Seducing Hunter

“You’re not a nuisance.”

“That’s not what you used to say.”

“You were five years old then.”

“Nine,” she corrected him, remembering the very day his family had moved in next door. At first she’d hero-worshipped him.then she’d fallen for him. “What exactly did my brother say when he called you to come check up on me?”

“It wasn’t like that. He was just warning me that someone—you—would be using the cabin for a while. I’ve kind of been looking after the place.”

“You don’t mean you’ve been staying here, do you?” she asked, horrified by the image of sharing the compact cabin with him.

“No, of course not.”

“Good.”

“I’ve got my own place a stone’s throw away.”

“Stone’s throw?”

He nodded. “You can’t see it from here, but it’s just over the ridge there. About a two-minute walk from here.”

“Great.” A two-minute walk from temptation. Wonderful.

“Michael didn’t tell you that we went in together right after our academy days to buy this property and the two cabins on it?”

“No, he didn’t tell me.” The rat.

“So how about you? Are you going to tell me what’s happened?”

“Nothing has happened. Well, that’s not exactly true. Michael and Brett got married yesterday. Actually, it was the second time they got married, it’s kind of a complicated story,” she noted dryly. Made more so by a Gypsy love-charmed box, which was sitting in a cardboard container next to the couch at this very minute.

Too bad Hunter couldn’t have been the first man she’d seen when she’d opened that box. Unlike Michael, who’d been the practical one in the family, Gaylynn liked to think there was some magic in the world.

At least, she always had in the past. Now she wasn’t so sure. About anything.

“Yeah, I know about the wedding,” Hunter was saying. “I was sorry I couldn’t make it, but I was working.”

Gaylynn nodded. She knew he worked as a police officer. In fact, Hunter and Michael had gone to the police academy together. Her brother hadn’t finished the program, preferring to work on his own in the world of corporate security. But Hunter had graduated near the top of his class and been hired as one of Chicago’s finest. He’d looked dashing in his uniform and had been considered the ultimate bachelor, dating a number of women over the next few years. Then he’d up and gotten married the month Gaylynn had started college.

“So how’s your wife doing?” she asked with forced cheerfulness.

“I haven’t got the faintest idea. We were divorced almost five years ago.”

The news took her by complete surprise. “Michael never told me you were divorced.”

Hunter shrugged. The action focused her attention on his broad shoulders. He wore a denim shirt with jeans that were a shade darker. Both had seen their share of washings, making them soft enough to conform to every line of his body—molding his shoulders and narrow hips.

“Down girl,” she muttered to herself under her breath.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing. I was just talking to myself.”

“That comes from spending too much time alone.”

“No, you don’t understand. I came up here to do just that. To be alone. It’s what I need right now.”

Hunter watched the nervous slide of her fingers through her straight hair. Gaylynn had never been the fidgety type, even as a kid. She’d been the gutsy type. Fearless. Hell, he still remembered the time she’d invaded the tree house he and Michael had built in the only tree in the Janos’s postage-stamp backyard. Gaylynn had only been nine or so at the time, a mere baby compared to his advanced age of fourteen. But she’d climbed the dangling rope that supplied the only entry to their tree house, this despite the fact that she wasn’t wild about heights. She’d ended up with bloody hands from the rope burn she’d gotten. He knew she still had the scar between her thumb and index finger—her badge of courage, she liked to call it in the old days.

She’d changed from those days. Somehow he’d always pictured her in his mind as she’d been as a coltish teenager. Now he was confronted with a woman, a very attractive albeit untidy woman. He got the strangest feeling when he looked at her.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” Gaylynn demanded uneasily.

“I was just thinking about that time you invited yourself to our secret tree house. Do you remember?”

“Yes.” Gaylynn stared down at her hand, the one with the tiny scar, the one with her badge of courage. It was still there, mocking her fear. Now she had another scar, the tiny one at the base of her throat from the knife, as well as the jagged one on her soul.

She’d lost more than the thirteen dollars and twentyone cents she’d had in her wallet that day she’d been attacked. She’d lost her nerve.

