“So I see,” he said.
“She said I could have some,” Vivi said, before she could stop herself, and blushed furiously as he began to smile. The lines crinkling up around his eyes sparked a warm glow somewhere in the vicinity of her navel. It crept inexorably downward.
“Eat all you want,” he said. “What kind are they this time?”
“Molasses,” Vivi informed him. She wrenched her gaze away now from the smile that had now become a grin, complete with shockingly white, beautiful teeth, and focused on his long, work-hardened hands, gently holding those long flowers. Whew. That grin. This guy had a whole store of secret weapons. Every one calculated to lay her low.
She struggled to remember what she’d come down to ask him.
“Ah, I need to make some phone calls, and get on the Internet, too, to check my mail orders. And, ah, my cell has no coverage here,” she said. “So I was just wondering—”
“Of course. There’s a jack in your kitchen, but it’s my phone line. I assumed, considering your security problem, you weren’t going to want to list a number right now. You mind sharing a line with me? I don’t spend much time hanging on the phone.”
“Me neither,” she said. “That’s fine with me, if it’s okay with you.”
“If you want to use your cell, hike up to the top of that rise,” he said. “See that stand of spruce? You’ll get some coverage up there. But for now, use my phone. Hook your computer up in the kitchen.”
“Thanks,” she murmured.
“I meant to get you a phone. You weren’t supposed to arrive so soon.” He gazed at her accusingly through the stalks of columbine.
“Yeah, right,” she mumbled. “Don’t you want to go and put those down somewhere?”
“Yeah, and then I’m, going to make coffee. Come and have a cup.”
She watched, fascinated, as he walked across the yard toward a small outbuilding. Oh, boy. The back view of his jeans was as appealing as the front. She leaned her head on her hands and exhaled, slowly.
Inside his cozy kitchen once again, she gazed at trays of seedlings while he put on the coffee. When she felt his big, silent presence drawing near her again, she gave in to her curiosity. “Margaret and Duncan said you grow flowers,” she ventured
Jack stroked the bottom of a delicate leaf in one of the trays. It trembled above the forest of thin, delicate pale stems, as if floating there. “Yes. I’ve got some Aquilegia flavescens, and Delphinium exaltatum, and Dianthus barbatus coming in right now. I’m taking a load into Portland today.”
“What’s that in English?”
“Columbines, larkspurs, and sweet william,” he clarified.
She sneaked a quick peek at his somber profile. “Why do you use Latin names?”
“I like how specific it is. There are hundreds of subgroups for common flower names. Each one has its own totally different personality.”
“Wow,” she murmured, impressed.
He looked self-conscious. “I don’t mean to be a nerd. I got off on studying them when I was in the military. Nothing like staring at flowers when you’re sweating in the desert with sand rasping in every crack under your body armor.” He paused, and looked at her chest. “Like dreaming of water while you’re dying of thirst,” he finished.
He was standing so close, she could smell the loamy scent of plants and earth on him, although his hands smelled like lemon dish soap. “You’re, um, staring at my Eranthis hylematis, Jack,” she said. “It’s making me nervous.”
“Sorry,” he said. “And it’s Eranthis hyemalis, not hylematis.”
Whoa. That hot, dangerous flirtatious energy was starting to stretch and twist between them, muscular and dangerous and unpredictable.
She had to distract them, before things got weird. “How’d you get into this business?” she asked.
“I like plants,” he said. “My uncle Freddie was into organic gardening when I was a kid. I studied plant biology on the Internet when I was in the service, and afterward, when I worked overseas.”
“In Afghanistan? On that task force with Duncan, right?”
“Right. I’ve done some landscaping work for the parks department in Portland and Vancouver, too. Ornamental horticulture, stuff like that. But I prefer to live out here. I’ve built up a good business. The land down by the river’s good for rare specialty stuff, and I know florists who are happy to buy local and get stock that’s days fresher than the flowers they fly in over the pole from Holland. I’ve got a refrigerated truck and a twelve-by-twelve walk-in cooler. I harvest and deliver them myself. Simple and direct. Works out well for everybody.”
“What an awesome way to make a living,” she said.
“It’s hard work,” he said. “But I like the flowers.” He turned his silver-gray gaze on her face, and she realized what his eyes reminded her of. They had the same glowing depths that she’d seen in the eyes of a timber wolf.
“Did you sleep well on the futon?” he asked.
“Yes, wonderfully. Thank you.”
The coffee began to gurgle. He went to the stove, leaving her free to normalize her breathing and get herself in hand.
The coffee tasted wonderful with Margaret’s cookies. Jack finished his cup, got up, and rinsed it briskly. “I’d better get going,” he said. “You going to be okay by yourself here, with no wheels?”
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “I’ve got Edna. We’re set.”
“Help yourself to anything you might need, in my cupboards, or the fridge,” he said. “There’s the phone, as you see. Oh, and I called Dwayne Pritchett about your van. He’ll be coming over with his tractor as soon as it dries up, but he doesn’t want to risk it for a few days yet.”
“Great. I appreciate that,” she said. “Also, could you tell me how to find the hot springs? Maybe Edna and I will hike up and take a look.”
He spun around. “Hot springs?” His eyes had gone cold.
She shrank back, apprehensive. “Uh, Margaret said there were some natural hot springs upriver a couple of miles. Something wrong?”
He scowled down into the sink. “Shit.”
“What’s the matter?” Vivi demanded. “Are you pissed at me?”
“Not at you. I’m irritated with Margaret. We have an agreement to keep the springs secret. Nobody wants hikers trespassing on our land. Now Margaret decides to tell a stranger.”
“I’m hardly a trespassing hiker,” Vivi pointed out, insulted.
“No. But it’s not as if you’re a long-term resident, either.”
“Does that mean you’ll be kicking me out soon?” She sprang to her feet. “Please be clear about that, Kendrick. Before I start ordering furniture.”
“Don’t take it personally. Margaret should’ve discussed it with me, that’s all. And don’t call me Kendrick. It makes me feel like I’m back in boot camp. I’ll take you to the springs when I get back from Portland.”
Vivi counted to ten, lips pressed flat. “Please, don’t trouble yourself.” She wished she hadn’t asked. She could probably find it on her own. A couple of miles upriver. How hard could it be?
He read her mind, and fixed her with a stern glare. “Do not go without me,” he said forcefully. “The cliffs are dangerous, and the path is washed out.”
“Fine.” Vivi deposited her coffee cup in the sink.
“I’ll be back around four, if you want to go then,” he added.
“Like I said, don’t go to any trouble.”
“It’s no trouble. I meant what I said about not going alone.”
“I heard you the first time.” She let his door slam shut.
Oh, ouch. She’d done it to herself again. Whenever she let down her guard, zing, pow, he insulted her again. The second she heard his truck pull out, she went downstairs and into Jack’s kitchen and dialed Nell’s new cell.
Her sister picked up promptly. “Hey, you. Everything okay?”
“Hey, yourself,” Vivi replied. “How’s Italy?”