His Ultimate Temptation. Susan Crosby
before the number she’d dialed hundreds of times surfaced in her consciousness.
“It’s Leslie,” she said when her longtime friend Gabriel Marquez answered. If he’d been single instead of recently married, she might have unburdened herself to him.
“Since when have you needed to identify yourself, Les?” he asked.
“I was, um, trying to do two things at once. Listen, can I have a rain check on dinner?”
“What’s wrong?”
His tone of voice told her he heard below the surface of her words. They’d known each other too long for her to hide much from him. Her eyes stung at the relief that knowledge brought. She swallowed hard, coming to a decision about what she needed to do.
“I just realized I can’t stand the thought of spending Christmas at home without Erin. I need to know if anyone is using the cabin over the holidays. Is Sebastian there?”
A heavy silence preceded his answer. “That would be too dangerous for him, I would think. His name is on the deed.”
“You and Chase aren’t going anywhere, and Ben’s taken Erin to Aspen for the holidays, so I’m going to head to the cabin for a few days.”
“Les—”
“This is a good time, with Erin gone. I’ll be fine alone, so don’t worry about me, okay?”
“What’s going on?”
“I just need to be by myself, Gabe. I’ll tell you why when I get back. And don’t worry,” she repeated. “Ben is supposed to call me at your house when he and Erin arrive at their hotel, which should be within the hour. I guess he’ll need to know where to contact me, but don’t tell anyone else.”
His response was slow to come. “Drive carefully,” he said finally. “It’ll be midnight by the time you get there, and probably icy. If you don’t have chains, get some. Better yet, borrow Sebastian’s Jeep so you’ve got a four-wheel-drive. It’s been sitting too long, anyway.”
“Good idea. Tell Cristina I’m sorry for canceling out at the last minute.”
She murmured a quick goodbye then hung up, her plans giving her purpose now...focus. Essential tasks awaited her—clothes, food, car. Then the long drive from San Francisco to North Lake Tahoe, to the secluded cabin with its thousand memories—and one painfully fresh new one.
Leslie was in no danger of falling asleep at the wheel during the long drive up the mountain road. Anger and insecurity gnawed at her, even as she tried to ignore the day’s events by singing Christmas carols continuously. She roasted chestnuts with Mel Tormé and guided Rudolph through his foggy night until her throat felt raw. Her bells stopped jingling. Her night turned silent.
Which left her mind free to wander during the final minutes of her journey. She should examine the incident that had turned her world upside down, but she didn’t want to think about it yet, afraid of what she might discover. Instead, she focused on the cabin.
She would find peace and privacy there, the solace of happy times. It was her first visit since her divorce, over two years ago. Over three years, technically, adding on the legal waiting period preceding the final decree.
Her first trip without Ben. Her first trip alone in all her thirty-two years.
Rounding the final bend of the road, she pulled into the driveway, the car that had been trailing her for miles continuing on after a friendly beep of farewell. A full moon reflected light off the snow, silhouetting the log structure, a small, two-bedroom cabin offering few modern amenities. Handmade quilts on the beds and photographs on the mantel told the history of the five friends who had constructed the cabin twelve years ago. She would find her answers here in the place she’d helped build, the place where they’d shared family vacations. Where Erin was conceived—
She derailed that train of memories instantly, as well as a darker picture—Ben bringing some other woman here, to their place.
Shutting off the ignition with a violent twist, she rested her forehead against the steering wheel, her body too tired to maneuver the car into the narrow garage, her mind too cluttered with painful images. She forced herself out of the Jeep, then made several trips up the icy path to deposit her belongings on the porch. Even though the nearest cabin was a half mile away, the scent of wood smoke drifted in the night sky, the fragrance making her anxious to get her own fire going, the soothing crackle of burning logs suddenly necessary to her sanity. She could cry until morning, if she felt like it. No one would see or hear her.
Her key slid into the lock easily; the door swung open on silent hinges. Warm air hit her face. Warm? With just her fingertips she tapped the door wide and peeked in. Embers glowed in the stone fireplace. Embers?
“Hold it right there.”
The commanding voice rammed an ice pick into her frozen fear, splitting it into pieces, then relief flashed like fire through her. How could he be—
Lights came on, bright and startling, revealing a tall man with dark, sleep-rumpled hair and stunned hazel eyes that stared down the barrel of a hunting rifle pointed directly at her. A man wearing only sweatpants, leaving his chest bare. Drained of fear, she studied that broad, perfect chest and shoulders, the flat abdomen, then the line of dark hair that disappeared temptingly behind the fabric.
Great. The perfect punctuation to her horror story of a day—her ex-husband. Almost naked.
“Les.” Lowering the tip of a rifle, he swiped a hand down his face. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Irritated that he’d undoubtedly caught her drooling over him, she crossed her arms. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in Aspen.”
He set the rifle aside. “And you’re supposed to be working.”
“I’m taking a few days off,” she said, taming away to drag her suitcase, ice chest and grocery bags from the porch into the living room before she shut the door on the cold night.
“You volunteered to be the on-call inspector, because Erin wouldn’t be home.”
She shrugged. “I changed my mind. Why are you here?”
He took a few steps toward her, away from the bedrooms. “Our plane was grounded because of a mechanical problem. When the airlines announced a delay of at least six hours, Erin and I talked it over and decided to come here instead.”
“And miss spending Christmas hobnobbing with fellow celebrities?”
“I don’t have to defend my actions to you, Les, but I got back yesterday from a long business trip, as you know. And Erin was just as happy to come here and ski at Alpine.”
Leslie hung up her jacket, then carried the ice chest into the kitchen, setting it on the floor beside the refrigerator. What was she supposed to do now? She couldn’t stay. She couldn’t go, either. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide.
“You’re staying?” he asked, following her into the kitchen.
Irritated that his thoughts were echoing hers, she faced him abruptly, planting her fists on her hips. “You expect me to find someplace else? After midnight?” A horrible thought struck her. “Oh, God. You brought someone with you. You brought a woman.”
“With Erin here?” he fired back.
“Mom?”
Leslie jerked her head toward the doorway as Erin shuffled into the kitchen, squinting against the light.
“It is you! What are you doing here, Mom?”
“The question of the day,” Leslie muttered in return, drawing Erin into a hug, squeezing her as if she hadn’t seen her for a week instead of less than a day. “Looks like we both had a change of plans.”
Erin stepped back, smiling at one parent, then the other. “We’ll all