It hadn’t happened instantly. At the time, one of her first concerns had been making sure that no one in the police department blabbed to her brother, who still had a few police connections from his academy days. Driving home that night after the attack, she’d resolutely blocked the entire thing out of her mind. At first, she thought she’d succeeded.

Then she’d seen the TV news. The horror had gripped her by the throat and the tears had started. She’d gritted her teeth and gone back to work the next morning only to have the terror creep up on her the moment she’d entered her classroom. She hadn’t been able to speak, hadn’t been able to move. For the first time in her life, Gaylynn had experienced the paralyzing effects of blinding fear.

Unaware of her thoughts, Hunter was saying, “You weren’t afraid of anything in those days.” The approval in his drawl was clear.

She knew he valued courage. She just wished she had some. But she did have her pride. She didn’t want him seeing how scared she was; she didn’t want his sympathy or pity. She had to get rid of him. “While I’d love to talk over old times with you, I was just getting ready to make dinner…”

“Great. I haven’t eaten yet.”

“I don’t have enough food for two.”

“Then we can go to my place. I’ve got plenty of food.”

She shook her head vehemently. “I don’t want to go out.”

“Fine. I’ll bring the food over here. I haven’t seen you in years. It’ll be fun to catch up on things.”

Kissing him would be fun. The rebel thought chased through her mind. She chased it out just as fast. What was wrong with her? She didn’t have enough problems already with all her nightmares and no backbone? Now she had to go and get sentimental about a man she had a crush on years ago? A man who had always treated her like a sister.

“I make a mean spaghetti sauce,” Hunter declared, his Southern drawl seductively sliding down her spine.

“I’ll bet you do. But-”

“I’ll be right back with all the fixings.”

Hunter was gone before she could voice a protest.

The good news was that he’d left before she’d made too big a fool of herself. The bad news was that he’d be back and shed better be ready for him. The problem was that Gaylynn had her doubts that there was any way for her to get ready for a man who represented even more danger to her already shattered peace of mind.

Hunter had only planned on doing a quick check on Gaylynn and then going on his way. He didn’t know what had made him insist on sharing his dinner with her. Maybe it had been the shadows in her big brown eyes—root-beer-colored eyes that he’d remembered as always sparkling with life. Of course, a lot of time had gone by since then.

She had to be what. nearing thirty by now. He’d just turned thirty-five himself. Hunter didn’t know where the time went. He’d meant to keep in better touch with Michael up in Chicago, but all he’d been able to manage was a Christmas card most years. He really regretted not being able to attend the wedding.

He also regretted blurting out his concern so awkwardly, telling Gaylynn she looked awful. That wasn’t like him. He didn’t blame her for almost biting his head off. But he’d seen the shuttered pain and had wanted to help.

What could have caused this change in Gaylynn? Why had she left her brother’s wedding reception last night to head for a remote cabin in the mountains? Michael, too wrapped up in his newfound happiness, hadn’t had any answers. But Hunter planned on getting answers, because he couldn’t help her until he did.

And I suppose the fact that she’s an attractive woman has nothing to do with your Good Samaritan routine, an inner voice mocked him.

“She wasn’t that attractive,” he muttered under his breath as he entered his own cabin.

Right, now you’re talking to yourself, just like Gaylynn was. And if she isn’t that attractive, then why did you feel such a zip of excitement when you looked at her?

“That was hunger,” he said as he grabbed the fixings for a great spaghetti sauce from his cupboards and fridge.

Gaylynn was just the sister of an old friend, and his reasons for wanting to make sure she was okay were strictly altruistic. That was his story and he was sticking to it, as he and Michael used to say.

Gaylynn spent the first ten minutes after Hunter had left getting cleaned up. A quick shower and change of clothing helped. There wasn’t time to wash her hair, but a vigorous brushing had improved things somewhat. Her baby-fine brown hair was straight as a board and had a definite mind of its own. The blunt-cut tips ended just past her shoulders. It was getting too long; she should have gotten it cut.

Hunter’s hair had been long, too. Like he’d been too busy to have it cut lately. She hadn’t been too busy, she’d been too freaked out.

