Mary Wilson - Holiday Homecoming

“Sir? Where may I take you?”

Cain climbed in and said, “The lodge, to see Mr. Prescott.”

“Yes, sir,” the attendant said, and he took off quickly. He stopped at the side entrance, and smiled at Cain. “Dial star 9 and ask for James when you need a ride back.”

“You bet, James,” he said, then stepped out and headed to the door. Once inside, he went to the private elevator, punched in the code, and the doors opened. But this time the car was empty. No Holly. He hit the up button, and moments later he was stepping out of the elevator into Jack’s outer room. He started for the inner door, but hesitated when he heard Jack speaking to someone.

“I’ve tried to understand this, but I can’t. All I can come up with is you’re going after more money, and if that’s the case…” His words trailed off, and Cain waited by the door for someone to respond. When no one did, he assumed Jack was on the phone, and pushed the door back to step into Jack’s suite.

He’d barely taken two steps, when he halted in his tracks. Jack wasn’t on the phone at all. He was talking to Holly. She was sitting on one of the two sofas by the fireplace, and Jack was standing over her. His whole attitude was subtly intimidating, and in that moment, Cain didn’t like it. He spoke up, getting their attention. “Well, look who’s here,” he drawled as he went closer to the two of them.

Both turned at the sound of his voice. Jack looked taken aback, but pleased. The man was in all black—another intimidation thing. Holly glanced at Cain, and he could see color dotting her cheeks; her mouth was set in a straight line. But this time the expression in her eyes wasn’t for Cain. She was furious, and he realized it had to be with Jack. “You made it down?” he asked her.

She stood quickly, forcing Jack to back up or make contact. He chose to back up. She was on her feet, appearing very vulnerable, skin pale next to her flaming hair, and wearing old jeans and a loose sweatshirt with the UNLV logo on it. “I went up, but you made it, obviously,” she said with a glance at him, before she looked back at Jack. “That’s about all I have to say,” she said, and moved away from Jack, toward Cain where she stopped and tilted her head to look up at him.

There was no anger in those amber eyes this time, just a subtle sense of—what? Desperation? Frustration? God, he wished he could read her expressions. She seemed so tiny in regular clothes, and he could see the rapid, shallow breaths lifting her high breasts under the old fleece of the sweatshirt.

For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what this woman was thinking at any given time. She wasn’t playing games; he was sure of that. There was no subtle baiting and flirting. Too bad, actually, that his lust, for lack of a better word, was so one-sided. “Can you move?” she asked in a low voice.

“I could,” he murmured, and saw the color come back into her cheeks. Her eyes were getting brighter. Tears? That shocked him. He glanced at Jack, who was watching both of them, and he heard himself saying something he hadn’t known he was going to say. “She’s the kid. The one who chased us off Old Man Jennings’ run years ago.” He looked back at Holly, but kept speaking to Jack. “Remember her yelling at us to get off her mountain?”

Jack laughed softly at that. “Yeah, I remember.”

Holly turned to Jack. “It still holds. Stay off my mountain,” she said, then spun to face Cain. “And that includes you.”

Cain held up one hand. “Whoa. I don’t have a clue what’s going on but all I did was ski one run.”

He could see her gather herself, and when she spoke, her voice was level, though tight. “All he wants to take is the whole mountain.”

“Get back to me later,” Jack said. “Think on it. Consider the offer.”

She slipped past Cain, and when she got to the door, she had her hand on the handle. “I don’t have to think on it or consider the offer. There’s no deal. It’s not for sale.” With that she left, closing the door quietly behind her.

“What in the hell was that all about?” he asked Jack.

“I want her property, and she’s playing hard to get,” he said as he crossed to the built-in bar. “Drink?”

“No, nothing,” Cain said. “What do you want it for?”

“To expand, give the guests a tougher run. And to…” He turned with a drink in his hand. He shrugged. “It’s right behind us, and I want it.”

“Like the old adage about climbing a mountain because it’s there?” he asked.

Jack crossed to the couch again. “I guess so. It’s great land, a fantastic run that can be developed for the guests to enjoy, and it’s totally private. Perfect,” he said, and sank onto the leather couch. He glanced up at Cain. “You know how great it is. You were up there this morning. I would have joined you if I’d had the time.”

Cain took a seat on the opposite couch, where Holly had been sitting. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Why didn’t you?”

“Business. About some land I own in town.” He motioned toward the door with a nod. “So, she was there?”

“Yeah. She was there, at the top, mad as hell I was on her land, and wanted me to hitchhike back here.”

Jack laughed at that. “You’re kidding me.”

“No, she was adamant about it.”

“And you…?”

“I headed down the run.”

Jack laughed again. “No surprise there.”

“Yeah, well, I face-planted in a soft spot.”

Jack guffawed, and Cain found himself joining in the laughter as Jack said, “I wish I’d seen that.”

“I bet you do,” Cain said.

Jack exhaled. “I remember carrying Joshua back after he wound himself around that tree on New Year’s Eve.”

“Well, that was a rough New Year’s Eve,” Cain said.

“What do you think of her?” Jack asked abruptly.

“Her?”

“Holly Winston.”

So, her full name was Holly Winston. “She’s a spitfire,” he murmured.

“And you like that in a woman?”

Cain knew Jack and he knew him well. “Forget it, Jack. She hates me and I’m going, probably this afternoon, so forget it.”

“Oh, hey, no, you can’t leave so soon.”

“I’ve got business and—”

“What about the wedding?”

“I’ll fly back for it.”

“What about the bachelor party?”

“You all come to the city. I’ll throw a bachelor party for Joshua he’ll never forget.”

“He’s not about to leave, and I can’t.”

Cain got up and went to the bar, opened a bottle of mineral water and drank a long swallow before striding over to the windows that overlooked the land around the resort. From here, you could almost make out the start of the run. Almost. The trees hid most of it. Damn, it looked straight up and down from here. “Are you going to offer her more money?” he asked.

“I’m not sure she’s after more money.”

“What does she want?”

“Beats me. I can’t figure her out.”

He turned. Jack got up, facing him across the room. “Join the club.”

“What happened on the mountain?”

“Nothing.” He reconsidered that. No, he’d almost done something really stupid. A kiss had been a thought, but before he could kiss her, he’d made himself stop. “She wanted me out of there, but the first time I saw her, she was angry. Then I saw her at the school. Same thing. She stared at me as if I’m something to scrape off the bottom of her shoe.”

“Oh, the old ‘love-hate’ploy?” Jack asked with a partial grin.

“No, it’s not ‘I hate you so you’ll be fascinated and run after me’ at all.”

The idea of her hating him was more disturbing than he’d realized until that moment. “Is she married?”