Page 21 of Wolf's Chance

“Where have you been?”

A smirk pulled at his lips. “Keeping tabs on me?”

Wiping my brush on a folded paper napkin, I scoffedloudly. “An impossible task since you seem to disappear as easily as smoke.”

He was beside me now, his earthy scent tingling my nostrils. He smelled of freshness and pine.

“Looking for me that hard, were you?”

I could deny it, but what was the point? “We have more to talk about.”

Caleb sniffed, looking to the door. “Do we? You don’t have the answers I need.”

“I could?—”

His dark look made me shut my mouth. “Woman, you don’t even understand the questions.”

“Thenhelpme understand.”

He raised his hand to push his hair back, and I scolded myself for noticing how large his hands were. The man was just…big. My mind took that step. My eyes flicked downwards just below his belt buckle, and I looked away before he noticed that I had just checked him out.

Caleb wasn’t looking at me. He was paying particular attention to a framed sketch I’d done last winter. It was a simple piece, the top of a mountain, scarce of vegetation in winter, and a lone deer tearing the bark from the trunk of an old, withered tree.

“You see many deer around these parts?”

“There are enough. They come down off the mountain if the winter is harsh.”

Our eyes met briefly when he shot me a skeptical look. “You look tired.”

“The day must end with ay.” The corner of his mouthturned up, but he said nothing else. “Why are you here?” I asked him as I watched him study all the art on the wall.

“Your customer service skills are lacking,” he admonished, reaching forward to straighten a framed landscape, this time in oils.

“I have excellent customer service when I have acustomerin front of me.”

“We can agree to disagree.” He’d moved to the farthest painting on the far wall. He studied it for a long time before turning his head and fixing me with his intense stare. “You see many wolves?”

“They’re there.”

“Where?” His sharp stare unnerved me.

“On the mountains.” I shrugged. “I can hear them howling sometimes.” I’d known him for such a short time, and using the termknown himwas an exaggeration, but the alternative was to refer to him as the man who gate-crashed my life. Watching him watch me, seeing that he doubted me—again—I got off the chair and went to stand beside him.

“Never heard wolves down here.”

“Then you’re not listening with your ears,” I snapped at him. “Why do you think the deer are rarely seen?”

Caleb turned to face me, his expression unreadable. “Why?”

“The wolves hunt them.” His snort of laughter only irritated me more. “Why are you here? Again?”

“Passing by.”

“Another lie.”

Caleb fixed me with that stare of his. “That’s bothered you,hasn’t it?”

I wanted to lie down. He exhausted me, and I already felt emotionally drained from this man. “Youbother me.”

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