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As she spoke, the bear slowly tipped his big, furry head back, lazily studying Amy and Matt fro instinctively, she turned and burrowed right into Matt "If you laugh atarh or , his jaw dark with stubble, eyes hidden behind his reflective Oakleys "No worries, Tough Girl," he said, his war around her "And anyway, I’m hard to kill"

Chapter 3

There’s ht now

As Matt drew A at her was just about the last thing on the list of what he felt like doing at thehis hands down her back to cup her sweet ass and rub up against her was also on the list

But laughing? No She’d nearly leapt out of her own skin a second ago, and it hadn’t been all fear of the bear Nope, a good portion of that had been when Matt had touched her unexpectedly That bothered hiot myself," she murmured into his chest "I’m just not much of a bear person" Her voice was soft and full of the reluctant gratitude he knew she’d never actually express He liked this better than the wariness she usually showed hi

He ran his hand up and down her back, trying to soothe the quivers he felt wracking her, trying not to notice how good she felt against hiile before, ever He’d spent a lot of ti her carry loaded trays at the diner and knew she was actually strong as hell "You’re not going to be bear bait," he pro her so that she was behind hirabbed a fistful of the back of his uniforainst his back "How do you know?"

"Well, you’re behindto be bear bait, it’ll be me And brown bears are extremely passive If we take a step toward hio of hi hie that was actually ed and stepped toward the bear, waving his arms With a look of reproof, the bear lumbered to his feet and vanished into the bush

Amy collected herself with adhtest bit of a bu the contact "A lot can happen this far out here on the "

"Yeah, I’ that, thanks" In those ridiculous but sexy-as-hell boots, she moved unenthusiastically to the trail

"Sure you don’t want an escort out?" he asked Or soot it"

Just as well since he was out of the practice of co a woman Several years out of practice, actually, since his ex had so thoroughly shredded hi Amy hike off into the sunset when his radio squawked, and then Mary, his dispatcher, came on "You find her?"

Mallory had called his office an hour ago, and Mary had reached hi to check on Amy "Yeah, she’s on her way out now I’ his coordinates

"You ht"

"Why?"

"One of the standing dead fell about twenty o, across the fire road at 06-02"

His route out

"Can’t get a saw up there until daybreak," she said

This left him two choices--leave his truck and hike out like A to leave his truck Overnighting wasn’t a hardship in the slightest since he had all his gear with hiht "I’ll stick Take me off the board"

"Ten-four"

Matt turned and went in the opposite direction A off the trail to take a considerable shortcut back to where he’d left his truck He didn’t hurry through the stands of spruce, hemlock, pine, and cedar There was no need; he’d still beat her And sure enough, when he’d gotten to his truck and four-wheeled farther down the narrow fire road to where it intersected with the Sawtooth trail, he came out just ahead of her She ca him

"Amy"

She whipped around, feet planted wide, eyes alert, ready for a fight

"Just , besides trying to scareAnd, if he wasn’ta little bit in her boots "Just ht direction"

Breathing a little heavily, she tore off her sunglasses and narrowed her dark eyes at hi?"

"I offered you help Think you’re going to be okay for the three-mile hike back?"

"Three miles? What the hell happened to the ‘moderate, two-uidebook promised?"

"If you’d have stayed on the Sierra Meadows Trail, that’d have been true," he said "But you cut over to the Sawtooth Trail"

She blew a strand of hair out of her face "You need better trail signs"

"Budget cuts," he said "Next time stay on the easy-access trails down by the station Those are clearly marked"

"Easy is for pansies"

"Maybe, but at least all the pansies are safe for the night Because once it gets dark out here, it’s best to stay still And that’s in about…" He tipped his head back and studied the sky "Ten lanced upward uneasily "No"

"It’s a whole new kind of dark No street lights, no city lights, nothing"

"Why aren’t you in a hurry then?"

"I’ht," he said "The fire road’s blocked untilby a fallen tree, and I don’t want to leave ht?" she asked "Beneath the velvet sky?"

"Nice description"

"It’s not ht fro relieved that it actually worked "You don’t think I can get back before dark, do you?"

"No"

She sighed "So if I stay out here, you going to ticket ht permit?"