Chance Encounter(5)

He glanced at his temporary boss. She was huddled on the seat of his Jeep, her arms wrapped tight around her middle, her lips still a most interesting shade of blue, even as her chin was jutted up in the air. Hey maybe she’d get so cold she’d want to go home. He cheered up at the thought. “It’s warm enough in here,” he told her.

She leaned forward and turned on the heater herself, sighing with pleasure when the hot air hit her legs.

He shook his head and concentrated on the road. “You’ll hate winter.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t be here that long.” Her teeth were chattering. “N—not that it’s your concern.”

Only a woman could go from vulnerable to annoying so quickly. “Everything you do while you’re here is my concern.” Which rankled. The last thing he wanted was to be responsible for a lightweight who got cold in sixty-degree weather.

She looked at him with wide eyes the amazing color of a stormy gray sky, and it made him narrow his own, realizing he’d only given her a cursory glance before. Her hair, a wild honey-colored mess from the wind, lay in tangles around her face. Her curvy body was an asset, in spite of her habit of hunching her shoulders, as if she was trying to disappear.

She wasn’t his type. Nope, he liked a woman fast, earthy and as wild as the Wyoming landscape around him. Oh, and let’s not forget overtly sexual. Yeah, someone who enjoyed her body and knew how to use it. Antsy Ally was none of that.

“Why is that?” she asked.

Chance had lost track of the conversation. He leisurely ran his gaze back up to her eyes. “Why what?”

Irritation flickered, and she crossed her arms tightly over her breasts, which only amused him, because now they plumped up nicely, giving him an even better view.

“Why am I your concern?” she repeated.

What was it Lucy had demanded of him? Take good care of my Ally. Her safety and welfare are on your shoulders. Dammit. He promptly forgot about Ally’s breasts and remembered his irritation. “Everything and everyone at Sierra Peak is my concern,” he said curtly.

Her eyes went even wider. “You work at the resort?”

“I am the resort. I’m the mountain manager.”

A sound that was little more than a squeak escaped her before she cleared her throat and tried again. “What exactly does a mountain manager do?”

“Besides report to the GM?” He downshifted to take a tight mountain curve and shrugged. “Anything and everything. I lead treks, plan expeditions. Petition land trusts for more property. Blaze new trails to lure world-class athletes from all over the world.”

“All that?”

“I also set up all the competitive events.”

“Oh.”

“And both the ski patrol and our new biking patrol are under my command, as well as the rest of the staff.”

“So…you do it all.”

“Yup.”

“And what do I do as GM?”

He grinned. “Manage me.”

She stared at him with such horror he would have cracked up if she wasn’t to be his boss, for all intents and purposes, until Lucy returned. To say he didn’t appreciate authority was an understatement.

“So…you probably know how to ski and bike and do all that outdoor stuff really well, right?” she asked.

“Everyone on the staff is an accomplished athlete. It’s a requirement for employment.” He took his gaze off the road and settled it on her. “Unless, of course, there’s some sort of family deal.”

She blushed and nibbled on her lower lip. “Lucy asked me to come.”

He knew that, and had no idea why it bothered him so. Why she bothered him. “And now I’m a baby-sitter.”

Her eyes flashed at that. “I don’t need a baby-sitter.”

“Good. I don’t want to be one.”

“Well then, don’t even think about it.” What looked like years of frustration poured from her as she spoke. “For once I’m going to do what I want, when I want, without worrying about which sister has tuition or which other sister needs me to straighten out one of her messes.” She used her hands when she talked, and he wondered if she used her hands like that during sex.

“I’m going to stop thinking about everyone else and think about myself for a change.” She nodded sharply, as if reinforcing the decision. Her eyes glowed with passion. “I want to do as I please, when I please. If I want to go dancing barefoot in the grass, I will. If I want to go howl at the moon, I will. I’ll go hog wild if I feel like it. Whatever comes my way, I’ll do it.” Then she lifted that stubborn chin and flashed pride out of her stormy gaze. “On my own.”

All that fierceness, mixed in with her obvious naiveté, both terrified and aroused him. Which in turn annoyed the hell out of him. “Fine.”

“Fine,” she repeated, then fell silent through the next set of winding curves, which he liked. Silence was good.

And apparently she’d finally warmed up because she’d stopped hugging herself. Not that he cared that she’d been cold, but now all her nice curves were right there for his perusal, only inches away.

How did a prudish librarian end up with such a lush body anyway?

“Lucy probably finds herself bogged down with paperwork most of the time,” she said eventually. “You know, from behind a desk, right?”