After using her toiletries and pulling her hair back into a ponytail, she repacked her bag and carted it outside. She dropped it next to Tanner’s, then made a dash for the bushes.

His soft chuckle followed after her. Trying her best to ignore a tingle in response to him, she concentrated on the urgent business at hand.

Finished, she cleaned her hands on a toss-away sanitary wipe, then followed the aroma of coffee back to camp.

She found Tanner squatting over the fire, preparing two cups of instant coffee. He held one up to her and she took it.

As he worked to put out the fire, his muscular thighs stretched the denim of his jeans, reminding her of how impressive they’d felt against her last night. When he looked up and she saw his face behind the curtain of his dark hair, she remembered how his eyes had looked down at her with passion. She promptly dropped her cup.

Boyo jumped up, barking at the sound of the tin cup hitting a rock. Taking up the charge, the horses whinnied and restlessly moved.

“Now look what you’ve done,” Tanner said, standing. “You’ve gone and spooked the animals.”

“S-sorry, I don’t know what happened. I’m not usually clumsy.” Nor did she usually get affected like that by a man.

Tanner handed Bri his own coffee and, after calming down Boyo, went to settle the horses.

Bri watched his easy gait, his tight rear, and once again felt unsteady. She had to force her eyes away from his body and onto the horses. From a sack he’d pulled out of the pack, he sprinkled some feed on the ground for the two horses. His diversion worked. The horses went immediately to their feed.

He was impressive with the animals. Gentle, firm when needed but always attentive, just as he’d been last night with Boyo in the tent.

And with her, said an inner voice.

She managed to ignore the images that thought conjured.

“We’ve got to eat and get going,” Tanner told her when he returned to the fire. “I’m sure Minnich isn’t out there lingering over breakfast.” Before she could agree, he handed her an oatmeal bar.

She was so hungry she downed it before Tanner had the fire out.

When he got up and noticed her empty wrapper, he seemed surprised. “Would you like another one?”

Embarrassed, she looked up at him from underneath her lashes. “If we have enough.”

Chewing his own bar, he retrieved another and gave it to her. “We’ve got to get packed now.”

She followed his lead, picking up her coffee cup and loading her saddlebag on Chocolate.

“Here, I’ll take that.” Tanner came up beside her to heft the other pack she held. “It’s heavy.”

“I can handle it,” she said, but the words got stuck in her throat when she turned and found his face mere inches from hers. He lingered there, and, too awestruck to move, Bri drew in the scent of him. He looked even better in the light of day than he had last night.

When she found her voice, she asked, “What are you doing?”

“Me?” Tanner replied. “You’re the one who was batting those long eyelashes at me before. Are they fake?”

“Fake?” Bri nearly screeched but held back to not startle the animals again. “I’ll have you know, Mr. Wolfe, I have never in my life worn fake eyelashes…or anything else.”

Tanner’s face split in a grin. “I know. You’re the real thing,” he drawled as he ran a slow, heated look over her body from head to toe, allowing his eyes to travel where his hands had gone last night.

The slow burn in Tanner’s eyes gave Bri a hot flash. Steadying the uneven rhythm of her breathing, she croaked out, “Is there any water?”

Without stepping far from her, he pulled a bottle out of his saddlebag. She took it and gulped a mouthful. The cold water did nothing to calm her heated thoughts. Last night had been…everything. It was as if they’d suddenly become one…one body, one soul, one completed entity. Making love with Tanner had been the best experience of her life, and she couldn’t wait to do it again and again…

She couldn’t stifle the gasp that rose out of her throat. Oh, Lord, she was in big-time trouble.

“Are you okay?” concern shaded Tanner’s voice.

“Yes…I’m sorry,” she managed to say. “The breakfast bar must have gotten stuck in my throat.” At his skeptical look, she turned away, going to retrieve another pack.

Within twenty minutes they had their mounts ready, the packhorses loaded and were on the move.

They rode single file along the narrow track. When the path widened enough for two, Bri rode up alongside him.

“I’ve been thinking,” she said. “Suppose Minnich doesn’t follow the stream but moves high into the mountains?” She’d forced herself to ignore Tanner and focus on the reason they were here.

“Unless he knows exactly where there is more water, he can’t afford to do that. He has food, but eventually he’ll run out of that. Now he can last a good while without food, foraging for edible early-spring plants and berries. But water?” He shook his head. “The way I see it, he’ll likely stay with the stream.” He sent a sidelong look at her. “Naturally I could be wrong. The melting snow is filling many small streams and creeks. If he knows his way around these mountains, he’ll veer off. But I’m banking he doesn’t know them that well.”

