“Mountain lions eat the deer,” Lori said, as though it was the most normal thing in the world.
“You said nothing about wild animals when we talked about this,” Kenzie hissed to Tucker.
“There’re bears, too.” Clint went on.
“Not alongside the road though,” Lori reassured.
“Oh my God.” What kind of hell had Tucker brought her to? She preferred human monsters over animal monsters.
“Don’t worry about the bears, dear. Just make lots of racket if you see one. Avoid the cubs. They’re cuter than the dickens, but their mamas get real mean about things.” Lori waved a hand. “You’ll be fine.”
“Tucker, you didn’t say there were wild animals,” Kenzie whispered again with more force.
“They don’t come up to the houses much. You’ll be fine,” he repeated his mother’s words, squeezing her now-cold hand.
Kenzie wouldn’t be leaving the house, apparently.
Her mind filled with gory details of what mama bears did to actresses who got too close to their babies.
“Kenzie?” Tucker asked.
“Hmm?”
“It’s winter. The bears are all asleep for a few months.”
“What about the mountain lions?”
“They’re awake,” Clint interjected.
“How far is Vail from here?” Maybe the vultures at her mother’s party weren’t so bad, after all?
“A few hours east, if the weather is good,” Clint replied.
“You’re not leaving, are you?” Lori turned, her expression concerned. “Tucker won’t let anything happen to you. You can’t leave now. It’s almost Christmas. We need to bake together.”
Kenzie’s heart spasmed. Lori really wanted her there, and not because she wanted Kenzie to do anything for her. Kenzie could get used to that.
“I guess I’ll just stay inside.”
Tucker ran a hand over her hair, tucking it behind her ear. “That can be fun, too.”
Their gazes met, he winked, and her hands were miraculously warm again. As was the rest of her body.
“Yup. Sure can.” Lori started talking with her hands again. “We set up board games by the fireplace, football on the television. The kids on Christmas morning make it all worth it. It’s so much fun.”
Kenzie glanced to Tucker. His lips flattened into a smile. He bit at his knuckles in an apparent attempt to stop laughing.
“It sounds nice.” Kenzie whacked the side of his thigh where it lay under her coat.
Tucker snatched her hand and made a slow move of lacing his fingers with hers. Her pulse thrummed. His thumb traced figure eights on the top of her hand, setting every nerve in her body on alert.
She had a feeling board games had nothing on inside games with Tucker.
* * *
Well,his parents had thoroughly wigged out Kenzie.
They turned the corner to his driveway. Darkness had settled over the mountain, the moon making the crystals in the snow shimmer. The truck passed under the Bandit Ranch sign that hung across the entry to his property—a large log on each side of the drive and one across the top with the sign on hinges, marked his official return home.
