My skis are shot. Youll have to give me a lift back to the lodge.
Kylie nodded and rushed over to help him, slipping and almost colliding with him. He reached out and grabbed her elbow, effortlessly keeping her from taking a tumble. She could feel the heat and strength of his grip sink down through the thick lining of her coat and singe her raw nerve endings.
Sorry, its more slippery than I thought.
All the more reason not to barrel down a road with little regard for what might be around the next curve.
His tone was clipped, impatient. He was not in a forgiving mood. The possibility of a lawsuit loomed in the back of Kylies mind.
Lord, could her luck get any worse? She considered sitting down in the middle of the road and crying. With a whopping tuition bill due in January, she was fairly certain things couldnt get much bleaker.
But she quickly brushed aside the thought. She was made of tougher stuff than that. She could handle this.
Clenching her fists, she studied the mans face. He looked familiar. Something about the classic lines of his angular face, the strong Roman nose and dark eyebrows over bluish-gray eyes, struck a cord in her. She knew him from somewhere, but for the life of her she couldnt place him.
She stuck out a hand. Im Kylie McKee.
He ignored her hand and swung his skis over one broad shoulder. Michael Emerson.
Damn! Of course, she knew him. How could she have not realized? He wasnt just Michael Emerson, he was Michael Thomas Emerson, III. His ancestors were founding members of Cloudspin Lodge.
In fact, if memory served her right, he was the current president of the lodges board of directors. She choked back her dismay.
She could only hope he hadnt recognized her name or remembered that he actually knew her. If he did remember, Kylie knew that meant shed have to deal with the memory of their last meetingthe night things had gone horribly wrong. The night her life had changed forever.
His life, too, no doubt.
As if on cue a frown popped up between his brows. McKee? You wouldnt by any chance be related to Daniel McKee, would you? His daughter perhaps?
Kylie nodded, resigning herself to the inevitable. But instead of questions, the fierceness in his eyes softened just a tad. I was sorry to hear about your fathers passing.
Thank you.
Hell be missed. He was a good man.
Sadness clouded Kylies throat, preventing her from speaking. She managed a small nod.
Youve changed some since I saw you last.
She nodded again but kept silent.
What was one supposed to say to a comment like that? Of course she had changed. Shed been thirteen the last time shed seen Michael Emerson. Thirteen and banished to a private school at her fathers insistence. It had been a well-meaning attempt on her fathers part to get her away from the lodge and the influence of its wealthy patrons and their out-of-control offspring.
Her father had always believed that the guests at Cloudspin were morally corrupt, people who had more money and time than they knew what to do with. How many times had he lectured her over dinner about idle hands are the Devils tool. And in the end, her father had been proven right. There was no getting around the fact that Andrea Greenleys death had proved that.
In any case, her fathers decision to send her away hadnt been easy on either of them. Financially or emotionally. But the financial part had been particularly hard. On a caretakers salary, he had struggled for four years to pay her tuition to private boarding school. Even the partial scholarship shed received hadnt provided much relief.
Lucky for him, she had inherited her mothers quick intellect and had graduated early, earning a full academic scholarship to college. Medical school had been her responsibility.
But perhaps worse than the financial debt had been the emotional distance the separation had created between father and daughter. A distance they had never completely recovered from. Kylie regretted that more than any debt she had inherited.
She watched as a smile touched the corners of Michaels mouth, deepening the interesting grooves that etched the sides of his lean cheeks.
She noted the rough, unshaven line of his jaw, a look that gave him a slightly dangerous edge. It touched off a strange sensation in her, almost as if she were thirteen again and crushing on him from afar.
Impatient, she pushed the feeling aside. No way was she going back to that place. Too much adolescent angst in there. Shed grown past all of that. Or at least she thought she had.
You used to hang out with Gracie Greenley, right? He cocked his head and his smile took on a teasing twist to one corner. If Im remembering correctly, the two of you used to climb trees and spy on us older kids. And you were the one who was always falling out of trees or tripping over rocks. Nikki Greenley was always calling you klutz, right?
