Rivers end boxset volume.., p.60
River's End Boxset Volume 3, page 60
But he did have interesting eyes… that was just a fact. They were green. Oddly enough, her eyes were also green. Not many people had green eyes. Maybe only two percent of the population. And Gage Sullivan’s eyes were big… no huge… and way too widely set for a man. Not like he could help that. Bright green as the moss and lichen in the stream, and framed with long, thick, black eyelashes. They almost reached his eyebrows. Could they be fake? That’s how huge they were. Could be, but who cared? She preferred to think of him as being shallow or vain. That was primarily because she didn’t need or want her sexual interest stimulated. But noticing beauty for the sake of beauty? Sure. She could do that too.
Gage had a beard, something she usually found attractive, and brown hair that matched his brown beard. All of it worked: the hiking pants, the flannel shirt, the utility knife hooked to his waistband, like any good Boy Scout. Honestly? They almost looked like they belonged together. Brunette hair with green/gold eye color.
Oh, damn. How happy her family would be to realize a forest ranger was camped out at the base of her mountain? They’d be giddy with joy.
Sure, they all worried about her. They’d all tried to talk her out of coming here. Alone. For so long. She’d listened at first. But now she no longer asked, needed or wanted their permission. She’d told them to quit mentioning it and expecting her to do what they wanted her to do. They didn’t get a say anymore. She’d decided. And honestly? If she were Ben, her cousin, who was fifty now, and equally matched her equestrian skills and training abilities, the family would never have questioned or worried about his decision. Not so with her.
Well, screw that. She was woman enough to handle all of this.
And careful too. She was in no danger because she took precautions. She kept her gun with her at all times, and took all the safety courses as any man did who worked at the ranch. She always carried a gun when she ventured out to the back country like this. Especially when it came to her horses. She would do her best to spare all of them any tragedy.
She kept a knife strapped to her belt as well for any unforeseen mishaps or emergencies. The horses might need to be cut free in case of a fire or worse. She also carried her GPS locator. Always. Even in middle of the night when she got up to pee.
One click of the button and a helicopter would be dispatched to her location to airlift her out of there. She relied on having the ultimate protection. So no, she wasn’t afraid. She grew up learning about horse care and horse tack. She knew as much as Jack and Ian and Ben and AJ… all the horsemen of her childhood.
She’d followed them around and later worked with them to hone the masterful horse skills she possessed. And the camping gear was just the same. Having spent most of her summers up here for shorter amounts of time, of course, she wasn’t naïve or inexperienced.
The only thing that threw her was finding a stranger at her camp.
She finished chopping the wood and stacked it up in the tent under the tarp cover. She tidied up the camp, fed the horses and finally ate dinner. As twilight started to fade, a strange, otherworldly whiteness descended over the mountains. It towered above her like the walls of a giant church and scraped the sky. Trees were silhouetted in the night sky and the last fading daylight succumbed to the night sky and stars. It always felt so different up here.
At home, she’d be so occupied with her phone, or staring at the TV, or working in the barn, that she simply missed what happened outside. Always. She yawned as she lit a fire in the stove before bed. Summer temperatures didn’t require a fire every night but she liked the hominess of it. Though not quite winter-chilling, the night reduced the temperature considerably up here, and the fire kept the chill at bay.
She flopped on her cot finally and sighed with relief. Her sigh provoked Monty, to let loose with a huge sigh. He’d been long asleep on their shared cot. She had to wiggle around to get her legs around his prone body. He just one-eyed her and didn’t move. Rolling her eyes, she leaned forward with a laugh and kissed his fluffy head. He was her constant companion and one of the few beings that brought her joy.
The only thing she could be sure of each and every night was a level of exhaustion that nothing at home compared with… No matter how long or how hard she worked with the horses at the ranch, she never felt as tired as she did after a day spent up here. The physical weariness comforted her as she lay down and shut her eyes, shutting down her brain for the night. The bliss of that exhaustion let her forget so much. Like the reason she came here. That kept her up most nights when she was at home. And the awful feelings that accompanied it. She savored this period of peace after a day well spent, and that was the real reason that brought her up here.
Peace. Her brain’s silence. Sleep.
The tragic images were gone. The terrible sounds that repeated over and over in her brain vanished. Her regrets stopped suffocating her. Her grief that lodged so heavily in her chest, smothering her, faded away.
That night, she placed her gun right next to her head.
CHAPTER 3
VIOLET TRIED TO AVOID thinking of Gage. She went through her morning chores and took the horses up to graze for two hours on the farthest pasture from camp. It was a good mile ride and straight up. Not so far in distance, but certainly a workout for the horses and her just to get there. There was nothing easy.
The horses were relatively content after being fed and watered, so she tied them back to their high line so they could not wander in their makeshift corral. She tied them up anytime she went hiking or planned to leave camp for more than a few minutes.
She wanted to hike down the trail a mile or so to check out Gage’s story and see if he were really there.
Not too weird.
Sighing, she finally admitted to herself that the only reason she was getting her chores done and the horses settled was for that reason. Damn it. She didn’t want to indulge her curiosity, but here she was.
