The ranger checked his watch. “The shuttle will be by in another forty minutes. Because you got rained out, you can apply your campsite fee to a lodge room rent for the night. I can go ahead and do that for you now, if you want, on this computer.”
“Can we, Mom?” Chris asked eagerly.
Janey seemed to be torn between wanting to just go home, and wanting to keep her promise of a weekend getaway to her son.
“When the weather turns bad like this, the lodge fills up fast,” the ranger warned.
Janey glanced at her son. It was clear that Christopher wanted to stay. She turned back to the ranger. “Sure,” she said, although Thad noted her cheerful smile seemed forced. “We appreciate it.”
“Happy to help.” The ranger typed in several commands. He tore off a slip and handed it to Janey. “Just give that to the front desk when you check in.”
“I can give you a ride,” Thad said casually.
Janey looked stunned by his chivalry. “To my minivan?”
“Or the lodge first. Wherever you want.” He didn’t know why it mattered to him. He wasn’t the kind of guy to assume anyone else’s personal troubles, especially those involving someone else’s child. But he couldn’t just walk away and leave Janey and her son sitting there, like two drenched rats, when a lodge room with a warm shower and hopefully dry clothes was a mere ten-to-fifteen-minute car ride away.
“That settles it then,” the ranger said as the phone behind his desk rang.
Thad opened the door. Janey hesitated for only a moment, then swept through.
JANEY COULDN’T BELIEVE she had run into him now, of all times, when she was looking like a wet dishrag! Not that it was an accident. Clearly, he had come here looking for her and Chris. At the behest of her brothers again? Probably. She didn’t know why but that rankled more than if he had just come searching her out on his own.
Not that she was the least bit interested in him. Ruggedly attractive or not, he was the kind of man she needed to steer clear of.
“Sorry your camping trip was cut short,” Thad remarked as he hit the keyless entry pad and unlocked the door to his big Lincoln Navigator.
“We don’t mind. Do we, Mom?” Chris gave Thad yet another adoring glance as he headed for the right rear passenger door and jumped in.
Janey was about to follow him when Thad stepped ahead and opened the front passenger door for her.
“Let me take that for you.” He relieved her of her heavy backpack and the additional nylon food bag and camp stove.
Janey slid in, while Thad stowed her gear in the cargo area, behind the seats. Leave it to her to get stuck with a man who was so well-liked and respected within the community she would be hard pressed to find fault with him.
“This is so awesome!” Chris said as Thad slid behind the wheel. Unlike Janey, Thad was barely wet, and looked handsome and pulled together in khaki slacks, dark blue knit sport shirt and lightweight windbreaker. Just like before, he smelled like a mixture of masculine soap and shampoo and fresh-cut Carolina pines. Another shimmer of awareness sifted through her.
“’Cause I’ve been wanting to talk to you, Coach,” Chris continued exuberantly, leaning forward in his seat. “You probably don’t know this but I wrote you a letter about going to your camp, seeing if I could get some sort of scholarship or work to help me pay for it—”
Thad looked at Janey, as well aware as she that thanks to her insistence on cutting their meeting short, nothing had been decided yet.
“Actually,” Thad told her son, as guilt flowed through Janey anew and he turned around to face Chris, “that’s why I was looking for you and your mom today. I did receive your letter. And I knew it was something that should be discussed.”
Chris’s face lit up like the sky on the Fourth of July. “Did you hear that, Mom? He’s gonna let me go to camp, even if we can’t pay for it all up front. Isn’t that great?”
Janey knew nothing of the kind had been promised. Just as she knew she hadn’t seen her son looking so excited about anything since…well, since never. He had been through so much. Losing his father. Moving cross-country. If playing hockey helped him get past the last of his grief, and feel real joy again, who was she to deny him? “Actually…” Janey took a deep breath. “You don’t need a scholarship, Chris. I’ve taken care of that.” Or I will soon, she amended silently. “And you can go to summer hockey camp next week on two conditions. First, you get permisson from your summer school teacher and are able to get an excused absence from your math class. And second, that you do all the makeup work!”
“No problem,” Chris enthused, making the victory sign with his fist. “I’ll talk to her Monday, first thing.”
“Camp starts one week from tomorrow, and runs through the following Friday afternoon,” Thad said.
Chris beamed, looking like every wish he had ever dreamed had just come true. “This is the best summer ever!”
Janey only wished.
“I’M TRYING TO AVOID being recognized again. What’s your excuse?”
Actually, Janey had been trying to avoid running into Thad Lantz for fear of hearing him say “I told you so” or something similar. Not easy in an establishment the size of the Lake Pine Lodge, where there was only one restaurant and lounge.
“What can I say? I can’t get enough of the rain,” Janey fibbed, as she leaned back against the side of the building that fronted the terrace, watching the rain pour off the overhang in sheets. There was just enough room for the two of them to stand there, side by side, without being seen or getting wet.
“Now why aren’t I buying that?” Thad murmured, moving closer yet.
Because it’s not true, Janey thought, taking a sip of scalding coffee, laced with both brandy and cream. She tried desperately to ignore his tall, broad-shouldered silhouette and warm herself up. Since coming in off the trail, she had taken a long hot shower and dressed in the warmest clothes she had with her—a long-sleeved yellow T-shirt and pair of olive green hiking shorts, knee socks, and her now cleaned-up boots. She had used the hotel blow-dryer to dry her chestnut hair, but because of the nature of the trip she’d had no styling products to put in it, and the continuing humidity had it curling wildly and uncontrollably to her shoulders.
Not that Thad Lantz seemed to mind. The ruggedly handsome coach was staring down at her as if she were the loveliest creature on earth.
Janey did her best to contain another shiver as she took a second sip of coffee and tried not to think about how deep down she had been secretly hoping she’d be forced to talk to Thad again this evening, despite everything.
She tilted her head at him, noticing how masculine and at ease he looked in the glow of the terrace lanterns. He was wearing the same clothes he’d had on earlier—minus the windbreaker, of course—but it looked as if he had shaved again. Ran a brush through his own naturally curly hair, and somehow tidied—or trimmed—his dark mustache. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was on the prowl for some romance himself. But men on the prowl for romance didn’t hide on the outside terrace in the rain on a dark and stormy July evening.
Wondering if his hair would feel as silky and thick as it looked beneath her fingertips, she turned her glance away and concentrated on her coffee. She wished he would quit contemplating her as if he wanted to kiss her. Wished she would quit wanting him to. Just to satisfy her considerable feminine curiosity, of course, since she had never been kissed by a man with a mustache.
“Don’t you have something better to do?” she asked wryly.
He shrugged and his smile widened as he spoke in a low, sexy voice that did funny things to her insides. “Don’t