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  “Electricity. I didn’t expect that.”

  “That’s me, mystery man. I’d like to learn enough that exposed wires no longer intimidate me.” He indicated where he’d been working. “I’m blowing my macho cover by telling you this but what I did in there made me nervous. I was afraid I’d touch something I’d regret. Seeing you helped me relax a bit. I told myself you knew CPR and would be able to bring me back to life.”

  “That isn’t funny.” Not funny at all.

  The way his gaze locked on her, she wondered if he’d picked up on her somber tone. “I’m sorry you took what I said so seriously. I have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth.”

  “It’s all right.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say.

  “So I’m forgiven?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Good.” For a moment she thought he was going to touch her, wanted him to. “Are you ready to throw caution to the winds?”

  Not long ago she’d been prepared to put distance between herself and Terron because of what she’d perceived to be his attempt to put a move on her. Now, maybe because he wasn’t trying to impress her, she wanted to draw out her time with him. Besides, she’d probably been wrong about the move thing.

  His body was perfect for a physical lifestyle. He belonged in a place like Lake Serene where he was surrounded by wilderness and sometimes unforgiving weather. He didn’t need city conveniences any more than she did. She could see him climbing Mount Lynx or spending a night camping in the wild.

  Playing rugged mountain man.

  “Ready.”

  *

  A few minutes later Kolina stood looking down with the pines sheltering her. She could no longer see Terron and wouldn’t until she and the huge inner tube she’d been sitting on were near the edge of the level area and ready to hit the slope. She’d unhooked the rope. There was nothing left to do but get back down on her belly on the inflated rubber and shove off. He’d be waiting for her.

  Fear wasn’t stopping her. Heck, she was looking forward to the thrill of doing something different and exciting. Rather, something she couldn’t define held her back.

  Something—a presence she’d sensed more than once over the past week.

  Confused, she stared all around. Because of the cloud cover there weren’t any shadows. The world she was standing in was a nearly uniform grey, broken by the brown of tree trunks. She wanted back the evergreens’ vibrant summer green contrasting with a clean blue sky. At the same time, she’d been looking forward to when snow transformed the area.

  Movement, maybe, to her right and slightly behind her made her swivel in that direction. If it had been over her head she would have attributed the movement to the wind now lashing the trees, but this had been on or near the ground. She liked to read and was drawn to mysteries and suspense but sometimes when she was alone at night, she had to put down what she was reading because a scene made the hairs at the back of her neck stand up. Darn it, this wasn’t fiction. Instead it was, what?

  Wolf?

  “Where? Oh, please, where are you?” she asked. “Give me the thrill of a lifetime.”

  As the seconds passed and nothing about her world changed, she came back to earth. Just because she longed to see one of the predators didn’t mean he’d magically appear. From what she’d read about them, they weren’t interested in coexisting with humans. However, in addition to being excellent hunters and self-confident, wolves were curious. Maybe, if there was one around Lake Serene, his curiosity would get the better of him. He’d try to make sense of her.

  That was what she was keying into, Mister Nosy scoping out the crazy-looking two-legged creature.

  It was Echo’s fault. If her friend hadn’t shown Kolina the pictures she’d taken of wolf prints found some twenty miles from the resort, she wouldn’t be obsessing about the creatures.

  Time to get back on track. Terron was waiting at the bottom of the hill. If she took leave of her senses and told him what she’d been thinking, would he share and understand her reaction? She got why some people wished the carnivores had been eliminated from the United States but didn’t want him to be like that.

  Wanted them to be on the same wavelength.

  Chapter Two

  Terron’s first thought was that Kolina Childs was going to be disappointed in her ride because the inner tube was moving so slowly. Then it picked up speed. It was also spinning in erratic circles, bouncing and slipping over the hay carpet. Faster and faster it went. Even as Kolina came closer, she seemed to shrink in size. The tire was in control, she along for a helpless ride and no brakes.