She grabbed her daypack and a bottle of water before starting down the trail. The forest was denser with aspen firs than she realized. She found it pleasant when the sunlight filtered in, and the shadows danced around all the tree trunks, branches and detritus. The creek made a loud, constant presence, while the blue sky played peek-a-boo. Yeah, not a bad day for a walk. Any time she spent in nature made Violet feel good.
She stopped when she heard a noise. It was man-made. A pinging noise. What was it? Metal?
She trampled further, making several more turns. The unique clatter did not let up. She finally came to the washout and found Gage. There he was in full glory, swinging a large metal mallet. He hit the spike below him, and then did it again. Again and again. She watched him pound out a rhythm: lifting the mallet over his head and then bam! Down it came and the spike he hit sank another inch or so. It reminded her of her own axe-swinging.
However, that is where the comparison ended. His arm muscles bunched up and relaxed. His shoulders were tightly strung and then not. His gray t-shirt stuck to his chest. Sweaty? Yeah. A sweaty man literally pounding a spike in the middle of the mountain. She nearly rolled her eyes. As hard as she longed to get away from it, here she was.
Attraction.
There was no way she could deny it. The man was tall, wide, muscled and lean… all at once. He was hot. She remembered his brown hair and eyebrows and long eyelashes. Perfect face. Mature face. Not the face of a boy, but a fully mature man who was well-developed.
He was wearing shorts that clung to his waist and thighs while hanging loose at the tops of his knees. There was nothing douchey about him. He was what she expected a person working on a trail to look like.
But oh! Could he wear it better than anyone else could! A camera crew should have been called out to capture his movements, they were so refined. The perfect subject for any movie or advertisement of a mountain man. In the woods. Doing manly-man activities. Doing strong, sweaty things.
He was right in front of her. In the mountains. Alone. With only her to observe him.
She all but shook her head. Damn! Was she becoming the weird, reclusive woman of the woods? She got a little worried when her thoughts so easily wandered there.
If she were another woman, she might have taken her water bottle and dumped it over her face, head, and chest… Yeah… Good thing she wasn’t because she didn’t want to be like that.
She finally unglued her gaze from his physical prowess and glanced at what he was doing more closely. A pile of metal spikes lay not far from him. And some lumber and several more tools. Clippers. Shovel. Rake. More than one kind of rake, actually. Hammers in various sizes as well as different-sized mallets.
“No way could you hike all of that in since yesterday.”
Gage jerked upright, swiveling his head and scanning the nearby area until he found her. She stepped closer, emerging from the bowels of the forest. She gave him a small half wave. He wiped the back of his hand over the sweat that beaded on his forehead. “No, I didn’t. A crew of several lithe, young, strong, energetic college students carried it all up here and left it for me. They are summer trainees. All I had to do was eat my breakfast, drink my coffee and haul my old ass up the trail. Pretty easy.”
She snorted and surprised herself when she stepped even closer. He seemed so truthful. Honest. Real. Why shouldn’t he be?
“Yeah. Looks real easy. Why didn’t you keep those young, energetic college students and get them to do the work?”
“They weren’t being paid to stay up here and camp. Or to make any repairs. They were simply the hauling crew and when they finished their work, they took their butts out.”
“Really? So it really is just you?”
“I volunteered for the detail.”
“Why?” Her head tilted and he set his mallet down, wiping his face again.
“I work at a desk most of the time. I occasionally hike to oversee some of the areas, but I rarely get to do any field work anymore. I miss it. I like the exercise and exertion, so I offered to take care of the repair this summer. My personal life allowed me the time away from home, so voila.”
“You asked for this work detail?”
He leaned down and popped back up with a water bottle, which he drank from long and deeply. “Yeah. You came here on purpose too, right?” He mimicked her exact tone and incredulous wording.
She inclined her head and replied, “Touché.”
He grabbed the edge of his t-shirt to wipe his face, revealing the white skin of his stomach and pecs. She saw black hairs and muscles with his quick flipping of his shirt before he dropped it back down.
Fine. He was an attractive man with an appealing body. Of course, she looked. She would have looked at a hot picture of any man too. It was nice but it didn’t mean anything. It certainly didn’t mean she wanted him.
No. Nope. No way.
Didn’t even arouse her sexual curiosity. She didn’t think about or desire or want sex anymore. Never. But that didn’t stop her appreciation of a good-looking person. Most of humanity were average. Average in their faces, hair, features and body composition. Some people were considered homely and ugly by her although she realized it wasn’t their fault. A very rare few were stupid-pretty like this guy. And that too was not due to any fault of his.
So she could freely appreciate the pleasant creation nature made.
“Were you trying to find me?”
Startled by his question, she watched him set down the water bottle and step away from the lower part of the trail on which he was obviously braced. Wooden planks covered the trail and he was hammering the spikes in to keep them in place.
“What?” Her response was reflexive. Trying to find him? No. Never. She didn’t seek out strange men. Not even out here!
“Well, you didn’t exactly welcome me to your camp so I didn’t think I’d see you ever again.”
“Did you want to see me again?” she countered. Her hand was on her hip and she bit her lip after voicing such a thought. It sounded flirtatious. Like she was a full-blooded woman and… what? Hoped he wanted to see her again?
