High Passion

CHAPTER 2

After years of reacting instantly to all kinds of life-and-death situations, Alisha thought she was beyond panicking without proof. The trembling in her hands proved otherwise.

It was the one topic guaranteed to throw her over the edge, though.

Somehow she got through the rest of the meeting. Smiled and nodded in all the correct spots, and kept her concern to herself. She’d fooled everyone in the room other than maybe Devon, who had her fixed in his gaze every time she took her eyes off Marcus. She slipped out of Lifeline headquarters ahead of the team and was in her car headed home before she could be invited for lunch, or a workout, or whatever else they came up with.

The short trip from the industrial area where their SAR base was located to her apartment wasn’t enough time to distract her. The summer had been incredible—in that, Marcus had been correct. It wasn’t only the successful rescues. Alisha had been a member of Lifeline for two and a half years now, and this was the first summer she’d felt she’d grown closer to all the members. Even Erin seemed to more than tolerate her, although the prickly woman often wore an expression of amusement as they did things.

Being a part of something as exciting and big as Lifeline was what Alisha had wanted from the start, and she’d become more successful than she’d dreamed possible.

Wasn’t all you wanted to achieve . . .

Alisha stormed into the tiny kitchen and grabbed herself a glass of juice, ignoring the urge to go fill a cart with nothing but junk food so she could have a nice pity party.

She wandered to the window and stared over the street, the uneven rooftops and towering pines turning even the civilized city into a kind of wilderness. Inside, the rustic roof timbers and her thrift shop furniture added to the surreal effect. This inelegant setting was home, vastly different from what had been home for so many years.

Alisha flopped onto the couch and pulled out her phone. She tapped in the familiar number and waited to run the gauntlet.

“Mr. Bailey’s office. How can I help you?” The words snapped out. Crisp. Cold. The woman hadn’t cracked a smile in all the years Alisha had known her.

“Hello, Marilee. It’s Alisha. May I please speak with my father?”

“Alisha.”

No So good to hear from you, or How are you doing? but Alisha hadn’t expected more than polite distance. Efficiency was the name of the game, after all.

Marilee finally continued, “He’s in a meeting, but as soon as he’s done I’ll have him call you. Did you need me to arrange anything else? I haven’t received your response regarding flights for Thanksgiving.”

Drat. She’d been avoiding answering that particular e-mail as long as possible. “I’m afraid I still don’t know my schedule for early October yet. I’ll have a decision made within the week.”

“Very good.” In spite of the words, Marilee’s tone dripped with disapproval. It was hard to not laugh. Alisha knew very well which of them had Marilee’s loyalty—her or her father. “Thank you for calling.”

The loud click triggered images of the perfectly coiffured secretary slamming down the phone hard enough to crack the case flitted to mind. Not that anyone in Bailey Enterprises would ever act out of line, but it was fun to picture.

Alisha shoved her phone in her pocket and went to deal with her workout gear, double-checking that her emergency clothing stash was in place. If she was called on short notice to work a rescue, searching for socks was the last thing she wanted to waste time on.

In some areas being efficient was necessary, but her family took it to ridiculous extremes, especially outside the office doors.

Enough moping about her father, at least until he called. Alisha turned up the music and poked through the fridge, but nothing looked interesting. Nor the cupboards. She’d lost her appetite during the morning meeting, and it seemed there wasn’t much of a chance to get it back soon.

Coastal rescues? The advancement was a huge honour, and definitely something to celebrate, but would her family even register that the team had set another milestone?

Frustration flared again, this time at herself as much as them.

By now she should know better than to expect accolades, or even a brief hurrah. That the longing for approval still rose seemed cruel.

The phone rang and she checked the screen, almost hoping for a SAR call to pull her away from having to speak with him.

No such luck.

“Hello?”

“Your father will speak with you now.” Marilee put Alisha on hold to make the connection.

Because heaven help it if Mike Bailey had to wait on the line for a moment or two, even to talk with his own daughter.

“Alisha. It’s about time you made your Thanksgiving plans.” His soft-spoken tone hid his stubbornness. What he called willfulness when she displayed the same tenacity.

Well, she wasn’t ready to cave. “I’m not sure yet that a trip east will work with my schedule. I didn’t call about that, I called to find out if you’d been making donations to the Banff SAR school or Lifeline.”

“The corporation makes donations to all sorts of worthy causes, Alisha. I’d have to check the records—”

“Please do. I specifically asked you to stay out of my business here in Banff. I’d like to confirm you’re honouring that agreement.”

Her father’s sigh echoed through the speaker. “I promised not to interfere, and honestly, as far as I know, no, Bailey Enterprises has not made a donation to your old school or Lifeline. Even though I’d imagine they’d enjoy receiving one.”

“They probably would, only there are enough rich pockets to scoop into without diving into yours. I need this to be my—”

“Yes, Alisha. You want to do it on your own. Fine. You did. You’re now a climber and ski bum instead of part of the family business. It seems to make you happy, so good for you.”