Biting her bottom lip, she took a deep breath and reapplied her makeup. “You’re a good actress,” she told her reflection in the mirror. “So put on a good act tonight.”

Granted, she’d been able to sidestep Hunter’s questions so far, but he wasn’t liable to let her off the hook so easily next time. Like a dog with a bone, Hunter would just nag at her until he found out what was wrong. He was like her brother that way.

Luckily for Gaylynn, Michael had been distracted by events in his own life at the time of the attack on her. He’d been fighting to keep custody of little Hope, who’d been abandoned and left with Brett before she and Michael had gotten married. Yes, her brother had had his hands full, which was the only reason he hadn’t given her his customary third degree about her wanting to use his cabin. Instead, he’d just let her do her thing.

That wouldn’t be the case with Hunter. So she’d better have her story down pat by the time he came back because he could sniff out a mystery a mile away.

“Okay, I admit it, you do make a mean spaghetti sauce,” Gaylynn admitted as she licked a stray bit of sauce from the corner of her mouth.

Hunter watched her with the eyes of a hawk. She’d noticed the way he’d been watching her all evening, but she was unable to discern the thoughts going through his head. For her part, she’d been deliberately cheerful, talking about some of the people from their old neighborhood.

“I can’t believe little Joey del Greco is a priest now,” Hunter said with a rueful shake of his head.

Gaylynn grinned. “I’ll tell him you said so.”

“Last time I saw him, he was what we call down here ‘knee-high to a grasshopper’ and was stealing apples from the Jablonskis’ apple tree.”

“The apple tree is gone, and so are the Jablonskis.”

“Funny how you picture things staying the way they were when you saw them last. Like you. I pictured you with that White Sox cap on your head.”

“I still wear it on bad hair days,” she declared dryly. “How about your folks? How are they doing?”

“Fine. They’ve retired down to Florida now. Have a nice condo in Sarasota.”

“Does your dad still claim the Cubs are gonna win the World Series before the year 2000?”

“He sure does,” Hunter confirmed with a slow smile. “Although I’ve got to say that he’s starting to get a little nervous about that prediction. And how about your folks? Your dad still making those Gypsy weather forecasts that amazed the entire neighborhood?”

“You bet. He’s more accurate than any of the weathermen on TV.”

“I remember one time he took Michael and me fishing up in Wisconsin and tried to teach us how to ‘tickle’ trout. Neither one of us managed to catch on, though.”

Groaning at his obvious pun, Gaylynn crumpled up her paper napkin and tossed it at him.

Hunter merely grinned and ducked before continuing his story. “Your dad caught something like half a dozen trout. And I’ll never forget the way he left one hanging in the tree nearby before we left.”

“To bring good luck and ensure there would be good fishing at that site the next time,” Gaylynn explained.

“That’s right. You know, I’ve got to tell you, I was always envious of the way you guys got to open your Christmas presents early on Christmas Eve. And if I remember right, you got extra presents even earlier than that.”

Gaylynn nodded. “Left in our shoes on Saint Nicholas’s Day.”

“We had some good times in those days.”

“Yeah, we did,” she agreed softly. When she’d been a child, the world had been her oyster. She’d been the only girl in her family, with one older and one younger brother. Their protective presence had seen her through life’s rough spots. Until now. This was one rough patch she was going to have to make it through on her own. She didn’t want them knowing how weak she was; she didn’t want to disappoint them.

If Hunter saw how spooked she was, he’d tell them.

Spooked. That reminded her to ask Hunter about the feline family. “Listen, I meant to ask you before if you know someone who might have lost a Siamese cat and her two kittens. I saw them in the woods earlier today and gave them some food.”

Hunter shook his head. “Haven’t heard of anyone in this area missing their cat. Chances are they are strays.”

“They need looking after.”

So do you, Hunter wanted to say. Gaylynn had shoved more pasta around her dish than she’d actually eaten. Did she think he wouldn’t notice? Did she think he was buying her restless cheerfulness as the real thing? If so, she had a lot to learn.

“You never did tell me why you decided to come to Michael’s cabin,” he prompted her.

“I already told you, I needed a vacation.”

