Page 12 of Raul
“That certainly doesn’t narrow down who might have warned our wayward camper to leave due to our presence,” Erica said, starting toward the campsite. “Well, whoever was here is gone now, and evidently no nesting dragons were bothered.”
“I guess Calevan dragons can’t read signs,” Raul said with a slanting smile. “They don’t know they’re supposed to nest in that meadow.”
Erica returned a quick smile, but she wondered. Maybe the trespassing camperhadscared the dragons away from their ideal nesting ground. That pissed her off.
“Is your assistant going to report the abandoned campsite to theguardas forestales?” Erica asked.
“Yes,” Raul said, turning his head to study her for a moment. “You’re concerned about something.”
“That meadow is perfect for the dragons’ nests, and there aren’t many as appealing in this area of the mountains,” Erica said. “It’s strange that no dragon is using it when we’re right in the middle of mating season.”
“So what are you thinking?” he asked, coming to a stop.
Having those intense blue eyes boring into her made her thoughts scatter. “I don’t know exactly. It just worries me.”
“We’ll see what the forest rangers discover,” Raul said, gesturing for her to precede him where the path narrowed.
Back at camp, she made sure to put Raul to work filtering and boiling water over one of the two camp stoves while Pascal worked at the other one.
“Beef stroganoff, pork and rice, Texas chili, or chicken with quinoa and veggies?” Erica held up the pouches of freeze-dried food for Raul to see.
He eyed the offerings with mock horror. “No filet mignon and lobster tails?”
“I’ll go catch some crayfish in the stream,” she said. “But we don’t have butter to dip them in.”
He gave a crack of laughter. “I’ll take the chili,por favor.”
She handed him the pouch. “Good choice, although all of these are pretty tasty for backpacking meals.”
“You chose them?” he asked.
“No, your chef taste-tested them all. These were her top four.” Erica held up the remaining three. Mikel’s people had also checked every package to make sure it wasn’t poisoned. It was tougher to be a prince than people realized.
After the hot water was mixed in and allowed to heat and hydrate the food, Erica beckoned Raul to follow her. She had laid cushions on top of a couple of boulders near the edge of their site. “You can sit here and enjoy the view while you eat,” she said.
Dario and Pascal had declined her invitation to sit with the prince. They were concerned about potential trespassers and were patrolling the perimeter of the campsite.
“What do you think of the chili?” she asked.
He swallowed. “It’s not bad at all, although it would be better washed down with beer.”
“Beer is heavy and not essential like water.” Although she knew plenty of backpackers who hauled it along anyway.
“Maybe we could have a case air-dropped in,” he said with a grin. “Along with some butter for the crayfish.”
“I thought you wanted to get away from it all,” Erica said.
His smile vanished. “My father wanted me to get away from it all,” he muttered before shaking his head. “Forget I said that.”
“Did you say something? I didn’t hear it.” But she couldn’t forget that revealing flash of honesty. The prince didn’t want to be here. Why not?
He polished off the last of his chili and pinched the pouch closed. “What about dessert? Some crème brûlée perhaps?”
“Tonight’smenú de postresoffers double chocolate chunk or cookies-and-cream protein bars, washed down withagua de las montañas,” she said in her best imitation of a snooty waiter. In truth, they all needed extra protein to keep their strength up for the hiking and climbing. She held out her hand for his pouch and fork. “I’ll be right back.”
He surprised her by not objecting to her waiting on him. She placed their pouches in the trash bag, dropped their utensils into a bucket to wash later, and retrieved a selection of palace-made protein bars from her backpack.
When she returned to the prince, the setting sun painted the sky peach and pink with matching colors streaked across the distant ocean. The fading light turned Raul’s sculpted profile golden where he perched beside her. Another shiver of attraction shook her. He took a protein bar without even looking at the label and ripped the wrapping open before he blew out a long breath. “I’m probably biased, but I think Caleva is the most beautiful country in the world.”
