Chapter 6

6

Lord in heaven above, help him.

He'd kissed Maisy Merritt, and now he couldn't think of anything else. Especially with the way she was standing there beside Nelly's grave with her hands on her hips, looking so feisty and beautiful.

Though her hair was plaited in a single braid, wisps of red hair curled around her face—her thoroughly flushed face. From the kissing.

Her lips... they were swollen. From the kissing.

Her chest... it was still heaving. From the kissing.

Her eyes... they sparkled with life. From the kissing.

Everything about her reminded him of their kissing and probably always would from here to eternity. Because the simple fact was, he'd never kissed another woman the way he'd just kissed Maisy. Or maybe it was the way she'd kissed him.

He should have known Maisy would kiss the same way she lived—without reservation, holding nothing back, and with passion and enthusiasm.

Just thinking about how she'd nibbled at his lip sent another jolt of heat through his blood—a jolt he didn't need. Not if he had any hope of holding on to his sanity.

Her cheek was smudged with dirt and her eyes rimmed with shadows from her exhaustion. But everything about her face—every line, every freckle, every curve—was exquisite and stirred something deep inside him.

He wasn't sure what that something was—maybe attraction or need. Whatever it was, he was scared of it. And he wanted to put some distance between them so he could regain a measure of self-control. Because as long as he was near her, his self-control seemed to be slipping from his grasp no matter how hard he was trying to hang on to it.

"You may as well head on out." Her long lashes framed her wide eyes, making her impossibly irresistible. "I'll be just fine."

He tore his gaze from her. He didn't like the idea of leaving her alone. In fact, even when she'd had Nelly, he'd hated her being out here in the middle of the wilderness, a two-day hike from civilization. But he'd lived with his frustration for this long. What were a few more days or a week until her pa and Glenn returned?

"No, Maisy." As much as he wanted to get on his horse and ride away, he'd never be able to do it. Maisy wasn't his responsibility, but he couldn't just allow her to fend for herself, knowing she was vulnerable and that anything could happen to her. He only had to think about her sitting on that ledge and unable to climb up to know that he'd never have any peace of mind if he left her.

The fact was, if she needed to stay a little longer, he'd have to stay too. There really wasn't any reason he couldn't. He'd only set about half of his traps. And he could ride out to check them easily enough from here.

Even so, he scrambled to find a solution that didn't involve staying at the cabin with her and putting himself into a tempting situation. But he didn't know what that solution was.

"Smoke will take care of me." She glanced at the wolf affectionately where he lay sprawled out at the base of the dead fir tree. At the mention of his name, the wolf rose to his feet, stretched his back, and then sauntered over to her. The presence of the wolf did give Tanner some peace of mind. But it wasn't enough.

She reached down and scratched him between the ears. "And I can handle Lester Acker just fine."

"What trouble is Lester up to now?" Tanner's tone took on a hard note as he peered off into the distance at the wisp of smoke rising from Acker's cabin.

Before Tanner left for New York City, Lester had been pestering him about his trapping, accusing him of having too many traps along the river and forcing Lester and his sons to go out farther to hunt. The fellow had also given Cleveland a hard time about his traps, and he'd made it clear he didn't like Maisy's wolf—accused the wolf of making hunting more difficult and terrorizing his herd of cattle.

"Last week Lester rode up here and told me if he sees Smoke down along the river again, he's gonna hunt him down and put a bullet in his head."

"Then keep Smoke up here by the cabin."

"And how am I supposed to do that? Tie him up like a dog?"

"Maybe."

She sighed dramatically. "He'll never let me do that. He'll chew right through a rope. And I wouldn't do it anyway. He's still a wild creature and deserves to be free to come and go as he pleases."

"I'm sorry, Maisy. You know I like Smoke, and I'm indebted to him for coming after me yesterday. But he's a wolf. And wolves are bad for cattle. Plain and simple." Growing up as a rancher and now as a trapper, Tanner was accustomed to slaughtering animals for a living. And he wouldn't think twice about killing a wolf—for the pelt as well as the bounty.

She fisted her hand on her hip. "If Lester comes up here after Smoke, we're gonna have a war. Plain and simple ."

