Gloria's voice surprised Kristine. She scrambled to her feet, finding Gloria standing just off the trail. She'd been so absorbed talking to Gary that she hadn't even seen her approach, and she blended into the scene in her green and tan uniform. Her face was flushed from the exertion of the hike, and the pink on her cheeks under her ball cap instantly recalled for Kristine how beautiful she looked post-o.r.g.a.s.m, splayed next to her in bed. Her own cheeks flushed red, so she tried to redirect her thoughts. "I wondered if you'd catch us during lunch."

"When you said you were stopping at Shadow, I took that as a challenge." She shrugged out of her pack and leaned it against a tree before hiking up to where Kristine had been lunching. They sat together in silence for a few minutes, Gloria with a sly smile perched on her lips.

"What are you smiling at?" Kristine finally asked, b.u.mping her shoulder.

"I thought you were s.e.xy in those short cowboy chaps you wear..."

"c.h.i.n.ks," Kristine said.

"Yeah, I thought you were s.e.xy in your c.h.i.n.ks, but that's nothing compared to hearing you give a photography lesson."

Kristine wrinkled her brow, puzzled.

"I think I need a private lesson on release."

The blush she'd been fighting to hide flushed crimson. "I don't think you need any help there, if I recall correctly," she whispered.

"Don't go hiding behind your hat," Gloria said.

"Yes, ma'am," Kristine answered, bringing her eyes back to Gloria's.

"For someone so tough, you sure blush easily."

"I'm not so tough." Kristine studied Gloria, loving how the lake and the sky made her eyes all the more blue. Too tempted to resist, she leaned over and kissed her quickly. She pulled away and slid back into professional mode, scanning the area for her students. "Want my apple or cookie?"

"Apple," Gloria said, accepting the food as well as the segue. "How's your trip shaping up?"

"It's going to be a long one. I don't know where Leo found this woman, Trish, to cook. Her jeans go so high-water when she's in the saddle that they show off all of her hiking boot. Hiking boots on a horse," she said, disgusted. "This morning I wanted to talk to the group about what equipment they'd want to pack in their saddlebags, so I thought she could get the horses ready for the trail. I said, 'You might want to check cinches before we get back.' She gave me this blank look and said, 'Sure. Just tell me which one is Cinches, and I'll check 'im.'"

"You're making that up."

"I wish I was. After our first rest, she asked me if I could make the thingies her feet were in shorter. Shouldn't an employee know what a stirrup is? I don't know what they'd have done if Nan was with them. She didn't know anything about stock." She wished that talking about her job would get her brain to stop thinking about how much she wanted to kiss Gloria again. Gloria wasn't helping at all. As she listened, her eyes kept drifting down to Kristine's lips, increasing Kristine's desire to lower Gloria back onto the soft bed of pine needles where...

"Daggummit!" Nard's annoyed voice rang through the trees. "Teeny! Where the h.e.l.l are you?"

Kristine shot an apologetic look at Gloria as she stood.

"It's okay," Gloria said. "I'll catch up with you guys at the campsite. Thanks for the fruit."

Her expression suggested it was the kiss, not the apple she was thinking about, making it even harder for Kristine to answer Nard's page.

"Teeny!"

Reluctantly, Kristine waved goodbye and jogged down the trail to see what had him so worked up. "Up here," she shouted once she hit the trail.

"What the h.e.l.l? Why are you all the way over here and not with the stock?"

"I've got my students," she said, exasperated. He never would have expected Nan to do more than ride her horse. Since she was already annoyed, Kristine took the opportunity to share her displeasure of the cook they had hired. "I left Trish with the stock. After I showed her how to tie them up since she was just tying a square knot at the base of a tree..."

"Well she's not with the stock, and that Lumpy horse you insisted on bringing is kicking the s.h.i.t out of whatever it is you're riding." He looked pointedly from Kristine up the hill to Gloria. "Sorry to interrupt..."

"When my students are finished with this lesson we'll be along." She wanted to redirect his attention.

"There's no crazy bear up here at all, is there? That was just something the bear lady spun for my dad, so you two could have a backcountry lovefest?"

"You might want to give listening to what she's got to say a try. She's out here because she's worried we're putting people at risk. For starters, we could camp at Gladys instead of Rosalie. These riders could easily go the extra distance today."

"No go. It'll mess up our travel day and layover. We camp at Rosalie."

