The Runaway Montana Bride by Joan Kilby

Author:Joan Kilby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance
ISBN: 9781952560101
Publisher: Tule Publishing Group, LLC
Published: 2020-08-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Lilou slept fitfully after Garrett left and awoke the next morning mired in a jumble of emotions—grief over Simba going missing, hope that he might come back, gratitude that the others had helped search for him, guilt that she’d made the trek harder for everyone.

Garrett had been so comforting last night. More than comforting, she admitted to herself. When her tears had finally been spent, the mood had changed and she’d been aware of him as a man, a highly desirable man at that. She’d been tempted to unzip her sleeping bag and invite him to stay the night. He’d felt it, too, which was why he’d left. She appreciated he was a gentleman but she was also pleased to know he desired her.

She was getting worried though that her attraction to him was apparent to the others. Infatuation was hard to hide, especially in a small, isolated group of people. She would have to try harder to maintain a distance between them.

Outside, she could hear sounds of activity in the campsite. Maybe Simba had come back and was nosing around the campsite even as she lay in bed brooding. She imagined him running toward her, putting his paws on her legs and licking her when she bent to pat him.

Quickly she dressed, removing her thermal underwear and pulling on hiking pants and a sweatshirt. Emerging from her tent, she saw Brad putting a kettle onto the portable camp stove and lighting the gas element. Blue flames whooshed up around the base of the kettle.

Gwen, camera slung around her neck, was looking into the topmost branches for birds. Amy was seated on a log, poring over a topographical map. Dave was doing his morning pushups, clapping his hands beneath him every time he came up. His green smoothie, a concoction of protein powder and spirulina that he mixed up every morning sat ready on a nearby stump.

No Simba.

No Garrett, either. He was usually the first to rise and get the coffee going and breakfast started.

“Where’s Garrett?” Lilou asked Brad.

“Don’t know,” Brad said. “He’s not in his tent, not down by the river. No one’s seen him this morning.”

“That’s weird,” Lilou said. “I wonder where he went.”

Amy looked up from her map. “We thought you might know.”

Lilou eyed her warily. “Why would I know?”

Amy shrugged but didn’t meet her gaze. “No reason.”

Had Amy found out that Garrett had been in her tent last night? A trickle of anxiety ran down her spine but she brushed that away. So what if she had? She and Garrett hadn’t done anything wrong.

Lilou went to the small mirror hanging on a tree that the men used to shave and the women to comb their hair. Her eyes were puffy and red-rimmed from crying, and her skin was blotchy. A red bump on her cheek had arisen from a mosquito bite. She looked so awful that she had to laugh. Not even makeup could fix this ugly mug.

A glance at her watch told her it was after seven o’clock.

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.