A chapter from a story I'm working on - what do you think?
     Her angry scream died in a little squeak as a huge black horse appeared right beside her. Before she could dive to the side, away from the large threatening body and long galloping legs a strong arm grabbed her around the waist and lifted her into the air.
     Arms and legs pin wheeling, she dropped her sleeping bag as she scrambled to grab onto something, anything. She caught a handful of long coarse black hair as her back slammed into a hard chest. The arm around her waist tightened like a vice, cutting off most of her air.
     The forward momentum of the horse pressed her back against the man and then slammed her forward almost onto the neck of the plunging animal as it came to a sudden, sliding stop. Its head pulled back within inches of her face. Gravel and dirt flying out in front of them in a cloud of dust and rattling stones.
     “Let me go!” Brit screamed. She felt the powerful muscles under her shift as the animal hopped sideways. The big head swung around and one very large brown eye rolled at her, white showing all around. She caught a glimpse of long yellow teeth in the jaws pulled wide by the hauling bit and green slobber drooled from the rubbery looking lips.
     The man’s other hand appeared in front of her as he shortened up on the reins, pulling back and sawing from side to side as he fought for control.
     “Easy boy, easy now,” a deep voice said over her head. The horse snorted but stopped jumping sideways, much to her relief. Her bottom would be sporting quite a few new bruises from the hard saddle horn. The massive black horse stood still, trembling and bobbing its head, deep vibrations running through the huge body between her legs.
     She thought so this is what it feels like to sit on a powder keg and not know when it will explode.
     “What the hell are you trying to do? Get yourself killed?” the voice said to the top of her head.
     “Let me go.” Brit repeated, to no avail. His grip didn’t slacken a bit.
     She struggled and kicked but couldn’t get free. She couldn’t reach the man with her feet and her hands plucked feebly at the iron hard arm around her waist. Her heels pounding into the horse’s neck and shoulder made the already agitated animal snort and rear up on its hind legs. Brit shrieked in fear and then it came back down with a jolt that rattled her teeth and almost drove the horn right through her jeans into her vagina.
    “Knock it off you stupid kid!” the man yelled in her ear, then spoke soothingly to his horse, “whoa Thunder, easy big boy, whoa now.”
     Brit stopped struggling, her teeth and bottom hurt equally and if he squeezed any tighter she wouldn’t be able to breathe.
     “Okay!” she cried out as the arm tightened even more. “I quit. I can’t breathe.”
     “Sorry,” he whispered as he loosened his grip a little.
     “Let me get my sleeping bag,” Brit gasped.
     “No, leave it. That bear is too close and I don’t have my rifle.”
     He pulled on the reins and Brit felt the nervous horse start walking backwards down the road. After a short distance the man pulled its head around and they walked slowly away from the large brown animal watching them.
     Brit could feel the body trembling under them as Thunder snorted and shook his head time and time again. She thought he just wanted to run away from the bear but the man had an iron fist on the reins and held him to a steady walk. She could feel the man behind her shift as he turned his head to look back.
     “What’s the matter? Do you really think that bear will attack you on your horse?” she sneered.
     “It wouldn’t be the first time,” came his quiet reply. “We’ll just give him time to think things over, he’s not used to having somebody take his prey.”
     “Prey? What prey?”
     “You,” he said and gave her waist a little squeeze, “lunch.”
     Brit sucked in a deep breath but bit back her whimper, he’s got to be teasing. “Well why don’t you make your horse run?”
     “Because to run shows fear. Right now, I’m a big predator who had taken his prey, I want him to just accept that. I don’t want him to try and take you back.”
     “You mean that bear thinks you have caught me? That I’m your prey?”
     “Uh huh. I’m now carrying you off for my lunch.”
     She felt a subterranean disturbance in the wide chest pressed against her back. Is he about to start laughing?
     “So.....what now?” Brit asked.
     “We’ll just give him time to get over wanting to crunch on yer pretty bones, he’s following us right now but I’m hoping he’ll quit pretty soon.”
     Brit shuddered, “can’t you outrun him?”
