Page 9 of Promise of a New Beginning
She finished buttoning her jeans but made no move to hide her bare chest.
“For the love of…” He turned back around. “Sorry. I thought you were dressed.”
“Well, I’m not, and I’m not going to do what you tell me. I’ll dress when I’m good and ready, and I’ll bathe when I want. And, Jack Remington”—he felt her hand on the back of his neck, and heat rushed through him—“I’ll kiss whomever I please, whenever I please.” Her hot breath on his ear only heightened his arousal and rooted his feet to the earth while Savannah stalked off toward the camp with all her possessions in her arms.
One glance of the dimples at the base of her spine, just above her low-waisted jeans, made his entire body shudder.
Chapter Six
“WHAT’S GOING ON with you and Jack?” Elizabeth asked Savannah.
Savannah nearly choked. “What do you mean?” They’d been hiking for two hours, and every time Jack stopped to identify a plant or an animal print, he made a point of not looking at Savannah, but when her back was turned, she could feel his eyes burning a path to her. She didn’t think anyone else had noticed. When she’d heard him slip down the hill at the stream, at first she’d thought it was another bobcat. A second later, when she saw him sliding on his behind, a momentary flash of relief swept through her, but it hadn’t lasted long. She quickly realized that he must have been watching her bathe. The angrier she got, the more flustered he’d become, and when Jack was flustered, his eyes filled with uncertainty—quite a difference from the piercing stares he usually doled out—and his sharp edges softened with that uncertainty. As quickly as Savannah had become angry, it had turned to amusement and flattery.
“I don’t know. He left the camp in the direction of the stream this morning, and ten minutes later you came stomping back even though you didn’t seem mad, and now he won’t even look at you. I might be married, but I’ve still got that female Spidey sense.” Elizabeth arched a brow.
“He did come down to the stream when I was washing up, and I was embarrassed, but nothing happened between us. I don’t know why he doesn’t look at me. He’s a weird guy,” she said.
Elizabeth flashed a wide, bright smile that reached her brown eyes. “I think thou doth protest too much,” she teased.
Savannah laughed.
They’d stopped again beneath a cluster of pine trees. Jack put one finger to his lips and put his other hand out in front of the group to stop them from walking any farther. Then he picked up a long stick.
“Josie, you might want to hang on to Pratt. We’ve found ourselves a little snake.” He shot a look at Josie, who huddled against Pratt’s side.
“A snake? I wanna see a snake,” Aiden said.
Jack held up his finger again and shushed him. “We don’t want to spook him, buddy. Do you remember why?”
“Because we’re the visitors. This is his home,” Aiden said.
“That’s right,” Jack said, just above a whisper. “I’m going to lift this leaf, and you’ll see the snake. I spotted his tail as we approached, but, Josie, you cannot scream. Got it?”
Josie nodded. “Got it,” she said.
Pratt held her close.
Jack was so kind to Aiden and so harsh to the adults that Savannah wondered if he had children. She knew almost nothing about him, other than he was an incredible kisser, he’d lost his wife a couple of years earlier, he had been in the military, and he appeared to be just as confused about women as she was about men.
He lifted the leaf, and Pratt laughed.
“That’s a garter snake,” he said. “Heck, you can find those back home.”
Jack stood back up to his full height, towering over Pratt. “Yeah, you’re right, you can. Would you rather have seen a rattler? Something venomous? Because guess what, crackpot. You have no idea what’s slithering into your tent right now, do you?” Jack shifted his gaze back to Aiden. “What’s the rule for when you’re in the wild?”
“Um…I know this.” Aiden bit his lower lip and looked up at Elizabeth with wide eyes. “Oh, don’t leave anything behind?”
“Right. Always leave things the way they were.” He put the leaf back where it had been. “So we replace the leaf, and I’ll even replace the stick.” Jack put the stick back where he’d found it. “Pratt, take a look behind you, just to the right of the trail. What kind of print is that?”
Pratt didn’t move. His lanky arms hung loosely by his sides, his hair curled out from beneath his tuque, and he looked at Jack with a challenge in his eyes.
“Go on. Take a look.” The seriousness returned to Jack’s voice. His shoulders rode high and tight just below his ears, as if he were ready to strike.
Josie moved away from Pratt’s side, her eyes darting between the two men. She pulled at a lock of her hair, running the ends between her fingers and thumb. Pratt took a few steps up the trail, and Jack grabbed his arm.
“Hold up.” He trained his eyes on Pratt and turned his back to the group, then spoke in a quieter voice. “I’m here to keep you safe, and I can’t do that if you fight me. Whatever’s eating you up, you gotta deal with it. Get that garbage out of your head and think about it, talk about it, then get rid of it. Trust me on this. Don’t shove it so far down that it’s impossible to single out. Deal with it.”
Pratt shrugged out of his grasp and headed for the trail again. “Whatever, man.” He took a step deeper into the woods.
