Rocky Mountain Hideaway (To Love Again Book 2) (8 page)

Isabel’s laugh came from deep within her, but he soon quashed it with a long, slow kiss that started tender but was soon insistent.

Too late Tray realized his mistake. Again he was going to have to cut things short so they could get to the top while there was still lots of daylight. But as he plunged his tongue into Isabel’s mouth, and was met with her willing response, daylight was the last thing from his mind. Still, he wanted to show her the view from the top. So how could he stop things in the middle again. He couldn’t risk annoying her again, like he had in the workroom.

Isabel squirmed under him and he matched her movements by grinding his hips into hers.

“No, Tray, no.” Isabel said, alarmed.

“Am I hurting you?”

“No, I just, you’re putting too much pressure on me.”

“We don’t have to do anything Isabel. We’re just kissing.”

“That’s not what I meant.” For the second time since he’d met her, the good doctor look embarrassed.

“What is it?”

She shifted to a sitting position and stared at her knees. “I have to pee.”

“Is that all?” Tray laughed with relief.

“But there’s nowhere to pee.”

“There’s everywhere to pee.” He swept his arm in a broad arc, indicating the meadow and the forest they had left behind.

“Right here? In the open?” she asked incredulously.

“You’ve really never been camping or hiking in the bush, have you?” Tray surveyed her closely and realized she wasn’t pulling his leg. “Here,” he said, digging through the picnic remnants and passing her a couple of paper napkins. “Just find a quiet spot behind a tree, dig a little hole with a stick, and when you’re done bury the paper.”

Isabel stared at the paper napkins in her hand like they would burst into song and dance. Standing, she brushed herself off and glanced toward the woods. “What if a bear comes?”

“If a bear comes, scream and I’ll be right there. Your knight to the rescue,” he grinned, hoping to ease her worry.

He marveled at the complexities of the woman who turned away and shuffled warily toward the woods. Here was a woman who was clearly confident when it came to her practice, confident when it came to her lovemaking, but without a clue what to do in the woods. Well, he shouldn’t be that surprised. After all, growing up on the farm he did have the advantage when it came to being outdoors. He knew there were people who spent their whole lives in the city, who thought camping included playgrounds and hot showers and plug-ins while parked just inches from their neighbor’s stall.

Growing up, they’d always taken time away from the farm to get into the mountains. Every fall just after threshing season, his father would pack up the family and they’d head into the foothills. There they’d create their own camp beside a stream. Some of his best memories were there. In the shadow of the mountains, they would cook over an open fire and he could still remember his mother adding more butter to a frying pan filled with firm trout from the streams. His father had been an avid fisherman and hunter, and he’d passed his love of the woods onto his sons.

When Tray had been thirteen, his father had taken him along on a hunting trip and they’d killed a moose. Tracking the animal through the long cold morning and still grey afternoon, had given Tray new respect for the animal. It was always a step ahead of them, seeming to guess their next move and easily outsmart them. But in the end, they’d taken home enough meat to feed the family through the winter.

Those days and years in the bush had given Tray an understanding and respect for the environment. He knew how fast bad weather could move in, but he also knew how to track an animal and recognize which ones were in the area.

He’d seen some bear scat on the trail on the way up to the meadow, but hadn’t wanted to alarm Isabel. It was still early in the year, and there’d been a lot of berries, so he knew the bears wouldn’t be hungry. In any case, the scat was not fresh. He wasn’t concerned but was keeping his eyes open, as was his custom.

And he had his eyes wide open where Isabel was concerned also. He found he was hypersensitive to her every move, seeking the meaning behind each word. He knew he needed to relax more into the fantasy. He was here for experience, that was all. It’s just that Isabel seemed to be everything he might want in a woman. She was funny and bright and easy to be with. Except for this morning, she didn’t criticize him. She hadn’t really criticized him this morning either, he realized, she’d just been hurt and strangely defensive. That was the bewildering part. The mixture of self-assured woman and wounded girl. He’d like to know more about the guy she’d been married to.

He gathered up the left over picnic packages and stuffed them back into his pack. The sun in the meadow was quite warm and he was pulling his sweater over his head when he heard Isabel’s scream.

“Isabel! Isabel, what’s happening?” He yelled as he started running toward her voice, trying to peel his sweater off his head. He couldn’t see and was flailing his arms wildly trying to free himself of the fleece that was somehow stuck. “Isabel! I’m coming,” he yelled again, and realizing he hadn’t unzipped the collar, he pulled the sweater back down over his shoulders.

Isabel stood before him on the path coming out of the woods, doubled over and holding onto her stomach. She was laughing so hard she didn’t utter a peep. Tears streamed down her face.

“I thought you needed help.” Tray said in a dead pan voice. He couldn’t believe she thought this was funny.

“You were coming to rescue me?”

“That was the idea. You sounded scared.”

“Well, Tray, you look like the one who needs rescuing.” Isabel broke into another peal of laughter.

Tray watched her, glad to see the tension lift, and started to laugh himself. He must have looked pretty ridiculous flailing around, trapped in his own sweater. His laughter joined Isabel’s until all he could hear was their mirth echoing up the valley wall.

He watched as Isabel shook with glee, a playful twinkle shining in her eyes. Finally they calmed down and as his breath came back, he rolled up the blanket and stuffed it into the backpack.

“Ready to see the top?” he asked.

Isabel crossed the distance between them and stood toe to toe looking up into his eyes. She wiped the water from her beautiful lashes and stood on tip toe to brush her lips across his cheek, sending a thrill of excitement shooting through his body. “Lead on, my fearless one.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

As they climbed, the view just became more incredible. Isabel had never hiked this high before. High in the mountains, high on life. She was still reeling from the endorphin rush of her laughter. She hadn’t meant to laugh at Tray, it’s just that when she came out of the woods and saw him standing there, like an upside down octopus, flailing and helpless, she’d hadn’t been able to help herself.

