to enter during the night, they were going to have to walk over the big dog to do so.
Bri smiled at the very idea of anyone getting past the wolfhound and living to tell about it, possibly even if that someone were a bear. Her thoughts scattered when Tanner, smiling with her, slid in next to her.
“Are you warm enough?”
She nodded. The bed warmed her skin, but Tanner’s smile warmed her body inside and out. “What are you doing?” she blurted when he drew her close to him, cradling her in his arms.
“I just want to hold you, Brianna,” he said, his breath fluttering over her forehead. “Comfortable?”
“Hmm,” she murmured, snuggling closer, so close she could feel his chuckle before she heard it.
“Good. Sleepy?”
“Not really,” Bri said, stifling a yawn. “I’m just happy to stretch out, be warm and relaxed and off the back of a horse for a while.”
This time he laughed aloud. Bri loved the sound of his laughter. It seemed to surround her with a sense of warmth and security.
“So you’re not as tough as you thought you were,” Tanner said, teasing her.
“Yes, I am,” Bri said, pulling her head back to glare at him. “It’s simply that I haven’t been on a horseback trek in some time. I can handle it. It’s only a little stiffness.”
“I never doubted it.” Tanned did his best to look serious. The gleam in his eyes gave him away.
“Yeah, right.” She scowled.
He laughed again, cupped her head to draw her face closer to his and planted a gentle kiss on her temple. “I really didn’t doubt it, Brianna.”
Bri melted. She loved the way he said her name. “Okay, you’re forgiven.” Her temple was tingling where his lips had touched.
“Thank you.” Laughter danced along his voice. “Is that a blanket forgiveness, covering my having left Hawk’s without you?”
She hesitated long moments, smothering the anger she had been nursing since she had discovered him gone. “I suppose so,” she said, giving in, but only because she really wanted to do so.
“Grudging, but I’m grateful for it.”
They were quiet a moment, his breath teasing her skin, sending tingles from her temple to every nerve ending in her body. Desperately hanging on to her desire to have him kiss her, maybe make love to her, Bri raked her mind for something to say to break the feeling of sensual intimacy curling around them, seemingly drawing them closer to the precipice of no return.
To defuse the volatile intimacy, she said, “Tell me about yourself, Tanner, your life.” Her voice sounded ragged even to her own ears.
“Why do I have this sneaky suspicion you don’t trust me?” His tone was drily amused.
“It-it’s not that,” she said. “I do trust you.” Bri realized she truly did, that she would trust him with her life. Odd, she mused, after having known him such a short amount of time. But there it was. Then again, he had saved her life only hours ago.
“If it’s not that,” he said, “what is it?”
“Me.” Bri’s throat felt suddenly parched. “It’s myself I don’t trust, Tanner.”
“I don’t get it.” He sounded more than a little confused. “You don’t trust yourself about what?”
Once again Bri hesitated, unsure if she should explain her feelings. “You. I don’t trust myself with you,” she admitted, glancing up at him, her confidence bolstered by the fact that his face was in the shadows.
She could feel his body go completely still, feel the tautness in his arms around her. What must he be thinking? Had she unwittingly insulted him?
Frustration was sharp in his voice when he spoke. “Brianna, I told you, I won’t-”
“No, Tanner, please listen. You don’t understand,” she said, burrowing closer to him. “I know you won’t.” She sighed. “The problem is I’m not sure I won’t.”
“I see.” Enclosing her again in his arms, this time even more tightly, he kissed her ear, whispering, “You know something, Brianna? You’re a little nuts.”
No one had ever said anything like that to her before. Her reaction began with a giggle and grew from there to laughter that spilled out from deep inside. Burying her face in the curve of his neck, she laughed harder than she could recall having laughed in a very long time. Partly because she thought it funny and partly in sheer relief.
“You know something, Tanner?” she gasped through her dying laughter. “You’re right.”
His lips brushed her cheek. “That’s okay, kid, because I’m a bit nuts, too.”
Eight
She loved this man. The realization flashed through her mind like a sudden bolt of lightning.
Bri’s insides seized. What was she thinking? Love? She couldn’t have fallen in love this quickly. Could she? Abruptly her laughter died in her throat, but she kept her face pressed against his shoulder, inhaling the spicy, male scent of him.
“Amuse you, do I?” Tanner asked, laughter dancing on his own voice. “I really didn’t think it was all that funny.”
“Oh, Tanner, you have no idea.” Bri had to pause to take a breath, collect herself, get her thoughts back in line. “That’s one of the reasons I don’t trust myself with you. You’re so up-front and straightforward. So few people are today, it’s refreshing to find someone who is.” She was chattering, making it up as she rattled on, determinedly blanking all thoughts of Minnich and the L word from her mind. At least that’s what she told herself.
“Despite your PC phrasing, why do I get the idea you’re impugning my gender?”
Bri couldn’t help it; she smiled. If he had been trying to sound offended, he had failed completely.
“I’ll plead the Fifth,” she said, shooting a quick look at him.
“Right now I wish I had a fifth.”
At that, her laughter erupted. Even Boyo lifted his head at the happy sound of it.
Within seconds, Tanner joined her. The sound was music to Bri’s ears.
“What exactly are we laughing at, do you know?” he asked as his laughter subsided.
“At ourselves, I think,” she answered, drawing a deep, sobering breath. “It was fun, though, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah.” Tanner was quiet a moment, doing some deep breathing of his own. “What do you want to know?”
“What?” His sudden question threw her.
“You said before that you wanted to know more about me,” he said. “So what do you want to know?”
“Everything.” The word burst out before she could hold it back.
“Oh, is that all?” He lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “That should take no longer than…oh, five, six hours. Of course, if I remember correctly, we went over our respective favorite things at lunch in Durango. Didn’t we?”
“Yes, I know, but I meant…well, other things.”
“Like what?”
“Have you ever been in love?” Oh, damn, why was she having trouble with that darn love word? Nevertheless, she waited, not breathing, for his answer. If he would answer.
He didn’t hesitate. “I thought I was once.” His shoulder shrugged and she breathed again. “I was wrong. Have you?”
Bri wouldn’t allow herself to be less candid than Tanner. She even took it a step further. “Once. I was wrong, too. He was a handsome, charming snake, a cheat and a user.”
“Gee, could you be a bit more specific?” he said, his voice teasing.
“He was a rat,” she said, deadly serious. “I came back to the dorm one night from the library to find him in bed with my roommate. I threw him out first. Then, without a shred of remorse, I used my father’s influence to get her out of the room and into another dorm.”
“You are tough.”
“I was mad.” Memory anger colored her voice. “At least I didn’t do either one of them bodily injury.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” he said. “For an instant there I was afraid you were going to tell me you punched her out
