Legend of the White Wolf (9 page)

   "One renter. Could be an active family with tons of kids. What if they showed up about the time we did our illegal firing up of the hot tub in the late afternoon? Here we'd be, snuggled down in the hot soupy water, and kids with floaties would pour onto the deck, chattering, and laughing, and—"

   "I'll heat up the hot tub and be right back." He didn't wait for another objection—if she was even going to offer one—shoved his jacket on, and hurried outside.

   He thought about what she might wear for their excursion. Something pink and lacy? White, maybe? Daring red? Black and seductive?

   The stiff wind hit him with a blast of snow. He wished he hadn't been in such a hurry and had taken his goggles and ski hat. Next trip, when he escorted his date to the spa, he'd be better prepared.

   When he reached the deck attached to the shower house, he plowed through the snow and retracted the cover on the spa. Steam rose from the heated water. He pulled off a glove and stuck his hand in. Warm, not really hot. After turning the heat up and the jets on, he pulled his glove back on and rubbed his hands. Billions of bubbles popped up, creating a white foam, soon hiding the Caribbean blue marble effect on the walls of the circular tub.

   He would have opted for one that was couple-sized, but the spa looked like it could hold six to seven adults, not half as cozy as he would have liked. And the awful thought it could be filled with lots of kids came to mind. He turned on the lights around the edge of the tub, then found a snow shovel in a utility shed, and cleared as much of a path on the deck as he could up to the cedar surrounded spa from the changing rooms. He envisioned Faith in the tub with him and how hot things could get if he and Faith could have more privacy. Too bad they didn't have one inside their own cabin.

   Then he went inside the changing room to warm it up so they could shed the majority of their clothes. A gust of bitter cold wind blew in through the doorway and he turned, thinking Faith couldn't wait to join him. But no, it was some other woman, and he felt a pang of disappointment. If she was a guest, that was the end of his plans to share some private time with Faith. But then he wondered if this woman was one of the owners ready to give him a dressing down for heating up the hot tub without permission.

   "Lila Grayson," she said, slamming the door shut behind her with a lot more force than needed.

   Lila Grayson, the one from Back Country Tours—it hit him as odd that she'd arrive here of all places. Wearing ski boots, an ivory wool sweater, and ski pants, she looked ready for cold weather expeditions, minus the ski jacket. Tangled by the wind, her platinum blond hair drifted past her shoulders. Her golden eyes wary, she was a looker, with skin the same color as her clothes and ruby lips glossed for show. High angled cheekbones gave her the look of a movie star, but her tiny nose contradicted that image. She pulled off her glove and extended a hand.

   "Cameron MacPherson," he said, shaking her hand. "You run Back Country Tours?" Now maybe he'd get some answers concerning his friends.

   She lifted her nose and sniffed. "You were in my office earlier today? Along with a woman friend? Found one of my employees dead, according to the police?"

   So, she hadn't just happened to run across him here. She was investigating him.

   "Yeah, I was looking for you or your partner, Kintail Silverman. Two of my friends went on a hunt and haven't returned."

   "Owen and David are quitting. Haven't they told you?" She raised a brow and smiled just a hint, but it was icy like her whole demeanor.

   "Quitting the hunt."

   "No, quitting
your
business. They're going up north with us, joining our hunting guide team. They're tired of the P.I. work. Didn't they tell you?"

   Cameron stared at the woman as if she'd managed to turn him into a frog. "I'll hear it from them first."

   "Owen said he called your partner, Gavin. Said he told him they were quitting the business. Since you were…"—she smiled—"checking out our office, I figured you might not have gotten the official word yet."

   "I'll get the official word directly from them."

   "Hmm," she purred and took a step toward him, and he envisioned a lioness on a hunt, her eyes fixed on him, just waiting for the right moment to pounce and rip out his jugular. She reached her hand out and trailed her fingernails down his sweater. "Maybe you could quit your job, too. Come join us."

