Authors: JJ Ellis,TA Ellis
Logan
was glad that he had his own outside entrance to the apartment. He didn’t want
to carry an unconscious woman through the busy grocery store. However, getting
her up the stairs would be fun. He left her in the truck long enough to unlock
the door then carried her inside and put her in his bedroom. The temperature
was dropping rapidly so he covered her up and turned the heater on. Food would
be first on the agenda and then he would get some information from her.
Luckily
his mother had made a casserole for him the night before so all he had to do
was heat it up. He put it in the oven then poured a glass of cold water from
the pitcher in his refrigerator. It was time to try to wake up sleeping beauty.
“Hey,”
he said softly, shaking her shoulder. “Miss!” he said louder. “It’s time to
wake up.
The
woman stirred and opened her eyes. This time the sight of him didn’t startle
her. “Where am I?”
“At
my apartment,” he said, helping her to sit up. “I didn’t know where else to
take you.” He held her upper body while helping her to take a sip of the water.
She tried to grab the glass from him but he pulled it away. “No, you need to
take it slow so you don’t get sick.”
“Sorry,”
she mumbled. "I’m just so thirsty.”
Logan
set the drink on the nightstand and reached out to take her hand. “Can you walk
or do you want me to carry you to the dining room?”
“Just
help me walk,” she said, standing up.
Her
body swayed to the side and Logan wrapped an arm around her. “Steady now.”
Just
as they reached the table the timer on the oven went off so he sat her in a
chair and instructed her to hold onto the table until he returned. The
casserole was steaming hot and when he pulled it out of the oven they both
heard her stomach growl.
“This
is my mother’s famous chicken and rice casserole,” he said. “I hope that’s
okay.”
“It’s
perfect,” she said with a small smile. “Even if I didn’t like it I wouldn’t
complain. I haven’t had ‘real’ food in over two weeks.”
Logan
brought a plate over to her and set it down. “Take it slow,” he warned as he
returned to the counter to get his plate and two glasses of water. When he sat
down, he paused, looking at her. “Are you ready to tell me what the hell is
going on?”
“What
do you want to know?” she asked softly before taking a bite of her food.
“Well
for starters, what's your name?”
She
took a quick drink and looked at him. “I’m scared to tell anyone.”
“I
have to call you something,” he said with a smile.
“Did
you say your last name is Harper?” she asked suddenly.
Taken
aback, Logan just stared at her for a moment. “Uh, yeah. Logan Harper.”
“Are
you related to Evelyn Harper?” she asked.
Logan
had no idea what she was getting at, but he figured he would let her speak her
piece. “She’s my mother, why?”
The
woman let out a long breath, looking relieved. “My name is Jayna McIntyre.”
“So,
how does my mom being Evelyn Harper change things? I think you should start at
the beginning.”
Jayna
took a few bites and a sip of her water before looking up at Logan. “I left…a
bad situation in Alaska and I asked my friend for help. But my ‘problem’ would
know to contact her, so she suggested I come here and contact the Harper
family. She said you could help me until I can decide what to do. That’s it.”
She shrugged and started to eat again.
“So
who’s your friend?” he asked after a while. He couldn’t imagine who would have
recommended his family for help.
“Deborah
Sharpe…um, Mannon.”
Okay,
now it made more sense. Deborah was his Cousin Jackson’s wife. “Okay,” he said.
“Exactly how can we help you?”
“I…I,”
she stammered. “I just need a place to stay until I can figure out what to do
about…about my problem.”
Logan
cleared the plates and took two homemade muffins out of the box he’d brought up
from the store. “You know, I’m going to need to know more about your problem
before I can help you. I’m assuming it is something that could be dangerous for
my family.”
“Yeah,”
she sighed, looking down. “I’m running from my ex. He’ll do
anything
to
find me.”
Logan
sat down at the table and handed Jayna a muffin. “So all I have to do is keep
you out of sight until you figure out what to do?”
“Yeah,”
she murmured. “I don’t even know where to begin though. I...I just need time to
think without having to watch my back so much.”
Logan
got up and walked to the sink. He started up the water and plugged the drain
before adding soap. “You can hide out here,” he said. “I’ll try to help you
figure out what to do next.”
“Thank
you,” she said through tears. “Deb was right about your family.”
Logan
turned to her and smiled. He would be making a phone call to Nevada as soon as
he got her settled in. He even contemplated taking her to his mom’s house. She
would have more room and it wasn’t right in the middle of town, but when he
approached her with the idea, she started to cry harder. Damn, a crying woman
was all he needed. “Okay, you can stay here,” he conceded. She had been saying
something about not wanting too many people to know where she was, and at the
moment, his mom’s house did have a few extra people in it.
The
dishes were washed, dried and put away before he finally looked up again. Jayna
had moved over to the couch and was lying there curled up under a throw. Her
color was better now, but she still looked beat. For the first time, he noticed
the shadow of a black eye still marking her face. She was pretty, in almost an
exotic way. The shape of her eyes was somehow different and her lips…they were
so full and….Oh he had to stop this! He didn’t want to be attracted to anyone,
especially someone who he would be in close contact with for Lord knows how
long. “Hey, I’m going to run out to my truck and get the stuff I rescued from
your car. I’ll be right back.”
“Thank
you,” she murmured as her eyes closed.
Logan
opened the door to go out and stopped suddenly. “Ah shit!”
“What?
What’s wrong?” Jayna asked, sitting bolt upright.
“I’m
sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said, embarrassed. “It looks like the
storm hit. It’s snowing like crazy out there.”
“My
stuff can wait,” she offered. “We can get it in the morning.”
