Snowfall (3 page)

He was cinched up tight with bandages around his middle and looked to be in no pain thanks to the meds they’d given him. Fortunately, she kept a variety of supplies around for the dogs. The other dogs were keeping vigil in a circle around him and as a unit they lifted their heads to look at her as she knelt among them to stroke Apollo’s head. “You still okay, big guy?” she murmured. Grover, the Irish wolfhound and second in command, nudged in next to her and laid his head on her lap while Bernie the St. Bernard stayed where he was stretched along Apollo’s side. The smaller dogs, Lucy and Ethel, were huskies. They whimpered, scooted closer to Apollo and laid their heads on his paws. These were her pack, and without a doubt they all knew that they had almost lost their leader today.

She knew she wasn’t going back out there tonight, not after Jake had pulled that touchy-feely act, so she got comfortable and started singing. She was sure her voice wasn’t awful, after all dogs howled when you couldn’t sing, right? Nevertheless she hoped the guys stayed put because her pack were the only living beings she sang for and tonight they all needed it. She picked one of her favorites, “Will the Sun Ever Shine Again” from the Disney cartoon
Home on the Range
. It was a sweet but melancholy ballad that seemed to fit her mood right then so she forgot about everything but the comfort of her beloved dogs while she stroked their pelts and let the music come from her heart.

Jake stood outside the door and felt his eyes sting. Her voice was rich and smooth. She sang with a surprising alto that flowed like honey and made everything in him loosen with pleasure. He’d never heard the song before but knew it was now his favorite. She sang to those dogs like they were her kids, and he sent yet another thank you to God that Apollo had been spared.

He waited until the last haunting note faded before he pulled himself away to head for his guest room. Tomorrow was soon enough to start testing the waters. For tonight he would let her song be the good night he’d been going in search of. It was more than enough.

Chapter Six

“Grover.” Exasperation was loud and clear in Ashley’s voice. “If you don’t get out of my way you won’t get your breakfast.” She looked at him with his tongue hanging out in an expression that clearly told her he had no idea what her problem was. He underlined that by sitting right in front of the pantry door where his breakfast was stored. With a laugh and a grunt she shoved until she was able to get the dog out of the way.

“How can you get them to obey you outside like they did yesterday but you can’t get them to listen to you in the house?”

Ashley froze as tingles ran from her toes to her ears and every place between. His voice was deep and gravelly from sleep, and it awakened things in her she didn’t want to name. Without turning to face him, she scooped up enough food for the dogs, then headed toward the line of raised bowls under the kitchen windows. “They are trained. It’s my tone of voice and specific commands that they obey. If I don’t give them directions they know, they just do what they want.”

As soon as the kibble started to hit the bowls, barking and the thunder of running dogs filled the room as the others came scrambling in. With one exception, they each sat in front of a bowl waiting in quivering anticipation. Apollo was still zonked out on whatever it was Poncho had given him to help him sleep. She looked over her shoulder and winked at her houseguest after she’d filled each bowl, then went to put the scooper back in the food bin. As a whole the dogs stared with laser focus at their food, waiting for the command that would release them to eat.

“How long will they sit there?” Jake asked, obviously impressed.

Ashley heard the grudging wonder in his voice and felt a nice dose of pride in her pack. She turned to look at them waiting and staring at their food, Grover drooling like a garden hose was pouring from his mouth. She crossed her arms and bragged, “They won’t move until they get my signal. They’re good dogs.” Taking pity, mostly to save the patch of floor underneath Grover, she gave the signal and they dug in.

“Now, to feed the uninvited humans.” She turned back to the pantry and hauled out a bag of potatoes. “Start peeling, stud. This isn’t a restaurant.” Jake took the ten-pound bag with a grunt.

“You think I’m a stud, Ash?” He snagged one of her hands and tugged her back to him since she had immediately dove back into the pantry.

“Slip of the tongue.” Ashley tried not to let it show that her heart just took off like a jackrabbit. “What I meant was schmuck.” He had a great mouth. Why hadn’t she ever noticed that about him before?