"You're the boss," she said, hoping her tone wouldn't goad him, not liking the look on his face when she said it.

As she figured, when she and her students returned to the horses, they were fine. Proud that she hadn't bent to Nard's goading, she did consider being more careful about the direction her thoughts so easily traveled. She didn't regret that things with Gloria had progressed, but she reminded herself that now more than ever she needed to concern herself with Nard who felt like the real backcountry threat.

Chapter Twenty-Eight.

Gloria spent the day hiking out from the campsite the Lodge always used by Rosalie Lake trying to determine what direction the bear had headed after trashing the camp. She radioed Rick and was glad that he said he'd stop to check in with her after he was finished up at Gladys. He'd spent the last few days talking to all of the hikers and campers in the area. None reported contact with the bear, which of course Nard took as an all clear. His condescending look said he doubted her competence, and the way he looked from her to Kristine told her that he suspected something between them. Even though she had wanted nothing more than to sit and hash out the day with Kristine, she didn't stay longer than she had to, reluctant to give Nard any ammunition.

As the sun set, she built a small fire to heat up her dinner, and sat jotting in her field notebook. She was spooked enough to have her gun at hand. Instead of making her feel confident about the safety of the campers in the area, the bear's aloofness disturbed her more, adding evidence to her argument that the bear's behavior had changed drastically. Had he returned, she would know that the animal was becoming food-conditioned. This they would treat with rubber bullet spankings or relocation. By not returning, the bear's afternoon camp trashing fell further outside of normal behavior. There was no easy way to tell what was happening with the animal, but of one thing she was certain: his behavior did not seem right. The sharp crack of a stick brought her to her feet, gun in hand.

"Don't shoot! It's me, Kristine."

Gloria let out the breath she'd been holding. "G.o.d, you scared me."

"Sorry. I wanted to chat with you earlier at the campsite, but Nard..."

"I know. He was watching me too." Gloria saw that Kristine's hands were full. "What do you have?"

"Not the world's worst coffee, but close." She handed Gloria the steaming mug. "And some cherry pie. That Jorge made, so you can trust it."

Gloria accepted the offering and sat back down on her sleeping bag, inviting Kristine to join her with the tilt of her chin. She dug in.

Kristine pointed to her notebook. "Anything new?"

"No. I really shouldn't let you keep feeding me like this. You're spoiling me."

"Only child, shouldn't you be used to it?"

"My parents didn't spoil me, just made me independent."

Kristine stared into the fire so long Gloria wondered if she'd said something wrong. "I wish I could say the same."

"You seem pretty independent to me."

"If that were true, I wouldn't have gone back to the ranch after my temp job ended."

"Have you ever considered teaching? I meant what I said earlier about you being a great teacher. You're clearly good at gaining your students' interest, and you sound like you know your stuff. You certainly have the skills. Your pictures take my breath away."

Kristine did her best to hide a smile. "They seem like a good group. I never have considered teaching. I've been so set on a professional career trying to prove that my degree wasn't a total waste."

"Well, I think you should teach. I'd sure like to be in your cla.s.s."

"Yeah, you and your private lessons on release," Kristine joked.

"I'm not joking. And it opens up your job opportunities."

"Great idea. I promise to check it out when the trip is over." Her eyes drifted to Gloria's mouth, and Gloria thought of many things she'd like to check out when they were both back in Kristine's cabin. Kristine seemed to recall her surroundings and changed the subject. "You didn't seem convinced by Rick's read on the bear earlier."

"I wish I could agree that the bear's just stuffed after gorging on the ridiculous amount of food your boss allowed those fools to bring into the backcountry..."

Kristine held up her hands, surrendering to Gloria's rant about her boss.

"But for some reason, I just can't let go of the behavioral shifts. Usually, if a bear found food in a spot, he'd be back, right?"

Kristine nodded in agreement.

"But this bear hasn't been back to visit, and no one has seen it. What if that means the last time we saw it, it had just become sick, and now he's holed up and feeling more and more off? My worry is the next time we see it, it's going to be fully rabid, and I am at a loss for how to track it down on my own."

"What about Rick?"

"He stopped here earlier on his way out. He was finishing up his ten-day run. The bear's activity has started to convince him about relocation, but he doesn't feel we have enough to make it an urgent matter."

"And no bite on the rabies hunch?"

"He's not convinced."

