Was it really that bad?
I had cold split-pea soup and sour canned cherries for lunch and I havent bathed since yesterday morning. Yeah, it was bad.
So you didnt know how to light the stove? he asked.
Maybe you grew up knowing how to start a fire with flint and corncobs, but I havent a clue.
The poor thing. Hed meant to get her out of the way, not torture her.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave He should have known better than to try to deceive anyone. It never worked. Even if he succeeded in sending Sydney back to New York ignorant of the fact he was Sammy Oberlins son, what was to stop some other enterprising heir-finder from tracking him down the way Sydney had?
He should suck it up and tell her the truth. She was already mad at him. He would just have to make sure there were no knives or heavy, throwable objects within her reach when he told her he was going to refuse the inheritance.
Chapter Eight
Carry me to the bathroom, Sydney said the moment Russ brought her inside the cabin. Im taking a shower and no one is stopping me.
You really should elevate that foot.
Im taking a shower, she said through gritted teeth. I cannot stand being dirty one more instant.
The shower was actually a primitive tub conversion with a circular shower rod and a basic white plastic curtain. A tiny window let in just enough light to enable her to find the faucet. She reached inside the curtain and turned on the hot-water spigot. Nothing happened.
Russ hovered behind her, ready to catch her if she fell. Im afraid theres no hot water, only cold, Russ informed her.
The nightmare continues. Sydney closed her eyes, then opened them, hoping to change reality. Still no hot water. She closed that faucet and turned on the cold, which rewarded her with a gush of rusty water that gradually turned clear. It wasnt just cold, it was icy.
She didnt care. She turned on the shower, then started un-buttoning her blouse. Unless you want to see me naked, I suggest you leave.
He appeared to seriously consider the choice, which only made her madder. Hed blown any chances of seeing her naked when hed tricked her into coming out to this nightmare of a cabin.
Let me help you get your other shoe off, he said.
She was perfectly capable of doing that herself, but for some reason she let him help her. She sat on the edge of the tub while Russ unlaced her hiking boot. It felt sexy, having him remove an item of clothing, even if it was just a boot. She was ashamed to admit that riding on his back with her arms wrapped around him, shed become even more aware of him as a man-his scent, the hardness of his muscles.
She didnt understand how she could be so angry and aroused at the same time, but there it was.
I dont think my ankles broken, she said. Its starting to feel a little better. Whether this was the truth or merely wishful thinking, she didnt know.
Good. Ill go turn on the generator, then bring you a robe.
It was the coldest shower Sydney had ever taken. It was also the fastest, unless she wanted to turn blue all over and catch pneumonia. The only soap in evidence was a small sliver in the soap dish. She used it gratefully.
When she turned off the water and opened the curtain, she found a towel and a flannel bathrobe hanging on a hook on the back of the door. With the towel in one hand she rubbed herself briskly, supporting herself on a towel bar with the other, still standing on only one leg. Her teeth were chattering as she wrapped the soft, flannel robe around her body.
She washed her underthings in the sink and hung them over a towel bar to dry. Now she could think about sitting down someplace and resting.
When she emerged from the bathroom, Russ raced to her side to help her to the ratty old sofa where she could stretch out and prop up her leg. Her ankle throbbed like nothing shed ever felt before, and shed known pain in her life. Though shed only been five years old when shed been attacked by the dog, she remembered the excruciating pain of her injuries and the subsequent surgeries as if theyd happened last week.
Though she got queasy at even the thought of entering a hospital, she wondered if shed made the right decision in refusing the helicopter.
Would you rather go to bed? Russ asked.
Now, there was a loaded question. Her body responded as if hed meant it in a different way. Considering her current opinion of him, her body needed to get with the program. Um, no, the sofa. Im not much of a lying-around-in-bed-person.
Something tells me youre not much of a sitting-around-on-the-couch person, either. He set her down on the sofa, where she immediately stretched out.
Why do you say that?
It didnt take me long to figure out that youre one of those people who cant sit still. Your schedule is always packed and you like to multitask. You work hardand you play hard, but probably not often enough.
Are you a psychic or something? Hed nailed her. She was always trying to do two or three things at a time, always trying to squeeze one more client in, one more appointment early in the morning or in the evening. These past few months had been doubly hectic, tending to her father and his clients and his financial situation, keeping his house reasonably clean, cooking instead of eating out because her father missed her moms cooking, not that Shirley had been any better at it than Sydney, who was an awful cook. She had let her leisure activities, what there were of them, slide because there simply wasnt time.
