Page 3 of Promise of a New Beginning
“How far are we walking today?” she asked.
Jack answered while looking at Aiden. “Three miles, and the only one that’s allowed to get tired is Aiden, and if he does, as we discussed”—Jack lifted his eyes to Lou and Lou nodded—“his mother or father will have to carry him.” He put a large hand on Aiden’s shoulder. “You hear that, buddy? If you get tired, your parents will have to carry you, and that’s a hard job, getting up this mountain, so can you be strong?”
Aiden nodded.
Jack’s cheeks lifted, and his smile brightened his eyes and softened his harsh edges. “Of course you can.”
Maybe you do have a softer side.
He addressed Elizabeth and Lou. “There’s no cell service up here. We talked about this, and you know the risks. It’s your job to keep track of Aiden at all times, not mine or anyone else’s. Got it?”
So much for the softer side. You really are a jerk.
Ten minutes later, they were making their way through the dense woods. Though they entered through what looked like a trail, the flattened landscape had faded fast, and Savannah had no idea how Jack could possibly know where they were headed. They were in the midst of two hundred thousand acres with no cell phone service with a guy who didn’t know empathy from apathy. How on earth would she heal herself when being led by someone like him? She reminded herself that one of the main reasons she’d chosen this particular camp was that there would be no cellular service. If Connor couldn’t reach her, he couldn’t try to lure her back.Whether Jack’s a jerk or not, I’m going to succeed, and when I get home, I’ll be stronger for it.
She’d never been particularly lucky in love, and after watching four out of five of her brothers find their forever loves, she longed for more. If her brothers knew how Connor had treated her, they wouldn’t care that she was a thirty-plus-year-old woman who could take care of herself. They would go after him without an ounce of hesitation—then they’d console her. It was after the consoling that worried her, when they’d look at her with pity in their eyes, not understanding how their bullheaded, smart-mouthed sister could ever allow a man to treat her that way. That was why she never told them.It’s complicated.That had been her stance on her relationship with Connor.
Other attorneys had gone so far as to call her Bulldog Braden because she was relentless in the pursuit of right and wrong.So why can’t I be that relentless when it comes to my heart?This trip was supposed to help her climb back into the armor she’d once worn and never allow herself to be treated that way again. She eyed Jack Remington as he pushed through thick branches and stomped over fallen trees. His muscles glistened against the afternoon sun.So what if he’s hot? He’s probably a bigger jerk than Connor.And if she read the shadows in his eyes correctly, he was also dangerous.A bad combination for a girl on the rebound.She thought about the article that had made this weekend sound like the perfect remedy forwomen who had lost their edge. Stupid article. There was no doubt that this trip was a mistake.
A big, giant mistake.
Chapter Two
THE SUN BEGAN to drift toward the trees as the afternoon slowly turned to evening. The first day out, or what Jack liked to call the Day of Impact, would give him a clear indication of where each student stood, both mentally and physically. So far, they all seemed to be faring well, including Aiden. Jack glanced behind him at the boy, who held on to his father’s hand like a security blanket. He was a cute little guy with bright blue eyes and white-blond hair. His gut twisted, and a familiar lump formed in his throat as he thought about the unused nursery in his chalet. The night of the storm came rushing back like shards of glass being driven into his heart. He never should have let Linda leave the house, but he’d been so wrapped up in his work that he couldn’t—wouldn’t—pull away.
A shriek pulled him from the memory. He whipped around with his large knife in hand, knees bent. Josie huddled against Savannah’s side, her arms pulled in close, fear in her eyes.
“She thought she saw a snake,” Savannah said as she brushed Josie’s black hair from her shoulders. Josie’s skin was milky white, and her eyes were a vibrant blue, giving her the appearance of a porcelain doll…in jeans and clunky hiking boots.
For a moment, Jack didn’t move.A snake? You freaked out over a snake?Elizabeth and Lou stepped in front of Aiden, as if that might protect him from the snake. Jack looked down at the knife in his hand.Or protect him from me?Pratt stood off to the side with a smirk on his thin lips, shaking his head. Jack stole a glance at Savannah, who didn’t look shaken up or amused. She had one hand on Josie’s back and the other on her cheek.
“It’s okay,” Savannah assured her.
