Darling Jenny (5 page)

He studied her face, the anxious, almost fearful expression in her eyes. He shook his head in puzzlement.

'I don't know what we can do,' he said, flashing a swift glance behind him at the man sitting on the bed.

'I can't possibly sleep in the same bed with you!' Nothing masked her horror mixed with embarrassment. She stared at the stark whiteness of the sweater covering his chest.

'Don't get hysterical about it,
'
Logan said, calmly and softly. 'Let's look at this sensibly. We're both fully clothed and there's nothing that says we can't go to bed in what we've got on. Not only that, I can sleep on the side here by the fire and just use the one cover. You can sleep on the other side under both covers.'

Jennifer hugged her arms about her. It was logical. It wasn't as if they had any real choice.

'He's an old man, Jenny,' Logan continued, 'and it's not as if I were going to try to rape you. After all, there's a witness,' he finished with an accusing gleam of mischief in his eyes.

She studied his face intently. Except for the dimple in his cheek, he seemed sincere enough. The whole question was could she trust him, believing with certainty, as she did, that when he had previously shared his bed with a woman, had it not been for sleep?

'Okay,' she gave in grimly. 'But stop calling me Jenny. And so help me, if you…'

'Don't worry,' he grinned, holding up his hand in a mock promise. 'I swear I won't lay a hand on you.'

'You'd better not or I'll scream so loud there'll be an avalanche,' Jennifer said firmly.

'Go on. You're exhausted. You might as well crawl under the covers and get some rest.' Logan pushed her lightly towards the quilts. 'I'm going to have a cigarette and relax.'

Jennifer didn't argue with that. Although as she slipped under the covers, she glanced at him distrustfully. Then she noticed the bright red pillow at her head. Quickly she reached and exchanged it for the one closer to the fireplace.

'Good night, Jenny Glenn' Logan laughed, amused by her defiant gesture.

'Good night,' Jennifer replied in a hard, decisive voice.

She turned away from the fire to the darkness of the cabin. The silence of the room touched her until the night sounds took over, the slow stirrings of their host in his cot, the slight creaking of the rocker where Logan sat, and the crackling and popping of the fire. The loudest of all was the howling of thc wind outside as it shook and rattled at the door until Jennifer felt like one of the little pigs with thc wolf outside huffing and puffing to blow the house in.

As tired as she was, sleep escaped her. The hardness of the floor under the heavy quilt pushed at her bones while the pillow felt like a lumpy rock under her head. She felt as if she was waiting for something to happen, for Logan to crawl under the covers with her. Her muscles tensed as she heard him rise from his chair. She listened to the ominous clunk of his boots hitting the floor. Then there was the muffled sound of his stocking feet as he walked towards her. She closed her eyes quickly. He was lifting the top cover and…that was all! Just the top cover as he had promised!

She listened to his even breathing while hers was held in apprehensively. But he just laid there on his back.

'Go to sleep, Jenny,' he whispered softly. 'Everything's going to be all right.'

As if on command her muscles relaxed and she drifted off to sleep, feeling strangely safe and secure.

'You certainly are bright-eyed this morning,' Logan chided, studying her rapt face with interest.

'I can't believe how beautiful it is out here,' Jennifer murmured, gazing around her at the white wonderland of snow-covered trees and buildings. 'I don't even feel the cold. It's as if it were powder instead of snow.'

'There's no wind to bite into you,' he said as he stacked a pile of firewood on his arm.

'What does that song call it?' she mused. 'Oh, yes, a marshmallow world. Just look at the trees! They've got sugar sprinkled on top of them, and the pine trees up the hill with those big white gumdrops weighting down their limbs!' There was no masking the delight in her face or voice. 'Logan! Look at the snowdrift by the shed!' she exclaimed with a joyous laugh.

'I was beginning to think you didn't remember my name,' he said provocatively, walking over to stand by her side as she pointed out her latest find.

