In the Firelight (12 page)

The ride back down from the mountains was a quiet one. Shea seemed lost in her thoughts, chewing her lip and occasionally uttering quiet one-word responses to his intermittent questions. Finally, Rhys stopped trying to converse, and he watched her unobtrusively, feeling a little torn by his conscience.

Who the fuck knew he even still had a conscience?

But watching Shea, seeing the fight in her eyes, the love for this land around her… it made him wonder when anything had been important to him. Anything. Anyone.

He’d been this materialistic, uncaring shell for so long. Nobody mattered. Pawns on a chessboard. His only living relative, his father, was barely a person to him at times. More of an obligation.
Gotta call dad, or he’ll start calling me.
His lack of belonging, once believed by him to be an immense asset, was suddenly rather…
sad
.

What the hell?

He closed his eyes for a moment, fighting to get her lovely face out of his mind. Her expression as she had looked mournfully over the valley. The way the light had reflected off the snow, bringing out the warm brown flecks in her hazel eyes. The way she squinted against the bright sunlight that shone from the crystal-blue sky streaked with feathery clouds. There was a poignant bleakness about her, as though she was losing the only thing she had left that she loved.

One thing for sure, he wouldn’t be able to sway her. She would
never
see the resort as a good thing. Pushing his bit of self-reproach to the side, he steeled up his resolve to get the job done and to get out of Snowcreek, away from this woman that made him…
feel
.

They pulled up in front of his small rental cabin on the edge of town, and Rhys pulled on his gloves before opening his door. He looked over at Shea who sat in the driver seat, quiet and introspective.

“Thank you,” he said, and she looked over at him, gauging his sincerity. “I’m not sure I can do much, but thank you for showing me that.”

She gave him more of a grimace than a smile. “I have to fight it,” she softly said. “Sometimes, it is very easy to see you as an enemy, as someone who has a power in this crappy situation. I’m torn between wanting to sway you to my side and wanting to run you out of town.” She gave a dry, bitter chuckle. “I’m not really a bitch. You just make me… uncomfortable.”

“Good uncomfortable, or bad uncomfortable?” he asked quietly.

Shea looked away, out at the clouds quickly rolling over the mountains in the distance, trailing a wall of white as they brought on a fresh layer of snow. Her brow knitted, and Rhys waited, almost breathlessly, waiting for her response. Finally, without looking back at him, she spoke.

“I need to get home,” she said softly, “before that snow hits.”

Rhys nodded and stepped out of the pickup. He looked at her profile long and hard before murmuring quietly, “Bye, sweetheart.”

As he closed the door, she caught her lip in her teeth and shut her eyes tightly. But she didn’t look at him again. He watched as she took a deep breath, put the pickup in gear, and drove away.

After her taillights had faded down the road and through the trees, he walked into his small cabin. He didn’t like feeling this way. He didn’t like the grudging pull at his gut. He didn’t like feeling like what he was doing was wrong. He knew it was, but this shit had never bothered him before.

Not before Shea.

Pulling out his iPhone, he saw he had missed a call from McHugh, so he pushed the button to call him back.

“Rhys, my boy,” McHugh boomed through the phone. “How’s our little project coming along? Got anything for me?”

Rhys exhaled a long and slow breath. “I don’t know, McHugh. This is kind of a tough situation.”

McHugh laughed loudly. “She’s a challenge, I’m sure, but you’ve never let me down yet. Remember that lady in Barbados? She took a little work to get you to sell me her stretch of beach, but, you smooth-talker, you… she finally did it and gave me one heck of a deal at that. And she was just happy as a clam about the whole thing. You must have wrapped your dick in gold for her.”

Rhys grimaced uncomfortably. Not exactly a good memory, and his remorse was already eating away at him.
Didn’t need that reminder!

“This lady is different, though, McHugh. I think she’s too tough of a nut for me to crack.” Rhys seized on something—anything—to make McHugh less into whoring him out like this. “She’s really stubborn as all hell, boss. Her mind isn’t gonna change, no matter how much I lay it on her. She doesn’t seem to be falling for my usual schmoozing. I don’t know, maybe she’s a lesbian?”

“Hmm… well, that’s unfortunate. I’d rather catch my flies with honey, but sometimes a little bug bomb is really what it will take. So, if you really don’t think you can get to her, if you don’t think you’re going to be able to fuck it out of her, then get some dirt on her,” McHugh commanded. “Find something that she can’t control, something that will make her inconsequential.”

Damn. Not really where he was hoping this conversation would go.
As much of a dick as he could be, Rhys didn’t want to hurt her. Remembering the bereft emotion in her eyes as she looked out over the valley, the sad lilt to her voice, he realized he really didn’t want
anyone
to hurt her.

Fuck.

“I’m not sure anyone could make Shea inconsequential, McHugh. I honestly think I could sway some of the others, but this one… she’s kind of like a pile of TNT. We could be stirring up one hell of a hornet’s nest by messing with her too much.”
Here goes,
Rhys thought.
Try at get him off of her trail.
“I think I should back off her, focus on the others.”

“Rhys,” the older man’s voice suddenly lost all joviality, and the serious tone expanded the dread Rhys felt growing in his gut. “I can’t do shit without her land. She’s got way too much and the location of it is simply too paramount to my plans. And, to top it off, she really has too much pull in that little backwoods town. I need you to take her down.”

Rhys exhaled in frustration.

“What is it, Rhys? Is there something else? Is she getting to you?”

“Of course not,” Rhys lied.

“Well, I hope not, my boy,” McHugh frowned. “We’ve got a good thing going. Don’t fuck it up.”

After giving him his orders, McHugh disconnected the call without any warning. Rhys tossed his phone on the small table in front of the window and flopped down on the bed. The room had been tidied by the maids while he was out with Shea, but a faint, fresh whiff emanated from the pillows.

