“That’s kind of a broad question.”
“Yeah, I know. Just wondering if anything stands out to you.”
“Our weather hasn’t been out of the ordinary. Like everywhere, we’ve had years that were too dry and others where we had a problem with flooding.” He scratched his jaw as he searched his memories. “Can’t tell you whether there’s more or less flowers around. There are few varieties I keep an eye out for. As for bees, we had a couple of scientists show up a few years ago to study them.”
“Really?” She handed him a cup of warm, not hot, java, then sat in the other chair with her feet tucked beneath her.
It occurred to him her feet were bare. Unusual for a city girl. “They said they were documenting every species of bee in the region. If they missed any, I’d be surprised. Those guys were devoted to their cause.”
“Do you remember who conducted the study?” Excitement rang in her voice.
He shook his head. “No, sorry. Not off the top of my head. But I think I still have one of their business cards at the office if you’re interested.”
“That would be great. Thanks.”
“Is that why you’re here? To study the environment? I thought you were some big wolf specialist?”
“Wolves are my specialty. They are interesting because I believe their behaviors, or more to the point, changes in their behavior patterns can be an indicator of changes in the environment.”
“What do you mean?”
“They act as an early warning system if you know what to look for.”
“So, what are you doing in the Black Hills? There aren’t any wolves here,” he challenged.
“I think there are,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.
He raised his brow to mock her words, but inside, an alarm went off. “I’ve worked in the park for over five years. I’ve lived in the area my entire life. There are no wolves here.”
She shrugged her shoulder. “I aim to prove that one way or the other.”
Wyatt gulped the last of his coffee and stood. “Well, I hope you don’t leave too disappointed.”
“We’ll see,” she said with a sly smile.
“Thank you for the coffee.” He set the cup on the table. “I need to return to work.”
“So, was this a social call then?”
“Maybe a little of both.” He pulled a business card out of his wallet and slid it under the mug. “That’s my number. If you run into any problems, give me a call.”
“Thank you.”
He tugged the brim of his cap. “Be careful out here.”
“I will.”
With one last look, he headed to his truck. He hated the idea of her staying out here alone. She may have years of experience camping and be able to defend herself in many cases, but a lone female in the middle of nowhere was asking for trouble. Anything could happen.
But it wasn’t his place to tell her otherwise.
Right now, his concern for the pack took priority. Her stay in the park could endanger the secrecy and privacy they’d worked so hard to cultivate.
Drew, their Alpha, would never allow that.
What would Drew do to her if he decided she was a threat? After some of the vicious things his dad had done, pack leadership still made him leery. But it would be worse if Wyatt didn’t report what he knew and things spiraled out of control. Many lives—many families—could be affected, and that he couldn’t live with.
As soon as he got in and buckled his seatbelt, he pulled out his phone. His call connected. “It’s Wyatt. We may have a problem.”
Breakfast was a simple fare of coffee, dried fruit, and cereal. Isabelle rolled the limited information she had around in her head. She needed to charge her laptop battery. It had enough power to record her day’s notes, but that would be about it.
If the clouds stayed at bay, she’d look for a sunny spot where she could leave her solar unit.
As she ran through her list of things she wanted to do for the day, she noticed an odd silence had fallen. She looked as deep as she could into the trees surrounding her. When her trailer wobbled unexpectedly, she set her bowl on the ground and rose to her feet.
The sound of snorting and snuffling drew her attention. When she stepped around the corner of her trailer, she found a bear pawing at the cooler holding her perishable food. It was a large enough specimen that she didn’t want to chance an entanglement.
She backed up, trying to make as little sound as possible. As she crept past the table, she grabbed her cell phone and laptop. She slipped the electronics into her backpack and pulled the strap over her shoulder. She scanned the trees for a suitable host as she slipped away.
At least she still wore her boots from when she had foraged for wood for the fire. It would have been difficult to scale a tree in her socks. She groaned knowing her legs were going to get scratched since her shorts weren’t long enough to provide much protection from the bark.
