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“I said we were going to try and catch some,” Steve chuckled. “Don’t put me on the spot, son.”
“There are plenty of trout in the lake,” Deanna assured them. “And we even have boats that will take you out in the middle where the big ones are.”
“Gosh! Can we do that, Dad?”
“Well, not tonight.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Probably not tomorrow.” At his son’s groan, he smiled. “We don’t want to do everything the first day, do we? We’ll get everything in, I promise.” He knew that his son was walking two feet off the ground, talking and planning all kinds of fun for their mountain vacation. Steve was almost as eager as Travis to enjoy the spectacular Colorado Rockies. He’d been looking forward to spending this vacation time with his son. Combining work with pleasure should work out well for everyone. Scheduling Penny’s therapy sessions in the morning would leave the rest of the day for Travis.
“The hotel has a nice playground,” Deanna said. “And an indoor swimming pool.”
As Steve let his eyes travel to her honey colored hair, lightly tanned skin and blue dress that swirled around a beautiful pair of legs, he could easily picture her in a bathing suit. He chided himself for wondering if she ever swam with the guests.
He picked up the room keys. “First let’s get settled in our room.”
“I’ll have one of the boys take your luggage up, sir,” said the desk clerk, a tall, lanky young man with a ready smile.
Deanna was pleased with the way Jeffery Tanner was handling the desk, and hoped Jeffery would stick around awhile, but she knew that as soon as college opened in the fall, he’d be gone. Keeping staff was an ever-present headache.
“I hope you’ll find your room satisfactory, Dr. Sherman.” Deanna smiled with her usual hostess politeness.
“Steve,” he corrected her. “I’m on vacation, remember? And may I call you Deanna? It’s a lovely name, by the way. Suits you.”
She didn’t know quite what he meant by the compliment, but she found her face getting slightly warm under his appreciative gaze. She hoped her voice sounded normal when she suggested, “Why don’t you and Travis join us for dinner, Steve? You know Penny, and her nanny, Susan Whitcomb, is with her in the dining room. I don’t know what’s on the dinner menu, but mountain air usually makes everything taste good.”
“Sounds great,” Steve responded readily. “Let us freshen up a bit and we’ll meet you in the dining room, say, fifteen minutes?”
They made it back downstairs in only ten minutes. Steve had changed into fresh brown slacks and a tan pullover sweater. Travis’s face was freshly scrubbed, his hair neatly combed, and he wore a Broncos’ sweatshirt that looked brand-new.
Deanna was pleased when Steve looked around the dining room and gave a nod of approval. She had chosen a pastel floral wallpaper and tablecloths in pale green and pink. A series of windows overlooked the lake and mountain valley. A flagstone terrace with potted greenery just outside added to the spacious feeling of the room and made a wonderful setting for early-morning breakfast, midday lunch and evening dinner.
“Very nice,” he said. “Warm and inviting.”
He smiled at Susan as he took a chair beside her, and Deanna enjoyed a secret smile at the young girl’s flustered expression. Travis took a seat on the other side of Susan, and following thoughts of his own, asked, “What’s the dog’s name?”
“Hobo,” answered Deanna.
“That’s a funny name,” Travis said, frowning.
“It’s another word for tramp,” Steve explained, and Travis brightened. He’d read a book about a funny tramp who wandered around making people laugh.
“We took Hobo in as a stray, and haven’t been able to get rid of his straggly, unkempt look despite brushing and baths,” Deanna chuckled. “He seems determined to live up to his name.”
“Maybe he would like to be called Prince better, even if he doesn’t look like one,” Travis offered.
Deanna exchanged an amused look with Steve. She liked his son. Travis was outgoing, smart and full of energy. A wonderful companion for Penny. She said, “I’ve talked to Susan about looking after Travis when you’re busy.”
“Great.” He’d been wondering who he was going to hire to keep an eye on Travis while he was occupied in the mornings with Penny. “What do you say, Travis? Would you like to keep this pretty girl company some of the time?”
“Sure.”
“I can tell we’re going to get along great.” Susan winked at him, and he winked back.
Deanna was a little on edge when it came time to order, but everyone seemed to find what they wanted on the limited menu, and she began to relax. As they waited for their food, she appreciated how easily Steve handled the conversation. He asked Susan questions about her school and work, smiled at Travis’s boyish chatter and addressed remarks to Penny without any apparent notice of her lack of response.