     “Maybe, maybe not. But more important, I don’t think you could stay on Thunder when he runs flat out. Besides he’s already had a hard day. It’s over five miles home and he can’t run that far. The bear can.”
     “So we walk all that way? With the bear following? What then?”
     He chuckled and she felt that disturbance again. “I’m hoping that old grizz will get bored before then and leave.”
     “Grizz? What’s a grizz? Isn’t it a bear?” Brit blurted in confusion.
     A short silence followed and then his laughter boomed out over her head and the vibrations emanating from his chest shook her all the way to her toes. He sure found something in the current situation funny and Brit suspected it was her.
     Brit bristled, “what the hell is so funny?”
     He didn’t seem to be able to stop, wheezing and gasping for several minutes, “oh lordy! Where are you from girl?”
     Brit had her teeth clenched in anger and hissed, “Toronto.”
     “Ahhh city girl, ehh?”
     “Yeah? So?” she couldn’t remember ever being so mad and feeling so helpless.
     “Well now youngster, have you ever heard of grizzly bears?” came the gruff voice behind her. A few more of those deep vibrations shook him as he spoke.
     “Of course I have,” Brit replied. “So what?”
     “So what?” the man chuckled, “so you think it’s smart to attack a bear with a sleeping bag?” his voice rose and the final three words came out almost in a squeak. His chest shook against her back.
     Brit ground her teeth, she wished he’d stop laughing at her. “He was running,” she snarled.
     “From me,” he snorted, “he saw me come around the corner hell bent for leather. He knows I usually carry a gun. I’ve met up with him several times this year.”
     “You have? Then why didn’t you shoot him?”
     “Because this is his home too, I’ll only shoot him if I have no other choice.”
     “It sounds like you like him,” Brit blurted out.
     “I don’t know as you could call it like,” he replied. “I respect him, and I give him room.”
     “Why?” She felt the broad shoulders shrug.
     “Don’t know. But I do know that big old male grizzly you wanted to bash over the head with yer little sleeping bag would have eaten you. A black bear might, just might, run from your screaming and swearing but that old guy would have eaten you right down to your last squeak.”
     His chest vibrated harder. “You find that funny?” she retorted. Then she stiffened as the fear, the realization of her peril, finally penetrated. “I was about to die?”
     “Yes you could have died,” he gulped in an effort to stop his mirth, “and I have never seen anything so funny in my life. That poor old guy didn’t know what to do. I bet he never seen anyone as crazy as you.” His loud guffaw roared out over her head as she cringed at his words.
     “I am not crazy!” Brit yelled. She didn’t think he even heard her over the noise he was making, at least he took no notice. “I’m not,” she whispered to no one in particular.
     She let the tears track down her cheeks and tightened her lips to stay quiet. The fear and panic of the last twenty four hours and now the realization that she could have been killed, been eaten, put a stop to her show of bravado.
     How long does it take a horse to walk five miles? Is there someone there to come out with a gun or would the man have time to get his gun before the bear got her?
     She started watching for his house to appear around every corner, only to be disappointed each time by more road, more trees. She tried to stay very still in front of him even though the saddle horn banged into a very tender spot every time the horse took a step. She shifted her butt just a little and the arm tightened.
     “What’re you doing?” he growled, “if you spook Thunder again, I’ll just leave you here for the bear.”
     “Your saddle horn is just about to fuck me,” she snarled and shifted her hips to one side.
     That sure got his attention. She grabbed his arm as he yanked his horse around in a quick circle to face back down the road. Brit stared but saw no bear. The man sat still, she could feel his breathing slow as he watched over her head.
     When nothing appears he stepped down and looked up at her, “okay, it looks like he’s gone on about his business, get down. You can ride behind me for the rest of the way.”
     Brit jumped and almost fell on her butt, surprised by the distance to the ground. She grabbed the stirrup and scrambled erect on rubbery knees in front of an old man.
     Old? But his arms felt so strong. Brit blinked and shook herself. What difference does that make? I don’t like him.