“Sweetheart
if we wait until morning, your stuff will be buried under way too much snow.”
He grabbed his jacket and headed out into the blowing storm.
“This
is going to be a bad one if the wind doesn’t change directions,” he said
breathlessly as he entered the apartment again. "I haven’t seen an August
storm like this in probably twelve years.”
Jayna
was sitting up when he walked in. “I’m sorry you had to go out in that.”
Logan
smiled at her. “It’s a fact of life here in Wyoming.”
“In
Alaska too,” she said with a smile.
He
had to struggle to catch his breath. Something deep inside seemed to be
constricting when he saw her first genuine smile since he’d rescued her. “What
part of Alaska?” he was finally able to ask as he took her bags over to the
couch.
“Born
and raised in Anchorage, but I spent the last six years about a half hour
outside of Denali, working at The Heart of Alaska Resort.”
Logan
nodded and sat down next to her. “I know exactly where that is. The place is
famous in our family. My uncle got married there and we have vacationed there
in the past.”
“Deb
and I worked there together,” she confided. “And Reginald was our boss.”
“That’s
your ex?”
“Yeah,”
she said shakily.
“Boyfriend
or husband?”
“Just
boyfriend, thank God,” she sighed. “Unfortunately now the baby is involved in
this whole mess too.”
“I’m
really sorry you’re going through this. May I ask when you’re due?”
“The
first part of November. At one point I couldn’t wait to meet him and now I’m
scared to death to bring him into this world.”
Logan,
being far from the perfect confidant, started to get a bit uncomfortable with
the conversation. “I’m sorry. Hey, where would you like me to put your bags? I
figure you can take my room and I’ll take the couch.”
“Oh
no,” Jayna said. “I’ll be fine on the couch.”
“No,
you're seven months pregnant, you don’t need to be sleeping on an old
uncomfortable couch. I’ll take your bags to my room.” He stood up, grabbed the
bags and set them near his bed. When he turned around to leave the room, Jayna
was standing there with that beautiful, full smile again. His insides
constricted.
“Thank
you Logan.”
“You’re
welcome,” he murmured as he slipped past, brushing her pregnant belly. He
stopped in his tracks. “He kicked me!”
Jayna
laughed. “He did. He must like you.”
Logan
hurried out of the room fighting a bout of nausea. What the Hell was that
feeling he’d just had? It was warm, and fuzzy…and quite uncomfortable. When he
heard her call his name, he felt like crying. He just wanted to get away from
her. But he turned around and went back into the room. “What do you need?” he
asked as politely as he could muster.
“I…I
have a favor to ask,” she hedged. “I… would you stay in here while I take a
shower. I’m still so shaky but I really need to bathe.” She took a deep breath
and turned away. “I’m sorry. Never mind.”
Logan
walked over to her and put a hand on her arm. “Go ahead and shower. I’ll stay
here, just in case.”
“Are
you sure?” she asked, turning to him. Tears were shining in her eyes again.
“Yeah.
You deserve a shower after what you’ve been through.”
“Thank
you,” she cried softly as she grabbed one of her bags and slipped into the
bathroom, leaving the door ajar just enough for sound to travel out if need be.
Logan
sat down on the bed, feeling somewhat like a stranger in his own bedroom. He
wasn’t entirely sure what to do with himself. He picked his current read up off
of the nightstand and started to scan it. Concentration was almost impossible
at this point. He could only think of the beautiful, scared, totally off-limits
woman standing naked in his shower. Guilt and shame made him flush. How could
he even think of her like that? She was a complete stranger, pregnant with
another man’s child. And he didn’t want a woman in that way, at least not
emotionally. But that’s why he kept them at bay physically, so the emotions
couldn’t take over. He hadn’t been with a woman in two years and although
physically he missed it sometimes, he knew what he had to do to stay free, so
he did it.
Just
as he lie back on the bed to wait, he heard a loud noise come from the bathroom
and leapt up. “Are you okay Jayna?” he yelled.
“No!
Help me Logan,” she cried.
He
rushed in just as she started to fall to the shower floor. Catching her just in
time, he held her close to his body to try to stop her shaking. “Hey, it’s
okay. I’ve got you.”
“I
was just so dizzy,” she murmured, resting her head against his chest.
“Let’s
get you dried off and warm,” he said, adjusting her to be able to grab a towel.
He carried her out of the bathroom and laid her on the bed, covering her with
the towel. “You’re staying with me, right?” he asked gently.
“Yeah,”
she mumbled. “I’m so sorry. Help me sit up so I can dry myself off.”
“Sure,”
he said, lifting her by the shoulders so he could sit behind her. “Go ahead and
lean back against me.”
Her
shaky right hand reached for the towel covering her body. She started at her
arms, her breathing getting heavy.
“Hey,
let me do it,” he offered. “You’re going to make yourself pass out again.”
“Please
don’t,” she whimpered. “This is all embarrassing enough.”
“There’s
nothing to be embarrassed about,” he whispered calmly in her ear. “You need
help and I’m going to give it to you. That’s all there is to it.”
Jayna’s
hands dropped from the towel and she fell back against him. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s
okay,” he said, taking the towel to finish drying her off. The marks and faded
bruises that lined her chest and legs made him sick to his stomach. How a man
could do that to anyone, let alone the woman carrying his child, was something
he couldn’t fathom. “When was the last time he hurt you?”
“He
caught up with me a couple of weeks ago,” she whispered. “I was hiding in Deb’s
cabin just outside of Denali. Thank God the caretaker came by when he did…”
Logan
was nearly shaking with anger. “Have you had the baby checked out since – to
make sure he’s not hurt?”
“The
bastard made sure not to touch the baby,” she whispered.