Follow A Wild Heart (romance,) (5 page)

It was that sober intensity she felt behind his teasing that made her hesitate, and then finally nod, just as Danny and the twins came thundering down the aisle between the stalls.

"Our mother really, absolutely, wants to meet Danny,” Lizzie informed them, handing the phone back to Logan with a quick thanks.

“She said why doesn't he come and stay overnight so he can have breakfast in the morning with us. We always have pancakes on Sunday, and she asked you to come over now for coffee, if you want, Mrs. Carlson, because Uncle Logan has to take us home soon. Mom said you needed to meet her before you trusted her with your son." Liz puffed importantly. "We got lots of room, honest. Danny can sleep in the other bunk bed Alex has in his room."

"Oh, I don't think—" Karena's automatic protest was drowned out by groans from all three children.

"Can't I stay over, please, Mom?" Danny chimed in. "You know I've never stayed on a real dairy farm before, and Alex said his dad will show me how the tractor works. There's nothing to do over at that dumb motel." He made it sound as if he were a deprived child.

Karena felt overwhelmed. The last thing she would ever want to do would be to stay with people she'd never met before, but she'd learned long ago that Danny had none of her social reticence.

This was developing into a full scale adventure to him, and she had to admit the small motel where they were staying had nothing to offer in the way of entertainment except
a fuzzy-screened television, which Danny had considered the ultimate luxury until now.

Meeting strangers definitely wasn't Karena's strong point. Men, she usually could find something to say to, but women? Women made her aware of how little she was like them. They reminded her of her awkwardness; they made her feel as if there were pages in life's instruction book that must have been missing from her copy.

Logan sensed her uncertainty, but not the reason for it.

"If we drive out to the farm now, you'll have a chance to meet Cliff and Betsy, and then I'll drive you back here in plenty of time for tonight's events. The farm's not far, just a few miles out of Bemidji."

Still Karena hesitated. Logan was suggesting her least favorite activity—socializing—and she was about to simply say a firm no when she saw the longing on Danny's face.

"All right," she said with a sigh finally, and the children whooped happily. "We'll have to drop by the motel to pick up your pajamas and toothbrush," she reminded Danny.

Logan led the way to the parking lot, and within minutes they were at the motel. Then in no time at all they were winding through the downtown traffic, and then cruising along a road with tidy farms and neat houses set back in groves of trees.

Logan drove fast and well, and Karena admired the shiny newness of his red Buick Skylark, wondering longingly if she would ever be able to afford such sporty elegance. Probably not, with Danny's college fund to think about.

As the minutes and the miles sped past, however, her thoughts became anxious twinges about the ordeal ahead. She really didn't want to meet Logan's sister. She crossed her arms apprehensively on her chest.

Once, he turned his head and gave her a reassuring wink, but it didn't help the nervousness accelerating within her.

Why hadn't she put on jeans instead of these dumb shorts? And her hair. She hadn't had a chance to comb her hair, and now the wind—women always noticed how a person looked.

Logan pulled into a long driveway and drew up in front of an old, well kept two story farmhouse, painted white with green trim. A huge German shepherd came charging at the car, ears flat, barking ferociously until the twins scrambled out of the back seat and hollered in unison, "Quiet, Teddy." The dog instantly dissolved into a wriggling, ludicrous heap of affection.

"Hey, Danny, c'mon down to the barn, I'll show you the milking machines," Alex urged, and all three youngsters pelted off before Karena was able to make herself climb out of the car.

The familiar sense of painful shyness, of not knowing what to say or do, spilled over her as she hesitantly climbed the wooden steps with Logan close beside her.

It was worse than Karena expected. She'd imagined Betsy as a homemaker. The smartly dressed woman in the navy business suit who opened the door looked as if she'd just stepped from the pages of Dress for Success. Her hair was dark, like Logan's, and cut in a carelessly casual style. Subtly clever makeup, chunky accessories and navy hose gave her a chic, pulled-together look.

