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way could she out paddle a bear, and didn’t bears swim? Nothing ventured from the darkness beyond what she could see. She shouldn’t have pissed off Lynx. Why would he just leave her like that?
    What was she going to do if he didn’t r eturn?
    She rotated in a slow circle, scanning the thick trees. She didn’t even know which way was home.
    Who was she kidding? This wasn’t home. It was another planet and all the people here, aliens.
    She’d chosen to move here. She could leave.
    Not for another two years. She’d signed a contract in exchange for an impressive bonus and the cost of being moved up here. She really needed her head examined.
    Another rustling and this time her eyes went wide with fright.
    There was something out there!
    She hadn’t imagined those eyes. It was a dog ... or a wolf. Oh God. Was she going to be eaten?
    “Hey.” Lynx appeared from behind her.
    She screamed. He jumped a few steps back.
    “What was that for?”
    “T-there’s a w-wolf out there.” She pointed to the trees.
    He followed her finger.
    “Well, he isn’t there now. I doubt there’s any wildlife within a hundred miles after that scream.”
    He stuck a finger in his ear as though to help with the ringing.
    She tossed him the blanket and grabbed her jeans off the branch. “Get me out of here.” She struggled into the damp denim, but by God she got them on. Her socks and shoes were next.
    “What about lunch?”
    “No way. I’m not taking the chance of being lunch.”
    “Eva, calm down. There is nothing out there.”
    “Where the hell did you go, anyway?”
    “I needed a ... minute to cool down.”
    “Are you freaking kidding me? You left me here alone in the wilds because you needed a minute.”
    “Yeah.” He tightened his lips. One hard look and he gathered up her lifejacket, tossing it at her and grabbing the backpacks. “Fine, I’ll take you home.”

Chapter Eight

    “The woman is nuts,” Lynx said, slumping on the barstool in his sister Raven’s kitchen. It had been a few days since the failed canoe trip, and he needed to figure out a way to get Eva talking to him again.
    Much like his house, Raven’s was built of logs, with a loft above the kitchen area, leaving the living room open with a cathedral ceiling. But her place overlooked the Chatanika River with floor to ceiling windows. She had a stunning view. While his cabin was more nestled in the trees. Cozy and hidden.
    “Really?” Raven raised a brow over the mug of tea she held to her lips, her long black hair pulled up into a clip. She was dressed in jean overalls with smears of clay all over the fabric. She supported herself and son Fox with her pottery and spent a good portion of her day in the studio connected to the cabin. “Is she nuts or driving you nuts?”
    “Both.”
    “Hmm.”
    He hated it when she did that. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you worked up like this over a woman. Heck, over anything.”
    She had a point. He was normally a very patient kind of man, but he could have w rung Eva’s neck this afternoon.
    “You know, you shouldn’t have laughed,” Fox piped up from the couch.
    Lynx had thought the kid was playing a video game or something. He knew better than to underestimate that Fox could keep track of a conversation while he fought some virtual war in a far off galaxy.
    “You should have seen her.” Lynx chuckled at the memory, all his anger evaporating into nothing. “Damn, she was cute.”
    Fox set down his game controller, shut off the TV, and turned to face Lynx. “You need to apologize.”
    “Me?” He glanced from Fox to Raven.
    Raven smiled and patted his shoulder. “Fox is right.”
    “B-but—”
    “You laughed, making her feel like an idiot, and then you left her alone,” Fox pointed out. “She’s not from around here. She’s probably never been alone like that in her life.”
    Damn, the kid made sense. Lynx wasn’t going to get into Eva’s bed with her