Although Deanna was eager to talk to him about her daughter and show him the playroom, she contained herself until they finished eating dessert, a wonderful deep-dish apple pie that had relieved her worries about the new cook.
When everyone was through eating, she said casually to Susan, “Why don’t you take Travis and Penny to the apartment and let them choose one of the movie videos to watch?”
“What kind do you have?” Travis asked bluntly. “All girls’ stuff?”
“We have Lion King,” Susan said.
He grinned his approval. “My favorite. Come on, Penny. I know all the songs. I’ll sing them to you.”
Deanna couldn’t tell what her daughter was thinking. She seemed to regard Travis with the same interest she had for Hobo when he was chasing his tail. Deanna was a little surprised and relieved when Penny slipped off her chair and left happily with the boy and Susan.
She pushed back her coffee cup, trying to find the right words. Getting off to a good start was very important for the success of this unusual arrangement. “Thank you so very much for coming.”
Steve smiled. “No thanks necessary. You have a lovely place here.”
“I’m anxious to show you the playroom. I tried to do everything you wanted. If it isn’t all right, if I’ve missed something, or if you want to change anything, just tell me.”
A slight tremble in her lower lip betrayed taut nerves, and he hastened to put her at ease. “I’m sure it’s fine. Let’s just relax tonight.” He led the conversation away from her daughter’s treatments, and they talked generally about the tourist business.
Deanna began to relax, and when he suggested an after-dinner drink, she nodded. “Yes, I’d like to show you the lounge. I think you’ll like the western decor.”
As they made their way out of the dining room, several people acknowledged her with a smile, and some of the men seemed to enjoy the way her summer dress complemented her trim figure and long legs. Steve admired the way Deanna carried herself as she walked, gracefully feminine with an air of confidence and purpose. He knew that if they’d met under different circumstances, he would have been interested in knowing her a lot better. Even though it was her daughter who was his patient, and not Deanna, he wanted to keep his interest in this lovely, fascinating woman a professional one.
The lounge was located at the back of the hotel. A colorful sign above a pair of swinging doors read, Rattlesnake Tavern.
Steve read it aloud and looked at Deanna with raised eyebrows. “Just a euphemism, I hope.”
She smiled. “Dillon, the bartender, gave the bar that name when my husband was alive. Dillon’s been in these parts forever, and the stories he tells are ten percent truth and ninety percent blarney. At least, I hope they’re not true,” she said with a rather forced laugh.
Uh, oh. Steve’s well-trained perception told him that Deanna Drake did not like Dillon. Very interesting. Why did she keep him on? She was the boss, wasn’t she? He filed away the question for future notice.
He pushed open the swinging door, and Deanna preceded him into the lounge. The hotel tavern had the ambience of an old western movie. The walls were decorated with horseshoes, lariat ropes, branding irons and other cowboy memorabilia. Pseudo–kerosene lamps with candles in them decorated small round tables and large ceiling wagon-wheel chandeliers hung over a bar that stretched along one wall.
Only about a half-dozen customers sat at the tables and a couple of men had their legs wrapped around stools at the bar. One of them turned around as Steve followed Deanna to a corner table. Out of the corner of his eye, Steve saw him slide off the bar stool and stride purposefully across the room.
When he reached their table, he said, “I see the good doctor has arrived.” His bold eyes evaluated Steve as if he was ready to take issue with anything that was said.
“This is Bob Henderson, my hotel manager,” Deanna quickly made the introduction. “Dr. Steve Sherman. His son, Travis, is upstairs with Susan and Penny.”
Steve stuck out his hand to force a handshake. The snide way the man had landed on the word good had alerted Steve. Hostility radiated off the hotel manager like bad fumes, and his handshake was perfunctory.
“I hope you’ll find everything to your satisfaction, Doctor. We’re not used to having guests who set up practices in our hotel.”
Ouch! Steve mentally flinched. This guy wasn’t holding back any punches. What gave? Why the icy treatment?
“Bob!” Deanna glared at him. “Dr. Sherman—Steve—is here at my request. He’s generous enough to give up some of his vacation time to treat Penny. We want him to enjoy our hospitality—fully.”
“Of course, of course,” Bob answered mechanically. “I understand you’re planning on being with us a month?” His tone made it clear he considered the visit much too long.
