“Josie tried but Jack was on his high horse, staking his claim to this land and letting me know I didn’t belong here. So I told him to thank his lucky stars that my mother had left him here.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, I let him know that living with her had been its own kind of hell. I offered to compare situations any day of the week. Not long after that Jack ordered me off his land.”

  Olivia winced. She could see why the confrontation hadn’t gone well, but she didn’t think Wyatt would like what she had to say about it. He was convinced that dealing with his mother had been as bad or probably worse than being left at a tender age as Jack had been.

  She was on Wyatt’s side in this because he’d made the gesture toward friendship with his half brother. But that gesture would be worthless if he insisted that his life had been more miserable than Jack’s. It wasn’t a contest to prove who had suffered more.

  But she chose not to say all that right now. They were heading up into the forest, Wyatt’s favorite environment. Maybe when he was surrounded by nature he’d be able to open his mind to a new way of looking at his situation with Jack. If he stubbornly held to his current thinking, his cherished wish to unite with his half brother was doomed.

  She hated that prospect for many reasons. It would mean Jack and Wyatt would miss out, but so would Sarah and the rest of the family. Wyatt was a warm and caring man, and he could enrich the family dynamics in so many ways.

  But someone else would miss out, and that was her. Much as she wanted to believe Wyatt would consider settling in Shoshone whether his half brother approved or not, Olivia knew the reality. Jack’s animosity, if it continued, would eventually kill Wyatt’s urge to move his business here.

  As for her, she was in Shoshone for the duration. It was her father’s dream, and she wasn’t planning to leave Grover Sedgewick to his own devices. Ever.

  15

  WYATT DROVE UNTIL HE spotted a trail going off to the left and up a hillside. He and Olivia didn’t have much daylight left, so they needed to set up camp soon. Much as he hated to admit how right Sarah had been, leaving the ranch boundaries to find a camping spot wouldn’t have worked. They’d started too late to be particular.

  Fortunately he had plenty of experience in getting an expedition moving down the trail. After taking the time to switch out his borrowed cowboy boots for hiking boots, he quickly loaded most of the gear on his aluminum rack. Then he parceled out the rest for Olivia to carry in a small backpack. Locking the truck, he pocketed the keys and led the way up the trail.

  Jeans weren’t as comfortable for hiking as shorts, especially new jeans, but he relished the feel of the trail under his feet and the smell of pine and damp earth. He’d brought a fire starter that would help deal with wet kindling. A chill penetrated his cotton shirt, and he wanted a fire to keep them warm as well as to cook their food. He’d elected to leave the stove in the truck.

  He called back periodically to check on Olivia, but she insisted she was fine, so he pressed on. They crossed a couple of shallow streams, using flat rocks as stepping stones. After about forty-five minutes of hiking he found the kind of spot he was looking for. The pine needle-covered area was perfect for pitching the tent, and enough loose rocks lay around that he could construct a small fire pit.

  “This will do,” he said.

  “Oh, thank God.” Olivia sank down on a large rock and gulped for air.

  “Olivia? Are you okay?” Slipping off his pack, he hurried over to her.

  “Just a little…winded.”

  “You should have said something.” He eased the pack from her and dropped it to the ground. “I thought you were fine back there.”

  “Well, I was, at first.” She put a hand to her chest. “And then I kept thinking we’d stop any minute, so I didn’t want to call a halt and look like a wimp.”

  “Aw, Olivia.” He felt like a louse. He’d known that she wasn’t used to this, but he’d been so focused on getting away from the beaten path that he’d accepted her assurances without turning around to really look at her. If he had he would have known she was struggling. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Doesn’t matter.” She gazed up at him. “We’re here in our own private little world now, right?”

  “That’s what I was going for, and yeah, I think we’re pretty much alone up here.”

  “But we need to do stuff before it gets dark.” She started to stand.

  “I’ll do stuff.” He placed a restraining hand on her shoulder. “You watch. In fact, I’ll bring you a glass of wine to sip on while I set things up.”

  “But you were going to teach me how to camp. How can I learn if I sit and drink wine while you do all the work?”

  “It’s not that complicated. Once you observe how it’s done you’ll be able to handle it yourself, no problem.” He returned to his pack and started pulling things out. Eventually he unearthed the wine box and a couple of plastic glasses.

  She laughed. “You’re just trying to make me feel better.”

  “No, I’m actually trying to get you relaxed and tipsy so I can have my way with you inside the tent.”

  “I don’t think you’ll have to work quite so hard to achieve that outcome.”

  “Good to know.” But he tapped into the wine box anyway, filled one of the glasses from the plastic spigot and brought it over. Then he crouched down in front of her. “Your suggestion of camping was a lifesaver. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do once Jack and I had our confrontation, but this…this really helps.”

  “I’m glad.”

  “You’ve been such a bright spot in this whole crazy episode, Olivia.” He looked into her eyes. “No matter what happens, I—”

  “If you’re preparing me for the fact that you’re going back to San Francisco never to return, I don’t want to hear it. Besides, I don’t believe it. You really like Jackson Hole and you’re not that committed to staying in San Francisco. I say screw Jack Chance and make your own plans.”

