great beginning, don’t you think?”
“Yes.” But he was hard-pressed to keep his eyes on the picture when the bounty of beauty that was a joyful Kitty Grant stood right there.
“Isn’t it gorgeous?” she breathed, her focus on the subject of the digital picture. “It looks so delicate, but here it is, surviving trampling wildlife, frigid nighttime temperatures, and spring rainstorms.”
“Not all things that look fragile can be destroyed.”
She tilted her head back to look up at him, her expression still more natural than he’d seen it since she’d come home, but with a thoughtful narrowing of her eyes. “You’re talking about me now, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Two years ago, I would have argued, but here I am,” she said in the same tone she’d used to refer to the wildflower.
Out of nowhere, the desire to kiss her slammed into him with more power than a bull moose charging a rival. There was so much meaning in those words; they impacted him at a visceral level no other woman had ever touched. That place in his soul that realized Kitty Grant’s survival had not always been guaranteed. Yes, here she was , but she might not have been.
The need to connect in a primal way, affirming the reality of her presence, nearly overcame him. He could almost feel her silky lips under his, swore he could taste the sweetness of her mouth.
She cocked her head to one side, her red curls glowing bright in the on-again-off-again spring sunshine. “Is something wrong?”
He shook his head. If he opened his mouth, he’d blurt out something better left unsaid.
He didn’t do casual sex with local women and he couldn’t have anything but casual with Kitty Grant. She was the one woman he refused to consider a future with.
There was as much chance that she’d leave Cailkirn for the lure of the big city again than that she’d stay. A bigger chance, if he was laying odds and being realistic.
Besides, for all her smiles now, this fragile woman had a long way to travel back from broken.
“You’ve got a strange expression on your face,” she mused.
He could only be grateful she didn’t recognize pure, unadorned desire when she saw it. She never had back in the day, and several years of marriage had not improved her perceptivity on that score.
Which made him standing like a simpleton while she reached up to cup his cheek about as stupid as he could get in that moment.
“You always were the best this state had to offer and you still are Taqukaq MacKinnon.” Her words worked where all his self-control might have failed.
He jerked back, stepping away to put some distance between them. “The best of home wasn’t good enough for you, though, was it?”
There had been a time he’d been willing to offer this woman everything. But those days were long past, and he damn well better remember it if he hoped to convince her.
Kitty ducked her head without answering, her sparkle dimming just like that.
He stifled a curse, knowing he could have been kinder. Or just not replied at all, damn it.
She made a production of taking more pictures before setting off along the trail again, her silence of a completely different quality now.
Tack followed her, berating himself for the harsh words. Even if they were the truth.
She stopped every so often to take more pictures of flowers, bushes, a deer through the trees, the sad pall that had fallen over her after his words lifting bit by bit. And the regret that had been riding him for causing her to fall back to her more subdued self dissipated right along with it.
“Do you lead tours on this trail?” she asked when they were a few hundred feet from the overlook.
“It’s on Bobby’s schedule.” Which reminded Tack that he’d need to redo the schedule of available tours now that Kitty would be working for them.
She nodded with a tilt at one corner of her lips, nothing like the grin before but a smile nonetheless. “I thought so.”
“What does that
“Yes.” But he was hard-pressed to keep his eyes on the picture when the bounty of beauty that was a joyful Kitty Grant stood right there.
“Isn’t it gorgeous?” she breathed, her focus on the subject of the digital picture. “It looks so delicate, but here it is, surviving trampling wildlife, frigid nighttime temperatures, and spring rainstorms.”
“Not all things that look fragile can be destroyed.”
She tilted her head back to look up at him, her expression still more natural than he’d seen it since she’d come home, but with a thoughtful narrowing of her eyes. “You’re talking about me now, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Two years ago, I would have argued, but here I am,” she said in the same tone she’d used to refer to the wildflower.
Out of nowhere, the desire to kiss her slammed into him with more power than a bull moose charging a rival. There was so much meaning in those words; they impacted him at a visceral level no other woman had ever touched. That place in his soul that realized Kitty Grant’s survival had not always been guaranteed. Yes, here she was , but she might not have been.
The need to connect in a primal way, affirming the reality of her presence, nearly overcame him. He could almost feel her silky lips under his, swore he could taste the sweetness of her mouth.
She cocked her head to one side, her red curls glowing bright in the on-again-off-again spring sunshine. “Is something wrong?”
He shook his head. If he opened his mouth, he’d blurt out something better left unsaid.
He didn’t do casual sex with local women and he couldn’t have anything but casual with Kitty Grant. She was the one woman he refused to consider a future with.
There was as much chance that she’d leave Cailkirn for the lure of the big city again than that she’d stay. A bigger chance, if he was laying odds and being realistic.
Besides, for all her smiles now, this fragile woman had a long way to travel back from broken.
“You’ve got a strange expression on your face,” she mused.
He could only be grateful she didn’t recognize pure, unadorned desire when she saw it. She never had back in the day, and several years of marriage had not improved her perceptivity on that score.
Which made him standing like a simpleton while she reached up to cup his cheek about as stupid as he could get in that moment.
“You always were the best this state had to offer and you still are Taqukaq MacKinnon.” Her words worked where all his self-control might have failed.
He jerked back, stepping away to put some distance between them. “The best of home wasn’t good enough for you, though, was it?”
There had been a time he’d been willing to offer this woman everything. But those days were long past, and he damn well better remember it if he hoped to convince her.
Kitty ducked her head without answering, her sparkle dimming just like that.
He stifled a curse, knowing he could have been kinder. Or just not replied at all, damn it.
She made a production of taking more pictures before setting off along the trail again, her silence of a completely different quality now.
Tack followed her, berating himself for the harsh words. Even if they were the truth.
She stopped every so often to take more pictures of flowers, bushes, a deer through the trees, the sad pall that had fallen over her after his words lifting bit by bit. And the regret that had been riding him for causing her to fall back to her more subdued self dissipated right along with it.
“Do you lead tours on this trail?” she asked when they were a few hundred feet from the overlook.
“It’s on Bobby’s schedule.” Which reminded Tack that he’d need to redo the schedule of available tours now that Kitty would be working for them.
She nodded with a tilt at one corner of her lips, nothing like the grin before but a smile nonetheless. “I thought so.”
“What does that
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