Wilderness Passion Read online

  He drew the skillet from the pack, his mouth pursed. “I started stealing. Thank God a cop caught me red-handed. He could have put me in jail, but he didn’t. Instead Hank took me up to a forestry camp and threw me into the world I’ve been a part of ever since. I guess he figured a little bit of hard work and sweat would get the kinks out of my system. He was right.” Dan gave her a strange look. “I know you can’t imagine what it was like, Libby. And I don’t want your pity. I got enough of that wasted emotion from my first set of foster parents.”

  Libby’s honey-brown eyes glittered dangerously with unshed tears. No wonder Dan was so defensive! And yet despite the horror of his youth, he had turned into an incredibly sensitive, caring human being. Swallowing against the tears, Libby reached out, capturing his hand. “Never my pity, Dan. But you have my understanding and compassion.”

  He rose to his knees, his bulk filling the cave. “Funny,” he mused. “I’d expect that from you, Lib. You wear your heart on your sleeve, but there’s plenty of courage there, too.” He leaned over, placing a tender kiss on her lips. Setting the utensil down, he took her back into his arms. There was something beautiful in her expression as he brought her to his body. He didn’t want to get up and leave her. No, his impulse was to make love with her again, this time with the slowness and tenderness she deserved. Last night had been a new awakening for them both. He buried his head against the silken strands of her hair, inhaling her fragrant scent

  “I need you, Lib,” he whispered thickly. Another part of him was shocked by that admission. He had never needed a woman since—He blocked that episode out of his mind, drowning himself in the present and Libby’s welcoming arms.

  Tears glittered threateningly in her brown eyes as she cradled his face between her hands. She felt the prickly growth of beard beneath her fingertips as she tilted her face upward...upward to meet his descending male mouth.

  The kiss shattered her composure, his mouth moving with galvanizing slowness across her waiting lips. He groaned, gripping her shoulders. “Now I’m going to love you like I first wanted to,” he whispered against her yielding lips. Hungrily he nibbled at her lower lip, tracing each corner of her mouth with his tongue, delighting in her total response to his teasing. He gently forced her back down on the sleeping bag, caressing her cheek. A soft smile lingered on his mouth as he undressed, casting his clothes off to one side.

  The morning was chilly and he worried about her catching a cold. Moving beneath the warming folds of the sleeping bag, he brought her back into his arms. She was a Celtic legend come to life. Her hair was in disarray—the sun’s rays slanted in, backlighting her head, giving her an unearthly look that made the moment even more magical. Her eyes... God, her eyes were alive with joy as she reached up, her fingers trailing down his broad chest. He shivered beneath her light touch, shutting his eyes as he felt her hand trailing downward below his waist, stroking his sinewy thigh. “Lib... “ he growled, gripping her. His body was on fire, a throbbing, out-of-control fire for her once again. He exercised iron-willed control over himself, wanting to give her as much pleasure as he experienced beneath her hands and body. Leaning down, he traced the beautiful half-moon curve of her breast. The nipples were hard beneath his onslaught, and he delighted in hearing her moan as she pressed her body insistently against him in response. Taking the nipple into his mouth, he tugged on it gently, feeling her fingers digging deeply into his shoulders. Yes, he thought in the fiery haze that bound them hotly to one another, feel the pleasure, Libby. Feel it and know that I’ve never wanted to please anyone more than you....

  She was trembling, her eyes wide, begging as he placed a series of kisses down her stomach to the silken carpet of gold below it. She smelled incredibly wonderful, completely feminine, a woman of unquenchable spirit and aching, demanding passion. He gently slid his hand between her beautifully curved thighs, thighs that were sleekly taut, without a trace of excess fat. Her flesh was silken and warm to his questing fingers as he sought to bring her to the edge of desire. She melted beneath his exploration, calling his name, pressing herself to him. She was his. The begging look in her eyes told him that as he moved above her. The pleasure that flowed through him while giving her that kind of joy left him dazed in its wake. He slid his hand beneath her hips, feeling her arch in welcome to his forward thrust. A groan came from deep within him as he felt her body welcome him. She was his. That thought tore down yet another barrier that he had so angrily erected more than a decade earlier.

