Almost Perfect

Chapter 2

Never let your past limit your future.

– How to Have a Perfect Life

Maddy wondered about Jane's advice as she tossed the book into her suitcase and headed for Santa Fe. Was it possible to leave the past behind? With every mile that flew by, she felt more and more as if she were seventeen again and racing off to meet the boy her overbearing, police officer father had forbidden her to see. Her body tingled every time she remembered how Joe used to sweep her into his arms and kiss her as if his life depended on getting her naked as quickly as possible.

They'd been crazy-mad in love in that way teenagers often were, without a practical thought in their heads about the future.

Until Joe had been arrested along with some friends for stealing a car. Then the future had crashed down on both of them.

Colonel Fraser had used every contact he had to get the charges against Joe dismissed-since he'd been an unwitting participant-and have Joe accepted into the Army. To everyone's surprise, and the Frasers' immense relief, Joe really took to the Army and informed Maddy he didn't want a short stint. The day he proposed, he proudly announced he'd been accepted into Ranger School and planned to make the Army his career. He thought she would share his enthusiasm, but her dreams of becoming an independent woman and a world-famous artist did not include getting married right out of high school the way her mother had, then putting aside all sense of self to be the perfect little homemaker. Of course, at the time, she hadn't known that the words "wife" and "slave" were not synonymous.

Memories of how it all had ended made her grimace many times during the drive from Austin to Santa Fe. The scene had been bitter and ugly, and Joe had looked at her with such shock, it was clear he'd felt completely betrayed.

But that had been a lifetime ago. Surely he was over it by now. As a mature adult, he had to see in retrospect that she'd made the right choice. For both of them. She'd been entirely too immature and would have made a terrible wife for anyone. Especially a soldier who would have to deploy at a moment's notice for covert operations that could last for months.

Yes, she'd made the right choice.

And Joe would be long over the rejection by now.

Maddy repeated that reassurance like a mantra as she passed a sign that told her Camp Enchantment was just ahead. She glanced through the trees on her left. The road had been following a river through several miles of untamed countryside, as she climbed from the desert into the mountains, but now there was a collection of buildings on the opposite bank.

Her stomach fluttered with the realization that she'd be seeing Joe face-to-face in just a few minutes. As camp director, he'd be on hand to greet her and the other coordinators who were arriving as an advance guard to get the camp ready for the counselors and campers. Weeks had passed since she'd built up the courage to call Mama Fraser and accept the job. If Joe had any objection to seeing her again, he'd had plenty of time to tell her not to come.

She tried for the thousandth time to imagine how their first meeting would go…

He would greet her with a smile and ask how she'd been as each of them surreptitiously took stock of how the other had changed. He'd been a tall, wiry teenager when she'd seen him last, with dark good looks that spoke of some portion of Native American blood. What portion was anyone's guess, since he barely remembered his birth mother and hadn't known his father at all.

She tried to picture him slightly heavier, with the muscles he'd no doubt acquired in the Rangers going soft now that he was out and his jet-black hair beginning to recede. They would laugh-a little awkwardly perhaps-as they remembered how greedy they'd once been for each other. He would politely tell her she looked good, even though she'd gained a few pounds and collected her first faint wrinkles around the eyes. Personally, she didn't mind the weight or the wrinkles. Aging was just part of living, and it beat the heck out of the alternative: dying young, as Nigel had.

A wave of grief threatened to engulf her, so she straightened her shoulders to shake it off. A part of her would cherish Nigel forever, but the time had come for her to move forward with her life.

Up ahead, a little red sports car turned onto the drive for the camp. One of the other coordinators, she supposed, as she followed the car over a rustic wooden bridge. On the opposite side of the river, an elderly man stepped out of a guardhouse. After peeking through the windshield, he waved the sports car through the open gate, then motioned for Maddy to stop. Rolling down her window, she gave him her name.

A broad smile broke over his craggy face. "Ah yes, the new A and C lady. Mrs. Fraser told me to expect you. You just follow Sandy on up to the office. I'll tell Mama you're here." Leaving the window down so the breeze ruffled her hair, Maddy followed the other car along the drive until it pulled into a gravel parking lot before a long, one-story adobe building. Two college-age girls were standing in the lot chatting, one a tall black girl, the other a plucky-looking brunette. They let out a squeal when a perky blonde stepped out of the sports car.

Maddy watched, amused, as the girls raced over to greet the newcomer with arms wide. Just before they all collided, they bent forward at the hips for a hug that allowed no part of their bodies to touch below the shoulders. It was a ritual that surely dated back to the dawn of time. If cavegirls had gone to summer camp, Maddy was certain they would have greeted each other with exactly the same squeal, run, hug.

I When the girls headed inside, Maddy stepped out I of her own car and inhaled a breath of pine-scented air so dry it stole the moisture from her lungs. The brilliant sunlight stung her eyes as she stared at the office.

Joe was in there. She was sure of it.

