An Extraordinary Match (The Match Series Book 3) by Barbara Dunlop Page B

leaving.”
    “You’re leaving me here alone?” She glanced worriedly from Logan to Elroy and back again.
    “What else would I be doing?”
    Elroy stopped to follow the conversation.
    “Staying here,” she said. “With me. I can’t…I’m not… What am I going to do here all by myself?”
    “You expect me to hang around and entertain you?”
    “No. I expect you to…” She swallowed. “The generator, the propane. I don’t know how to work anything.”
    “She’s scared, Logan,” said Elroy.
    “Of course I’m scared. We’re in the middle of nowhere. There are bears, wolves, who knows what all.”
    “The wolves aren’t going to hurt you,” said Logan. “They’re almost never seen.”
    “ That’s suppose to be comforting? That they’re ninja wolves?”
    “You should stay,” said Elroy.
    “I’m not staying.” Logan wasn’t a fool. Staying out here alone with Jade was seriously playing with fire. “You’re safer here than you are in New York City,” he told her. “A hell of a lot safer here.”
    “She’s got a good point,” said Elroy. “She doesn’t know how to work anything. What if the generator quits? What if a propane bottle runs out? Not to mention a medical emergency.”
    Logan turned on Elroy. “Then you stay.”
    “I’ve got two flights tomorrow.”
    “Maybe I’ve got flights tomorrow, too.”
    “You have other pilots. I don’t.”
    It was a reasonable point.
    Logan turned to Jade. She looked quite terrified at the prospect of being left alone. Her fear was unreasonable. There was absolutely no danger.
    Still, he realized he couldn’t bring himself to abandon her.
    “I’ll stay,” he finally said.
    Her relief was palpable.
    It might have been her smile, or it might have been her tiny exclamation, but something sent a pressure wave bombarding his chest.
    *
    Darkness closed in around the cottage, and the moon rose steadily above the outline of the Rockies. Staring out the front window into the blackened forest, Jade tried to imagine what it would be like to be all alone out here. She’d never thought of herself as a wimp, but the vast wilderness was overwhelming. There might be more actual danger per square foot in New York City, but New York City had police officers and 911 service.
    A mournful howl echoed long and loud across the lake.
    The sound chilled her to the bone, and she twisted her head to glare accusingly at Logan.
    “Those are coyotes,” he told her from behind an aviation magazine.
    “You can’t possibly know that.”
    “They sound different than wolves.”
    “A howl is a howl, buddy.”
    He lowered the magazine. “They’re also at least two miles away.”
    “They are not.” They sounded to her like they were fifty yards away.
    “Chicken.” He chuckled.
    “Sensible,” she countered. “Those creatures have fangs and claws.”
    “They’re about two feet high.” He demonstrated the height with his hand.
    “You can tell that from their howls?”
    The eerie sounds started up again.
    “I can tell that from seeing them in the bush over the years.”
    She moved to the sofa and sat down. “I think they’re wolves.”
    “I know they’re coyotes. Teeny, tiny, little coyotes.”
    She gave a shrug, knowing there was no point in arguing any further. “They can still easily jump as high as my throat.”
    “You want to go outside and listen?”
    She startled. “ No . Is the door locked?”
    “It doesn’t have a lock.”
    “Why not?” Who on earth didn’t lock their doors?
    “What would be the point? Wildlife can’t operate a doorknob, and if somebody’s stranded out here, we want them to be able to take shelter.”
    “What if somebody wants to rob the place?”
    “Then they’d break a window, open the door and rob the place. A lock’s not going to stop them.”
    Jade hated to concede again, but he was right. There was nobody around to hear a thing, which was yet another point in favor of New York City. If you screamed, people would