Chapter 5
When they stopped for lunch, Lauren was starving and the sandwiches she packed went down faster than she would have liked. Seth had made it clear that she should bring her own food, had even sent her a list of things to buy, most of it was dehydrated so she’d allowed herself this one last treat. They ate in silence until they were both finished, too hungry to take time to force conversation.
Neither had thought about what it was going to be like during their down time on the trail and the silence was beginning to get heavy. “You did good with the four-wheeler this morning. I have to say that I’m impressed.”
Lauren was a bit shocked by his compliment, but said, “Thank you.” Then felt the need to explain for some strange reason. “I had a boyfriend in high school who was into cars. I learned quite a bit in those nine months,” she said, her voice wistful.
Seth couldn’t help but pick up on her tone, and imagined that she was missing the boyfriend. He couldn’t know that it wasn’t the boy she was missing, she was missing the carefree way she felt when she was with him. Instead he was imagining her with the boy, driving down a back road in a fast car, laughing and kissing in the back seat when they parked. A sudden stab of jealousy caught him off guard and he jumped to his feet.
“Well, we’d better get back on the trail,” he said, abruptly ending the conversation.
Lauren watched his retreating back, wishing she hadn’t told him that story. It was way too personal for a professional relationship, but for just a second, she’d seen Seth as a friend. Of course, that was impossible, she was here in a professional capacity, it wouldn’t do to get too close to Seth Montgomery, he was a man with lots of problems. Problems she herself was creating. It would be beyond unprofessional to develop any kind of feelings for the man.
They rode for most of the afternoon, finally stopping to set up camp late in the day, thanks to the long summer days in this part of the world, they’d have light until nearly midnight. Lauren was glad of that fact since she knew it was going to take her a long time to set up her camp, not to mention that the bears and other wildlife would be less likely to visit in daylight. Not for the first time that day, she wished that she’d grown up in place where she could have experienced the outdoors.
But there had been little chance of that living in Atlanta, her parents working double shifts just to support them, and all her brothers and sisters to care for. There had never been such a thing as a vacation in her house, that just wasn’t possible. The closest she’d ever gotten to the outdoors had been the park in their neighborhood.
Lauren watched Seth carefully as he unloaded his gear, then mimicked him, hoping that he wouldn’t notice. She chose a site for her tent that gave her a view of his, then began slowly unfolding her tent, watching him as he set up his so she’d know what to do. But when she’d finally gotten the poles together, she just couldn’t figure out where to put them and it had looked so simple when Seth had done it. She was standing staring at the tent when he came up behind her, she felt his presence before he even spoke.
“Do you need some help?” he asked, much too sweetly.
“No, thank you. I can figure this out,” she replied, equally sweetly.
“Okay then, I’m going to go find some firewood,” he said, and headed into the trees.
Seth was smiling as he walked away, he’d take his time, get a nice big pile of firewood. By the time he got back, Lauren would be so frustrated, she’d give in and ask for his help. It would be somehow satisfying to help her, he wasn’t sure what that meant and he wasn’t going to explore it any farther, but he was looking forward to hearing her ask.
The moment Seth left the clearing where they’d set up camp, Lauren went straight for the directions for the tent. She’d seen them sticking out of the bag, but she hadn’t wanted to read them with Seth around, it made little sense, but that was how she’d felt. But now that he was gone, she snatched them up, determined to have the tent set up and ready when he got back, that would wipe the smug smile off his face.
When Seth walked back into camp, he’d expected to see a frustrated Lauren, but what he found instead was Lauren’s backside sticking out of the door of her perfectly erected tent. The sight stopped him in his tracks as a powerful wave of desire washed over him. He cursed and started toward the fire pit, unable to stop thinking about Lauren’s perfectly rounded rear end in her tight jeans.
Lauren stood up and put her hands on her hips, “What’s the matter?” she asked, afraid that he’d seen some wild animal in the forest.
“Nothing you need to worry about,” he said, his voice coming out angry instead of frustrated, which he was. The attraction he was feeling for this woman had to end.
He couldn’t do anything about it and now was not the time to get tangled up with another woman, especially one who was so young, she couldn’t possibly be more than 24 or 25 and probably thinking about marriage and kids. Not to mention the fact that she was basically his enemy right now, the last thing he needed was to complicate an already complicated matter. But had circumstances been different, had he met her in town…He stopped his train of thought there, it would only torture him to think of the what ifs.
Lauren couldn’t understand his harsh response, she’d only asked because he’d cussed, the man was going to drive her crazy. She went back to her tent and finished putting her bedroll together, then got the little stove she’d bought and a packet of the dehydrated food Seth had told her to bring. It didn’t sound very appetizing, but she was tired and hungry and still had to figure out how to light the little stove.
Seth had lit his earlier and she’d watched, but he’d been too far away for her to clearly see what he was doing, so she’d have to swallow her pride and read the directions in front of him. She was too hungry to let her pride get in the way of stopping the growling in her stomach, and she wasn’t about to ask for help.
