Glow (7 page)

“Thank you for the concern,” Kehoe backpedaled. “I've been in the woods all morning, and I haven't seen any storm damage. Have you, Alice?”

“No, I'd already told them,” Alice said. She swallowed thickly when the four men's attention transferred to her. She shifted on her feet awkwardly, wishing that the forest floor would swallow her whole. “I better get going to meet up with my kids for lunch,” she said, pointing in a vague direction in the forest.

Her gaze landed on Dylan before she turned. His handsome
face was frozen into a steely mask, but his eyes shouted all sorts of messages at her.

Just as she entered the woods, she heard Sebastian Kehoe speak in an annoyed tone to Rigo: “I'd like a word before you go, Sal.”

*   *   *

ALICE
arrived at the distant platform only to discover the Gold Team counselor and some managers had taken her hungry kids to lunch along with a bunch of others. After another five minutes of walking quickly but aimlessly in the woods, she still hadn't blown off enough steam to calm down very much.

“Alice, wait up!”

The call tore through her chaotic thoughts, bringing her to a halt on the forest path. She spun. Despite her frayed emotional state, she gave a small smile when she saw the man jogging up to her. Thad wore a pair of long khaki cargo shorts and a gray T-shirt that showed off his athletic build and toned body. Just beneath the short sleeve she saw a portion of his tattoo on a bulging bicep: a shark slicing through blue water. Thad loved anything associated with the water: boating, diving, swimming.

Over the past two weeks at camp, his skin color had deepened to a golden bronze. His dark blond hair was attractively mussed and there was a burnished scruff on his jaw. He looked good to Alice, and not just because Thad was good-looking. There was something normal and reassuring about his appearance at that moment.

He came to a halt on the path just feet away from her.

“You okay?” he asked, eyeing her with a bemused smile.

“Fine.”

“You're sure beating the path to get somewhere in a hurry. I called out to you a half-dozen times before you stopped.”

“Oh . . . sorry,” Alice mumbled, thinking about how she'd been stomping through the woods. “I was just thinking about things.”

Thad's eyebrows rose expectantly. He exhaled when she didn't elaborate, but didn't seem surprised by her refusal to do so. He really was getting to know her well.

“Your kids already off to lunch?” he asked.

“Yeah, Dave took them with his team,” she said, referring to Dave Epstein, their friend and Thad's roommate.

“He took mine, too.” After a tense pause when his green-eyed gaze roamed over her face, he waved his hand toward the woods. “This must be our spot.”

“Huh?” She glanced around, only then recognizing their location. Just to the left of them was the hidden, sun-dappled glade where Thad had comforted her just over a week ago.

“Oh yeah,” she mumbled. “I hadn't really noticed where I was.”

Thad eyed her suspiciously. “You look a little pale. You're not going to”—he waved in the vicinity of his taut abdomen—“be sick again, are you?”

Her cheeks burned at the memory of him watching her vomit. “Do you think I'm going to hurl every time I walk by this place in the woods?” she asked with amused exasperation.

He shrugged dubiously. “Just checking.”

Alice shook her head and laughed. Her mirth faded when she noticed the somber way Thad was watching her. He gestured toward the glade where he'd held her. “Do you mind? If we go back? Just for a minute,” he added, probably noticing her trepidation. “There's something I want to talk about with you. It's important.”

It all came back to her in a flash of memory why she'd been avoiding Thad: Thad and Brooke's secretive meeting in the forest. Thad's softly uttered question to Brooke, “
Then why are you here with me?”
Thad leaning down to cover Brooke's mouth with his in a kiss that looked very much to Alice like one between familiar lovers.

“Oh, I guess maybe . . .” She trailed off uncomfortably,
glancing around the woods. She stood very still for a moment, holding her breath. The woods were quiet. Had Sal Rigo listened to her demand in that clearing and not followed her, for once? Not likely, with Dylan there. It'd been Sebastian Kehoe who had unintentionally assisted her cause when he insisted Rigo stay put for a dressing down while Alice made her escape. It wasn't the first time Kehoe had grown impatient with Rigo for abandoning his assigned post. Rigo took orders from another man besides Kehoe, though.

Dylan.

It annoyed her that she even had to consider her God-given right to privacy at that moment.

Screw Rigo, and Dylan, too.

Alice straightened at the volatile thought. “Yeah. There's something I want to talk to you about, too.”

She noticed his green eyes narrow, and realized she'd unintentionally sounded a little condemning. She put out her hand in a “lead the way” gesture, a wry apology in her glance. What right did she have to judge Thad, when she herself was involved in a secret affair with Dylan? True, Brooke was one of her least favorite people, but maybe Thad saw something in her Alice didn't.

