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“That’s okay.” Chris rushed to reassure her, as he straightened the Carolina Storm cap he wore overtop of his close-cropped chestnut hair, with the brim turned to shade the back of his neck. Chris looked at Janey with enough understanding to break her heart. “I know you’ve been real busy. And that money’s tight right now.”
“Not that tight,” Janey said, trying to shake off a pang of guilt. Maybe that’s what this whole got-to-play-hockey-to-live thing with her son was about. Maybe he just wanted her attention. Wanted to somehow fill the void in his life left by his dad’s death two years before. Janey had assumed that Chris had worked through his grief, just as she had, and accepted the fact that from now on it was going to be just the two of them. But the fact Chris had elevated Thad Lantz to hero status—and then reached out to Thad in such a personal, unexpected way—told her that was not the case.
Her son wanted a man in his life he could hero-worship the same way he had Ty. For reasons unbeknownst to Janey, Chris had bypassed all five of his uncles and selected Thad Lantz to fit the bill. A fact that put her in a very awkward situation, the physical attraction she felt for Thad notwithstanding.
“What about our mail?” Chris worried out loud, looking out the window at the black mailbox next to the curb. “What are we going to do about that?”
“We can get it tomorrow evening, when we come back home,” Janey promised.
Chris looked even more pained.
“I’ll just check, and make sure there isn’t anything out there now,” he said, racing out the door and down the sidewalk.
Watching him open the metal lid, Janey sighed. She knew what he was looking for—a response from Thad Lantz.
Which was another reason she had to get her son out of town. She wanted Chris to be in a positive frame of mind when she explained to him why he couldn’t go to summer hockey camp this year. And she didn’t want any of her brothers around when she did so.
Chris peered at the sky a short while later as they lugged their gear out to the minivan. It was light gray, with darker clouds here and there. “Kind of looks like rain.”
“I looked at the weather radar when I got up this morning,” Janey reassured him. “The storms are supposed to hit well east of Lake Pine. We should be okay.”
THAD HAD NO PLANS for the weekend, but figured he might as well enjoy his time off while he could. So he booked a room at the lodge at Lake Pine, figuring if the weather held he could rent a boat and take it out on the lake and do some fishing, and if it didn’t, well, the restaurant there was fair, the view scenic. And as long as he was headed out that way, he figured he could do the Sir Galahad routine, if necessary.
By the time he was halfway there, the skies opened up. It was still raining cats and dogs as he turned his Lincoln Navigator in to the deserted parking lot of the campsite registration center late Saturday afternoon. Thad wasn’t surprised to see the flat-roofed concrete building was empty except for the uniformed park ranger seated behind the desk. If it weren’t for his prickling conscience—the feeling that his actions had somehow goaded Janey Hart Campbell and her son Chris into an ill-scheduled backpacking trip—he wouldn’t be here, either.
“Hi, I’m Thad Lantz.” He held out his palm.
“Coach for the Carolina Storm. I recognize you.” The ranger, a clean-cut man in his late forties shook hands with him. “Hell of a run the team made last year. Think you’ll make it to the Stanley Cup this year?”
Thad smiled, relieved to meet a fan. He rarely played on his own celebrity. Today was the exception and he would use it to the hilt.
“One can hope. Which in a roundabout way is why I’m here. Family of one of my players are supposed to be backpacking here this weekend. Janey Hart Campbell and her son Christopher. Given the ugly turn in the weather, there’s been some concern.” And all on my part, Thad added to himself. “Since I was on my way out here, I volunteered to check up on them, make sure they were okay.”
The ranger hesitated. “Normally, this isn’t the kind of information we’d give out, you understand.”
Thad nodded soberly. Normally it wasn’t the kind of information he would be asking for, either. But something about Janey Hart Campbell’s vulnerability had gotten to him yesterday. And he had seen, firsthand, just how stubborn, fiercely independent, and single-minded she was. Plus, he knew the fact she and her son were here at all today was probably his fault, for letting his conversation with her end without some sort of solution to the sticky situation. And that was unlike him, too. He was a take-charge kind of guy. Used to handling all sorts of people. He should have insisted he be able to talk to her son, even if it was only to tell Chris gently there was nothing he could do for him about hockey camp this year. But he had let the problem linger on because he had wanted a reason to see her again.