She could probably make it to her Jeep without the bear noticing, but she didn’t want to miss an opportunity to study it. The tree she picked should keep her out of the bear’s line of sight but still allow her to see what it did. She climbed onto a limb sturdy enough to hold her weight, then slipped her pack off and secured it to a nearby branch. Despite the bark and various knots, she found a reasonably comfortable spot. From where she sat, she had a good view of her campsite.
The bear managed to get the cooler open and ate pretty much everything inside. As it struggled with the cooler, it knocked one of the canopy support rods loose and bent another. It had just turned its attention to the contents of the trailer when Isabelle heard a voice from below.
“You have a visitor.”
Her tummy did that strange fluttery thing again upon seeing Ranger Powell below her. “I do.”
“I’m guessing it isn’t a welcome visitor?”
“Part of me is curious to see what else it will do, but most of me is annoyed I’ll have to reset my camp and go shopping for supplies.”
He looked up. “You want me to run it off?”
“How do you plan to do that?”
He shrugged. “I have my ways.”
She frowned. “You’re not going to hurt it, are you?”
“Only if she doesn’t cooperate or gets out of control.” He headed toward the bear.
Isabelle held her breath as she watched.
Ranger Powell pulled something from his belt as he circled the creature. He seemed to be speaking to it, but she didn’t understand what he said. There were a few growls, but Isabelle couldn’t tell which of them made the sounds.
The two of them danced just out of reach of each other, until finally, the bear ambled off into the brush.
“You can come down,” the sexy Ranger said. “I doubt she’ll be back.”
“Are you sure?” Isabelle looked at the place where the bear had disappeared, waiting to see if it returned.
“Pretty sure.”
“What did you say to it?”
“Say?” He moved closer to the tree.
“Yeah. It sounded like you were talking to the bear. What did you say?”
“The same thing you’d say to a stray dog if it were in your yard. I told her to move along.”
“It didn’t sound like English,” she pointed out.
“It wasn’t.”
“Then what was it?”
He looked up at her with a half grin. “Are you always this persistent?”
“Usually. So, what language was it?”
“Sioux.”
“Really?”
“Afraid so.” He motioned for her to come down. “Toss me your bag, and I’ll help you get down.”
She let her backpack fall into his outstretched hands. He set it on the ground a couple of feet away then held his hands up as if waiting for her to drop into them. Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen.
She turned and laid her belly over the branch, and then she swung down so she hung from her hands. The drop to the ground wasn’t far, but Ranger Powell steadied her when she landed.
“Are you all right?” His nearness sent a fission of awareness zinging through her body.
“I, uh…yeah.” She wiped her hands on her shorts to knock the bark off. “Thanks.”
“You were smart to climb the tree. A lot of people panic and try to scare bears off by doing something stupid like banging on pots and pans. That backfires more than it helps. So, good thinking, Dr. Acker.”
“Thanks.” She slung her backpack over her shoulder. “And just call me Isabelle. Save the doctor stuff for the guy who gives you your tetanus shot.” With a grimace she went to see how much damage the bear had caused. “Just so you know, scientific curiosity outweighed any smarts. I wanted to see what the bear was after and what it would do.”
He frowned. “Please tell me you didn’t leave food out hoping to attract animals.”
She stopped and glared at him. “What kind of idiot do you take me for?”
“You tell me. You said you wanted to see what it would do.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I tried to attract the bear’s attention.” She put her fist on her hip. “Or any animal’s for that matter.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time a tourist did something stupid like that.”
“I’m not a tourist. And I’m not stupid. Thank you very much.” She stomped over to her trailer to see what could be salvaged.
The bear had bent one of the poles but it wouldn’t take much effort to bend it back into shape.
She walked to the backside of the trailer. Her cooler was another matter. It had been scratched and the lid was half torn off and filthy. There would be no salvaging that. Even if she managed to scrub it clean, the lid would probably never seal.
With a sigh she said, “Guess I need to go shopping.”
