Hurricane Watch - DK2 (12 page)

She felt the muscles of her face move and knew she was smiling
back.

The blonde woman nestled her head back down and closed her eyes,
and she tilted her own head back to rest against a tree’s rough bark as
the sweet, cool wind lulled her into a dreamy, wonderful haze.

SHE JUST BARELY beat the dawn. Dar’s eyes fluttered open as the first gray outlines were beginning to be seen beyond the trees, her heart pumping as she tried to reconcile the strange surroundings.

Then memory flared and she let her head briefly drop back onto the pillow as she let her heartbeat slow, safe for at least a few minutes more
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in the darkness.

She then remembered her dream and her brows knit as she tried to figure out where in the hell she’d imagined a pregnant Kerry.
Could it
be a premonition?
Kerry hadn’t said anything like that had happened during her visit home, but Dar sucked in a breath, remembering finding her lover in the bathroom the day before, white as a sheet, and she wondered.
Surely Kerry would have told her if she’d been assaulted at home,
right?

Unless it wasn’t an assault, of course. Unless...
Dar mentally slapped herself. “Stop it,” she mouthed silently. Kerry had gone over every minute of her visit home from when she’d left Miami until she’d been rescued by Dar in that hospital and there hadn’t been time enough for her to get a bag of fries at Burger King much less anything else.

Besides, she’d had her period since then and she was regular as
clockwork.
Dar dismissed the thought and frowned again.
Just mental
housekeeping? Yeah.

And if it wasn’t? Well...
Dar put her chin down on her forearm and thought about that. She’d never wanted children. She knew herself to lack the patience she thought a parent needed, and that complication was something she had never considered adding to her life.

She still didn’t. Her eyes traveled over Kerry’s peaceful face. What did Kerry want, though? Did she want kids? Dar reached out and fingered a bit of her lover’s pale hair, trying to remember if they’d ever talked about it.

She didn’t think so, but what if she did? Dar bit the inside of her lip and wondered if she could adjust to the thought of a family if it turned out Kerry really wanted one. Could she?

She closed her eyes and remembered the look of utter love that had been in the eyes looking up at her, and she knew the answer. For that, she would accept anything. Everything. The sense of panic receded and she relaxed, speculating that her own subconscious had maybe just prodded her into a moment of self-awareness, one that brought a wry, wistful smile to her face.

The outline of the window was becoming clearer and, reluctantly, Dar eased out from under the covers, settling them back around Kerry’s sleeping body before she moved silently back to her own bed.

The mattress was simply laid on a metal base without any telltale springs and she managed to settle down on its marginally comfortable surface without waking anyone up.

It was cold. She rolled onto her stomach and wrapped her arms around the almost flat pillow, resting her chin on the surface and glowering at the rest of the cabin. She wondered what would happen if she went back to where she’d been and let them wake up and find them together.

If Eleanor hadn’t been there she would have. Mariana knew about them and she figured out that Mary Lou wouldn’t give a damn. She 62

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thought about doing it anyway. The constant need to deny their relationship grated on her.

Dar argued with herself for about five minutes, then sighed and decided she’d better get up and go do something before she caused havoc for both of them.

And Kerry had been worried about spilling the beans herself. Dar gave the growing dawn an evil look, then she sat up and grabbed her bag, pulling out a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt and trudging off to the bathroom.

It was a relatively nice morning, she decided. She exited the cabin and stood on the porch, breathing in air thick with the scent of trees around her and with a faint hint of hickory smoke. Fog was rolling across the grounds, rising from the lake and she could barely see the outline of the main hall or of the scattered cabins that peeked out from between the trees.

Dar stepped off the porch, her sneakers crunching gently over the fallen pine needles, and the tiny pine cones. She headed down towards the lake, taking deep breaths to wake her body up and spotted a small path that was well tended that apparently went around the water’s edge. She broke into a light jog as she reached it, then headed on down the path, enjoying the brisk morning air.

The sun was rising over the water and its rays filtered through the trees throwing pale salmon stripes across the path and her as she ran in silence.

She was about three quarters of the way around before she heard steps behind her and she cocked an ear, frowning as she didn’t recognize the sound of them. A glance back made her curse roundly and she took a breath, composing her temper before Steven Fabricini caught up to her. ”Morning.”

