Part 10 (1/2)
He bent and kissed her lightly. ”Night.”
And he was gone.
She walked into her room and closed the door, feeling impossibly happy and terrified all at the same time. What was going to happen when, inevitably, Egan discovered that her reason for going wasn't his reason for inviting her? Because things were bound to come to a head. And either way, he'd discover for himself that she wasn't the worldly woman he thought her. What would he do? She shuddered. He'd probably be furious enough to put her on the first plane to New York.
She reached for the doork.n.o.b. She almost went to tell him that she'd changed her mind. But the prospect of even a few days alone with him-to glory in his company-was like the prospect of heaven. And she was too besotted to give it up. Just a day, she promised herself. Just one day, and she'd confess everything and let him do his worst. But she had to have that precious time with him. It would last her all her life. It would be all she'd ever have of him.
Chapter Eight.
Her first sight of the Tetons as she and Egan flew over Jackson Hole made Kati catch her breath.
Seated beside Egan in the ranch's small jet, she stared down at the velvety white tops of the jagged peaks with wonder.
”Oh, it's beautiful,” she whispered. ”The most beautiful thing I've ever seen!”
”You've never been here in the winter, have you?” he asked, smiling. ”I'd forgotten. Honey, if you think this is something, wait until I get you on the Snake.”
”Snake?” Her ears perked up and she looked at him apprehensively.
”River,” he added. ”From the ranch house, we overlook the Snake, and the Tetons look like they're sitting over us.”
”I knew it was spectacular in the spring and summer,” she sighed, staring back out the window. ”But this is magic.”
He watched her with quiet, smiling eyes. ”I was born here, but it still sets me on my heels when I come home. A lot of battles have been fought over this land. By Shoshone and Arapaho and the white man, by ranchers and sheepmen and rustlers.”
She glanced at him. ”Are there still rustlers out West?”
”Of course, but now they work with trucks. We have a pretty good security system, though, so we don't lose many. Feeding the cattle during the winters is our biggest problem,” he said. ”We're pretty fanatical about haying out here, to get enough winter feed. A cow won't paw her way through the snow to get food, Kati. She'll stand there and starve first.”
”I didn't know that,” she said, fascinated.
”You've got a lot to learn, city lady,” he said with a soft laugh. ”But I'll teach you.”
That, she thought, was what she feared. But she only smiled and watched the familiar lines of the big two-story white frame house come into view as they headed for the landing strip beyond it.
”How old is the house, Egan?” Kati asked after Egan had told the pilot to take the jet to the Jackson airport where it was based.
”Oh, I guess around eighty or ninety years,” he said. He led her to a waiting pickup truck. ”My grandfather built it.”
”And called it White Lodge?” she asked, remembering that the ranch also was called by that name.
”No. That was my grandmother's idea. She was Shoshone,” he added with a smile.
She studied him quietly. ”And your grandfather? Was he dark?”
He nodded. ”The sun burns us brown. Despite all the d.a.m.ned paperwork, I still spend a lot of time on horseback.”
”Hi, Boss!” Ramey yelled out the window of the pickup truck.
”Hi, Ramey!” Egan called back. He opened the door and put Kati inside, jerking a thumb at Ramey to get him out from behind the wheel.
”I ain't such a bad driver,” Ramey grumbled.
”I don't care what kind of driver you are,” Egan reminded him as he got in next to Kati and shut the door. ”n.o.body drives me except me.”
”On account of Larry ran him into a tree,” Ramey explained as he shut his own door just before Egan started down the snowy ranch road. The young boy grinned at Egan's thunderous look. ”Broke Larry's nose.”
”Hitting the tree?” Kati asked innocently.
”Hitting the boss's fist afterward” Ramey chuckled.
Kati glanced at Egan. ”And I thought you were the sweetest-tempered man I'd ever met,” she said dryly.
Ramey's eyebrows arched. He started to speak, but Egan looked at him and that was all it took.
”Don't reckon you got a Chinook tucked in your bag somewheres?” Ramey asked instead, his blue eyes twinkling.
”A what?” Kati asked blankly.
”Chinook,” Egan said. ”It's a warm wind we get here in the winter. Melts the snow and gives us some relief.” He looked over her head at Ramey. ”How's the feed holding out?”
”Just fine. We'll make it, Gig says. Gig is our foreman,” Ramey reminded her. ”Kind of came with the ranch, if you know what I mean. n.o.body knows how old he is, and n.o.body's keen to ask him.”
”The answer might scare us,” Egan chuckled. ”d.a.m.n, this stuff is deep!”
He was running in the ruts Ramey had made coming to the landing strip, but it was still slow, hard going, and powdery snow was beginning to blow again.
”It'd be faster if we walked,” Ramey suggested.
”Or rode.” He shot a quick glance at Kati, letting his eyes run over her beige dress and high heels and short man-made fur coat. ”G.o.d, wouldn't you look right at home on horseback in that? I almost made you change before we left Ada's.”
She started to object to the wording and then let it go. Why start trouble?
”No comeback?” Egan chided. ”No remarks about my tyrannical personality?”
”Why, Mr. Winthrop, I'm the very soul of tact,” she said haughtily.
”Especially when you're telling me to go to h.e.l.l,” was the lightning comeback.
She flushed, noticing Ramey's puzzled look.
”We, uh, sometimes have our, uh, little differences,” she tried to explain.
”Yes, ma'am, I recall,” Ramey murmured, and she remembered that he'd been nearby when she had walked furiously off the ranch that summer.
She cleared her throat. ”Well, you do have the Tetons at your back door, don't you?” she asked Egan, who seemed to be enjoying her discomfort.