Eagerness and fear warred in her stomach, making it ache. She bolstered her courage with thoughts of Amy and Christine and headed for the open doorway. Just before she reached it, she heard Joe's voice-and stopped dead.

"Welcome, ladies. I see you've returned for another summer at Camp Enchantment."

"You say that like you're surprised," one of the girls said.

"Not in the least." Joe laughed, a deep, rich sound that sent Maddy tumbling back in time. God, how she'd loved his laugh. Her secret challenge had been to coax a laugh or two out of him whenever they were alone. "Sandy, I have no doubt you'll die of old age right here leading a fireside sing-along."

"One can only hope," the girl responded in a light, flirtatious voice.

Maddy stepped closer to the building and peeked around the doorframe into the shadowy interior. The viga ceiling, terra-cotta tile floor, and beige adobe walls gave the room a rustic feel. Joe stood next to a mission-style desk, clipboard in hand, smiling at the three college girls.

The smile caught Maddy so off guard, for a moment that was all she noticed. He looked happy and relaxed, completely unlike the intense, moody rebel he'd been.

Then she took in the rest of him, and oh dear God! He didn't match her mental image of a starting-to-go-soft man in his thirties at all. He was gorgeous! With a hard body that had her pulse pounding with something more than nervousness;

He stood in profile, wearing a green polo shirt that stretched over big shoulders, bulging biceps, and a chest so well defined she could make out a hint of his pecs through the knit fabric. His khaki shorts hugged narrow hips and showed off rock-solid legs.

He laughed again at something the girls were saying, then turned and bent forward to set the clipboard on the desk. Maddy's mouth fell open as she gazed at the sexiest male butt she'd ever had the privilege to see.

"If you girls will just sign these release forms," he said, "you can get settled. Carol is already here and waiting for you in the Chief's Lodge."

Maddy tore her gaze away from Joe's backside to find the college girls checking him out as well. All three of them smiled and blushed as they took the pen he handed them and signed the forms. No wonder these girls had returned for another year. They all had the hots for the camp director!

Returning her gaze to Joe, Maddy remembered Christine's suggestion that she spend the summer having wild sex with her old flame. The idea aroused her and horrified her at the same time. She couldn't let a man that physically perfect see her naked. It was one thing to be blase about wide hips and wrinkles when she was around normal people who were aging too. But get naked with a man who looked better now than he had as a teenager? Not in this lifetime!

Although why would a man who looked like that even want to get naked with her when he had a whole camp full of nubile twenty-somethings to pick from?

A thought popped into her head, full blown. Was this why he hadn't objected to her coming? He wanted her to see what she'd turned down all those years ago? Show her that other women-younger, prettier women-lusted after him in droves? Maybe lead her on, make her want him again-then turn her down flat? That would certainly be a nice revenge for him, now wouldn't it?

"All right," Joe said, picking up the clipboard. "You three go settle in. We'll rendezvous on the patio at four o'clock for our first staff meeting."

Maddy jerked away from the door as the three girls headed out an opposite doorway that led to a covered patio and the camp beyond. She stood there, fighting the urge to jump in her car and race all the way back to Texas.

Okay, slow down, she told herself, trying not to hyperventilate. Think this through.

The revenge theory was just that: a theory. The Joe she'd known would never be that petty. Although people change. Lord knows she had; she liked to think it was for the better. She'd matured into a responsible, self-reliant adult. Definitely not the sort of woman who would take a job, then not show up. If she left before Joe saw her, that was what he and Mama Fraser would think-that she was an inconsiderate ditz who hadn't bothered to tell them she wasn't coming so they could hire someone else.

Except she'd talked to the guard, so Lord only knew what they'd think.

Plus she'd made that bet with Christine and Amy. If she hightailed it back to Texas without getting at least one piece of her work into a gallery, they'd blow off their own challenges. Damn! Why had she agreed to that dare? Well, she had agreed, and she couldn't get out of it now.

Besides, if she was totally off base on her revenge theory, then maybe Joe was equally eager to put their past to rest. Maybe he'd even be happy to see her. The only way she would know was if she went in there and faced him. And now would be a good time, since he was alone. They'd have privacy, at least, for this first meeting.

Just do it, she ordered herself.

Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to take a step. Then another. Before she knew it, she was standing in the doorway. He'd taken a seat at the desk and was working at a computer. The sound of the keyboard covered up her approach until she was almost to the desk. He looked up-and froze.

Her lips trembled as she smiled. "Hello, Joe. It's been a long time."

"Maddy?" He stared at her, his expression blank. He looked unbearably handsome with his tan skin and dark-chocolate eyes.

She felt her cheeks flush. "It's, um, it's good to see you."

He shot to his feet so fast his chair toppled backward, landing with a clatter against the tile floor. Anger blazed from his eyes in hot waves. "What the hell are you doing here?"

The blood drained from her face.

He hadn't expected her.

And he definitely was not happy to see her.