Chance Encounter (2 page)

“I
am
the resort. I’m the mountain manager.”

A sound that was little more than a squeak escaped her before she cleared her throat and tried again. “What exactly does a mountain manager do?”

“Besides report to the GM?” He downshifted to take a tight mountain curve and shrugged. “Anything and everything. I lead treks, plan expeditions. Petition land trusts for more property. Blaze new trails to lure world-class athletes from all over the world.”

“All that?”

“I also set up all the competitive events.”

“Oh.”

“And both the ski patrol and our new biking patrol are under my command, as well as the rest of the staff.”

“So…you do it all.”

“Yup.”

“And what do I do as GM?”

He grinned. “Manage me.”

She stared at him with such horror he would have cracked up if she wasn’t to be his boss, for all intents and purposes, until Lucy returned. To say he didn’t appreciate authority was an understatement.

“So…you probably know how to ski and bike and do all that outdoor stuff really well, right?” she asked.

“Everyone on the staff is an accomplished athlete.
It’s a requirement for employment.” He took his gaze off the road and settled it on her. “Unless, of course, there’s some sort of family deal.”

She blushed and nibbled on her lower lip. “Lucy asked me to come.”

He knew that, and had no idea why it bothered him so. Why
she
bothered him. “And now I’m a baby-sitter.”

Her eyes flashed at that. “I don’t need a baby-sitter.”

“Good. I don’t want to be one.”

“Well then, don’t even think about it.” What looked like years of frustration poured from her as she spoke. “For once I’m going to do what I want, when I want, without worrying about which sister has tuition or which other sister needs me to straighten out one of her messes.” She used her hands when she talked, and he wondered if she used her hands like that during sex.

“I’m going to stop thinking about everyone else and think about myself for a change.” She nodded sharply, as if reinforcing the decision. Her eyes glowed with passion. “I want to do as I please,
when
I please. If I want to go dancing barefoot in the grass, I will. If I want to go howl at the moon, I will. I’ll go hog wild if I feel like it. Whatever comes my way, I’ll do it.” Then she lifted that stubborn chin and flashed pride out of her stormy gaze. “On my own.”

All that fierceness, mixed in with her obvious naiveté, both terrified and aroused him. Which in turn annoyed the hell out of him. “Fine.”

“Fine,” she repeated, then fell silent through the next set of winding curves, which he liked. Silence was good.

And apparently she’d finally warmed up because she’d stopped hugging herself. Not that he cared that she’d been cold, but now all her nice curves were right there for his perusal, only inches away.

How did a prudish librarian end up with such a lush body anyway?

“Lucy probably finds herself bogged down with paperwork most of the time,” she said eventually. “You know, from behind a desk, right?”

Lucy behind a desk? Not unless she was chained there. In their mutual running of the resort, he and Lucy had meshed perfectly. “Did she happen to mention
why
she’s in the hospital?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah.” She fell silent again, but for a shorter time, dammit. “You do a lot of dangerous stuff, then?”

He sighed, loud and long. “Are you going to talk all the way back?”

She blinked, and shut her mouth.

For one blessed moment.

“I guess I am going to talk all the way there,” she said.

“Terrific,” he muttered.

“So…do you find yourself living on the edge a lot out here?”

She thought bike riding was living on the edge? This was going to be one hell of a long haul. “Yep, we like our edge out here.”

“Oh.” She bit her lower lip. “Well, I’ve read about it.”

Great. She’d read about it. He laughed.

She didn’t. She looked resolutely ahead at the beautiful landscape. “Things are going to change here though,” she said softly. “I can feel it.”

“Is this about the going hog wild thing?”

“None of your business.”

Oh,
now
she wanted to be private. “You’re not under some misguided impression that you’re going to change your lack of living on the edge while you’re
here,
right?”

“Yep.”

“Oh, no you don’t.”

“Oh no I don’t what?”

