Jack shut off the water and stepped out of the shower. Her utterly fearless approach to life was the first thing that had attracted him to Megan. She was passion personified. Megan brought an energy to her work that was almost spiritual in the way she interacted with the students, the animals they were counting, and the environment she was determined to protect.
He’d been caught completely off guard when she had suddenly turned that amazing energy on him. Megan had cranked her smile to full wattage and asked if she could buy him dinner as thanks for intervening in the student battle. He’d felt as if he were being trampled by a herd of caribou.
Reeling from her smile—not to mention her startling, vivid green eyes focused directly on him—he had stammered out something inane, like it would be his pleasure. So they’d walked to the mess tent, and she had cheekily told him to pick out whatever he desired from the food provided by the university sponsoring the study. From that moment on, that herd of caribou had taken up residence in Jack’s gut, turned his mind to mush, and infused every fiber of his being with hope.
Until the real reason he was there had suddenly reared its ugly head.
Camry leaned against the inside of Megan’s front door and fought to catch her breath. “Oh my God. That was Wayne?” she gasped. “What’s he doing at Stone’s house?” She slapped a hand to her chest. “Oh my God, he is Jack Stone!”
“He can’t be.” Megan leaned against the counter, breathing equally hard and hugging her belly. “Wayne’s a biologist, not a law officer. There must be some other reason he’s at Jack Stone’s house.”
Camry pushed away from the door, walking to Megan and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “If Jack was there, he’d have answered the door. The man who greeted us was obviously just getting in the shower,” she pointed out, leading her sister over to the couch.
“Not in front of the window,” Megan said, taking a steadying breath. “The chair in the corner. Turn out some of these lights, will you?”
Cam settled her sister in the chair by the woodstove, then snapped off the overhead lights, leaving on only a table lamp by the window and one over the sink. “I’ll reheat your cocoa,” she said, grabbing the mug and putting it in the microwave. She turned to look at Megan, who was silent, her complexion ashen. “Do you suppose Mom was right?” she asked. “That Wayne is here because he does want you back?”
Megan shook her head.
“Then what’s he doing here? If he is Jack Stone, that means he’s planning on staying for a while. If he just came here to win you back, he wouldn’t have taken a job.”
The microwave dinged and Cam pulled out the mug and gave the cocoa a stir. She carried it over to Megan but had to wrap her sister’s fingers around it. “Don’t get all crazy on me, sis,” she said, hunching down to look her in the eye. “He can’t make you do anything you don’t want to.”
“But why is he here?”
Cam walked back to the counter and started digging in her purse for her cell phone. “Who knows? Maybe…” She shrugged, unable to come up with a plausible answer.
“Who are you calling?”
“Mom and Dad.”
“No! We can’t call them!”
Cam stopped pushing buttons and looked at her sister. “We have to, Meg. They need to know about this.”
“No, they don’t,” Megan said, standing up. “Dad will rush over here, drag Wayne out of that house, and…and…”
“And beat him to a bloody pulp?” Cam finished. “You’re right. I’ll call Robbie, then.”
“Same problem,” Megan said, taking the phone and dropping it back in Cam’s purse.
Camry was glad to see the color coming back in her sister’s cheeks. “So we’re just going to sit here with the lights out?” she asked, looking toward the stark, black windows.
“If Wayne is Jack, he’s been in Pine Creek over a week,” Meg pointed out. “And he hasn’t tried contacting me in all that time. Tonight was a fluke. We obviously surprised him.”
Cam sat down on the edge of the hearth. “What are the chances you’d buy a house three doors down from your ex-boyfriend?”
“Slim to none,” Meg said. She sucked in a shuddering breath. “What am I going to do?”
Camry snorted. “There’s not much you can do. It’s a free country. The man has a right to be here.”
“But if Wayne and Jack Stone are the same person, I have to tell someone! He’s a biologist posing as our chief of police.”
“Maybe he also has a degree in law enforcement.”
“And two names?”
Cam went back to the coffee table. “Let’s Google Jack Stone and see what we come up with.”
Megan came over and sat down beside her. “Look for a site that might have his picture.” Her cheeks suddenly flushed. “He certainly looked different tonight. His hair’s a lot shorter, he shaved his beard, and he wasn’t wearing glasses.”
Cam started typing. “Are you sure that was Wayne, and not someone who just looks like him? Maybe a brother?”
“It was Wayne. And he definitely knew who I was.”
“That’s right, he called you sweetheart.” Cam scrolled down the list Google had come up with, and clicked on one of the sites. “Hmm, the plot thickens,” she said dramatically, hoping to ease the tension. “There’s no more here than we found on Wayne Ferris. What do you make of this site? It’s an ad, and it’s sort of cryptic.” She gasped. “Wait, I know what this is. Some guys at work were showing me sites put up by soldiers for hire. Jack Stone is a mercenary!”
Megan was shaking her head before Cam could finish. “That couldn’t be Wayne. I told you, he’s not rough and tough and…and…” She sighed. “You picked the wrong site. There isn’t even a picture.”
Camry clicked back to the Google list, but Meg reached out and shut off the computer. “I’ve had enough for one day.” She dropped her head back against the couch. “I’ll deal with Wayne, or Jack, or whoever the hell he is, tomorrow.”
“Then let’s go to Gù Brath, in case he decides he wants to talk to you.”
Meg shook her head. “You were right. I have been acting like a wimp for the last four months, and I am utterly disgusted with myself.” She cradled her belly in her hands. “What kind of example have I been setting for my baby?”
“It’s not born yet, Meg,” Cam said, patting her niece or nephew. “It doesn’t know you’ve been a wimp.”
“It knows I’ve been crying for the last four months.” She stood up with determination. “We’re going to stay right here and figure out what I’m going to do about this.” Her eyes snapped with resolve. “It was a hell of a shock seeing him tonight, but it certainly didn’t kill me. I’ve been such an idiot, letting him have that kind of power over me.” She headed for the door. “We are marching right back to that house, and I’m giving that jerk a piece of my mind!”
“Wait!” Cam yelped, chasing after her and catching her sleeve. “You need to think this through, Meg. I know you’re angry he beat you to the punch, but maybe this isn’t the best time to confront him.”
“What are you talking about? Beat me to what punch?”
Camry crossed her arms under her breasts. “You told me you intended to go to Canada and throw the fact that you’ve gotten on with your life in Wayne’s face—but he beat you to the punch by showing up here first. I agree that you should confront him, but not tonight. He…ah…he’s probably not in the mood to have anything else…ah…thrown in his face right now.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I threw the pie at him. Hit him square in the face.”
Megan blinked, then suddenly laughed. “Oh, I wish I’d seen that. No, I wished I’d done that.”