Despite all her rationalizations, Alice admitted the truth to herself as she followed Thad on the almost invisible, weed-choked path that led to the glade. She was disappointed in Thad because he'd been lying to her. She'd made it clear she wasn't interested in a relationship with him, but maybe her pride had been pricked by the fact that he'd publicly demonstrated a preference for her—Alice—while he'd secretly been fooling around with Brooke.

Alice had held Thad up in her mind as an example of a sincere, normal friendship. Ever since coming to Camp Durand, she'd been swimming in a choppy sea of confused emotion. She was the outsider in a group of born insiders, a girl who had grown up in a shabby trailer park, the daughter of a sick, trembling drug addict who was the object of pity, fear, and disgust to many.

But of course, there had been more to her disorientation at Camp Durand. Much more. Now she was starting to get a glimmer as to just
why
the Durand Estate was so unsettling to her. Ever since she'd arrived in this overwhelming setting, however, Thad had been a sure, reliable thing.

She was mad at him for not being what she needed him to be.

And that's just plain not fair to him, is it?

She came to a halt several feet away from him when he stopped and turned toward her in the center of the glade. For a few seconds, they just looked at each other.

“Your hair—it's getting longer.”

She raked her bangs out of her eyes self-consciously. “Yeah. It's a wreck.”

“It looks good. It's getting lighter in the sun, too. I like it.”

Alice shrugged uneasily, studying the long grass swaying around their feet. She needed to color her hair again, but hadn't had the opportunity here at camp. Not only were the telltale red-gold roots starting to show, the sun was bringing out highlights even through the dark brown color she usually used. It made her feel naked somehow—vulnerable—knowing Thad noticed her emerging true color.

“There's something I need to talk to you about. Something important.”

She glanced up, snagged by Thad's somber tone. His gaze was so warm on her. So caring.

Why can't things be simple? Why can't things be what they appear to be? God, her life was a seriously fucked-up mess.

“It's okay,” she said huskily. “I know about you and Brooke.”

“What?”

“I saw you two together in the woods yesterday.”

He appeared dumbstruck.

“It's all right, Thad,” she assured, inhaling for strength. “You probably didn't want to tell me because . . . well, because it's pretty
obvious Brooke and I aren't the best of friends. What's between Brooke and me shouldn't matter to
our
friendship, though,” she reasoned, gesturing between them. She hesitated when he just stared at her. “At least I hope it won't,” she added doubtfully.

“God, no. Of course not,” he said, reaching out and gripping her upper arm. “I'm sorry. I just wasn't expecting—”

“Me to know already about you and Brooke?” she laughed mirthlessly. “Yeah, I figured.”

His hand tightened on her arm. “I want you to know that if things had been different between us . . . if you had shown any interest in me . . . I mean, I've known Brooke since we were four years old. We've hooked up once in a while for nearly ten years now, but it's not like she's the
one
or something—”

“You don't have to explain, Thad. I understand. Really, I do,” she assured, his obvious discomfort paining her.

“No, Alice, listen,” he insisted, stepping closer to her. Alice stared straight ahead at his chest when he moved his hand on her arm, stroking her. Her heartbeat started to thump loudly in her ears.

“I
do
have to explain,” he said hoarsely. “Because the thing is, I think
you
might be the one.”

Her chin went up sharply. Her eyes widened when she realized how close his face was to hers. A robin keened loudly in a nearby tree and went abruptly silent.

“I know,” he said dryly, obviously seeing the shock on her face. “Pretty lame on my part, to say that when I've been sleeping with Brooke. I'm weak. What can I say? I've always been weak. Spoiled rich kid. That's what most people would say, right? It's certainly what my father says,” he added bitterly. He shook his head in obvious frustration at himself. “And I deserve it. Every word. I was feeling lonely. Rejected, because I knew you didn't feel the same way about me as I do you. And Brooke was there. She's pretty. Attractive.
Familiar
. My parents love her. And she has some
good points, believe it or not. I know she's never bothered to show them to you, but—”

“I'm sure she does,” Alice said bracingly. She gave him a determined smile. “And you know what? I'm going to try harder to get to know her. You're right. If you like her, she's got to have some good—
What
?” she interrupted herself when Thad's expression turned hard and he grasped her other arm.

“You don't get what I'm saying,” he bit out, leaning down toward her so that his breath struck her lips. “I don't care that much about Brooke. I'm an ass. I just started up with her when I realized you were involved with Dylan Fall.”

The name seemed to echo and vibrate in Alice's ears in the silence that followed.