He only groaned. “Just what I need. A walking, talking,
irritating
accident waiting to happen.”

Her disbelief was clear. “Excuse me?”

“Not on my watch,” he said firmly.
“No way.”

“Well I’m not on your ‘watch,’ so relax.” She turned from him and once again looked out the window.

Oh yeah. Right.
Relax.
She didn’t have a clue. He was short-staffed and exhausted from working around the clock since the fire. The fire that was now going to set back their summer season God only knew how long, and cost a ton of money that Sierra Peak Resort couldn’t afford to lose.

And she wanted him to relax. Good luck. He loved his life here, he really did. His job fulfilled his serious sweet spot for thrill and excitement. His whole life had, ever since his father had first taken him to Tibet
at the age of five, where they’d climbed mountains for three straight seasons.

In his own unorthodox way, his father had tried to instill a deep sense of wanderlust within each of his three sons, and the need to constantly push for bigger and better. Chance’s two older brothers, Brandon and Kell, hadn’t exactly embraced the family lifestyle. Like most others, they’d never understood the wanderlust, the inexplicable need to explore and seek adventure. As a result, they’d also never understood their father, or Chance. Both had rebelled against their unstructured and atypical childhoods, and gone in the opposite direction—straight into the military.

Not Chance. Blindly follow authority? Never. He relished his freedom and independence too much for that. As his father before him, Chance craved…well, adventure. Freedom. Not many understood the need. Certainly not a woman, though Tina had been the only one to come close to making him believe she had.

She’d been a kindergarten aide in Colorado when he’d come through on a skiing binge. They’d both been nineteen. Chance had skied his brains out by day and seduced Tina’s brains out by night. She’d been so sweet, so fragile. Compassionate. Ridiculous as it had seemed, he’d been inexplicably drawn to her, and try as he might, he couldn’t get her out of his system. When it had come time for Chance to move on, she’d wanted to come with him, but he couldn’t see her living his wanderlust lifestyle. She’d insisted, tried to prove to him she could by going on a month long trek with her girlfriends. Within five days, just enough
time for her to get good and deep into the wilderness in Canada, she’d fallen ill. By the time she’d gotten to a hospital, she’d had pneumonia.

She’d died there.

And though he’d told himself he hadn’t loved her, his chest had felt as though it had caved in. Most of it had been guilt, but he had a terrible feeling it’d been more, much more.

Never again had he fallen for a sweet, little thing with huge, expressive eyes. Never again had he let a woman convince him he needed her for anything but a hot, lusty sexual release.

It’d been awhile since any sort of sexual release at all, thanks to his insane work schedule. Which had to explain why he was driving this annoying-as-hell woman—who just happened to have big, expressive eyes, damn her—and all he could think about was the way that her blouse had continued to cling her to her like a second skin.

Suddenly hot, he leaned forward and flicked off the heater, at the exact moment she leaned forward to crank it up. Their hands brushed, and when he looked at her, his mouth was only a fraction of an inch from hers.

Skittish, she jerked back, and he had to smile grimly. No hot, lusty sexual release coming from
that
corner.

Now she had her nose pressed to the window, watching the magnificent landscape go by, and he had to shake his head. “I’m guessing you’ve never been in the wilds before.”

“Not unless you count the downtown bus station at about five o’clock in the afternoon.”

“That’s a zoo, not the wilds,” he said, disgusted, and unable to help his curiosity, he asked, “You’ve never even camped?”

“Once.” Her lips curved, and her eyes unfocused a little as she remembered. “In my backyard. I ate marshmallows, drank sodas and sang songs. It was wonderful. Then I was bit by a spider and it got infected, and I threw up the marshmallows. And then on the way to the bathroom, I slipped on the garden hose and broke my ankle.” Her mouth twisted wryly. “Haven’t camped since.” She sighed. “Or eaten marshmallows.” Then she bit her lip and slid him a glance. “And you should know, the last time I was on a bike I broke my arm. I was twelve. But I can swim, just not really well.”