She glanced up at him briefly, glad that her cheeks were already flushed by the nippy morning air and wouldn't reveal the warmth caused by the glow in his eyes.

'See how it swirls around the corner, like whipped frosting on a cake,' she said quickly.

Logan smiled affectionately as his eyes travelled over her face framed by the pale beige hood of her coat. 'You either have a very sweet tooth or you didn't eat your breakfast this morning.'

'Who wants oatmeal?' Jennifer grinned impishly. 'A big dish of fresh snow with milk and sugar sounds much better!'

'So it's snow you're wanting,' said Logan, setting the logs on the ground with a devilish gleam in his eye.

'Logan Taylor, don't you dare!' she squealed as she watched him pick up a clump of snow and pat it in his hand.

She turned just as he threw it and it splattered on her back. Quickly he started pelting her with snowballs while Jennifer fought desperately to retaliate. In seconds she was laughing and stumbling towards the cabin. A well-aimed white projectile hit her in the leg, and she fell headlong into a towering snowbank. With Logan's assistance she rolled breathlessly over on to her back, giggling happily as she tried to sputter the snow out of her mouth while be laughingly brushed the snow off her face. Her hood had fallen back and the red-gold of her hair was accented by the whiteness of her headrest. The corners of his eyes were crinkled into deep lines, his dimples were deep clefts, as he rested poised above her prone body.

Suddenly the suggestiveness of her position struck Jennifer and her smile slowly sobered at the same instant his did.

'No,' she whispered as she began to struggle to get to her feet, but he quickly pinned her arms to her side.

'You've been expecting something like this ever since you met me,' he said quietly with a gleam in his eyes that Jennifer had never seen before. 'I certainly wouldn't want to disappoint you.'

Then his lips covered hers, persuasively and yet demanding a response that she wasn't willing to give. She fought the acclamation of her senses to answer the rising, hungry warmth in her body, to yield to the erratic beat of her heart. She didn't want to enjoy the possessive tenderness of his kiss. He was like Brad; she should be revolted by his embrace. But resistance only increased her desire to return the warmth and fire he was bestowing on her. In horror, she realized her lips were moving, responding to the exquisite pressure of his. Instinct had taken over while the war of logic and experience had battled in her mind.

Swiftly she turned her face away, tugging and pulling her arms free.

'He hurt you badly.' Logan studied her grimly as she moved farther away from him, scooting in the snow.

'What are you talking about?' Jennifer asked in a hoarse whisper.

'The man you left behind you.'

'No,' Jennifer answered firmly, anger flashing in her eyes. 'He didn't hurt me—my stupidity and ignorance did. I didn't recognize a wolf when he was standing in front of me. I was too blinded by charm and good looks.'

'And now?'

'And now I can see through any disguise. I just hope my sister can,' she answered sarcastically.

He stepped towards her threateningly, then halted when a jingling noise pierced the winter air. Logan turned his head away from her, exhaling slowly, before turning back to study her defiant expression.

'That'll be Carmichael. He's hitched up his horse to pull the jeep out of the snow,' he told her. 'You'd better get your things together in the cabin.' As Jennifer started to walk away, he added, 'Don't expect an apology. You enjoyed that kiss as much as I did, and if you weren't a hypocrite you'd admit it.'

She stared at him, tears stinging her eyes. Why had she let him know she was attracted by him? Why had she put such a weapon in his hands?

'Men like you always arouse the baser instincts!' Jennifer shouted in a trembling voice. 'Including self-preservation!'

Quickly she raced towards the cabin, not prepared to engage in a further battle of wits with Logan Taylor. She had salvaged a piece of her pride, and she was content with that.

After the jeep was finally freed from its snowbound bed, the short distance into Jackson, Wyoming was covered in less than twenty minutes. Patches of sunlight filtered through the thick billowy clouds to allow Jennifer to see the breathtaking mountains with black dots of trees
covering their slopes. As the highway made its last curve through the mountains into the peaceful small town, she turned towards Logan, her thoughts full of questions she longed to ask even as she dreaded to break the silence.

