It didn’t seem right that he was so happy this early in the morning. An
d the temptation to smile back at him was strong. Lynn watched as he jogged over to his truck, took a shaky breath, and got into her own car.
The drive wasn’t too long, but it dead-ended eventually. The road took a sharp turn, heading over towards civilization, but their way was further into the forest. Lynn got out of her car and waited while Ken grabbed a backpack and carrying case that must all be full of his equipment. He gave her another one of those infuriatingly bright smiles when he was ready.
Lynn tried hard not to melt, and barely succeeded—instead, she jerked her head toward the faint trail and started forward without a word.
As she walked, though, she realized she was trying too hard to be professional instead of girlish. She’d overshot, and come out the other side into rude.
Normally, she was happy to chat a bit, to learn where a client was from, what had brought them to Glacier, what sort of hiking and wilderness experience they’d had in the past. It was gratifying to realize that someone had come from far away, or that they’d spent time in a different mountain range, and to talk about what they’d expected to see here in the Rockies, and what was surprising to them.
Lynn was still fairly sure that Ken knew he was handsome, and that he was probably used to women responding to it. But that didn’t mean she had to sink down to a level she wasn’t proud of. She could still be polite and friendly, for God’s sake.
It wasn’t like he was so beautiful he’d strike her speechless if she looked at him for more than half a second.
So she slowed her pace a bit. She’d been striding ahead on the narrow path, and Ken had been following behind, even though he was clearly in excellent shape, and even burdened with his equipment, could have paced or outstripped her with those long legs.
But he’d stayed politely behind. Lynn regretted her terseness once again.
“Not too much further,” she said as they drew level with one another.
He nodded amiably. “No problem.”
“Can I carry anything?” she offered belatedly.
But he just smiled and shook his head. “I got it. But thanks.”
They emerged from the heavy trees they’d been walking through into a clearing, and Lynn was saved from having to think up a response as they crested a hilltop, looking out over the expanses of the mountains.
The sun was still low, and it lit the snow-capped peaks a fiery pink and gold, casting long shadows throughout the valleys and setting the landscape into a blaze of dramatic contrast. Lynn had seen it a thousand times, and it still stole her breath and left her chest aching.
She looked over at Ken. His eyes were locked on the horizon, his own chest rising in a long inhale as he took it in.
“Well,” he said after a long, long moment. “That’s really something.”
Lynn felt a burst of pride for the place where she’d grown up. “I think so every time I see it.”
She waited while he looked his fill, and when he seemed to blink back to the moment, she pointed out to the north. “We’ll be heading over there. It’s never been logged, so I figure you can take your baseline information there, and then compare it to places that have been.”
“Great,” he said. His voice still had a hush to it, even though he was looking at her now, rather than the gorgeous Glacier vista.
They started off, and this time Ken kept pace with her.
“Have you lived here all your life?” he asked after a minute.
“I have,” Lynn said. “Never wanted to be anywhere else.”
“I can understand why. I’ve traveled a lot of places, but that view is enough to floor anybody.”
Lynn could only agree.
***
Ken was more and more certain that Lynn was a shifter. Back in Cal’s office, he’d thought so, but seeing her out here, in her element, he was sure of it. Despite her short, stocky form, she moved with a fluid grace and strength that he associated with other shifters. More than once, he saw her head tilt at forest noises that were faint enough that he thought a normal human would’ve barely heard them, if at all.
If they’d been anywhere else, he might’ve thought he was imagining it. Shifters were a rare, closely-guarded secret in most of the world. All-shifter military groups like Ken’s old Marine unit were absolutely top secret. But Cal had told him that the area around Glacier Park was unusually full of shifters. That their existence was an open secret around here, and there were several packs running through these forests, living in their human forms in town.
And Ken was almost sure Lynn was one of them.