Tanner shook his head. "No, no fighting Lester—"

"Oh, I'll be fighting him. You bet I'll be pulling out all my guns."

"Absolutely not." Tanner's brows furrowed into a dark line.

She laid a hand protectively on Smoke's head. "I'm not gonna sit by while Lester kills Smoke. And you can't expect me to."

"I can and I will."

She stuck out her chin. "Try and stop me."

He jutted out his chin too. "Smoke's not worth it."

"He's worth it to me." She rubbed his snout. "Aren't you, boy?"

All the more reason he had to stay with her until her pa and Glenn got back. He couldn't leave her alone if trouble was brewing with Lester Acker.

"All right, I'll stay."

She lifted her blue-green eyes and fixed them on him with the full force of their magnetism. "You'll stay here with me till my pa gets back?"

"We'll stay for one week. And if he's not back by then, you have to promise you'll go with me."

She hesitated.

"Maisy." He leveled a stern look at her.

"Okay." She didn't sound confident. But he'd gotten her word, and that's all he needed.

The bigger issue at hand was the two of them being alone for a week. "I don't like that we'll be unchaperoned. People will hear of it and talk."

"No one's gonna find out if we don't tell them."

He didn't want to compromise her reputation, that was true. But he also didn't want any more attraction to spark between them. He needed to go back to the way things had always been—friendly and flirty but with solid boundaries.

Maybe if he constantly reminded himself that she was five years younger. If he thought of her as a sister.

She was still petting Smoke and working her fingers around the wolf's neck in a massage.

Tanner couldn't keep from watching those fingers—the same ones that had clasped his neck, dragged him down toward her, and then pinned him in place with a force that had sent desire raging through him. He'd loved her taking control and doing what she wanted. In fact, just the thought of her bossiness sent that same heated desire shooting into his blood again.

She paused. "You're worrying for nothin'."

"It's not nothin' ." Frustration nagged at him. How could she be so cavalier about their kissing? "We kissed, and I don't want it to happen again."

"I don't either." Her gaze dropped to his lips and lingered there.

His body ignited into flames.

Blast. This was exactly what he didn't want to happen. He didn't want to have these kinds of silent exchanges where he became extra aware of her and then his desires flared to life.

"I promise I won't kiss you again," she said adamantly. "I told you it's done and in the past, and I mean it."

He rounded the railing and brushed a hand over the soft flank of his gelding. His muscles were tight and his body on edge. The arrangement wasn't going to work. How could it? Not unless he could keep his distance from her. Only then would he have a chance at burying all his desires far underground where they belonged.

She released Smoke and started toward the stable. "If you think I'm gonna fall for you and beg you to marry me, you're wrong."

He wasn't worried about her so much as himself. But he couldn't say that.

"I told you I want a normal life, and that's something you'll never be able to offer a woman."

Never? Something inside him gave a beat of protest. He wanted to deny her, but he had no livelihood other than trapping and trail guiding. He had no home except a cabin in the woods. And he had no plans for his future.

The truth was, he'd never wanted to settle down, never had the desire to carve out a life someplace, never had aspirations for a career.

Maisy was right. He couldn't offer her or any other woman a normal life. He was better off remaining alone.

She halted a few feet from the railing and stuffed her hands into her coat pockets. "Stop flattering yourself, big guy." The teasing was back in her voice. "I know it's probably a blow to your self-esteem, but I don't want to run off with you and marry you."

When she laid it out like that, maybe he was making more out of the situation than it warranted. They'd accidentally kissed. They'd stirred up some attraction to each other. But that's as far as it needed to go.

"Okay," he said. "We both agree that we don't want to be with each other and that the best thing to do is keep a friendship and nothing more."

"Yep." She nodded. "Friendship and nothin' more."

Friendship was all he needed with her. It had worked for them so far, and he would make it work in the future. "All right."

"All right." She smiled. "Thank you for being here for me, Tanner."

"Friends help friends," he added.

She studied his face for a moment, then gave him a tight smile. "I'm going to catch some shut-eye, friend ." Without waiting for his response, she turned and walked to the cabin with Smoke on her heels.

When she disappeared around the corner, he expelled a long breath. Even though he was determined to view Maisy as only a friend, he suspected it would be one of the hardest things he would ever do.