It took Seth no time at all to get the fire started so Lauren sat down across the fire pit from him and took out the stove, trying to ignore him. It looked simple enough to put together, but she had no idea how to light it and was just a bit frightened of blowing herself up so she took out the directions and ready them through twice. Then she took the stove the recommended distance from the fire, took a deep breath, and struck a match.
To her immense pleasure, the little stove lit on the first try and in no time at all she had a hot meal all ready to go. Sighing with pleasure, she took her food over to the fire and sat down to eat it, pleased with her first attempt at feeding herself. Seth had prepared his food over the fire and although it smelled much better than what she was eating, she refused his offer to share.
“That’s okay. I’ve got plenty here, but thank you,” she said when he offered.
Seth took a bit bite of the stew he’d made, then said, “That stuff is going to get old after a while.”
Lauren was doing her best to enjoy the meal, but the truth was it didn’t taste very good. “I suppose it will, but I’ll live,” she said, thinking about the time money had been so tight they’d had to eat beans for weeks; at least with this food she’d have some variety.
Seth watched Lauren eat, trying not to laugh when he thought about her carefully reading the directions, then pacing off the distance between the stove and the fire. He had to give her credit though, for someone who clearly knew nothing about camping, she’d managed to set up a neat little camp and feed herself. “You’ve never been camping before, have you?” he finally asked, amusement in his voice.
Lauren remembered all too well what had happened the last time she’d given him personal information, how he’d walked away without a comment, making her feel like she’d said too much, so she kept her answer short. “No, I grew up in the city.”
“Well, for a city girl you did okay today,” Seth said, just the slightest bit of admiration apparent in his voice. “It was entertaining to watch you figure out how to light that lamp, you read the directions twice.”
Lauren thought about giving him a smart reply, but realized just in time that he’d been giving her a compliment. “I like figuring things out for myself, reading the directions is sometimes the only way, although if I’d had more time I probably would have watched a video instead. I wasn’t prepared for this trip,” she admitted, then was sorry she did, but Seth didn’t make a disparaging remark like she’d expected him to.
Instead, he said, “I’ll teach you to build a fire tomorrow when we make camp, it’s not that hard, but I don’t have any written directions or a video, the real thing will have to do.” Seth smiled at her, finding that he liked teasing her.
“I think I might be able to handle it without directions, but I could always write them down,” she said, trying to sound serious.
Seth laughed. “I think you’re smart enough to learn how to start a fire without written directions.”
Lauren couldn’t help but notice how much more attractive Seth was when he smiled, it lit up his entire face and she wished he’d smile more often. That thought was quickly followed by a wave of desire that caught her off guard and almost made her say something stupid about his smile, but she caught herself. Feeling danger in the air, she got up and cleaned up her dinner mess and put the stove away.
“I’ll think I’ll call it a night. I’m pretty tired,” she said, once everything had been packed up.
“Hmm, it’s still early, but we do want to get an early start in the morning so that’s not a bad idea,” Seth said, not liking the feelings he was having either. He was beginning to like Lauren Anderson a little too much for either of their own good.
They broke camp early in the morning, and got on the trail, it was only a few hours ride to the first mine. Seth was hopeful that they could see the mine and move on before it got too late in the afternoon to travel, the thought of camping out at the mine didn’t please him at all. It was a stark and ugly place, especially since it was no longer in operation, shut down thanks to a mass exodus of upper level employees.
It had happened shortly after Neil Parker disappeared, almost as if he’d warned them what was going to happen when he disappeared. Several people had left overnight, leaving their homes with only what they could carry in a suitcase. Rather than hire replacements, he’d decided it was just simpler to shut down the mines and offered the laid-off employees a severance package. The last thing he wanted to do was spend the night in the shadow of the mine, a terrible reminder that his family legacy was one of corruption and dishonesty.
Lauren could see the mine for miles before they even got close, it was a dark gash on an otherwise lush green landscape. The closer they got the more upset she became, the land had been so abused it looked like a battle field full of rubble, all that was missing was the bodies. And the hulking mining buildings did nothing to soften the effect. By the time they parked their four-wheelers and got off, she had tears in her eyes, the sight the ugliest and the largest she’d ever seen.
“This is awful. How could this have gone on for so long?” she asked, her voice shaking with both anger and frustration.
Seth knew exactly what she felt because he felt it too. “At least your family isn’t the ones responsible,” he said, quietly.
His words penetrated her anger, and she was instantly sure that Seth really hadn’t had anything to do with what she was looking at. “You really didn’t have anything to do with this, did you?” she said, then wished she hadn’t.
“Are you just now figuring that out?” Seth asked, looking down at her, a bit surprised by her words, not sure how he could have made it any clearer to her.
“You have no idea what I’ve seen, even in my short career,” she defended herself. “Let’s get started, I don’t want to stay here any longer than we have to.”
“Get started with what?” Seth asked, confused. Lauren had only said she wanted to see the mines.
“Why taking samples of course,” she answered, thinking he should know that she’d have to.
“But I’ve already done that. They’re in the notebook I gave you.” The last thing he wanted to do was tromp around in the pollution spread everywhere, some of it was dangerous.
