"With Sandy's aim, light's not going to make a difference," Dozer said.

Sandy crossed her arms and leveled her gaze in return.

"Besides, big bear's going to send a lady running the other direction."

Kristine could see Gloria's jaw tighten. "I've faced off with plenty of bears, and not your timid black bears. I've convinced some intimidating browns that they don't want to mess with me."

Kristine missed most of Dozer's mumbled retort but heard enough to know that he wasn't defining Gloria as a lady.

"If you do have sight on your target," Gloria said, taking back control of the practice session, "try to hit him in a sensitive spot, avoiding the heavily padded haunches and going for the more tender spot just behind the front legs. Aim for the biggest body ma.s.s. Our hay bales represent the barrel of the animal, your most likely hit."

Gloria held the rifle out to Sandy, but Dozer intercepted.

"I'll take the rifle. Sandy's got the kitchen cooking and the cleanup. I protect the camp."

Kristine whispered to Gabe. "What's he trying to prove?"

Gabe shrugged. "You're asking the wrong guy. I think a lady with a rifle is d.a.m.n s.e.xy. You excluded."

She shot a disgusted look at Dozer and said, "Good thing I don't have a gun right now."

Dozer finally fired at the bale, hitting it squarely in the center.

"That's fine," Gloria said, taking the rifle and handing it to Sandy with new casings. "I'd like to make sure that everyone is equipped to scare off nighttime visitors."

"You folks want to move back from the bale," Dozer called to the kitchen and cabin crew.

"Give me your rifle," Kristine said to her brother.

"Oh, no. Not when you look like that."

Kristine set her jaw. "Then at least aim for our bale. Everyone watching him just feeds his fat ego."

"Don't let him get to you, okay?"

"Something wrong over here?" Gloria asked.

Kristine was getting tired of being on the receiving end of Gloria's disapproval. "No problem," she a.s.sured her.

"Don't be a p.u.s.s.y, Teeny," Dozer roared. "It's not even a real bear."

"Shut up, Dozer," Kristine growled.

"Maybe you need the handgun. Do you have enough experience to be handling a rifle like that?"

Kristine couldn't resist. "You want to talk about your experience handling your equipment?"

Dozer sneered and turned back to Sandy and their bear bale.

"Maybe someone should shoot him in the a.s.s," Gabe quipped, loud enough for Dozer to hear.

"Don't tempt me," Kristine said.

"She doesn't have the b.a.l.l.s, man," Dozer replied.

Kristine's eyes blazed at his comment, but he offered her his back dismissively. He had always been the most antagonistic of the cowboys. The worst was when they practiced roping the fake cow they had set up by the cabins. While the other cowboys offered pointers on where to stand or how to hold the rope, Dozer sat off to the side shouting that she threw like a girl. He'd finally gotten her to stomp off in a rage one day, but as she made her exit, he quickly threw a loop at her heels and snapped her off her feet. His laughter and "If you want to be one of the guys, you can't complain when you eat a little dirt" still rang in her ears.

"Teeny's always liked to pretend she's one of the guys, but she knows she isn't," he continued to goad.

The others started to look concerned. Those who had been sharing Dozer's bale moved off to the third, out of the way of both Kristine and Dozer.

"You need to leave a man's job for a real man," he said more directly.

Kristine felt her pulse race.

Gabe placed his hand on Kristine's shoulder. "The bale of hay, sis. The bale of hay."

Gloria stepped closer to Dozer. "You've clearly demonstrated you can hit the target. If you'll please locate any bullets we can reuse, I'll set you up with some new canisters you can load for the next shooter."

Dozer tipped his hat at the three of them. "Ladies," he said, turning with a swagger to his bear bale.

Kristine swiped Gabe's rifle, loaded and ready to go. She knew she should listen to Gabe, knew that Dozer was just Dozer, but she saw the summer stretched out in front of her. Saw herself swallowing all of his bulls.h.i.t with a smile on her face. She was tired of being polite. Tired of pretending that what he said didn't get to her, so she could be "one of the guys." She slowly raised her rifle and took aim.

"Kristine..." her brother's voice seemed far away.

Everything around her faded away except for Dozer as she pulled her trigger and her ammunition found its target, her aim as true as Gabe had implied.

"What the f.u.c.k!" Dozer yelped.

Every head that had been studiously ignoring Dozer whipped to see the large man hopping about the yard.