Karena was agonizingly conscious of her shorts, her rumpled T-shirt, her wildly dishevelled hair.

"Karena Carlson, my sister, Betsy Gardom," Logan introduced, giving Betsy a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm so glad you came over. It's great to meet a champion. The children said on the phone that you'd won in the logging events. You've got to tell me more about it. It's good of you to trust us with your son. We'll care for Danny tonight as if he were our own." Conversation obviously wasn't a problem with Betsy.

Stiffly, Karena held out her hand and felt Betsy's warm handclasp. Then they were inside and Betsy was chatting about the festival, and Logan was smoothly filling in the blank spaces Karena knew should have been her cues in the conversation. Betsy was totally at ease, the kind of woman who exudes friendliness and animation, who always knows exactly what to say.

The kind Karena most dreaded being around.

"Come this way, don't mind the clutter, I've just come home from a meeting. Let's sit in the kitchen. I always like kitchens best, don't you?" Betsy chattered on.

To Karena, sitting down in the cinnamon scented yellow room with its children's drawings on the refrigerator, Betsy was the epitome of everything she'd always wanted to be, and wasn't.

Well groomed, confident, self-assured.

She could feel the wave of insecurity such women had always given her roll up from her very toes and encompass her in tongue tied idiocy.

She sipped her coffee, stiffly refused the warm cinnamon buns Betsy proffered, and wondered when they could leave.

"Betsy's an investment counselor," Logan dropped helpfully into the pool of silence, obviously aware that Karena needed help. "She runs a business out of this maelstrom of kids and pets," he added proudly.

Karena nodded and smiled stiffly, and couldn't think of a single thing to say.

After what seemed an eternity, Cliff arrived from the barn, a big framed, slow moving giant of a man. He herded the children into the washroom off the porch, teasing them and making them all laugh. He nodded and smiled an amiable welcome at Karena, and the loving bond between him and Betsy was almost tangible as he ruffled his wife's hair on his way past the table.

"You'll stay for supper with us, of course?" he asked Logan, and Karena refused too quickly, too abruptly, and then felt ungrateful and more awkward than ever.

Logan's eyes were often on her during the next half hour, and she wondered miserably what he thought of her social ineptitude, but whenever she met his glance, he just gave her a slow, reassuring smile that warmed her for a moment.

The only time she totally relaxed was when Betsy carried the pink wrapped bundle of new baby into the room.

"This is Nicole. Karena, hold her for me while I mix up some pablum, will you? Her uncle Logan's terrified she'll break if he touches her." Karena drew in the nostalgic, wonderful aroma that surrounded the tiny creature wriggling inside the blanket, feeling awkward at first, but then automatically cradling the baby closer in her arms.

"She's such a beautiful baby," she breathed softly. Karena was able to exchange a mother's conspirational smile with Betsy, and the painful shyness she felt eased slightly for the next ten minutes, enough so she was able to give reasonably intelligent answers to Betsy's questions about the festival and her part in it.

Then, blessedly, it was time to go and she handed the baby reluctantly to Betsy.

Of course, Danny stayed. The entire family was welcoming and eager to have him. Her son waved nonchalantly as she drove off with Logan, and Karena felt suddenly bereft. They were so seldom apart, she and Danny.

He'd stopped kissing her in public several months ago, and she usually settled for ruffling his hair, but she hadn't even had a chance to do that today.

She felt a wave of sudden loneliness, an urgent burning homesickness for the little clearing where their cabin sat, for the chubby little boy who a few short years ago used to scream if she moved out of his sight. She longed for the silence and the sense of peace and belonging she always had in the deep woods, the sense of herself as whole and competent.

She was startled when Logan's voice cut into her reverie.

"I'm afraid they're a noisy lot, Betsy and Cliff and the kids." Karena had been exceptionally quiet during the visit, and he wanted her to know that he thought he understood exactly how she felt.

