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Cookie had provided everyone with a hand towel and soically safe to use in the wilderness The nature-friendly cleanser had made Andrea and Martin happy
The brush seeot to the stream She found a dry spot at the end and crouched in front of the rapidly floater
For a ress of the stream The air smelled fresh and damp, with a hint of coolness that teased at her cheeks She unfastened her watch and set it on a flat rock, then squeezed the soap over her hands and rubbed until there was a thin lather Then she plunged her hands into the stream
A fish brushed her, and she jerked her hands out of the water with a little shriek Unfortunately her hands were still slick and she had to drop theain to clean them
Ew
She reached for her towel As she picked it up, she heard a slight rustling from behind her
Standing quickly, she turned, but there wasn’t anyone there No animals, either, at least not any she could see If so on her, she’d probably scared him off with her screa around here was big enough to be a probleht? She rubbed her hands on her towel It wasn’t as if there were bears or anything Or snakes
She shivered and took a step back A sudden loud rustling on her left ain She whirled around and covered her ed toward her Soe and scary and—
“I heard you scream,” Zane said as he stepped out from behind a tree “What happened?”
Her first instinct was to throw herself at hi him to protect her Good sense intervened, and she settled for taking a step toward hi a shaky smile
“Nothing I’m fine”
“Uh-huh”
She cleared her throat and went for the casual smile Her attempt at nonchalance wasn’t helped by her instant and oh-so-familiar physical response to the man’s nearness It was the usual list of reactions—faster heart rate, weaker thighs and knees, dilated blood vessels and hor bits from the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet
“I ht have called out in surprise,” she ad without some kind of an explanation “A fish touched my hand”
“Hey, you alht your dinner”
She caught a glihed He wasn’t as huht think
“How are you holding up?” he asked
She tossed her towel over her shoulder and s Except foron a saddle”
“Butt numb?”
“A little”
She waited for hiet better, but when he didn’t, she filled in the silence
“Rocky seeood thing in a horse”
Zane’s blue eyes continued to stare straight at her His lips didn’t move, but somehow she heard the word “idiot” as clear as if he’d shouted it from those snow-covered mountaintops
“You don’t actually want short horses,” she continued, even though she kneas a“Except maybe for children You don’t have any, do you? Children, I mean Not short horses”
He was quiet a long time before he answered