Page 9 of Chasing Dreams
A smattering of drops smacked against the fabric pooled on the ground. She had the poles all through the pockets; now all she had to do was figure out how to make the blasted thing stand up. Was she supposed to have brought a hammer to get those stakes in the ground?
* *
Austin stood in the darkened living room, away from the window, and watched the blue tent fluttering and flailing in the flashlight’s beam. What was the fool woman doing now?
Thunder rumbled overhead. Served her right. He resented any invasion of his privacy, and it took a lot of guts to camp out on a guy’s property. Or attempt to camp out, that is. He could call Fish & Game to come remove a squatter, but that would rouse unwanted attention.
She had definitely lost her Girl Scout manual somewhere on her way to the mountains. Granted, those five-man dome tents were tricky to assemble, but why hadn’t she practiced a couple of times? And the place where she’d chosen to set it up was unprotected from the wind. A good gust would flatten it in a heartbeat.
Not to mention the water that would probably wash across that spot in a torrent.
Let her figure it out the hard way. He turned to adjust the log he’d placed on the fire earlier. The heat drew his skin tight across his cheekbones. He watched the flames lick up the sides of the slab of ash.
A clap of thunder startled him. Rain pelted the metal flue in the chimney. Memories of her slender vulnerable woman’s body and her troubled, yet proud, expression came to him more as a feeling than as pictures, a feeling like a vague ache in his chest. Against his will, he was drawn to the window once more.
Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it, his levelheaded conscience cried out. She’s a woman, alone and unprotected, his victorious mind argued.
Besides, it was pouring rain and the temperature was dropping. He wouldn’t be much of a human being if he left her out there.
* *
Shaine had the tent standing and was trying to use the cooler to keep one side propped up, when she caught sight of a bright beam of light coming near. She looked up and saw the inhospitable man storming toward her in a hooded orange slicker.
“Grab your clothes,” he said.
“What?”
“Get your bag and come with me.”
“I was doing all right,” she said defensively.
“I can see that.” He shone the flashlight inside the wobbling tent, its light glaring off muddy puddles shaped like the soles of her boots.
“I can dry it out.”
“What about you?”
Her clothes were nearly soaked, and her hair was probably plastered to her head by now. She had packed a couple of towels. Somewhere.
He grabbed the duffel and firmly took her arm. Shaine picked up the other bag, unwilling to admit she was a little relieved at his support. She accompanied him to the house, where the dog waited on the porch, tail wagging. “What’s his name?”
“His name’s Daisy.”
“Oh.” She stopped to pat the animal’s head and receive a few licks.
“Notice she’s smart enough to stay out of the rain,” he said, and opened the door. The dog bounded in ahead of them.
He removed the dripping slicker and left it on the porch, revealing a deep green sweater over a broad chest, and snug jeans encasing legs she knew were muscled and dusted with dark hair. The thought combined with his woodsy scent as she passed him, created an odd feeling in her already trembling limbs.
She stepped away and followed the dog into the warmth of the enormous firelit room. Two Navajo-patterned sofas faced one another before the stone fireplace. A welcoming fire crackled.
A counter sectioned off a kitchen area, and above, a log rail separated a loft area. He led her into a hall. “The bathroom’s here. The washer and dryer are in the closet. Throw your clothes in. Hair dryer’s on the wall there.”
Shaine entered a room bigger than her bedroom at home, with cedar walls and a long, tiled counter with two sinks. One corner held a shower, and the other a sunken tub with whirlpool jets.
He left, pulling the door shut.
She glanced around. A rumpled towel lay on one end of the vanity. A black-bristled hair brush with a wooden handle lay beside it.