“But under the circumstances I guess I can tell you they were in here about three hours ago and headed out on the trail,” the ranger continued.
As Thad had driven closer, he’d seen the torrents of rain pounding the area. “Did they have enough time to get to their assigned campsite before the rain hit?” he asked hopefully.
The ranger shook his head. “It’s a good four-hour hike, without packs. And it started raining about an hour and a half ago.”
“Is there any way to check, without hiking it myself, to make sure they’re okay?”
“We don’t take jeeps out on those trails unless it’s an emergency, and right now, without any lightning or thunder—”
The door opened behind Thad. He and the ranger turned simultaneously. “Well, speak of the devil.” The ranger grinned. He nodded at the drenched Janey and her son Christopher, as they unbuckled their harnesses and set down their packs.
They couldn’t have been any wetter had they jumped into the lake for a swim. And yet, Thad noted, Janey still looked amazingly beautiful. Even with soppy wet clothes, drenched hair and exertion-red cheeks.
“Coach Lantz here was looking for you two.”
Janey briefly caught Thad’s eyes while her son stared at him, agog.
“I bet I know what you want to talk to me about, too,” Chris said, immediately excited as a pained expression crossed Janey’s pretty face.
Before her son could say anything else, she turned her back to Thad.
He had been wondering the other day about her legs. No more. As he got his first look at them, he noted they were as shapely and feminine as the rest of her. The skin was silky smooth and lightly tanned beneath the hem of her knee-length walking shorts. Her ankles were trim, too, in slouchy socks, her dainty feet encased in sturdy albeit quite wet and muddy hiking boots.
He had a very nice view of her derriere as she quickly asked the ranger, “Is there any way we can get a ride back to my van? It’s at the other end of the hiking trail.”
The ranger checked his watch. “The shuttle will be by in another forty minutes. Because you got rained out, you can apply your campsite fee to a lodge room rent for the night. I can go ahead and do that for you now, if you want, on this computer.”
“Can we, Mom?” Chris asked eagerly.
Janey seemed to be torn between wanting to just go home, and wanting to keep her promise of a weekend getaway to her son.
“When the weather turns bad like this, the lodge fills up fast,” the ranger warned.
Janey glanced at her son. It was clear that Christopher wanted to stay. She turned back to the ranger. “Sure,” she said, although Thad noted her cheerful smile seemed forced. “We appreciate it.”
“Happy to help.” The ranger typed in several commands. He tore off a slip and handed it to Janey. “Just give that to the front desk when you check in.”
“I can give you a ride,” Thad said casually.
Janey looked stunned by his chivalry. “To my minivan?”
“Or the lodge first. Wherever you want.” He didn’t know why it mattered to him. He wasn’t the kind of guy to assume anyone else’s personal troubles, especially those involving someone else’s child. But he couldn’t just walk away and leave Janey and her son sitting there, like two drenched rats, when a lodge room with a warm shower and hopefully dry clothes was a mere ten-to-fifteen-minute car ride away.
“That settles it then,” the ranger said as the phone behind his desk rang.
Thad opened the door. Janey hesitated for only a moment, then swept through.
JANEY COULDN’T BELIEVE she had run into him now, of all times, when she was looking like a wet dishrag! Not that it was an accident. Clearly, he had come here looking for her and Chris. At the behest of her brothers again? Probably. She didn’t know why but that rankled more than if he had just come searching her out on his own.
Not that she was the least bit interested in him. Ruggedly attractive or not, he was the kind of man she needed to steer clear of.
“Sorry your camping trip was cut short,” Thad remarked as he hit the keyless entry pad and unlocked the door to his big Lincoln Navigator.
“We don’t mind. Do we, Mom?” Chris gave Thad yet another adoring glance as he headed for the right rear passenger door and jumped in.
Janey was about to follow him when Thad stepped ahead and opened the front passenger door for her.
“Let me take that for you.” He relieved her of her heavy backpack and the additional nylon food bag and camp stove.