“So you’re on spring break from school?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then what exactly?”

“You’re nosy, you know that?”

“Hey, I’ll have you know that my interrogation techniques have been honed to a fine art. You might as well tell me all your secrets now,” he stated with a lazy grin as he helped her stack the dirty dishes on the table. “I’ll get them out of you sooner or later.”

“Oh, no, Officer Davis.” She gasped mockingly, putting one hand to her heart. “Not your dreaded tickling routine!” Hunter might not have learned how to tickle trout but he’d excelled at tickling her in their childhood days. “Anything but that!”

“So you’re willing to confess now?”

“You’ve got me.” She sighed, putting a dramatic hand to her forehead. “I’m an escaped felon, wanted by the city of Chicago for two overdue parking notices. I’ll give myself up peaceably,” she added, holding both her hands out to him. “Cuff me now and take me away.”

“Don’t tempt me,” he muttered, disturbed by the sudden sexy image of her wearing handcuffs and little else. What was wrong with him? She was Michael’s kid sister, for heaven’s sake!

“Then stop making such a big deal about this,” she said in exasperation. “I needed some time off from my teaching position so I took a vacation. End of story.”

“How long are you staying?”

“I’m not sure.”

“When is your vacation up? Wait a minute, now that I think about it, teachers can’t just up and take vacation during the school term.”

“Bravo, Sherlock.”

“Which means you’re what.on some kind of leave or something?”

“That’s right.”

“A medical leave?”

His persistence was irritating her. “That’s none of your business,” she said, taking the dishes from him and transferring them to the stainless-steel sink.

Hunter followed her into the open L-shaped kitchen to say, “Meaning I’m right.”

“No, meaning it’s none of your business,” she stated. “Look, I’ve been teaching for seven years in a stressful situation. It’s not surprising that I got burned out. End of story.”

“Someone like you doesn’t get burn out.”

“What do you mean ‘someone like me’?” she demanded.

“You’ve got too much determination to burn out. Besides, you’re too damn stubborn to give up.”

“What makes you think you know anything about me? You haven’t even seen me in ten years.”

“I’ve kept track of what you’ve been doing. Michael would brag about you in his Christmas cards, saying that you insisted on teaching where you were needed and could make the most difference, despite the fact that he and the rest of your family didn’t approve of you working in such a bad part of the city.”

Having said that, he reached around her to put a dish in the sink. She felt his body heat against her back, felt his arm brush her breast and she jumped as if hit by lightning.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, confused by her startled-cat routine. “Why did you jerk away from me like that?” Then, as one possible explanation hit him, his expression turned serious, bordering almost on alarmed. “Oh, my God. Were you sexually assaulted?”

Three

“Don’t be ridiculous. I was not sexually assaulted. Just because I’m a little jumpy doesn’t mean that anything like that happened to me!” Gaylynn said.

“And even if it had, you wouldn’t tell me, would you?” Hunter retorted.

“If you think that, then why ask me in the first place?”

“Because I’m trying to figure out how I can help you.”

His words were like tiny arrows piercing her pride.

Lifting her chin, Gaylynn stated, “I don’t need you to help me. I’m not one of those injured baby birds you used to take in when we were kids.”

“I’m still pretty good at mending broken wings,” he murmured, coming so close behind her that his breath stirred her hair and awakened silent yearnings.

Hunter was pretty good at plenty of things, not least of which was making Gaylynn feel like a young girl on her first date—filled with anticipation of what could be.

Curtly reminding herself that she was no young girl, Gaylynn squelched her wistful thoughts before they took further flight. “I’m sure the birds around here are glad to hear that you’re good at mending their broken wings,” she replied dryly. “But I don’t have wings and I don’t need your help.”

Gently brushing her shoulder blades with his fingertips, Hunter softly said, “Remember how Michael told you that these would grow into angel’s wings when you got older?”

“I was a gullible kid,” she admitted.

“And now? Are you still gullible now?”

“Sometimes,” she replied, stepping away from the magnetic temptation of his touch. “After all, I let you come over and badger me tonight, didn’t I?”

“You forgot to mention the delicious meal I made. Tomorrow night, you can cook.”

