Passions in the North Country (Siren Publishing Classic) (5 page)

“Wallpaper and flowers,” he said in a sarcastic tone. “The stores don’t open until tomorrow morning, so is it all right if I wait until then to rush out and get the things you ordered? That’s after I put in your garden, of course.”

Miriam glanced at both of them with a startled expression.

“Miriam,” Devon said, turning away from Jenny, “I dropped the lamb off at Henry’s. Apparently the coyote hasn’t been seen in the area lately.”

Jenny didn’t have the faintest idea what he was talking about.

Miriam nodded. “I hope it stays away forever.” She turned to the young woman. “Henry works here and he’s always raised sheep. A couple weeks ago a coyote got into the pasture and killed a lamb.” She winced. “Ripped her throat out. That’s the fifth lamb this coyote killed, not to mention a bunch of missing cats and small dogs. It was even seen close to the children’s playground last week.”

“How dreadful,” Jenny said with a sour expression.

“Devon’s going to kill him, aren’t you, Devon?”

“I’m going to try.”

Miriam nodded. “He’s got his gun. If that coyote sneaks in there again, he’s as good as dead. Hey, Devon.”

A man in his late fifties came into the hotel with a lunch box and a huge flashlight. “Evening, Devon. Evening, Miriam.”

Miriam smiled at him.

“Evening, Henry,” Devon said with a friendly nod. “We were just talking about you. Is the lamb settled in?”

“Yep. Looks good and healthy.”

“Henry,” Devon said, growing serious, “if the boys come back tonight, I don’t want you playing the hero. Call the cops and let them take care of it.”

“Henry,” Miriam said, gesturing at the pretty, auburn-haired stranger. “This is Jenny Lamb. She’s a guest. Room twelve.”

He shook her hand. “Pleasure to meet you, miss.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” She looked at Miriam. “What’s going on?”

“Just half-a-dozen kids acting the fool,” Miriam said. “There’s a group of boys around who’ve got nothing better to do than cause trouble. Me and Henry know who they are. Danny Goodman is the leader, but he’s usually a good kid. Fishing’s slow right now, though. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”

Henry tapped his flashlight. “I have to catch them in the act to report them.”

An idea popped into Jenny’s head. “Don’t catch them,” she suggested.

Devon immediately turned on her. “You wouldn’t say that if they were breaking your windows and carving up your signs.”

“Yes, I would.”

He looked mistrustfully at her. “What are you talking about, lady?”

“Hire them,” Jenny explained, “and you’ll solve the problem. They’ll be with you instead of against you.”

Devon knitted his brows. The others listened to her pitch.

“Let’s face it,” Jenny continued, “if you have one of them arrested, it will anger the whole group. More broken windows, more graffiti. But hire them to, say, paint the hotel and you’ll make friends, put some money in their pockets, and stop the problem at the root. They’ll take pride in their work and have an emotional connection to the hotel.”

Devon seemed suspicious, even slightly overwhelmed. Miriam and Henry were obviously impressed.

“You’ll improve the look of your hotel—and the facade is the first thing people see—and you can do it all at a reasonable cost,” Jenny noted. “Besides, it’s obvious you’re busy with a million and one things. Time to delegate.”

Miriam nodded. “That never occurred to me, but what a good idea.”

“What do you think, Devon?” Henry asked, also taken by the proposal.

Devon stood sternly with arms crossed. He had been surprised by Jenny’s suggestion, not only because it had never occurred to him either, but for the uncommon good sense of it. He needed the hotel painted. He didn’t have the time to do it himself, but with the opening upon them, it should have been done yesterday.

“I just want the vandalism to stop,” he said flatly.

“How much can you pay?” Jenny questioned him.

He laid out his bottom line. “But I don’t think this will work. Those kids are trouble.”

“Do you have Mr. Goodwin’s phone number?” Jenny asked Miriam.

“Let me look it up.”

No one stopped her, or even questioned her. All three of them were amazed by Jenny’s decisive actions and no one dared stop her, or even question her. “Has the rain stopped, Henry?” she asked with the slick confidence of a professional organizer.

“Yes, it has.”

“What’s the weather forecast? Could they scrape and start painting tomorrow?”

“Rain’s over,” Henry assured her. “It’s clearing now and they’re calling for seven days of sun.”

“Perfect,” Jenny said thoughtfully, ignoring Devon’s look of consternation, though it was obvious by his glower that he did not like to be ignored, and, more importantly, he did not like being usurped.

