Police Department Property.
She didn’t want to know. Tomorrow. She felt like Scarlett O’Hara. Tomorrow she’d think about it.
And tonight? Oh, yes, tonight.
Jack slowed the Jeep as the winding high mountain road ended in front of a small picturesque stone-and-log ski lodge straight out of the 1950s.
In the moonlight, she could see what looked like a ski chalet off to the right and halfway up the mountainside. An old-fashioned chairlift ran from the other side of the lodge up past the chalet to the peak of the mountain.
“Jack, it’s…enchanting,” she said, realizing it was a word she doubted she’d ever used before, but that fit perfectly.
“Yeah?” he said, sounding pleased. “But what do you think of the view?” He switched off the headlights and turned in his seat to look back.
She turned then, too, and caught her breath. “Oh.” That was all she could say. The mountain dropped in a patchwork quilt of moonlight-bathed rock and pine, to smooth rolling foothills, finally falling away to the distant sparkle of Missoula’s city lights. “Oh.”
He laughed. “I take it, you like the view?”
“I love the view.”
He climbed out of the Jeep and she followed him to the edge of the mountainside. She stood next to him, breathing in the cold pine-scented mountain air. That sense of freedom she’d felt earlier was magnified by this place. And this man.
She shifted her gaze to Jack. He stood looking out at the view, his face a portrait of contentment. She felt drawn to him as if this was where she’d been headed all her life. Crazy.
He turned to look at her, his eyes bright with an intensity that raced her heart and made her think maybe it wasn’t so crazy, after all. She shivered at the thought.
“Cold?” he asked.
She hugged herself. “Maybe a little.”
“Let’s get you inside, then, and I’ll start a fire.” On the way past the Jeep, he grabbed the bag of groceries and led her toward the ski lodge.
“Is this yours?” she asked as they climbed the steps.
“It needs a lot of work, but it’s all mine.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t know there were still places like this around.” She caught his expression and realized he’d taken it wrong. “It’s wonderful, Jack. What a find. It’s like it hasn’t been touched in over forty years.”
“It’s exactly like that,” he said as he opened the front door. Off in the distance, a gas generator cranked over and rumbled to life. The lights came on inside the lodge and Jack stepped aside to let her enter.
Karen took one step and stopped. “Oh, Jack.” It was like a cabin her grandparents owned in the Gallatin Canyon, rustic and very Western, yet homey with old-fashioned furniture, handmade woven rugs, thick slatted pine flooring and a stone fireplace.
“I think ‘Oh, Jack’ means you like it?” he asked, lifting a brow as he smiled over at her.
“Oh, yes.” She moved to a log hutch and ran her hand over the varnished wood. “How did you find this place?”
“It found me,” he said, taking the groceries to the kitchen. “It belonged to my great-uncle. I hardly knew him but when he passed on last month, he left it to me.”
“How wonderful! I mean—”
He laughed. “I know what you mean. The rest of my family thinks it’s a white elephant. They all think I should tear down the buildings, sell the land and use the money to buy myself a nice condo in town.”
“You wouldn’t!” she cried.
He turned to look over his shoulder at her. “I haven’t really made up my mind yet. That was something I planned to decide after I’d spent some time up here and really looked the place over. It would take a lot of work—”
“But it will be worth it,” she chimed in.
He laughed. “Well, at least now I know a good woodworker.”
His gaze warmed her like summer sun. “Can I help you with dinner?”
JACK BUILT A FIRE in the stone fireplace then cooked two thick, juicy steaks over the coals, while Karen made a salad to go with everything else he’d bought for their dinner.
“So what were you doing before you came home to run the family business?” he asked after they’d eaten and had fallen into a companionable silence in front of the fire.
“Finishing up a degree in child development,” she said. “A friend wanted me to teach at her preschool.”
“No kidding.”
Something about the way he said it made her look over at him. He was smiling, his brown eyes warm and full