“That’s the plan,” Steve answered smoothly.
“Deanna’s been beside herself trying to get everything ready to your satisfaction.” He put a possessive hand on her shoulder and smiled down at her. “Haven’t you, honey?”
So that’s the way it is. Now Steve understood the hotel manager’s hostility. Obviously, he thought Steve’s presence might be some kind of personal threat as far as Deanna was concerned. He was ready to declare battle on the big-city doctor who was going to freeload at the hotel for a month.
“Well, I guess I’d better get back to the office. I’m sure you two have a lot to talk about.”
“Yes, Bob, we have some scheduling to do and some other details to work out. See you in the morning.” Deanna gave him a dismissing smile, while she silently steamed. How dare he call me honey? And parade his jealousy like some schoolboy? She struggled to control her anger as he walked away. She wasn’t about to create a scene in front of Penny’s therapist.
“I don’t think Mr. Henderson likes doctors,” Steve said after they had ordered their drinks.
“Bob takes a little too much on himself at times,” Deanna said in the way of an apology. “But he was a great support when I had all the responsibility of the hotel dumped on me so abruptly.”
“I would say that you’ve done very well. You’re to be complimented. It can’t be easy running a hotel like this.”
“It has its challenges,” she said lightly. Keeping her own counsel was one of her strong traits, and she wasn’t about to dump a load of frustrations on this willing listener, but suddenly the lounge seemed stifling and confining. “Let’s take our drinks out on the terrace. I need a breath of fresh air.”
Steve rose and picked up both drinks. As they passed the bar, a craggy-faced man with a black beard wiped his hands on his bartender apron and held out his hand, forcing Steve and Deanna to stop. “You must be the shrink Deanna’s been expecting.”
“That’s me.” Steve nodded. “And you must be Dillon, the most famous storyteller in the Rockies.” The bartender looked to be about fifty years old, with raw-boned features that included a crooked nose and bushy black eyebrows.
“I don’t know about the famous part, but I do like to spin a yarn or two,” he admitted, stroking his shaggy beard. “Been around Eagle Ridge mostly all my life.”
“I’d like to hear some of your stories. I bet there’s a lot of interesting history in this area.”
“Yep, and plenty of goings-on right today. Nothing much goes on around here that escapes these two eyes of mine. Right, Deanna?”
Her smile was thin. “Everyone loves to come to the Rattlesnake and gossip with Dillon.”
“Hey, I’m no gossip. I always check my facts. You better be careful, gal.” He shook a stubby finger at her. “Telling tales out of school will only get ya in a peck of trouble.”
“And what kind of tales could I tell about you that weren’t true?” Deanna countered with quick sharpness.
Dillon gave a grunt that might have passed for a laugh, but then he warned Steve, “Watch out for this gal, Doctor. She’s as pretty as a diamondback rattler, and just as dangerous.”
Deanna ignored the remark, and Steve saw her face was flushed with anger as they walked away from the bar. A set of double French doors at the back of the lounge led outside to a large terrace bordered by a waist-high rock wall.
Now Steve knew why the tavern was nearly empty. The terrace was filled with hotel guests enjoying their drinks under the stars as they sat at small tables, laughing and chatting. He saw that a four-piece band was setting up at one end of the patio near a small hardwood dance floor.
Deanna eased onto a chair at one of the tables near the low rock wall, and Steve was aware of the deep breath she took as if to settle some disquieting emotion. Obviously the little encounter with the bartender had set her on edge. Even if he hadn’t been a professional delving into people’s minds and emotions, he would have been intrigued by the double-edged banter that had taken place between them.
“That’s Shadow Lake,” she said, resuming her conversational tone as she pointed to a wide expanse of water at the base of the hill. “In daytime, the lake is a bright blue, but once the sun goes behind those peaks, the water turns so dark that the shadows of the trees around it are reflected on the surface like black webs.”
“Then I’d say its name is appropriate.”
“Yes, in more ways than one,” she murmured, and then quickly took a sip of her drink.
As Steve looked across the table at her, he was conscious of the way the moonlight played upon her golden hair and traced the lovely lines and planes of her face. If the situation had been different, he could have easily allowed himself to become romantically interested in her, but he was an expert at keeping his love life separate from his profession. He knew how to stay within the bounds of friendship, and even though Deanna Drake intrigued him on more levels than he was willing to admit, he knew how to handle himself. Penny Drake was his patient, and anything that affected her was of vital interest to the success of her treatment.