Miriam found the number, dialed it, then passed the phone to Jenny. In the most pleasant voice imaginable, Jenny introduced herself and mentioned that she was calling on behalf of the Riverview Hotel. Danny instantly bristled, awaiting a confrontation and threats, but Jenny spoke softly and in sultry tones, outlining the proposed job. She then stated a price ten percent lower than Devon quoted. Danny was interested.

“Let me be quite frank,” she added, glancing at the others with a twinkle in her eyes. “Mr. North is investing a lot of resources in this business and he wants to hire you because he heard you’re a fantastic worker. That’s why he specifically asked me to call you, Mr. Goodwin.”

Devon raised his eyebrows at her. She ignored him and asked if Danny could bring a couple friends and start the scraping first thing in the morning.

“We’ll be there,” Danny promised, seemingly excited at the thought of some income.

“Thanks, Danny. Mr. North will meet you here at eight….Right….Good
bye.”

Miriam nodded at Jenny’s brilliance and her eyes gleamed. She then gathered her things. Devon, whom Jenny was sure would be pleased, had a scowl on his face. He reminded her of an owl she had once seen in a children’s book. All solemn, cold faced, humorless.

How’s that for gratitude, she thought.

“If they do a good job,” Jenny said to Devon in a businesslike way, “give Danny the extra ten percent for doing so well. Tell him it’s for exceeding expectations, or make some comment along those lines. It will create good vibes. Positivity.” She looked hard at him. “Those things are important, right? You want people to have a positive attitude toward you and the Riverview Hotel, right?” She smiled falsely at him and said, almost as if in challenge, “Right?” Before he could answer, she smiled genuinely at Miriam and Henry. “I think I better go to my room.”

“Leaving so soon?” Devon asked, apparently miffed by the way she had taken control. “We’ll try to function without you.”

Jenny had had enough and turned with the look of a gunfighter at high noon. “Thank you for stopping on the road and helping me, Mr. North,” she snapped angrily. “You found me in a time of need, and maybe if you’re in need someday, someone will repay you in kind. But just because you did one good deed does not give you the right to act like some kind of imperious turd with me!”

He straightened up, apparently shocked that she was firing with both barrels. Miriam and Henry watched in tight-lipped shock, glancing back and forth at each other.

“I’m tired of being persecuted for no apparent reason,” Jenny continued, “especially by someone I don’t know, who does not know me, and who I have no intention of getting to know. Quite frankly, sir, I’ve had it up to here”—she flattened her hand and tapped her chin—“with your attitude, so kindly go take a long walk off a short pier!” She turned to Miriam and Henry with a sweet smile. “I’m going to my room now.”

Miriam, stunned by Devon’s attitude toward the pretty young woman, and shocked by Jenny’s rebuttal, looked dumbfounded. “Yes, of course, dear.”

Devon said nothing as Jenny walked past him. She refused to look into his eyes, but she could feel his scorn, his suspicion, his dislike. Why? From where was all this negativity originating? Jenny stopped for a moment. She wanted to battle him again, to put him firmly in his place, but she took a deep breath and ignored the loathsome creature.

“Miriam,” she said, pretending Devon did not exist, “I’m exhausted, but if I sleep in tomorrow, could you get me up before Danny and his friends come? I’d like to talk with them for a moment.”

“I can do that.”

* * * *

Jenny went to her room, passing Devon’s truck. She opened her window a crack, turned off her light, and sat on the bed, looking out the window. She could clearly see the office and would be able to watch Devon as he left. Why she wanted to watch him leave, she had no idea, but for some reason she wanted to see him go.

Within minutes Miriam walked out, Devon right beside her. “What!” he cried frantically, his voice raised. “Hired her? Miriam, you’ve worked here for a long time, but no one gave you the authority to hire a prima donna like that!”

“Really!” Jenny said to herself, her face turning as red as a beet. “Who does he think he is!”

“
She’s perfect, Mr. North. You should have heard her qualifications.”

“I can’t pay her a red cent.”

“She said
she’d work in exchange for a room,” Miriam said meaningfully.

“Free?” he asked with great surprise. “It doesn’t make sense,” he mused aloud. “Why would she work for nothing?”

Miriam nodded enthusiastically. “My mother always said never look a gift horse in the mouth.”

“I don’t like her,” Devon said.

Jenny pressed her lips tightly together. Insufferable lout, she thought.

“
We can’t tie up the room,” he argued. “She’ll have to go.”

