“Sure. I’ll be hoping for a yes.”
Me, too, she thought. “I’ll be touch. Bye.”
When she hung up the phone, Cassie was dancing from foot to foot. “You’re going away with him. This is so cool. You’ll be in wilderness. It’ll be romantic. Maybe you’ll see him na**d and we can get that picture for his fan club!”
Chloe’s heart was pounding and she wanted to jump up and down like her sister. Instead she shrugged. “It would be okay to go. I think it will add some dimension to my article.”
“Article-smarticle. I’m talking about adding some dimension to your life! Chloe and Arizona sittin’ in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”
“I’m ignoring you,” Chloe said as she walked out of the room.
“Confess,” Cassie called after her. “You want to see the man na**d.”
“I’m sure he’s not that impressive.”
“Liar!”
But Chloe didn’t know if the accusation came from her sister or her conscience. After all, she had seen Arizona without his clothes, and it had worked for her in a big way.
* * *
“I’M NOT sure what he’s going to look at,” Chloe continued nervously. “But I think seeing an archaeological dig and watching him work will add depth to the story.”
Jerry didn’t even look up from the papers he was reading. Her editor made a grunting noise low in his throat. She wasn’t sure what that meant.
“So you want me to go?” she asked.
Finally, he spared her a quick glance. “Yes, I want you to go. Keep track of expenses. The magazine will reimburse you for the reasonable stuff. Don’t go ordering any expensive wine with dinner. Don’t sit in poison ivy.”
“I think I can handle that.”
“Good.” His gaze narrowed. “How’s the guy? Is the piece gonna be decent?”
She thought about telling Jerry all she’d learned about Arizona, about the fan club on the Internet, the inherent charm, the way he actually believed in magic. But she didn’t think her boss really cared about the details. He would find all that out when he read the article.
“It’s going to be great,” she told him.
“Better be.” He grimaced. “Nancy said you were on the right track and I trust her. Not that I should. Pregnant. Do you know she actually expects time off after the kid is born? I asked her what for. She says she wants to breast-feed. Can you believe it? Like a bottle’s not good enough. What is it with women today?” He shook his head in disgust and glared at her. “Don’t you have a story to write? Packing maybe? Get out of here.”
“Yes, Jerry.” Despite herself, Chloe grinned. Jerry acted so tough all the time, but he would be the first one at the hospital after Nancy gave birth. He would be cooing like everyone else over the newborn.
She made her way back to her desk. She had her permission. She was really going away with Arizona. Out into the wilderness, where anything could happen.
* * *
CHLOE STARED AT the clothes folded neatly on top of her bed. “I don’t know what to take,” she admitted. “I’ve never been camping.”
Cassie sat in the chair by the desk and smiled. “You’ll do fine. Take jeans and underwear. Shirts and sweaters. You’ll want to layer if it gets cold, but you won’t want anything bulky.”
“Arizona says we’ll have to hike in the last part, so I have to carry everything with me.”
Cassie leaned forward, picked up the blow-dryer and waved it in the air. “In that case, I’d leave this behind. It’s big, heavy and you’re not going to have electricity.”
“I know. I just thought—” She shuddered. “I don’t know what I was thinking. It was a hideous mistake to agree to this. I’m completely out of my element.”
“You’ll be fine. Arizona will keep you safe.”
Chloe didn’t know whether to laugh or scream. What her sister didn’t understand was that Arizona was part of what she was afraid of. But she couldn’t say that to Cassie without going into detail. And how was she supposed to tell her sister that she had indeed had a dream the night of her twenty-fifth birthday and that the man in her dream had been someone she’d met the very next day? How was she supposed to confess that every time she was near him her body went up in flames, and that all the time they were apart, he was all she could think of?
Besides, not all of her fears were about Arizona. Some of them were about herself. She didn’t know what was wrong with her. She felt herself changing. Nothing was as it should be. She wanted… Chloe sighed. That was the problem. She didn’t know what she wanted.
Cassie stood up and walked to the bed. She opened Chloe’s cosmetic bag and dumped the contents.
“Toothbrush and toothpaste,” she said. She rummaged through the rest of the items, then eyed her sister’s long hair. She picked up a wide-toothed comb and a cloth-covered rubber band. “Don’t worry about makeup.” She fingered a tube of sunscreen. “This has moisture in it.” She added a tiny bottle of shampoo to the small pile. “Arizona will bring soap, I’m sure. Use his.”
Chloe stared at the half-dozen items. “How do you know this stuff?”
“I work with preschoolers. If nothing else, I’ve learned to improvise.” She pointed to the piles of clothing. “Want me to do the same on that?”
“Please.”
As Chloe watched, her sister sorted through jeans, shirts and sweaters. She picked up a waterproof windbreaker, a thin, high-tech fabric pullover guaranteed to keep Chloe warm, two flannel shirts, a spare pair of jeans and underwear.
“Take extra socks,” Cassie told her. “Your feet might get wet.”
“That’s it?” Chloe asked.
“It is if you really have to carry it on your back. I know this from personal experience. I’ve baby-sat too many kids who didn’t want me to bring the stroller. I told myself it was just a quick trip to the mall and that they didn’t weigh all that much. After about five minutes I learned they got heavy very quickly, and I always regretted my decision.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Chloe said. “You’re obviously the expert.”
“I might have some shampoo samples,” Cassie said. “You know those little flat packages? Let me check, because they would be lighter than this bottle. I’ll be right back.”
After she’d left, Chloe looked at the small pile of clothing and wondered what on earth she was getting into. Would she and Arizona be alone for any part of their trip? That thought both terrified and excited her. She didn’t know what was going to happen.
