He didn't want to answer any more questions. Well, she probably shouldn't ask any more. She wasn't sure whether those moments in the cold mountains or these last hours beside the blazing fire were the most intimate.
She rose to her feet. “You may have the best part of our deal. I have a hunch I'm not going to be very good at this tracking business.”
“You'll be good. You have good eyes. You're smart and you learn fast. Tomorrow you'll remember everything I've said and it will be harder for me to find you.”
“Until you get close enough to smell me. I'm still not sure I like that idea.”
He smiled. “The teacher has to have some perks. Then the day after tomorrow I'll let you take me back over your trail and tell me how I tracked you.”
“That soon?”
“Like I said, you have good eyes.”
So did he. Ice blue, and yet right now they didn't look cold at all. . . .
“Good night.” She moved toward the bedroom. “I'll try to give you a little more of a challenge tomorrow.”
“Don't try too hard. Believe me, you're a constant challenge, Alex.”
Where was Morgan?
Alex stamped to keep the circulation going in her feet. It had turned colder in the last hour and she was ready to go back to the ranch. It had snowed during the night, and Morgan had called off her tracking lesson because the snow would hide the signs beneath its white blanket. She was surprised how disappointed she'd been when he handed her camera to her and then left her on the hillside. She felt . . . abandoned.
God, how pathetic. Forget the cold. Forget Morgan.
She lifted the camera and focused on the tops of the Tetons, now wreathed in a cloudy mist.
“Are you ready?”
She whirled to find Morgan behind her. She should have been able to hear him on the ice-crusted snow, but she hadn't. “Where were you?”
He gestured to the tree-dotted hill to the south. “I needed to stretch myself.”
“And I was keeping you back.”
“Yes.” He went past her down the slope that led to the ranch. “But you've kept up damn well the last couple days, considering your injury. I ran you hard.”
“Considering my injury? How patronizing.” She smiled. “Even if it's true. Give me a couple weeks and I'll meet your pace.”
“We don't have a couple weeks.”
“I know that.” She had spoken without thinking. The last few days had been amazingly tranquil. It was as if they were caught in a time warp. Maybe it was being surrounded by all this beauty and serenity. Or maybe it was that she wanted to run away from all the turmoil her life had become. “Galen's not coming through for us, is he?”
“It'll happen. I told you, he said Ralph Scott was on his way to Texas yesterday. He gave him copies of the sketches of the two men at the dam. Galen should hear something from him by tonight.”
“Do you know anything about Scott?”
“Only that Galen chose him. That's enough for me.” He glanced at her. “But I'm not going to sit on my ass and hope everything's going to break if we don't hear from him. We've been here too long already.”
“I didn't think you would. You don't impress me as a patient man. I'm surprised you haven't been more restless.”
“Oh, I've been restless.” He looked away from her. “And very impatient.”
Dammit. She felt a wave of heat move through her. It wasn't the first remark he'd made that she recognized as boldly sexual. The sexual tension had been there, ebbing and flowing, ignored but always present.
Morgan wasn't ignoring it now. He wanted her to know, to bring it out in the open.
“It's okay.” Morgan's gaze was once more on her face. “Don't panic. I'm not going to jump you. It's just . . . I need it. And I think you do too.”
“You don't always take what you need.”
“I do. These days I live every day as if it were my last. You never can tell.”
“No, I guess you can't.” She moistened her lips. “But that isn't how I want to live my life. It's a gift and I intend to cherish it.”
“Cherish it. I'm not into making memories. Just come to bed with me. You'll like it, I'll like it, and that will be the end of it. You won't find me hanging on when you walk away.” He climbed the porch steps and unlocked the door. “That's all I wanted to say. What do you want for supper?”
“What?”
He smiled. “Food isn't nearly as satisfying as sex, but it is a necessity. What about an omelette? I'll cook it, but you have to chop up the onions. They make my eyes tear in a most unmanly fashion.”
He was backing away as he always had during the last few days, but it was too late. The words were said, and she wouldn't be able to forget them. He probably didn't want her to forget them. He wanted her to think, to envision them in bed together.