  And in danger of being dumped out maybe face first on the graveled parking area if he didn’t do something about it.

  Cursing himself for not already being in position, he raced to the bottom of the hill and tried to determine where the inflated black beast and its passenger would land.

  “Yikes!” she yelled. “Oh—yikes!”

  Thirty feet away, then twenty became ten. He spread his legs, crouched, and stuck out his arms like some demented football player waiting for a defensive lineman. The tube hit him at full speed and bowled him over. He was under the tube. A second later it had left him behind and was nearing the gravel. From his prone position he grabbed the trailing rope and hauled on it like a cowboy stopping a steer. Much as he wanted to jerk with all his strength, he let some of the rope slide through his hands to draw out the stopping and hopefully keep Kolina on top of her rubber steer.

  Success! Wild ride over.

  He was still trying to wrap his mind around what had happened when she climbed off and trotted over to where he was still sprawled on the ground.

  “What a blast!” Grinning like a child, she extended her hand to help him stand. “We do need to work on our technique. The stop needs refinement.”

  Although he could easily get on his feet by himself, he closed his fingers around her smaller hand and watched as she braced herself to accept his weight. Hopefully he gave her just enough to do to make her feel useful. Then, although he didn’t need to hold onto her any longer, he delayed letting go. She didn’t seem to be in a hurry either.

  She was what, maybe two hairs over five feet tall. Despite the oversized sweatshirt now twisted around her, she looked as if a halfway decent gust of wind would blow her away. In contrast to her almost frail appearance, she’d just demonstrated how strong she was. Her nails were short and she had calluses. Her straight, except for some tangled strands, light brown hair came to her shoulder blades. Her bangs threatened to hide her large, hazel eyes. She wasn’t wearing makeup and her clothes were well-worn. The prospect of having to deal with mice hadn’t given her pause. Obviously her supervisor trusted her to tackle a big project on her own.

  No nonsense. Self-reliant. What you see is what you get.

  Intriguing.

  “So what do you think?” He belatedly thought to ask as he returned his arm to his side. “The hay’s slicker than I thought it would be.”

  Her smile grew. “I think we’re onto something. Hay sliding. No need to wait for winter.”

  Before he could agree with her, a raindrop struck his forehead. He smeared it around so she’d notice. “The weather will factor in. I’m not sure how well wet hay works as a slick surface.”

  The brief attention she gave the clouds said she didn’t mind getting dumped on. Going by what he’d learned about her today, he wasn’t surprised. As for himself, he was torn. On one hand he’d loved every summer day he’d spent at Lake Serene. On the other, he was ready for snow and the entertainment and adventure it would afford him, rain not so much since that kept him inside, trapping him.

  “Do you want to go again?” he asked as he picked up the rope. “Maybe if you sit smack in the middle, you can keep the tube from spinning. You—”

  “I’m fine.”

  Something was off about her comment. She’d obviously enjoyed the ride so why didn’t she want to see if she could improve on her technique? Darn it, a
s a result of the years he’d spent away from women, he might never figure them out. What did he mean, might? Very little about his past had prepared him for relationships. Of course it wasn’t as if he’d asked his sweetheart to the prom. They’d recently said their first words to each other and were just goofing off.

  “If you say so.” He came up with. “I won’t push you. Unfortunately that means I’m going to have to get back to work. You, too.”

  “Did you have to say that? Look, if you want to go for a run yourself maybe you can show me how to work the levers. The trip down is a lot of fun.”

  Tempted. So tempted. All except for the landing. “I weigh a lot more than you. How are you going to stop me?”

  Her gaze slid down his length. He felt the noncontact everywhere but couldn’t tell whether she was sending out a message that didn’t need words.

  “I could throw up a stop sign, but I don’t think that’ll do the trick,” she said. “What I should have done is bail off the moment I reached level ground, let the tube continue on its own.”

