way to move a big boy like that. That’s Wilson, one of our best pilots. I love going out with him. The most dangerous part of the work is when the helicopter is following a bear before it’s sedated. We tranquilize the bear by shooting it with a Telazol dart from a shotgun. It takes an amazing helo pilot to not crash while staying close enough that we can get a shot while the bear is trying frantically to get away. Once we get the dart in, we go up higher and follow until the bear falls asleep—and to make sure they don’t try to go into the water, then drown when the drug starts to work.”
“And you’re in the helicopter while they’re chasing the bears?” she asked with a little shiver.
“Yeah. That’s how we get up there. There are no roads in that part of Alaska, babe.”
Ugh. No roads and one-thousand-pound polar bears. She wasn’t in Massachusetts anymore.
“The next danger is working on a bear when there are other bears nearby. The work on one bear can take up to two hours, so sometimes we move the bear to a safer location. And we’re all armed and there’s always someone standing guard.”
Allie looked back at the photo. Wow. Stuff like that didn’t happen in the harbor for sure.
“I didn’t know you were doing that,” she said, trying to keep the emotion out of her voice.
It was strange to think that there were things about Gavin she didn’t know. If she’d really stopped and thought about it, of course she knew there were things about his life she didn’t know—like how beautiful the land in his new home was, or that he had a housekeeper named Lydia, or that he worked with polar bears—but this was the first time she’d really let that sink in.
It also seemed unfair with everything he clearly knew about her. His insight into who she was, how she liked to fix people, how she coped with stress and tried to make everything better, was scary.
“I got started when I got to know a PhD student in Kansas. He was working with the Geological Survey and got me hooked up. I fell for it right away.”
Not just pride, she decided, but true love—that was what she was seeing in his face as he looked at the bears.
Yeah, one more reason Gavin was probably happier in Alaska.
She shook that off. “This clinic is great.”
“Thanks. I’m proud of it. The practice was already here, but over the past year it’s grown nicely. It’s good I have Nancy to help out.”
As if on cue, the tall blonde from earlier that morning stepped from one of the rooms off the lobby. She pulled up short. “Oh, hi.”
Gavin gestured between the women. “Nancy, this is Allison Ralston. Allie, Nancy Steirs, my assistant.”
And one of his watchdogs, Allie thought. But she didn’t say anything. “Hi, Nancy.”
Nancy didn’t quite smile but she said, “Hi, Allison.”
“You can call me Allie.”
“Okay.”
“How’s Max?” Gavin asked, seeming unaware of the awkward silence between the women.
“Gave him the shot, cleaned that ear out and gave her instructions,” Nancy said, handing Gavin a folder.
“Great. I’ll poke my head in for a minute. Be right back,” he told Allie.
She watched him knock once and enter the room, shutting the door behind him.
Then she and Nancy were alone.
“Carter thinks I should tell you that I’m not interested in Gavin,” Nancy said.
Allie wondered if it was the fresh air up here that made people so frickin’ honest all the time. “That’s handy, since he’s taken,” she said.
“Is he?” Nancy asked smoothly.
“Why else would he have not slept with anyone for the year that he’s been here?” Allie asked, finding that the blunt thing was kind of fun. “I’m sure there have been lots of willing women.”
Nancy met her gaze. “You always believe everything men tell you?”
Allie shook her head. Lord knew that she rarely believed the things her brothers told her. Her father told her he was “fine” when he definitely was not. She had believed most of what Josh said to her, but not everything. Not that he actually wanted to marry her. She knew he would have married her. But that was different.
“No, just Gavin.” She had always trusted Gavin. Besides, she’d not only slept with someone else, she’d accepted that man’s proposal. Gavin didn’t have to lie about his love life—she had no room to judge.
Nancy watched her for a moment, then asked, “You know him really well, huh?”
Allie