be dinner. He should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.
He looked up into her wide, distressed eyes. “It was going to be dinner,” he said.
“Oh, my God.” She looked at him as if he were some mad dog serial killer. “I can’t eat a bunny.”
“Yeah. I’m getting that.” The trapped rabbit scampered in place, desperately trying to get free of the rope that had tightened around one of its hind feet. Jericho looked at it and sighed. Then he bent down, loosened the rope and straightened up as the rabbit scooted off into the underbrush. Dry pine straw rustled under the animal’s running feet and then there was silence, the only sound the rushing of the nearby river.
“I can’t believe you did that,” Daisy said as Jericho turned to face her.
He shrugged off her gratitude. “You weren’t going to eat it so…”
“Thank you.” She said it simply and honestly and Jericho nodded.
“You’re welcome. Now, I’m going to go catch some trout for dinner—” He took a step, stopped and looked at her again. “Unless you’ve got a soft spot for fish, too.”
“Nope. Pan-fried, baked, grilled, barbecued, even smooshed in a blender to make a mousse,” she assured him. “I like it all.”
“Good to know,” he told her, shaking his head, “though here’s something to keep in mind if you do end up with this job…”
“Yes?”
“I don’t eat fish mousse.”
“I’ll make a note,” she said, one corner of her mouth lifting into a half smile.
“Good.” He turned around again, headed for the river, when Daisy stopped him by calling his name. “Yeah?”
She came to him in three long strides, wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a hard hug. “Thank you. For the rabbit.”
She was so close, so warm, pressed so intimately against him that all of Jericho’s carefully designed reticence and resistance melted away. He’d been on edge for the past two days. Damn hard to maintain a tough shell around a woman so determinedly positive. But he’d cautioned himself to keep that safe distance between them. To not get drawn in by big amber eyes and a wide, welcoming smile.
But she was the kind of woman who got under a man’s skin whether he wanted her there or not. Hell, he’d been fighting the urge to kiss her for hours. No, that urge had been with him since the moment she’d first stepped out of her car to sprawl across his lawn.
Now, with her lush curves leaning into him and her full, delectable mouth curved into a smile directed at him, how was he supposed to resist temptation? He doubted any red-blooded male would have been able to.
So he did what his body demanded and silently told his mind to butt out. Cupping her face in his palms, he held her still and watched as her eyes widened, softened, then slowly slid closed. A soft sigh of anticipation slipped from between her lips and Jericho kissed her.
The first taste of her was electric—incredible—and only fueled his hunger for more. He deepened the kiss and felt her surrender. Felt his own body begin a slow burn that enveloped him from head to toe. He held her face and moved his mouth over hers, parting her lips with his tongue, sliding into her mouth to capture the essence of her and draw it into himself.
His body tightened until he thought he might just explode from the agony of want. She moaned softly and he echoed that small sound and felt it build within him. Seconds ticked past, became minutes and might have spun into hours and he wouldn’t have known. Wouldn’t have sensed anything beyond the sensations roaring through him.
And that random thought was enough to bring him up and out of those feelings like a drowning man breaching the surface of a lake. He came up gasping, his heartbeat thundering in his chest, his blood pounding in his ears. He’d lost himself in her. Completely lost control in a way that hadn’t happened to him in years. He didn’t like it.
She opened her eyes and looked directly into his. Her mouth was soft and lush and he wanted nothing more than to taste her again. To lay her down on the forest floor and bury himself deep inside her. And because that craving was so strong, he took a single, deliberate step back. What the hell was he doing?
If he had any sense left at all, he’d get her off his mountain so damn fast, she’d be nothing but a blur of motion. But could he not give her the job because he didn’t trust himself around her?
If he hired her, she’d be a constant source of temptation. If he didn’t, wouldn’t it be as if he’d sent her away for his own peace of mind? And wouldn’t that make him a damn coward? He’d promised Brant Saxon to help his sister if she needed it.
He owed that kid, too, Jericho told himself and briefly recalled the eager young man who’d died too soon. The guilt still haunted him. Regret a constant companion. Was Jericho really going to turn his back on a promise made to a dying comrade? Daisy Saxon was here. Now. She needed the help he’d once promised to give.
And if he turned her away, it would be not because she’d failed, not because she didn’t belong, but because Jericho King had encountered a woman who worried him.
Pushing those and other even more disturbing thoughts out of his mind, Jericho said, “Okay, that didn’t just happen.”
“It didn’t?” She blinked at him and her eyes looked dazed.
He knew the feeling, but damned if he’d admit it. “No, it didn’t. I’m the boss, you’re the cook and that’s where it all ends.” He backed up again and half turned toward the river. He took a step, stopped and said over his shoulder, “Start the campfire. I’ll go catch some fish for dinner.”
As he walked away, Daisy lifted her fingers to her lips, enjoying the buzz of sensation lingering there and whispered, “Shouldn’t be a problem starting the fire. I’m already going up in flames.”
* * *
As they finished eating two hours later, stars swept across an indigo sky. He hadn’t said much, Daisy mused. But then, he hadn’t had to. She’d known exactly what he was thinking without him saying a word. Mostly because she was thinking the same thing. That kiss they’d shared had set off a chain reaction inside her that was still fizzing like a lit sparkler.
She’d come to him wanting a child. Now, she also wanted him. Which complicated the situation, but didn’t really change anything. And oddly enough, the more he withdrew, the more she was drawn to him. What did that say about her?
When she gathered up the dishes and the pan she’d used to cook in and stacked them to carry to the river to wash, Jericho beat her to it. “I’m supposed to be doing all of this, remember?” she said. “Part of the whole survival-prove-you’re-worthy test?”