“No, Devon,” Miriam resisted. “She’s a gift. Mark my words.”

“No,” he said firmly. “That’s one of the few rooms that is ready. We need it.”

Miriam lightly touched his arm. “I’ve already thought of everything, dear. We’ll have room twelve back tomorrow. Jenny can go into Maria’s room.”

“What!” he exclaimed.

“Maria’s room,” Miriam repeated firmly, like a mother to her young son. “You said it was ready to live in now, didn’t you? The electrical is fixed, right?”

“Yes,” he muttered, “but, but—”

“We’re not renting Maria’s room out,” Miriam reasoned. “It would cost you nothing, and this way she could be close to the hotel and have an office in the Captain’s House. It’s perfect.”

“She’s a spoiled little brat,” Devon said. “I could tell that the moment I met her.”

Jenny nearly hit the roof. “Listen, here, you Neanderthal,” she mumbled. “If it wasn’t for Miriam, I would have left the moment you walked in. Who the hell do you
think you are, anyway?”

“So venomous,” Miriam chided her boss. “You just met her, Devon. Why do you dislike her so much
?”

“I already told you,” he said in a surly tone.

“Well, you’re wrong. She’s a sweetheart, I tell you!”

Jenny strained to hear his response.

“I don’t trust beautiful women,” Devon said quietly, not knowing Jenny could clearly hear every word from her hidden perch. “And I especially don’t trust her.”

“You big jerk,” Jenny said softly, glaring at him from her hidden spot. She thought about the wild fantasy she had earlier, the one in which she had presented herself to him. “Not in a million years, buddy. Not if you were the last man on earth!”

They spoke a short time longer and, unable to reach a consensus, Miriam and Devon agreed to disagree. Then Miriam got into Devon’s truck. Though Jenny was in no mood to entertain anything but negative thoughts about the caveman, she did like that Devon was driving Miriam home. In a way, at least with others, he was quite nice and genuinely engaging. But with her he was nothing more than a royal pain.

He got into the truck, closed the door, and soon they were backing out of the driveway. When they were gone, Jenny opened the curtain halfway and leaned against the window frame. The grounds were eerily quiet, and the wild shrubbery, bathed in the pale yellow glow of a nearby light, seemed strangely familiar, almost surrealistic. How different her life had become in a mere few days. Everything was topsy-turvy now. The hotel, for some unknown reason, seemed like the only beacon in her life, like a lighthouse spotted by a passing mariner in a storm. Somehow she felt safe, hidden, and yet, even though there was a degree of comfort here, she could not co
-
exist with that man, that arrogant, self-centered egotist. He was insufferable. She had seen men like that before, handsome and sexy, men who thought they could do whatever they wanted.

She closed her curtain and climbed into bed, reading a sexy novel well into the night. It felt good to escape, to fly away to an exotic locale, some place where a woman met her soul mate and they found completion. She loved the sexy romances the most, and though she had no luck with men in real life, she enjoyed thoughts of being ravished in a seaside cottage or in a mountain chalet.

Jenny’s thoughts were racy, though she never gave anyone the slightest clue that she had an extremely powerful sex drive. Before Ivan she would occasionally wear sexy clothes, seeing herself as a pretty flower trying to entice bees to seek her out. With Ivan she could no longer go braless, and could certainly not put on her favorite short shorts, the ones that showed her long, smooth, and soft legs. She had legs everyone noticed, men and women alike. The type of legs show business women insured. Normally Jenny dressed conservatively, acted conservatively, but in her mind she was anything but conservative. She had a full, rich, and wild sex life when the lights went out. In her fantasies, she was a seductress, a wild, untamed woman who could satisfy a man and leave him in a near
comatose state.

She would lie on her back, touch herself, and transport into a dream realm where delicious delights awaited. But that’s all she ever did. In her life she had had only two sexual encounters, both one
night stands, and both on separate spring breaks several years earlier. It wasn’t that she didn’t want a man—how badly she wanted a real man to play with!—no, for Jenny she simply could not find a man who was right. Either he didn’t appeal to her, or he was too immature, clinging, reckless—there was always something. And if it didn’t feel right, she wasn’t going to do it. That resolve left her leading a celibate life for over half a decade, even though her hunger was voracious. She would masturbate regularly, sometimes two and three times a day. It was the only way to quell the fire burning in her pit. But because of Ivan, she felt so agitated that she had not touched herself in almost two months. He had become the water on her fire. The ultimate turnoff.