Page 6 of Protected By The Mountain Man

I tried to follow her story, but there were a few gaps.

“What happened to your clothes?”

“They were in the kayak.”

“What happened to the kayak?”

“I don’t exactly know, but I’m afraid it drifted off while I was asleep. I had it pulled up on the shoreline.”

“And you came out here by yourself?”

“Yeah.”

“Doesn’t that seem a little fool-hardy?”

Her mouth dropped open, like she was offended by that. “I can take care of myself.”

“Oh, didn’t mean to offend. I’m sure you can take mighty fine care of yourself, Miss…”

“Mia Brentley.”

Mia. The name suited her perfectly. I tried it on for size. “Mia, why were you napping in the nude with a big storm coming in?”

“That’s not the important question. What the hell is out there in those woods? I heard grunting and growling and some kind of cries that sounded like they were from a horror movie.”

“Make the sounds for me?”

She did her best rendition of the beast and I couldn’t stop myself from cracking up.

“I think those were feral pigs. They’re common out here.”

“So not a big grizzly bear? Or a jaguar?”

“Um, we don’t have either of those. We’ve got cute little black bears and mountain lions that are hardly bigger than house cats.”

Mia started laughing. “Cute little black bears?”

I grinned. “Yeah. About the size of a family pet.”

“Now you’re lying to me. I got on a boat with a liar.”

“Naw. I’m just playing with you. Miss Mia Brentley, this isn’t a pickup line, but can I take you back to my place? There’s a storm rolling in and the boat’s not going to be a safe place for long. We should get off the lake.”

She bit her lip nervously. “Can you take me back to the main shore instead? My rental car’s there.”

I gave her a steady up and down look. “Where are you hiding your car key? In the chip bag?”

Mia shook her head. “The key’s on the kayak which has gone AWOL, but I’ll call the car rental agency and ask if they can deliver a replacement key to me.”

That wasn’t going to happen.

“You do realize you’re on top of a mountain in the middle of the Ozarks, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you rent the car in Fernwood?”

“Yeah.”

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