He smirked at her, shook his head and carried the small load to the river. She fell into step behind him, determined to earn her way. She’d cooked a good dinner. At least, she was taking the fact that Jericho had eaten two of the fish himself as a good sign. But part of being outdoors, camping, was the cleanup and she wouldn’t walk away from a job half done.
“Seriously, I’m cleaning up.” She caught him at the river, took the plates and pan from him and dropped to her knees in the sand beside the rushing water. He crouched, too, and waited until she met his gaze to speak again.
“Accepting help doesn’t mean you can’t do it yourself.”
“I know, but you’re the one who said it was all up to me and I want to do this. I want to prove to you that I can do this job.”
“You already have.”
That stopped her. “Really?”
He shrugged, glanced away, then looked back at her and gave her a reluctant smile. “You’re a good campfire cook.”
“Yeah?” Ridiculously pleased, Daisy grinned. “Thanks, I did notice you ate a lot.”
He laughed shortly. “Yeah, well, I’ve never had pan-fried trout with an herb sauce on the trail.”
“Well, I brought along a few things from the lodge kitchen. With the right spices, you can make any meal a banquet…”
“So I’m learning.”
It only took a few minutes to clean up the dishes and then they were walking back to the campfire, a companionable silence stretching out between them. Once the supplies had been put away, she sat down across from him. And the quiet lingered, becoming a tension that felt almost brittle. Daisy spoke up finally, because she never had been able to be quiet for long anyway.
Besides, it was time to find out exactly where she stood. She took a breath and faced the hard truth. She wanted to bring up the subject before he did, so that she could put her own spin on her less-than-stellar performance on his series of “tests.”
He’d admitted that he was considering giving her the job, and if his decision was going to be based on her skills at his tests, then she wanted to defend herself before he made his final decision.
“About the rope bridge,” she began. “I know I didn’t go very fast, but I did eventually make it.”
“You did.”
“And I think if I’d had a little more time—” like a million years, she added silently “—I probably could have made it over the climbing wall on my own steam.”
“You did better than some I’ve seen.”
That was a bit lowering, she thought. Not good, she told herself, but better than some. Remembering just how poorly she’d done at the climbing, she could only feel sorry for whoever was actually worse than her.
“All in all, you did a good job,” Jericho said and Daisy’s thoughtful gaze narrowed on him. He shrugged. “Frankly, I didn’t expect you to hold up as well as you have.”
“Oooh. Big surprise.” She smiled though, giving him silent encouragement to keep talking. If he was feeling generous toward her, she wanted to hear it.
“Right. Well.” Firelight danced across his features, tossing shadow and light over the sharp planes of his face, making his guarded eyes even more difficult to read than they normally were. “Like I said, you’ve got spine. And that’s important. Maybe more important than being able to climb a wall on your own.”
“So I didn’t lose points because you had to give me a boost?”
“No,” he said. “You didn’t ask for help, after all.”
“True,” she said eagerly. “And I wouldn’t have.”
“I know.”
“So you said earlier, you were considering giving me the job.” Daisy took another deep breath and blurted out her question. “Have you decided? Because if your mind still isn’t made up, we can go back to the wall. I can try it again. I’m pretty sure I could do it with enough time…”
He chuckled briefly. “You really don’t know the meaning of quit, do you?”
“Not when I really want something,” she admitted.
“Yeah, I get that. So we don’t have to go back to the wall.”
“You’ve made your decision, then.”
“I have.” He nodded. “If you still want the job, you have it.”
“Really?” Bubbles of excitement burst into life inside her. Funny, but she hadn’t realized just how stressed she’d been about this. If he hadn’t offered her the job, she’d had no backup plan. No way to convince him to let her stay. No strategy for getting him into bed and making her pregnant. Now, thankfully, one wouldn’t be needed. She’d be here, on the mountain with him, every day. Every night.
And soon, she’d have the baby, the family she wanted so badly. All she had to do was say yes.
“Of course I want the job,” she told him.
“All right then, it’s settled.”
But he didn’t look happy about it. “Can I ask you something?”
“Why not?”
“Why are you being nice to me?” Maybe she shouldn’t push her luck. Maybe she should just accept his job offer at face value and count her blessings. But Daisy had to know why he’d decided in her favor. “We both know I never would have passed your tests if you hadn’t helped me. So why did you?”
He scrubbed one hand across his face and blew out a breath. Then he shifted his gaze to the flames dancing in the fire ring to avoid looking directly at her. “I came out here expecting you to fail, like I said.”
To be honest, so had she. “And…”
“And you didn’t.” He looked directly into her eyes. “You didn’t quit. Didn’t whine. Didn’t give in. You kept pushing yourself no matter what.”
Daisy smiled. “So blind stubbornness earns points with you?”
One corner of his mouth lifted briefly. “You could say that.”
“Well, yay me.”
“We’ll see.”
“About what?”
“How you’ll work out around here. Yes, you’re hired, but that’s not saying you’re going to want to stay.”
“I won’t quit.” Not until she had what she’d come here for. Not until she was pregnant. Her gaze drifted to his mouth, his firm, soft lips and everything inside her tingled, as if her whole body had been asleep and was suddenly waking up. Then he started talking again and those tingles subsided just a bit.
“Like I said, I like your attitude. But know this. Stubborn might not be enough to keep you here when the snow starts flying and you’re cut off from the main road for days at a time.” He laid his forearm across one updrawn knee and looked at her across the fire. “It’s not easy living up here. You’re a woman not used to the quiet—”