Hyper aware of her, he listened to her movements inside the cabin. He was able to look through the window, and saw her press a hand to her flushed cheek before she reached for the section of screening.
“Duct tape?” He laughed when she opened the window and slid the material through. She’d edged it with the all-purpose, fix-everything solution most favored by Alaskans living in the Bush. Pilots had been known to repair wings well enough to make it home using this stuff. Hundred-mile-an-hour tape they called it. The only thing missing was the blue tarp. Give an Alaskan a blue tarp and a roll of duct tape and they could fashion everything from a tent to an apron out of the materials.
“It’ll keep the edges from fraying and make it last a little longer. Hopefully longer than one winter.”
“Brilliant. One more use for the books.” He smiled wide to let her know he approved. Holding the screen in place he attached the first staple with a truly satisfying snap. “Is it straight?”
She nodded and he set another staple.
“I might get my name in the Book of Sourdoughs yet, eh?”
Her sarcastic bite made him laugh. “How long have you lived up here?”
“You tell me first.” The challenge came back at him without hesitation. “I want to know who I’m talking to.”
“Oh, well, I guess you could just say I’m Alaskan through and through.”
“Native?” An arched brow rose nearly to her hairline. “Forgive me for saying so, but you don’t look…”
“Eskimo? Indian? Ah well, must be the Russian, Swede and Irish getting in the way. And yet, there is that tiny bit of blood, one-sixteenth to be exact, which holds me to the land.”
“There’s a family story there I’m dying to hear.”
“Oh, now that would take hours, days, weeks, nay years to tell.” He tacked the last staple in place. “What do you think? Tight enough to protect your fair hide?”
He watched her face as she tested the screen from inside. “Should catch all but the most determined ones. You know, the ones that can squeeze through a hole half that size.”
Most people didn’t believe it, but Creed had sat once and watched a hungry mosquito do exactly that. Voracious buggers when sweet blood was around. Even now they began to swarm on the screen. By morning it would be black with the greedy little things. Just like her back had been at the river this afternoon.
“So, which flavor of native are you?” Her question drew his attention back.
“Aleut.” Ah, that surprised her. Cute the way she raised her brow. “All right, I’ll give you my lineage, but you have to tell me your story too.”
“Fair enough I suppose.”
Decidedly reluctant to part with her past. What little secret did she hide? Everyone had secrets. Some were just more interesting than others.
“I want to clean up first.” She moved away from the window.
“I’ll get the gear outside. Is the back of your truck open?”
“Yes. You’ll need the keys to lock it up again.” She paused and turned to look at him through the window, her lips curled up on one side in her quirky half smile. “Thanks.”
Would she thank him after a long night of loving? Just turning that smoldering gaze on him was almost thanks enough. Ms. Linnet Greenbriar was going to make a most interesting companion for the next several days. A small part of Creed was very glad good old George had broken his leg. He’d have to thank his cousin later.
Chapter 3
“What about the generator? Are you done with it?”
Damn that voice of his. She didn’t want the thrills coursing through her body at the sound of it. Didn’t need him interrupting her peaceful existence just when she was relaxing and no longer dreading each boat floating down the river.
Creed stood on the other side of the screened window, his head barely clearing the rafters of the eaves, peering into the cabin.
“Let me check.” She turned toward the box in the corner and checked the dials then looked at her laptop on the table. “I need it to run maybe another thirty minutes. My batteries aren’t quite fully charged.”
Creed’s snort made her look up at him with a frown.
“Can’t leave civilization behind for a few weeks?”
Before she could stop herself, she straightened and with fists on hips snapped out her response. “Unlike you, I’m out here to do a job. I need the laptop for my work. It’s more efficient to just type everything in from the get-go.”
He threw up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to get your dander up again.”
Linnet forced herself to release her tension with a huge exhale. Blow it out. She was out here to get some perspective on life while doing routine data gathering. Mustn’t take offense at every hint of criticism. You’re too touchy. Just relax and go with the flow. You know your job, now learn the people skills to go along with it. Re-learn.
Reminding herself of the words her supervisor had spouted didn’t help a whole lot, but it did help her back down. “Would you like a cup of cocoa or tea while waiting for the generator to finish?”
That put the wide friendly grin back on his face. “I’d love some. Cocoa that is.”
“Bring your mug. I’ll heat the water.”
Creed ducked to move from under the low eves and she sighed. The man was simply overwhelming.
As a wildlife biologist, she worked primarily with men, when she worked with people at all. During the summer, she spent most of her time outdoors and had worked toward positions just like this one. Frank Newbauer, her boss, had made it crystal clear, this was a test. If she did well here, she’d be given more remote assignments.
As far as she was concerned, her entire career depended on doing this right. Failure meant office work and small jobs in town. Either desk work or public relations. Neither appealed to her.
Through the screen door she heard Creed and Manley approaching. She lit the burner on the stove and felt a glow of satisfaction as she set the kettle over the flame. Lighting the stove in the closed-up cabin had made her nervous. Now she had plenty of air flow to do it safely.
“Wow.” The quiet word from Creed made her glance his way.
She saw a look of awe on his face as he looked around.
“George gave you permission to make all these changes?”
She shrugged. “After my first week up here I drove back to Fairbanks, told him what I wanted to do and he said he was cool with it.” In fact he’d had sort of a confused expression on his face as if he’d only just realized the cabin needed some work. “Didn’t think the owner would mind. Do you know who owns this piece of land anyway?”
Creed gave her an odd look, as if considering his words. The moment passed and then he shrugged. “I do. I mean, I own it.”
Mouth open, anything she might have to say froze in her throat. Linnet stared at him and felt all heat leave her body.
In the space of one heartbeat Creed held her in his arms. “You okay? You went pale rather fast there.”
“Oh.” Didn’t she know any other words? Shit. First she barred him from his own cabin and then she got caught making changes. No matter how needed repairs were, to touch a cabin was a huge no-no on the Federal- and State-owned public-use cabins, even more so in privately-owned cabins. As thanks for staying there, she’d hoped to do it quietly and anonymously, but no, she’d had