Janey slid in, while Thad stowed her gear in the cargo area, behind the seats. Leave it to her to get stuck with a man who was so well-liked and respected within the community she would be hard pressed to find fault with him.
“This is so awesome!” Chris said as Thad slid behind the wheel. Unlike Janey, Thad was barely wet, and looked handsome and pulled together in khaki slacks, dark blue knit sport shirt and lightweight windbreaker. Just like before, he smelled like a mixture of masculine soap and shampoo and fresh-cut Carolina pines. Another shimmer of awareness sifted through her.
“’Cause I’ve been wanting to talk to you, Coach,” Chris continued exuberantly, leaning forward in his seat. “You probably don’t know this but I wrote you a letter about going to your camp, seeing if I could get some sort of scholarship or work to help me pay for it—”
Thad looked at Janey, as well aware as she that thanks to her insistence on cutting their meeting short, nothing had been decided yet.
“Actually,” Thad told her son, as guilt flowed through Janey anew and he turned around to face Chris, “that’s why I was looking for you and your mom today. I did receive your letter. And I knew it was something that should be discussed.”
Chris’s face lit up like the sky on the Fourth of July. “Did you hear that, Mom? He’s gonna let me go to camp, even if we can’t pay for it all up front. Isn’t that great?”
Janey knew nothing of the kind had been promised. Just as she knew she hadn’t seen her son looking so excited about anything since…well, since never. He had been through so much. Losing his father. Moving cross-country. If playing hockey helped him get past the last of his grief, and feel real joy again, who was she to deny him? “Actually…” Janey took a deep breath. “You don’t need a scholarship, Chris. I’ve taken care of that.” Or I will soon, she amended silently. “And you can go to summer hockey camp next week on two conditions. First, you get permisson from your summer school teacher and are able to get an excused absence from your math class. And second, that you do all the makeup work!”
“No problem,” Chris enthused, making the victory sign with his fist. “I’ll talk to her Monday, first thing.”
“Camp starts one week from tomorrow, and runs through the following Friday afternoon,” Thad said.
Chris beamed, looking like every wish he had ever dreamed had just come true. “This is the best summer ever!”
Janey only wished.
“I’M TRYING TO AVOID being recognized again. What’s your excuse?”
Actually, Janey had been trying to avoid running into Thad Lantz for fear of hearing him say “I told you so” or something similar. Not easy in an establishment the size of the Lake Pine Lodge, where there was only one restaurant and lounge.
“What can I say? I can’t get enough of the rain,” Janey fibbed, as she leaned back against the side of the building that fronted the terrace, watching the rain pour off the overhang in sheets. There was just enough room for the two of them to stand there, side by side, without being seen or getting wet.
“Now why aren’t I buying that?” Thad murmured, moving closer yet.
Because it’s not true, Janey thought, taking a sip of scalding coffee, laced with both brandy and cream. She tried desperately to ignore his tall, broad-shouldered silhouette and warm herself up. Since coming in off the trail, she had taken a long hot shower and dressed in the warmest clothes she had with her—a long-sleeved yellow T-shirt and pair of olive green hiking shorts, knee socks, and her now cleaned-up boots. She had used the hotel blow-dryer to dry her chestnut hair, but because of the nature of the trip she’d had no styling products to put in it, and the continuing humidity had it curling wildly and uncontrollably to her shoulders.
Not that Thad Lantz seemed to mind. The ruggedly handsome coach was staring down at her as if she were the loveliest creature on earth.
Janey did her best to contain another shiver as she took a second sip of coffee and tried not to think about how deep down she had been secretly hoping she’d be forced to talk to Thad again this evening, despite everything.
She tilted her head at him, noticing how masculine and at ease he looked in the glow of the terrace lanterns. He was wearing the same clothes he’d had on earlier—minus the windbreaker, of course—but it looked as if he had shaved again. Ran a brush through his own naturally curly hair, and somehow tidied—or trimmed—his dark mustache. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was on the prowl for some romance himself. But men on the prowl for romance didn’t hide on the outside terrace in the rain on a dark and stormy July evening.
