Conard County Watch by Rachel Lee

Author:Rachel Lee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-06-06T18:05:46+00:00

Chapter 9

The morning dawned slowly, or at least it seemed so to Renee. When she opened her eyes inside her tent, she wasn’t sure it was morning at all. Yet she could smell the rich aroma of freshly perking coffee.

Gads, Cope must already be up and at ’em. Of course, the thing about camping, which she’d learned years ago, was that your biological clock quickly tuned to the sun. It didn’t take long before you were rising early and falling asleep early. And the thing was, if you weren’t living by the clock, you didn’t even notice.

She quickly changed into some clean clothes. One thing she definitely did not like about camping was having to dress in the morning in chilly, damp clothes. Maybe she should roll them up and put them at the bottom of her sleeping bag the way her dad had suggested so long ago. Who out here would care if she looked like she’d slept in them, not just above them?

A soft little giggle escaped her. Once her boots were tied, she eased out to greet the day.

The sun hadn’t yet risen above the eastern horizon but was busy announcing its pending arrival with streamers of gold and pink. The air smelled so fresh, of pine needles and aging loam, not to mention the fire and the coffee.

“Morning,” Cope said, appearing from the direction of his tent. He’d changed, too, into a bright blue flannel Western shirt and jeans that weren’t already covered with tons of dust and dirt. “Coffee’s almost ready. I waited to start making breakfast until you got up.”

“Thanks. I’ll help.”

In the pale dawn light, barely brighter than night, or so it seemed, he looked almost archetypal. Dressed for the woods, a geologist’s hammer and pick attached to his belt, wide shoulders and narrow hips...

Renee sighed at herself. Could she think of any better way than that to unbalance the team and create tensions? Nope. Getting involved with Cope was bound to put sensitivities on high alert and maybe make some think there was favoritism. No, it was best to put that on the back burner. The very backmost burner. Like out of her mind entirely.

But dang, he looked good.

He built up the fire, poured them coffee and asked, “You in a hurry to eat?”

“Nope. Coffee before all else.”

He laughed. “A woman after my heart. Hey, I was brushing my teeth a little earlier and I remembered a funny experience. A package of cheap toothbrushes arrived at the forward operating base, along with minuscule tubes of toothpaste. But what was so funny was everybody was happy to get a chance at some personal hygiene until they tried those brushes. Have you ever had to pick toothbrush bristles out from between your teeth?”

She gaped. “Seriously?”

“I kid you not. And there was a distinct lack of floss to help with the issue. One guy was threatening to burn them out of his mouth. We dissuaded him.” He shrugged. “I don’t think he really would have, but I can understand his frustration.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.