Chance Encounter

Where he’d probably do something thrilling and reckless without her. Darn it. She was going to have to break him in slowly, she supposed. “Do you really have handcuffs?”

He smiled slowly. “Yep.”

Oh, my. She followed him back to the trail, thinking about that and getting much warmer than the sun warranted.

Chance walked ahead of her in silence, probably satisfied he’d gotten things-her- under control. She watched his nicely muscled rear end for a moment and thought, next time I run into that body, I’m keeping my hands out and low.

Chance continued to completely ignore her.

“I’m sure by tomorrow I’ll be a much bigger help,” she said brightly.

His shoulders stiffened, and he might have even sworn beneath his breath, but he just kept walking.

NIGHT FELL QUICKLY in Wyoming. In all Ally’s life, she’d never seen such utter darkness. No wimpy twilight hour for this place. One minute it was still daylight and the next, utter blackness had blanketed everything.

Sleep wasn’t an option, not yet. The phone conversation she’d just had with Lucy reverberated in her mind. Don’t forget to enjoy yourself. For once pocket your worries and live.

Ally liked the sound of that.

Yielding a flashlight, she walked the path from her small cabin to the main lodge, which looked deserted in spite of several lights burning. That was okay, she wasn’t looking for company. Driven by a strange restlessness, she continued past the lodge, toward the sound of rushing water, which turned out to be a stream gone wild with the snow melt-off. A sign told guests where to rent rafts, another directed them to a natural pool several hundred feet down the path where swimming was encouraged.

Curious now, Ally moved closer to the water, squinting in the moonlight. There was a small building off to her left, and from what she’d learned from the extensive map Jo had given her, it was a storage shed. Inside would be rafts, canoes, kayaks-all sorts of water equipment.

An undeniable thrill raced through her, even though she was so sore from shoveling she could hardly move her arms. She could see herself in all that white water, rushing at dizzying speeds, screaming with excitement as she-

“Don’t even think about it.” A tall shadow stepped in front of her. With a gasp, she leaped backwards and might have fallen right into the river if two big, warm hands hadn’t reached out to steady her.

“Easy,” Chance said. “I’d hate to have to stand here and watch you drown.”

She blinked and stared at his wide chest. Her stomach flip-flopped as she slowly raised her gaze past his mouth to his dark blue eyes. “You’d watch me drown rather than jump in and rescue me?”

He turned his head and studied the icy, rushing water. “Yes.”

She didn’t doubt him for a minute. “That might be bad publicity.”

“You weren’t worried about that earlier, when as GM you got yourself good and lost while walking on our easiest trail.”

“I told you, I wasn’t lost.”

“You’re sticking to that story, huh?”

Maybe it was his silky voice, or how the breeze carried the scent of his skin and tossed his hair about his shoulders. That, or the way he still practically held her in an embrace, but in any case, she was off balance. She could feel the heat of him, all that barely contained strength and energy, and it made her shiver.

At the motion, he skimmed his hands over her arms. “Still haven’t got your high altitude legs yet, I guess.” He shot her a slow, suggestive smile. “I know several ways to combat that.”

She was certain he did. “I’m…fine.” Coward.

She felt his warm breath on her cheek and closed her eyes, wondering exactly what he could do to combat her sudden odd dizziness, and if it would involve that incredibly sexy mouth of his.

“You’ll let me know if you change your mind,” he murmured, and though he dropped his hands from her, he was still far closer than normal conversation dictated.

It lent an intimacy to their nearness she didn’t know what to do with. “I’m okay.”

“Sure?”

She was quite certain whatever he had in mind would only confuse her all the more, especially since the last time she’d seen him he’d been grinding his teeth to nothing, furious that she’d cost him precious time.

She lifted her hands between them to…what? If she touched his chest-his amazing chest-things would seem all the more cozy.

And yet she had the oddest urge to do just that. “I’m sure.” But then she tipped her head back so she could see into his…laughing eyes! Hot temper filled her. “You think teasing me with…with sexual favors is funny?” she sputtered.

“I was offering aspirin.” He cocked his head and lifted a brow. “And I have to say, I’m shocked at what you were thinking.”

Now she did use her hands on his chest, to shove him back, but he was built like a solid brick wall. He simply and calmly stepped back on his own. “You know, Prim, I think I was mistaken.” He scratched his chin and grinned. “I thought your eyes were plain gray, but they’ve got a lot of fire to them.”

As if he cared what color her eyes were, or what made them burn. He had Jo, a woman who, no doubt, did not get lost on a simple trail. “I see you made it back from your second trip up the mountain,” she said through her teeth.

“Always.”

“And Brian?”

His amusement vanished. “Do you think I’d leave him up there?”

“No,” she said, more than a little surprised at his fierce reaction. “I didn’t think that.”

“What do you think?”

That his voice could seduce a nun. That his tall, broad frame blocking the moonlight seemed strong and warm, so much that she had a silly urge to lay her head down on his chest and ask him to assuage all her yearnings.

“Brian is fine,” he said. “Though I’m not responsible for him.”

No, neither was she, but that didn’t stop her from thinking about him, and worrying. It was a bad habit, wanting to fix the world, and everyone in it. Ex-habit, she reminded herself. She was no longer in the business of fixing anything or anyone except her own life. “I think maybe I should go catch some sleep.”

He slipped his hands into his pockets. “How long are you going to do this?”

“What?”

“Stay here and play at doing Lucy’s job.”

“As long as it takes. And I’m not playing, I want to do it right.”

“That’s not possible. You got lost today in your own shadow.”

“You’re not exactly tame, you know. Why do you object to my new sense of adventure so much?”

He was shocked at her question. “Because I know what I’m doing. You, on the other hand, you’re a walking nightmare.”

“I can do this,” she insisted. When would people stop doubting her? Stabbing a finger to his chest, she said, “I came here to work, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

He grabbed her finger, and short of a tug-of-war, she couldn’t get it back. So she tried to look like it was an everyday occurrence to be holding hands with a near stranger. A tall, gorgeous, enigmatic stranger, one who thought she was a piece of fluff, one she was feeling a completely unacceptable attraction for. “I can be of help, Chance,” she said. “If you’d only let me.”

“Tall order for a woman who doesn’t know what she’s doing.”

“I know how to wing it, and I’ve got determination on my side.”

“You mean stubbornness.”

“I’m going to be a good GM. I’m going to show the staff how good attitude works, and I’m going to show Brian how to learn to belong.”

“And what makes you an expert on juvenile delinquents?”

“What makes you an expert?” Bold question, considering she didn’t even know this