He was wild with curiosity about what her other form was. Part of it was plain nosiness, but also, he just wanted to see her shift, wanted to witness that grace and power in its natural form.
Of course, it would’ve been an unbearably rude, intimate invasion of privacy to ask, so he was going to have to live in suspense. Until and unless they got closer.
Which he would’ve given long odds earlier this morning, given her short answers and mild annoyance whenever he talked. Now, though, she seemed to be softening a bit.
He didn’t know what he’d done to rub her the wrong way. It was unusual for women to dislike him—Ken knew he had decent looks, and he’d spent most of his teenagehood in a concerted effort to learn to be charming. His efforts had paid off, and he could usually make someone laugh within a few minutes of meeting them.
He hadn’t made Lynn laugh yet.
And in fact, she overall seemed to be a very serious person. Even now that she was—maybe—warming up to him. The friendlier attitude had come across in softer, more sincere statements, not in smiles or jokes.
Ken resolved to make her laugh at least once while he was here. It didn’t have to be a gateway to anything else, he reminded himself. He doubted this woman was the sort to enjoy a casual fling of the type Ken was used to.
He’d just…appreciate seeing her laugh. That was all, and that was surely enough.
Another fifteen minutes of good hard hiking brought them down off the ridge they’d been on into a relatively flat forested area. Ken was silently impressed with Lynn’s speed and stamina. He could keep up with her, but if he’d been a human man, even one in good shape, he’d probably have had a hard time.
“I’d say this is the best place for you to start,” Lynn told him, no sign of strain in her breathing. “As far as I know, no one’s logged it, not ever. And we’re outside the official bounds of Glacier Park, so you’re not likely to find much tourist detritus. No settlements ever established near here, either.”
Ken looked around. The woodlands were still dim, as the dawn slowly filtered down through the treetops to the forest floor. The trees were enormous, old growth, the canopy thick. They could’ve been a thousand miles from any civilization, alone in the silence of the woods.
“Thank you,” he told her. “I’ll get started here. And let me show you the map GeoSync gave me, with their understanding of the logging history. Maybe you can point out where is best to go next.”
Lynn nodded. “Let’s see it.”
Ken dug through his pack until he found the folded paper, and spread it out on a rock for Lynn to see.
She glanced at it, a frown appearing between her eyebrows. Ken was struck once again by the delicate beauty of her features, the way her eyebrows arched over those beautiful topaz-colored eyes.
“Well, this is wrong.”
He dragged his attention back to his job. The map, right. He raised an eyebrow. “Wrong?”
She nodded, putting a finger down on the shaded areas. “These are supposed to have been logged a hundred years ago and never since? Absolutely not. There’s been logging done there in the last ten years.”
Her hands were strong and capable, nails cut practically short, no polish. He bet she had calluses. He wondered what those calluses would feel like—
Job. Right. Doing his job. She was looking at him with a challenging expression, probably expecting him to argue that his information was better than hers. Well, s
he was about to be surprised, then. “You’re telling me my company was wrong?” He put a hand to his heart in mock-shock. “Surely not. Please excuse me. I must go have the vapors.”
Her expression changed. “Most people are more confident in their employers than that,” she said, sounding cautious.
Ken grinned. “Oh, I know they did the best they could. But logging information isn’t always centralized or easy to come by, particularly if the land isn’t protected or owned by the government. The research guys would’ve done their best, but even they told me that I’d have to consult with the locals to try and confirm their information.”
And he’d been planning on asking the rangers, but this was…much better. Much, much better. Ken pictured all the time they could spend poring over the map together, heads bent, standing close—
Down, boy.
“Well, I can’t confirm…” She squinted down at the map. “Somewhere between forty and sixty percent of this. I’ll have to make you a better map, I guess.”
“No need to go to that much effort,” he hastened to say. “I’ll get a map, you can run down what you know, and I’ll shade it all in myself. I can manage it, I promise. I got an A in coloring in the lines in kindergarten.”
She frowned at him. “You won’t know how precise to be.”
“We’ll work on it together,” he proposed. “I won’t make you do all this work yourself. I know you’re already going outside of your normal schedule to meet up with me.”
“True.” Blunt and to the point. Ken didn’t know why he found it so charming that she wasn’t making any effort to spare his feelings, but he absolutely did. “Speaking of—” She glanced at her watch. “I have to get going soon.”