“Can you afford to be so far from base?” was Laura’s no nonsense greeting. Her welcoming smile was the only greeting Akbar cared about. Well, that and the way she looked coming down the broad stone steps of the Lodge.
The stone foundation and three stories of wood towered above her. The two main wings stretched off to either side. A central peak climbed several more steep-roofed stories above the entrance, complete with a cupola at the very top. Driving up he’d been able to admire the glacier-capped mass of Mount Hood rising directly behind the Lodge, though now he was close enough that the Lodge masked the peak.
The mass of the building could easily have overshadowed a lesser woman, but Laura looked like a queen descending from the heights. And as she came closer he could really appreci