“How . . . how did you know . . .”

“Do you think a guy doesn't notice when the girl he's fallen for is completely in love with someone else?”

“I'm not in love with Dylan,” she denied automatically. Inside her head, an alarm started to blare. A flash of heat went through her, a prelude to panic, because it wasn't like a lie she'd ever told before. This lie
mattered.
It felt utterly wrong, like a breach of nature, saying what she'd just said.

“You're
crazy
about him,” Thad stated, his mouth twisting in bitter anger. He stepped closer. “And that's what I wanted to talk to you about. You need to be careful of Fall. He's manipulating you. He's hiding things from you, Alice.”

“No he's not,” she defended Dylan automatically, her voice going high. The front of Thad's body was brushing against her now, and she was so confused. “Not
anymore
, he's not!”

“Don't trust him, Alice.”

And then his mouth was on hers, at first hard and angry . . . then warm and coaxing. In her worked-up state, Alice lost herself for a moment. It was a good kiss.

It wasn't Dylan's kiss.

She
hated
that Thad had voiced her deepest fear. She didn't know if she could trust Dylan or not, but she
was
hopelessly in love with him. It was a horrible, awesome realization.

She staggered back, gasping. Staring at Thad, she touched her mouth dazedly. Regret flickered across Thad's face.

“Alice—”

She shook her head adamantly, cutting him off. She spun and hurried out of the clearing.

“Alice, you've got to listen to me about Fall. He's not being honest with you!”

“Who
is
?” she muttered bitterly under her breath, never breaking stride.

She would've thought the day Dylan told her about Addie Durand would have been the most disturbing day she'd known in her life, but it wasn't.

That morning in the woods took the grand prize.

K
uvi stared at her, her hazel eyes wide with blank shock. Night had fallen. Alice had left her kids safely in the night supervisor's charge. She and Kuvi sat in their luxurious cabin's small living room area, still wearing their day's camp attire. Her roommate was flabbergasted because Alice had just told her with whom she'd been spending her nights.

“Dylan Fall,” Kuvi repeated with blank incredulity.

Alice laughed.

“What?”
Kuvi asked, no doubt surprised by Alice's burst of amusement after such a tense proclamation.

“Nothing,” Alice said between jags of laughter. “You just sounded exactly like I did when Maggie, my advisor at grad school, dropped the bomb last May that I'd be interviewing with the CEO of Durand Enterprises instead of the vice president of human resources. I was floored, too.”

“But this is different. It's
bigger
,” Kuvi defended, glancing around their cabin like she'd never seen it before. She met Alice's gaze. “You've been sleeping with
Dylan Fall
?”

Alice wiped a tear off her cheek from her short jag of laughter. She was bordering on hysteria, no doubt.

“I know. I couldn't believe Dylan was interested in me, either,” Alice replied.

“It's not that,” Kuvi insisted. “Why wouldn't he be interested in you? You're brilliant and naturally beautiful and you've got all
that going on,” Kuvi said, waving vaguely in the vicinity of Alice's breasts. “I'm not saying that's what Fall is after, although I'm sure it doesn't hurt matters any,” she added when she saw Alice roll her eyes. “I just mean—
you're
sleeping with that bloody gorgeous man
?” She picked up a pillow and threw it at Alice, a grin breaking through her disquietude. “I
knew
there was something between you two that night at the castle. What's the sex like?”

“Kuvi,” Alice muttered repressively.

“Never mind. It's fantastic, isn't it? You only have to look once at Fall to know it'd be smoking and a little dangerous, too. How did you get so
lucky
?”

“Shhh, keep it down,” Alice said, glancing around nervously to the front door. The door was closed, thank goodness. Alice squeezed the caught pillow next to her belly in an anxious gesture. “I told you, no one else can know about this, Kuvi. Can you imagine what would happen if Kehoe found out?”

Kuvi sniffed. “He'd have a cow, the bloody tyrant. But what could he do, really? He can't fire Fall. If he fired you, he'd have to face Fall's wrath. Am I right?”

“Kehoe could potentially tell other members of the board. Dylan is the main shareholder. They couldn't fire him, necessarily, but they could censor him somehow . . . smear him in the business community, if they chose to . . . possibly make things so unpleasant for him, he'd retire? And who is going to take
me
seriously, even if Kehoe doesn't fire me? Let's say that for whatever reason, he even hired me as a Durand exec after camp. If word got out I was involved with the CEO of the company, I'd be considered a joke, wouldn't I? I'd be thought of as the company whore or something,” Alice said miserably, leaning back into the corner of the couch and still clutching the pillow.