  That might work in the snow. He wasn’t so sure when it came to inches of hay on top of hard soil. Just the same, not only didn’t he want to get started on roof repairs, he wanted to spend more time with Kolina Childs. To feel carefree. Risking breaking his neck was one way of making that happen.

  It would be a lie to say he hadn’t noticed her before. He had, especially once he realized the good-looking woman was friends with his foreman’s girlfriend. Watching Echo and Rey with their new love wrapped around them like a summer sunrise, he’d wondered if he would ever experience something like that. His pensive and, yes, envious gaze had landed on Kolina. He hadn’t known what to do beyond imagining what she looked like naked, which he figured would never happen. Once he’d gotten past that adolescent fantasy, he’d tried to shake off longing for what Echo and Rey were experiencing. No wishing for the impossible. Easier to live for the moment.

  Especially after what it had taken for him to get to the point of being able to put himself first.

  He didn’t say anything as he reattached the inner tube to the cable. He kept his explanation brief as he showed her how to control the wheel’s speed. She gave the lesson her full attention and didn’t appear to be intimidated.

  “You’re comfortable doing this?” he asked when he was done.

  More raindrops splatted around them.

  “I used to drive long haul for a living. This is nothing.”

  “No way. You didn’t—”

  “Yes, I did.” She pointed at the sky. “You’d better get moving. We might get rained out.”

  She was right. Not only was the top of his head already wet, the temperature had dropped by several degrees in a few minutes. Between the low-hanging clouds and gyrating treetops, he was once more struck by how all-encompassing nature was around Lake Serene. The main resort complex was less than a mile away, but the forest was between them and the collection of buildings. Kolina and he were the only humans near a building used primarily for storage. Mother Nature had isolated them. Closed them off from the world.

  Strange. He wasn’t a philosophical man so why was he thinking like that? Lake Serene and the surrounding mountains had a seductive quality but he’d had since early spring to get used to it.

  Isolation. Just Kolina and him and ageless land.

  She touched his upper arm. “Terron?”

  He pulled himself back to reality. Her touch—he couldn’t put words to how he’d reacted. Wanted her to repeat the gesture. Again and again. “You’re right. Time for me to make a fool of myself. I was trying to imagine you behind the wheel of a big rig.”

  No you weren’t. He read the response in her expression. He was tempted to tell her part of what he’d been thinking, but he didn’t know her well enough to confess the impact this land was having on him let alone her role in what he was experiencing.

  Even before he settled onto the balloon-like inner tube, he felt like a beached whale. When it had been her in this position, he’d experienced a familiar need to protect, something he couldn’t imagine her doing now that the tables were turned. Most likely she was trying not to laugh.

  Yes, laughter. Two coworkers playing hooky. Having fun. Nothing beyond that.

  The higher he was being pulled up the hill, the less in control he felt. He could bail off and reveal himself as a wimp, but if he didn’t, which he wouldn’t, he’d soon be at the top of the slope looking down at one of the few flat areas around Lake Serene. Trying to wrap his mind around what he’d have to accomplish to get to the bottom. A little past his comfort zone. Wanting to show off.

  The cable stopped, bringing his steed to a halt. He stood and unhooked the rope. His intention had been to aim downhill and push off before he did any more thinking so why was he just standing there?

  Because he had the feeling he was being watched.

  Frowning, he turned in a slow circle. The only time the forest’s denseness intimidated him was when he was out in it during the too-brief minutes between dusk and night. Something about the rapidly fading day trapped him. The sun was gone, maybe never to return. Darkness would become all-encompassing, would suck him into a deep hole.

  Darn it, night was hours away, nothing to concern himself with.

  Then what had gotten to him?

  *

  “Luxurious it isn’t.” He announced some fifteen minutes later as he and Kolina stood in a large room with picnic tables and benches stacked against a wall.

