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Joel’s attempt to diffuse the situation with humor earned him a surprisingly strong shove that landed him back on his side of the tent.
She sat up, fire flashing in her eyes. “You kissed me.”
“You kissed back.” A weak defense, but at the moment, all he had.
The blush in her cheeks climbed to her hairline. “I was half asleep.”
Bullshit. But, no sense letting a good fib go to waste. “Fine, so was I—now we’re both off the hook.”
When he carefully pushed into a sitting position, she scrambled further away, then straightened her spine and held her ground. “Don’t do it again.”
The imperial tone and haughty expression wiped out his remorse. “No problem.”
She slipped on her boots and reached for her backpack. “Wait here until I get back.”
“I’m not a peeping tom.”
“I didn’t mean that, I—”
“Just go, would you?” He reached over and yanked up the tent zipper. Snow fell in through the opening at the bottom.
Once she’d left, Joel lay back on his sleeping bag and did his best to will his morning arousal away. Yeah, even after that lovely little scene, he was still sporting a hard on. Thank God for the bulk of their sleeping bags. He’d acted like a teenager, but hell, her soft lips so close to his had made him hunger for just a taste. And the sound of his name in that sexy, husky voice, added to the thought of her lying beneath him—
Damn, not helping.
With a snort of disgust, he pulled out some clean clothes and began to change. What the hell was he thinking? She reminded him of Deanna, and hadn’t he more than learned his lesson with her?
Rich, beautiful, independent. Not bad attributes, per se. In fact, the last two had attracted him enough to Deanna that for the first time since his mother left when he was eight, he’d left his heart unguarded. A few weeks, and he’d fallen fast and hard.
Only, when he’d told her he loved her, she’d laughed in his face. Said he was a wonderful diversion in bed, but she couldn’t marry a forest ranger when she was already engaged to a partner at her father’s law firm.
His jaw clenched with the unwelcome memory. These days, he didn’t touch women like her—like his mother—with a ten-foot pole.
Joel pushed away that particular ghost and pulled on his cowboy boots. Figuring he’d given Brittany enough time to take care of business, he exited the tent and went the opposite direction of her trail through the nine inches of pristine snow. When he tromped back a few minutes later, he found all their gear set off to the side as she cleared snow from around the edges of the tent and began pulling stakes.
He cocked an eyebrow. “Going somewhere?”
“It was your decree that I leave this morning. I’m just following orders, Ranger Morgan.”
“That was before the snow,” he pointed out. “Once it starts melting, the trail could get slippery for the horses. It’s better to wait.”
“Yeah…I’m going to let the snow melt all day, freeze tonight, and then leave first thing tomorrow morning on icy trails? No thanks.”
Damn it all, she had a point. Once again, resentment was clouding his common sense. “Aren’t you at least going to make breakfast?”
She kept working on the tent. “I have a protein bar for the trail.”
“Well, I need coffee.”
“Have at it.”
She gestured toward the fire pit that was only discernible by the two log seats mounded with snow. In the time it’d take for him to start the fire and boil the water for a cup of instant coffee, she’d be gone. Guess he’d have to deal with a lack of caffeine today. He grabbed his things from where she’d set them in the snow and went to get Nobel ready.
Watching her efficiency with the tent, he noted she was no beginning camper. By the time Nobel was saddled, she carried everything over to her packhorse. While she began to secure her gear, Joel approached her stallion.
“I’ll take care of him,” she stated.
His feet were getting cold in his boots, so he picked up one of her brushes and swiped it over the horse’s black coat. “I’m waiting on you. The sooner he’s ready, the sooner we can go.”