“No one who gets to know you for more than two minutes is ever going to consider you a joke.”

Alice grimaced. “Thanks. To be honest, though, we don't
know what would happen if Kehoe or anyone on the board found out. Dylan told me he's never done anything like this before.”

“Do you believe him?” Kuvi asked intently.

Alice met her friend's stare. “Yes.”

She exhaled in relief. Despite all the doubts she'd been having about Dylan today, she honestly believed him when he'd said he'd never slept with a Durand employee before. Alice was the exception to the rule. The
reason
for his making her the exception was what created this feeling of rising panic in her stomach. Unfortunately, there was no way she could bear her soul to Kuvi about Addie Durand.

“This thing between you two must be really unique, then. It
is
, isn't it?” Kuvi asked, still studying Alice's face. Despite her teasing, Kuvi was brilliant and a shrewd observer of character.

If only you knew how unique Dylan's and my connection really is.

Alice nodded. “I tried to keep away from him. I just . . . couldn't,” she said, throwing up her hands, disgusted by her failure. “I'm crazy, aren't I? For going to him every night?”

“No,” Kuvi said with a sense of having just made a final judgment after deliberations. “It may not be wise. But I have a feeling this is a rare type of attraction . . . something too powerful to deny. I caught just a whiff of it that night at the castle, and even that was pretty convincing.” She picked up another throw pillow from the couch and began to turn in it in her hands distractedly. “Some things are bigger than logic, and karma is one of them.”

“I don't believe in karma or fate.”

Kuvi shrugged. “What
do
you believe in, then?”

“Myself.” She sighed heavily, feeling like a bundle of stretched threads that were about to break. “Or at least I used to.”

“Anything that makes you second-guess yourself deserves some serious examination. So . . . are you going? Tonight?” Kuvi asked cautiously.

Alice studied her friend's face. Kuvi had a point.

“No,” she said suddenly with more confidence than she felt. “You're right.”

Kuvi blinked. “I wasn't trying to make a point. I was just asking a simple question!”

“But you're right about giving some serious consideration to anything that's making me second-guess myself,” Alice said determinedly, grasping onto Kuvi's vague insinuation that she should be cautious about her relationship with Dylan. She stood and tossed the pillow she'd been clutching onto the couch.

“I'm going to take a shower and go to bed. It's been an exhausting day,” she said, heading toward the bathroom.

“You're really just going to leave Dylan Fall standing there in the woods, waiting for you?” Kuvi demanded, sounding amazed.

“You said I needed space to examine this thing with him,” Alice said over her shoulder.

“
I
never said that. But if you aren't going to meet up with Fall tonight, maybe that's what you needed to hear.”

Alice plunged into the bathroom, too overwhelmed to say exactly what she needed at that moment.

Too overwhelmed to
know.

*   *   *

SHE
checked the bedside clock as the illuminated dial changed from 12:02 to 12:03. She'd only slept in the counselors' cabin that first week during her training, before she'd taken up with Dylan. Kuvi was silent in sleep. The complete quiet unnerved her, for some reason. It seemed to increase the volume level of the thoughts in her head to shouts. She'd lain in bed for the past two hours, the room draped in darkness, wakeful and alert.

Miserable.

What was Dylan thinking about her refusal to meet him at their assigned spot in the woods? Every minute of the past two and a half hours had been spent asking herself that question, over
and over. The fact that she couldn't fasten on any sure answer only added to her insomnia.

She flipped over to her other side, leaning up on her elbow to restlessly punch at a flattened pillow. She paused at a squeaking noise, going on high alert with her fist planted deep in the feathers.

The outer screen door gave another screech. Her heart jumped into her throat at the sound of the lock sliding back. She heard the soft sigh of the front door opening and then the quiet thud as it shut again. Alice sat up in bed, her back ramrod straight, prepared to fly off the far side of the bed.

The overhead light came on.

Dylan stood just inside the room, his hand still on the light switch. In his other hand she noticed he held a ring of keys.
Of course
he had a key to this cabin. He owned this property, didn't he?

They'd been having a cool spell. He wore a pair of jeans and a soft-looking denim shirt that stood in marked contrast to his long hard body. His jaw was shadowed with whiskers, giving him that dark piratical look she loved, but which also intimidated her. His mouth was pressed into a grim line.

Her stunned brain left her temporarily mute.

“Let's go,” he said simply.

“What?”
she squeaked, her voice just above a whisper. Both she and Dylan glanced over at Kuvi's bed.
Shit.
Kuvi was sitting up partially, rubbing her eyes and staring incredulously at the vision of Dylan Fall standing in their cabin.