  He smiled. “I like your spirit.”

  “Fortunately that’s not all you like.” She winked at him and took a long swallow of her wine. “Ah. I think I’ll live.”

  “Excellent news. Sit there while I show off my expertise.” He stood and walked over to his pack. “We camping technicians love doing that, you know.”

  “Then I’ll stroke your ego until you let me stroke something more interesting.”

  His cock twitched and he turned back to her. “On second thought, maybe we should forget about the tent and just sleep under the stars.”

  “No, thanks. This camping virgin wants to feel safe and cozy inside a zipped-tight tent.”

  “Fair enough. So allow me to present our room for the night.” He unrolled it with a flourish. “Lightweight, but capable of providing shelter for…whatever you have in mind.”

  “Hmm. You’ve admitted you spend more time in the woods than in your apartment, and I know for a fact that you like sex, so if this tent could talk, it—”

  “—it would say it is brand-new this season, barely used.”

  Olivia’s gaze challenged his. “So are you saying that this tent has never experienced passion?”

  Wyatt couldn’t help laughing. “Sadly, it has not.” Last year’s hadn’t seen any action, either. He’d have to go back to the tent before that before he could claim one with a sexual past. Or sleeping bags with a sexual past, come to think of it. These had been new last summer.

  “Good.” She drank more wine. “I like that.”

  He hid a smile. If she liked the idea of being the first lover he’d had in this tent, she might be getting possessive, which would be a good sign. It was a short trip from feeling possessive to serious pursuit.

  “First we get the poles in place…” He assembled them quickly and fit them into the pockets in the nylon. “And presto, the tent is gloriously erect.”

  She spewed her wine but fortunately it only went into the dirt and pine needles at her feet. “You said it like that on purpose.”

  “Maybe.” He watched as she licked stray drops of wine from her mouth and his cock twitched again.

  “What’s next?”

  “A couple of self-inflating air mattresses.” He pulled the bungee cords off each one and opened the valves before crouching down and allowing them to unroll on the tent floor. One thing about new denim—it didn’t have much give to it when a guy had a hard-on. He stood, grimacing.

  She gazed at his crotch. “Something else seems to be inflating.”

  “Nice of you to notice.”

  “I know nothing about camping but it seems to me that once you put the sleeping bags on those rapidly inflating air mattresses, which are übercool, by the way, you’re in business.”

  “Well, the tent’s ready, but I haven’t constructed a fire pit or gathered wood or…” He had the good sense to stop listing chores as she drained the last of her wine, set down the glass and started untying her sneakers. He was even smart enough to grab the sleeping bags and unroll them on top of the air mattresses.

  When he stood and turned back to her, he was greeted by a sight that put the ultimate strain on the fly of his new jeans. She’d taken off both her T-shirt and her bra, and was in the process of unfastening her jeans.

  He must have let out a little moan of need, because she glanced up. “Those jeans look uncomfortable,” she said with a tiny smile. “Why don’t you take them off?”

  “Great suggestion.” But before he did that he rummaged in his pack for the item he should have pulled out even before the wine. Tossing the box of condoms into the tent, he proceeded to get naked, but he was slower than Olivia. For someone who had never been camping, she sure did know how to occupy a tent in a hurry.

  By the time he dropped to his knees to crawl in, she’d unzipped both sleeping bags and was nestled on the soft flannel interior like a centerfold.

  He took a moment to admire her lying there. This tent would never look the same to him now. “I think you’re getting the hang of this camping business,” he murmured.

  “I have a good teacher.” Her gaze roamed over him in frank appreciation. “Coming in?”

  “You know it.”

  “Don’t forget to close that zipper thing. I like being close to nature, but I don’t want nature to get too close, if you know what I mean.”

  “I hope that doesn’t include me.” He turned back once he was inside and zipped the flap.

  “Actually, I was just thinking that I don’t know you well enough.”

  “For what?” He glanced back at her, hoping to hell she wasn’t about to shut down all his fantasies about having sex in this tent.

  “I just think I need to get better acquainted with you if we’re going to share a tent tonight.”

  “You want to talk…now?” He could barely contain his disappointment.

  “I was imagining more of a hands-on learning experience.”

  “Oh.” His disappointment evaporated in the heat of her gaze and his heart thudded heavily in anticipation of what she had in mind.

  She patted the sleeping bag next to her. “Lie down on your back so I can get started.”

  He complied because only an idiot wouldn’t follow directions like that. “Is this like when I used to play doctor with Mary Sue Jefferson in first grade?”

  “Sort of.” She cupped his face in one hand and feathered a kiss over his mouth. “Except I venture to say that I will do a better job than Mary Sue ever dreamed of doing.”

  As she began touching him, kissing him and generally rocking his world, he had to agree with that assessment. She became very well acquainted with all parts of his body, especially the part that had been standing at attention ever since she proposed this learning exercise. She licked and nibbled her way around that territory until he regretfully had to call a halt.

  “But I have more to learn.” She closed her mouth over the tip of his cock and sucked gently.