Wonderful. Why was it that when you met someone from your childhood they always remembered the embarrassing moments? Why the hell couldnt he have remembered her as having great legs or a devastating smile? Blood rushed up the sides of her neck.
Yeah, that was me.
He studied her for a moment, and she saw a flash of something close to regret enter his eyes. We were a pretty self-centered bunch of yahoos back then, werent we?
You could say that.
Well, you have to admit that you and Gracie were pretty relentless in your pursuit of us. Nikki hated it when her little sister turned up. I think she saw Gracie as cramping her style.
I guess everyone feels that way about their younger siblings. Kylie shrugged. But we only wanted to hang out with the cool kids.
Oh, so youre saying that we were the cool kids, huh?
The teasing note in his voice irritated her. Who was he kidding? Of course theyd been the cool kids. He knew that. Michael had been their leader, the instigator of all the wild, carefree parties out at the swimming hole. Parties she and Gracie would have died to have been invited to.
But Michael had always chased them off, telling them they were too young. That was until the night she and Gracie had wangled an invitation out of one of the younger boys who had taken pity on them. An invitation Kylie wished they had never accepted.
For a moment, fear tumbled around in the pit of her stomach. Would Michael want to talk about that night? Would he want to discuss how it had changed their lives?
She waited, but he turned away, glancing in the direction of her car.
I suppose youre here to clean out your fathers belongings.
She nodded. I need to get thing boxed up and into storage. The manager told me that the new caretaker will be moving into the cottage sometime next week.
A stiff breeze whipped down the center of the road and sent chunks of snow flying off the branches of the pines. A hefty clump landed on her right shoulder and several icy chunks slid down the back of her neck. Kylie shivered.
Michael slipped off his glove and casually brushed the snow off the back of her neck. The warmth of his fingers against her cold skin sent a shiver rocketing through her, and she knew her reaction had nothing to do with the coldness of the snow.
He glanced down at her, seeming to notice for the first time that her body was racked with chills. Why dont we get out of this cold and into the warmth of the car. You can give me a lift up to the lodge. But Ill drive.
I think I can manage to drive my own car, she protested.
No doubt. But try humoring me. Im a man and I like to feel in control.
You should work on that, Kylie grumbled, even though shed already decided not to argue.
She opened the hatch of the Civic, and he shoved his damaged skis into the back end, slamming the trunk shut. She opened the passengers side door with numb fingers and climbed in.
The heat blasting out of the vents poured over her body and she breathed a sigh of relief. The ice in her veins started to melt.
The drivers side door opened and he threw his ski hat onto the console between them. Expensive with a prominent gold logo on the band and a thick, tight knit to keep out the cold. Only the best for Michael Emerson.
Ill pay for the skis of course, she said as he slipped behind the wheel and eased the car into Low. Youll have to let me know how much I owe you.
No need for that. They were an old pair. I have others.
She was fairly certain he did. Many others. But replacing the skis was a matter of principle to her.
Id still like to pay you. The accident was my fault.
He laughed, the sound rich and deep. Youre right, it was. So if you have a real need to repay me, Ill settle for a drink when we get to the lodge. Preferably something strong enough to take the chill off.
I think I can manage that.
She didnt add that she was only too aware that hanging out in the bar of the Cloudspin, no matter how empty the place was this time of the year, wasnt something that an employee or a member of their family did. She made a note to herself to send him a nice bottle of wine when she got back to civilization.
His hands, large and capable, gripped the wheel with ease, and she found herself shooting quick glances in his direction, studying his profile and attempting to connect her memories of the arrogant teenager with the man who now sat next to her.
Hed grown up with an easy confidence, a sense of entitlement that only the rich seemed to master.
Not that any of that surprised Kylie. Eleven years ago, when other teens she knew had fumbled and stammered their way through adolescence, Michael had breezed through with ease.
At eighteen, he had commanded the undivided attention of all the females around him, young and old alike. The women had swarmed around him like anxious bees to honey, fluttering and buzzing for his attention.