Bri nodded her understanding. “But I know you enough by now to be fairly sure you thought he would stay on this course. You didn’t hesitate, you deliberately chose this way. Why?”

“Because this way leads into the thickest section of the wilderness, the least traveled by tourists, hikers and backpackers. And because this stream is well marked on maps of the area.”

“Makes sense. I should have known better than to even ask such a stupid question.”

“No.” Tanner shook his head, swinging the ponytail hanging out from under the wide brim of his hat. “You can ask anything you want, Brianna. There are no stupid questions, just sometimes stupid answers.”

“Somehow I don’t think you give many of them.”

He smiled at her compliment. Already soft, Bri’s insides went all squishy. She gathered the loose reins to drop back again, but his hand snaked out, covering hers.

“Stay and ride with me, Brianna,” he said, keeping a light, disturbing hold on her hand. “We’ll be stopping for a rest and a quick lunch soon.”

Ridiculous as it seemed, with his hand lightly resting on hers, Bri had never before enjoyed riding so much, even with the ache in her rear end settling in once again.

From her position next to him Bri could now clearly see Boyo, moving in a wide area back and forth ahead of them, his head moving from side to side, searching.

“Boyo is a worker, isn’t he?”

“Boyo comes from a line of grand champion wolfhounds.” He turned to grin at her. “But he loves to hunt.”

“Hawk doesn’t show him?” She tried really hard to ignore the effects of his grin. It didn’t work.

“Hell, no.” Tanner laughed. “Can you see Hawk traipsing around a show ring, leading Boyo?”

Bri frowned. “There’s nothing wrong with showing dogs. They’re beautiful.”

“I know,” he agreed, to her surprise. “I watch the competitions on Animal Planet. But think, Brianna-can you really picture Hawk all duded up at a dog show?”

Bri tried to imagine it and soon gave up the effort. She smiled. “Not really.”

“Thought so.”

“Where did Hawk get Boyo?”

“He was a gift from Hawk’s father.”

“Is his father still alive?”

“Alive and well and raising champion wolfhounds in Scotland where he lives.” He chuckled. “He gave Hawk his pick of a litter and Hawk chose Boyo. His father was delighted because Boyo was the runt and he was certain he wouldn’t show well, anyway. Turns out, Boyo was the pick of the litter, the largest and the best, and would have made a great champion.”

“Way to go, Boyo,” Bri called, stretching her back and neck to catch a glimpse of the constantly moving dog. She winced at the pain that attacked her shoulders.

As usual, Tanner didn’t miss a thing. “Need a break?” he asked, moving his hand from hers to massage her tight shoulder.

Bri sighed for betraying herself to him. She felt like a greenhorn, a feeling she didn’t appreciate. “Yes,” she admitted, immediately adding, “I’m sorry if I’m holding you up.”

He slanted a scowl at her. “You’re not holding me up, Brianna. I could use a short break, too. And I’m hungry. That wasn’t exactly a filling breakfast this morning.” His scowl gave way to a teasing smile. “Also, I need a cup of coffee as much as you do.”

She laughed at the same time she saw her vision blur. What was she getting all misty-eyed over? She derided herself. A rush of tears just because he was being so caring and thoughtful of her? She heaved a silent sigh.

And she had asked herself if she could handle him? Dumb question, she chided herself. But then, she hadn’t expected to fall in love with him, either.

Foolish woman, Bri thought, bringing the horse to a halt in the small clearing he had chosen. Only a fool would blindly go along, falling in love with a maverick.

While Tanner unpacked the things for their lunch, Bri tried to walk out the stiffness in her legs from being in the saddle for hours. When he returned, she left him to go to the stream to wash her hands, splash water on her face.

Once again she followed the scent of coffee back to camp. But how could she smell it when he hadn’t built a fire? The answer was waiting for her at the edge of the small clearing where they had stopped. Tanner was holding a steaming cup, creamer added, for her. And there was no sign of a small fire.

“How did you make that?” she asked, glancing around the clearing.

“I made extra this morning and filled one of the thermoses,” he said, taking a careful sip from the cup in his other hand.

Duh. “I should have figured that out for myself,” she said, blowing gently on the liquid before taking a sip. He grinned. Bri felt the beginnings of that now-familiar melting sensation inside. Giving herself a mental shake, she grinned back at him. “What’s for lunch?”