"Let's say that it does have rabies. What chance does a camper have of fighting it?"

"Pretty good if you're carrying a rifle."

"So the rubber bullet setup Trish has is going to do no good?"

"That actually might aggravate attack instead of scare him off. Remember we're talking erratic behavior. You don't have a gun with you?"

"Nard probably has something. I've got my camera," Kristine answered.

Gloria mumbled not very well concealed insults about Leo while she stretched over to her pack and rummaged through it. She handed a flare gun to Kristine. "At least carry this with you, so if you get into trouble away from the group, you can signal for help."

Kristine tucked it into her coat pocket and stood. "I'd better get going."

Gloria rose reluctantly. "I wish you could stay."

"You don't know how much I want to."

Gloria leaned into a long hug. "I think I have a pretty good idea. Two more nights, and I think I could show you."

"I'd like that," Kristine said. "Tomorrow I'm doing a day ride with the group to the lake north of Shadow to do some mountain range work, and then we camp back here another night."

Gloria scowled.

"I know you don't approve. We probably won't see you or your bear friend."

"You realize that's still well within his territory..."

"Yes, I realize. And I'll make it up to you. I'll bring you dessert tomorrow evening," Kristine said.

"It's a date," Gloria said. She watched Kristine's smile travel to her eyes and loved the sparkle she saw there. As Kristine left the light of the campfire, she was quickly swallowed up by the dark night. It was happening far too often for Gloria. Until the issue at Fish Creek, she'd been taking her time writing up her final report for the grant because she wanted to spend more time with Kristine. Now the bear incidents demanded her full attention. She could feel the cold of the night that signaled the end of summer and knew that the Lodge would soon close, and there would be nothing to hold Kristine in Mammoth. Watching her walk away wasn't as easy as it typically would have been in the past when she found herself wrapping up a project.

Chapter Twenty-Nine.

"Let's see what we've got," Kristine said to her photography group.

Gary was already swapping cameras with his brother Rob, who had inherited all of the height but none of the hair. They took their lessons seriously and said very little, so she made sure to have a specific agenda to explore various shooting techniques each day. As usual, they huddled together a.n.a.lyzing the images, frequently agreeing to delete pictures that didn't meet their expectations even though Kristine kept encouraging them to share everything they shot.

The couple, Marilyn and her husband Bill, was the complete opposite, happy for instruction but happier to share and talk about what they captured. Where the brothers looked starched in the gear they'd obviously purchased for this trip, Marilyn and Bill looked like they lived in the mountains. Marilyn's lumpy sweaters and homemade scarves and her crazy, wavy, shoulder-length graying hair made her think of the hippies who attended the High Sierra Music Festival in her hometown.

They usually paired up with the only singleton on the trip, Ida, the closest in age to Kristine of all her guests. The three would huddle around one camera, ooohing and ahhing over the images. Photography was a new hobby for Marilyn since she'd retired from teaching, and while Bill supported her in this endeavor, he was along more for the scenery. His toned frame told of the hours he spent running in their hometown of Napa. Though he had a good eye for photography, he more often watched and encouraged his wife. The group viewed what Ida had shot before he, like a true gentleman, humbly presented his substantially smaller but talented offering.

He reluctantly accepted praise from Kristine, though she had much to give him. They had switched to their telephoto lenses for shots of the Minarets after the more tempting wide-angle shots captured the ma.s.sive mountain range. Everyone had agreed that he'd been most successful in using the lens to flatten out the ranges, giving a very different texture to the landscape. One of the best images of the trip was his extreme close-up of the ridges of the peaks which, removed from the context of the whole mountain, took on the look of abstract art.

Bill waved her over. "Take a look at this one. It's magnificent!"

Kristine accepted Ida's camera and studied the image. "Were you lying on your stomach?"

The young woman nodded, her short light-brown curls bobbing. Though she was the most reserved of the guests, she often shared her radiant, toothy grin.

"I've never thought about framing before, and the horses seemed like such an obvious object to use."

Bill laughed. "I think horses and framing, and one side of my image has them. I don't think I can lie on my belly and make their legs and tummy three sides of the image."

"Really lovely," Kristine said, handing the camera back to Ida. She'd known what to antic.i.p.ate from her students, having kept an eye on the stock during their lunch and shooting activity.

"I never would have thought to shoot from the ground until you said shoot from every angle available," Ida said.