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