Seducing Hunter

Three (#ulink_f259576c-09d9-5a49-bc35-249c7fcb7e96)

“Don’t be ridiculous. I was not sexually assaulted. Just because I’m a little jumpy doesn’t mean that anything like that happened to me!” Gaylynn said.

“And even if it had, you wouldn’t tell me, would you?” Hunter retorted.

“If you think that, then why ask me in the first place?”

“Because I’m trying to figure out how I can help you.”

His words were like tiny arrows piercing her pride.

Lifting her chin, Gaylynn stated, “I don’t need you to help me. I’m not one of those injured baby birds you used to take in when we were kids.”

“I’m still pretty good at mending broken wings,” he murmured, coming so close behind her that his breath stirred her hair and awakened silent yearnings.

Hunter was pretty good at plenty of things, not least of which was making Gaylynn feel like a young girl on her first date—filled with anticipation of what could be.

Curtly reminding herself that she was no young girl, Gaylynn squelched her wistful thoughts before they took further flight. “I’m sure the birds around here are glad to hear that you’re good at mending their broken wings,” she replied dryly. “But I don’t have wings and I don’t need your help.”

Gently brushing her shoulder blades with his fingertips, Hunter softly said, “Remember how Michael told you that these would grow into angel’s wings when you got older?”

“I was a gullible kid,” she admitted.

“And now? Are you still gullible now?”

“Sometimes,” she replied, stepping away from the magnetic temptation of his touch. “After all, I let you come over and badger me tonight, didn’t I?”

“You forgot to mention the delicious meal I made. Tomorrow night, you can cook.”

“Hey, I didn’t come to the mountains to cook,” she protested.

“Why did you come here?”

But she was on to his tactics now. “I’ve already answered that question several times. Maybe you need to get your hearing tested,” she mockingly suggested. “How old are you now? Almost forty?”

Hunter did not look amused. “I’m thirty-five and you damn well know it.”

His arrogant assumption that she would know his age irritated her. “Forgive me if I’ve been too busy living life to recall all the details of yours.”

“Yeah, I heard about you living life, traipsing all over the globe.”

She relaxed. This was something she felt more comfortable talking about. “That’s right. During my summer breaks I used to travel a lot,” she reminisced fondly. “I’ve been elephant-trekking in Thailand, slept on the beach in Morocco, shopped in Singapore, gotten rained on in England’s Lake District and visited the rain forest in Costa Rica.”

“You used to be a globe-trotter?”

“Yeah, well, now I stick a little closer to home.”

“Any reason for that?”

“Finances, and the fact that although I’ve seen a lot of the world there are still plenty of places right here in America that I haven’t seen yet. The Blue Ridge Mountains, for cexanmple. This is my first time down here.”

“Then you’ll have to be sure and drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We could do that this weekend. I’m off-duty-”

“I don’t need to go anywhere else,” she interrupted him. “I can see mountains from here.”

“There are even more spectacular views to be seen.”

“I’ll be fine right here.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you’re hiding away up here.”

That was exactly what she planned on doing, and she didn’t aim on having Hunter get in her way, regardss of how sexy she might still find him. His shaggy hair had just a touch of gray at the temples while his piercing green eyes reflected an interrogating intensity. She could easily picture Hunter as the embodiment of a gray wolf. He was certainly a natural born predator, trained to go after what he wanted and to get what he went after. She had to remind herself that all he wanted from her was the truth, but even that was too much for her to give him right now.

Seeing she wasn’t about to unload her innermost thoughts to him, Hunter chose a more nonthreatening topic. “So how’s the rest of your family doing?”

“Fine. Dylan flew in for the wedding.” If her rolling-stone younger brother hadn’t planned on flying out the morning after the reception, Gaylynn might have put off coming down to the mountains for a day or two. She hadn’t seen Dylan in a year.

“So what’s he been up to lately? Has he taken over your globe-trotting ways?”

“He pretty much sticks to the western United States, but he certainly doesn’t stay in one place very long. He been working the rodeo circuit out there as a saddle bronc rider. He’s even won a couple of championships. And did you hear that Michael and Brett have adopted a baby girl, Hope? She’s adorable. Smart, too. Naturally I’m her favorite aunt.”

“Naturally. Did she tell you that?”

“She’s not actually talking a lot yet. She’s a little over nine months old and is just about ready to walk on her own. I brought a picture of her.” Gaylynn retrieved a pocket-size photo album from her purse.

“You brought a photo?” Hunter said dryly. “Looks more like an entire book full to me.”

“Yes, but see how adorable she is?” Gaylynn’s expressive voice reflected her excitement as she showed him a series of pictures. “Isn’t she the cutest baby you ever saw?”

Hunter nodded accordingly. “I’m surprised you left her behind. They grow fast at that age, don’t they?”

“Yeah, they do,” she agreed wistfully.

“You know, I expected you to have a family of your own by now.”

“I could say the same about you.”

“Being a cop is hard on family life. I moved down here in the first place because my wife, Tricia, had a hard time with my being on the force in Chicago. I thought it would be easier on her if I worked for the county sheriffs department down here. The danger involved with the job is certainly less here in a rural area than it was in the city.”

“But there is still danger?”

He just shrugged. “Life is dangerous. But it wasn’t just the danger that torpedoed and sunk my marriage, it was the fact that my ex-wife hated living here. Said she was going crazy in this backwater hole-in-the-wall. Last I heard, she’d moved back up to Chicago and married a plumber.”

“Sounds to me like you’re well rid of her. You never did have the best taste in women,” she told him bluntly. “Remember that redheaded bimbo you went steady with in high school? Sindy spelled with an S.”

“I wasn’t dating her for her spelling skills.”

“That was obvious.”