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hell.
    “I can’t believe I’m in this house again.” She smiled as she glanced around. “I haven’t been back in this area since I was a teenager. I forgot how beautiful the Shenandoahs were.” Her attention was on everything but him. “I see you’ve turned your dad’s old study into an office.”
    Her gaze strayed from the jam-packed floor-to-ceiling bookshelves covering two walls, to the multitude of overlapping maps thumbtacked all over the other two walls, to the clumps of red clay littering the top of his cluttered desk. “Of sorts,” she added wryly.
    Zach’s chest tightened a notch, and his smile wasn’t as smooth as he would have liked. How did she manage that? He actually found himself resisting the urge to sit up straight and take his feet off his desk. It was a bit late for making a good first impression.
    “Have a seat,” he said, motioning toward the chair on the other side of his desk.
    She did. “I see you’ve gone over the case files.” She nodded toward the folders spread on his desk.
    He started to speak, but she chose that moment to cross her legs, and all that came out was a mumbled noise he hoped she took for a yes. He was forced to lift his boots from the desk as the sudden need to find a more comfortable position overruled his determination not to let her dictate his behavior.
    “I’ve already made a few preliminary calls to some friends of mine,” he began.
    “Friends?”
    He looked up. The smile came easier this time. “I do have some, you know.”
    “Imagine that.” The lift at the corners of her mouth softened the sarcasm in her response. “What exactly do these friends have to do with the camping trip?”
    “Well, after looking over the background and medical reports, I realized the most obvious problem we have is overcoming their limited mobility. I’ve got someone working on an idea I had to help fix that.”
    “When I called to tell you that the board liked your idea Friday afternoon, I did make clear that until you’re fully approved, any expense you incur—”
    Zach held up his hand. “I know. Don’t worry about it.” He shrugged. “After all, it’s only money.” Her frownwas disapproving, as he’d known it would be. Oh yeah, it was obvious she thought the world of him.
    “So,” he continued doing his damnedest to ignore the need to shift in his seat again, “do you want to hear my ideas?”

THREE
    Dara gazed steadily at Zach. Even clean-shaven he still looked rugged. When she’d first arrived, he’d appeared a bit weary, as if he hadn’t slept much, either. Looking at him now, she questioned her earlier judgment. His deep brown eyes were animated, and his handsome features were relaxed and totally open to her. She’d already marked off this afternoon’s trip as a major waste of her time—a power play on his part she’d decided not to challenge. But his obvious enthusiasm for the project—one she still had no intention of letting him run—was nonetheless infectious.
    Funny, she’d never been susceptible before.
    Adopting what she considered a healthy amount of wariness, she uncrossed her legs and leaned forward in order to see what he’d written. “Nice parachutes,” she said, motioning to the numerous doodles on the page. “But I doubt the children’s parents would be receptive to you dropping them from planes onto the mountaintop.”
    His laughter was rich, warm, and entirely too appealing.“And here I thought I’d come up with such a brilliant plan. I guess you win.” He affected a wounded sigh. “And I was so hoping you’d love the idea.”
    Dara laughed despite her best attempt not to.
    “Actually,” he continued, “since three of the four kids are in wheelchairs, and the other one has leg braces and uses crutches, I figured I’d better find alternative transportation or backpack the kids up with the rest of the supplies.”
    “So what did you have in mind?”
    “A buddy of mine is going to reconfigure a few buggies,