Wondering if his hair would feel as silky and thick as it looked beneath her fingertips, she turned her glance away and concentrated on her coffee. She wished he would quit contemplating her as if he wanted to kiss her. Wished she would quit wanting him to. Just to satisfy her considerable feminine curiosity, of course, since she had never been kissed by a man with a mustache.
“Don’t you have something better to do?” she asked wryly.
He shrugged and his smile widened as he spoke in a low, sexy voice that did funny things to her insides. “Don’t you?”
So much for shooing him away.
For the first time Janey noticed he had some coffee with him, too. Irish, if her nose was telling her correctly.
He took a sip as he eyed her seriously. “Where’s Chris?”
“Video arcade.” Was it her imagination or was this terrace getting smaller by the minute? She swallowed around the sudden parched feeling in her throat and tried to pretend being alone with him like this didn’t bother her in the least. “Since the storm knocked out all the cable TV for the evening, and the kids can’t swim or play on the tennis courts due to the rain, the management gave the kids free tokens to use.”
Deciding she was much too close to him, she backed up a step.
He smiled at her as if reading her thoughts, but stayed where he was, lounging against the rough-hewn log wall of the lodge. “Chris must have liked that.”
“Oh, yeah.” Janey warmed at the caring in his voice. “There are probably fifty kids down there.”
He turned, so his shoulder was bracing the wall, and let his glance drift lazily over her. His smile broadened as he returned to her eyes. “Enough machines?”
Janey’s heart skipped a beat at the sexual awareness shimmering between them. She hadn’t wanted anyone in such a long time. She didn’t know what to do with the yearning. “They’ve got a couple of busboys down there, running some sort of competition and keeping order.” Everyone had seemed very happy when Janey left to find amusement for herself—or was it really distraction from all her ridiculously uncalled-for, unexpectedly romantic thoughts?
He drained the rest of his coffee, then set the empty mug on one of the tables to the left of them. “You made the right decision—letting Chris go to camp after all.”
“Yes, well…”
He went back to leaning against the building, his muscular arms folded in front of his solid-looking chest. He studied her with narrowed eyes, then ascertained gently, “But you’re still not happy about it, are you?”
That was putting it lightly, Janey thought. Chris was so much like his father. Ty’s unrealized athletic dreams and the resulting bitterness had poisoned Ty’s soul, as well as his marriage to her. The only saving grace had been Ty’s love for Chris, and his determination to shield his son from his own shattered hopes. She didn’t want Chris’s thwarted goals or frustrations in that regard poisoning their relationship, too. But she knew, with the odds against actually achieving the kind of pro career Chris dreamed about, that it was a definite possibility if he started on this track and did not get where he wanted. But loath to get into all that with Thad, she said simply, “He still has to get permission from his summer school teacher.”
Thad continued regarding her seriously. “I imagine that can be arranged.” He edged closer. “I’ve been thinking about what you said, though. About your brother Joe’s stardom giving Chris unrealistic expectations of his own.”
“And?” Janey drained her mug and set it aside, too.
“All kids his age have stars in their eyes. But there’s a way to bring him back to earth.”
“I’m listening,” Janey murmured.
“He wanted to work off his tuition anyway, right?”
Janey nodded.
“So let him work at the practice facility, picking up towels and stuff in the locker room, for an hour or two every day. Let him see how grueling and demanding the sport is for professional hockey players.”
“I agree that would definitely help, in that regard.” Janey bit her lip uncertainly as a gust of rain-drenched wind blew across them, making her shiver.
“But?” Thad prodded, as he reached up to brush a strand of hair from her face and tuck it behind her ear.
Tingling all over from just that light casual touch, Janey shoved her hands in her pockets and tried not to think how it would feel to be held against that broad chest as she turned her face up to his. “How is being around all those jocks going to help him stay serious about his schoolwork?”
Thad gave her the slow and tender once-over. “I’ll talk to him, tell him how much I learned playing on a college team. And I’ll have the other players who went the university route talk to him, too.”
“Thanks.”
“So does this mean we’re not enemies anymore?” he teased, his electric blue eyes twinkling.
