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Also, he’d seen a moose. An actual not-in-a-zoo moose. He’d come around the corner, the tiny car skating in the dirt, and the moose had been ambling across the road. Seeing him, it’d galloped into the forest on impossibly long legs, and he’d sat there, catching his breath, torn between “I just saw a moose!” and “I almost hit a moose!”
He might be a city boy, but he knew that car-moose encounters rarely went well for the car… or the people inside. He’d been channeling Chris Ainsworth with that “train them to stay off the road” comment, but he’d been serious about the rental agency having cars this tiny. They’d sold out of SUVs before he arrived, and he ended up with a subcompact that slid on these hills like a skateboard and would provide as much protection in a wildlife encounter.
“You look like you’re lost, city slicker.”
He jumped up as Daphne rounded the corner on foot. Seeing her, his heart did a double slam. God, she was gorgeous. Today, she looked like a sporting goods ad, the sort he might see in a magazine and think, Maybe I should get out of the city more often. She wore boots and athletic shorts that just covered her ass and showed off her curves and muscles to full advantage. A T-shirt hugged her generous chest, and she wore her hair up in a messy ponytail, tendrils curling down around her sunglasses.
She also had that most necessary of accessories: a dog. This one was as gorgeous as her owner, looking like a fluffy black wolf with blue eyes. He focused his attention there so Daphne wouldn’t catch him ogling her. Then he hopped off the car hood and crouched, calling, “Tika!”
The dog stopped dead and growled.
“That’s not her name?” he said.
“It is. But she’s half wolf. Last person who made a sudden move around her…?” Daphne shook her head. “So much blood.”
She caught his look and smiled. “I’m kidding, Chris. She’s a quarter wolf, tops. You just startled her, that’s all.”
She patted the dog, who leaned into her leg, sucking up the attention. When Chris stepped forward to pet her, though, Tika growled, ears flattening.
“Weird,” Daphne said. “She never does that.”
Great. He’d been in the Yukon less than an hour, and he’d already made Daphne come fetch him and pissed off her dog.
A truck whipped around the corner, dust flying. Seeing them, the driver hit the brakes and leaned out the driver’s window with his gaze fixed on Daphne. He was about their age with rugged good looks, dark wavy hair, and the tanned skin of an outdoorsman.
A gray wolf leapt from the back of the guy’s pickup. Chris jumped. He might even have yelped.
Daphne smiled. “It’s just a husky.”
The dog ran over and greeted Tika with kisses and whines, while the guy in the pickup looked at Daphne as if he’d like to do the same to her.
“Robbie,” Daphne said. “This is… Zane. A… a friend of mine.”
Chris stuck out a hand. The guy’s gaze swung down and stopped at Chris’s feet. Chris looked at his dress shoes, once polished brown, now gray with dust.
“Better get your friend some proper footwear.” Robbie’s gaze slid to the rental car. “And a proper vehicle. Did he get stuck going downhill?”
“I was admiring the scenery,” Chris said.
Robbie looked from Chris to Daphne and back again. “Yeah, I bet you were. Next time, don’t do it from the middle of the road. That’s a surefire way to get yourself killed.” He shook his head. “Tourists.”
Robbie turned to Daphne. “You coming to the neighborhood BBQ tomorrow? Pam said you haven’t answered yet. I volunteered to pop by and deliver the invitation in person.”
Daphne smiled up at him. “That’s sweet, but I can’t make it. Work.”
He leaned on the window ledge. “You need any wood chopped? I can do that for you.”
As Robbie’s gaze devoured Daphne, Chris bristled. Oh, he wanted to do a lot more than chop her wood.
Daphne only smiled and shook her head. “I’ve got plenty, and I like chopping it myself. Good exercise. Thank you for offering, though.”
“You need anything—anything at all—you just give me a shout. I know you’re out there by yourself. Some things require a man’s touch.”
Robbie’s gaze bounced off Chris dismissively. Then he called his dog into the truck and rolled off down the hill.
DAPHNE
How embarrassing had that been, dealing with Robbie’s crap in front of Chris? Only a handful of people lived on the lake—six houses, to be precise, two of them summer-only. Daphne adored all her neighbors… except Robbie. After he’d moved into a rented shack last year, he’d taken one look at her house and decided he knew how to get an upgrade. After all, she was a woman on her own. She needed a man. To chop wood.
