ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (242 page)

Rain stepped to the sliding glass door on the opposite side of the room and peered out. Her heart sank.  She had no way to know how much snow was out there, but she judged by the way it was drifted towards the door and stacked on the deck railing, she would have to say at least fifteen inches, and it was still falling.  The sky was shaping up to be just as lead gray as it had been when she left the gas station where she had been given faulty directions.

Rain detected movement from behind her and turned slowly to see a huge German Shepard staring at her with his head cocked to one side. 

“Don’t worry, doggie.  I’m not going to steal anything.”  Rain flinched as the massive dog padded towards her and licked her hand.  She ran her hand over the soft fur of his head and through his neck.  She crouched in front of him.  “You’re just a puppy at heart, huh?”  Her soft words earned her another gentle lick. 

Rain stood and looked across the room to where the baby deer was curled on a thick blanket.  The dog looked too and abandoned Rain to check on the deer.  The dog nuzzled it softly and gave it a motherly lick here and there, although it was obvious the dog was male. 

Rain limped towards the deer and lowered her self slowly onto the floor.  White spots covered its back and Rain touched each one.  She smiled thinking how incredible it was to be able to touch an animal normally meant for the wild.  Her smile faded as she thought about the deer’s mother.  Her hand stilled on the fur.  It was her fault the baby was an orphan now.  It was her fault the little deer was hurt and laying in the man’s cabin.  She felt stupid when the tear fell from her eye and splashed onto one of the white spots in its fur.  The little deer hadn’t moved when the dog licked her and she hadn’t moved when Rain had petted her coarse fur, but the moment the tear drop hit her, she lifted her head and regarded Rain with large dark eyes.  They stared at each other for many long seconds, and Rain felt something pull and let go in her chest.  She touched the deer on her face, and just like what the dog had offered, received a lick, albeit this one was much smaller in comparison; it was more like a taste to see if she were good. 

Forrest watched the scene from the darkened doorway of his bedroom.  He had to lean slightly to see the woman, and he could only see the hindquarters of the deer.  He frowned deeply and crossed his arms.  Leonidas had taken a seat beside her and leaned his weight into her side.  The woman moved slightly and the dog moved with her.  The deer seemed perfectly at ease with her too.  His mind went back to his father.  The day had been similar to this one; dark and snowy. 

“I don’t understand!”  Forrest had yelled.  “Why do you have to go?”

Wayne Early looked at his son with tired patient eyes.  His face was covered with five o’clock shadow and he rubbed it thoughtfully. 

“Son, you’re eighteen years old.  It’s time you were on your own anyway.”  He stretched his arms wide.  “The cabin is yours.  The piece of land, yours too.”  He looked at Forrest sadly.  “I can’t be here anymore.” 

“Oh, so Mom dies and not only leaves you but me too, and now you want to leave me too?”  Forrest hated the hot tears that fell so freely.  He wanted to be strong and hard and he never wanted to cry again. 

Wayne touched his son on both shoulders and squeezed.  “Son, we’re special…you know that.  What you need to do now is start your life.  Find a good woman.  Find that one woman who will be what you need.” 

Forrest pushed his father’s arms down and backed a step away, wiping furiously at his still leaking eyes.  “And what will she be like?  How will I know?”

“The first sign will be how she reacts to animals.  Wild ones in particular.”

Forrest raised his eyebrows.  “So I’m looking for Snow White.  That’s great.”

Wayne grabbed his son again and shook him slightly, his eyes fierce.  “Listen!  You are nothing more than a wild animal yourself!  An animal can sense when someone is good.  You know all of this!  The right one will not only love animals, but will be loved by them as well…” 

Forrest shook his head at the memory.  He had dismissed it as fairy tale nonsense until Sara.  Sara had a way with animals that was almost Doctor Doolittleish.  He watched in amazement as the woman began to hum and then sang softly to the deer.  Her voice was clear and sweet.  The melody was sad and hopeful at the same time and made his chest ache.  Leonidas practically climbed in her lap, his tail thumping in a strange unison to her song. 

