The Runaway by Jennifer Bernard

Author:Jennifer Bernard
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781945944468
Publisher: JB Books

18

Even though Mark had never ridden on a four-wheeler before, he was instantly hooked. “It’s no Jet Ski, but it’s not bad,” he told her from the passenger seat.

“I used to pester my brothers to let me tie a sled to a four-wheeler, kind of like water skiing.”

“You’re kind of a dream girl, you know that?”

Her face glowed, though that might have been from the wind whipping against their skin as they bumped and rattled through the woods.

Nothing could have prepared him for the sheer splendor of the Cascades and the deep forests surrounding the lodge. Since it had been dark the night he and Gracie had almost escaped from the kidnapper, he’d never gotten a real look at their surroundings. And being only six, and terrified, he wouldn’t have noticed much anyway. Now, in the daylight, he saw only beauty.

“Hey, how far is the spot where your mother found you?” he asked Gracie.

“I honestly don’t know.” The question seemed to surprise her. “Mom knew these woods really well, so it could have been anywhere. She might have had a four-wheeler with her. There’s really no way to tell. Why?”

“No real reason.” He held on to the grip bar as they hurtled over a mound of snow. “Old times’ sake, I guess.”

“Silly.”

“Not a word people often use around me.” He smiled at the thought. “I’ll try to live up to it and not be so serious.”

“You’re fine.” She took one hand off the steering wheel to tug down the brim of her knitted conductor’s cap. “I don’t want you to change. I want you to stay exactly as you are. Kind of stern and serious. I love the challenge of trying to make you smile. It’s like climbing Mount Everest or something.”

“Oh, come on, I’m not that stern. I smile all the time. I wouldn’t have any customers if I didn’t.”

“Okay, then maybe you didn’t want to smile at me. I believe I’d been working at Ocean Shores three weeks before you finally flashed that dimple.”

“I don’t have a dimple. Do I have a dimple?” He touched his cheek, cold from the rush of early spring air. The roar of the four-wheeler made him wonder if he’d misheard her. Had she meant “pimple”?

“I guess you’ll have to smile at yourself in a mirror and find out.”

“Who the hell smiles at themselves in the mirror?”

“People who aren’t practicing their stern and manly expressions,” she said sassily.

He couldn’t wait to get her alone in that cabin and show her what happened when cute girls sassed him.

They rode up on a high ridge that offered unbelievable views of a wooded valley. He watched with a sense of awe as one majestic peak after another was revealed. “Pretty nice place you got here, Gracie.”

“Thanks. I guess our kidnapper picked a good spot to pee.”

He laughed, which let crisp air into his lungs. It tasted like young champagne, like wild strawberries and snow at dawn. Not a hint of salt in it, like the ocean air he was used to.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.