and strode into the kitchen.
He scowled. How noble of her. She was so determined to keep the polar ice caps from melting. “So where is the Cloud Peak Glacier?”
She pulled a map out of a drawer and unfolded it on the kitchen island counter. “See this area here?” She jabbed a finger at a northern area of Wyoming. “This is where we are.”
He joined her at the island and studied the map. The sweet scent of her hair filled his nostrils. Peaches. And vanilla. It reminded him of the homemade peach cobbler his aunt Ruth made. He used to love it hot and topped with vanilla ice cream. Come to think of it, he wouldn’t mind a taste of Brynley topped with some vanilla ice cream. Or was he lactose intolerant now?
“And this,” Brynley continued, “is the Bighorn National Forest. It lies east of Phil’s land. Inside the forest, you’ll find the Cloud Peak Wilderness Area. The glacier is located about here.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
She gave him a wry look. “Are you going to call the glacier? They don’t generally come equipped with a telephone.”
“Then we’ll take the car.” He smiled. “See? I knew it would come in handy.”
“It’s a wilderness area. That means no motorized vehicles are allowed off the main roads.”
His smile faded. “Then how do you get around?”
“You walk.” Her mouth twitched. “Or you ride a horse.”
He stepped back. “I don’t think so.”
“Aw, come on, Phineas. It’ll be fun!”
“Those horses don’t like me.”
“They don’t know you.” She gave him a sly grin. “To know you is to like you.”
He frowned at her. Was she flirting with him? Didn’t she know that was torture? “I tried getting to know them. When you and Trudy left the barn to greet the other lady, I stayed behind for a little while. I tried mentally communicating with the horses to let them know I would never hurt them.”
“Ah, that was sweet.”
“Not too sweet. One of them tried to bite me.”
She laughed. “Which one?”
“I don’t know. They all look alike.”
“Horses look alike?” She shook her head. “You’re such a city boy.”
His brow arched. “Country girl.”
“And proud of it. I can bring down an elk in sixty seconds.”
“I didn’t think your breath was that bad.”
She huffed and punched him in the shoulder.
“Ah, foreplay.” He rubbed his shoulder. “And here I thought you were going to resist me.”
She scoffed. “That’s not my idea of foreplay.”
“Then what is?”
Her eyes widened, then she looked away.
“Sorry,” he mumbled.
She shrugged and turned back to the map. “No big deal. And actually, I don’t think we should ride in at night. Our best bet is for me to go in the late afternoon. Trudy can bring her trailer and drop me and the horses off. I’ll ride one and lead the other, then set up a base camp below the glacier. As soon as the sun sets, I’ll call you and you can teleport.” She winced. “Although the cell phone probably won’t work.”
“I can zip back to Romatech and pick us up some satellite phones,” Phineas suggested.
“That would work.” She wrinkled her nose. “The problem with this plan is it’ll leave you alone here for a few hours.”
He glanced at the basement trapdoor. Did he dare risk it? “How often do people come around here?”
“Never. And I would lock up. But still . . .”
“You would worry about me?”
She shrugged in an unconcerned manner. “It’s my job to guard you.”
He gritted his teeth. “I’ll be fine. We can move the couch to conceal the trapdoor. I’ll teleport in and out of the basement.”
“Are you sure?”
She was worried about him, he knew it. She just didn’t want to show it. “If I wasn’t sure, I’d spend the day at Romatech.”
She nodded. “Okay. Then we have a plan.”
“All right.” He sat at the kitchen table and booted up the laptop. “I’ll find a map of the wilderness area.”
“Cloud Peak, and the Bighorn National Forest.” She rummaged inside the fridge and pulled out some sliced roast beef. “I’m going to make a sandwich. You want anything?”
“I’m fine.” He pulled up a search engine. “There are camping areas in the forest, right?”
“Yes. Over thirty of them.”
“We’ll need to check those. Corky may have commandeered one of them.” He glanced at Brynley. “Don’t check anything without me. It could be dangerous.”
She opened a loaf of bread. “Seems to me that it would be safer to look for her during the daytime when she’s dead.”
“She wouldn’t dare sleep unprotected. She’ll have a few mortals under her control, and they’ll be brainwashed to kill anyone who comes close to her. Don’t do any investigating without me.”
Brynley glowered at him. “Okay.”
He found a good map that detailed all the camping areas. “I’ll zip over to Romatech and print this out and grab our sat phones.”
“Okay.” She slathered some mustard on her bread.
“I’ll probably stay there for a few hours. See how my brother’s doing. File a report and catch up on what the other guys are doing.” It would be a lot easier to resist her if he put over a thousand miles between them.
“Okay.” She slapped her sandwich together.
“You’ll be all right here?”
She shot him an irritated look. “I’ll be fine.”
“You have a lot to do tomorrow. You should get some sleep.”
“Go ahead and teleport. I know you don’t want to hang around me for the rest of the night.”
“It’s not that I don’t like you. Quite the opposite—”
“Just go!”
“Fine!” With a sick feeling in his stomach, he vanished.
“Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?” Brynley sang to herself in the shower. She’d finished her snack, then checked on the horses in the barn. Phineas had not returned.
She turned off his computer, then gathered up some supplies for the trip to Cloud Peak Glacier. Some beef jerky, a few granola bars, some bottles of water, a roll of toilet paper, and a sleeping bag. Phineas might be able to teleport in and out, but she’d be with the horses, so she’d have to do things the old-fashioned way. She made a note to herself to bring some weed-seed-free feed for the horses.
By one o’clock in the morning, he still wasn’t back. She took a shower and sang the Big Bad Wolf song at the top of her lungs, hoping he’d come back and hear it.
He didn’t.
She left the light on in the bathroom with the door partially closed, so the cabin wouldn’t be totally dark, then climbed the ladder to the loft and crawled into bed.
With a groan, she punched a pillow. It was her fault he was uncomfortable around her. She shouldn’t have told him that she knew what the red eyes meant. She’d wanted to tease him, but to be honest, she was flattered. More than flattered. Amazed. Astounded. He’d admitted he was attracted to
All the guys in the past who had pursued her had never bothered to find out who she really was. They’d simply seen her as the Supreme Pack Master’s daughter, the ticket to win more power and prestige in the werewolf world.