He fell into step next to her, running easily in his black and silver running suit. ”I’m surprised, Dar, didn’t think you kept this up.” He peered around in mock cheerfulness. ”I do marathons, so it’s part of every morning for me.”

Dar debated not answering, then she twitched her lips. ”Great way to start a morning,” she commented.

”Oh yeah,” He agreed. ”I do between five and eight miles a day, twice that on weekends. I placed top ten my last three races.”

Dar glanced at him. ”Congratulations.”

”Not your speed, huh?” Steven laughed. ”No, I can see you’ve lost that edge.”

A subtle, dangerous glint appeared in ice blue eyes. ”Bunch of guys running around New York in their underwear is not my idea of fun,”

she commented mildly.

”Oh, you’re wrong.” Steven shook his head in amusement. ”It’s the competition that I like, pitting yourself against a hundred or a thousand other people who all want what you want, and you beat them.” He eyed
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Dar. ”I like that,” he purred. ”I like leaving people in my dust, just like I’m going to leave you in my dust, Dar.”

”Think so?”

”I know so. You’ve made too many enemies,” Steven told her confidently. ”Even this trip. I thought this was a mistake, but now...”

He laughed. ”I’m going to enjoy watching your decline, Dar. I really am.” He surged ahead, lengthening his stride and pulling ahead of her.

”Time to think about retiring.” He yelled back, heading around a bend in the path and disappearing from view.

Dar continued on at a steady pace, smiling a little when she heard a muted scream. ”Watch out, Steven,” she commented to the empty air.

”Lake bends in there—must be a big mud wash.” A loud, outraged yell shook the air. ”The sticky, stinking kind.” She trotted around the bend and slowed to a halt, putting her hands on her hips and observing the black, odorous, thrashing form. ”Last step’s a bitch, Steven,” she remarked cheerfully, hopping up on a long, sturdy log which went over the muddy pit, balancing neatly as she crossed over his head and landed on the other side. ”Guess I don’t have to worry about your dust right now, huh?” She waved and broke into a jog again, contentedly increasing her pace and heading back towards the camp.

SHE WAS ON the back of a horse, the easy, rocking rhythm familiar
to her from childhood. So comforting was the motion that she was half
asleep, her head nodding against the tall back of the person in front of
her. Her arms circled a lean waist, loosely clasped against a surface that
had the feel of sun warmed leather, and she could feel the cool hardness
of metal under her cheek.

She was too sleepy to open her eyes, too sleepy to look around her.

All she wanted was for the hot sun to finally fall behind the mountains
she knew were at their back, and give her some relief from its relentless
force.

A warm pressure surrounded her fingers, and she cast a lazy half of
an eye up, to gaze at the long, dark hair that gently covered the dark
leather surface and the dully gleaming bronze of the metal she was
leaning against.

”Almost there.” The low, vibrant voice was as familiar to her as her
own and she gave the tall figure a gentle squeeze to let her know she’d
heard. She was aware of being hot, and tired, and hungry, but there was
a distinct sense of contentment, which warred against that and made her
wish the ride would never end.

Strange.

Kerry was chiefly aware of being cold. She opened one eye grumpily and confirmed that she was where she was afraid she was, stuck in this damned backwater camp full of snakes and spiders and 64

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who knew what else. She rolled over, then smiled a bit as she detected Dar’s scent on the sheets and pillow next to her.

Her dream drifted back into her consciousness and she reflected on its weird quality. She was sure that the person she’d been seated against had been Dar, but Dar in armor and leather?

Kerry's brow wrinkled and she smiled a little.
Was that how her
subconscious saw her tall lover? As some warrior?

Yeah, maybe. Or maybe it was her mind’s way of rationalizing the
reason she suffered all the discomforts of being Dar’s right hand was in
order to stay at the tall woman’s side. Woo, that was profound.
She almost had to giggle imagining herself telling Dar about it.

She could hear her voice, ”I was dressed in what?” Kerry smiled at the vision.

A glance to her right told her Dar was missing and as she viewed the dawn light, she figured she was out running.
Should she join her?

