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“You’re mad that I made the café work. That’s why you want me to lose it.”
“Where do you get these insane ideas? Why on earth would I be mad that you’ve done well?” He stared down at her, feeling his careful hold on annoyance slip. “I’m proud of you, Janie.”
She winced. The blanket slipped from her shoulder, and when she fumbled unsuccessfully trying to reposition it, Hunter reached to tuck the fold back around her.
Her glare hit him like a slap as she shrugged away his touch. “I don’t need your help. And I don’t need you to rescue me. I’m going on this trip, and nothing you say is going to change my mind.”
“You hate traveling.”
“We’ve both changed.”
“Not that much.”
“You’re certainly not the man I thought I knew.” She jutted her chin up. “You were the one to send Bennett here under false pretenses, intending to take away your own sister’s home. The Hunter I thought I knew wouldn’t have ever done that.”
Gone was the warm buzz she’d summoned moments before. Cold anger seeped into his heart. “That was low, Janie. You know I had my reasons.”
She flinched and then swallowed. “For all I know, you’ll go around telling everyone I was the one to come to you in the middle of the night, groveling. Why should I trust anything you say?”
Hunter rolled his fists, barely holding back the rise of his temper. He leaned closer, caught in the fierce storm that swirled between them. Heart throbbing, he held frozen in place. “I wasn’t the one who broke the promises.”
She stood unmoving too, holding his stare with that blue gaze. Teasing his emotions. Owning his heart.
One step and the gap between them would vanish. One draw of his arm and he’d know the euphoria of the way she felt against him. One dip of his mouth and he’d drink in the intoxicating sweetness of her lips.
Lost in the force of all that sizzled between them, temptation was nearly the victor.
Suddenly she stepped back and looked down. It took every ounce of his military-learned discipline not to reach for her, dare her to look him in the eye and say she didn’t feel what he’d just felt.
“Go home, Hunter.”
“I don’t have a home.” He hadn’t since the day she’d given him back his ring.
Pain creased her brow, as if she knew exactly what he’d thought and understood the meaning behind it. She shook her head, and with a gentle hand, she nudged him back toward the door. “What’s done is done.”
After he stumbled past the threshold, she eased the door closed.
Hunter shut his eyes as he slumped against the wall. The chill around him sank clean through. He resented its familiarity. This was life without her.
Not the life he wanted.
Hazel wandered the trail that connected her cabin with Hunter’s place, her pack of dogs yipping as they wove in and out of the aspens. This path had become wider and well-worn in the months since Hunter’s return.
The thought provoked a grin—and then the wonder that she would be happy about such a revelation stirred her heart. Bennett had spoken of God’s miracles a few times. The miracle of his life changing directions. Of finding love where he’d least expected. And of Hunter’s return. As much as Hazel had shied away from Bennett’s God talk, she had to own that he had a point.
Those things did seem magical. Was that the same as a miracle? And if it was, what had suddenly stirred God to act at Elk Lake when for so long it had seemed He’d not cared?
An intrudingbeep, beep, beep. . . broke into her deep thoughts, rending the peaceful mountain forest with its mechanical blare. The three dogs who had made this trek with her all stopped, their muscled bodies tight and ready to defend against whatever that unnatural sound was.
“It’s okay, guys.” Hazel sighed. “It’s just the workers for the lodge.”
Hunter had said the groundwork should be done and the foundation poured within the week. That seemed fast for such a large project, but Hazel knew only relief at the speed. Large machinery did not belong at Elk Canyon, and the sooner they could do their jobs and be gone, the better.
Hazel motioned for the animals to continue on. “Stay close and be good.”
Another few minutes and she rounded to the clearing that had been christened Lake Shore Splendor. Seemed a good name, though at the moment, the scraping of earth and the scattering of ugly orange and yellow equipment marred the scene.
Not forever.
