A Summer in Paradise (9 page)

Duncan ran flat out for
about ten minutes before he reached a hunting trail and realized
he’d lost her scent. He stopped.
I lost
her.
He sniffed around and scented an
automobile. Snarling with rage, he turned in the direction of the
exhaust fumes.

Whoever had her would die if
they had harmed a single eyelash. His stomach twisted into a knot
at the thought that she could be kidnapped by the
Tudra
or some other sick,
bastard, holdout from the Paradise of the past.

Chapter Fifteen

Pearl quietly headed into the woods
when she left the cabin. She needed a little time alone to think,
then she would hike into town and find Gemma.

She checked her watch with a grimace.
It would be full on light in less than an hour and the guys would
be awake soon after that, if one of them didn’t wake up because
they needed to use the bathroom.

While the cabins didn’t have electric
lights, they did have a generator that could be used to operate the
well for the kitchen and the tiny bathroom that consisted of a
toilet and a small sink. It didn’t even have a shower, which was
why she’d bathed in the river the day before.

She wanted to bath again this morning,
but settled for washing up in the tiny bathroom before she left.
She didn’t want to take the time to make her way to the lake,
besides, the boar attack left a bad taste in her mouth for swimming
alone.

About two hours had passed when she
heard the sound of a small motorcycle riding the trail. It was
moving too fast to hide. When the rider stopped and took off his
helmet, Pearl nearly sighed with relief. She knew the perils of a
woman walking in the woods alone, and she hadn’t really wanted to
test out her self-defense skills right now.

“
Hi!” The rider, a muscular
boy between the ages of sixteen and nineteen grinned at her. “It’s
gonna be a hot day for a hike.” He hung his helmet on the
handlebars and rested his hands on his thighs. “You going up or
down?”

“
Down.” Pearl smiled. “I’m
Pearl.” She approached the bike and held out her hand. “Are you
going into town?”

It would be great if he was and would
give her a ride. It would give her a hell of a head start on the
guys. There was no doubt in Pearl’s mind that when Duncan and
Jarrod found her gone, they would track her on foot. Their noses
wouldn’t do them a damned bit of good in a car or truck.

The boy moved forward on his seat.
“Wanna ride back to town?” He patted the little bit of seat between
him and the sissy bar. “There’s plenty of room. I give my
girlfriend a ride all the time.” He smiled again. Somehow Pearl
knew she knew him from somewhere.

“
You look familiar.” He
tilted his head and frowned. “Do I know you?”

“
No.” Pearl shook her head.
“But I’m sure you know my sister, Gemma, if you live in town.” She
knew he spoke of Paradise. It was the only town within an hour’s
ride from here.

“
You’re Gemma’s sister?” He
grinned at her as though he knew something she didn’t, then held
out his hand. “It’s good to see you again.” He grasped her hand,
shook it a couple of times then released it. “You must be Pearl. I
remember Crystal was just a little thing when you left. I don’t
think she was much older than me.”

Pearl stared at him, drawing her brows
together as she tried to pull a name from the recesses of her mind.
He looked familiar, but she couldn’t place him. It was difficult to
tell his age. If he was a shifter, and he most likely was, he could
be in his twenties and still look like a teenager. That thought had
her stepping back. Why hadn’t she remembered that
before?

“
Aww, you don’t have to be
afraid of me, Pearlie.” He used his feet to push his motorcycle
back while he sat on the seat. “I’d never hurt you.”

“
Oh, my God.” Pearl looked
at the young man before her and tried not to let her mouth fall
open with shock. “Only one person ever called me Pearlie.” How
could he know that unless…“Davie Gibson?”

She looked at him again. It
was hard to believe this…
man
in front of her was the boy she used to babysit on
occasion when she was younger. She stared at his broad chest and
muscular thighs beneath the black leather pants he wore and pitied
the young girls of Paradise.