  She was giving, taking, falling into a wonderful rhythm of passion, carrying them beyond any limit he had ever experienced. His heart nearly exploded as he felt her tense beneath him. He pulled her closer to him, increasing the height of her pleasure as she climaxed. He saw tears slide from beneath her tightly shut lids and he kissed them away. Moments later he released the control he had exercised over himself, taking utter satisfaction in the heated depths of her.

  Afterward, Dan kissed her damp forehead, holding her close to him. He placed his hand between her breasts, feeling the wildly erratic beat of her heart. She groggily lifted her lashes, gazing up at him. “You take my breath away,” she whispered softly.

  “I can feel it,” he murmured, placing several small kisses on her eyes, nose and finally her beautifully shaped lips.

  Libby snuggled close, spent, exhausted, deliriously happy and satiated all at once. “I’ve never been loved by anyone like this,” she admitted in a wispy tone.

  “Me, neither,” he admitted. His heart melted as he watched the golden flame in her eyes burning with the fire of life. Flames of passion, he told himself. He raised his hand, smoothing several tendrils of damp hair from her temple. “You bring out the best in me, Lib,” he told her softly. “When you love unselfishly, I have no other choice but to give in return.”

  Libby caressed his cheek, delighting in the prickly touch of a day’s growth of beard. “You’re unselfish, Dan Wagner. You’ve never been selfish as far as I know.”

  He frowned, giving her a pat on her rear. “That’s not what some women have said,” he returned. Unwillingly he looked at his watch. “As much as I want to spend the rest of the day here with you, we’ve got to get moving.”

  Libby nodded. “I know.” There was a note of regret in her voice.

  He tucked her back in after he had eased out from between the covers and dressed. “I’ll put the coffee on. Come on out when you’re ready.”

  After she had dressed, Libby crawled carefully out of the cave on her bruised knees. The rosy hue of dawn made the sky look as if it had been washed clean by the storm the night before. Several colors ranging from the palest pink to a dark crimson stained the early-morning sky in striking array. Libby stood there silently viewing the incredibly beautiful spectacle. She felt Dan come to her side.

  Slipping his arm around her shoulder, he murmured, “Now you can see why cavemen worshiped the sun as a god. Beautiful, isn’t it?”

  She rested against his length, a feeling of contentment rushing through her. “I don’t have the words,” she said in a hushed tone, listening to the clear songs of several birds that were heralding the rise of the sun.

  Dan gazed down at her, thinking he did not have words to describe how he felt about Libby. No longer was she an executive in a white smock, spouting biology like some professor. She was a warm, loving woman whose fierce love of life matched his own. “Come on,” he urged, “coffee’s on and I’m making us a special breakfast of pancakes with dried fruit.”

  Retaining a grip on his hand, Libby wordlessly fell into step at his side, watching where she placed her booted feet. No matter where she looked, the world was clean, silent and inspiring. Never had she experienced such sensations in her walled-up city apartment. How much had she missed by never exploring nature? Suddenly Libby was grateful for Dan’s unexpected intrusion in her life. Hunkering down beside him near the small fire, she poured their coffee. She took pleasure in watching him mix the batter for the pancakes. He glanced over at
her.

  “Why the hell did your ex-husband leave you?”

  Libby sipped her coffee, holding his interested gaze. “Harry couldn’t cope with a successful wife at his side, if you want the real reason.”

  “And the other reason?” he prompted.

  Libby felt no reservations about confiding in Dan. She knew instinctively that her secret thoughts and feelings were safe with him. “He had an affair.”

  Dan’s brows drew downward in silent anger. “The man had to be a complete idiot, then,” he growled, pouring the batter into the heated and greased skillet

  “I think he wanted out, Dan. Maybe he thought that flaunting an affair in front of me would make it easier. I don’t know.”

  “Did you love him, Lib?”

  She hesitated. “I was young when I married Harry. Looking back on it, I think it was infatuation. Something that turns your head and senses all at the same time. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

  A grin edged his mouth as he expertly flipped a large pancake. “I didn’t think straight once myself,” he admitted ruefully.

