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She swung around and faced the man. “I’ll take some painkillers. Ibuprofen if you have any.” She managed to keep her voice light, as if it was normal for a refugee to ask for NSAIDs from a stranger training in mountain rescue.
He nodded. “I’ll give you ibuprofen if you come back to camp with me.”
No way was she going anywhere near his camp.
She spun away, ignoring the pain clawing along her spine.
His boots grated over the rocky bank before he stepped into her path. “You can stay out of sight of the others. I’ll bring you the ibuprofen.”
“Why should I trust you?”
His dark eyes held hers. “Because if you walk away, I’m calling the rescue team. I’m not convinced you aren’t out here alone and injured.”
She wasn’t convinced he wouldn’t kill her and toss her off a cliff.
His angular jaw twitched. “Come with me.”
She stepped around him and headed in the opposite direction, away from the group of armed men she wanted nothing to do with.
“I have food.”
Her feet stopped before her brain caught up.
“Unless you have a steak, I don’t care.” She kept her back to him.
“Can’t do steak. But I have beef jerky.”
Her pride refused.
Her stomach answered with a low growl she hoped he didn’t hear but was fairly sure he did.
She looked back at the man who’d stepped out of the darkness and uprooted her quiet, hidden haven.
She wanted that jerky.
And she desperately needed those pills.
“Okay.”
The word was out before common sense could stop it.
Maybe the pain had finally made her delirious, because she was about to follow an armed stranger into the woods for ibuprofen and beef jerky.
Chapter Four
Wyatt led the way back to camp, picking a careful path through the dark. Every step he took, he tested his footing in an attempt to avoid the roots and loose rock hidden under a layer of pine needles. The needles swallowed the sound of their footsteps, and he kept glancing back at the woman to check on her.
She stared straight ahead, not down at her feet. The woman was sure-footed and confident, even when lying through her teeth about her boyfriend, father and brothers who didn’t exist. Hell, he was pretty sure she was even lying about her name.
She didn’t stumble or hesitate at the drop-offs, and the way she moved told him she was a skilled hiker.
Or had been up here long enough to learn the mountain. It took him years of working as a ranger to grow so sure of his footing.
When he glanced over his shoulder, he saw he’d walked several yards ahead and paused to let her catch up. As she cleared the shadows and stepped into a pool of moonlight breaking through the canopy, he studied her.
She was thin in a way that worried him. Not naturally slight, but the kind of lean that came from a body running on fewer calories than it needed for far too long.
Her collarbones stood out sharp against her coat collar. Her hair hung past her shoulders in matted, tangled ropes. She might always wear her hair that way, but he guessed she’d spent weeks without a comb.