“Sorry to wake you,” Dylan apologized. “This will just take a moment. Alice?” he addressed Alice levelly. “I waited until the camp was quiet, but I'm not going to wait anymore.”

“You can't just break in here and expect me to get up and go with you!” Alice exclaimed, barely managing to keep her voice at a low volume.

“I do expect it. Because that's what we agreed to, wasn't it?” he asked quietly, taking a step toward her, the glint of anger in his
shining dark eyes making her skin roughen in trepidation and mounting excitement
. Yes.
Excitement. The sight of him in her cabin, so solid and beautiful and demanding thrilled her, despite it all. “I agreed to let you go on as if everything was normal, as long as you agreed you'd spend the nights and weekends with me up at the castle. You've broken your promise tonight.”

She glanced anxiously at Kuvi, who was now watching their tense exchange with wide hazel eyes.

“You don't have to worry about Alice,” Dylan said to Kuvi, a small smile curling his mouth. “She made an agreement with me.”

Alice gritted her teeth in the silence that followed as both of them looked at her expectantly. “I'm not going with you,” she insisted.

“Would you like me to carry you?” Her anxiety ramped up when she couldn't gauge if he was joking or not.

“Just
try
it,” she hissed.

“Maybe you'd prefer I spent the night here then?” Dylan asked, taking another step toward her bed.

She cursed under her breath and threw off the covers.

“Convenient of you to go to bed dressed,” Dylan said when she stood jerkily, his gaze running over the length of her in what struck Alice as an insolent manner. He was insinuating she'd known he was going to come and claim her like some kind of caveman. She was wearing a pair of soft running shorts and a T-shirt.

“It's what I wear to bed.”

His slight shrug seemed to say it all.
Not anymore, you don't.
He knew perfectly well she didn't wear a thing to bed when she was with him.

“Alice?” Kuvi asked uncertainly.

“It's okay,” Alice assured, glaring at Dylan all the while. Kuvi couldn't know that she and Dylan verbally sparred like this at times, and that it was harmless.

Well. Relatively speaking, anyway.

She stalked over to the bathroom and shut the door behind her with a muted bang. She'd left her tennis shoes in there earlier. Let Dylan stew in uncertainty about what she was doing. He was far too smug in his confidence that she'd go with him.

He was far too right.

After she'd washed her hands and face unnecessarily, she swung open the bathroom door now wearing socks and shoes. Dylan glanced over her, pausing in whatever he'd just been saying to Kuvi. Her roommate sat up in bed, her sheet fastened beneath her armpits. She looked much more calm and was even smiling. Whatever Dylan had been saying had reassured her.

Dylan's gaze dipped to her tennis shoes.

“Kuvi said you'd told her about us. If you trust her, I do. She told me where your keys were,” Dylan said, holding up Alice's key ring. “We'll lock up behind us.”

Alice gave Kuvi a “thanks a lot, traitor” glance. Kuvi made a helpless face and shrugged. Alice rolled her eyes. She couldn't really blame her roommate. Not many could resist Dylan's charm and smoldering good looks when put to the test.

She
certainly couldn't, she acknowledged to herself bitterly as her hand slid into his and Dylan shut out the light. No matter how high the stakes, she couldn't say no to him for long.

She followed him out of the cabin, their hushed, furtive movements once again joining them somehow. The power of their shared bond seemed to vibrate in the still air as they moved stealthily down the path to the coverage of the woods. Or maybe it was the knowledge of Dylan's anger and concern in regard to her edgy behavior today and her own highly volatile state that added to the sense of electricity crackling between them. Her anxiety boiled up in her until she couldn't suppress it anymore. She halted, pulling on Dylan's hand once they reached the unlit trail leading toward the stables.

“Don't ever do that again,” she challenged quietly.

“Don't
you
ever do that again. Defy me if it makes you feel
more in control, Alice, but don't think I'm going to roll over if you deny me
this
.”

She swallowed thickly at his quick, succinct reply. It'd obviously been right on the tip of his tongue. He'd made it clear he would only agree to her resuming her life as a counselor at Camp Durand if she spent her nights with him at Castle Durand. She was reminded yet again of how anxious he'd been for her safety. Not just tonight.

For twenty years of his life.

Dylan seemed bizarrely convinced that a threat to her safety still remained. It was like after all those years of worrying, he couldn't stop the habit now.

When she didn't reply, he resumed their hasty, silent journey through the dark night. Their terse exchange had only amplified the tension between them. Alice's heart began an erratic race. When they reached Dylan's bedroom, she knew what was going to happen. Their frothing emotions would find an outlet in volatile lovemaking. She dreaded it.