T-shirt pulled out, not tucked in, but even so, he could tell that her slender waist did credit to the rest of her. Her breasts shifted invitingly as she descended, and by the time she’d reached the ground, he was glad he’d ridden out here.
Besides looking good coming down the ladder, she’d accomplished the climb with dexterity. She seemed perfectly at home out here by herself. He admired that kind of self-sufficiency. He’d guessed she might be that type of woman from the moment Emmett had described the job she was doing.
She’d put her honey-blond hair up in a careless ponytail. He could hardly expect some elaborate style from someone who’d been camping for days. Then she turned around, and he was lost.
Eyes bluer than morning glories, a heart-shaped face and pink lips that formed a perfect Cupid’s bow. He’d never thought about his ideal woman, but from the fierce pounding of his heart, he suspected he was looking at her.
Before coming to the Jackson Hole area to work at the Last Chance eight months ago, he’d spent a couple of years in Sacramento. Although that city wasn’t Hollywood by any means, he’d met plenty of women, young and old, who subscribed to plastic surgery and Botox beauty regimes. And the makeup—they wouldn’t walk out the door without it. Some slept in it.
Standing before him was someone who wore not an ounce of makeup. She had an expressive face that obviously hadn’t been nipped and tucked. In her khaki shorts and tan shirt, she seemed ready for adventure, like a sidekick for Indiana Jones. He didn’t run across women like Naomi all that often. He felt like hoisting this treasure up onto his saddle and riding off with her into the sunset.
Not literally, 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.