Russ laughed. No, the signs are there for anyone to see. An unnatural attachment to your cell phone and restless hands. You fidget and drum your fingers and look at your watch a lot.
Idle hands are the devils tools, she quipped. I happen to like getting things done.
He opened an old trunk and pulled out another crocheted afghan in a hideous green and orange zigzag pattern, to go with the granny-square blanket. He settled both blankets over her, then propped her swollen ankle on a pillow. The blanket smells a little like mothballs, but I noticed you were shivering.
She wasnt surprised. The cabin had started to warm up earlier when the sun was shining through the windows. But now that the clouds had moved in, so had the chill.
Russ rubbed his hands together, obviously a bit chilled himself. Ill get a fire started in here.
The fire sounded wonderful. And just a little too cozy. While Russ went outside to get extra wood, Sydney delved into her backpack where shed stashed her purse and pulled out her pillbox. She always had Tylenol with her. Not that she ever got headaches, but she liked to be prepared for any eventuality. She swallowed a couple of caplets dry and hoped for the best.
What were they going to do stuck here until at least tomorrow? There was no television, no radio, no CD player. The only form of entertainment in evidence was a bookcase full of books. She supposed in a pinch she could wile away the hours by reading. Lord knew she didnt want to go back anywhere near those boxes of papers in the loft. Shed seen enough of Bert Klausens family to last a lifetime.
When Russ returned he had an armload of firewood for the stove. It looked like enough to keep them warm for a while. She watched with interest as he went about the business of building a fire.
My gosh, what did you do in here? He scratched his head as he stared into the pile of matches shed left on top of the logs shed loaded into the stove.
What does it look like? I tried to light a fire.
You cant just light logs with a match. You need kindling and starter material-
Well, I didnt know that! How do you do it?
You need small sticks first. He selected a few about the width of his finger and arranged them in a loose pile. Then you need something to get the fire started. Newspaper will do. There was, indeed, a stack of yellowed newspapers against the wall near the stove. He took a section, separated the pages and wrinkled one of them up, positioning it strategically in the pile of sticks, then grabbed the box of matches.
When he opened the box, a puzzled look crossed his face. How many did you use?
A bunch.
Well, lets hope Im better at this than you are, or were in for a cold night.
She didnt think she could stand another night freezing her butt off. Hmm. Maybe theyd have to snuggle together to conserve body warmth. Oh, hell, where had that thought come from? She was supposed to be mad at him.
He only took one match to do the job. In moments a cheerful blaze was burning inside the stove. Russ began feeding in larger sticks and logs. He watched it, occasionally poking it with a metal stick, until he was satisfied that the thing wasnt going to fizzle out. Finally he closed the grate.
Manly man makes fire. He was building heat in other places besides the stove. Apparently Sydneys hormones were not indifferent to the fire-building or the whole rescuing the damsel in distress. What next? Would he go out in the forest and bring home a woolly mammoth? And if he did, would she throw herself at him in a fit of abject feminine adoration? Why did this Daniel Boone stuff make him so appealing?
It was the novelty of it all, she decided. She didnt know many men in New York who could survive away from Manhattan for longer than a few hours. Some she knew would positively wither away without their daily Starbucks and New York Times crossword puzzle.
Russ sat in the big easy chair across from Sydney. So what was it like, growing up in New York? Did you have a big family?
No, Im an only. And it wasnt like I was raised in a skyscraper. We had a little house in Brooklyn-my father still lives there. I went to public school and did all the normal things.
I take it you were very close to your parents.
In a way. Truthfully, they were always so wrapped up in each other and the business that they never paid that much attention to me, so long as I stayed out of trouble. But I was okay with that. I didnt want them to dote on me the way my friends parents seemed to. I was always off doing my own thing, anyway. If there can be an upside to my moms death, its that my dad and I have grown closer. I know him better now than I ever have.
You followed in their footsteps, so there must have been some fondness there.
Sydney laughed. Probably I became a private investigator because I wanted to prove something to them. That I was as good as they were, something like that. But I found out I really did like the work. So its all turned out okay.
What was it like for you, growing up here? You did grow up here, didnt you? she qualified, remembering that Russ didnt have that strong Texas drawl common among Linharts residents.