Plain Jane & The Hotshot by Meagan McKinney

Author:Meagan McKinney
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2003-03-13T05:00:00+00:00

Jo was abandoned in a little, sloping pine hollow somewhere that she did not know from the moon.

All she had to do was get back to camp, she told herself. She was smart enough to be a teacher, so she was smart enough to use the map Mother Nature had given her. Hazel had taught her well, she thought, looking up at the dusting of stars in the sky.

This was easy enough to do. It was just that she had Nick Kramer on her mind, instead of what she was supposed to be doing. She couldn’t stop worrying about that smoke jumper who was seriously hurt. Worrying that he had been Nick.

Shaking off her dread, she read the stars above her and said aloud as if to fortify herself, “This is the way.”

She sighted on a big knoll well ahead, wending her way through trees and bushes, the full moon making travel easy.

In fifteen minutes she reached the knoll.

Moving from point to point, she eventually reached a moonlit body of water: Wendigo Lake. It reflected in the moonlight like a liquid mirror. At her end she could see the narrow shadow of a dock. Beyond it, on the other side of the lake, was the paved road that wound up Lookout Mountain to Bridger’s Summit. From there she could find her way with her eyes closed.

Jo felt exhilarated by the accomplishment. Something had been growing slowly within her these past days, something unfamiliar but welcome. She felt it very strongly now and realized, with a sense of wonder, that it was confidence.

She headed toward the long, wooden dock that jutted well out into the kidney-shaped lake.

Although she would never admit it to anyone, she wanted to get back to the campground and see if there was any word about Nick. More and more, she was starting to think it was he who had been injured earlier.

That grim possibility made her replay, in her mind, all the nasty comments she’d hurled at him.

There’d certainly been plenty, she admitted ruefully. And what, really, had he done to deserve them? Because Ned had put her through the wringer, she turned around and punished Nick.

Just ahead of her in the moonlit darkness, a figure stepped onto the dock.

He walked to the far end, near the water. Then abruptly he turned and looked her way.

“Humans or bears?” he called out in an amiable tone, for it was too dark to discern faces at a distance.

Jo drew up short at the sound of the voice from the dark end of the dock.

For a brief moment warm relief flooded her as she realized Nick was all right, after all.

But then, right on the heels of that emotion came a sudden, hot rush of anger as she realized she’d been set up.

Hazel had been the one to drop her off. She’d been the one to plan Jo’s foray through the woods.

Jo would bet all the gold in Fort Knox that Hazel was playing matchmaker, and if Nick Kramer was playing along just to make her look like a fool, then he’d be sorry.

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