  One end of the room led to a small kitchen that, come winter, would provide visitors with coffee, hot chocolate, soup, and sandwiches. From what Rey had told him, this building was nearing the top of the to-do list, which included new flooring, a paint job, and a second wood stove so everyone wouldn’t have to crowd around the one already there.

  “It isn’t the Ritz. Talk about musty smelling.” Kolina propped the broom against the closest wall and placed the cleaning supplies on a table. He put down the shop vacuum he’d hauled in for her.

  “I’m going to so enjoy this. Not,” she said.

  “I wish you didn’t have to.”

  “It’s all right. I’ve had dirtier jobs.”

  You deserve better. “That isn’t the point.”

  “Then what is?”

  I don’t know. “Look, I’m sorry I said anything. I was just trying to sympathize.”

  She nodded and her expression softened but a hint of confusion remained. “I’m the one who should be telling you I feel sorry for you. You have to get up on the roof.”

  “Not today after all. Even with that hooked ladder anchoring me to the ridge, the rain’ll make the metal too slippery.”

  “I didn’t want to say anything because it’s your call, but I’m relieved you made the decision you did. Hopefully Shaw and Rey will understand.”

  Right now he didn’t care whether either man approved of his decision to remain on the ground. What mattered was that Kolina Childs was concerned with his well-being, which was one hundred and eighty degrees from what his life had been like for a long time.

  In a few minutes he’d call Rey to let him known, not that his supervisor probably hadn’t come to the same conclusion. Fortunately since his mess-up during fire season, he’d managed to prove he was trustworthy. In the meantime, he was in no hurry to leave Kolina alone in the cold, stale-smelling room, complete with fogged-up windows. There was isolation and then there was this what, melancholy? The space needed more than two people in it to come to life.

  Fortunately someone had left newspaper, kindling, and wood near the stove. As she looked over the kitchen—if it could be called that—he got a fire started. In between feeding larger and larger pieces of wood into the stove, he opened a window.

  “Thank you,” she said as she rejoined him. She indicated the window. “Boy does it need airing out in here. Listen to the rain. The sound—magical.”

  There it was again, a hint of something beneath the surface taking place inside her. He wasn
’t sure he wanted anything to do with whatever she was experiencing.

  “That’s what it’s like for you?”

  She sighed. “Sometimes. When I let my imagination go.”

  Countless drops hammered down on the metal roof. As the room started to warm despite the cold pushing through the open window, he inhaled the wonderful scent of rain-washed air. His jacket wasn’t rainproof but that wouldn’t prevent him from sprinting for the resort truck, which was what he should do followed by calling Rey and asking for a change of assignment. Instead, because he wanted to ask Kolina something, he picked up the broom and swiped at an overhead spider web. Maybe she’d tackled dirtier jobs but surely she’d also had cleaner ones.

  “You don’t have to do that,” she said.

  “I know.”

  They stared at each other, just stared. Hopefully being alone with a man she barely knew wasn’t bothering her. Even if it was, he couldn’t leave.

  “What is it?” she asked with her arms around her middle again, the oversized sweatshirt looking like protection.

  “This is going to sound crazy but well, when you were getting ready to come down the slope did you…”

  Her eyes widened. “Yes.”

  “So you sensed something—”

  “I wasn’t going to say anything because I figured—I don’t know what I was figuring. What did it feel like to you?”

  “I’m not sure I can explain,” he said. “I got pretty good at being aware of my surroundings when I was—anyway, even though I didn’t see anything, I’m almost positive something was watching me.”

  Her gaze flickered to the window before returning to him. She didn’t look spooked but neither would she shrug off the experience. “I thought I saw movement in the trees.”

  “What do you think it was?” he asked. “I suppose a cougar or bear—”

  “Or a wolf.” She grinned. “Wouldn’t that be incredible?”

  “I’m not sure that’s how I’d look at it. Besides, the possibility is beyond remote.”

  “Maybe not.” She pressed her fingers to her temple. “How good are you at keeping secrets?”