  “Yeah?” she teased softly.

  “Yeah. Only it looks like you walked away from your marriage without too many scars, and I didn’t.”

  “Were children involved?” Libby asked.

  Dan put the large pancake in her bowl, handing her the syrup and a fork. “No, thank God, they weren’t.” There was a wistful note in his voice. “I wanted them, but Sheila didn’t. It’s probably just as well. It ended up in a messy divorce.”

  “I’m sorry,” Libby whispered, seeing pain in the depths of his blue eyes. She sensed something else but couldn’t quite put a finger on it. “I’m not going to say this very well, Dan, but...”

  He looked up. “It’s all right. One thing I found out a long time ago is that it’s better to talk than to hold things inside yourself.”

  “I just feel a sense of loss or unhappiness around you,” she said unsurely. “You came out of a rotten family situation, then reached out to a woman you probably loved, only to be struck at again. I’ve got to think you’re running scared from emotional commitments because of that.”

  The smile he gave her bordered on a grimace. “You’re right on all counts, Lib. I’ve been divorced for ten years and I’m still gun-shy.” He wanted to add, “Until now,” but it just wouldn’t come out. There was something about Libby that made him want to surmount the walls he had erected to protect his battered heart from a serious relationship with a woman.

  She resumed slowly eating the delicious pancake. “I don’t blame you,” she said softly, her eyes revealing other unspoken emotions. Did that include her, too? She imagined it did. Libby began to question why she had made love with Dan. She had never, in all her life, become so quickly involved. She couldn’t explain the magnetism that existed between them. Later, as they hiked, she would try to examine her feelings more closely.

  “Was it your ex-wife who made you insecure about your background?” She wanted to know.

  Dan nodded, sliding his pancake into the awaiting bowl. He put the skillet aside and joined Libby on the fallen log. “Sheila’s form of punishment was insidious. She knew how to hit a man’s ego.” He shook his head, as if shaking off bad memories. “Let’s get onto happier topics,” he suggested between bites of the pancake.

  Libby took a deep breath, agreeing. There was an intensity about Dan Wagner that had been very evident during their lovemaking the night before. Someday, Libby realized, that intensity might bring her pain. But the privilege of knowing the real Dan Wagner was worth the risk. The price was high, but so were the rewards; Libby decided to throw caution to the wind.

  As the sun rose above the horizon they packed everything and began to map the surrounding country with the use of a forestry chart. They worked easily together, and the hours sped by.

  Over a well-earned lunch of trail mix, orange juice and dried figs, Dan questioned her about her past. “Are your parents alive?” he asked.

  “Yes. Dad’s a doctor in San Francisco and my mom teaches biology at a community college nearby.”

  “Brothers or sisters?”

  Libby shook her head. “No, just me. The spoiled brat”

  Dan smiled. “Were you a brat growing up?”

  “Not really. I was a good little girl who did what her parents expected. That’s why I ended up in biology. Like mother, like daughter, I suppose.”

  “You sound like you’re not sure you made the right decision.”

  Shrugging, Libby said, “Looking back on it, Dan, I would have wished for more latitude in making choices.’’

  “Then you didn’t grow up wanting to be a bug doctor?” he teased.

  She smiled sadly. “No, not really.”

  “What, then?”

  Libby saw the teasing warmth in his eyes and responded to it “Maybe a lady sailor crossing the seven seas—or a veterinarian, because I love animals so much.”

  “Ah, the adventuress in you is coming out again.” His blue eyes danced with devilry. “You might have become a lady pirate or maybe a tamer of wild animals. You have a way with animals, you know,” he said, his voice dropping.

  Libby blushed beautifully, avoiding his gaze, knowing full well that he was referring to their lovemaking. She raised her chin defiantly. “Or maybe I’d want to have become a forest ranger or something.”

  Dan’s laughter rang across the ridge, clear, resonant and sensually disturbing to her. She felt like so much workable clay in his presence; it was as if she had no control over herself.

