B y noon, the winds had shifted out of the north, and Buzz could smell smoke. A call to Rocky Mountain Search and Rescue Headquarters told him the southernmost line of the fire was now only six or seven miles to the north of where they stood. Throughout the afternoon hours, the sky had darkened, casting eerie gray light over the forest. Ash fluttered down from the slate sky like dirty snow, a constant reminder of the danger bearing down on them.
“This is the third time we’ve been through this area.”
Stopping next to the small creek that ran along the trail, Buzz looked over at Kelly and felt that all-too-familiar punch-in-the-gut sensation that got him every time he looked at her. Considering they’d been walking for six hours without food or rest—and with no sign of Eddie—she was holding up amazingly well.
They’d run into another search party near Panther Creek a couple of hours earlier and chatted for a few minutes. Nobody had said what they were all thinking, but Buzz saw it in the other men’s eyes: The little boy should have turned up by now.
“Fourth time,” he corrected and tugged the collapsible water container from his backpack. He drank deeply, then handed it to Kelly.
She took the bottle, but she didn’t drink. “I don’t understand how his tracks could just disappear.”
“Neither of us are trackers, Kel. We missed something. That’s all. We’ll make another sweep. He’ll turn up.”
He saw a fresh wave of worry leak into her features. He was beginning to see the trend. She was fine as long as they were moving. Once they stopped, her mind began to torture her with terrible possibilities.
“Drink,” he said firmly. “I don’t want you getting dehydrated.
Sighing, she raised the container to her lips. Buzz watched her drink, the slender column of her throat moving rhythmically as she swallowed. At some point, she’d removed her flannel shirt and tied it around her waist. The T-shirt she wore was dirty in places and torn at the shoulder, but neither of those things detracted from the slender form beneath. He remembered every curve and secret place with painful clarity. And the way she looked at him when she was aroused, the heat of her flesh beneath his hands….
From where he stood a few feet away, he could see the outline of her bra and the faint points of her nipples through the thin material. She’d never been into fancy lingerie when they’d been married, but he swore he saw the delineation of lace. The image gave him pause, made him wonder if she bought that fancy underwear for someone to see. The thought stuck in his craw like a piece of glass. In the back of his mind, he wondered if she was seeing that jerk back at the campground, if it was serious. He wondered if she realized the man he’d met back at camp was interested in being more than merely her friend.
Buzz knew it was stupid, but the thought of her with someone else ticked him off. Damn near made him queasy. But he could tell by the way Taylor Quelhorst had looked at her that he was definitely interested. Any man in his right mind would want her.
His gaze traveled the length of her as she drank. She was thinner than he remembered, with a little bit more muscle definition in her arms. He wondered if she still liked to run. When they’d been married, she used to get up early and run every morning. Then she’d come home, and if he was still in bed she’d join him and they’d make wild, passionate love. They’d shower together and make love again beneath the spray….
Realizing he was just standing there, staring at her—and that she’d noticed—he eased the backpack off his shoulders and let it fall to the ground.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
He frowned at her, then lowered himself onto a comfortable-looking slab of granite and worked the stiffness out of his ankles. “I’m going to sit down and eat one of these protein bars. I suggest you do the same.”
“We can’t stop now,” she said. “Damn it, Buzz, it’s getting late. We can circle around again. Use the whistle—”
“We’re going to stop and rest for a few minutes.”
“I want to keep going.”
He would have snapped at her if she didn’t look so damn good standing there, killing him with those eyes and all those curves he was a fool to be noticing now. “If you’ve got half a brain you’ll sit down and rest while you can, Kel. We’ve got a long night ahead of us.”
She stood her ground. “I’m not tired.”