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He waited, his smile broadening, his dark brows arching. “Upon what?” he coaxed while striding more closely to her.
She touched her finger to her lips and then pressed it fleetingly to his. “On just how crazy you want to get. . . .”
“You’re wicked,” he accused, “seductively wicked.” This time, when he reached for her with his free hand, his steely fingers wrapped possessively over her forearm.
“Only when I’m around you” she promised. A smile quirked on her full lips. “That makes us quite a pair, doesn’t it? Crazy and wicked.”
“That makes for an indescribably potent attraction,” he stated, drawing her closer to him. “Just where are you taking me? Didn’t you take the wrong tum back at the fork in the path a little while ago?”
“I wondered if you would notice.”
“Did you think that you had captivated me so completely that I would lose my sense of direction?”
“Hardly,” she whispered dryly.
“Is it a secret?”
“No.”
“Then why are you being so mysterious?”
“Because I’ve never taken anyone up here before . . . aside from Emily.”
“What is it, your private part of the mountains?”
Sheila smiled broadly, slightly embarrassed. “I guess I kind of thought of it that way. It’s just a place I used to go, as a kid, when I wanted to be alone.”
Noah’s hand strengthened its grip on her arm. They followed the path around pine trees that had fallen across it and over a summit, until they entered a small valley with a clear brook running through it. The water spilled over a ledge from the higher elevations of the mountain, creating a frothy waterfall with a pool at its base. From the small lake the stream continued recklessly through the valley and down the lower elevations of the foothills.
They walked around the small pond together, arms linked, eyes taking in the serenity of the secluded valley. Noah helped her cross the stream, nearly slipping on the wet stones peeking from the rushing water. Once on the other side of the brook, Noah spread the blanket. They sat together near a stand of ponderosa pines, close to the fall of cascading water and able to feel the cool mist of water on their skin.
“Why did you bring me here?” Noah asked, his eyes following the path of the winding mountain stream.
“I don’t know. I guess I just wanted to share the beauty of this place with you . . . Oh, Noah, I just don’t want to lose it.”
Grim lines formed at the corner of his mouth. “And you think that I’ll take it away from you.”
“I think you have that power.”
Noah rubbed his thumbnail over his lower lip. “Even if I did, do you honestly think I would use it?”
Her eyes were honest when they looked into his. Lines marred her forehead where her brows drew together. “I don’t know.”
“Don’t you trust me?”
She took in a steadying breath. “Yes . . .”
“But?”
“I don’t think you’re telling me everything.”
Noah tossed a stone into the pond and watched it skip, drawing circles on the clear surface of the water. “What do you want to know?”
“About Anthony Simmons’s report on the fire.” “What if it isn’t complete?” he heard himself ask, damning himself for hedging. The truth should be so simple.
“It has to be. He hasn’t been here in two weeks. He strikes me as the kind of man who doesn’t give up until he finds what he’s looking for.”
“And you think he has?”
