“It’s a tempting offer, but I’m going to have to pass.”
She reached for the saddle, but he held it between them as if it were a bargaining chip. “Aren’t you hungry?”
“Yes.”
“Then say yes again and have dinner with me.”
Her heart loved his soft, coaxing tone. She listened to her head. “My situation hasn’t changed any more than yours has. And as you so kindly reminded me last night, I’d regret it in the morning.”
She pulled the saddle from his grip and left him standing there.
“I was only offering dinner,” he called after her. “Scout’s honor.”
He probably had been a scout—no, don’t look back.
* * *
Britt spent the next two days kicking herself. What would it have hurt to have dinner with him? It wasn’t like he was irresistible and she didn’t have her own mind.
When Mark gave her the next couple days off, she gladly stayed away from the ranch and planned a nice long hike. Seven and a half miles one way. By the time she got home that night, she would have no problem sleeping. Hopefully she’d be too tired to even dream.
After a late lunch break at Lawn Lake six miles in, she said goodbye to the couple who’d arrived shortly after her and shouldered her backpack for the remaining mile and a half to Crystal Lake. A night of camping would have been great, but she’d already pushed it by coming alone for the day. Joel would be pissed that she’d ignored his direct order, but everyone else was working, and it was a well-known trail in an area that hadn’t been closed to the public so there would be other hikers around. Besides, it wasn’t like he’d ever know—he hadn’t even tried to talk to her since Monday.
The toe of her hiking boot nicked a rock and she stumbled. When she caught her balance and looked down, she spotted a shiny object a step ahead. Turned out to be a food wrapper, which she scooped up and stuffed in her backpack with irritation. People who littered were jerks.
A second wrapper had her watching the ground more than the scenery, and a short while later, she noticed the dirt disturbed alongside the trail. Clearly someone had veered from the approved path to explore in the trees beyond. Her irritation spiked since there had been a crude outhouse just prior to reaching Lawn Lake, so she saw no reason to leave the trail.
Then she noticed the disturbance was on both sides of the trail, like the person had crossed over the hiking trail rather than veered from it.
Or more likely, she realized, it was from an animal, like an elk, or mule deer. She leaned over for closer examination on the left and distinguished footprints from animal tracks. She was about to straighten when a second shiny object in the dirt made her heart skip.
A bullet shell.
She picked it up and discovered it wa
sn’t the shell, but an actual bullet. As she glanced into the woods, then back to the ground, uneasiness settled in the pit of her stomach. Coupling the footprints with the bullet, her first thought was that Joel needed to see the scene. He’d know what was relevant. Heck, for all she knew, a ranger could’ve dropped the bullet while on patrol; some of them carried a weapon like Joel did.
She looked at the bullet in her palm, then frowned. Damn. Fingerprints.
Taking hold of it by thumb and forefinger on the very edge, she reached her other hand into her pack for something to place it in. All she came up with was the food wrapper.
Voices behind her sent a jolt of alarm straight to her heart. When she whirled around to see the couple she’d spoken to earlier, relief released the air from her tight lungs. She stood in front of the tracks, guarding them as she pulled out her water bottle for a drink.
“That looks like a good idea,” the guy said as they stopped alongside her.
Britt had to bite her tongue to keep from pushing them along verbally. After they’d continued, she turned back to the prints. She’d left her cell in her truck due to lack of reception, and hadn’t even thought to bring a radio. If she had, she could’ve called Joel and waited for him. As it was, pictures would have to do. She snapped a number of shots from different angles, then started the long hike back to her truck.
She reached the ranger station after nine p.m. only to find out Joel left an hour ago. When she drove past The Watering Hole and didn’t see his truck, she continued on to his duplex. She parked on the street, walked past his vehicle in the driveway, and climbed the steps to the front porch. The light was off, and inside was completely dark, but she rang the doorbell anyway.
A long minute went by before she rang it again. And again. Then she followed up by pulling open the screen door and pounding her fist on the solid inside door. Still no answer. She didn’t want to wait until morning, but obviously, he wasn’t home. Disappointment swelled as she turned back toward her truck.
She hadn’t even cleared the screen door when the porch light flared to life. Blinking at the sudden glare, she spun around as the inside door jerked open.
“If it’s that gol-damned important, why the hell didn’t you just call?”
Britt couldn’t quite find the words she needed to answer the irritated question. Clearly, she’d gotten him out of bed. Above the neck, he looked like shit. His hair stood on end, and he was squinting at her through bloodshot eyes.
Below the neck…oh my god.