   That's when the door suddenly opened and Faith stalked inside, a frozen smile on her lips, her eyes narrowed in a confrontational way. She looked as though she was ready to punch out her competition, and he loved it. "Forgot your towel, honey." Faith waved the blue towel at him and slid her arm around his waist, snuggling up next to him. She gave Lila a get-lost look.

   He was ready to play the lover's role for real.

   Lila sniffed the air. "She's the one with you at my office this morning. Are you looking for his partners, too? Or something else?" she asked Faith.

   Faith stiffened. "Office? You're from Back Country Tours?"

   "Lila Grayson."

   "I'm looking for Trevor Hodges. He works for you, right?"

   Her smile faked, Lila said, "Not of late. What did you want him for?"

   "He guided my father on a… tour. I wanted to see the route they took."

   Lila narrowed her eyes. "And you are?"

   "Faith O'Malley."

   The woman's eyes widened a little in recognition. Then she smiled slyly. "Well, old Trevor Hodges could be anywhere out there." She waved her hand around in the direction of Baxter Park and the surrounding woods. Then she glanced outside at the steamy spa. "Don't want to let your water get cold." She smiled again at Cameron. "Offer still stands, if you decide to come work with us."

   "Have David and Owen meet me at the lodge, and I'll hear for myself if they plan to quit our partnership."

   "I'll be sure to give them the message." Lila whipped around and headed out of the building, shoving the door against the wall as she left the place.

   Faith hurried to close the door against the blowing wind.

   "Why did she recognize your name?" Cameron asked, pulling off his sweater.

   "Dad seems to have made an impression on a lot of people. And she might have met him when he hired Trevor to take him on the tour." Faith dumped her ski coat on one of the cedar benches.

   "I thought maybe there'd been some trouble when your father came on his trip here. At least the way Lila responded it sounded that way."

   Faith tossed her sweater onto her coat. "What was the business offer she proposed to you?"

   The fact Faith changed the topic so quickly made him wonder even more what this was all about. "She wanted me to become one of her guides."

   "And you don't believe your friends would quit the partnership like that?"

   "Nope. We've been friends since grade school. Always talked of having a partnership. And even if they did want to jump ship, they'd never do it like this without discussing it with us, and then giving us time to downsize or get a couple of new partners."

   "Hmm, so it sounds like Lila Grayson and prob ably her partner, Kintail Silverman, have something going on."

   "Yeah." But what was the deal with Faith, her father
,
and Trevor Hodges?
"Do you believe that Trevor Hodges no longer works for Back Country Tours?"

   "Nope. No more than I believe your friends are leaving you and your other partner high and dry without saying so face-to-face." She unbuttoned her blouse.

   He felt like a kid in a candy store, waiting to see all the treats. He turned around and pulled off his shirt to give her some privacy. When he tugged off his jeans, the door squeaked open and shut, and he looked around to see she'd left him. Smiling, he hurried to join her outside. The cold wind whipped across his bare skin, as she quickly slipped into the hot water with a splash. He got an eyeful of blue bikini panties, a matching blue bra cut nice and low, and pristine peach flesh covered in goose bumps. She lowered herself into the bubbling water, the swell of her breasts lifted above the foam. Her gaze moved lower, her expression bemused; his body was certainly responding. He hoped he wouldn't embarrass himself.

   "Warm enough?" Although as hot as she looked, he figured she could heat the water right up.

   "Hmm, perfect." She closed her eyes and rubbed the hot water over her neck and shoulders and sank lower into the tub.

   Yeah, perfect was right. No matter what the woman wore, or didn't wear, she was a sight for deprived eyes.

   Cameron climbed into the water and settled next to Faith, wanting to make the night with her something special. The warm water and powerful massaging jets that targeted his lower back and calves were only half the fun. The sound of gentle moving water through amplifiers built into the tub casing covered the noise of the jets. "This makes the cold and the trip well worth it."

   Before he could settle in nice and close to her and take advantage of her soft expressive mouth, a gray-haired old lady waddled from the back side of the building in a coat and short snow boots, but her white, hairy legs were bare. She smiled. "Be right out, folks." She entered the changing room and shut the door.

