Chapter Forty-Six

  The first sound Kristin heard as she pulled the covers down off of her head and slowly looked around the room was the bark of a dog. Her first semiconscious sensation was an emotion that made the word satisfied sound trivial. She reached back in her memory, she could not ever remember being go relaxed and content. She could remember wanting desperately to feel the way she felt at this very moment but Kristin could not actually recall if she had ever achieved this level of …... bliss. The first word she whispered only loud enough for herself to hear was “Sam”. The first movement of her body was when she stretched both of her arms out from under the covers like she was reaching for out for the impossible and when the tips of her fingers touched the shiny rails of the brass bed she grabbed on to them tightly and arched her entire body upward under the covers until she felt that her back would snap out of place.

  Kristin was naked under the covers, and with a devious sentience of amusement she remembered that not more than four hours ago she had been in this exact same position, probably with the exact same satisfied smile on her face. She could still recall every detail about that precise moment, the tension of every muscle in body, the smell of his cologne, and the look in his eyes. A look that blocked out everything else in the world. A look that made everything else both meaningful and meaningless. She thought back over the last few hours and relived every emotion and sensation in a single radiant moment. A sensation that made her breath catch in her throat and her entire buddy shudder. When the feeling subsided back to mere satisfaction she forced herself to think about how this was possible.

  What made Jack so different than any other man she had ever been with? The thought tugged at her mind like a memory you couldn't quite recall even though you knew it would come to you if you just thought hard enough or not at all. She closed her eyes and completely relaxed. What was it about Jack Evans that made her consider the possibility that she could stay in this bed, in this house, and in this valley for the rest of her life. That she could and would give up everything that she had worked so hard to achieve.

  She snapped back to consciousness when she heard Sam bark again, Kristin knew that the answer would come to her when she least expected it. She threw the covers back and slid her naked body out of bed and walked to the huge bay window. Kristin stood dead center in the middle of the window completely at ease and completely naked. The bright sunlight caressed her body like a warm bath as a tear rolled slowly down her right cheek. Standing there in full sight of the whole world she didn't just feel confident, she felt invincible.

  After a few minutes she realized that she hadn't eaten since late yesterday afternoon and she was starving. She spun away from the window and grabbed the first article of clothing that her gaze fell on, one of Jack's western cut ranch shirts.

  As Kristin descended the stairs wearing nothing but Jack's old work shirt and a pair of snow white ankle socks Sam sat up and barked once as if announcing her presence. Her tail was wagging at a furious pace as she bolted up the stairs to greet Kristin. It was as if Sam had been warned to wait patiently downstairs and not disturb Kristin until she was awake, like a kid on Christmas morning who had been told that she couldn't open any Christmas presents until the last person had come downstairs on Christmas morning.

  Jack heard the bark and had turned to look just as Sam reached Kristin on the stairs. He stared at her breathlessly and totally forgot the pan full of bacon that was about to burn on the stove. Kristin crossed the hard wood floor with Sam in tow and pinned Jack against the fridge with her entire body. She pressed every inch of her five foot ten inch frame against him and kissed him like they hadn't seen each other in years. When she finally pulled away from him she looked deviously into his eyes and whispered, “Your about to burn the bacon, cowboy.”

  Just before he kissed her again he smiled and said, “let it burn.'

  Kristin broke off the kiss as she turned him toward the stove. She gave him a little shove in the direction of her potentially Cajun blackened Breakfast. She snarled at him, “You won't get a tip with service like that,”

  He looked over his shoulder and shot back a wink in her direction.

  As Jack put the finishing touches on their breakfast he casually asked Kristin to get down a couple of plates form the top shelf of the cabinet. After she had retrieved the two plates he asked her to grab a couple more plates. Kristin stood there with the plates in hand and an odd questioning look on her face. The devious smile was back, it was spreading across Jack's face. Kristin realized that he had been watching her, watching her stand up on the very tips of her toes to reach the plates, watching his work shirt slide up the back of her long toned legs and barely cover the delicate area where her legs stopped and the rest of her perfect form began. She blushed and made a motion like she was going to throw one of the plates at him. Jack turned back toward the stove without a trace of apology or fear and said,

  “Hey, you can't blame a guy for trying.”

  Jack placed a couple dirty utensils in the sink as he glanced out the kitchen window at the shiny black and chrome Harley Davidson soft tail custom parked in his front yard and asked, “Just buy that?”

  “No, I have had it for a couple years, it’s been in storage.” she responded casually.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  They ate breakfast and talked like they she had never left the ranch. Like she had not gone back to Seattle, like he had not followed her, and most importantly, as if the two of them were not about to go to war with one of the most talented and vindictive defense attorney's on the west coast.

  Kristin noticed Jack eying her shiny Harley all during their breakfast on the porch. After about the hundredth time she caught him looking at the bike she asked,

  “Want to take her for a spin?”

  Jack's eyes lit up and he looked like a kid that had just been given a new bike for Christmas.

  “One condition, I go along” She said.

