All I Want.... Isabel Sharpe

way up the coast near the Canadian border a whole summer, longer than he’d stayed anywhere else on his trip. The life, the smells, the atmosphere, the old man he’d gotten to know better than anyone during his year-plus of travel, all had found a place in his heart and all had been nearly forgotten until his return today.

      But, of course, this time he was, as always, operating on short notice and a tight schedule. The whole way from Boston he’d kept an eye out for Juice’s hideously over-detailed red Camaro and come up empty—not that he thought it likely he’d find that needle in this highway haystack. Seth had called Aimee several time to see if she’d heard anything, but Her Poutiness refused to take his call.

      And Sheila wondered why he didn’t like dealing with his stepsister any more than he had to?

      He found a gap in the woods that fit the description of the road the inn owners told him to look for and took the turn slowly, following the flat white track through the trees, which theoretically would lead him to the Pine Tree Inn. He damn well hoped so. The gas in his car would get him back to Skowhegan to fill up in the morning but not a hell of a lot farther. He couldn’t afford to be wandering lost in the Maine woods.

      The thought startled him. Since when? Years back he would have relished such an adventure. If he’d run out of gas, he would have slept in his car or found a way to make a shelter and find food, thrilled at being so directly in touch with basic survival instincts. Times like that brought a man closer to the essence of being human.

      Hint: It had nothing to do with corporate merchandising.

      So he’d grown soft again.

      Well that was life. When you were sure fate would lead in the direction you needed to go to learn the most, it took a sharp U-turn and taught you something else. This trip tonight had made him realize all the more how far he’d strayed from the person he thought he’d become. Chasing after Aimee’s screwup had already managed to be a lot more worthwhile than he’d expected—and there was still more to come.

      Though he really didn’t want to arrive at the inn and find Juice there causing Krista any trouble. Unfortunately since Juice had a head start on both Seth and the snow, that was the most likely scenario. Then what? At worst, confrontation or hostility from Juice. Confrontation and hostility from Krista was probably given, but he had more confidence in his ability to handle her. Seth was no wimp, but Juice was…enormous. And as a bodyguard, probably trained in violent confrontation. Comforting thought.