Though Sam considered himself a competent out-doorsman, Carter Wilbury was a real mountain man. Carter had once broken his leg in a twenty-foot tumble off a rock ledge, then crawled for six days to get help. He’d eaten bugs and grubs and worms and drunk the dew off leaves to stay alive. Since then, he’d been a legend around Sutter Gap. But age and a bad bout of frostbite had kept Carter indoors in the winter—that and a pretty widow who had captured his fancy.
Sam picked up the man’s pack and dragged it through the front door. “I’d offer you a cup of coffee, but I ran out a few weeks back.”
“I brought some along,” Carter said, bending down to rummage through his pack. “Just show me where the pot is.”
Sam grabbed the pot from the dry sink and filled it with water from the pitcher. “So what brings you up here so early in the season?”
“Came here to warn ya,” Carter said.
Sam froze. “About what?”
“There’s a woman nosing around Sutter Gap. She found out you like to frequent the Lucky Penny when you’re in town and she’s waiting for you to come back.”
“Who is she?” Sam asked.
Carter shrugged. “Says her name is Sarah Cantrell. She won’t say what she wants, but she’s a persistent little thing. She tried to pay me five hundred dollars to bring her up here, but I told her I didn’t know where you were.”
“What did she look like?”
“Pretty. Real pretty. City girl. Nice fingernails, fancy makeup and she wears the damnedest boots with these funny little heels. And she’s always messing with her cell phone. Most of the boys at the bar have been drooling over her but all she’s interested in is you.” Carter paused. “I saw that Fatal Attraction movie on HBO a few months back. You don’t think she’s…”
“A bunny boiler?”
“No, got a Sam Jr. she wants to show you. You are quite the ladies’ man when you’re off this mountain.”
“Did she have a baby with her?”
“No, but do the math. You came off the mountain in April of last year. It’s late March now. She could have photos of a two-month-old to show you.”
“Listen, I may enjoy the company of women, but I do it responsibly.”
Carter nodded. “Well, then, I guess we can rule out the social diseases as well. Maybe a relative died and she’s here to tell you you’ve inherited a fortune. Or maybe she’s one of those reporters looking to do a story on a modern-day Daniel Boone.”
Sam considered the possibilities for a moment, then shrugged. “I suppose I’ll know soon enough. Thanks for watching my back.”
“No problem,” Carter said.
Sam considered the ramifications of Carter’s news. “Can you do it again? Watch my back, I mean. When we get back to Sutter Gap, I want you to tell this woman you know someone who can take her to see Sam Morgan.”
“Who? Besides you and me, no one else knows how to get up here. And you know how the folks are in Sutter Gap. They don’t talk to strangers.”
“Just introduce her to me, your cousin. Call me…Charlie Wilbury, your friendly, neighborhood wilderness guide. And give everyone at the Lucky Penny the heads-up. I’ll just tell her I’m going to take her to Sam Morgan and in turn, she’ll tell me what she wants.”
“So you think she’s trouble?”
“I don’t know,” Sam said. “But it won’t take me more than a few minutes to find out.”
“I CAN’T BELIEVE I’ve spent ten whole days in this backwater town with nothing to show for it,” Sarah Cantrell muttered. She glanced over her shoulder at the patrons of the Lucky Penny tavern then turned back to the old pay phone, feeling their eyes boring into her back.
The town of Sutter Gap, population two hundred, sat nestled in the mountain country of North Carolina, just a few miles from the Tennessee border. The main street boasted just two businesses—a tiny grocery store which also served as the town gas station, the post office and the bait shop; and the Lucky Penny Tavern. The rest of the town was made up of a hodge-podge of houses, cobbled together without regard for architectural style. Sarah had taken a room at the Gap View Motor Lodge just out of town, a place that usually housed visiting hunters.
“I’m a nice southern girl, but this is not the south,” she continued. “If I’m not careful, one of these good old boys is going to toss me in the back of his pickup, take me to his cabin in the woods and chain me to the bed.”
“You’re a beautiful woman and men are bound to look,” Libby Marbury said, her voice crackling back over the phone line. “They’re probably just lonesome.”
Libby Parrish Marbury had been Sarah’s best friend since they were in seventh grade. Over the years, they’d given each other endless advice on men and romance. But there was no way even Libby could put a positive spin on the social prospects in Sutter Gap, North Carolina.
“They don’t just look,” Sarah complained. “They grunt and leer and a few of them drool. I know I’ve complained about the dating scene in Belfort, but I feel like I’ve landed on another planet here. A planet where ragged flannel and faded denim is the height of fashion and a good catch is a man who can bring down a ten-point buck with his bare hands. The odds are pretty good here, but the goods are definitely odd.”
“You’re not there to find a man,” Libby insisted. “At least, not in the romantic sense, so why let it bother you?”
“It doesn’t bother me,” Sarah said. “I’m just a little frustrated with the waiting.”
For such a long time, she and Libby had been in the same boat—single and searching for love. But since Libby’s wedding, Sarah had become acutely aware of the differences between them. Libby had always taken a very cautious approach to love, waiting patiently for her Prince Charming to sweep her off her feet, knowing that some day he’d come.
Sarah had always preferred a more adventurous attitude toward men, juggling several different boyfriends at once and then discarding them when they became too demanding or too troublesome. In truth, she didn’t want love at all, just fire and heat and passion. Libby had once quipped that Sarah took a “catch and release” approach to the men in her life. Men were like fish, once she’d caught them, it was only a matter of time before she tossed them back.
“I’ve turned down three invitations since I got to town,” Sarah continued. “One guy wanted me to go coon hunting, and one offered an evening of bowling in Asheville. The other cut right to the chase. He wanted to take me home to meet his mama.”
“Do you really expect Sam Morgan to be any different?” Libby asked.
“I sure hope he is. It would take me a whole lot more than I’ve got budgeted to turn any of these guys into a television personality.”
“How long are you going to wait for this guy?” Libby asked.
“I don’t know. This is the biggest get of my career.