“Hey, I didn’t come to the mountains to cook,” she protested.

“Why did you come here?”

But she was on to his tactics now. “I’ve already answered that question several times. Maybe you need to get your hearing tested,” she mockingly suggested. “How old are you now? Almost forty?”

Hunter did not look amused. “I’m thirty-five and you damn well know it.”

His arrogant assumption that she would know his age irritated her. “Forgive me if I’ve been too busy living life to recall all the details of yours.”

“Yeah, I heard about you living life, traipsing all over the globe.”

She relaxed. This was something she felt more comfortable talking about. “That’s right. During my summer breaks I used to travel a lot,” she reminisced fondly. “I’ve been elephant-trekking in Thailand, slept on the beach in Morocco, shopped in Singapore, gotten rained on in England’s Lake District and visited the rain forest in Costa Rica.”

“You used to be a globe-trotter?”

“Yeah, well, now I stick a little closer to home.”

“Any reason for that?”

“Finances, and the fact that although I’ve seen a lot of the world there are still plenty of places right here in America that I haven’t seen yet. The Blue Ridge Mountains, for cexanmple. This is my first time down here.”

“Then you’ll have to be sure and drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We could do that this weekend. I’m off-duty-”

“I don’t need to go anywhere else,” she interrupted him. “I can see mountains from here.”

“There are even more spectacular views to be seen.”

“I’ll be fine right here.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you’re hiding away up here.”

That was exactly what she planned on doing, and she didn’t aim on having Hunter get in her way, regardss of how sexy she might still find him. His shaggy hair had just a touch of gray at the temples while his piercing green eyes reflected an interrogating intensity. She could easily picture Hunter as the embodiment of a gray wolf. He was certainly a natural born predator, trained to go after what he wanted and to get what he went after. She had to remind herself that all he wanted from her was the truth, but even that was too much for her to give him right now.

Seeing she wasn’t about to unload her innermost thoughts to him, Hunter chose a more nonthreatening topic. “So how’s the rest of your family doing?”

“Fine. Dylan flew in for the wedding.” If her rolling-stone younger brother hadn’t planned on flying out the morning after the reception, Gaylynn might have put off coming down to the mountains for a day or two. She hadn’t seen Dylan in a year.

“So what’s he been up to lately? Has he taken over your globe-trotting ways?”

“He pretty much sticks to the western United States, but he certainly doesn’t stay in one place very long. He been working the rodeo circuit out there as a saddle bronc rider. He’s even won a couple of championships. And did you hear that Michael and Brett have adopted a baby girl, Hope? She’s adorable. Smart, too. Naturally I’m her favorite aunt.”

“Naturally. Did she tell you that?”

“She’s not actually talking a lot yet. She’s a little over nine months old and is just about ready to walk on her own. I brought a picture of her.” Gaylynn retrieved a pocket-size photo album from her purse.

“You brought a photo?” Hunter said dryly. “Looks more like an entire book full to me.”

“Yes, but see how adorable she is?” Gaylynn’s expressive voice reflected her excitement as she showed him a series of pictures. “Isn’t she the cutest baby you ever saw?”

Hunter nodded accordingly. “I’m surprised you left her behind. They grow fast at that age, don’t they?”

“Yeah, they do,” she agreed wistfully.

“You know, I expected you to have a family of your own by now.”

“I could say the same about you.”

“Being a cop is hard on family life. I moved down here in the first place because my wife, Tricia, had a hard time with my being on the force in Chicago. I thought it would be easier on her if I worked for the county sheriffs department down here. The danger involved with the job is certainly less here in a rural area than it was in the city.”

“But there is still danger?”

He just shrugged. “Life is dangerous. But it wasn’t just the danger that torpedoed and sunk my marriage, it was the fact that my ex-wife hated living here. Said she was going crazy in this backwater hole-in-the-wall. Last I heard, she’d moved back up to Chicago and married a plumber.”

“Sounds to me like you’re well rid of her. You never did have the best taste in women,” she told him bluntly. “Remember that redheaded bimbo you went steady with in high school? Sindy spelled with an S.”