Rain clamped her mouth shut as Forrest stepped into the room.  She embarrassedly lowered her eyes. 

“Please continue.  That was beautiful.” 

Rain felt heat touching her cheeks.  “Thanks.”

“How’re you feeling?”

“My head’s a little better. But still hurts.  My body feels like it was hit by a freight train.”

“I bet.  It was a pretty bad accident.”

“How’s my car?”

Forrest winced slightly.  “Not so good.” 

“Can I drive it?”

“Uh…no.”

Rain shut her eyes and her shoulders slumped.  “I need to get out of here.” 

“What was so important that you were out in that storm?”

Rain narrowed her eyes.  “I was invited to Creekside for the weekend by…I don’t know what to call him.”

“Boyfriend?”  Forrest asked amusedly.

“No, he’s not that anymore.  I don’t know what he is.  Anyway…I was meeting him there, but a man at a gas station while I was still in Virginia told me to take a different route.” 

“I see.”  Forrest shrugged lightly.  He wasn’t an entirely social being, but he couldn’t very well just tell her to leave.  “You’re welcome to stay here until you can get out.  Or until I can at least get you to town.”   Forrest ran a hand behind his neck.  “I…uh…got your phone and purse out of your car.” 

“You went through them?”

“I wanted to know who you were, and I wanted to see if there was someone I could call for you.”

Under different circumstances Rain would have been horrified that a stranger had gone through her things, but she recognized the necessity in what he had done. 

“So…you were meeting someone named Dante?”

Rain nodded, her eyes back on the deer.

“Then who’s Trevor?  Should he be called?”

Rain visibly stiffened.  Her eyes slid to Forrest suspiciously.  “How do you know that name?”

“You said his name before you came to last night.”  He watched her carefully.  The name had obviously struck a chord.  When she didn’t respond, he pressed on.  “Can he come?”

“No, he can’t.”  Rain snapped, her stone gray eyes full of fire as she pinned him.  “He’s dead.” 

Forrest’s mouth worked, but he couldn’t think of a thing to say in response.  He simply nodded instead, and turned to the kitchen cabinets.  He rummaged through a bottom one until he found a large replica of a baby bottle.  Rain watched him silently as he rinsed it and placed a pan on the stove and poured a small amount of milk in.  As if she had asked, Forrest began explaining what he was doing. 

“About a year back, I had a mare die soon after giving birth to a foal.  I had to bottle feed her baby for a while.”  He glanced at her, then back to the pan.  “I figure the deer might be hungry.”

“You have horses?”

Forrest nodded.  “I have a few.  I run a trail business spring through fall.” 

“What?”

“I rent my horses for people to ride on the trails I own at the back of my property.  I lead tours too for the more inexperienced.” 

Rain considered it thoughtfully.  “That’s pretty cool.”   She tried to stand, but her body had stiffened.  She let out a soft moan.

“Here, let me help you.”  Forrest said as he hurried to her.  Rain gratefully took his outstretched hand, and was amazed by how easily he pulled her to her feet.  His hand was strong and meaty, and she could feel a slight roughness to his skin.  He had the hands of a working man.  It was a stark contrast to the smooth, almost feminine feel of Dante’s. 

“I assume you already know my name.  What’s yours?”

“Oh, yeah.  Sorry.  Forrest Early.”

“Forrest.”  Rain said softly.  “That’s nice.”

Forrest returned to the stove and touched the milk with his pinky.  He spoke as he cut the burner off and found a small funnel in a drawer.  “You have a pretty name.”

“Well, yes, but I don’t go by my first name.  Everyone calls me Rain.”

“Oh.  Well, Rain is odd, but I like it.”

“My mother is a bit of a hippie, and since she gave birth to me in the back of a car in the middle of a thunderstorm…well there you have it.”  Rain laughed lightly.  “If my father hadn’t intervened and demanded his mother’s name go first, my name would have been Rain Storm Cash.” 