Not that Michael had shown any indication that he was bothered by all that fluttering. Hed taken it in stride. Even back then, rumors about his sexual escapades had ripped through the employees like wildfire.
But in spite of how shed felt about his youthful behavior, Kylie kept track of him over the years, and his high profile career in photography and adventure sports had made it a relatively easy undertaking. Hed become a media darling.
Shed been unable to deny her fascination with him. Shed found herself tied to him in some strange way. Just as she had found herself tied to the other teens who had been there that summer eleven years agoa wild pack of party animals who had lived for the moment
Although her father had sent her away shortly after that night and she had never communicated with any of the others again, Kylie had felt oddly connected to Michael and the other teens from that summer so long ago. Sometimes she felt as though they were locked in a strange time warp.
Whenever Michael had an article in Explorer magazine, articles with his famous scrawling signature accompanied by a perfectly drawn soaring eagle at the bottom, she had devoured them. They revealed a man hooked on perilous climbing expeditions and risky white-water rafting trips. A man who took chances with his life, a true adrenaline junkie.
But it was when the stories about the Manhattan Slasher hit the tabloids and the mainstream papers that shed really sat up and taken notice. She couldnt help but wonder about the young man shed known as a teen. Was it possible that hed become the killer the papers speculated about?
Had the terrible accident theyd all been a part of created some kind of monster? Kylie knew only too well how Andrea Greenleys death had affected her.
She shifted in the seat, suddenly anxious to reach the lodge. Something told her that the sooner she completed her business and returned to New York, the safer shed feel. The further away the nightmare of that night would be.
Glancing up, she noticed they were passing through the stone pillars leading to the main lodge. On either side of the car, elegant, multimillion-dollar homes appeared, each building strategically set among groves of towering pines.
Does your family still own Bratton Cottage? she asked.
He nodded, his gaze fixed on the treacherous roadway.
So, youre staying there instead of the lodge? She knew she was talking too fast, her nervousness revealed in a need to make conversation.
No, I built my own place a few years ago. Its on a lot close to Bratton Cottage.
Some of the members, ones whose membership extended back to the early 1800s, had been able to lease land from Cloudspin and build their own vacation homes. Their homes were passed on from generation to generation, the leases expiring after ninety-nine years but with a clause for automatic renewal.
The less fortunate members, the ones unable to afford the exorbitant leases or the cost of building one of the obscenely luxurious homes, stayed at the main lodge.
I always liked Bratton Cottage, Kylie said. It was one of the few places that seemed to fit in with the surrounding scenery.
Probably because its one of the original cottages. It was built around the same time as the lodge. Rustic. He tossed another quick glance in her direction. Of course, my father added a few modern conveniences in order to entice my mother to agree to summer here rather than the city. Not that she ever really minded.
Nervous, Kylie chewed on a corner of her fingernail. I always thought some of the newer homes were a bit pretentious. A bit too modern for the Adirondacks.
He glanced sideways at her, and embarrassed, Kylie shoved her hand back into her lap. She wondered if she might have offended him with her criticism of his friends homes.
Im glad to see that you havent changed.
What do you mean?
The chewing of your fingernails and he reached out and turned the heat down a notch the fact that you were never overly impressed with people. You were never shy about speaking your mind.
She was glad he had turned down the heat. Her cheeks felt overly warm. My father always told me to mind my tongue and keep my fingers out of my mouth.
Im guessing you didnt listen real hard to that particular directive.
She laughed. Youre right. But then I never claimed to be Miss Manners. Must be because I never went to finishing school.
Good thing. A woman who speaks her mind is a person to be respected. Or so my mother always said.
From what I remember of your mother, she wasnt afraid to speak her mind, either.
You remember right. And for what its worth, she would have agreed with your assessment of some of the homes. She hated to see the destruction of the lodges natural beauty. When she served as president of Cloudspins governing board over fifteen years ago, she insisted on bylaws that preserved and restricted the development of the land.