Kerry pondered the web covered ceilings and decided acting as though running with her boss every morning was normal wasn’t a smart idea.

Even if it had become normal, much to her surprise.

It beat

aerobics, too.

Mary Lou pushed herself up at that point and ruffled her short, ash blonde hair. ”Oh my god.” She peered around the cabin, then gazed at Kerry. ”This is a nightmare, right?”

Kerry sighed, sitting up cross legged on the bed and tucking the blanket around her. ”It sure feels like it, doesn’t it?” She rummaged up a smile. “I went to camp a few times in my younger years, but boy, it sure wasn’t like this.”

“Me too.” Mary Lou stifled a yawn. “Up in the mountains, everyone dressed alike and had a group sing at the end of it.”

“The camp show.” Kerry chuckled softly. “Boy, did they learn fast I can’t sing.”

“Would you both shut up!” Eleanor groaned, lifting her head from her pillow and peering at them in the dawn’s quiet. The Marketing VP’s hair looked like a curious ferret had been nesting in it and her eyes had blue and black rings around them from her smeared mascara.

She looked, Kerry realized, like a grumpy, blonde raccoon.

Mariana kept her eyes straight up, folding her hands on her stomach. ”All right, we’ve got one day here and then tomorrow we’ll be going home,” she paused, ”We’re all adults.” She paused again. ”We can do this.”

Mary Lou yawned. ”You’re right, Mari. I’m sure we’ll survive.

Look, we made it through the night, didn’t we?” She glanced over towards Kerry. ”Hey, where’s Dar?”

Everyone sat up to look. ”Maybe the spiders ate her,” Kerry remarked innocently.” Just kidding, I don’t know,” she added when all eyes turned to her in question.

“It’s not funny,” Eleanor told her. “This pointless exercise is
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supposed to make us more agreeable with each other. So far, it’s certainly not working.”

Kerry clasped her hands together. “I don’t know if that’s really true,” she said. “I think it’s supposed to let you see other aspects of people you work with so maybe you find something in common with them.”

Eleanor snorted. “Don’t hold your breath.”

Dar chose that moment to reenter the cabin, her dark hair damp with sweat. ”Morning,” she greeted them briskly as she headed over to where her bunk was. ”Our hostess has provided something resembling breakfast up at that main hall. They want to start things up at nine.”

Kerry checked her watch. Seven thirty. ”Okay. You said something resembling...what are we talking about here, peanut butter and jelly?”

”Yes.” Eleanor edged to a more dignified sitting posture. ”I usually have Mueslix.”

Dar sat down and started taking off her sneakers. ”Well, there’s coffee and hot water and a couple of baskets of bagels, and some boxes of individual cereal,” she paused, exhaling, ”and bananas.”

”Great.” Mariana sat up, then gazed at Dar. ”What on earth have you been doing?”

Dar gave her a look. ”Running,” she answered briefly. ”You all want to pick who takes a shower first?”

They all looked at the bathroom with its tiny, bare shower stall, then back at her in mute horror, except for Kerry. The blonde woman merely looked off out the window with lightly twitching lips.

”Fine.” Dar stood and stripped off her sweatshirt leaving her in her sports bra, then picked up the towel she’d rolled into her bag and her small kit of soaps. ”Be right back.” She padded barefoot to the bathroom and kicked the door shut.

”Rude,” Eleanor spat with a disgusted look.

”Efficient,” Mariana disagreed. ”She’s right. We’re going to feel awful if we don’t shower.”

”Practical.” Kerry nodded. ”That’s Dar.”

”Buff.” Mary Lou noted, approvingly. ”Very nice.”

They all looked at her in surprise.

”Hey, I call ‘em like I see ‘em,” The Personnel assistant stated, lifting her shoulders in a little shrug. They all got up and twitched their beds into some kind of order. Mariana and Mary Lou went to the window and peered out at the new day. ”Dear god, what is that?”

Mariana suddenly said, with a start.

They clustered behind her and peered out. ”Oh...my...gosh...” Mary Lou exhaled, ”it’s a bog monster.” The sun was behind the approaching apparition, which was moving towards them with stiff, unnatural motions, a solid black form with little white flecks here and there.