  “Wouldn't have it any other way, I'll go pack a lunch.” Jack said as he sprang out of his chair and headed for the kitchen.

  Thirty minutes later they were pulling out of Jack's driveway with a sack lunch in one of the saddle bags and a blanket, her camera, and a 22 magnum pistol in the other saddle bag. Not everyone was happy about the road trip; they had left Sam sitting on the front porch looking at them like she had been abandon. They took it slow and easy on the dirt road on their way back to the paved two lane highway. When they reached the intersection where the gravel road ended and they turned right and headed north up Hwy 200.

  They were about a mile north of the intersection when the 1994 Ford F150 turned off the highway and onto the dirt road they had just left behind. The truck fit in as natural as any other truck in the valley, it had Montana plates and a U of M Grizzlies bumper sticker on the tailgate. The problem was, the driver was not from Montana and the truck had been stolen from a remote twenty acre ranch on the outskirts of a little hick town just off of I-90.

  The driver was pretty sure that the pickup would not be reported stolen. The old guy that owned the truck had greeted the man on his front porch with a 12 gauge shotgun and a snarling mean as hell looking Rottweiler. The old guy and the dog were currently resting comfortably in the basement of his old broken down house. They would both be resting there for quite a while; they each had a bullet hole in their head. The old guy with the 12 gauge didn't appear to be the sort of guy that had a lot of visitors. Hell, it might be years before anyone discovered the bodies. Just to make sure the killer had drove his own car a mile or two off the main road and completely covered the silver BMW with weeds and branches. He hiked back to the old guys house made himself a nice lunch and drove off toward his assignment in the old Ford pickup.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Kristin had never been in this position before, riding on the back of her own motorcycle with her arms wrapped around someone she trusted. She didn't even own a second helmet; Jack had insisted that she wear the helmet that she had brought with her. They made a quick stop at Rosie's cafe so Rosie could give Kristin a hug and a kiss as well as a couple fresh pastries for their sack lunch.

  They pulled out of Rosie's diner and Jack gunned the Harley like a teenager showing off for his girlfriend. The bike fishtailed a little and the back tire barked a low howl as it left a shiny black tire mark on the old highway. The calculated move had its desired effect. Kristin squeezed him tighter around the waist and pressed the side of her face to the back of Jack's neck, boy did he smell great she thought as a smile spread across her entire face.

  Rosie stood outside the diner and watched the two grown adults acting like a couple of love sick teenagers roll around the long bend in the road and out of sight. She could still hear the roar of the engine on the big bike for a good minute or two after they had disappeared around the corner. And from the sound of the engine Jack had no intention of slowing down or taking it easy today.

  They rolled through the valley until they reached the intersection of Hwy 200 and Hwy 83. They turned left on highway 83 and pointed the Harley North. Highway 83 ran through the Seeley-Swan valley and parallel to the Flathead National Forest and some of the most majestic pine forest in the United States. Highway 83 emptied out onto Hwy 93 just south of Kalispell Montana at Columbia Falls Montana.

  Jack's plan was to take Hwy 83 North to Kalispell Montana then turn back on Hwy 93 toward Missoula. Highway 93 would take them south along the West Shore of Flathead Lake. He would show her Wild horse island and the Mission mountains north of Missoula. From there they would head back up Hwy 200 along the Blackfoot river, the road that had led her straight into Jack's life. It would take them all day to complete this little road trip and they would get back well after dark depending on how many stops they made.

  Jack thought that the Road trip was exactly what they both needed to clear their heads and figure out what they needed to do next. Kristin didn't care what road they took as long as she held onto Jack and this feeling of quite calm. A calm that she felt from the low roar of the engine, the smooth vibration of the highway between her legs, and the strength of the man she had her arms wrapped around.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  The old Ford pickup was parked on a gentle rise with an unobstructed view of the entire valley. The man peering through the high power binoculars didn't give a damn about this dissolute part of the country or the hicks that lived here, he was only interested in one hick. All Girard wanted to do was get this over with and get back to civilization and the thirty thousand dollars that would be waiting for him back in his bank account.

  How did these people live out here? Girard thought to himself. Christ, the deafening silence punctuated by the occasional chirping or whistling or barking of one of the insipid wildlife was about to drive him crazy. He spotted a little yellow bird sitting atop a fence about twenty feet away from where he was parked. The bird was chirping away like it was a prop in a Disney film. With careful deliberation Girard bent down and picked up a smooth flat rock about the size of silver dollar and slung it sidearm at the happy little bird. The rock caught the bird square in his little yellow breast and sent him backwards off the fence post, dead. Girard laughed out loud at the near perfect shot he made,

  “That will shut the little bastard up,” Girard said as he picked up his binoculars and continued to scan the log home about half a mile from where he was parked. Without knowing or caring Girard had just broke another law, he has just killed the state bird of Montana, the Western Meadowlark.