Amazing.
Terrifying.
“But certainly you’ve traveled around.”

“No.”

How could someone be so
content
as to stay in one place? It was beyond his comprehension. “So why did you come?”

“Because Lucy needed me.”

“You always come running when people ask?”

Her nose went in the air. “It’s called family loyalty.”

He slowly shook his head. “No obligation would ever hold me to a place I didn’t want to be.”

“You sound bitter.”

Nope. Just uninterested in any serious ties. There
was no payoff in getting his heart tromped on, as he knew all too well.

“And anyway,” she said. “Who said I didn’t want to be here?” But her shoulders slumped just a little. Her eyes filled with worry. “God. I hope I’m not a fool to think I can do this.”

Just what he wanted to hear.
Sorry, Lucy,
he thought as he whipped the Jeep around, not quite managing to hide his relief.

Ally gripped the dash and stared at him, alarm etched on her features. “What are you doing?”

Getting as far from you as possible.
“I’ll take you back to the airport.”

“No! You…you can’t.”

“You’re a fool to think you can do this,” he repeated, not very patiently or kindly. “You said it, not me.”

“I know what I said,” she snapped. Right in front of his eyes, she drew herself up, his leather jacket crinkling softly on her body.

And she suddenly didn’t remind him of Tina at all.

“I was just thinking out loud,” she said haughtily. “Don’t listen to me.”

Well, wasn’t that a woman for you. “Don’t listen to you. Is that your first order?”

She crossed her arms over her chest. Her stormy eyes blasted him. They should have been icy, but they weren’t, not at all. The woman had quite the passionate streak.

He was certain she had no idea how much of a turn-on that was, or she’d undoubtedly stop immediately.

“Turn back around,” she demanded.

“Why?”

“Because I’m here. I know I’ve been a little wishy-washy, but that’s over now. I’m going for the adventure. Biking, skiing, whatever you can dish out here in Wyoming, bring it on. I’m letting loose.”

The thought of her letting loose was the first terror he’d felt in a good long time. “Wait a minute—”

“No,” she said quickly, pointing at him. “Don’t talk. Don’t reason. Don’t—” Her gaze dropped, to his mouth, then further still, to his chest, and then below that for long enough to have his body leaping to hopeful attention. She jerked her face back up. Her cheeks pinkened. “Just…” She seemed to struggle for the right words for a moment, and Chance prepared himself to be blistered with a pithy comment.

“Just…
drive!
” she finished triumphantly, leaning back.

Oh, wasn’t she fierce. He laughed.

She didn’t so much as crack a smile, and once he realized he was truly good and stuck with her, he swallowed his mirth with little difficulty.

He prayed she came to her senses really soon. Or that she’d trip over another garden hose.

A
LLY WALKED DOWN
the hall toward Lucy’s hospital room, butterflies attacking her stomach. Thankfully Chance had stayed in the waiting room. She couldn’t concentrate on visiting with Lucy if he was in the room distracting her, and distract her he most definitely would. Even if he hadn’t been so tall, dark and earth-stoppingly gorgeous, his take-me-as-I-am persona would have attracted her.

Attracted her.
Dangerous stuff, made more so by the way just one look from him had her every nerve dancing. Had she learned nothing from her last relationship? Had she forgotten already? Pretty, dangerous men equaled heartache!

Her sandals echoed smartly on the white tile. The stark walls seemed to glare at her, trying to suck away her shaky, burgeoning confidence, so she simply walked faster, refusing to give in.

“Well, get on in here!” Lucy said when Ally stopped at her door. “Let me get a look at you.” She was smiling, with long, wild auburn hair streaked with gray, sweet sparkling green eyes and the most impish smile Ally’d ever seen.

“This can’t be the right room,” Ally said, amazed. “I
was expecting suffering. No one looking as good as you could be suffering.”

