even know the guy. She had come out here for peace, quiet and the restorative benefits of painting and solitude. Instead a total stranger had walked her into something that inevitably harkened back to Iraq. She really ought to just pack up and go somewhere else.
But she knew she couldn’t, wouldn’t, do that. She hadn’t been exaggerating when she had said she would never abandon a fellow soldier, and she meant it. She couldn’t leave now. She got the feeling Craig didn’t have a whole lot of help, so unless they found a reason to call in the Feds or ATF or something, she would do what she could to help. She was going to have his back.
No escaping that. It was a kind of loyalty that was rooted deeply in her, and it didn’t require a personal relationship to validate it.
So here she was, sick of thinking about Buddy and company, not wanting to think about her attraction to Craig and just clean wiped out of conversation and other thoughts.
Lovely.
She heard Craig draw a breath, as if he were about to say something, when she suddenly realized that the edginess running along her nerve endings no longer solely had to do with him.
“Sh,” she whispered almost inaudibly. “We’re being watched.”
He grew so still he might have been stone. He murmured, “I was just going to say that.”
“Where?”
“Don’t know. Sh. Eyes and ears.”
She imagined that with Craig’s arm around her, they must look like an ordinary couple just enjoying a starry night. On the other hand, they’d been talking about Buddy. Had they been overheard?
The thought stretched her nerves even tighter. A mistake so basic even a newbie should have known better. But who thought one of them would come to the cabin?
On the other hand, it should have occurred to them.
She tried to think back to when the sense of being watched had struck her, and how long before that they had fallen silent. She didn’t know because she hadn’t been paying attention.
Which made her mad, because she knew better than that. As long as there was any possibility that they needed to be cautious, she should never have dropped her guard. Never.
Worse, she had been the one to use exactly the wrong topic as a distraction. They had moved on to other things long before she started to feel watched, but no, she’d had to divert the subject back to Buddy.
She wanted to pound her head on something.
The feeling didn’t last long. After a minute or two, the sense of being watched vanished.
“It could have been a bear or some other animal,” Craig said quietly.
“Maybe. I wish I believed it. Me and my big mouth.”
“Let’s go inside,” he said firmly.
This time she didn’t argue. The night had lost its charm, and she was fairly angry with herself.
“I’ll pick things up,” he said as he pulled her to her feet. Then, tugging her close, he said quietly in her ear, “You keep watch.”
At once she felt better. At least he trusted her that much. Right now she wasn’t feeling all that trustworthy.
He folded her tarp as if he were in no hurry, and picked up the coffee mugs he had brought out for them.
Then he lead the way inside, taking his time about it, and let her open the door since his hands were full. Only when they were inside did she say another word.
“I can’t believe I was stupid enough to talk about that outside.”
“We both talked about it. Don’t beat yourself up.”
“But I brought it up a second time.” Annoyed, she kicked her foot at the floor. “Operational security. I can’t believe I forgot it so fast.”
“You’re out in a national forest, for heaven’s sake,” he said mildly. “Not a war zone. Why should you even be thinking of things like that? I know I’m having trouble with it.”
“I felt like I was being watched this afternoon. I shouldn’t have forgotten that possibility so quickly.”
“Consider where you are. There are lots of things with eyes out here that could watch you.”
“Well, that’s a creepy thought.” Still, it settled her a bit. He was right. She had no reason to think Buddy’s militia was watching them this closely. Why would they? Anyway, they hadn’t been talking all that loudly, and the latter part of the conversation had been more generalized, about militias. “Okay,” she said finally. “But I won’t be so careless again.”
“Fair enough. I won’t either.”
She looked at him from beneath her eyebrows, smiling faintly. “So the