None of them had a chance of escaping
this one’s charms if he decided to turn up the wattage of one of
his smiles. With that black hair and sky blue eyes of his, girls
were probably throwing themselves at him.

“
Yep,” he said with a
chuckle. “In the flesh. Only most people call me Dave,
now.”

“
I’m sure they do.
“Sorry…Dave.”

“
Hey, I don’t mind it when
you call me Davie.” He winked, then looked around them with a
frown. “Don’t you have a car or something up here?”

“
No. I left my bike in town
and hitched a ride out here. I wanted to see my sister and spend a
little time living off the land like we used to when we were
kids.”

“
I remember that.” He
thinned his lips. “We thought it was a game, only our parents never
told us it wasn’t.” He patted the seat again. “Now that you know
you know me, how about hopping on and I’ll give you a ride to the
Lodge? I don’t bite.” He grinned. “Well, I don’t bite old
babysitters I used to have crushes on.”

With a smile, Pearl swung her leg over
the seat and settled behind him. It would be good to make it to
town and not have to worry about the guys catching up to her before
she did. No matter how fast they ran as cats, they wouldn’t be able
to keep up with a motorcycle.

David handed her his helmet and she put
it on. As a shifter, he could heal from a head injury that would
kill her. “Thanks.”

“
You’re welcome.” He revved
the engine a bit, put the bike in gear and suddenly they were
rushing down the mountain.

Pearl was tempted to tell
him he didn’t have to hurry, that she wasn’t late for anything,
then thought perhaps he was. He
had
stopped to talk to her, after all.

“
So,” she yelled over the
sound of the engine as they sped down the mountain. “You had a
crush on me, huh?”

“
Yeah.” He shook his head.
“I had it bad. I didn’t eat for a while after you disappeared. I
was sure one of Camulus’s men had killed you until Gemma told me
you and Crystal escaped.”

With a sigh, Pearl rested her cheek
against his back. “I’m sorry, Davie. I mean Dave. I didn’t
know.”

“
Why would you? I was eight.
Boys aren’t even supposed to get crushes at eight years old, are
they?”

“
I don’t know.” Pearl tried
not to wrap her arms around him to hold on. Heck, what if he still
had a crush on her? “I only know that you were always a good boy
for me when others said you were a hellion.”

“
Yeah.” He downshifted to
make a curve then powered up again. “I liked you.” He chuckled when
she leaned back. “Don’t worry. I’m over it. I know each of us has
some sort of predestined mate and now that I’m older, I’ll react
when I meet her.” He paused. “As much as I hoped it was you when I
was younger, I know now that you aren’t my mate. I still have a
soft spot for you though.”

Slowly, David brought the bike to a
halt and twisted in the seat. “I want you to know that if you ever
need my help for anything, I’ll be there for you.”

“
Davie, I—” As much as she
appreciated the offer, he was still younger than she was and she
didn’t think she could allow him to stand between her and trouble,
even if he was a shifter.

“
Don’t worry about it. I
just wanted to let you know that.” He chuckled. “I think a part of
me still loves you, but I love you like a big sister now, not a
girlfriend.”

Good grief. That was a relief! Pearl
didn’t know what she would have done had he told her anything
else.

“
Thank you, Davie. I’m
flattered.” Heck, she was almost old enough to be his mother. Five
or six more years and she would have been just old enough. She
didn’t know what she would think if he had told her that she
was
his
mate as
well.

“
Here we are.” Davie said as
he pulled into the parking lot of the Paradise Inn. The sign out
front was new, but it looked old. It was as though her sister and
her mates had gone for a retro look when they remodeled.

Davie brought the bike to a stop just
outside the door. Pearl stood, swung her leg around and dismounted
the bike.

“
Hey, you do that like
you’re used to it.”

“
I told you I left my bike
in storage, didn’t I? Did you think I was talking about a ten
speed?”

“
No you just said you’d left
it in town.” He narrowed his eyes as she pulled her pack up on her
back.