“Oh, I’m suffering!” Lucy assured her. “I can’t even walk. Check this out.”

Ally moved closer and saw Lucy did indeed have some sort of traction in place for her hip. “Ouch.”

“You look like hell, did you know that?” Lucy opened her arms for a hug, which Ally gave her along with a wry laugh.

“Thanks ever so much.”

Lucy just smiled serenely, and settled more comfortably. She poured both herself and Ally a cup of water from a pitcher by her bed. “Don’t worry,” she said, handing Ally a cup. “Wyoming will take care of you. I’m so glad you’ve come. You’ve met Chance? Isn’t he sweet?”

Ally, who’d just taken a sip of water, nearly choked.
“Sweet?”
They couldn’t be talking about the same man.

Lucy smiled and nodded. “I know. He’s sweet and much, much more. Isn’t he wonderful?”

Wonderful looking, maybe. But big, bad Chance was the last thing Ally wanted to discuss. “You still haven’t said how you’re feeling,” she said, looking for a distraction here. “Are you in a lot of pain?”

“Ah,” Lucy nodded sagely. “The old subject change. Nice one.” Some of her joy seemed to fade. “So you hated him.”

“No, of course not. I didn’t…
hate
him.”

Lucy sank back a bit into her pillows, dipping her chin down just enough so that she didn’t quite meet
Ally’s gaze. “Because I’d feel so badly if you were forced to work with someone you didn’t like.”

Like? No. Lust?
Oh yeah.
Bad combo. But for her new lease on life, she could work with him, could learn everything she needed to know from him, even if just looking at him in jeans and a T-shirt had set her hormones raging. “It’ll be fine,” she insisted. “We’ll be fine.”

“Really? Oh, honey, I’m so glad. It makes it so much easier for me since…well, considering my condition.”

That sounded ominous. “Is something wrong with the way you’re healing?”

“Oh, nothing a little time won’t fix.” Lucy played with the edge of her sheet, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. “I’m just so worried about the resort. The fire ruined everything, you know. Getting our summer season started is going to be a challenge. You’ll stay, won’t you, Ally?”

She grasped Lucy’s cool, calloused hand. “Of course.” She had a month before she had to get back to San Francisco to clear out her apartment. A month to figure out what she wanted to be when she grew up. “But quite frankly, Chance seems more than capable—”

“Oh, he’s capable all right.” Lucy laughed. “And with his good looks and easy smiles, he can convince any of the staff to do just about anything. But family is family.”

Ally thought about Chance’s smile and knew Lucy was right. She’d been at the receiving end of that smile. It’d said,
I know you’re out of your league.
It said,
I dare you to do this.
It said,
I can kiss you blind and make you like it.

And her silly knees had weakened.

“If you need anything, anything at all,” Lucy said. “Go to him.”

If she needed anything, it was to really live for once. And though he both fascinated and terrified her, she thought maybe Chance could help. All she had to do was convince him of that.

“There’s nothing he can’t do once he sets his mind to it,” Lucy said.

Yes, Chance was a man ready for anything, and if “anything” didn’t come to him, he’d go looking for it. In that, really, he was the perfect one to help her out. “I’ll be fine. You just get better.”

“I’ll do that.” Lucy’s eyes closed and she sighed deeply. “You don’t mind if I take a nap now, do you, dear?”

“No, not at all.” But Ally’s stomach tightened, because if this visit was over it meant only one thing—she’d have to go out there and face Chance, the rebel with a cause who just happened to set her on fire. Not that she wasn’t ready for this. She was. She just needed a few moments, that’s all. “You rest. I’ll wait here in this chair—”

“Oh no!” Lucy straightened, her light green eyes popping wide open again. “You mustn’t wait. You just go on to the resort. And I don’t want you to visit me often, it’s too far. Come only when you can get away.”

Ally hovered. “Are you certain?”

“Very.” Again, Lucy laid back and closed her eyes. “I trust you as much as I need you. And Ally?”

