In Close by Brenda Novak Read Free Book Online Page A

shack he’d inherited from Tippy. It was small but well-kept and in such a beautiful setting he’d stayed there much longer than anyone had expected. That was where she’d always visited him before, where she’d always pictured him even after he bought this place.
    “What made you give up Tippy’s house on the lake?” she asked.
    “Mostly the size. I needed more room and this gave me a different view and even more privacy.”
    “The pictures you’ve hung make it a nice bachelor’s pad.” Mostly wildlife photos he’d taken himself, they added a masculine touch. “It’s easy to tell you like what you do.” Her gaze lingered on a framed print of a hippopotamus submerged in a swampy river with just his eyes, ears and nostrils showing. “I think it’s great how much you love your work. You’re the perfect kind of guy for it.”
    He poured himself some juice. “What kind of guy does it take?”
    “Someone who likes to ramble, who feels most at home when he’s on the road. Or in the wilderness, as the case may be.” She wished he’d start putting the rest of the food away and stop watching her. His presence was forcing her to eat more than she wanted. “Have you had any close encounters since that bear attack—other than with the tree that nearly wiped you out last night?”
    He finished his juice and rinsed the glass. “I got a strange spider bite in Kenya a few months ago.” He spoke over his shoulder. “Made my hand swell up to three times its size.” He showed her the scar.
    “Do you know the kind of spider it was?”
    “No. It didn’t happen while I was shooting. It happened while I was sleeping.”
    “Were you someplace you could get medical help?”
    “Not really. One of the guys I was traveling with lanced it and sucked out the poison.”
    “That must’ve been fun.” She nibbled on her asparagus. “What’s your favorite place you’ve ever been?”
    He leaned against the counter. “You mean besides here?”
    “You like Pineview?”
    “Don’t you?”
    “It’s okay.” She drank a sip of her own juice. “But I’m leaving here someday.”
    “When?”
    “As soon as I figure out what happened to my mom and feel Leanne will be fine on her own.”
    He crossed his feet. “Where do you want to go?”
    She thought of all the exotic places he’d been and felt like a country bumpkin by comparison. She’d never left Montana. “I don’t know. Someplace far away and metropolitan. Maybe Los Angeles or New York.”
    “You’ve lived in a small town all your life. You don’t think that’d be lonely?”
    She was already lonely. She doubted it could get much worse. At least she’d have the promise of something new and different around the next corner. “It’d be nice to have a change of pace, a chance to meet new people.”
    “You seemed to like it here when David was alive.”
    “It felt different then.”
    “In what way?”
    “Lots of ways.”
    “Such as?”
    “I assumed we’d have a family. This would be a great place to raise kids, but if I’m going to be single I’d rather be somewhere with more…possibility.”
    He shoved his hands in his pockets. “There’s no one in Pineview you’d like to date?”
    “No.”
    His lips pursed. “It’s getting easier and easier to see why you came here last night.”
    She owed him an apology for that. He hadn’t invited her. And he’d hurt himself trying to help her. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have kept you up.”
    His voice held a wry note when he responded. “I didn’t mind.”
    “I’m glad.” But if that was true, why had he stopped short of making love to her? She wanted to ask but knew it was territory they’d be wise to avoid. “Thanks for dinner, but…I’d better get going.”
    Although he took her plate, he didn’t turn toward the sink. “You’re not staying?”
    A tremor of desire passed through her, as strong as ever. But she knew she’d be a fool to continue what she’d started last