Shea… it smelled like Shea.

Chapter 9 ~ The Night

Shea backed away from her computer after emailing in her work, rubbing her tired eyes. She had finally finished a surgical report by the notoriously difficult Dr. Rajasthan. The thick Indian accent was incredibly challenging to understand at best, and occasionally it was just downright impossible. Even everyday layman terms were straining, much less the complexities of the medical language. Shea hated leaving blanks in the text, but her country bumpkin Montana ears could only do so much before they felt like they were going to explode.

She pushed her chair back and stood, stretching her stiff muscles as she crossed over to the fireplace to put some more wood on the low blaze. The snow had started up again two days ago when she had just gotten home from dropping Rhys off. She’d been holed up typing away for almost the whole time, trying to catch up on her transcription quota from the hours she missed when he first arrived. Her body ached from lack of motion, but, thanks to some good dictation, she’d managed to fly through a ton of work, catching up and then some. The only bad one had been the last report.

After stoking up the blaze and scratching Wolfie behind the ears, she meandered into her small kitchen to put away the remains of her dinner, a pot of elk stew that had fed her through the last day and a half of nonstop typing. She was just finishing up when Wolfie’s ears perked up and he lumbered over to the front window of the cabin.

The crunch of tires in the deep snow outside could faintly be heard through the heavy cabin walls, and she followed Wolfie to see who was there.

Rhys.

Shit.

Yay.

No, shit.

Really… shit.

Her play of emotions duked it out as she tried to decide just how she should feel about him being there. Wondering why he was there. Angry at the confusion that he wrought. A little excited by the thought of his splendid manliness standing in her little cabin again.

In the clear, bright moonlight that shone over the white terrain, she saw him climb out of his rental Jeep. A moment later, he climbed the steps to her porch, and a quick heavy knock sounded at her door. Shea’s first instinct was to pretend she wasn’t home. But, really… her truck was there. Her lights were on. He’d know that was bullshit in a second.

Crossing over to the door, she quickly looked down at her worn, faded jeans and light, clingy beige sweater. At least she had showered today, although she wasn’t terribly presentable with her hair up in a messy bun. Not that she cared what he thought, though.

Really… she didn’t.

Shea ripped the clip out that held her hair up off her neck, and the still slightly damp tendrils fell around her shoulders. She dropped it on the radio by the entrance and reached for the doorknob, mentally preparing herself to be cool. But as she opened the door, she almost moaned at the sight of him before her.

Fuck. Why did he have to be so God-damned good-looking?
In the last two days, his stubble had grown thicker along his jaw, and he looked really rugged and…
hot
. Her body craved him, and the desire made her feel angry and defensive, Shea narrowed her eyes at him.

“Rhys, what the fuck are you doing here?” she asked.

He smiled at her less-than-enthusiastic greeting. “I see absence does
not
make the heart grow fonder after all, huh, sweetheart?” he asked as Wolfie nuzzled his hand, apparently not terribly upset by their company.

“I’m sorry, I just… I’m not used to having people just show up anyway, and for you to… It’s just a bit of a surprise, that’s all.”

“Can I come in?” he asked. “I just wanted to check on you, to see how you were doing because I hadn’t seen you in town for a few days.”

Shea stood back, opening the door wider to allow him in. He crossed through the doorway and unbuttoned his coat. Shea held the door open for another moment as Wolfie peered into the night before stepping out to explore. Shea shut the door behind him.

“I’ve been working,” she said quietly. “Trying to get caught up after all the excitement earlier this week, you know.”

“Excitement?” Rhys laughed as he pulled the coat from his wide, broad, beautiful…
Stop it, Shea!
  “
What kind of excitement? Oh, wait, you mean having a stranger in town,” he chuckled.

“Rhys, Snowcreek is kind of the end of the road. We don’t really get people here that are passing through.” Shea took his coat and hung it on a hook by the door as Rhys bent down to remove his snow-caked boots. “So, yeah, someone new just shows up out of the blue, and it generates a little discussion. And the meeting the other day and everything, it just all got me completely off schedule with my transcription.”

Rhys kicked off his last boot and stood, walking over to her. Looming above her, actually, causing a thrill to run down her center. “Do you want me to leave? Or did you get caught up?” he asked, the dim light of the room casting slight shadows that played up the angle of his cheek.

Shea should tell him to leave. She should tell him she was behind and had to work.

But she didn’t. Instead, she ducked around him, stepping in a clump of melting snow that completely soaked through her socks and chilled her skin. Goosebumps rose all over her body. Every sensation seemed to be amplified when he was around.

“No,” she said, kicking herself the whole time, “I actually just kinda typed nonstop for the last day or two, and I’ve made up ground. I’ve even gotten a little ahead.” She crossed over to the fireplace and sat on the edge of the couch closest to its heat. She reached down and pulled off the cold, wet socks. Using every acting skill she possessed, she did her best to appear unbothered by his appearance. “So, what’s up? Why the impromptu visit?” She laid the wet socks on the edge of the hearth to dry and turned to watch Rhys casually amble to the other end of the couch and sprawl out to soak in the heat of the fire.

“Just what I said. I hadn’t seen you in a few days. I was just wondering how you were doing. I’ve been, um… thinking about you.”

Her eyes flew up to meet his, caught in the blue depths. He was making it somewhat difficult, with his ever-so-soft-looking thermal shirt, ruffled and messy hair, shadowy unshaved jaw. And there was an intensity in his eyes as he looked over at her that instantly made her drop her gaze to where her hands sat in her lap. She instantly noticed that the v-neck to her sweater had dipped low, showing off a bit more of the curves of her breasts than she had realized.