“Yes?” Eagerly, she turned back, thinking there would be some miraculous reprieve.

“Give Chance a hug for me, would you?”

L
UCY HAD THE GOOD
sense to wait until the door shut completely behind Ally before bursting into laughter.

When the nurse came in a few minutes later, she was still grinning like a Cheshire cat.

“What’s so funny?” the nurse asked, smiling a bit, because as Lucy knew, they all loved her.

She sighed dreamily. “Everything is just so perfect.”

“You’re in traction for the foreseeable future and everything’s perfect?”

“I’m not going to die, am I?”

The nurse let out a startled laugh. “No, of course not. You’re going to be fine.”

Lucy stared at the closed door through which Ally had reluctantly disappeared. A knowing smile curved her lips. “Then, as I said, everything is perfect, just perfect.”

C
HANCE DROVE AS HE
appeared to do everything else, with relish. His big hands mastered the wheel, his long, long legs flexed with muscle whenever he shifted. His intense gaze took in the sights as well as the road.

Ally was dying to approach him with her idea that he be the one to help her succeed at her little dream of
being a wild adventuress. But though she felt him looking at her occasionally, he was silent.

Maybe half an hour into the drive, his cell phone rang. It was on the dash in front of her, and his wrist brushed her thigh when he reached for it. Her entire body tightened, but he didn’t even look at her. He was looking at the caller ID with a frown.

“What’s the matter?” she asked in an annoyingly breathless voice.
Get a grip,
she told herself.

“It’s Lucy.” He didn’t even look at Ally, just brought the phone to his ear. “Couldn’t even wait until we got there, huh?” he said into the receiver. “Curiosity was killing you, I suppose.” His frown deepened. “I said I would, didn’t I?… Yes, you mentioned that about her already. Three times, thanks. I get it. She’s inexperienced and needs help.” He looked at Ally, who wished with all her might she could disappear into a large hole.

“Look, it’s done.” He shoved a hand through his hair, which caused it to stick straight up. Instead of looking ridiculous, he looked…frustrated. Brooding.
Hot.
“I said I’d do it, I’d take care of her.”

Looking away, Ally swallowed hard.

And listened unabashedly.

“Yeah, yeah, miss you, too,” he said. “Now hang up, would you? And lose my phone number.”

Ally whirled back, prepared to blister him about treating Lucy that way, when she saw that his mouth had curved in a fond smile.

The smile faded, however, the moment he looked at her. “We’re almost to the resort.” His voice was again
rough with irritation, as if just the sight of her annoyed him. “I have work. You can go to Lucy’s office or I can show you to the cabin that’ll be yours for the duration.”

He wanted to get rid of her. Preferably yesterday.

Too bad. “What are you going to do?”

“Be busy.”

Without her,
she got that.
Now,
she thought.
Ask him now. Tell him you need his help.

But then they were driving up to the resort, and for a moment she actually forgot all about the unforgettable Chance. Leaning forward, she took in the huge three-story cabin that made up the main lodge, and the backdrop of glorious majestic mountain peaks behind it. It was breathtaking. Thrilling. And everything inside her tightened with anticipation. “Oh, it’s gorgeous. I can’t wait to explore.”

“No. Don’t go off by yourself.” This was a demand as he got out of his big, bad, black Jeep that so suited him and slammed the door. Lifting a finger, he pointed it at her. “Don’t wander. Don’t even think about it.”

She shut her door and let out a little, disbelieving laugh. “I thought my position here was higher than yours.”

He leaned his butt against the Jeep and crossed his arms, treating her to a steady, unfathomable gaze. He suddenly seemed even taller than she’d thought, bigger and not at all friendly. “So?” he asked.

She decided to forgive him for being a jerk because
she needed him. Not that she’d ever admit that to his face. “So I’ll do as I please, thank you very much.”

“You’re tired from your trip.”