  “Well, if the last couple of days are any indication of your feelings for the woods,” Dan said, becoming serious, “maybe you had better think of changing professions. You didn’t seem very happy cooped up in that plush San Francisco office you have to inhabit.”

  “You met me after I had survived a horrendous week, Dan. I was at my wit’s end by the time you arrived.”

  He grinned boyishly. “And I didn’t help matters, did I?”

  She shot him a direct look. “You know you didn’t. But I can’t blame you, under the circumstances.”

  He continued to grin. “I’m glad I asked you out to dinner, even though we were both tired.”

  “You have got nerve, Dan Wagner!” she declared, rising and dusting off her jeans.

  He stood. “Listen, even then I was intrigued with the lady who wore that white smock. I wanted to know the real woman in there.”

  “And now you do.”

  Dan took the mug from her fingers. “Not quite,” he hedged. “I’m beginning to know. Discovering someone like you is like walking into Shangri-la.”

  She blushed again. “Come on!”

  “Just take the compliment, Lib,” he ordered.

  Making a mock curtsey, Libby laughed with Dan. “You should have been Sir Galahad,” she accused, walking with him back to the map.

  “Only if you’ll be my lady,” he answered seriously, catching and holding her wide brown eyes. “All you need is a long dress and you’d fit the fair-damsel image.”

  She giggled, kneeling down near the map and picking up her notebook. “You don’t need a thing to fit the image of a knight in shining armor, believe me,” she returned earnestly.

  Dan grimaced, bending down next to her. “I’m a tarnished knight at best, with a bad record, Lib. Don’t be so quick to put me on any pedestals. I fall off mighty easy.”

  7

  LIBBY WATCHED AS Dan stowed the last of her luggage aboard the light Cessna airplane. Where had three of the most marvelous weeks of her life gone? Even she noted the difference in herself since she’d trekked through the wilderness with Dan. She had arrived looking pale and thin. She had come out of the Salmon River Mountains darkly tanned, her flesh firmed up, a new confidence radiating from her and a new light of enthusiasm in her golden eyes. And Dan Wagner had been responsible for it.

  A sadness enveloped her as she met Dan’s blue-eyed gaze. How different the man was now from the way he had been the
first time she met him at the Challis airport. There was a boyish quality about him now. No longer did he keep that tough facade around him. Her body still tingled from their lovemaking earlier that morning. They had arrived back the night before, sleeping in his double bed in the mobile home that served as his residence at the construction site.

  Dan walked up to her, his face becoming unreadable. He led her around to the other side of the plane while the pilot climbed into the cockpit. “Give me a call to let me know you arrived home safely, Lib,” he ordered. His grip tightened on her arm and he gently swung her around to face him. He saw the pain of their parting in her guileless eyes, eyes that he could drown and lose himself in forever. They had agreed not to kiss goodbye in front of the other employees.

  “I will,” Libby murmured, swallowing back tears.

  Dan gave her a reassuring smile. “It’s been a fantastic three weeks. Three of the best weeks of my life.”

  “Mine, too...”

  Dan compressed his lips. “Go on,” he said softly, giving her a small shove forward, “before I lose my ironclad control and kiss you anyway.”

  She nodded miserably, turning away and climbing up into the cockpit. When would she see Dan again? Her job did not normally include weekly or even monthly trips to a job site. Libby felt her heart wrenching in anguish as she lifted her hand in farewell, the plane rapidly taxiing away from the ramp, leaving Dan standing there all alone. Well, she had asked for it. She had thrown caution and her heart to the winds of fate. As a result, she had three of the most beautiful weeks of her life to keep as memories. But she wanted more. Much more. And she knew without a doubt that she had fallen hopelessly in love with Dan.

  The flight back was long, increasing her loneliness because there was nothing else she could do but think...think of Dan, of their laughter, their love and their nonstop happiness. Had it all been part of the mighty forest’s spell? Had they both been enchanted by the druids and druidesses Dan liked to talk about? She loved to lie on her stomach near the campfire each night as he spun story after story about those mystical beings who had walked the earth at an earlier time in history. Or was Dan a druid himself?