     He made no effort to help her as she regained her balance and she glared up at him as anger boiled inside. Rude and old. He smiled back as she gathered her wits and prepared for battle.
     He towered over her by better than a foot even though his shoulders had started to stoop with age. Snow white hair hung over his shoulders, held back from his lined face by a wide brimmed hat. He looked at least sixty but still very strong. Hell, he didn’t only look it!
     She took a deep breath, expanding her ribs with care, expecting them to hurt from his rough handling. Her eyes took in the rest of him. Very tall, slender and dressed in rough jeans and heavy jacket of the same material. High boots and silver spurs and a cowboy hat.
     She knew that his eyes gave her the same once over, but neither approval nor disapproval showed. He met her eyes and his wide humorous mouth split into a grin. He did have nice twinkling blue eyes.
     “Howdy there girl. My name is Brendan White, most people just call me Whitey,” he extended his hand.
     Brit nodded and shook his hand, she didn’t think being polite could get her into any more trouble. “Hi. I’m Brittany Anderson, just call me Brit.”
     He engulfed her small hand in his big callused fist and held it as he grinned down at her, “why in the name of God were you attacking that poor bear?”
     She looked up at him and her earlier rage, panic and fear came back, she swallowed and fought for control.
     “Poor bear! It ruined everything! It is the reason my friends took off and left me. It is the reason I’m stuck out here,” she ground out between clenched teeth.
     Whitey’s black arched eyebrows disappeared under his hat brim and his fingers tightened hard on her hand. “What do you mean? Your friends left you out here with a grizzly?”
     Brit wiggled her fingers in an effort to free them. She could feel the bones in her hand crunching into each other. Her teeth hurt, her butt hurt and now he was adding her hand to the mix?
     “We were camped back there and I surprised a bear stealing our food from the jeep. I screamed and ran and my friends just climbed in the jeep and took off. They didn’t even stop and look for me.” Brit felt the sob too late to stop it coming out, he released her hand and straightened up.
     She could see the incredulous look in his eyes. “They left you?”
     Brit wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of one hand. “They didn’t even wait for me to come back.” Another sob escaped and she bit her lip and the hot metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. Damn she just split it open again.
     “Come back?” he said in confusion as he pulled a big white handkerchief from his shirt pocket and handed it to her.
     Brit nodded, and took the clean white square and pressed it to her split lip, “I ran into the trees when I saw the bear, they could have come after me, or waited, but they didn’t, they left.”
     She thought about telling him that they stayed long enough to pick up the booze and pot but then changed her mind.
     Whitey stared at her with a puzzled expression, “how close did you get to the bear in the jeep?”
     Brit shrugged and indicated a distance of about three or four feet.
     His dark brows, such a contrast to that white hair, went up again and he straightened, “how big was it and what color?”
     “Big and black,” Brit answered with another shrug, dabbing the soft white cloth against the corners of her eyes.
     “How big, taller than me? And could it have been dark brown? You’re sure it was black?”
     “It had its front end stuck inside the jeep so I’m not sure how tall, but I’ve never seen anything so black,” Brit shuddered at the memory.
     He nodded and smiled as if something had been settled by their conversation but she didn’t know what.
     “Okay then, a black bear, we’ve had a young one hanging around. I bet you scared him just as bad as he scared you, if not worse,” he reached up and wiggled his finger in his ear, “never met nobody can scream like you.”
     He chuckled at her expression but then sobered, “but a word to the wise here, when you see any bear you give him all the room he wants. You’re a lot lower on the food chain than he is. If he’s eating your grub, uuhh food, you let him, understand? Black bears are a lot more predicable than a grizz, but they will attack. And the worst thing you can do with either of them is run away. That is a clear signal that you are prey.”
     His grin came back and he pointed down the road, “and neither of them is likely to run from your sleeping bag.”
     Brit swallowed her anger. He sure knew how to push her buttons. She fought to keep the tears of frustration at bay, and I really don`t need a lecture right now. She turned and stared at the big horse standing quiet beside them.
