The Rockwell Legacy Box Set

Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Kai grabbed one of the four-wheelers and took Max for a ride out on the trails. The lodge offered access to a network of trails through the backcountry surrounding Rocky Peak. Most were cross-country trails, but a few offered some decent downhill runs in the winter. For the hardcore skiing, guests drove a few miles to Majestic Lodge, which had ski lifts going up Majestic Mountain and a famous black diamond trail.

Like everything else here at the lodge, the trails were no longer up to their former level of maintenance. Kai had to keep steering around overhanging branches so his father didn’t get sideswiped. He’d have to come out here with a machete and a chainsaw and do some clearing.

It would release some tension too. The encounter with Nicole had left him all riled up and restless. He hadn’t intended to antagonize her right off the bat.

“Not to be critical, but these trails could use some work,” he said lightly as he navigated around a tree root.

“Have at it.” Max gestured at the expanse of forest surrounding them. He wore a battered leather cowboy hat with a feather in the band and chewed on a long stalk of grass as they rode. “No one does trail work as good as you. I’ll even pay you.”

The compliment was so unexpected, Kai almost said yes. “That’s all right, I have a job. But I’m happy to lend a hand. Volunteer only.”

“Jake says you’ve been working in Alaska.”

“Yeah, but that ended. I guess it’s more accurate to say that I’m between jobs. But I will have a job. There’s a crew in Montana that needs a supervisor. Good guys, I’ve worked there before. I told them I’d let them know soon.”

Max grunted. “Pretty country, Montana.”

Kai filled in the rest of that thought. Not as pretty as Rocky Peak. No place compared to Rocky Peak, in Max’s eyes.

He wasn’t wrong, either. The majestic wooded hills and valleys, with their sudden waterfalls and hidden cliff faces, made Kai’s heart sing. Not even Alaska could compare—not to a Rockwell, anyway. This place was woven into his blood and bones. Being back here was already having a powerful effect on him. Not just the lodge itself, and the wilderness around it, but seeing the staff again. He’d known Loner Douglas, the gardener and Renata Drake, the cook, his whole life.

“I shouldn’t have stayed away so long,” he said, more to himself than anything else. “I don’t know how it happened. Time just goes, you know?”

“I do know.” Those heartfelt words, in his dad’s gruff voice, felt like an arrow straight to the heart. “Gotta wonder what took you so long, and what’s different now.”

Now that was another kind of arrow—more like a poison dart. His entire body tensed and a knot formed in his gut. “Maybe we shouldn’t rehash all that yet. I made a promise, did you catch that? No battles.”

Max rumbled with laughter. Kai had to admit that he seemed a lot more mellow now. Maybe Nicole did deserve some credit.

He couldn’t shake the memory of that indignant look in her eyes when she’d caught him mocking the “Max-Whisperer.” He was such a jackass. Maybe he’d spent too much time in the backcountry to behave right.

“No battles,” Max agreed. “Doctor said no stress, but that’s a helluva prescription for a guy like me. I tried ramping down. Skeleton staff, minimal bookings. I don’t want to burden Gracie with too much. If she had to run this place, she’d never leave. She’d be buried here forever.”

Kai ducked to avoid a sweeping spruce branch. “We agree there. I’ve tried to get her out to see other places in the world.”

“And I’m glad for it. I worry about her.”

Max had definitely mellowed; he’d never spoken this honestly with Kai before. Either that, or he was really worried about the future. “There’s something else, Kai. A while ago some real estate type came sniffing around and I scared him off. But now I’m thinking different. Something’s gotta change or the lodge won’t survive.”

“Real estate type?” Kai’s stomach roiled, and not just from the bouncy ride of the four-wheeler. Was Max thinking about selling?

“Worth thinking about, no?”

No. Or was it? Kai took a turn onto one of his favorite trails, the one that looped through a meadow that filled with lupines in the spring.

“Look, Max. I know I don’t have the right to get in the middle of this. It’s your decision to make. I just want to make sure you know what you’re doing.”

Max bristled at his phrasing.

“Scratch that,” Kai said quickly. “I just want to make sure you’ve done your due diligence. This lodge has been in our family since great-grandad.”

“It’s your legacy. I’m aware.” Max shot him an ironic sidelong glance. “Didn’t think you were. You want to come back and run things? Is that it?”

“No,” Kai said quickly. “No, I’m just watching out for you.”

They’d reached a juncture between two trails, one that headed uphill onto a ridge, the other back toward the lodge. A glance at his father told him that he’d probably had enough jostling. Carefully, he maneuvered the four-wheeler so it pointed back toward Rocky Peak.

Max spat out the blade of grass he’d been chewing. “Ever since Nicole showed up, all full of ideas, I’ve been thinking maybe the lodge is due for a change.”

“But you barely know her.”

“Not the point. She’s got good ideas. Fresh-air camps for city kids in the summer, foreign exchange student interns, weddings in the spring. She made me see all the possibilities. She’s good people, Kai. Good energy. You should give her a chance.”

His hands tightened on the steering wheel. A chance to what? Tell him all the ways she wanted to overhaul his childhood home? And where would the money for all that come from?

Don’t fight with Max.

“Sure,” he managed. “Sounds good. I’d like to get to know her.” A plan of attack occurred to him. “How about if I stay for a month. I’ll get to know Nicole, listen to her ideas, and we’ll leave things status quo for now. No big decisions about anything for the next month.”