  Chapter Fifty

  It was getting close to lunch time when Jack turned the Harley off the old Highway and onto what barely could be called a road; it was more like two tracks left by a wagon a hundred years ago. There were tufts of tall grass growing on both sides of the trail and down the middle between the scantily visible tracks. There stretches in the trail where the tracks completely disappeared from sight. He put the Harley in its lowest gear and eased the motorcycle up the trail for about twenty minutes, being very careful not to put them or the bike in any risky situation. There was even one place on the trail where they both had to duck down to avoid being hit in the face with a low hanging branch. Jack could feel Kristin's trepidation from behind him; he hoped that she would think that it was worth it when he showed her where they were going.

  Oh my God was the first thing she heard herself say when he broke through the last stand of trees and into the clearing that spread out in front of them. Jack turned off the motorcycle and pushed the kickstand down. Kristin climbed off and walked out in front of the bike so she could have an unobstructed view of the amazing sight that she was now looking at in complete awe.

  Directly in front of her was a small meadow completely encircled by pine and spruce trees? The tall willowy grass that came up to just above Kristin's knee's filled the meadow up to the edges of a gentle pond that looked more like a reflection pool than part of a mountain stream. But the most breathtaking sight in the meadow was a rock wall at the north end of the meadow. The wall was at least forty feet high and ran across the entire north end of the meadow and disappeared over the trees for as far as the eye could see. The water source for the pond was a waterfall that spilled over the top of the wall and smashed against a small field of boulders just above the pond. The water hitting the boulders created a soft spray of mist that produced a permanent rainbow hanging over the north end of the pond. It was as if a massive glacier had moved through this meadow millions of years ago and had left behind this unbelievable sight just for her to see.

  Jack had remained seated on the motorcycle for the brief span of time that it took Kristin to completely take in the vista. A moment in time that only lasted a minute or two but seemed like an eternity to Kristin seeing it for the first time. It was like she had watched the formation of the wall and the meadow actually take place over millions of years. He had not said a word or even made a sound the entire time, allowing her sense everything without any outside interference.

  When Kristin finally turned back toward him she had a reverberant glow, not just on her face but her entire body and her eyes were glistening with a hint of tears.

  Jack had a “What do you think of this place,” smile in his eyes and a little smirk on his lips. The first words out of her mouth were,

  “How did you find this place?”

  “I stumbled across it a couple years ago when I was hunting.”

  “How many people know about this place?” she asked.

  “In the few times that I have visited this place I have never seen another person here. The trail we took to get here looks like it was made with a horse and buggy. I haven't ever seen any sign of another living human being here, for all I know, you and I are the only two people on this planet that know that this place exists.

  Jack opened the first saddle bag and took out their lunch. As he was taking the blanket out of the second saddle bag he spotted her camera.

  “I don't suppose you want this do you?” He asked holding the camera up.

  She got very excited and held out her arms for the camera with a gimme movement of her hands. Jack held the camera back like he wasn't going to give it to her, “Under one condition.” He said sternly.

  She looked at him playfully, knowing that whatever his conditions were she was prepared to agree to them.

  “You take all the pictures you want, shoot to your heart’s content.”

  “But?” she asked, knowing that the other shoe was about to fall.

  “You can't ever tell anyone else about this place, it's our little secret.”

  Kristin didn't say a word she simply slid in close to him and pressed her warm lips against hers. When she pulled back she winked at him and said, “Sealed with a kiss.”

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Girard decided that there was no one home at the ranch he had been watching for the last two hours. The only signs of life were the two horses in the corral, the two-hundred buffalo in the pasture, and a sleepy golden retriever camped out on the front porch. There was a Chevy pickup parked in the front yard, but wasn't this standard equipment for a ranch. Hell, it was probably in the state constitution that every ranch had to have at least one pickup sitting in the front yard.

  The dog had bolted off the porch a couple of times to chase a rabbit that tried to sneak out from under the house and munch on some of the lush green grass in the front yard. Each time the rabbit got away, the old dog just didn't seem to have the killer instinct. Girard decided that Rover would not be a problem; he was a pet not a guard dog. And if Rover did give him any problem he would just put a bullet in his brain, good night Rover.

  Girard rolled over in his mind the best way to carry out his assignment. The simplest answer was just walk up to the front door, ring the doorbell and shoot the simple Bastard. The problem was that these country bumpkins were usually pretty well armed, and occasionally they answered the door with a 12 gauge double barrel shotgun. Then there were the complications of his very specific orders. He was only supposed to kill the cowboy and let the girl live. Clarence had made it very clear to him that if one hair was harmed on the girl; he would not only be denied his money but Clarence would put a bounty on his head five times the fee that he was paying him. His life would not be worth spit.

  Then there were two very crucial issues that were nagging at him. The first issue was not letting the girl see him. Which meant that he either had to kill the cowboy away from the house so that by the time someone found the body he would be long gone, or he would have to sneak up on the two lovebirds so that he could bound, gag, and blindfold the girl and then kill the cowboy. Girard could leave her bound and gagged and make his escape. One of these good country folk would eventually come around to check on their neighbors when they didn't show up at a barn raising or a rat killing. Besides, Girard kind of like the idea of tying up the ex-super-model, he might even sample the goods before he headed back to the big city.