There was a great deal he needed to learn about Deanna Drake, and the incident that had traumatized her child. He had studied reports sent to him with Penny’s referral, and even gone to the library to read news accounts of her husband’s murder, but the facts were vague. There had been no clues as to who had shot Benjamin Drake in a small clearing behind the hotel, or why. If Penny knew the answers, they were trapped in her mind, while fear kept close guard, preventing her from speaking them. And if he was successful in releasing the truth? Would the revelations be damaging to Deanna Drake? He was well aware that his first obligation was to his patient, even if the fallout of what he learned from Penny might be critical of her mother.
“Have you always lived in Eagle Ridge?” he asked as they sipped their drinks and drew in the fresh night air.
“No, my parents moved to Colorado when I was twelve. They bought a small ranch in this valley, and I attended a consolidated school about thirty miles from here. After I graduated from high school, I enrolled in a Denver college and took a degree in hotel management. My parents had sold out and moved back East by then, but I decided to stay. Both of them have since passed away. As fate would have it, Ben had posted an assistant manager’s job on the college bulletin board. I answered the ad and got the job.” Then she added, “And a husband as a fringe benefit.”
“Sounds like you two had a lot in common.”
She nodded. “Ben was older, had been married when he was in his twenties, and had lost his wife to cancer. He was lonely, and so was I.”
“I know how that goes.” Steve sighed. “I still miss my wife, Carol. When she died and left me alone with a two-year-old child, I didn’t know if I could put my life back together again. Luckily for me, Travis is pure joy.” Steve shook his head ruefully and chuckled. “He’s a handful sometimes, but he makes life very worthwhile.”
“I feel the same way about Penny. Up until now, she’s always been such a happy, outgoing little girl—”
“And she will be again,” he assured her. He didn’t want to talk about Penny, not yet. There would be time later to center the conversation around her child. Because Penny was a minor, he was free to share any insights with her mother as they occurred, and not violate any privileged-information edict that would have governed an adult in his care.
At the moment, he needed to find out as much about Deanna Drake as he could because the child would be affected by whatever was going on in her mother’s life. He waited until the right moment seemed to present itself, and then he asked, “Would you satisfy my curiosity about something?”
She smiled at him over the rim of her glass. “Sure. What do you want to know?”
“What’s wrong between you and Dillon?”
Her fingers visibly tightened around her drink. She bit her lower lip, and at first he thought she wasn’t going to answer. Then she said regretfully, “I wish I knew. When my husband was alive, I had very little to do with the tavern or Dillon. Ben made it clear that he’d handle that part of the hotel, almost as if it were a separate business. Since I’ve had to take over the management of the hotel, Dillon has shown nothing but antagonism and anger toward me. It’s almost…almost as if…as if he believes that I’m the one responsible for Ben’s death.”
“I see.” He waited for her to go on.
She looked at her drink for a long moment, and then, just as she lifted her eyes to his, they were interrupted by a muscular young man wearing tight jeans and a muscle shirt that showed off his biceps. Steve had noticed the energetic young man with long bleached hair earlier because he’d been helping the musicians set up.
“I know the band’s an hour late, Deanna,” he said hurriedly. “But it’s not my fault. I was in Silver Springs in plenty of time to pick them up and get them here, but the drummer was fooling around with some gal and made us wait. I told them that you’d probably dock their pay.”
Deanna shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, Roger. I’ll settle with them.” She motioned to Steve. “I want you to meet Steve Sherman. He’s going to be a guest at the hotel for a while. This is Roger. He drives the hotel van and does a little bit of everything else that needs doing around here.”
“I used to be a ski instructor at Vail,” Roger said quickly to set the record straight. “Had to give it up, though. One of my knees went out and I had to have it replaced. But I’m still in good shape.”
Steve almost expected the fellow to flex his muscles to show off his physique. “Yes, I can tell you are.”
“Deanna, I need to talk to you about doing some work on the van. It’s making noises like the whole differential is about to go out. I was thinking—”
“Tomorrow, Roger,” Deanna cut him off. “Tomorrow.”
“Oh, sure.” He glanced quickly at Steve and then back at Deanna. “Gotcha. Sorry.” He gave them a funny kind of salute and left.