The really sad thing, he wasn’t being sarcastic. Just out of touch and oblivious, as usual. “I am happy here. By the way, Lifeline is now the premier search-and-rescue team for all of western Canada.”

“It’s . . . fine. Good for you,” he repeated. Distraction blurred his voice.

Her father was no doubt simultaneously signing paperwork as Marilee placed it before him, unable to stop and listen to his only daughter for five minutes. He’d never allow himself to be that unfocused if she were a business contact with real important news.

“Yes, it is good. In fact, it’s incredible.” The idea of an expanded territory thrilled her and sent shivers down her spine at the same time. Wasn’t it enough to impress him? “I got a raise.”

He actually laughed, and bitter frustration rushed her as he stomped on her wishful dreams. “Well, now you can afford your fancy lifestyle, can’t you? Alisha, enjoy yourself. Get it all out of your system so when you come home next summer we don’t have to put up with more of your gallivanting.”

There was a point in every conversation with her father when Alisha’s blood pressure got too high to continue. This was five minutes past when she should have given up. “I don’t think I’ll make it home for Thanksgiving this year. Tell Mom I said hello, and I’ll e-mail her soon.”

Alisha didn’t wait for his farewell. Best-case scenario, he would offer platitudes in an attempt to smooth the conversation over. Worst case would be an attack, shaming her for her lack of feminine compliancy.

She paced through the tiny attic space, feet unwilling to stop, her furious energy needing some outlet of escape. She fidgeted with everything she passed as she walked in circles.

She wanted to scream. Wanted to throw things. Wanted to beat her body into submission with another workout, but that was unreasonable. It would be stupid to punish herself when her father was the one who should be apologizing.

Although the one positive from their discussion—ha! discussion—he didn’t seem to have tossed the money their direction. Not that she wanted Banff SAR to go without funding, but having her father dump money on them would only add to the pain of fighting for her position and standings. People found it hard enough to believe she’d achieved what she had on her own. If it were discovered that Daddy Dearest had poured money into the school coffers, even now after she was gone, all her accomplishments would be suspect. She could have the fastest times on the stopwatch and gossips would still believe she’d bought her way into the placements. And her current job.

Her job—a member of an elite, highly trained, kick-ass rescue squad. Thank you very much.

She growled her frustration at the walls. It was no use. She wasn’t going to be able to relax, not for a while.

A visit to Tim Hortons to nab an entire box of doughnuts was looking far too attractive. She needed a diversion. In spite of the clouds hanging low over the mountains, she grabbed her hiking boots and yanked them on. Maybe if she burned off a little steam, visions of using the toe of her boot to kick some sense into her father would stop dancing through her head.

She grabbed her emergency gear bag and trundled down the stairs to her car.

His curiosity got the better of him. There might be other ways to find out what he needed, but the first solution that came to mind was the simplest.

The sneakiest as well, but whatever.

Sneaky required Devon to wait until the rest of the team had left headquarters. Alisha was gone in a flash—again, atypical for her. The others poked around for a while. Chatting, teasing, and carrying on. Xavier flirted with the new part-time call-centre-worker-slash-receptionist before leaving with a shouted challenge at Tripp for darts that evening.

The newest employee Marcus had hired to Lifeline, Lana, had arrived in the middle of their meeting, gliding past the giant boardroom table to hide out of the way in the administration area. The dark-haired woman had worked silently through all the discussion and recaps and the planning for the team’s shoulder-season training and rescue setups. After the meeting she continued her tasks, nodding attentively while Marcus gave directions for ordering new materials.

Devon ignored her as he wandered through headquarters in a deliberately casual manner. Lana would work with Marcus during emergencies to gather information, and the rest of the time she would play a more relaxed administration role. It was a position that required someone trained in search and rescue but not one who joined the team physically on the field.

Marcus had made Lifeline HQ into an environment that was both efficient and relaxing, but it wasn’t Devon’s choice of hangouts. He’d prefer to head home, hit the gym, or call up a couple of his buds and see if they were free. As it was, for over an hour he found tasks to keep him busy. Organizing gear, straightening supplies. There wasn’t any problem finding reasons to stick around.

Although, as the others all left, his continued presence became more noticeable.

“You know, I’ve already promised you a salary increase,” Marcus teased.

Devon grinned. “Thanks for that, by the way. It’ll come in handy. Thought I’d get some work done while it’s quiet. I’ve already finished my workout for the day, and the weather’s crap for hiking or anything.”

Marcus gave Devon’s shoulder a squeeze before turning on the lone remaining Lifeline member. He shooed Erin out of the building. “Enough. Do your research, and stop asking me impossible questions about your new chopper. Get.”

“Meanie. See you later, Devon.” Erin snatched up the pile of materials Marcus had offered her.

Marcus slipped out the door, walking rapidly to escape as Erin followed and kept badgering him.