"Teeny shot me. f.u.c.kin' Teeny shot me. f.u.c.k that hurts," he yowled.

"Ha, Teeny shot herself a bear," Sol said, smacking his thigh with his hat. "My old eyes must be failing me, though, 'cause it sure sounds like a cub crying for his mama."

Everyone guffawed at Dozer's expense as he continued to stomp in pain.

"Suck it up, man."

"Walk it off."

"Let's see it. C'mon, let's see the damage."

Reluctantly, Dozer hitched his pants down, exposing the top of a pale cheek that now had an orange-sized welt with an angry quarter-sized red spot in the middle.

"Oh, that's a beauty," Sol nodded. "It's gonna hurt like a son-of-a-b.i.t.c.h."

"What the h.e.l.l, Teeny. That f.u.c.king hurt. Awe. f.u.c.k. How'm I supposed to ride tomorrow?"

"Let's go, cowboy," Sandy said, taking a swat at his rump, sending him into another hopping fit.

Kristine and Gabe tried to suppress their laughter, though the rest of the crew did not. Even Gloria, after an initial look of shock uttered a soft chuckle before pulling her professional face back into position.

"I think we're through here," Gloria said, shaking her head as she walked away.

Only then did Kristine realize how badly her actions might be viewed. She watched as Gloria strode over to Dozer her professional persona firmly in place. Kristine's rage dissipated, morphing into humiliation.

"I can't believe you shot him in the a.s.s." Still laughing, Gabe punched his sister on the arm.

"Somebody had to shut him up."

"True, he was almost tempting me. And from the look on hot bear lady's face, she was about to take a shot herself."

"I don't know. She didn't seem too happy," Kristine said.

"So you do like her."

"Let it go."

Kristine turned on her heel and walked to the truck they'd shared to drive down to the Lodge. She had been interested in Gloria since the first lecture. She saw in her someone who would provide a nice break from the exhausting crew she dealt with daily, an antidote to the guys who thought she was an idiot for going away to college. She'd hoped she might spend time talking to someone who obviously understood being taken seriously in her career. However Gloria appeared to be looking for a simple hookup, as demonstrated with Ocean.

She kicked herself when she got to the truck and realized Gabe had the keys. She climbed into the pa.s.senger seat and waited for him, bracing herself for more Gabe wisdom. He folded himself into the cab with a smile on his face. "It was a good hit," he said, surprising her. "A nice solid hit. Good to know you could protect us. Truly good to have you back this summer."

Kristine joined him in his laughter, the tension she'd been holding slipping away.

Chapter Ten.

In the camper, Gloria sat at her tiny kitchen table, now covered with area maps and bear complaints from the prior summer. Feeling like she'd made good progress in both addressing the mama bear and her cubs incident, and training Leo's crew in deterrent tactics, she now planned a trip into the backcountry to check other potential problem areas. She wanted to establish a dominant presence before the bears grew more familiar with humans once the hiking season began. Last year's reports showed that Juanita, the ranger for the Fish Creek valley, had lodged several complaints about an orphan bear cub, so she planned to hike the eight miles in from the Lodge. She wanted to investigate whether exposure to humans had habituated the bear and more importantly whether he'd come to a.s.sociate them with food.

Her thoughts drifted from the route she was planning to the coat hanging in her closet. She frowned, knowing that she needed to return it to Kristine. At first, she'd wondered if she would stop by for it, giving them another opportunity to chat, but after the Dozer incident, she wasn't sure what to think. Remembering Kristine's shot brought a short bark of laughter from Gloria. Her professional self tried to be angry, and her emotional self tried to warn her about someone with such a short fuse, but her mirth always won out. What she would have given to see how Dozer fared as he set off on his first trip. She was certain of one thing, that Kristine had been successful in taking the cowboy down a notch.

She heard the crunch of tires approaching the camper. A ranger-green truck pulled up.

"Hey, Mitch.e.l.l. Heading out?" she asked. Scott, the Wilderness and Trail Supervisor had explained that the rangers spent ten days in the backcountry and then four off.

The lanky ranger looked like he spent the winters s...o...b..arding. Despite it being the beginning of the summer season, his face was already deeply tanned with obvious racc.o.o.n eyes from wearing shades. His nose was hooked like he'd broken it a few times and his face had that kind of bored look born from persistent risk taking. He took off his ball cap and folded the brim. He had his s.h.a.ggy brown hair in a messy ponytail. "No, just came in from Thousand. That's generally my area."

