“Right you are,” Ken said quietly.
***
The following day, Lynn left to meet Ken with a feeling of trepidation.
She hardly knew what she’d been thinking, yesterday. She’d practically told him her life’s story, with almost no prompting. Where had that even come from?
But he’d listened with interest, and not just interest. Something more. There’d been a sense of…happiness, even wonder, radiating off of him as she’d told him about Grandmother and her stories.
Like just hearing about it had lifted his spirits. Which made her wonder about his family life. Had he been reminded of someone he loved?
Or had he been amazed to hear about it because he hadn’t had that sort of mentor, growing up?
Silly speculation, of course, but Lynn was less hard on herself than she’d been a day or two ago. Ken was turning out to be a better man than she’d suspected at first. He didn’t seem to have the sort of ego she’d automatically assigned to anyone as good-looking and charming as he was.
He was even willing to acknowledge that she knew more about the woods than he did. And not just acknowledge, but actively ask her for help.
And he hadn’t asked her out again.
She’d been expecting, as they worked together, that he’d reiterate the invitation. Men, in her experience, weren’t very good at understanding the concept, No, I don’t want to go out with you.
But he hadn’t. Even now that they’d been getting along a bit better, now that they’d had a personal conversation or two, even—there’d been no, So hey, how about that dinner?
Almost like he respected her ability to know her own mind, and express her own opinions.
Shocking, she thought drily.
And all right, maybe she was cynical about men. But she’d never had any kind of great romance to convince her to be otherwise. Most of the time, she considered herself a realist, not blinded by love like some of the women she knew. Her sister among them.
It wasn’t like there weren’t good men out there. Joel, Nina’s mate. Cal, of course. In fact, the men of the snow leopard pack were, in general, a stand-up group, hardworking and genuine. Which was especially clear when she considered the women they’d ended up with. None of the ladies of the pack would’ve put up with insufferable egos or lazy dickheads.
So good men did exist. They just seemed to be…rare.
But maybe Ken was one.
Maybe. She barely knew him, after all. She reminded herself that they’d spent all of a couple hours together. He could still turn out to be an asshole.
And if he did, it was no skin off her nose.
Right?
Shaking her thoughts away, Lynn hopped out of her truck and started the quick hike through the woods that would lead her to the spot where she’d left Ken.
She remembered that he’d designated a sun-dappled rock as their official meeting spot—free parking!—and smiled wryly. He was a bit of a joker, no doubt about it.
She hastened her stride, remembering that she had to be back at the Glacier visitor’s center at six to meet her first morning appointment, an older couple from Maine who were touring every national park in the country. Glacier was number thirty-seven, they’d told her, and one of the parks they’d most been looking forward to.
Lynn wasn’t going to keep them waiting, that was for sure.
Fortunately, she knew this area well, and it wasn’t long before she was coming up a slope towards the little hollow where she’d left Ken yesterday. She circled a thicket of underbrush and stepped out into a clearer area—
—to the sight of an enormous lion asleep on the rock where they were supposed to meet.
Lynn froze, all of her human prey-instincts shouting at her. Predator! they screamed. Get away!
Her shifter instincts, on the other hand, sat up and purred.
Because this was Ken, Lynn belatedly realized. Of course. She’d already known he had to be a shifter, and it made a thousand times more sense that the lion was Ken, rather than assuming a wild lion had suddenly shown up in northern Montana.