Page 8 of Beastly Mountain Man

A laugh slipped out of me. “That’s a reasonable decision.”

“I thought so. I’m excellent at many things, Lucky. Apparently, operating this fireplace isn’t currently one of them.”

“You don’t need to know how before someone shows you.”

There was a brief pause.

“That may be the most civilized response I’ve ever received to admitting I don’t know how to do something.”

“I can come up and show you. Give me ten minutes.”

“Perfect. The fireplace and I will remain exactly as we are until you get here.”

I glanced toward Bear.

He was already asleep again.

“Ten minutes,” I said.

I put my jacket back on, checked that Bear had water, and left him sprawled across the rug with my stolen glove still beside his front paws. He opened one eye when I reached the door, then went back to sleep.

Outside, the temperature had dropped hard enough that frost crunched beneath my boots. My house sat below the highest rental properties, close enough that I could reach Upper Ridge quickly when a guest needed something but far enough from the resort buildings to feel like mine. The woods were almost completely dark now. A thin scatter of stars showed above the pines, and the air smelled like cold bark and the faint woodsmoke drifting from houses farther down the mountain.

Caprice’s Audi was exactly where it had been earlier. Warm light spilled through the cabin windows, but the big stone fireplace remained dark.

She opened the door after my first knock.

“Come in. I have demonstrated extraordinary restraint.”

She had changed into loose cashmere pants and a pale sweater that made the cabin look even warmer around her. Her honey-blond hair was still neat, although a few pieces had worked loose near her temples.

“I appreciate restraint where gas is involved,” I said as she stepped back to let me inside.

“I thought you might.”

The remains of her dinner sat covered on the kitchen island. Her laptop and tablet were still open at the dining table with the notebook, headphones, charger, and welcome folder arranged around them, although the whole setup had spread a little since I’d seen it earlier. A pen rested diagonally across one page. A second window was open on the laptop. One of the headphones had been left lying across the notebook instead of beside it.

The room looked lived in now.

Before we reached the hearth, the tablet chimed.

Caprice glanced toward it and then at me. “Would you mind giving me about a minute? I need to answer that one while the person who sent it is still available.”

“Go ahead. You were working before I got here.”

She crossed to the dining table and sat down. I stayed near the fireplace while she opened a secure review screen, moved quickly between the tablet and laptop, checked something against a row of time markers, and typed a response. She never hesitated over where to look or what to do next. Whatever problem had arrived, she understood it well enough to resolve it without making it look dramatic.

Less than a minute later, she closed the window and rose.

“Thank you. Now you have my full attention.”

“I’m not sure the fireplace deserves that much pressure.”

Her laugh followed me across the room.

The unit itself was in good shape. The resort stocked the premium rentals properly, so dry split wood already filled the recessed niche beside the hearth, with kindling in a separate container and the screen, tools, and safety equipment exactly where they belonged. I moved the screen aside, then checked the firebox and starter before touching the controls.

Caprice stood beside me, close enough to see what I was doing without crowding the hearth.