of dread swept over my body. “Were – have you been spying on us? Were you watching us have sex?”
The wild man tilted his head sideways at me. “I was not. I caught his scent from downriver.”
“You…” I was at a loss for words. “You…could smell him…?”
For the first time, the nude man seemed to smile from amusement. “Oh, yes. I still can, in fact – he claimed you quite thoroughly. I’m surprised that you’re unable to scent him yourself.”
My cheeks were hot with sudden embarrassment. John and I hadn’t used birth control in years – not since the vasectomy. I hadn’t had a chance to clean myself up…so the strange man’s claim wasn’t impossible to believe. The thought of others knowing that I’d been…claimed…sent a wave of disgust through my body.
“I…I see. I don’t really know how to respond to that.”
“No response is necessary,” the man said. He held his hands out in a welcoming gesture, and I noticed that he kept himself groomed rather nicely. His fingernails were trimmed and there was no obvious sign of dirt or mud covering his exposed flesh. He looked cleaner than I was, honestly.
“Then…what do you want?”
The man looked at me as if I were crazy. “…you, of course.”
All too late, the pieces clicked into place. The nudity, the wanton desire in his eyes, the bold way he spoke to a stranger…it was all desire on his part. He didn’t want to talk to me – he wanted to fuck me. I’d heard about crazy hermits who lived out in the woods that took advantage of careless hikers, but I’d never imagined I’d be one of their victims.
“I don’t want you,” I said, trying to keep my voice even. I couldn’t get upset – that might only make the stranger angry. “I have a husband – a mate. I really ought to be getting back to him.”
“Neither of us want there to be a rivalry for your affection. I am more than willing to fight for you, though, should the need arise.”
My heart froze in my chest at his words. If there was going to be some sort of brawl, John would be wrecked by this massive wild man. An accountant by trade, my husband was not what I would have called ‘buff’. Hell, I was pretty sure that I could take him down if the need ever arose to do so.
“You don’t even know who I am,” I said, trying to change the subject. “How can you expect a woman to want you if you don’t care what their name is?”
The man cocked his head sideways at me, apparently confused by my response. “What is your name?”
“Anna,” I replied in a small voice. The man scared me, but there was something else gnawing at me…something about the way he looked into my eyes. I couldn’t place the feeling, but I didn’t like it. “What about you?”
“Colt,” he said, puffing his chest out proudly. “The youngest of three.”
“Really?” I had no idea what that meant, but it sounded important. “It’s, uh, nice to meet you, Colt.”
His head cocked sideways at me once more. “Likewise. Now…shall we go?”
“Go where?”
“With me, of course.”
His words jarred me out of the trance I’d been in, and I was finally able to break away from his gaze. It was like taking a breath of air after being underwater for a long time. “I’m not going off with you!”
“Yes, you are.”
I shot a defiant look in his direction, an action I immediately regretted. His eyes were like magnets, drawing me in. “All…all it would take is one scream and everyone within a mile would be on top of you. My husband may not be strong enough to take you down, but with help…”
“It is a moot point,” Colt said, unconcerned by my threat. “Because you will not yell or draw attention to us.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because you want to come with me.”
A thousand protests died on my lips as he stepped across the stream and held out his hand to me. I stared at it for a long time, unsure as to why I wasn’t shooting him down right there and then. I