Forrest laughed.  “Wow.  I don’t know.  That would have been an interesting name for sure.  You would probably have been the only person on the planet with that name.”  

“Probably.” 

Forrest handed Rain the bottle.  “Just tilt it upwards like a human baby.” 

Rain turned with her eyes wide, as Forrest bent to put on boots.  “Where are you going?”

He answered without looking at her.  “To take Leonidas out and check on my horses.” 

“King of the Spartans.”  Rain mused. 

Forrest glanced up for a moment, a grin on his lips.  “That’s right.”

“Are you an educated man then, or did you just appreciate Gerard Butler’s performance in 300?” 

“Both.” 

Rain shook her head and placed the bottle at the deer’s mouth.  Leonidas watched with fascinated concern, but his need to relieve himself won out when Forrest shrug into his parka and tapped the side of his thigh. 

The act of feeding the deer soothed Rain.  The little girl was completely comfortable which amazed Rain considering the harrowing experience she had been through.  Once she sat and thought about it, she was feeling strangely chipper herself considering her own experience within the past twenty four hours.

Forrest listened to Rain’s end of the conversation while scrambling eggs and buttering toast.  He could tell by the tight cadence of her voice, and the way she tried to keep her back to him, that the conversation wasn’t going very well. 

“I don’t understand, Dante.”  One hand flew in to the air.  “You invited me out there, and I got lost.  Now I’m stuck, but you’re saying you can’t come help me?” 

Forrest moved past her to the refrigerator.  She was staring at the wall and he saw her eyes narrow to deep slits. 

“Who’s
that
, Dante?”  A pause and the eyes flew wide.  “Oh, a friend?  Another friend?  Tell you what…you and your
friend
have a fabulous time and don’t ever freaking call me again!”  She paused again, closer to the receiver hanging on the wall.  “Don’t be mad?  No, I’m not mad.  Just done.”  She hung up the phone by slamming the mouthpiece into the cradle. 

Forrest stared at his now crooked phone, but didn’t say anything.  He guessed she had plenty reason to be angry.

“Sorry about that.” 

Forrest lifted one shoulder.  “Not a problem.  Hungry?”

“Not really.”  She sat down dejectedly at the kitchen table.

“Too bad.  You need to eat.  How’s the nausea today?”

“Better.” 

“Just start with toast and see how you do.” 

The phone rang and Forrest hoped it wasn’t this Dante guy.  As it turned out it was Doc Keller.

“How’s your patient?”

Forrest glanced at Rain.  “Oh, much better.” 

“How’s her vision?”

He cupped the mouthpiece with his hand.  “How’s your vision today?”

“A little blurry, but I’m not seeing double anymore.”

“It’s improving.”  Forrest replied, and attempted to straighten the phone on the wall, but it kept falling back to its new lopsided pose.

“Good.  Glad to hear it.  Do you still need me to come out?  We’re supposed to get five more inches before this thing tapers off.”

Forrest grimaced.  “No, Tom, I think I can handle it.” 

“Good.  Make her eat something.  Call me if you have questions.”  And with that the phone call was over.

“Who was that?”

“Doc Keller.  I called him last night because I was worried about what to do with you.”

Rain nodded and picked at the piece of toast in front of her.  Forrest placed a coffee mug beside the plate and asked her if she needed cream and sugar. 

“Do you have French Vanilla?”

Forrest stared at her blankly.  Why would anyone think a bachelor man living in the woods would have French vanilla creamer?  But…he did in fact have it.  Rain’s small smile evaporated his embarrassment as he handed her the blue and white bottle.  He watched as she poured enough in to turn her coffee a light color and proceeded to spoon in several teaspoons of sugar. 

“Do you even
like
coffee?”

Rain laughed.  “I love it.” 

“Don’t see how you can taste it with all that stuff in there.”

“And just how do you take yours?”

“A teaspoon of each.  That’s it.”