'The town got its name from an early trapper named Jackson,' Logan informed her perceptively. 'In those early days, all valleys surrounded by mountains were called "holes" by the mountain men. Since Davey Jackson preferred trapping here over any other place, his partner referred to it as "Jackson's Hole". Gradually the "s" was dropped to make it just plain Jackson Hole.'

'What about the mountains, the Grand Tetons?' Jennifer asked, too interested in finding out more information to worry about the source. 'Did they get their names from the Indians?'

'No, as a matter of fact,' Logan replied, as he maneuvered the jeep off the main street on to one of the side streets, 'the three highest peaks in the range were named by some French-speaking fur trappers as Les Trois Tetons, or the Three Breasts, with the largest being Le Grand Teton.'

'Oh,' Jennifer's reply was an embarrassed murmur.

'I'll take you to Sheila's house. She's probably down at the Lodge, but at least we can drop your suitcases off.' They turned a corner and slowed down in front of a picturesque pine log house. 'There's her car,' Logan went on, nodding towards a small blue car parked directly in front of them. 'Looks like you're in luck.'

A huge St. Bernard dog came bounding around the comer of the house, barking ferociously while his tail wagged frantically.

'That's the first member of your welcoming committee,' Logan smiled as he opened his door and stepped out. His smile to her had been so disturbingly male that Jennifer had remained temporarily motionless even after it had been turned away from her. She knew with sudden clarity that this would not be the last time that his stunning virility would bring a weakness to her bones. At last, his 'Down, Rags, down!' brought her hand to the door latch, and she walked around the jeep to join him.

From the same side of the house that had produced the dog now ecstatically licking Logan's face, came two more racing bundles, one in red and another in blue.

'Uncle Logan, Uncle Logan!' the blue one cried. He was larger and faster than the red one who just reached them as the blue one flung himself into Logan's arms. 'We been so worried!'
 

Jennifer watched with a mixture of disbelief and wonder at the exuberant welcome, as Logan scooped the red bundle up in his other arm, gazing laughingly into the cherry red cheeks of both children.

'Mommy thaid you would come latht night,' the red one announced. The lisp immediately brought a smile to Jennifer as she recognized the face under the hood. It was Cindy.

'Your Aunt Jenny and I got stuck in a snowdrift,' Logan explained, glancing over at Jennifer with a twinkling gleam in his brown eyes. 'We had to wait until this morning before we could be pulled out. Now, where's your mother?'

'She's in the house,' said Eric as Logan set the two of them on to the ground. 'Did you stay in the snowdrift all night?'

'No, we stayed at a house nearby,' Logan answered patiently, rubbing the red hood of the other affectionately. 'You'd better say hello to your aunt before she decides you're not even glad to see her.'

Dutifully the colourful pair turned to Jennifer and murmured their greeting. Well, she certainly couldn't expect much more, Jennifer thought. The children had only seen her a few times since Sheila had moved here. How were they to remember the hours she had held them as babies when her sister had stayed with their folks while Eric was overseas? She watched wistfully as they raced to the house, followed by the ungainly St. Bernard. She felt Logan's gaze dwelling on her and turned.

'A little surprised by my welcome?' he mocked.

'Why should I be?' Jennifer shrugged lightly.

'They say dogs and children are instinctively right about people.'

A stinging retort rose to Jennifer's lips, but was held back as her sister came running from the house. Logan was amused at the stifling of her anger as she turned to exchange a hugging greeting with Sheila. She was grateful that Sheila took hold of the conversation, asking questions too fast to allow more than a 'yes' or 'no' answer. She had time to cool down and ignore the very nearly smirking expression on his face. Quickly they were all ushered into the house, and the suitcases were dumped unceremoniously in the centre of the tiny living room.

'There's coffee and sweet rolls in the kitchen,' Sheila announced. 'I'm sure you could do with a coffee break before lunch.'