What had she been thinking putting all her faith in this young boy? He was definitely more at ease in the woods than she was, but he was still a child. Isabel had been taking care of herself for a long time and when she realized that she’d placed her fate in Tray, who was unable to get out of his own sweater, she’d laughed at how far she’d come in the last twenty-four hours.

They were here to have some fun. She would do well to remember that. In fact, that should be her only focus.

That had to be her only focus. She had serious issues to deal with once this weekend was over. It was Thanksgiving and she intended to have some things to be thankful for. She would go back to her office in a couple of days with a few new techniques to share with her patients. Not so much the techniques but the ability to put herself in their place. No question about it - her libido was awake again. Wide awake. She was finding the fresh air, good food and Tray’s easy ability to laugh at himself to be wonderful aphrodisiacs.

The view made her feel like she was living on the edge. She realized her life hadn’t had this much life in it for a long time. A sadness came over her. She was good at telling other people to pick up the pieces, to make the best of their lives, to live each day to the fullest but she hadn’t taken a word of her own advice.

Thank heavens for Jenny. Her friend had stayed with her through thick and thin. Although she hadn’t shared many details with Jenny yesterday morning, she was looking forward to a cappuccino and lots of girl talk when she got back. She wished she could talk to Jenny now. Maybe she could help her sort out her feelings. The feelings she wasn’t supposed to be having.

Isabel took another look over the edge, at the fabulous view, and decided she’d been playing it safe for far too long.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Tray kept a steady pace up the side of the mountain, scrambling through the scree as they reached the top. Isabel stayed close behind, sliding a little in the loose shale, but she seemed to be more excited than scared.

He’d been keeping a close watch on the weather but it was hard to tell what was happening to the west with the mountain in his way. The sky was growing darker and the wind had chilled by a few degrees. The wind wasn’t unusual this high up, but the sky could be cause for concern. If they kept up this pace, he thought they’d hit the top in about twenty minutes.

Because they had stopped for such a leisurely lunch, the only people they were seeing on the trail were on their way back down. It was an out of the way trail anyway, he had planned it that way, but he couldn’t help thinking that he would be more comfortable if there were more people around. He hadn’t heard the weather forecast this morning, but they were rarely accurate anyway. A good bush man could often see what was coming better than a meteorologist with a computer in an office tower.

Tray’s good impression of Isabel got better as they climbed higher. She was keeping up with him no problem at all. He knew that she barely had time for exercise with her busy schedule and wondered if it was pure adrenalin propelling her up the mountainside. He turned to put her in his sights. She was directly behind him. He reached back to give her a hand over a sheet face of rock. Her boots were adequate but not the best for this type of scrambling. Isabel took his hand and smiled as he pulled her up over the rock. That was the thing with Isabel - strong enough to know that accepting help didn’t make her weak. Some of the girls he’d dated wouldn’t let him hold a door open for them, let alone take his hand for help. Sometimes he thought they took it too far, but he knew his background may play a part in his attitudes.

Growing up on the farm, he and his brothers had been taught to take care of women. Not because they were helpless, or weak, but out of respect. Thirty-five years into their marriage and his father had always seemed more like he was still courting Tray’s mother. And in a way, he was. He never forgot to let her know how much he appreciated her. She was up earlier than any of them, getting breakfast ready and making sure everyone had a good start on the day. When they’d gone off to school, he knew that she’d have a hot and filling lunch on the table for her husband when he came in for his break at noon.

His father never took any of it for granted. He worked hard in the fields, in all kinds of weather, but it was clear he believed that her work was of equal importance. They pulled together as a team, and his father valued her contribution as much as his own. His father always said that a family was built on the foundation that a woman would lay. Over the years, Tray had started to wonder about that bit of wisdom.

Seeing his middle brother Jesse get married had raised his first questions. It seemed that his new sister-in-law had not so much laid a foundation, as laid a trap. Before Jesse knew what was happening, he was a new father and a husband. Jesse claimed to be happy, but Tray knew that he’d had bigger dreams than living down the road and taking care of a pig farm. But Jesse had done the honorable thing and married the girl. Honor was important in their family and it was too small a community to not step up and take responsibility.

After that, Tray had taken no chances. He’d been sought after by the girls in the area, but he’d made it clear he was unavailable. Being unattainable seemed to make him even more desirable, something about human nature that Tray still didn’t understand – psychology major or no. He was best man at Jesse’s wedding, and decided, standing at the altar, that he wouldn’t be back at the front of a church until he was good and ready. Before that happened, he had a lot of living to do and his psychology degree to finish.

This weekend was designed to get him closer to his goal, but at this point he couldn’t judge the success of his plan. There was no question that he was learning a lot from Isabel, but he was starting to question if it was the type of thing that he’d want to use on another woman. He was afraid that if he spent too much more time with Isabel there’d never be another woman for him.

He knew that his emotions couldn’t possibly be this engaged with this woman. They’d only had a couple of days together, but he recognized his feelings, if only because he’d never experienced them before.

Isabel didn’t seem like the type who would try to trap him into anything. For one thing, she obviously thought he was just a cute boy. For now, it worked well for her to think so, but if he wanted to develop something deeper with her, she would have to start thinking of him as a strong, capable man. He wasn’t sure how he could possibly bring about that transition. He knew that people usually stuck with their first impression, although, he was hopeful that Isabel’s professional perspective would give him more of a chance.