     The black hide gleamed and she could see sweat all the way down its muscular neck and along the lower part of the still heaving flanks. White crusty looking stuff outlined all the sweat marks and it took a bit for her to realize that it was salt from his sweat. She reached out to touch his neck and her fingers jumped back in surprise as the skin shivered violently.
     She took a deep swallow and turned back to face the man, “I need to get back to town. Can you help me?” her voice trembled, afraid he might refuse.
     He nodded, “yeah sure I can. Where do you live?”
     “I live in Vancouver, but I’m not sure of the name of the last town we passed through, I didn’t read the sign. But if you can just help me get back there I’m sure I can catch a bus or something.”
     Whitey grinned down at her, “did you come over a big mountain?”
     Brit nodded and frowned at the sight of the amusement in his eyes.
     “Well that’s west and you’re heading east,” his shoulders started shaking with suppressed laughter.
     Brit opened her mouth in dismay. She went the wrong way, again, and he thinks it funny? She drew her arm back to hit him but he grabbed her wrist and hissed, “shhhhh.”
     Brit tried to pull free, “let me go!”
     “Be still,” he whispered and gave her arm a shake. His eyes on his horse. Brit glanced up, Thunder had his head way up, ears and eyes trained on the road. The big nostrils flared wide and the saddle leather creaked as he sucked in a tremendous breath. He tossed his head and looked at the man, Brit had the strange feeling he was telling the man something. The big mouth chomped on the bit and he threw his head up and whistled loudly through his nose.
     The man swung into the saddle and reached down to her, “come on, get up behind me. Bear’s coming.”
     She put her hand in his and he swung her up behind him. She wrapped her arms around his middle and hung on as the horse fought to take off down the road. The man let him run a few strides and then pulled him down to a walk. He kept looking over his shoulder at the road behind them.
     Brit squirmed around, settling her bum on a rolled up blanket tied behind his saddle, at least it wouldn’t make any more bruises. When she felt safe she turned to look back as well. She watched for a long time but saw nothing at all, but the horse kept pulling on the bit, he wanted to get out of there. The man glanced over his shoulder at her.
     “Bear must be in the bush, he’s pacing us, might be trying to get ahead of us. Watch one side for a minute and then the other, let me know if you see any movement at all.”
     Brit sat and looked to the left for a full minute, “nothing there but trees and rocks.”
     She turned her head and watched the right side of the road. The trees receded on the right and a small meadow opened up. Brit started as she saw the grizzly coming out of the trees, close enough that she could see the black snout twitching as it tested the air. Now she felt the menace in the big shaggy head, the way those beady eyes fixed on her. She shuddered.
     “There it is. How did you know?” she whispered.
     Whitey grunted, “horse told me.”
     With the bear so close and in plain sight the horse became even more agitated. Dancing sideways and making more of those loud whistles. Brit clung to the man as she was thrown up and down, side to side, helpless against the huge animal’s strength.
     Whitey seemed to be one with the big animal, shifting and moving with him effortlessly, he watched the grizzly for what felt like a long time and then grabbed her wrist and hissed at her, “hang on, we need a little more space between us before Thunder dumps us both!”
     Brit grabbed him around the waist and the horse exploded under them. They went flying down the road. Brit heard the thunder of hoofs and the wind whistling in her ears. Her breath left her at the raw power of the large animal. She looked over her shoulder and saw the bear, standing on his hind legs watching them.
     He let Thunder run for a mile or so before pulling him back to a walk. The horse walked on snorting and puffing and much more relaxed, Brit could feel the tension leave the big body under her.
     “Won’t he chase us now?” Brit found herself addressing a broad solid back.
     “No, I think he’s given up, at least I hope so. He just looked curious back there,” Whitey said casually over his shoulder.
     “How can you tell?”
     “Don’t know,” the wide shoulders shrugged, “just a feeling.”
     They travelled on for over an hour without speaking further. Brit watched over her shoulder until her neck ached, but saw no more of the bear. Lulled by the long swinging stride of the horse and the warm sun on her shoulders, she nodded off. The noise of iron clad hooves clumping over a bridge woke her.
