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agreed retreat was the safest course of action. How could such a lovely bird have such a vicious nature? Without breaking eye contact with the swan, he backed up the path, putting a safe distance between them before turning around to walk back to the fork in the path.
    Several minutes later, Kelli wearily sat down next to Logan on an old tree stump. "Good morning, Logan. How’s it feel to still have both your feet?"
    He gingerly wiggled his toes. "Lucky."
    Kelli allowed a small smile to curve her lips before she frowned. "Obviously I forgot to mention the swans to you. They’re off limits. Caer just laid five eggs, and you already met the proud papa, Angus. Normally they are not aggressive, but under the circumstance I’m sure you understand."
    Logan studied her wind-tossed hair and rosy cheeks. Her skin glowed in the bright morning light and her lips were slightly turned down at the corners. He had a sudden urge to kiss that pout away. How would a fairy queen kiss? he wondered. Would it be as soft as a butterfly’s caress, or as consuming as a raging inferno?
    He tore his gaze from her appealing lips and stared off into the surrounding woods. What was he thinking? How could he even contemplate kissing Kelli? She was the enemy. She held some magical power over his family, and he wanted them back the way they were. Now, without even lifting an eyebrow, she was using her "glamour" on him. Well, it wasn’t going to work. Normally he wouldn’t even be attracted to her; not that she wasn’t beautiful, not that she didn’t have a body worth fantasizing about. But she was totally unbalanced.
    His voice was harsh with self-disgust. "Sorry. I won’t bother the swans again. I only came to ask you if it’s okay for me to help Henry cut down some limbs or trees."
    Kelli heard the harshness in his voice, and looked at him, bewildered. "Can you use a chain saw?"
    "Of course," snapped Logan.
    Puzzled by his sudden ill mood she gentled her voice and said, "Thank you. The saw, gas, and safety glasses are in the shed behind the house."
    Logan stood up and glared at her. Where was her backbone? Here he was practically shouting at her and she meekly thanked him. Her large hazel eyes looked at him, confused. An overwhelming desire to pull her into his arms and comfort her raced through him. He shoved his hands deeper into his pockets instead. "You don’t have to thank me. I’m only earning my keep."
    Kelli watched as Logan stomped down the path without a backward glance. A sudden gust of frigid air blew through the trees. She pulled her legs up on the stump, and wrapped her arms around jean-clad knees. What had happened? One minute he was smiling about still having his two feet and the next he was demanding to cut down trees. One minute he looked ready to kiss her and the next he looked as though she had sprouted two heads.
    For one insane moment she wondered what Logan’s kiss would have felt like. She shook her head and laughed. Her imagination really must be working overtime. She must have misread the emotion that flared in his brown eyes. It probably was indigestion.
    Kelli slowly stood up and for a moment stared down the same path Logan had taken. Then she quickly turned and headed in the opposite direction. She jammed her cold hands into the pockets of her jacket, quickened her pace, and muttered one word, "Distance." Logan would be returning to a foreign desert filled with black gold soon, and her life would settle back into its normal hectic pace. They were enemies. Both wanted something the other had, and there could only be one winner. Ruth and Henry were hers. She’d won them when their family had forfeited them. Logan didn’t scare her one bit.
    She refused to listen to the soft voice whispering in her ear, Why are you headed in the opposite direction if he doesn’t scare you?
     
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    Logan pushed the peas around the mound of mashed potatoes and lined them up against the pork chop sitting on his plate. He scowled.