  “Any second now you’re going to learn that my control is shot.” He gasped and clenched his jaw. “And then you’ll learn how long it takes me to recover.”

  She lifted her head and met his gaze, but she kept her clever fingers wrapped around his johnson. “So I have to choose between making you come or allowing us both to come.”

  “That pretty well sums it up.”

  “Let me think about it.” She ran her tongue over her lips as she slid her hand up and down in a motion guaranteed to produce results.

  He grasped her wrist. “Much as I’ve loved this, and I have, I want to enjoy the entire experience, at least this time.” He removed her hand from his cock and rolled to his side. “We can fool around with this program later, but…” rolling her to her back, he moved over her “…I want the whole enchilada, me and you, doing it the old-fashioned way.”

  Her blue eyes darkened and her breathing changed. “I could be talked into that.”

  “Good.” Balancing on his forearm, he reached for the box of condoms. Dexterity proved valuable as he opened the box one-handed and pulled out a foil package.

  “I’ll take it from here.” She plucked it from his grasp and ripped it open. “Now that I’ve mapped the territory.”

  “Just make it quick.” He groaned at the brush of her fingers as she began the task. “I’m holding on by a thread.” The snap of latex was music to his ears.

  “That’s it.” She cupped his face and gazed up at him. “Bombs away.”

  That made him laugh, but it didn’t stop him from burying himself up to the hilt. Laughing and thrusting made for an interesting combination, but soon the laughter faded as incredible friction claimed all his attention.

  Holding his gaze, she arched upward, catching his rhythm and intensifying each stroke with movement of her own. Her lips parted and her breath came in tiny gasps, then whimpers, then cries of pleasure.

  His breath hissed out as he felt her first spasm. “This is so good.”

  She moaned. “Yes.”

  He bore down, picked up the pace, felt his own climax hovering, reined it in. “I hope…we can…do it again…sometime.”

  She gulped for air. “Me, too. Oh, me, too!” She came then, his name a shout of joy on her lips.

  Surrendering to the fierce pressure in his groin, he erupted with a groan of pure pleasure. As he lay there panting, careful not to collapse completely onto her, she sighed.

  “Now the tent has known passion,” she murmured.

  “Yes.” He drew a shaky breath. “It most certainly has.”

  * * *

  WYATT DIDN’T GET THE FIRE built until after dark, but he was enough of a pro to accomplish it using a flashlight. Olivia was suitably impressed with his skills and told him so. This camping gig was turning out to be fun.

  She’d felt quite daring when she’d exited the tent naked as a jaybird, as her father would say. She’d put her clothes back on, though, because once the sun had gone down the chill had set in. Knowing her hair was a mess after rolling around in the tent with Wyatt, she’d tied it back with the scrunchie she’d had the presence of mind to tuck in her pocket before leaving her purse in Wyatt’s truck.

  As they ate spaghetti and drank more wine, Olivia’s thoughts went back to the reason they were here in the first place—Wyatt’s problem with Jack. In some ways, it was none of her business. And yet, it was her business if the feud between the half brothers affected whether Wyatt would move his company to the Jackson Hole area or leave it in San Francisco.

  If Wyatt moved to Shoshone, they had a future. If he stayed in California, they did not. She wasn’t ready to commit to that future yet because she didn’t want another failed engagement on her conscience. But she wouldn’t mind having a fighting chance to create something lasting between them.

  If she and Wyatt were ever going to be more than a fling, his attitude toward Jack had to be addressed before they returned to the ranch. She couldn’t think of a better time than now, when they sat snuggled side by side on a ground cloth in front of the fire.

  Wyatt had set their tin plates aside and wrapped his arm around her waist as they finished their wine. They’d made wonderful love an hour ago and she hoped they’d do it again soon.

  But after another round of lovemaking she expected both of them to fall into an exhausted sleep. It had been an eventful couple of days. She’d sleep better knowing they’d talked this out.

  Maybe he was already rethinking his stance. She hoped so, and she’d start from there. “Wyatt?”

  He pulled her closer. “Ready for bed?” His voice was rich with promise.

  “Not quite.” She finished her wine and set her glass beside her. “I want to ask you something.”

  “Ask away.”

  “Now that some time has gone by, do you have any thoughts about Jack and the Last Chance?”

  He tensed. “I’d rather not talk about Jack tonight, if you don’t mind.”

  She gave a mental sigh. This wasn’t going to be easy, after all. “I do mind. I…I have a stake in this now. I’d like you to move your business here, and I’m worried that after your fight with Jack you’ll reconsider that.”

  He was quiet for a while, but he finally responded. “I won’t lie to you, Olivia. Jack’s behavior this afternoon makes me wonder if I’m just beating my head against a stone wall.”

  “I wouldn’t look at it quite that way.”

  “No? I told you what he said.”

  “Yes, and you told me what you said.” She chose her words carefully. “Obviously each of you has an ax to grind, but—”

  “But what, Olivia? How can I expect to make progress with Jack when all he can think about is my connection to Diana, the woman he hates?”

  “It’s logical that he would. I’m sure he’s still devastated that she abandoned him and chose to raise another family.”