As the door latched behind them, Devon glanced to check where Lana had gone. She was nowhere in sight, so he pushed his way past the call desk and into Marcus’s private office.

He closed the door most of the way. Okay, what he was doing at the moment wasn’t strictly kosher, but it wasn’t as if he were snooping for tons of information. Just a hint to help him explore Alisha’s background more thoroughly.

The cabinet that held their employment records stood in the far corner. He carefully slid the metal drawer forward and flipped through hanging files until he hit Alisha’s name. He didn’t even pull the envelope out, simply opened it and skimmed down to where the emergency contact numbers were listed. Father’s name. Mother’s. A phone number. He memorized them and stuffed everything away how he’d found it.

Discovering that Lana now blocked his path to freedom proved he’d make a shitty undercover operative. Unless he wanted to spend the next however long hidden in the office until she left the room again, he was about to get caught. He went for nonchalant and headed for the door.

Her chair was tight enough to the wall that his hips bumped it as he eased past.

“Were you lost, Devon?” Her lips twisted into a smirk. “Or did you think I wouldn’t notice you?”

“Well, I was hoping . . .”

He winked. Damned no matter what he said, Devon fell back on charming her into silence. If his track record were anything to go on, he’d all too easily persuade her not to tell on him.

Lana shook her head in amusement, turning to face her desk. “If you get caught where you shouldn’t be, it’s your butt. Marcus won’t yell at me.” She slipped another set of papers into place. “And I might have only been here for a week, but even I’ve figured out he’s a good yeller.”

“A very good yeller,” Devon agreed. “Only, he didn’t catch me.”

She snorted but didn’t say anything else, her focus on the papers.

“Efficient,” he complimented her.

“I try.” She spun her chair and gave him a long stare. “You, too. You weren’t in there for very long.”

Devon waved a hand easily, attempting to put his actions into a better light than it might seem. “I wasn’t doing anything terrible, only—”

“I didn’t see anything, remember?” She completed her task before picking up her purse and rising to her feet. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Amusement mixed with relief washed over him as he grabbed his coat and headed out the front door. Lana left as well, locking up behind them. He slowed his step as he realized his truck was the only vehicle left in the parking lot. “You need a ride into town?”

“That would be great. Catching the bus takes forever.” Lana paced at his side, her long legs easily keeping stride with his. “My car is at the shop while they figure out why it’s making weird noises. And their diagnostic machine is down, so I have to wait for them to get a replacement part before they can tell me what replacement parts I need.”

“Typical. The higher the tech, the longer it’ll take.”

She slipped onto the bench seat of his truck and tossed her purse at her feet. “Usually I don’t mind. Walking around Banff isn’t a hardship, only the Lifeline building is a little far out of town to hoof it to work.”

“I can give you a lift if I’m around and headed in,” Devon suggested. Only made sense to offer her a hand, seeing how she was now part of the team.

Her face lit up. “I’d appreciate that. If it’s no problem, you could drop me off at Safeway. I’ll grab a few groceries and walk home from there.”

As he drove, Lana rambled about the move from wherever she’d come from, and how her U-Haul truck had been, as she called it, hijacked at one of the gas stations along the way. Devon tried to respond at the proper moments, but he was distracted, his focus once again returning to the mystery of Alisha and what had upset her so much.

They’d worked together for years, been in school before that, and the amount he knew about her private life was minuscule.

The way she’d avoided sharing anything about her family had to be deliberate.

“I hope there’s a good place for wings in town.” Lana broke into his mental ramblings. “Funny how we all have our vices, right? I spent my time at training school taking such good care of my body, but put an order of wings in front of me and I’m putty. I picture them at times, teasing me and calling my name.”

Devon dragged his mind off memories of Alisha’s ass while she worked her way up a vertical wall. “We do get addicted to the strangest things.”

He pulled into the grocery store parking lot and paused to let Lana off. Familiar faces turned his way to greet him, the guys checking his passenger out with more than a little interest as she slipped from the cab and waved her thanks.

Devon kept his grin hidden. She wasn’t going to lack for company. He looked her over as she walked away, chatting with one of his buddies who’d rushed the truck to help her. She was older than him, probably closer to thirty. Lana was in good shape—most of them in the field were a bit fanatical about conditioning, but that was what happened when your body was a part of your equipment.

Even observing another woman couldn’t stop Alisha from popping to his mind, though. While Lana might have the long, lean thing happening, Alisha made Devon heat up far beyond reason. She had muscles while remaining feminine, but it was her attitude that fired his desire to the point where he had to fight for control. He had to be a bit of a masochist if being pushed by Alisha to the edge of his endurance during a challenge turned him on more than the fluttering lashes Lana was using on her current mark.

He headed home more determined than ever to find a way to break through Alisha’s constant rebuffs. He wanted her in his bed, and it was past time for her to admit that was what she wanted as well.