   Cameron scooted even closer to Faith, his body touching hers, the image of her half naked sitting this close to him in the heated water, stirring up a raging need. Before the woman returned, he shifted restlessly, his gaze moving from the shower house to the object of his most fervent desire.
Faith.
Her lips wore a tentative smile, but her eyes—they challenged him to take the first step. He couldn't help being irritated with the stranger, to say it mildly. But he wasn't about to let the woman stop what he had in mind to do.

   He leaned over and pressed his lips against Faith's mouth, savoring the velvety softness, the way she woke to his touch, lifting her chin to accommodate him, closing her eyes, her hands clutching at his forearms. He touched her supple breasts and she moaned softly, but the moment was all too short.

   Shattering the mood, the older woman exited the room, wearing a tent-size bathing suit in hot shimmering pink and the furry boots. "Charles must have fired up the hot tub earlier than usual, although I haven't heard a peep out of his sled dogs. He must've figured we couldn't get out in this weather to ice fish. Always so considerate of his guests. I'm Mary."

   "Faith, Cameron," he said, pulling away from Faith, although his leg and hip still rested against hers. His hand shifted to her thigh, caressing, enjoying her silky skin, and the way she leaned against him. But even though her eyes were smoky with desire, the newcomer's presence caught Faith's focus. All he could hope for at this point was that Mary would tire of the tub quick enough and leave so he could get back to business.

   "On your honeymoon?" Mary asked, smiling as if she were a woman in the know.

   Faith said yes as he said no. The old woman laughed. "I've been there, done that myself."

   As soon as she had her boots off, the sound of crunching snow from the direction of the backside of the shower house warned them others were coming. Faith gave Cameron an I-told-you-so look, and he figured it was time to leave before the woman's grandkids showed up with the floaties. Except that the way the newcomers moved, the footfalls sounded more like adults' and not overzealous kids'.

   Three men around Cameron's age came into view and gave Faith interested looks, then went inside the changing room.

   "Do you want to leave?" Cameron asked, figuring she'd want to, as he certainly did.

   She patted him on the leg and leaned over to speak in his ear, her whisper soft voice rousing him even more, which made him wish the others would just vanish in a puff of mist. "I hate to be run off, Cameron. The jets feel so good on my back." She snuggled closer and kept her hand on his thigh.

   Hell, now he was really ready to take her back to the cabin and try out his new sleeping bag for two with her. "Are you sure?" He ran his hand over her arm and kissed her cheek, hoping to coax her away so they could have more privacy.

   She gave him an interested smile. Yeah, she was game, but she still wasn't leaving the warmth of the hot tub. Couldn't blame her there. The heat and pulsing jets were only part of the draw though—the sexy, nearly naked body snuggled up beside him, soft and malleable and hot and wet—that's what inspired him to stay a while longer.

   The raggedy-looking guy with frizzy red hair and a shaggy beard exited the building and gave Faith a wink, his green eyes challenging her to join him— later. Barefooted, the other men hurried out of the shower house and across the snowy deck to reach the tub pronto.

   Cameron wrapped his arm around Faith's shoulders and gave her a squeeze, not caring if he was showing his possessiveness. Besides, he was keeping Faith warm, in case she needed him to. She responded by leaning her head on his shoulder and caressing his thigh, way too erotic for all the company they had, although with all of the millions of bubbles rolling to the surface of the water, no one could see a thing. Speculation was another story, and he imagined everyone was speculating away. "He wasn't no Bigfoot," the redhead said to his companions as he climbed into the sauna and sat next to Mary.

   The old lady laughed. "Bigfoot, Chris? When I was a girl, three of my friends and me saw him. Or might've been a her. Twelve foot tall he was. Hairy, slouched over like a bent-shaped man, only naked and bigger. He glimpsed us in the woods, sniffed the air, then hurried into the shelter of the trees, and disappeared. I wanted to follow him. See where he went. But the other kids were too chicken."