Maybe it’s because it had never been this close, she thought as he leaned even closer and whispered, “Slip of your tongue, huh? I’d like to see just how slippery it is.” Then his mouth sealed on hers, and she forgot her own name.

His lips didn’t coax or tease, he just took, the way she was learning he did everything. As her knees melted she gave way and opened to him. Letting his taste fill her, she let his breath become hers and kissed him back, withholding nothing, because he would accept nothing less.

The potatoes fell with a thump as he wrapped his arms around her and hauled her against his hard body. Ashley groaned at the feel of him, all muscles and ridges. He swept one hand up her back to fist in her hair, angling her head for a deeper kiss while his other hand went south and grabbed on to one butt cheek. When he used that grip to lift her higher and grind her into the ridge between his thighs she tore her mouth away with a gasp and arched back.

She was wearing thin cotton sleep pants and a tank top. Plastered as she was to him, she didn’t notice that when she’d arched back one of her breasts had popped free. He did. With a groan Jake leaned down and engulfed the rosy tip in the melting heat of his mouth, sucking and tugging with lips and tongue.

Ashley wasn’t prepared. It was shocking, intense, way too much, way too soon. She felt her body gear up for an avalanche of an explosion and wrenched herself free before it could happen.

“No,” she panted, one hand covering the exposed breast, the other extended to ward him off. “Stop. I can’t do this.”

Jake stood there and stared at the vision in front of him. His body was on fire. He still felt the echo of her vibrating against him in need. She stood less than three feet away, one small hand covering the nipple that he’d just been tasting. Her streaky blonde hair was tousled around her flushed face and her green eyes were as bright as polished glass. He took a step closer, intending to give them both what their bodies were demanding. It took a second for the panic she was feeling to register in his lust-fogged brain.

“Ashley,” he had to take a breath before he could continue, “Fix your shirt or I’m going to think you want me to finish this.” He had to close his eyes and take some deep breaths as she did. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this close to losing control.

Eventually he unclenched his fists and bent to pick up the potatoes. As he carried them to the sink, she came up behind him. “Ashley,” his voice was harsh with pent-up desire and stopped whatever she’d been about to say. “I’m one touch or word away from dragging you to the floor. Give me a minute. In fact, why don’t you go shower and get dressed. I’ll make breakfast.” He felt her hesitation, the indecision keeping her rooted before she sighed and turned to leave the kitchen. “Ashley?” He turned and looked over his shoulder at her. “Do me a favor and wear something baggy. Maybe a muumuu if you want me to keep my hands to myself.” She shook her head at him, and he heard her mutter that he was an idiot as she continued on her way. He looked back at the spuds and thought she was probably right. Any man who let her walk away when she was so obviously turned on was an idiot.

Poncho came in five minutes later and started helping. As he cracked eggs he looked pointedly at Jake’s waistline. “You know you’re supposed to call a doctor if those last longer than four hours.”

Jake threw a dishtowel at him. “Jackass.” But the humor helped to bring him out of the erotic scenarios that’d been swirling in his mind.

Over omelets and country-fried potatoes, the three discussed plans for the duration of the winter.

“After yesterday you’ve got to know we need to be here.” Jake motioned with his fork. “That cougar was huge. And fearless. Way out of character and proportion. We have got to find out why they are so big up here and what is it about this mountain that makes them go against their natural instincts.”

“I know,” Ashley said as she forked up a bite without meeting his gaze. “I never disagreed with the need to study them. I only didn’t want you here while you did it. This is my home, and I like my solitude. The winters are the only time I get for myself. The rest of the year I’m swarmed with tourists and campers needing a million things a million times a day.” She slapped Poncho’s arm when she caught him trying to sneak food to one of the dogs, then continued.

