“Perfect. Just let him sniff you,” Marshall whispered.
Snowflake sniffed against the back of Carter’s hand, and Carter giggled. “Tickles.”
“Why don’t you pet his fur?” Lena touched Carter’s fingers, then touched the side of the dog’s face. “He’s really soft.”
There was something different about Lena’s tone. Marshall searched her face for clues of what she was thinking. As he stared, a soft pink touched her cheekbones. Was Lena Rebel blushing? He shook his head and focused back on Carter, who was running his fingers through the white fur. It must just be the way the sun was shining on her face. There was no way that Lena Rebel, the woman who barely tolerated his presence, would blush under his perusal. He shouldn’t be perusing her in the first place.
Carter crawled off of Marshall’s lap and hugged Snowflake just as an older couple emerged from a trail through the woods. The man resembled Bjørn, with his tall, lean, muscled frame and dark, blond hair, while the woman walking hand in hand with him was petite, probably barely over five feet, and obviously of native descent. So, this was where Lena’s exotic looks came from.
“Lena?” Her mother’s hand covered her mouth before she took off running toward Lena.
Lena’s smile radiated pure joy as she pushed off the ground and rushed to meet her mom. From the moment he’d met Lena, he’d found her attractive. When she showed gentle and loving care to Carter, he had a hard time not staring. With her guard completely down and happiness shining from her, she was stunning.
What had made her so guarded and terse? Did he really want to know, since it seemed to have something to do with him? Maybe now that they were done running, he could make her tell him about this elusive organization and what it had to do with him. If he approached it right, she might confess why she barely tolerated him. Granted, she’d eased up on him since the attack, but he wanted more. The desire to see her smile brightly at him had taken root, and no matter how often or forcefully he argued with himself, he couldn’t rip the feeling loose.