Wild Men of Alaska 04 - Wild Men of Alaska - Four Book Bundle

boring her to death. “How about I show you a part of the Refuge? It’s supposed to be nice today.” Which could change faster than a woman changed her mind. “I could take you on a tour, so you can get a feel of the place you are now calling home.” When she didn’t look like she was going to agree he added, “Show you the lay of the land so that you don’t get turned around so easily, and find yourself lost in your own backyard again.” That did it. He saw the shift in her eyes as she accepted his challenge. So she was the type who couldn’t turn down a dare. That was handy information to have.
    “How long will we be gone?”
    “A few hours. I’ll pack a picnic lunch. After all, I do owe you dinner.”
    “That you do.” She smiled.
    The movement focused his gaze on the lips he couldn’t stop thinking about.
    “Okay, you’re on,” she said.
    Now who was laying down a challenge?

C HAPTER F IVE

    “I thought you said ‘land’?” Eva asked, staring at the canoe beached on the bank of the Chatanika River.
    “Best way to get a feel for the place is by boat.”
    “This isn’t a boat.” A boat had a motor not a paddle, and seats not planks.
    He laughed. The sound and the way he tipped his head back charmed her in a way that she couldn’t explain or begin to understand. He was so different from any other man she’d been attracted to. But then the others had never measured up when it counted. He was big enough and tall enough that he could probably measure up to anything.
    She glanced back at the paint-scraped, dented, weary-worn canoe. Yeah, she’d give this a chance. Just like she realized, she’d give him a chance.
    “Okay, what do I do?” she asked.
    “First—” he held up a yellow lifejacket “—you have to put this on.” He held the vest out for her like a gentleman holding a coat for her to slip into. Once she had the lifejacket on, she faced him, looking down at the zipper and clips, not knowing what to snap, zip, or buckle first. Turn out that wasn’t something she needed to worry about as he went about securing the lifejacket tightly to her torso. His hands were all business until he finished with the belt around her waist, then they fell to her hips and just stayed there warming her from the inside out. His eyes met hers, and heat simmered between them. Just like that her internal temperature rose, and she wanted the jacket off. Wanted to strip all her clothes off and his too.
    His nostrils flared, and he leaned closer, stopping just before his lips would have taken possession of hers. “If I kiss you, we won’t be canoeing.”
    A large part of her was perfectly fine with that. Another, the more sensible part— damn it —insisted she step back. “So...” She bent down and picked up a paddle. “Show me how to work a canoe.”
    He cocked his lips in a smile that had her wishing she’d taken him up on that kiss instead of the canoeing. But if she was going to live here in the wilds of Alaska she needed to know a few things. From what she could tell, people did a lot of outdoor activities.
    Like canoeing.
    “Second rule of thumb. Do not stand up in the canoe. When you feel comfortable enough with everything else, I’ll show you how that can be safely accomplished. Just know that if you stand up, you will most likely dump us both in the water. Third, we don’t want to be dumped into the water. Average temperature of the river is roughly ten degrees above freezing this time of year. By the end of summer it might be fifteen degrees above freezing.”
    “I have no plans to get wet.”
    “I’ve heard it before. Let’s just plan it now and hope for the best.”
    “I’m not an idiot. I know what hypothermia is, and I have no plans to experience it first hand.”
    “Good. Fourth—”
    “How many rules are you going to name? This is going to take all day.”
    “You want to learn as we go?”
    “At least we’ll be going somewhere,” she muttered.
    He pursed his lips.
    Guess she’d pissed him off. She was good at doing that. Impatience was one of her strong suits.
    “Here.” He handed her a can of bug spray.
    “There’s DEET in this thing. Have you heard the statistics of what it can do to you?”
    “Less harm than the mosquitoes you will encounter today.”
    “You’ve got to be kidding me?”
    “One of the ways they used to punish a criminal back in the gold rush days was to tie the perp naked in a canoe and launch him on the Yukon. The man would jump