“Well, that’s over now. You’re here and even if I wanted you gone, the storm we have coming would keep you here anyway. So, what’s the plan? Are we splitting up? If we each have two dogs we will be pretty safe. You guys saw for yourselves, my guys wouldn’t let us get hurt.” She reached down, gave a loving tug on Ethel’s ears and looked expectantly at the men.

“Poncho and I are going out as a team. You are staying the hell away from those woods. You’re right about the dogs though, after yesterday I don’t want you even in the yard without at least two of them with you. Not even on the porch, you hear me?”

Poncho gave an agreeing grunt and tried to sneak another bite to the dogs.

“Poncho.” Ashley slugged him this time, hard enough that he yelped. “You make my dogs into beggars and you
will
wake up to me standing over you with a sledgehammer.” Then she shoved from the table and took her dishes to the sink. “I didn’t want you here. But now that you are in my home, I’m not going to sit all day while you two are out there in those woods.

It’ll make me crazy, waiting all day not knowing if you’re hurt and need help.” She turned and leaned against the counter with her arms folded under her breasts and a determined gleam in her eye.

“Not gonna happen, Slim,” Jake said, following her example and bringing his dishes up to the sink. “It’s dangerous. We’re trained for this, we’re prepared and we know what to expect. You are just going to do whatever it is you usually do all winter and not worry about us.”

She looked at Poncho, who was still staring at her—slack jawed after her unkind threat. Unfortunately, he was no help once he recovered from his shock. “No way, Ash, I’m with him.”

“Fine,” Ashley said with a sniff, “I guess it wouldn’t matter to you big, strong, manly men that I know where the cougar hunting paths are then?”

That stopped them both, but Jake recovered first and said, “No. No it won’t. If you’re too ornery to save us time and tell us we’ll just have to find them ourselves.”

“Hmm.” Ashley studied her nails and pulled out the big one. “So, I guess it also won’t help to tell you I know where the den is either? Both dens.” Then she walked away while the two of them sputtered, and Jake started cursing like a sailor.

It took weeks to find the hunting trails of a wild cougar and most dens were never found. That she already had this information would save them time and resources that they couldn’t afford to waste. With more cursing Jake faced the fact that she was going with them and tried to come to terms with it. It wasn’t easy. The thought of her out there in danger was wreaking havoc in his gut.

“Man,” Poncho said with a supportive thump on his shoulder. “You got your work cut out for you with that one.”

“You got that right.” The two of them cleaned up the kitchen in silence, Jake’s mind moving past worry and on to the fact that a month’s worth of tedious and freezing work was magically behind them and what that would mean for the job.

That night they were all cold, wet and starving. Including the dogs. Ashley had led them to the trails and the two dens. Both were closer to her home and campground than either man was comfortable with. They set up motion-activated cameras and collected scat samples to try and ascertain what the cats were eating.

As soon as they entered the mudroom, Ashley shed her outer gear and stuffed her feet into bunny slippers. Then she dropped to her knees and started drying the dogs with the towels she had stacked by the door. Jake and Poncho did the same, minus the bunny slippers. “Thanks.” Ashley didn’t try and stop them. The dogs had earned their care and kept them all safe. Besides she was so beat. Even if they hadn’t done so on their own she would have asked for help cleaning them up.

“Of course,” Jake said with a full smile as he dodged Grover’s own version of a thank you—his drool-coated tongue. “These guys earned themselves a steak dinner, least we could do is help with the rub down.”

“Mmmm,” Ashley groaned. “Red meat. I’ll pull some out on my way to check on Apollo. You guys fire up the grill.” She stumbled out with bunny ears flopping.

“Must be love,” Poncho said as he grabbed a new towel and started on the last wet dog. “That girl is wearing long johns, had a runny red nose and pink fuzzy bunnies on her feet yet you’re smiling after her like she was a swimsuit model.”

Jake looked at him and grinned. “If it ain’t love, I’m going to be in trouble when the real thing does hit.” He finished drying the dog and trotted after her. long johns or not, they were wrapped around a mighty fine ass and he was going to see if he could get his hands on it before she covered it up with more layers.