     Whitey leaned down and swung open a wooden gate, then manoeuvred Thunder around to close it behind them. Brit smiled as the quiet well behaved animal stepped sideways without any fuss, pushing the gate closed so the rider didn’t have to get down. They turned toward a large barn built of logs and two black and white dogs raced around the corner barking in greeting.
     Brit looked around at a neat well laid out yard. The big house made of logs like the barn, and several smaller outbuilding made of boards stood along the edge of a flat dirt covered open space. Neat flower beds filled with a profusion of very colourful plants flanked the front steps of the house and the big windows reflected the sunlight. A welcome sight to the tired, dirty, frightened girl.
     They slid down in front of a large open door to the barn and Whitey walked Thunder inside. Brit stood in the doorway watching. The dim interior of the barn smelled of horses and hay and she breathed in deeply.
     After removing the saddle and bridle he led the big black into one of the stalls. Brit stood leaning on the door frame as he brushed the horse and tossed it some hay. The dogs came up and sniffed at her legs but stepped back when she bent to pet them.
     Whitey came out of the barn, to see her on her knees trying to coax the dogs within reach, “they ain’t pets,” he growled.
     Brit glanced up at him but he didn’t look like he was teasing, “all dogs are pets.”
     “Those are working dogs,” he said. He snapped his fingers and pointed in the direction they had last seen the bear. The dogs moved off.
     “What do they do?” Brit asked curiously.
     “Herd cattle, guard the ranch against foxes and coyotes that try to eat my wife’s chickens. Right now I’ve sent them to watch for that old grizz, just in case. If he comes within a mile of the place they’ll let me know so I’ve got time to get my gun.”
     “Will they kill the bear?”
     “Naw, if he got hold of them he’d eat them.”
     Brit shuddered and watched as the two dogs found a perch on a hill top a short distance away and sat watching the bush.
     “Come on in,” Whitey said and turned towards the large two story log house. “My wife is away but she left us lots to eat.”
     At the mention of food Brit’s stomach growled. She suddenly realized that she hasn’t eaten anything since yesterday afternoon and then just chips and whiskey.
     “Sounds good,” she said in relief as she followed him around to the side door.
     They went inside and she sat down at a kitchen table that could seat eight people. She glanced around the big sunny room, surprised at the clean well cared for look of it. It had to be as clean as her mother’s kitchen, and her mother had a whole team of cleaners come in every week. But then her mother rarely cooked, they ate out most of the time.
     This big kitchen showed signs that people used it, and often. Well laid out with lots of counter space and double sinks and the biggest fridge Brit has ever seen. It smelled like fresh baked bread and some other source of food she didn’t recognize. Her stomach rumbled in anticipation. A clean checkered tablecloth covered the table with a lazy Susan for a center piece, holding salt, pepper, vinegar, sugar and a few other things she couldn’t identify.
     Brit’s stomach let out a loud growl at the smells as Whitey banged cupboards and fridge. She clamped her hands to it but it didn’t help. Whitey chuckled behind her then plunked a huge roast beef sandwich down on the table in front of her. The thin slices of meat piled up at least an inch thick between two immense slices of homemade bread spread thickly with fresh butter. An enormous glass of milk appeared beside it.
     Brit didn’t like bread, other than in hamburger buns, but her mouth filled with saliva at the smell. She bit into the sandwich and chewed, eyes closed in ecstasy. She didn’t even see the raw onions, but could taste them and feel their crunchiness in her mouth. She never dreamed a raw onion could taste so good. She picked up the large glass and drained it, she hated milk but this didn’t taste the same at all.
     Whitey sat across from her, watching her while he ate his own sandwich, his wide mouth twitching with amusement.
     “How long you been lost?” he asked when she put down the empty glass.
     “Since yesterday, just before dark,” she swallowed as she felt the tears threaten again. She had fought off the knowledge that she was lost, refused to even let lost enter her head. But now it came home to her that she had indeed been lost.
     He reached out and patted her hand, “well now, maybe your friends went to get help. Maybe they’ve gone to call out Search and Rescue.”
