“Forensics can’t break it down to any known substance in their data banks.”
They were getting off track here. “You’re assuming one thing has to do with the other, Jack. Just because we saw something last night that we can’t identify doesn’t mean it’s responsible for your break-ins.”
He studied her in silence for several seconds, then started chopping again.
“I’m just saying we should keep this our little secret,” she said through gritted teeth. “What would be the point of telling anyone?”
He stopped chopping and looked at her. “So you don’t think I should ask Kenzie Gregor what the creature is?”
Megan couldn’t stifle her gasp of surprise, and she wanted to kick herself when Jack’s eyes narrowed at her response. She quickly tried backpedaling. “What makes you think Kenzie would know anything about this? Have you even met him?”
He started chopping again.
“Jack,” she growled, just as a fast-moving plane crested the mountain to their east, diving toward the lake and swooping over their heads with a high-pitched roar.
Megan scrambled to her feet and started waving and shouting. The plane nosed up into a steep turn, circled around, and roared past them again, this time not a hundred feet above the lake a few hundred yards away.
“It’s Matt!” she yelped, watching it circle a nearby island before finally setting down on its skis and taxiing toward them.
“You’re not riding back with him. He flies like a maniac,” Jack said, coming to stand beside her.
“He won’t fly like that with a pregnant woman on board,” she called back, running toward the four-seater Cessna that had come to a stop a hundred yards out on the lake. But she skidded to a halt, her excitement turning to dread when she saw Kenzie climb out the passenger door.
Instead of rushing to her, Kenzie stood hunched over beside the plane, his hands braced on his knees as he sucked in large gulps of air. He looked so sick, Megan realized this was probably his first plane ride. She turned her attention to Matt, who was speaking into his radio mike. He finally climbed out his side, focused not on her but somewhere over her shoulder.
“Did you radio Dad to tell him you found us?” she asked Matt, drawing him to a stop in front of her. She finally got his attention, his expression fierce as he gave her an assessing, visual inspection.
“I just spoke with your mother, and she’s calling him now. Grey and Robbie headed out on snowmobiles around midnight last night to look for you. Why in hell haven’t you been answering your satellite phone?”
“Because it’s at the bottom of the lake,” Jack said, walking up beside her. “Along with her sled.”
Matt snapped his gaze to Jack. “What happened?”
Megan stepped between them. “I got ahead of my headlights and ran into open water,” she said. “Jack fished me out.”
She heard a heavy sigh behind her, just before Jack took hold of her shoulders and moved her off to the side. “My sled’s frozen in the slush,” he told Matt, who was suddenly looking amused. “We were chopping it out while waiting for someone to show up. Why don’t you take Megan back with you, and I’ll finish getting it free.”
“And if you can’t get it free?” Matt asked.
“Then I’ll walk back.”
Matt eyed him in silence, then nodded.
“I’ll stay and help,” Kenzie said, finally joining them, though he looked as if a soft breeze might knock him over. He extended his hand. “Kenzie Gregor.”
Jack shook it. “Jack Stone. And I’d appreciate the help, if you don’t mind riding back on a sled designed for only one rider.”
“I’d just as soon walk back, thank ye.”
“I think we should all fly home,” Megan said, not wanting Jack and Kenzie to spend any time together. She looked at Jack. “Dad or Robbie will come back with you tomorrow to get your sled and see about pulling mine out. We can’t leave it in the water for more than a week without getting fined by Inland Fisheries.”
Jack shook his head. “I’ll get mine out now, then come back with your father tomorrow or the next day.” He turned and started walking away.
Megan ran to catch up with him, grabbing his sleeve to make him stop. “Jack, I want you to come back with us now.”
“No, you just don’t want me alone with Kenzie,” he told her quietly, turning so the others wouldn’t hear. “Which makes me wonder, are you worried about his welfare or mine?”
“Fine, then. I hope you both get frostbite,” she snapped, turning to flounce off to the plane.
He pulled her around to face him before she had taken two steps, completely ruining her dramatic exit. “Forget those DNA samples and everything else for today,” he told her, seemingly unaware of—or more likely ignoring—her outrage. “The moment you get home, I want you to go to your doctor and get checked out. You might have gotten some lake water in your lungs and you could develop pneumonia. Have your mom go with you.”
“Any other orders before I leave, Chief Stone?”
“As a matter of fact, yeah,” he said, pulling her against him and kissing the scowl right off her lips. He leaned back just enough to look her in the eyes. “Fasten your seat belt, and see if the name Walker works for you, for our son.”
“We’re having a girl!” She shoved him away, and this time she ran to the plane.
She climbed in the passenger side and fastened her seat belt. “I don’t care what I dreamed last night; you’re a girl,” she told her belly, giving it a pat. “And don’t you worry, I’ll teach you to hold your own in this world. Especially against men.”
Matt climbed in beside her with a chuckle. “Sorry, sis, but you’re having a boy.”
She gave her brother-in-law a smack in the arm. “I wanted to be surprised!”
“Hey, don’t kill the messenger. I didn’t decide the kid’s sex, his father did. Speaking of which, I see he’s back in your life.” He put on his headphones before she could form a comeback. He started the engine, ran through his preflight check of gauges and controls, then gave the plane enough throttle to turn them facing up the lake into the slight breeze. Megan stared out her window, watching Jack and Kenzie on their knees, chopping the sled free.
As the plane’s skis skimmed over the snow and rose into the sky, her gaze moved to the shoreline, where she could see the fire trailing up a thin plume of smoke. When Matt banked left toward Pine Creek, Megan lost sight of their cozy little camp, effectively putting the most wonderful night of her life behind her.
Chapter Eighteen
“I would ask what yer intentions are toward Megan.”
Jack stopped chopping and looked across his snowmobile’s seat at Kenzie. “Funny, I was just about to ask you the same thing.”
If his expression was any indication, the huge Scot obviously didn’t like having his question answered with another question.
Jack was beginning to see why Grand-père admired these historically fierce Highlanders. Kenzie Gregor could be a throwback himself; despite his modern clothes and short hair, Jack could easily picture the man on a medieval battlefield, wearing a kilt and wielding a sword with lethal accuracy. The guy was well over six feet tall, and when he’d taken off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, Jack had seen enough muscle to make a bear turn tail and run.
Or make a woman’s heart melt?
“Megan’s like a sister to me,” Kenzie said as he began chopping again.
“It’s just as well you feel that way about her. She doesn’t particularly like tall men, anyway.”
Kenzie looked over the sled at him, his eyes narrowed. “For the last five months she hasn’t liked men in general. I’m still waiting to hear your intentions, Stone.”
“I intend to marry her, preferably before our son is born.”
“Are ye, now?” Kenzie said, suddenly amused. “Then I hope you’re prepared to drag her kicking and screaming to the altar. I didn’t exactly see her returning yer kiss a moment ago.”