A Touch of Silk (17 page)

“What are you doing here?” she asked, at the same moment he said, “Where are you going?”

“I’m moving to Manhattan,” he answered at the same moment she announced, “I’m moving to Bear Creek.”

“What?” they cried in unison.

“Last boarding call for flight 1121 to Anchorage,” intoned a voice over the loudspeaker.

Kay looked over her shoulder at the gate.

“You’re not going now!” he exclaimed.

“No.” She shook her head ruefully. “But everything I own is on its way to Alaska.”

“And Meggie’s staying in my cabin. Jesse’s left her for an eighteen-year-old, and she’s devastated. She’s taken a leave of absence from her job, and she needed a place of her own to think things through.”

“Oh,” Kay said, genuinely sorry to hear about Meggie’s trouble. “I feel so bad for her.” As soon as she could, she’d give Meggie a call.

“It’s been a long time coming.” Quinn shook his head. “Jesse and Meggie were always too much alike to make a good couple.”

“That’s such a shame. Hadn’t they been married a long time?”

“Six years. But let’s not talk about Meggie’s problems right now.” He put his hand to Kay’s back and ushered her toward a row of chairs. “What happened to make you decide to move to Alaska?”

They sat down. His hand curled over hers. He couldn’t seem to let go of her. It was as if he feared that without his hands on her body, she’d disappear.

She told him then about everything that had happened. Her realization that her family were snobs and would never change. How she’d confronted them about their attitudes and behaviors toward those less fortunate. How her parents had withdrawn from her after she’d expressed herself. She told him about being offered the head-writer position and not wanting it. About getting mugged. About reading Cammie Jo Lockhart’s winning contest entry. And about hearing him dedicate those songs to her on the radio.

“I got the distinct impression the universe was trying to tell me something.”

“Sweetheart.” He kissed her forehead.

“It was the mugging that made the biggest impression. I kept thinking that if something like that happened to me in Bear Creek—and what are the chances of that? A million to one?—the whole town would come to my rescue. Meggie would doctor my scrapes. You and Jake and Mack and Caleb would track him down. Even cantankerous old Gus would be there to lecture the guy when you captured him.”

“You’re right about that.”

“I gave up my apartment. I quit my job. I wanted to go to Alaska. To come home. Quinn, Alaska has been in my blood and in my brain every since I left. I couldn’t stop thinking about Bear Creek, and I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

“Are you sure, Kay? You’d be giving up a lot. Success, social position, access to world-class shopping and cultural events. I can’t offer you the kind of things your father can. But I can offer you respect and a sense of community, and most of all my love.”

“Oh, Quinn.” She looked into his eyes. “Yes, I’ll be giving up a lot of things. But they’re only things, after all. I’ll be gaining my freedom and friendship, and most of all your love.”

“You really feel that way?”

Tears glistening in her eyes, she nodded. “Can’t you tell? But what about you? Look at the sacrifices you were willing to make for me. I can’t believe you’re moving to Manhattan. How were you planning to make a living?”

“Testing sporting equipment for Adventure Gear. I’ve already got a job.”

“What about your mountain-guide business?”

“I hired someone to manage it for me.”

“You’d be miserable in New York. This place would suffocate a wilderness man.”

He cupped her chin in his hand. “No, it wouldn’t. Not as long as I had you, sweetheart. It doesn’t matter where we are as long as we’re together. I decided I wasn’t going to let my stubbornness get the best of me anymore. I have a problem with compromise. It’s what came between me and my best friend Kyle. It’s what came between me and Heather. After a lot of soul-searching, I realized I wasn’t willing to give you up. This time I wasn’t going to let pride and stubbornness keep me from the woman I love.”

“You want to tell me more about that?”

“I gave you a hard time about not expressing your feelings, but when push came to shove, I couldn’t tell you what was in my heart. I was worried I wasn’t good enough for a classy lady like you and too damned proud to admit it. Then I remember that because of my stubborn pride, I lost my friendship with Kyle.”

“Oh?”

“I got angry with Kyle when he let Lisa wrap him around her little finger. It hurt when he chose her over me and Bear Creek. Lisa was the best thing that ever happened to Kyle, and he was smart enough to see it. I called Kyle recently and we talked for a long time. He made me see that I was throwing away a lifetime of happiness with you by being too set in my ways to change. I love Bear Creek, Kay, but I love you even more.”

“You mean it?” Emotion clogged her throat. She laced her fingers through his.

“I love the soft, little snoring sound you make when you sleep. I love that scar below your ear. I love the way your brain works, the way you figure through problems intelligently and methodically. I love that you understand my need for independence. I love the way your body feels curled against mine. I love the way you look at me. As if I’m something.”