     Brit thought about it for a minute and then shook her head, “but, wouldn’t they be out here by now?”
     He shrugged, “yeah I guess you’re right. And they would have called me if they were searching in this area. I’m one of their volunteers.”
     Brit picked up a few crumbs from her plate, a nice heavy china plate with blue flowers around the rim, “besides, Mack doesn’t like anyone who wears a uniform. He’s scared of getting busted again.”
     Whitey’s eyebrows went up and he paused with his sandwich halfway to his mouth, “you hang out with criminals?”
     “No,” Brit snorted, “he was busted for possession of pot a couple times. If he gets caught again, they’ll send him to jail.”
     Whitey stared at her, “and that’s not criminal?”
     Brit shrugged, “no, it’s just pot.”
     Whitey shook his head and put his sandwich down again, “and you think that he would rather leave you to be eaten by a grizz than call out someone to find you?”
     “I don’t know,” she whispered.
     Whitey picked up his sandwich, “some boyfriend! Where’d you spend the night?”
     “He’s not my boyfriend, Tom is, he’s Tom’s friend,” but Brit didn’t add that Tom had left her as well. “I climbed a tree and slept on a branch. I didn’t get much sleep but at least the bear couldn’t get me.”
     He looked startled, and again put his sandwich down without taking a bite, “safe? Girl, don’t you know that they can climb trees a hell of a lot easier than any human? Faster too.”
     Brit felt the blood drain from her face, “you’re teasing me right?”
     He shook his head, “no I’m not teasing. Most times a black bear won’t bother with you, but on occasion you get one that is just mean or real hungry. And sometimes if you run from them they think you must be prey and they’ll run you down.”
     Brit stared at him in dismay, “you mean that bear could have climbed up there and got me?”
     He grinned and reached across the table to pat the back of her hand, “well, he didn’t. You’re safe now.”
     Brit leaned back and fought to keep the sandwich down, “why?” she blurted.
     “What?”
     “Why were you there? At that moment? How did you know?” she whispered, just now realizing that if he hadn’t been there, she would now be dead.
     He smiled and chewed his mouthful of sandwich and swallowed before answering, “I picked up your tracks on the road. I was following you when I heard you start to scream. I hurried a bit then.”
     She sat blinking her tears away and then the dogs started barking. Whitey got up and went to the door.
     “Is the bear coming?” Brit whispered behind him.
     “Naw. That’s my son coming in. He’s been out moving cattle back on the range.”
     He stepped out onto the porch and Brit followed. A man on a tall dark brown horse stopped in front of the barn. He stepped down and led his mount inside. Eight of the black and white dogs milled around greeting one another with whines and short barks.
     They waited while he tended to the horse and then came toward the house slapping dust from his clothes with his wide brimmed hat. He looked to be an inch or so taller than his father with long, thick, black hair loose on his shoulders. He came closer and Brit’s heart lurched and started to flutter wildly. She could feel her face heating up.
     This is what a cowboy should look like. Tall and sexy with broad shoulders, narrow hips, great long legs and a deeply tanned handsome face, wow! A smile lifted his wide humorous mouth below his long straight nose and then he turned his incredible blue eyes on her, she thought she would melt on the spot.
     He nodded to his father but kept watching her. She saw those eyes sweep up and down her well rounded body clad in her skin tight jeans and form fitting jacket. She saw the appreciative gleam appear and the slow smile lift his wide mouth even more. Her heart gave another funny little skip. Oh man! Am I having a heart attack?
     “Everything okay?” his father growled. Brit saw him glare at his son and then turn to give her some of the same. She wanted to fan her face but didn’t dare.
     His son glanced at him and smiled, “yeah, everything went fine,” he nodded in Brit’s direction, “we got company?”
     Whitey nodded, “Brit this is my son Tim. Tim this is Brit. She got lost. When your mother gets back we’ll send her home.”
     Brit nodded hello, she didn’t trust her voice at the moment. To give herself time to recover she addressed the older man, that seemed safer, “when will she be back? Don’t you have another car?” Even so, her voice sounded breathless.