Lauren stopped unloading the supplies she’d need and looked at Seth. “I can’t just take your word for it, I have to have some samples of my own,” Lauren explained patiently.
Seth hadn’t counted on Lauren wanting to spend that much time at the mine. “How long will it take?” he asked, trying to rearrange the schedule he’d had in mind.
“Not more than a couple of hours. Why?” she asked, not liking the look on Seth’s face.
“I just didn’t plan on you spending that much time on the sites, I just thought we’d look and move on,” he finally admitted, his annoyance becoming clearer and clearer.
“It can’t be helped,” Lauren said, and went back to what she was doing.
Seth wasn’t happy about the delay, but made the best use of his time by cataloging the mining equipment for later sale. Regardless of whether or not the renewable energy project happened, the equipment had to be sold. It was a depressing and dirty task that Seth didn’t enjoy, but by the time Lauren was done, he had a comprehensive list of what was there.
When Seth came out of the mine, Lauren couldn’t help but laugh, he had black streaks on his cheeks and both of his eyes were black. “What were you doing in there? You look like you’re on the warpath,” she said, unable to stop herself from laughing.
Seth shot her a dirty look, he was in no mood for teasing. He tried to wipe the grime off his face, but only made it worse and Lauren burst into a fresh peal of laughter. A fresh burst of anger washed over him, but then he looked at her, laughing and smiling, and it drained away. The woman did something strange to him, he thought, as his laughter joined hers.
Over the next few days, they followed a routine, traveling from one cleanup site to the next. Lauren never got used to the shock of seeing the ruined land, and discovered that while the mines were bad, the clear-cut areas were even worse. Acres and acres of bare dirt, the removal the trees so detrimental that nothing but a few straggly trees had grown.
They’d been on the trail for a week when they woke up to dark grey, threatening clouds. Lauren knew what those clouds meant: rain and a lot of it. “That doesn’t look good,” she said, pointing to the bank of clouds moving their way.
“Now you’re a weather forecaster,” Seth said grumpily.
“I don’t have to be a weather forecaster to tell you that we’re going to get rained on,” she shot back at him, not appreciating him taking his bad mood out on her.
Seth sighed. A weather delay right now would mean that he might not be able to get Lauren back home before he had to meet with the Yup’ik, and he really didn’t want to take her with him. She’d done fine on the trail, picking up survival skills like she was born in the wilderness. But his negotiations with the tribe were a delicate matter, tradition had to be followed, and it would be a lengthy process.
He could have told her right then, but he was still hoping that the rain wouldn’t come and that they’d be able to stay on schedule. “Let’s get on the trail, we may need to find some shelter for the night and I know a cave that would be perfect, but it’s several hours from here.”
Lauren looked at the sky again. “Sounds like a good plan to me. I wouldn’t want to be caught in a storm out here,” she said, and headed for her four-wheeler.
They just made it to the cave before the skies opened up and the rain began to come down, soaking them both before they could get their gear into the cave. But once inside, with a fire burning brightly, they changed into dry clothes and had a hot meal. Then they sat back to wait out the storm hoping that by morning it would have passed and they’d be able to continue to the next site. But their hopes were dashed the next morning when a loud clap of thunder woke them both. Instead of getting better, the storm had only intensified overnight.
Seth groaned from his sleeping bag which he’d placed as far from Lauren’s as he could. “Looks like we’re not going anywhere today, might as well go back to sleep.”
Lauren sat up in her sleeping bag and saw the rain still coming down in heavy waves. “I guess not,” she said, and snuggled back inside.
The next time she woke up, there was no going back to sleep; besides the fact that nature was calling, she was starving. When she got back to the cave, Seth was up too and had a small fire built, just enough to keep off the chill. She shivered and pulled off her rain gear, glad that she’d let Heather talk her into buying it.
Seth came up and stood beside her. “I don’t think we’ll be leaving again today and that’s all the firewood we have,” he said, pointing to the small pile in the corner of the cave. “I’ll go get some more if you’ll make us some breakfast.”
“I’ll go with you,” Lauren said, heading for her rain gear again.
“No, I can do it on my own, I’ll use the trailer. But you can help me unload it when I get back,” he said, blocking her way. The truth was that he needed to get away from Lauren for a little while; he’d spent most of the night tossing and turning thinking about her sleeping just a few feet away from him.
What at first had been a mild attraction to Lauren had grown over the last week into full infatuation, a situation he’d been unable to avoid no matter how hard he’d tried. He’d found himself thinking about her more and more, and had barely stopped himself from kissing her several times over the last few days. Now cooped up with her in the cave, he was finding it even harder to resist.
This had certainly not been part of his plan, he’d wanted to bring her up here, exhaust her, and take her home. But now, not only was he beginning to like the woman, but he was beginning to respect her, her determination to do her share and learn how to survive in the wilderness made it difficult not to.
Plus, she did strange things to his body, awakening a desire unlike anything he’d ever felt before. He wanted her, that much he understood, but why he wanted her was a mystery to him, one he had to decide if he was up to solving. Something about Lauren scared him, confused him, but made him feel wonderful, like when he was with her wonderful things were possible.