“You are something.” She was trembling. Trembling with a deep yearning for this man. “I want you so badly I ache, but I’m still scared.”

“Fair enough,” he murmured, and pulled her onto his lap. “You know the drill by now. Talk to me, babe. Tell me what’s on your mind and in your heart. Don’t hide your feelings from me. Lay them on the table.”

“I’m afraid of bears,” she whispered.

He threw back his head and laughed. “Whew! You had me going. I thought you were afraid of loving me.”

“No! Not that. Loving you is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“Well, don’t you worry about those bears. We’ll bear-proof our garbage cans, and I’ll stock the house with bear repellent. You can wear bear bells wherever you go. I promise, honey, you’re far more likely to get mugged in New York City than mauled in Bear Creek. Besides, you’ve got me to protect you.”

It felt good to know that was true. She didn’t need him for protection, but she wanted him. She was brave enough to make it on her own, but why should she have to when she had a man like Quinn?

“I’m so hot for you I can taste it,” she whispered, running a finger along his lips. “Now let’s find a hotel. When you made love to me, big man, you started something big.”

TWENTY MINUTES LATER they were ensconced in a hotel room near the airport. Quinn tipped the bellboy, closed the door and turned to Kay with his best George-Clooney-on-the-make imitation.

“Come here, you.” He crooked a finger at her.

Kay ran to him.

He whisked off her clothes, and to his utter delight discovered she was wearing a garter belt and those black seamed stockings underneath her blue jeans.

“You kill me, woman, you honestly do,” he said, pinning her to the bed.

“How so?”

He raked his gaze over her body. “Those stockings,” he croaked. “Have you no idea the effect they have on a man?”

Kay could feel his body heat radiating through her bare skin. Teasingly she turned her head and nipped at his wrist.

“So take your clothes off,” she said, “and let’s make up for lost time.”

“Hang on. There’s something I’ve got to do first.”

“What?” She sighed, too hungry for him to wait any longer.

He rolled off her and perched on the edge of the bed. Kay sat up and tucked her legs beneath her. He reached into the pocket of his mackinaw and withdrew a small, black, velvet box.

“Oh, my God!” Kay put her trembling hand to her mouth as Quinn cracked open the box with his thumb. A beautiful heart-shaped diamond ring in a platinum setting winked up at her.

“I’d intended on waiting. After I got to New York. Found a place. Romanced you some more. But I can’t wait anymore. I put out an ad for a wild woman to become my wilderness wife. And from the moment I met you, even though I tried to deny it, I knew you were the one for me. Kay, you’re beyond my wildest dreams. I never believed I was good enough for you, but you’ve never made me feel that way. You’ve made me feel like twice the man I was before.”

“Oh, my God,” she repeated, staring into the depths of his eyes.

“Will you marry me, Kay?”

“I can’t…I mean, I will…” Her hand was shaking so badly she couldn’t hold it still. Her stomach fluttered as if someone had let a million mad butterflies loose in it. “Oh, just let me show you.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him with all the passion she’d stored for just the right man to shower it upon. By taking a chance, by opening up and sharing her feelings, she found that intimacy she’d craved for so long.

“Is that a yes?” Quinn gasped a few minutes later.

“Yes.”

He had to capture her hand at the wrist to hold it steady while he slipped the ring onto her finger. “Marry me in New York. Marry me today. Marry me now.”

She shook her head. “No. Not today. I want to get married in Bear Creek. With all your family and friends. I’ll marry you when we get home.”

Home.

The band of emotion that had been getting tighter and tighter the closer he got to New York and Kay loosened, and his eyes stung with tears of hope and happiness. “I love you, Kay, I always will. Now and forever. Here or in Bear Creek.”

“And I love you.” She touched his heart. “I can’t wait to start steaming up those northern nights with you.”

“I’m not waiting until we get back to Bear Creek for that.”

In a flash Quinn shucked his clothes, lay down on the bed and pulled Kay on top of him.

“You know,” she said as he planted kisses over her bare belly, “there are going to be a lot of disappointed women when they show up in Bear Creek and find there’re only three eligible bachelors instead of four.”

“But think of the article possibilities,” he said, and made a frame with his hands. “I can see your title now—One Down, Three to Go. How I Landed the Wilderness Guide.”

“Well, it definitely needs some tweaking, but you just might have something there, big guy.”

“I’ll show you what needs tweaking,” he murmured, his tongue heading for a very sensitive place.

And the next thing Kay knew she was shooting into space with Quinn piloting the rocket, proving once and for all that she was indeed a very wild woman.