I hold back a laugh, merging the twisted sound into something bittersweet. If I’ve read her wrong, I’ll find out what sort of woman she is soon enough.
“All of it.”
Lanie half turns toward me, her gaze flicking up and back. “Are you kidding?”
I raise one shoulder and drop it. “Technically, Coyote Falls stops where the town starts at this end. Here. That bit there…” I point the boundary out. “That part is Jed’s. And it stops in the other direction…” I wave a hand to the north. “Somewhere up there. Where the trees end and the mountains start.”
“You’re serious?” She swivels in my arms, pressing her hands lightly on my shoulders.
I study her face thrown into relief by the sliver of sunlight cast over us. Herwide eyes return my gaze as I shove the seed of doubt deep. “I’d say scout’s honor, but I never got to be a scout. Will the word of a rodeo rancher do you?”
One who owns all that land?I feel like an asshole testing her, but I’ve been caught out too many times in the past. That doesn’t stop my stomach from knotting as I search her eyes.
“Do you have falls there? Coyotes?” Lanie’s brow dips in the center. “I can’t imagine owning anything like this. Staying in one place terrifies me, but you have so much freedom.” Her voice softens, so quiet that I barely catch the end of her words.
She really does hate the idea of being tied down—that’s interesting. I coil a garnet curl around one finger and then tuck it behind her ear. Coyote Falls might be big enough to deal with her fear of being confined to a single location. Maybe if I can show her what I love about the land, it will be enough to convince her.
Lanie turns back to face the vista, letting me wrap myself around her a little tighter.
“You want to see it?”
“Hell, yes.” Her hand rises to clamp over her mouth. “I mean, if you want to share it with potty mouth me.”
I laugh softly as I nuzzle the skin behind her ear. I flick my tongue out to lick along the tender skin at her throat as she leans back into me and sighs.
“I want.”
The trip back through the cool forest is a whole lot faster than the trip in. Maybe it’s having Lanie at my side, or just near me. Her presence is different from the boys at the ranch. Less intrusive. She’s just…there.
Nor is our silence awkward. Still, I cast about for something to say as we meander back, knowing the sound of the town will intrude on our peace soon. “I haven’t seen coyotes for a while now, but there’s definitely at least one pack of wolves. You could probably tell me if there’s more than one.” I aim for a casual tone.
Her hand tightens around my fingers. “You’d let me do that on your land? You seem kinda protective of it.” She looks at me sideways through her lashes.
I snort.More than you know.
A secret smile plays on her lips. “I might disappear for days. Or more.”
Both of my eyebrows shoot for my hairline. “Do I mind? Seeing someone interested in my land does things to my head. Good things.”
“I’m not much of an indoorsy person, really,” she murmurs, studying her blue boots that look like they might be the only new thing she owns.
The girl is everything I want in my life but had no idea I needed. “You must hate living at Winnie’s,” I say with a laugh, unable to skip the derisive note that filters into my voice.
Lanie freezes. Her eyes flick up, then past me. I frown, already a half step in front of her. My momentum carries me forward as she darts behind me, heading toward the tree line.
A shadow moves there, beyond the behemoth trunks, the slightest waver of light between the darkness. Something heavyset, something that shouldn’t be there. A warning builds behind my lips as she peers deeper, raising two fingers to wave me back when my feet scuff the dirt and my mouth opens on a shout that never leaves my throat.
Light flickers between the trees a second time. She’s not the only one staring into the darkness, though I’ve long learned to watch the spaces between the trees to find what I seek. A shape, maybe a wolf, but something’s not quite right about the way the thing moves. Light reflects on green, but I can’t focus on anything, and I lunge forward, grabbing for her?—
Lanie flaps her hand behind herself a second time as if to quiet me.
“I didn’t say anything,” I protest in a hush.
“Shh! Look.” She points between the thick trunks, crouching to ground level.
I lean over her, one hand hovering above her back, ready to pull her back if the whatever-the-fuck-that-thing-is decides to launch. I’m not convinced it’s as harmless as she clearly thinks. “I don’t see anything,” I lie again, not quite prepared to admit that just maybe our local con artist has it right this time.
The concept of a dire wolf or, hell, even a rogue wolf in Valiant Peak guts me. But the local population hunting the poor creature down for stealing a few poorly housed farm beasts or scavenging through the town will guther. My breath breaks off abruptly as a shadow, a whole lot larger than it should be, crosses a patch of light.