The kindness in Savannah’s voice spiked a memory in Jack.It’s okay. I’ll go.Linda’s voice crept through his mind. He turned back around and ran his hand through his hair.Love you, Linda had said before walking out the door. He hadn’t even answered her. He’d made a noise. A grunt. That familiar love-you-too noise that couples make when they’re too busy to give their spouse the time they deserve. Two long years and not once did a woman’s voice ever bring back that moment. What was it about Savannah Braden that had his mind twisting in ways it never had and his body noticing the beauty of a woman again for the first time?
He turned back around to the group and shoved his knife back into its sheath.
“We’re in the woods. What part of that don’t you understand?” Jack knew he was fuming at himself in the memory, but he couldn’t stop the hurt from coming out as anger. “Was I not clear back there? Snakes live here. We are the interlopers. We are the villains, not them. If you shriek, that tells me there’s a bigger danger—a bear, a coyote, a madman—something that we really do need to worry about. A snake will slither away.” As he turned back to continue the hike, he noticed that the smirk had left Pratt’s lips, replaced with a furrowed brow. His eyes shifted across the woods. He wanted to know what expression Savannah wore, but now not only did he have to avoid eye contact, it was apparent that he needed to avoid verbal contact as well.
“You don’t have to be such a jerk. She’s young. She got scared. Cut her a break.”
He took one step and stopped at the sound of Savannah’s aggressive accusation. He let out a breath and turned back around, meeting Josie’s eyes instead of the challenge in Savannah’s. He calmed his voice enough to speak instead of yell. “Let’s try to keep the screaming to a minimum.”
JACK IGNORED SAVANNAH all afternoon. When she’d challenged his answers, he’d shaken his head, and when she’d asked questions, he hadn’t looked at her when he answered. Now Savannah sat on a log at what would be their base camp, struggling to put together the poles to her tent, and there was no way she’d ask him for help. What was she doing here anyway? She grew up on a ranch with a house, working toilets and showers, and horses to ride up mountains. She had no camping experience, and she hadn’t had time to research how to construct the darn tent before leaving for the trip. When she’d purchased it, she had been so busy worrying if leaving town was the right thing to do that she’d completely zoned out and hadn’t registered a word of the salesman’s lengthy instructions. She hadn’t had time to do much of anything before making the impetuous, stupid decision to go to survival camp. Why hadn’t she listened to Max, her brother Treat’s new wife? She should have gone to one of the many retreats they owned instead of coming into the wild to live like a Neanderthal alongside this mountain madman. When Jack had spun around with that enormous knife in his hand, all she could do was remain silent and still. Her mind had screamed,Run!but her legs had been rooted in place. And the way his eyes had changed in an instant—as if the slightly crazy woodsman had turned into a wounded puppy and then morphed right back into the angry man—had rattled her.
Elizabeth, Lou, and Aiden had their tent fully constructed. Pratt helped Josie with her stakes, and Savannah wrestled with getting the poles through the stupid little rings of vinyl. Each time she got one in, another would slip out before she could secure the two pieces together. She plopped down on a fallen tree and let out a loud breath, then took it all apart and started over.I could be in a five-star resort right now in Hawaii, or Nassau, or anywhere else other than these stinking woods. Maybe I should call someone to come pick me up. Treat would charter a plane to rescue me.Savannah and her brothers had significant trust funds, though none of them flaunted their wealth. But at a time like this, an extravagant expenditure seemed like an acceptable thing to consider. She shoved one pole through the loop and finally secured the other to it, pinching her finger in the process.
“Darn it,” she snapped and put the hurt finger in her mouth.
Jack looked over with a pinched and annoyed look on his face, then turned and walked away.
Jerk.Wasn’t he supposed to be teaching them? How was this teaching? She’d show him if it took all night. She struggled with the next set of poles, determined to get the tent set up without any help.
She heard Josie tell Pratt, “We should help Savannah.”
Pratt headed in her direction.
“I got it. I’m fine,” she snapped. Savannah was capable of doing anything they were. She was just having trouble focusing. She glanced at Jack standing with his back to the group, his hands on his hips while he looked out over the ravine below, and narrowed her eyes.It’s you.She’d lost her edge when she was with Connor, and Jack’s attitude wasn’t helping. It was time she got it back.
