paused outside one of the doors. “This room should do you fine. You’ll find some thermal underwear and wool socks in the dresser drawer and a warm robe in the closet. Put them on. This is a summer lodge. There’s no heat except the fireplace.” He opened the door and disappeared back the way they’d come.
The twins were getting heavy in her arms. They’d been unusually subdued since they’d come inside—awed, perhaps, by their strange new surroundings. Tessa carried them into the room and set them on the bed. They’d soon need to be fed and changed, but she’d be useless to care for them if she didn’t get out of her wet clothes first.
The queen-size bed was covered with a dark-green, down-filled comforter that matched the window drapes. The twins loved the fluffy softness. Happy to be out of their confining seats, they tumbled, rolled and giggled as Tessa stripped off her wet clothes and hung them over the shower rack in the bathroom. She was soaked to the skin. Even her bra and panties had to come off. In the dresser she found several sets of new thermal underwear, still sealed in plastic bags. Choosing the smallest size, she pulled the shirt over her head and stepped into the drawers. They were too big, and the fly in front told her they were made for a man, but they were soft and warm, and she was in no condition to complain. The waist had a drawstring. She tightened it to fit, rolled up the ankles and opened a packet of thick wool socks.
As she was pulling them on, she heard the gurgle and rush of water in the adjoining bathroom. The taps, she realized, would have been left open when the pipes were drained for the winter. She raced into the opulent marble bathroom to shut them off. At least Dragan had made good on his promise to get the water running right away.
But she’d been a fool to trust his offer to fly her to Anchorage. Blast the man! Once they were safely out of this place, she was going to give him a piece of her mind! The robe in the closet was black cashmere. It glided around her as she slid her arms into the sleeves and tightened the sash. It was too big for her, but so decadently soft that it was a pleasure to wear. She took a moment to roll up the long sleeves, then turned back to check on her twins. Missy was sitting on the bed, watching her with wide blue eyes.
Maddie was nowhere in sight.
Tessa glanced around. There was no cause for panic. She’d closed the door firmly behind her when she’d entered the room. Hadn’t she?
She swung toward the door, her heart creeping into her throat. The door stood partway open. Preoccupied with the babies and her wet clothes, she must have failed to close it all the way, leaving just enough edge for Maddie to catch with her tiny fingers. The little scamp was an accomplished Houdini.
Snatching Missy off the bed, Tessa flung the door all the way open and peered up and down the hall. No Maddie. She’d made a clean getaway—into a house filled with unknown dangers.
“Maddie!” Tessa called. “Come back here! Come back right now!”
There was no answer.
After he’d turned on the water, Dragan made a fire in the fireplace, opened the valve on the propane tank behind the lodge and lit the pilot lights on the stove and water heater. That done, he went out to the equipment shed to check the generator. The machine that powered the house had been drained of fuel and covered for the winter. There was no gasoline. Sam, the Tlingit caretaker who’d spent the summer in a cabin on the property, would have taken what was left of it when he’d departed for his island home after the season was over.
Closing the shed door and locking it, Dragan headed back toward the house. He and his reluctant guests would have no electricity for their stay. But at least they’d be warm. There was plenty of firewood and the propane would allow them to take hot baths and heat the emergency supply of canned and freeze-dried food that stocked the pantry shelves.
But what were Tessa’s twins going to eat? Dragan mouthed a curse as the question struck him. There was no baby food in the house and no fresh milk. Not only that, the place wasn’t equipped for small children. There were no cribs, no playpens, no high chairs, no toys—and certainly no reserve supply of disposable diapers.
This was going to be a nightmare!
He could only hope his radio transmission had gotten through and that a rescue plane would soon come to fly them to Anchorage, or at least to deliver some fuel for the Porter.
Meanwhile, he’d be damned if he was going to play nanny. The twins would be Tessa’s problem, not his. Babies stirred emotions he never wanted to feel again. The less he had to do with them, the better.
The light was already fading above the trees. He would need to locate a supply of candles or a lantern. Otherwise they’d soon be stumbling around in the dark. There was a flashlight in the plane, as well as Tessa’s suitcases and his own bag. He’d hoped to get everything in the morning, when the tide would be out, and he could check for the cause of the fuel leak. But with the storm coming, he’d be smart to take the raft now to get the luggage and secure the plane as best he could.
Tessa seemed to think he’d planned this misadventure. Nothing could be further from the truth. If he’d known he was going to end up stuck in the middle of nowhere with three troublesome redheads, he wouldn’t have come within a mile of her and her two little imps.
On the back porch, he stomped the mud off his shoes before opening the door to the kitchen. He’d seen small bear tracks and fresh scat near the equipment shed; maybe a half-grown cub snooping around. Not much to worry about as long as everything was securely locked and no food was left out. For now, at least, he’d spare Tessa the news of this latest discovery. She was already under enough stress.
He’d moved into the shadowed kitchen and had just turned back to lock the dead bolt when he heard a subtle sound behind him. Startled, he jerked around to see a stubby little figure with a mop of russet curls gazing up at him.
“Phhht!” Maddie had passed judgment on him again.
“What the devil are you doing in here, you little scamp?” Dragan dropped to a crouch beside her. It hadn’t occurred to him that the twins could walk. Until now he’d only seen them carried.
“Noz.” She reached out and poked his face. He hadn’t known they could talk, either. Surprise. But there was nothing surprising about the familiar stink that rose from under her pink coveralls. Miss Maddie had clearly escaped before her mother had had a chance to change her diaper.
Rising, he edged around her and headed toward the dining room. “Come on,” he said, beckoning. “Let’s go find your mom.”
“Phhht!” Ignoring him, Maddie began tugging at the door to the cabinet under the sink—the cabinet that held detergent, bleach, drain cleaner, mouse bait...
Dragan had never been into sports, but he scooped her up like a halfback seizing a fumbled ball, gripping her under one arm as he strode out of the kitchen. Thanks to Maddie and her sister, he would have to childproof the whole damned lodge, starting with that cabinet.
In the entry he ran into Tessa. Dressed in the black cashmere robe, she was holding Missy, eyes darting this way and that with a frantic look. Relief lit her face when she saw that Dragan had her daughter.
“For God’s sake, take her!” Dragan muttered. “She smells like a—” He groped for the right word.
“Like a messy baby.” Tessa took Maddie with her free arm, arching slightly backward to balance both twins with the aid of her hips. Dragan found the pose strangely sexy, although he couldn’t say why. “Thank goodness you found her,” she said. “Where was she?”
“In the kitchen, trying to open a cabinet full of toxic cleaners. You can’t just let your children run around by themselves here. The place isn’t safe for toddlers. It’s dangerous.”
“You think I’d just turn them loose?” Her hazel eyes flashed. “Keeping an eye on these two is a full-time job. As a mother, I take that job seriously. Maddie’s