A small smile curved his lips. “Actually, I did. I hoped you’d realize I wasn’t a homicidal maniac who came up here to harm you. I hoped you weren’t scared of me or disturbed by my presence here. I can appreciate how startling it is, thinking you’re all alone in the woods where no one will find you, and miles from anywhere when a strange man shows up. I entered your private camp while you were gone and that could be very unnerving.”
He seemed so genuine. His facial expression was open, and the words sounded honest, like something she’d say if the roles were reversed. Could he just be a normal guy? Doing exactly what he said he came to do? Well, the proof pretty strongly supported his purpose. She looked at the lumber, the tools and the washed-out trail. She found him sweating over it. Straining his muscles and… damn it! She wasn’t horny.
Son of a bitch.
Maybe she was.
Anyway, he seemed totally legit. And even validly concerned that he could have scared her. That was nice, wasn’t it? Courteous? Had she avoided human interaction so long that she was becoming a little paranoid? Maybe. She had to watch out for that. She didn’t want to become a crazy mountain hermit, afraid of other people. He was an ordinary man who came to rebuild a hiking trail just as he said. Two days ago, there was nothing but a washed-out trail. She’d walked it so she’d know.
“I wasn’t afraid. I was just startled. True. And your story seemed legit. But yeah…”
He held up his hands as if he were under arrest. “No. I get it. I mean, there I was. I honestly didn’t think I’d find anything, much less, anyone out here. I saw evidence of the horses. But the smoke in the valley was a complete shock. I thought you were a couple of guys…”
“Why? There are more women equestrians than men. Next time you see a horse trailer being towed down the road, check out the driver. Only one in three will turn out to be a dude driving. Horses are mostly the passion of women. Older women, actually. Anyway, it’s odd, but it’s the truth.”
“You got me. I assumed it all wrong. I didn’t think I would find a woman alone out here, much less scare her.”
She started to speak, but he held up a hand and immediately corrected himself. “Startle her, I meant startle.”
A small smile brightened her face. Yeah, he already caught a bit of her number. “Okay, you made me nervous. But seeing this… your story checks out.”
He nodded. “It does.” He flopped down on a large boulder near him. “Mind if I sit and take a break? It’s not the kind of work I’m used to anymore.” He gave her a weary smile. “Being over thirty sucks and my body is clearly reminding me I’m no longer twenty.”
“Can’t relate.” She nearly frowned at the unexpected flirty statement that emerged from her lips. What the hell? Why was she flirting with him? Was there any particular reason? The reality of her mistake made her freeze. No. There was nothing about this man to inspire her to flirt.
He stretched one leg out. His legs were golden tan, unlike his white belly and chest. His shorts slid up an inch and she freaking noticed that too. “No. Youth is truly wasted on the young. You’ve heard that before? Well, let me tell you. That’s the truth when you’re over thirty.”
She chuckled and her face released the frozen scowl before she finally stepped a smidgeon closer. “You can’t be that old.”
“You can’t be that young,” he countered with a smile. “I’m a resilient thirty-three years young… although, this expedition could very well kill me.”
He wasn’t too far off saying that. Things could happen in the raw wilderness, which could be dangerous or even kill you. You could trip and fall over the tools, or accidentally cut your leg or finger off with a handsaw or sharp clippers. Yes, hand tools, but a wrong miss or fall could easily make them a danger.
One simple fall could manage to throw out your back or cause you to break a hip or a leg. The possibilities for danger were unlimited. And adding horses to the equation? Well, that created a whole new peril. Accidents like falling off the horse, or having the horse step on you could be serious out here. Ropes getting caught around a leg or a hand could result in any number of mishaps. Things happened so fast. No, it wasn’t as safe as sitting in your living room and watching TV.
Oddly enough, Violet felt safer out here than at home.
“Well, you probably qualify for grandfather status… so I’ll keep checking in and making sure you’re still kicking if you like every once in awhile.”
He laughed. “Appreciate your support and concern, Vee.”
Vee. Some people called her Vie but never Vee. It disconnected her from her own self and made it a safe interaction since he could never be part of her real life. He never would be. So, she could indulge herself by being a little more social. It surprised her to discover how nice this felt. She’d been out there for weeks without another human talking to her. She talked a lot to her horses and often narrated her activities.
And, of course, to Monty. He was her primary source of interaction both here and at home. She’d have curled up into a sad, scared ball out here without him. He kept her focused on the work at hand and helped stave off any loneliness. Her lifeline in so many ways. She’d left him at the camp this time. She was unwilling to risk him getting too friendly to Gage if she decided she didn’t want to stay there.
“So you’re not a creep or a homicidal maniac. Should I take comfort in that?”
“Well, seeing how no one could possibly know where you were, then yes, I hope so.”
“That’s true. It’s pretty far off the beaten path.”
He stared at her for a long moment. “What?” she asked when it seemed she should know the reason why he stared so incredulously at her.
“Off the beaten path?” He scoffed and shook his head. “You could say that. But then again, I guess that’s why you’re up there. You prefer the unused path, huh?”
She arched a brow at him. “What makes you say that?”
