Page 38 of The Way to a Cowboy's Heart

“That’s right,” he murmured beside her ear. “Now, slowly reel it back in, giving it a little tug now and then, make it jump across the water.”

“Like this?”

He let go of her hands. “Exactly like that.”

Emily smiled, getting the feel of it now. She reeled and tugged, then—it pulled back!

“Oh! Oh! I think—I think I got a bite!”

He laughed and nodded, talking her through how to reel it in. The fish was much stronger than she’d expected, and it fought her the whole way. Liam grabbed a net and met the trout at the water, scooping it up in a single swish.

It was a beauty of a trout, much bigger than his—maybe a two pounder—and sparkling in the morning light. Liam high-fived her and set about removing the hook from its mouth.

“Wait,” she said, pulling her phone from her back pocket. “I need a photo of this. No one will believe me!”

“Then you should hold the fish. Here, give me your phone.”

She handed it to him and struck a cheesy pose with the fish dangling beside her face.

But Liam’s expression changed with the suddenness of the Montana sky. “Emily. Come here. Don’t turn around.”

“What?” She made a face. And, of course, she turned around.

She immediately regretted it. Her heart nearly jumped in her throat.

Not twenty feet away, prowling in the bushes behind her was a bear. A very big, very brown bear. And not ten feet away from her, another very small bear, waddling in her direction, curious, looking adorable and instantly—with a dread that crawled up her skin—she knew that was not good. She couldn’t seem to make herself move. She was frozen to the spot. “Oh. My. God.”

“Animals are my friends, and I don’t eat my friends.”

–George Bernard Shaw–

Chapter Seven

“Don’t run. Donot scream. Give me the fish,” Liam told her quietly, pulling her toward him by the wrist. “It’s okay. Give me the fish.” He pulled the hook out of the fish’s mouth and held it in his hand as they backed away. “Now. We’re just going to move away from her cub. Right up that way.” He pointed behind them. “We’re going to leave all this gear behind and move right up there.” He pulled her along the bank of the river, keeping his eye on the mother bear who was suddenly standing up on her back legs as her cub ran back to her.

“Nice bear,” Liam said softly. “Good bear. Your river. We’re leaving. See?”

The mother bear dropped to all fours and started toward them with a low growl.

Liam yelled, “Hah! Get back!” which momentarily stopped her. He tossed his creel half-full of fish onto the ground to the left of them. He and Emily edged up the riverbank, but the bear followed in a halting, angry prowl.

“No. No. Here you go. Here’s a big, juicy one for you.” Liam tossed Emily’s trout toward her. The fish flipped and flopped on the grassy bank drawing the bear’s attention.

“Don’t turn around,” he told Emily. “Back up away. Keep going. I’m right behind you.” He pulled a can of bear spray from his belt. “I’ll use this if I have to.”

“Liam—” she whisper-screamed.

“Go!”

She did as he said and backed up the bank, keeping her eye on the bear. She was huge. Bigger than Emily could have even imagined a real bear to be. Her claws looked four inches long. Emily had heard stories about grizzlies killing people in the wild—wasn’t that in Montana?—though she wasn’t sure if this bear was one of those man-eating kind of bears. She didn’t much care at this point. All she could think about was how close that animal was getting to Liam.

The cub ran to explore the willow creel he’d thrown, and the mother bear bounced on her front feet with a final warning growl at them, before turning her attention to their fresh catch. At which point, Liam made his way up to Emily and the two of them backed away from the best fishing spot on the Yellowstone, relinquishing it to its proper owner.

Once out of sight of the bears, they breathed a sigh of relief and hurried fast up the hill toward Deke’s home, with an eye behind them to be sure the bear wasn’t following them. Just as they reached the edge of his property, two huge birds flushed out of the tree near Deke’s porch and flapped heavily toward them, checking them out, before climbing toward the trees by the river.

Her scare meter tilted again.

Out from behind the house came Deke and Jake with concerned looks. “Was that a bear down at the river?” Jake asked. “Emily, you okay? You’re pale as a ghost.”

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