“
Yeah, well, the town was
Jackson.” She glanced away from him, unable to ignore his
glare.

“
You hoofed it all the way
here from Jackson? Do you have any idea how dangerous that
is?”

“
Not as dangerous as
hitch-hiking and I did that too.” What was it with this town and
its men thinking they could just boss around any woman they
pleased?

David shook his head. “I
thought you were smarter than that.
I
won’t even hitch-hike.”

Maybe he wouldn’t, but he wasn’t
desperate like she had been, either. Pearl gave him the brightest
smile she could manage. “Thanks for the ride, Davie!” Leaning
forward she kissed him on the cheek. “For the record, you were my
favorite too.”

David blushed and bowed his head. “You
didn’t have to say that.”

“
Yes, Davie, I did.”
Straightening, Pearl turned and looked up at the hotel and sighed.
“I guess I’d better get in there, huh?”

David revved the motorcycle then patted
her on the shoulder. “It’ll be okay. Gemma misses you. Just go on
in and say hi.” He pushed off, gunned the engine and the next thing
she knew she was alone.

“
Well, Pearl, you’d better
get used to it. You’re going to be alone for a long, long time
after this.”

Chapter Sixteen

With no little sense of trepidation,
Pearl climbed the steps of the front porch and entered the lobby.
Her eyes widened at the changes. The great room was larger, at
least it looked larger.

The fireplace still sat in the middle
of the room with chair situated around all four sides. One side of
the room still had paneling eight feet up the walls, with two feet
of drywall before it reached the cathedral ceiling.

She wondered if Gemma still put the
Christmas tree there like the previous owners. She gave a shrug. It
didn’t matter one way or another. It wasn’t as though she would be
around to see it.

A woman stood behind the counter. She
had her long dark hair pulled back in a ponytail and an apron
wrapped around her waist made large by a very obvious pregnancy. A
man walked up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist. He
kissed the side of her neck, his big hands splayed over her bulging
middle. She looked up at him and smiled.

Tears filled Pearls eyes at the sight
of her sister looking so happy. It didn’t matter that such a
relationship wasn’t in the cards for her. All that mattered was
that her sisters had a good life.

Pearl stood and watched the couple for
a minute until Gemma looked her way and blushed. “I’m sorry. Can I
help you?”

Tilting her head, her brows drew
together as she stared at Pearl. “I know you.” She bit her lip. “I
know you, don’t I?”

“
Yes, Gemma. You should know
me well.” Pearl’s throat almost closed on the words as she made her
way to her sister. Unsure of her welcome, she moved slowly. What if
Gemma didn’t want to see her? What if she resented the fact that
Pearl and Crystal left and she stayed here? It had been her choice,
but heartbreak wasn’t always sensible.

Gemma stared at her for another minute
before she covered her mouth with her hands. “Pearl? Is that you?
Is it really you?”

Pearl couldn’t have been more surprised
when Gemma dropped the dust cloth she’d been holding, ran to her
and drew her into her arms.

Tears ran down Pearls face at her
sister’s welcome. She’d hoped Gemma wasn’t mad at her. She hadn’t
sounded that way in her letters, but that didn’t mean a thing. Lots
of people sent correspondence that said one thing when they felt
another.

Still, it was good to be back home in
Paradise and standing, once again, in her sister’s loving
embrace.

“
God, I’ve missed you. Where
have you been? Is Crystal okay? Tell me she’s in college. If not,”
she paused to look at the man who had kissed her and another who
joined him as she talked. “We’ll send her.” She blushed. “That is,
if you two don’t mind.”

Gemma turned back to Pearl.
“It
is
their money.
It’s not like I should make promises with it.”

“
You know very well that
what’s ours is yours, mate.” The taller of the two stepped forward
and held out his hand. “It’s nice to see you again, Pearl.” He
turned to the other man. “You remember us, don’t you?”