Healed with a Kiss (Bride Mountain 3)

Alexis laughed again, the musical sound making his stomach tighten in response. She looked up at him and shook her head almost sheepishly. “I laugh every time he pops up, don’t I? I don’t know why I find it so funny. I only wish I could have seen salmon jumping like mad up the ladder, the way they were in Mr. Burroughs’s photographs. I’m sure that’s a lot of fun.”

He draped an arm loosely around her shoulders. “It is rather dark humor, you know.”

She turned with him in the direction of the exit gates. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I mean they’re so darned focused on getting to a place where they’ll just spawn and die. Sort of reminds me of some of the brides and grooms we’ve hosted at the inn.”

She laughed again, though more ironically this time. “You would come up with something like that.”

They crossed a narrow walkway over the first gate, staying to the right so people going the other direction could pass them—two young guys walking their bicycles, tourists with cameras hanging from their necks, a woman pushing a jogging stroller, a couple with two big dogs on leashes. Alexis had commented earlier that Seattle seemed to be a city full of dog lovers; everywhere they’d been during the past day and a half, they’d seen

dogs on leashes and in carriers and even in doggy strollers, all breeds and sizes and colors.

“Ninja would love it here,” she said now.

Logan looked up at a grassy hillside on which a flock of Canada geese milled and pecked. He pictured his dog making one of his notorious escapes from his leash and cheerfully dispersing the peaceful group. “Yeah. Not sure Seattle’s ready for Ninja, though.”

Alexis giggled and laced her fingers with his. She seemed to enjoy holding hands here, maybe just because they were free to do so. He wasn’t complaining.

They passed the visitors center where they’d earlier watched a film about the history of the locks and browsed the gift shop. Alexis did have a weakness for gift shops, he thought with a slight smile. Though she’d been the first to declare it totally tacky, she’d been unable to resist buying a plastic fridge magnet shaped like a leaping salmon and printed with the locks logo.

They weren’t quite ready to return to the hotel room, so they ate a leisurely dinner out, sharing crab-and-artichoke pizza this time. Afterward, they wandered into a downtown bar with live music, a very good three-piece combo, and were lucky enough to find a table even on this bustling Friday evening. Their table wasn’t ideal, being located just off the main traffic pattern to the exit, but the service was good, as were the drinks and the music. They were even able to talk without raising their voices by sitting close together at the tiny table, so Logan wasn’t complaining.

Alexis smiled at him, looking a little tired but content. “I’ve had a great day. It was so much fun playing tourist with you.”

He reached out to brush her jaw with the backs of his fingers. “I had a good time, too.”

“One more day and then we have to get back to work,” she said with a low sigh. “What would you like to do tomorrow?”

He shrugged. “You can pick something from your handy tourist guide. I’m sure I’ll like it.”

She’d pored over that travel guide so much he figured she must have it memorized, and her spate of suggestions seemed to confirm that suspicion. “Maybe the art museum. And maybe one of the other cool museums in town, like the flight museum. One of the beach parks, if the weather is nice again. Or there’s Green Lake or the zoo or a ferry ride to Bainbridge Island...or maybe you’d like to check out the Microsoft Visitor Center, being a computer geek yourself. Who knows? You could decide to join the huge tech community here.”

Though he knew she was teasing, he shook his head. “I’m not looking for another computer job. I’m a groundskeeper these days, and perfectly happy with it.”

She studied his face with her head tilted in curiosity. “Did you close your software company when you reopened the inn? What made you decide you’d rather be a groundskeeper than a full-time software designer?”

“It just worked out that way,” he said offhandedly. “Actually, my business closed a few months before Uncle Leo died and left us the inn. Turned out the partner I thought I could trust was— Well, let’s just call him a creative bookkeeper.”

Her eyes widened in shock. “He embezzled from the business?”

“Not to the extent that he could be prosecuted. He covered himself legally, but he was definitely unethical about it. He pretty much cleaned us out, then took off, and I was the one left to make the choice of shutting down or going into big debt to start up again. Then my sisters and I inherited the inn and I decided to help them get it up and running again while I decided what to do next. Turns out keeping up the inn and working with my sisters suits me just fine. I like it. It means something to me to know I’m maintaining a place that’s been in my mother’s family for four generations. Doing the software consultations on the side lets me put my training and experience to use when I choose to, so I’ve got the best of both worlds.”

Which was all he wanted to say for now about the fiasco with his former friend-slash-business-partner. “So, no computer stuff tomorrow. Let’s just do the tourist thing.”

“Museums, then,” she said, taking his hint to change the subject. “And maybe a park if the weather cooperates. Green Lake Park looks nice in all the photographs.”

“Whatever you want to do.”

She laughed softly. “You’re being very agreeable this evening.”

Thinking of how nicely the day had started—waking up in bed with her—he shrugged. “As you said, it’s been a good day.”

She reached over to squeeze his left thigh beneath the table. Her thumb rested on his knee, only an inch or so above the knotted scar tissue that bracketed it. She’d never asked about those scars after the first time she’d seen him unclothed. She’d been satisfied with his terse explanation that he’d injured himself playing college sports and had apparently gotten the message that he didn’t like to talk about it. Alexis always respected his privacy. Even though she’d asked more about his dad and his former business than usual today, he knew she’d have backed off either subject if he’d asked her to, just as she’d taken his cue to move on just now.

He hadn’t exactly lied to her about his scars. He just hadn’t told her everything. The malignancy in his leg had been discovered almost by chance when he’d broken his tibia playing an intramural rugby game at college. In his experience, people had a lot of different responses to hearing he’d battled cancer. Most of those reactions were ones he didn’t want to see from Alexis.

To distract himself from those thoughts—and just because he wanted to—he leaned over to brush a kiss across her lips. She reached up to clutch his shirt, tugging him closer to make the kiss last just a little longer. Neither of them paid the least attention to the people drinking, talking and milling around them and even if anyone was looking at them, Logan couldn’t care less.