still do need to worry about now, what with a dead bear lying here. It’s going to be one sleepless night.” He heaved a deep sigh. “We’ll have to move camp. That bear probably weighs a thousand pounds. There’s no way I can drag him away. Do you think you can help carry everything to a different area?”
He held her arms, and she grasped his shoulders. “I’ll do whatever I need to do.” She couldn’t help tears of fright and shock. “Oh, Clint, what if you hadn’t managed to bring him down with your rifle?” Without thinking, she flung her arms around his neck. “Thank God!”
His arms came around her in return. “I was more worried I’d hit you with the rifle instead of the bear.”
“Not you,” she answered without thinking. “You know how to use your guns. You’d never miss.”
They stood there a moment…in each other’s arms. She thought how he smelled good in spite of not having bathed for days…in spite of just coming from gutting the moose. Around his neck and hair he still smelled good, a manly smell she’d come to recognize as distinctly Clint Brady’s.
It took both of them a moment to realize what they were doing…holding each other…enjoying it. The spell was broken by the howl of wolves in the distance.
“Let’s get away from here,” Clint said, letting go.
Rather stunned by the sweet feeling of being held close in his arms, Elizabeth said nothing as she helped him break camp. She wondered if Clint had felt the same sweet joy as she while he held her. Dear Lord, am I falling in love? Is this how it feels?
No! It was wrong to feel this way about a man like Clint. Totally wrong!
Chapter Twenty-Six
Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man; which imagines mischief in his heart; continually are they gathered together for war.
—Psalms 140:1-2
The days were growing too short. Clint realized that even though it was the end of August and not all that late, it was pitch-dark when they’d resettled their camp. He climbed down from a pine tree where he’d hung the moose hide that held the fresh meat tied inside, only a fraction of what could have been taken from the carcass. The hide hanging in the tree held all the weight they could afford to add to the back of one of the horses.
With a sigh of both weariness and relief, he walked over to sit down on a blanket near the fire. He lit a rolled cigarette, taking a long first drag to further settle his nerves. He noticed Elizabeth’s hands shaking as she turned the sliced meat he’d given her, now cooking in the black fry pan.
“What a day,” he commented. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“Well, nothing hurts, except the back of my head from hitting the ground. I certainly will have a tale to tell my grandchildren.”
Clint grinned. Our grandchildren. The unexpected thought quickly sobered him. What on earth had caused him to think it at all? He felt like cursing her for throwing her arms around his neck. Darned if he hadn’t wanted to hang on. He’d enjoyed the feel of her against him, the smell of her hair. The trouble was, that quick embrace was going to make sleeping in the same tent with her more difficult.
“That’s for sure,” he answered, taking another drag on the cigarette. He’d get over this feeling. It was just from the scare of thinking she’d been hurt. It brought back all the guilt he felt for not being with Jen when she was killed. He might have been able to stop the whole thing. And Ethan. Poor little Ethan. Had he cried out for his daddy when—
They heard growling in the distance, and the horses shifted nervously again and whinnied.
“Wolves,” Clint told her, “just like I figured. I just didn’t add that grizzly to my figuring.”
Elizabeth sat down across from him, looking more tired than normal. Clint suspected the encounter with the grizzly had taken more out of her than she cared to admit. “I’m sorry I sent you back alone. I won’t do that again.”
She shrugged, pretending it didn’t matter. “It’s all right. You didn’t know. Besides, if I’d been out there with you, that bear might have ripped our camp apart and maybe attacked the horses before we had a chance to stop it.”
“Maybe.” He felt the odd new tension between them. It was the embrace that did it. She