Nerves fluttered in her stomach. Actually, that wasn’t true. If they were alone together for any length of time, she knew exactly what was going to happen between them. Was she ready for that?
She wasn’t sure. She thought about her sister and wished she could tell her what was really going on. She would like someone else’s opinion on her best course of action. Unfortunately, Cassie was a classic romantic and would only see the potential for love, not the probability of heartache. Chloe might firmly believe that love wasn’t for her, but that didn’t mean her emotions couldn’t be engaged under the right circumstances. So far, Arizona had everything going for him.
She thought about having a few words with Aunt Charity. No, Chloe told herself. That would never work. She couldn’t confide in the older woman. Arizona had been accurate and perceptive when he’d picked up the fact that there was trouble in the house. Chloe didn’t trust her aunt. Maybe it was childish, but she’d never forgiven her for not being there.
Chloe walked to the window and gazed out at the lawn. There had been a time in her life when she’d wondered if she would ever see this perfect view again. She reached up and fingered the locket hanging around her neck. Her thoughts drifted back to that horrible time when she and Cassie had lost their parents in a car accident. One minute everything had been fine, the next they were alone in the world. They’d clung to each other until the courts, unable to find their legal guardian, had split them up and sent them to different foster homes.
Three years, Chloe thought grimly. The family lawyer had looked for three years until he’d finally found Aunt Charity, their father’s sister. As soon as she’d been told what had happened, she’d flown back to America and had brought the girls home. Cassie had been grateful, but for Chloe the rescue had come too late. She’d been all of two months from her eighteenth birthday when she could have returned home on her own.
Chloe knew that logically it hadn’t been Aunt Charity’s fault that she’d been traveling the world. No one expected her to sit at home in case her brother died unexpectedly. But logic hadn’t helped Chloe get through those years apart from Cassie and away from the only home she’d ever known. So even though she desperately wanted someone to talk to, she wasn’t about to confess all to her aunt.
So she was going to have to be a grown-up and take care of herself. That or she was going to have to accept the consequences of her actions.
“I knew I had them,” Cassie said, walking back in the room. She held out a handful of cosmetic samples. “I found a couple that are face cleaners as well as two shampoo packs, so take them all.”
“Thanks. I really appreciate the help. I would have packed all wrong without you.”
“No problem.”
Chloe looked at her sister. Cassie had a very innocent expression on her face. She stood with her left hand tucked behind her back.
“What have you got there?”
“Nothing.”
“Don’t give me that. What is it?”
Cassie grinned wickedly. “Well, it won’t take up much room in your backpack and it will certainly give you two something to talk about over roasting marshmallows.”
She pulled her hand free. A condom rested on her open palm.
Chloe felt color flare on her cheeks. “I didn’t know that you and Joel had been intimate.”
“Oh, we haven’t been,” Cassie said easily. “But I do like to be prepared in case we ever decide we’re ready. So, do you think one is enough for you and Arizona, or do you want to pack the whole box?”
Chloe stared at the protection and didn’t know what to say. It was absurd to assume she and Arizona would become lovers. They hadn’t known each other that long. But like her sister, she had been raised to be prepared.
“Nothing’s going to happen,” she told her sister firmly, even as she took the condom and stuck it in her small cosmetic bag.
Cassie grinned. “If you’re very lucky, you just might prove yourself wrong!”
CHAPTER SEVEN
“YOU READY?” Arizona asked.
Chloe glanced back at the four-wheel-drive Explorer heading down the mountain. Then she looked at him. Her expression was two parts apprehension, one part honest-to-God fear.
But she didn’t answer him right away. Instead she squared her shoulders, then adjusted her backpack, raised her chin and smiled. “Sure. This is going to be fun.”
“Liar,” he told her.
Her smile broadened. “Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating. I confess, I do wish there was another way into the site or the dig, or whatever you call it, but I’ll survive. I appreciate the opportunity to see what you actually do with your day.” She paused. “Also, we’ll be able to continue our interview while we’re hiking. At least until I’m so out of breath I can’t ask questions. But your lecture series starts in three days. Will we be back in time?”
“That’s not a problem,” Arizona told her while he ignored the flicker of guilt. There was an easier way into the valley, but he wanted them to hike in. There was something going on between them—something he’d never experienced before—and he wanted time to explore that. His visit to Bradley was limited already. There were so many drains on his time.
If he were going to be completely rational, he knew there was no point in pursuing whatever attraction might flare between them. There was no way to make a relationship work. He’d sworn off casual affairs and even if he hadn’t, Chloe didn’t strike him as the type to give herself easily. Logic dictated that he should just answer her questions and ignore the rest of it. However, he’d never been one for logic. The unexplained caught his attention time after time. He wanted to know the whys. He couldn’t pass up a good mystery. In this case, there was something between him and Chloe and he was determined to find out what. These couple days alone might be his only chance.
She pulled a small tape recorder out of her jeans pocket. “I’m ready if you are,” she said.
“Then let’s go.”
He checked the placement of the sun and figured they had about six hours of daylight. Chloe wouldn’t be able to hike much more than that anyway. Not that she wasn’t in great shape. But she wasn’t conditioned for long hours on the trail.
There had been a surprisingly long stretch of relatively dry weather, so the ground was only damp underfoot. Towering trees lined the trail. The low-lying plants were bright green. Wildflowers and berry bushes were in full bloom. The air smelled clean and crisp. It was a perfect afternoon.
He started walking nearly due east.
“Where are we going?” Chloe asked as she kept pace with him. At this point the trail was wide enough for them to walk side by side.
“There’s a valley on the other side of this low range,” he said, pointing ahead. “We’ll reach the top of the rise tonight. That will be where we camp. Tomorrow we’ll head into the valley. The site is there. Just curious—was that information for you or the article?”