“Deal,” said Max, so promptly that Kai wondered if he’d played right into his father’s hands. “We’ll give it one month.”

The four-wheeler rattled down the trail, bouncing over roots and rocks. As he navigated obstacles, Kai had a quick memory flash of Griffin, who’d first driven a four-wheeler at the age of five. Then he’d moved onto dirt bikes at the age of ten. A speed demon on a mission from day one. Instead of lashing out at their dad, Griffin had kept his head down and lost himself in the joy of going fast.

Speaking of which …

“One month without fighting,” Kai said. “Think we can do it?”

Max grunted and grabbed onto his leather cowboy hat as they hit another bump. “I doubt we can last a day. But that’s okay. No one has to know.” He grinned over at Kai, who laughed and held out his hand for a high-five.

How come he never used to laugh with Max, instead of fighting?

As they left the forest into the cleared expanse of lawn that surrounded the lodge, they caught a glimpse of a small figure jogging out from the entrance of the ridge trail. A woman in leggings and sports bra, her hair held back in a ponytail.

Nicole. Looking sexier than Kai was comfortable with. She was still the enemy, after all, or at least a potential enemy.

Their paths converged near the barn where the four-wheelers and other vehicles were housed. Nicole waved at them, slowing to a light cool-down jog. Her skin glowed with perspiration and a touch of pink from the sun.

Kai slowed the four-wheeler as they approached her. She bent over, hands on knees, panting to catch her breath. “Good run?”

“No, I hate jogging, it was torture,” she managed, with a rueful grimace. “The only good part was the scenery.”

“I know what you mean.”

Realizing that his comment could be taken wrong—as if she was the scenery—he added quickly, “I used to cross-train on those trails. Running in the summer, skiing in the winter.”

“There’s a box of trophies somewhere,” Max rumbled.

Kai gave him a sideways look—when he left, those trophies had been proudly displayed on the shelf where Mom had put them. “Did you mothball my trophies?”

“Sorry,” Max muttered. “I was ticked off.”

Kai shook his head and turned back to Nicole. “Well, Nurse Nicole, I’d offer you a ride to the front door, but you’d have to sit on Max’s lap, and—” Oh hell, that sounded bad too. As if he was making the same kind of insinuation as before. “I mean, there’s no room.”

Her lips twitched as if she was trying to hold back the laughter. And why was he looking at her lips, exactly? Face it, he liked this version of Nurse Nicole. Sweaty and relaxed, not righteously angry at him.

“Did you guys have a nice ride?” she asked them.

“Nope,” said Max. “With this guy at the wheel, every joint in my body got shook up. Might have dislodged a vertebra or two. Or maybe that shrapnel’s finally working its way out. Who taught you to drive, son?”

“You don’t have shrapnel.” Kai shook his head at his dad, who’d been telling that tall tale all his life. “He got in the path of an exploding car once. Not exactly a war zone injury.”

“A wound’s a wound. Don’t fact-check your father,” Max grumbled.

Kai gritted his teeth and reminded himself of his promise.

“Kai and I came to an understanding about the future of the lodge,” Max told Nicole.

“About that—” Nicole said. Still breathing fast, she put her hands on her hips, which drew his gaze to the waist, and the tempting curve of her damp flesh there.

He pulled his attention away. Attraction was not on the agenda. Not one little bit.

“I was giving it a lot of thought during my run,” she continued. “I know what a big deal it is to have your son home again, Max. I’d never want to make any kind of trouble with a family reunion like that. I think I should leave, at least for a little while. I can train Gracie how to take your blood—”

“No,” Kai cut her off. “There’s no need for that.”

If she left, he wouldn’t be able to properly check up on her. Also, Max definitely was mellower than in the past, and if she had anything to do with that, she needed to stay.

“You’re taking good care of Max and that’s the most important thing. Just because we got off on the wrong foot doesn’t mean we have to stay that way. We’re adults. We can work around it.”

“The wrong foot?” She tucked a damp strand of hair behind her ear. “Is that another of those clichés you like throwing around?”

He laughed, finding her funny this time instead of irritating. Maybe the sports bra had something to do with that. Those things were hazardous to a man’s health. “I’m going to stay for one month. That’s it. I’m going to work on trail clearing, chimney cleaning, maintenance, whatever else needs doing.”

“Nurse monitoring?” she said wryly.

“Future discussing,” he corrected. “No monitoring. I promise not to interfere with your work. Max needs you. Think you can handle a month with me around?”

She gazed at him thoughtfully with those clear blue eyes. He remembered the offended expression they’d held in the lounge, when he’d been such a jackass.

“In case it needs to be said again, I’m sorry about the way I behaved earlier.”

She waved him off. “No no, please don’t apologize any more. That’s over and done with. I said some things I regret too. I’m here to reduce Max’s stress, not the opposite. I take that very seriously, I hope you both know that. I promise to behave like a proper adult for the next month.” She tossed them both a vague, embarrassed smile, then shivered, rubbing her bare arms. “I’d better go take a shower before I turn into a sweat-sicle.”

She set off at a slow jog toward the lodge entrance.

Kai touched the accelerator and the four-wheeler rumbled toward the barn. In a month, he could find out everything he needed to know about Nicole Davidson.

Also, maybe it was the rebel in him, but he intended to take that “behave like a proper adult” thing as a personal challenge.