The Hunters, who were apparently gifted with good manners, got out of their SUV to greet Rachel and Jake. They both wore designer sunglasses. Ann smiled at Jake first and Rachel second, but that wasn’t so surprising. She knew Jake better. They had history.
Bruce was more reserved. He shook hands with Jake without smiling and nodded in Rachel’s direction. Bruce telegraphed brisk efficiency, as if he hoped they could dispense with the pleasantries and get this show on the road.
Rachel wasn’t inclined to indulge him in that. “We didn’t have much time to chat yesterday,” she said, directing her conversation mostly to Ann. “But I’m thrilled that Jake is reconnecting with family again. I’m sure he’s missed that.”
“His family has missed him, too,” Ann said. “Having him back in Idaho will be wonderful.”
“I’m sure it will be.” Having him leave Polecat would be quite a bit less than wonderful, but that was her problem.
“We should probably get in there and start packing,” Bruce said in an ill-disguised attempt to move Rachel along.
Rachel chose to let herself be moved. “Yep, don’t want to hold you up.” She had no interest in a prolonged visit with these two. “I should be going, anyway. I have an important project to finish, so it’s time I got to work.” She glanced at Jake and her heart constricted. His jaw was clenched as if anticipating a blow. She understood the feeling.
She stepped closer to him. He’d worn his sunglasses, so she couldn’t see his eyes. Might be just as well. “Take care of yourself,” she said softly.
His voice was husky. “You, too.”
She turned and fled. Hearing the grief in those two words nearly destroyed her. Somehow she got her truck started. By some miracle nobody was on the road, because she backed onto it without looking and peeled out.
She didn’t remember the drive back around the lake, but somehow she pulled into the parking spot beside the path leading to her cabin. Leaving her truck, she hurried down the path, fighting tears all the way. She didn’t dare break down. Lionel would show up in less than thirty minutes, and she instinctively knew that if she let go, she’d still be crying when he arrived.
I love you, Rachel.
The words brought her to a screeching halt. She looked around, almost expecting to see Jake. But of course he wasn’t here. He was at his cabin with Ann and Bruce.
Yet he’d sent her a message with the words he hadn’t been able to say before she’d left. Taking a calming breath, she focused all her attention on him and returned the favor. I love you, Jake.
Warmth enveloped her, as if he’d mentally wrapped his arms around her. She knew that in his mind, he had.
Then he sent one more word winging over the lake. Always.
She concentrated on him with all her might. Yes, my love. Always. And that would have to sustain her. Walking toward her cabin, she vowed that it would.
She hadn’t locked up because she’d known she was coming right back. As she opened the front door, she thought about the breakfast dishes waiting for her. She might not be able to face them without breaking down.
So she’d leave them. Might as well walk straight out the back door and over to her shop. Work would help. It always did.
She’d taken two steps in that direction when she heard a soft noise behind her. And something didn’t smell right, either. Maybe she was developing Were sensitivities.
She started to turn around, but before she could, someone grabbed her from behind. She would have screamed, but a hand holding an acrid-smelling cloth covered her nose and mouth with a grip like iron. She struggled for only a second before everything went black.
Chapter 23
Ann and Bruce had come armed with packing boxes and offered to tackle that job. Jake hadn’t moved in years, so he gladly turned the chore over to them. He was about to call a local real estate agent about selling the cabin when he had the strangest feeling, as if his contact with Rachel had been abruptly cut off.
Although she hadn’t sent him any more messages after her last one, he’d still sensed a connection humming between them. Now there was nothing, as if the line had gone dead.
Well, maybe that’s the way she wanted it. Because her dramatic exit had meant they’d left important words unsaid, he’d sent them to her telepathically. When she’d returned his message, his heartache had eased a little.
Hers might have, too. If so, she’d probably retreated to gather her forces. Maybe she’d gone out to her shop and immersed herself in her work. He could picture her doing that.
If plunging back into normal life helped her, then he didn’t want to interfere with that. In fact, he might as well do the same. He made his call to the real estate agent, who arranged to come right out with the necessary papers.
Considering how long Jake had lived in Polecat, he was surprised at how quickly his connection to the community could be severed. A couple of phone calls to the utilities took care of that. Once the real estate agent arrived and he’d signed the listing papers, he’d be cut loose from his former home.
The way Ann and Bruce were working, they’d have him packed up in no time. They’d convinced him to leave everything except his clothes and his food. They’d even talked him out of taking any of his books.
While both of them were busy in the kitchen sorting through the cupboards, he glanced over the books and decided they were right about leaving them. He’d read all the paperbacks and didn’t plan to read them again. He wouldn’t need Alaskan hiking-trail information anymore.
And now was the time to jettison Alaskan Artisans of Today. He should take Rachel’s note out, though. He didn’t want some stranger to find it and sell it on eBay. But the note wasn’t there. He riffled through the pages, thinking he might have tucked it in a different section.
Finally he turned the book upside down and shook it. No note. Okay, that was strange. Or . . . maybe not. He thought of all the snooping Rachel had done prior to his coming home from San Francisco. She’d probably noticed this book. If she’d opened it and found her note, she might have taken it out, planning to ask him about it eventually.
With all they’d had going on, it was no wonder she’d forgotten the note. Come to think of it, she still had his favorite T-shirt, too. He’d noticed it draped over one of her dining chairs this morning and had meant to stuff it in the plastic bag with the other dirty clothes. But their discussion during breakfast had become awkward and she’d been eager to get him out of there. He hadn’t remembered to grab the shirt.
“If you’re considering taking that book, I would advise against it.”
Jake glanced up to discover Bruce gazing at him from the kitchen doorway. “It’s an expensive book.” Jake hadn’t planned to take it, but he didn’t care for Bruce’s commanding tone. “Besides that, it would be a good souvenir of my life here.”
“It has Rachel Miller in it. You’d be better off leaving it here.”
That might be a true statement, but something about it bothered Jake. Finally he figured out what it was. “How do you know Rachel’s in here?”
Bruce’s gaze shifted. Not much, but enough to give him away. “It was a good guess, judging from the title.”
“I don’t think you were guessing, Bruce.”
The older Were shrugged. “Okay, I looked at it.”
“When?” Although Jake had been on the phone for the past half hour, he’d been right here in the living room. Until a few minutes ago he’d thought Rachel’s note was still in the book. Because of that note, he certainly would have noticed if Bruce had pulled the book off the shelf.