Janey’s mouth dropped into a round O of surprise as she fortified herself against the sexy mischief suddenly in his eyes. Sensing that this commanding coach could be dangerous to her heart if given half a chance, she unlocked their gazes, vowing she would not let this shift into a flirtation. “I never said—”
“Didn’t have to,” Thad murmured, coming so close she couldn’t help but inhale his clean, pine-scented fragrance.
“I know your type,” he informed her softly as he wrapped both his arms about her waist, and guided her close.
“And that is?”
He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the back of it, sending another tingle of awareness arrowing through her. Still holding her eyes with provoking gallantry, he said, “You think you want Mr. Sensitive.”
Janey’s heart raced as her arms flattened against his chest, holding him at bay. “I hardly find anything wrong with that.”
“When what you really want is a Real Man.”
Janey did her best to smother a laugh. The one thing she never had been able to resist was a sense of humor. “And what category are you in, pray tell?” she teased right back.
“Kiss me,” Thad urged huskily, his head already lowering as he looked deep into her eyes. “And see.”
Chapter Three
Thad hadn’t planned this. He knew it would have been better had he not gotten involved with Janey Hart Campbell at all in a personal way, but there was just something about her that kept him coming back for more, that had him wanting to take her in his arms and kiss her passionately from the very first. And now that her soft lips were beneath his, and he could feel the sweet surrender of her body melting into his, there was no stopping with just one kiss, no pretending something incredible wasn’t happening between them. Planned or not. Passion like this came along once in a lifetime—if you were lucky. And though instinct told him that Janey hadn’t been well-loved in the past, Thad knew that was something he could easily change. All she had to do was give him a chance. And he would show her how wonderful an unscripted liaison like this could be.
Janey had figured Thad’s mouth would be warm, his kiss as sure and utterly sexy as the rest of him. What she hadn’t counted on was the way it would make her feel—reckless and wonderful. Or how she would react to the silken warmth of his lips, the sheer male insistence of his kiss, the invasion of his tongue. She’d expected to resist his advances a lot more. After all, it had been years since anyone had wanted her like this, since she had even considered allowing something as simple as a kiss. And yet the moment he took her into his arms, and gave her a long thorough kiss meant to shatter her resolve, yearning swept through her in sweet, wild waves. Her middle fluttered weightlessly, and her knees trembled weakly as heat worked its way through each and every inch of her. She had been married, she’d had a baby, but she had never been kissed or held this way, like she was the most precious woman in all the world.
It was a sensation Janey feared would be all too easy to get used to, a feeling that could just as easily be taken away. And right now, Janey’d already suffered all of life’s disappointments she could handle. Shaking, wary of giving her heart away much too easily, she drew away. Looked up into his face. Her only comfort, the fact he looked as stunned and overwhelmed by what had just happened between them as she was.
The terrace door opened.
As Janey got a good look at the person interrupting them, it was all she could do not to groan out loud. Of all the lousy timing…
“What?” Thad asked, still looking mesmerized by her, instead of the interloper about to join them.
“See for yourself,” Janey muttered as Thad reluctantly turned away from her and came face-to-face with Janey’s eldest brother. Darn it all. She should have known her family wouldn’t be able to let her be for long.
“Well, my first question is answered,” Mac said, looking like he wanted to punch Thad out but good. Mac turned back to Janey, looking as much a law-and-order man as ever, even without his sheriff’s uniform. “You are here. And you’re safe from the elements.” Mac swept a hand through his close-cropped dark hair and scowled at Thad. “I’m not so sure about the rest—”
“Mac, please.” Janey held out both palms, in a staying gesture. “This is not the time to go all protective on me.” She was so tired of her brothers doing that!
Mac stepped beneath the overhang. He positioned himself between Janey and Thad and scowled from one to the other. “It looks like the perfect time to me.”
Janey pushed past Mac. She took Thad’s hand in hers and rested her face against his shoulder. “I know what I’m doing,” she insisted stubbornly. Even if Thad—who had gallantly followed her lead and encircled her waist with his arm—didn’t. Yet.
Mac arched a skeptical brow. “Do you?” he ground out, his look reminding Janey of all the times she had behaved recklessly in the past to prove a point with her smothering, overprotective family, and then regretted it later.