"It always takes me an entire day to adjust to the chaos each time I visit, so I'm not surprised if you found it a bit overwhelming at first."

Karena glanced over at him in amazement. Hadn't he realized that the problem wasn't the Gardoms at all, but her?

"It wasn't them, Logan. I'm not very good socially. In fact, I'm a total disaster. I always have been." She stumbled a little over the words, trying to explain. "I'm twenty nine years old, and yet I've never really learned how to get along with people. I'm a born loner, or so my son tells me." She gave a deprecating little laugh, and then hurriedly changed the subject. "How many acres does your brother-in-law farm?"

For the rest of the short trip, they talked of cattle and hay and egg production. When Logan pulled the car into a parking spot near the festival, Karena said quickly, "Thank you for everything, Logan. You've been very kind. I'm late so I'll have to hurry and change."

She had the car door half open when Logan touched her arm. "Will you have dinner with me later, after your event?"

She shook her head decisively, pale cap of curls bobbing, but he couldn't read the expression in her smoky eyes.

"No, I'm afraid I can't do that. I have some shopping I need to do before we go back. Danny doesn't think so, but he needs some new jeans and shirts."

He'd half expected her answer, and yet he felt let down.

"Then I'll pick you up at nine tomorrow morning for our picnic." He waited tensely for her confirmation.

She seemed undecided, but finally she nodded.

"Isn't nine pretty early for a picnic?" She half turned to look uncertainly at him, but he shook his head firmly.

"All the picnics I arrange start then. But if you'd planned to sleep in tomorrow morning, I could always come fifteen minutes later?”

His teasing brought the hoped for effect, the smile that warmed the gray gaze and brought animated beauty to the lines of her face.

"Sleeping in, to a log scaler, means getting up at six instead of four," she replied with alacrity.

As she climbed out of the car, he couldn't resist admiring her shapely legs and slender hips. The strong attraction he felt for her was out of his control. It had been from the first instant he'd laid eyes on her.

She leaned over and stuck her head back into the car, and he swiftly adjusted his gaze.

"Thanks again. See you in the morning."

Thoughtfully, he watched her athletic form until she disappeared into the crowd. She didn't turn and wave the way he'd hoped she might.

He wanted to press the dinner invitation, but he sensed that it was better to give her the space she seemed to need tonight so he started the car.

Karena. She was unique. It was crazy, but to him she seemed like a half wild thing from the depths of the forest, gently timid, easily frightened, wary of men. Captivatingly beautiful, and yet elusive.

He drove slowly to the farm through the early evening dusk, wondering what it would be like to gain her trust, lure her out from wherever she was hiding. He tried to imagine the life she and Danny lived in the forest but he was unable to picture it in his mind. Then he remembered the moose calf, Mort, and he grinned and shook his head in wonder.

A beautiful log scaler who lived in the bush with a baby moose and a half-grown son.

She was different than anyone he
'
d ever met before.

Chapter Three

As he drove through the summer dusk, Logan concentrated on his plans for the next day. He'd pack a good size lunch, he resolved, because he intended to extend his hours with Karena as long as he possibly could.

And if he were going to spend Saturday evening making sandwiches, then maybe Betsy and Cliff would like to go to a movie. They didn't get out alone often, and he'd enjoy an evening with just the kids, now that Karena had turned him down.

Probably good for his ego, being turned down. Certainly it hadn't happened with the women he dated at the college. Bernice, for instance, was more apt to ask him out, which sometimes annoyed him but he'd never admit it to a living soul. Women's groups would chew him up at such a sign of chauvinism.

There was a lot to be said for being the pursuer. You had to go about it with extreme caution in Karena's case.

He stopped at a small shopping center to buy the makings for a picnic lunch and a treat for the kids. Twenty minutes later, he tossed the packages into the car but placed the bottle of white wine he'd chosen for the picnic carefully on the seat beside him.