“Nope,” she disagreed brightly. “And I don’t need to rest. I’d like to get started.”

“Uh-huh. And has it occurred to you that you don’t know what you’re doing?”

“You could show me.”

He stared at her, then laughed. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m too busy to baby-sit, remember?”

“Fine. I’ll do it on my own.” And she walked toward the lodge.

Chance watched her go, his mood darkening by the second.

Well, wasn’t this just a picnic? Her curvy little body was practically quivering with imagined thrill. It was adrenaline and he, better than anyone, knew that.

So why was it both maddening
and
arousing to watch her?

Granted, he’d always been attracted to a woman willing to walk on the wild side, but he didn’t want
this
woman to go wild on him. He wanted her gone before something happened to her, and something
would
happen. With her eager clumsiness and lack of experience, it was only a matter of time, and damn her, she’d do it on
his
watch, leaving him to deal with the aftermath of guilt and blame.

He had no intention of ever going through something like that again. Not even for Lucy, to whom he owed everything.

“Tell me things,” she said, when she realized he’d followed her. She stood on the bottom step of the lodge and clasped her hands, looking so damn happy it almost hurt to look at her. “Tell me about this place.”

“I have to meet a crew up on the mountain to work on the fire-damaged acreage.”

“Please?”

He sighed, and had no idea why he obliged her. Pointing to the ski runs, devoid of all but a few patches of snow, he said, “We had an early spring this year. Skiing is over. To add to the fire reconstruction, we start work next week building two new quad chairs.”

“I would have loved to try skiing,” she said wistfully.

Chance could only be grateful for small favors. “If we hadn’t caught one straight month of temps in the high fifties and sixties, we’d still be skiing. Or snow-boarding.”

“Do you even know how to snowboard?”

Both of them turned toward the voice. Though the boy who spoke wore the expression of someone grown and going on thirty; he was actually somewhere around fourteen. He slouched against the wall, scowling. The kid was Lucy’s latest charity case, and a boy determined to drive Chance mad with his bad attitude.

Honestly, Chance had no idea why everyone couldn’t just leave him the hell alone, but it never happened. For some reason, Brian always sought him out,
and now Lucy had shoved Ally at him as well. “This is Brian Hall,” he said to Ally. “He…works here. Ally is related to Lucy,” Chance told the kid meaningfully. “She’s taking her place for now. That makes her your boss.”

“And yours,” Brian pointed out.

Chance gritted his teeth. “Yeah.”

“What is it you do?” Ally asked Brian, her smile warm and genuine in a way Chance hadn’t yet seen from her. It so transformed her from simply average to beautiful, he found himself staring at her stupidly.

Brian just lifted a shoulder. “Stuff.”

“Ah. I see.” Ally looked amused, and again, Chance was struck by the change in her, by the genuine warmth and affection she showed Brian. Just looking at her, his chest went all tight, which he firmly attributed to hunger pangs.

“What kind of stuff exactly?” she asked Brian.

The kid kicked at the dirt in front of him. “I robbed a stupid store, got caught, got roughed up in juvie hall and then when they let me go, they said I started the fire here, so now I have to do even more stupid community service cleaning up the mountain.”

Ally’s smile faded. “You were roughed up?”

Now
both
Chance and Brian gaped at her. Was that all she’d heard? That he’d been roughed up? What about the stealing part? What about the fire part? Or the attitude screaming from him that said not only did he not care, but he intended to keep getting in trouble as long as it suited him?

“Were you hurt?” she asked, and got the famed
Brian shrug. He didn’t know, didn’t care, didn’t remember. Pick any of the above.

“Brian?” Her voice was gentle but firm, and she dipped her head a little to be able to see his face.

“Not that bad,” he admitted. A lie. He’d been beaten to within an inch of his life.

“It must have been awful.” She spoke with such sincerity that even Brian dropped half his sullenness. “I hope you never have to repeat such a horrifying experience.”