"So you haven't been down around Fish Creek?"

"No, usually Juanita has that valley covered. She holds a base camp at Purple. You headed out?"

"There was a lot of activity with an orphan yearling last year. I want to check it out for myself, take some impressions of prints to see if it's just the one or whether there are multiple animals in a small territory," Gloria replied.

"You're going down there on your own? I've got paperwork to file up on the mountain, but I could hike in tomorrow if you want company," Mitch.e.l.l offered.

"I wouldn't want to make you come all the way back down here from Mammoth when you've just come in."

"It's what I love," he said, his head bobbing. "I usually spend my days off hiking around somewhere. It's time off because I don't have to talk to people. Lose the green costume, and I'm incognito."

"Incognito," Gloria repeated, wishing she could extract herself from where this conversation seemed to be going. She wouldn't say she was in the closet, but she didn't enter a new place screaming that she was lesbian, either. The price she paid was figuring out how to deflect invitations such as Mitch.e.l.l's. "It's nice of you to offer, but I've got a routine that works for me."

He nodded. "Have you had dinner yet? I'm on my way up to Mammoth now. We could grab something to eat before you head out."

Gloria didn't want to be rude, but she also didn't want to commit to anything with Mitch.e.l.l. She liked her solitude and rarely sought out social settings, though her indifference to hanging out with Mitch.e.l.l again made her think of how much she'd enjoyed the campfire with the crew at the Lodge. But she had to admit that it was Kristine who had captured her interest.

As if summoned by Gloria's thoughts, Kristine's white truck swung into the campground, country music pouring out of the open window. Gloria felt a weight lift. Mitch.e.l.l tensed when he heard the loud rattle of the truck's engine cut out and the heavy door slam against the old frame of the Ford. They both watched her exit the vehicle and approach Gloria's camper. Gloria wondered if Mitch.e.l.l appreciated Kristine's fluid movements as much as she did. The hat, the belt buckle, the boots. Was this her standard attire, or was she trying to be s.e.xy as h.e.l.l?

"Hope it's okay to swing by unannounced," Kristine said, her tone light and easy.

"Of course," Gloria replied. She knew Kristine was here for her coat and that she could send her on her way quickly by grabbing it from her camper, but she saw a way out of her awkward conversation with Mitch.e.l.l and took it.

Mitch.e.l.l's brows pulled down in confusion. "You pack out of the Aspens, don't you? Your truck's been up there this season."

"It has." Kristine looked from Gloria to Mitch.e.l.l. She rocked to her toes of her boots and then to her heels.

"Guess I'm on my way," Mitch.e.l.l excused himself. "See you around."

"Am I interrupting?" Kristine asked as Mitch.e.l.l slunk off, the hint of a smile playing at her lips.

"Oh, G.o.d, no. In fact, your timing couldn't be better."

"You want some more help scaring him off?" she asked.

Gloria couldn't resist. "Are you aiming for some more target practice?"

A burst of laughter escaped from Kristine's mouth before she caught herself and tried to arrange a guilty expression on her face. Watching her take control of her emotions made Gloria realize how different Kristine had been at the shooting practice. The initial outburst of laughter was the Kristine she'd met, but she'd quickly tucked that lighthearted person away as she'd done on their last meeting. Gloria wondered why she was trying so hard to keep her exuberance in check. "It's okay. Remembering it makes me laugh, too. What are you doing in this neck of the woods?"

"Saving you from Mitch.e.l.l, remember? He doesn't know you're gay...or is the Forest Service that much slower on the gossip?" she asked, her voice heavy with innuendo.

Gloria frowned, trying to figure out why Kristine's att.i.tude had shifted. "Gossip?"

"About your inconvenient bear visitor."

Gloria heard the disapproval in Kristine's tone. "Is that what all the whispering was about at my shooting practice? I'm busting my a.s.s up there trying to make the backcountry safer for my bears, and you all are doing a back-of-cla.s.sroom high school gossip fest about whether the teacher's getting laid?"

Kristine had the grace to blush and shuffle her feet, admitting her embarra.s.sment. "Yeah, pretty much."

"I have to say I'm surprised you got pulled into that. When we talked after the campfire, it seemed like you were saying you wanted some distance from that."

"That's fair." Kristine's face disappeared behind her hat for a moment when she tipped her chin down, like she was studying her boots. She made eye contact again when she said, "But c'mon. You and Ocean? That's pretty good gossip."