“There are a couple of convenience stores nearby, but if you want to replace this stuff”—he pointed to the mauled items—“you’ll need to go into town.”
“How far is that?”
“Not quite an hour away.” He tugged on his ear. “Now if you want a big-name place, you’ll be better off going into Rapid City.”
She groaned. “That’s one way to kill an entire day.”
“At least you weren’t hurt.”
“True.” She faced him. “Thank you for chasing the bear away, Ranger Powell.”
“You’re welcome. But if I’m supposed to call you Isabelle, you need to call me Wyatt.”
“All right.” She wagged a finger at him. “If we’re going to be friends now then I feel comfortable saying you shouldn’t have taken such a foolish risk.”.
He shook his head. “You could have stopped at thank you.”
“True. But I’m willing to bet there are very few people who tell you when you’re being a butt head.”
“A butt head? How was I being a butt head?” His eyes were wide with shock.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “By confronting that bear unarmed.”
“Who said I was unarmed?” he grumbled.
“I don’t see a shotgun on you.”
He pulled a small gun-like device out of his belt. “I had this.”
She looked into his outstretched hand. “What is that? A Nerf gun?”
“It’s a Taser.”
“Like what the police use? Wouldn’t a Taser just make the bear mad?”
He chuckled. “A normal Taser, yes. Mine is designed for wildlife. It packs a much bigger punch.”
“I didn’t know such a thing existed.”
“I’m surprised. You’ve spent time in the field. Surely some of your colleagues have something similar.”
“Mavis carried a Taser, but hers looked like an oversized lighter.”
“Those wouldn’t do you much good against a bear.”
“I wouldn’t think so,” she mumbled as she resumed her search for undamaged supplies.
“Do you need any help?”
“I haven’t looked close enough yet, but I may need help with those poles.”
“All right. Let’s see how bad it is.”
They worked together pulling her things out of the way and disassembled the supports the bear had fallen against. Surprisingly, Wyatt was rather helpful. A little bossy. But no worse than her brother.
Each time she brushed up against him, a ripple of electricity zinged through her body.
By the time they finished, her panties were damp and she barely had a leash on her need to explore his tonsils with her tongue. At least they’d managed to return her canopy to its rightful place.
She put a bit of distance between them. “Once again, I appear to be in your debt.”
“I’ll tell you how you can repay me.”
She lifted her brow in question, “How’s that?”
He grinned. “I’m a sucker for hobo breakfast casserole.”
That was not what she expected to hear. Disappointment trickled through her. “Really?”
He stepped close. “It’s been a while since I’ve had any, though. What about you?”
She blinked and tried to focus on what he’d said. “Uh, same here.”
“So, what do you say? Breakfast tomorrow?”
“Um, sure. I could do that.” Butterflies flitted around in her belly.
His smile grew. “Excellent. How about if I bring juice?”
“Okay.”
His amber eyes reminded her of aged bourbon.
Before she knew what was happening, she leaned into him. Their lips met, and her senses went on overload. He tasted minty with a hint of coffee. She melted against him.
His hand slid up her spine and pulled her closer. Tipping his head, he deepened the kiss.
Isabelle whimpered. She’d never been kissed so thoroughly. Even her toes tingled. She gripped the front of his shirt in a desperate attempt to ground herself.
When he pulled away, it took a moment for her eyes to focus. Wyatt watched her with a curious expression on his face.
“I, uh….” She bit her lip.
“I should probably go,” he said gruffly.
She nodded.
Still he didn’t release her. “You need to get to the store.”
She blinked, unable to find any words.
“I need to check a few other campsites.”
“Okay,” she said.
Finally, he took a step back. “Do you think you can find your way to Rapid City, or do you need directions?”
“I, uh, I have a GPS.”
“Good.” He gave her a look that could have melted butter in the middle of winter. “See you in the morning, then.”
“Yes. Tomorrow.”
He turned and sauntered into the trees. She watched until he disappeared then turned her attention to the mess the bear had left behind.
She took a steading breath.