     Tim laughed, it sounded very much like his father’s, “not running. She might be back in a couple days, or it might take her a week. She went to get a new axle and gear box for my truck.”
     “A week!” Brit hadn’t thought of that, while spending a week with this gorgeous hunk had a definite appeal, she wanted to get out of here, back to the city.
     “Do you have a phone?  Maybe I can call someone to come get me and I should get hold of my family and let them know I’m okay. Just in case my friends,” she grimaced, “decide to tell them a bear ate me or something.”
     Tim frowned, “you have a run in with a bear?”
     Whitey roared as he sank down on the top step, “I found her about to kick the shit out of that old grizz that has been hanging around. Poor old guy didn’t know what to make of her.”
     “She what?” Tim stared at her, his mouth hanging open in shock.
     Whitey wheezed and wiped his steaming eyes, “she was running straight at that big old bear waving her little bitty sleeping bag at him, he...she...” he collapsed laughing as tears streamed down his face. “Never seen anything so funny.......”
     Tim stared from his father to her and then grinned, “that old bear would have eaten you...”
     Brit interrupted, “yeah I heard, right down to my last squeak.”
     Both men were roaring with laughter as she turned and stamped back into the house and slammed the door. She went looking for a telephone. She searched the kitchen and living room and had just entered a study or office at the end of the hall when Tim caught up to her.
     He stopped in the doorway behind her and she glanced over her shoulder, “don’t you have a phone?”
     He didn’t speak, just reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a cell phone and handed it to her. Her hand brushed his big calloused fingers as she took it from him and a tingle ran all the way up her arm.
     She blinked twice and looked down at the sophisticated looking cell phone. Her eyes rose to meet the gentle blue eyes regarding her. She could almost forgive him for laughing at her.
     “You get good reception, way out here?” something seemed to be lodged in her throat.
     He nodded and cleared his throat, either in sympathy or his throat had closed up too, “it’s a satellite phone, I get good reception anywhere in the world.”
     He turned and led her back to the living room, “have a seat, you can make your calls from here,” his voice sounded normal again.
     Brit clenched her trembling hands together over the phone, desperately thinking of a way to keep him there, just a little longer, “how do you know this works anywhere in the world?”
     His smile let her know he knew what she was doing. She felt a blush rise up her throat.
     “I’ve tried it from Egypt, northern China, the outback in Australia, Siberia and a few other places too.”
     Brit knew her surprise showed in her face, “you’ve been to all those places?”
     He shrugged, “yeah, I’ve worked at digs there. I’m heading for South America next.”
     “Are you a geologist?”
     “Archaeologist,” came the quiet reply, “at least I will be when I’m finished university.”
     “Oh wow,” Brit breathed. He looked nothing like what she imagined an archaeologist would look like. She thought maybe I better check them out when I get back to university.
     He smiled and his eyes sparkled, “what? You thought I was just some country bumpkin?”
     Brit felt her face flame, “well, yeah. I guess I did. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that, you do live way out here with your parent’s, right?”
     He laughed, “it’s a great place to live. Don’t you like it?”
     Brit shrugged, “I don’t know. I thought so at first, it’s so peaceful and quiet. But then the bear scared the shit out of me and my friends all deserted me and I tried to walk out but I went in the wrong direction. Then I ran into that other bear and your dad rescued me,” she paused and rolled her eyes, “to his never ending amusement. So...no, so far it hasn’t been all that great.”
     His incredible blue eyes darkened and she saw something stir in their depths. He wants me flashed through her mind and she straightened her shoulders.
     “Well I’ll just have to show you how good it can be, maybe you’ll change your mind,” his voice sounded deep and rough and her breath quickened. She decided that she liked men with deep rumbling voices, it sent shivers up her spine.
     Her heart pounding, she looked him straight in the eye and widened her expressive green eyes just a touch. He grinned and blushed. She knew he got the message, that she was willing, more than willing. But then he turned and left without a word.
     Brit watched him leave, confused and a little angry. Men just didn’t turn away from her open invitation like that.