of course. Sunset wasn’t for several hours. Besides, that dramatic gesture sounded good in theory, but in reality he wasn’t a good candidate for riding into the sunset with a woman on his horse. That implied that he’d made some pretty big promises to her.
He was a rolling stone who didn’t make those kinds of promises. He traveled light. Even so, he wouldn’t mind spending some time with the luscious Miss Perkins when she wasn’t busy watching eagles.
Now that she was on the ground, he dismounted. “I’d shake your hand, but I’m afraid we’d be stuck together for eternity. My hands are covered with that green stuff.”
“Understood.”
He waved away more flies. “Time to get it off. Thanks for coming down to keep me company.” Leading his horse, he started toward the stream a few yards away.
“It’s the least I could do.” She fell into step beside him. Their boots crunched the pine needles underfoot and sent up a sharp, clean scent that helped counteract the sweetness of the energy drink.
“Your folks own the Shoshone Diner, right?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“I like the food there.”
“Me, too. Now you’re making me hungry for my mom’s meat loaf.”
“I would be, too, if I’d been trying to survive on that green junk. Listen, I didn’t mean to scare you by calling to you just now. I thought nobody was up there, but I wanted to make sure.” He glanced over at her to see what she might have to say for herself on that score.
Her cheeks turned pink. “I didn’t realize you’d come out here because of the eagles. I assumed you’d ride on by.”
“You didn’t think someone riding by would stop and say howdy?”
“Sure, if they knew I was up there.”
“So you were hiding from me?”
She nodded.
“Why?” He had a terrible thought. “Did you think I might hurt you?”
“No. I’m used to taking care of myself. I have bear spray and I know karate.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” It was the way he’d imagined she would be, resourceful and ready for anything. Very attractive traits. “But it doesn’t explain why you were hiding.”
She gestured to her herself and laughed. “Because I’m a hot mess!”
“You are?” He stared at her in confusion, unable to figure out what she meant.
“Okay, now you’re just being nice, and I appreciate it, but I’ve been out here for a week. I’ve slept in a tent, washed up in the stream and put on clothes that were stuffed in a backpack. And then there’s my hair.”
“Okay, your hair might be sort of supercasual.” He reached over, pulled a twig out of her ponytail and dropped it to the ground. “But the rest of you is just fine.” He didn’t know her well enough to tell her she looked sexy as hell. Her rumpled, accessible presentation worked for him way better than a slinky outfit. He related to someone who could survive without modern conveniences.
“Supercasual.” She chuckled. “That’s a great euphemism for trashed.”
“I’ve seen celebrities whose hair looked way worse than yours, and it was fixed like that on purpose.”
“What a gentlemanly thing to say.” She pointed through the trees. “Right over there is a nice sandy spot. It’s where I go in.”
“Perfect.” When he reached the bank of the creek, he let Smudge, the Last Chance gelding he usually rode, have a drink.
She came to stand beside him. “You’re right, Luke. I overreacted to the idea of having company.”
“I’m surprised you’d be so embarrassed.” He finished watering the horse, backed him up and dropped the reins to ground-tie him. Then he turned toward Naomi. “Like I said, you look fine to me.”
“I wouldn’t have been embarrassed if Emmett had come out, or Jack. But I’d never met you.” She shrugged. “I guess the vanity thing kicked in.”
He gazed at her. “How did you know I wasn’t Emmett or Jack?” Then he realized she must have binoculars. “Oh. You were spying on me.”
Her blush deepened, giving her away.
Gradually he began to understand the issue. She’d used her binoculars to identify the person riding toward her lookout spot, which was natural. But when she’d discovered he was a stranger, she’d worried about making a bad impression. That was flattering.
“If it makes you feel any better,” he said, “I wore my best hat out here on purpose. I wanted to make a good impression on you.”
“You did? Why?”
“Well…” He started unsnapping his sticky shirt, starting with the cuffs on his sleeves. “I’ve been hearing a lot about you.”
“Like what?”
“Oh, that you were this cute blonde who’d just moved back home after doing wildlife research for the state of Florida. They said you wrestled alligators and captured pythons and such.” He unfastened the snaps running down the front of his shirt and pulled the tail out of his jeans. He felt her gaze on him. Well, that was okay. He wasn’t ashamed of his body.
She seemed to get a kick out of the talk about her, though. “You’ll have to forgive people for exaggerating,” she said with a smile. “I didn’t wrestle alligators. Sometimes I had to snare them and move them away from populated areas. But I never dealt with a python by myself.”
“Even so, here you are out in the wilderness studying a nest of eagles. In my book, that makes you unusual.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not that exciting.”
“I’m not disappointed at all. I’d have been disappointed to come out here and find you using a battery-powered hair dryer and painting your nails.” If she was paying attention, she’d figure out he was attracted to her outdoor lifestyle.
“Thank you. I appreciate your saying that.”
“On the other hand, I’m sure I failed to make a good impression on you, swearing and carrying on like I did. Sorry about that.” He stripped off his shirt and wadded it up in preparation for dunking it in the water.
“No need to be sorry. I would’ve reacted the same way if I’d been showered with sticky green stuff.”
Something in her voice made him pause and glance at her. To his delight, she was looking at him with a definite gleam in her eye. When he caught her at it, she blushed and turned away.
All righty, then. It appeared that taking off his shirt had been a very good idea.
