Free Rocky Mountain Lawman by Rachel Lee

afternoon faded, leaving the light flat and unattractive. She hadn’t seen Craig at all that day, or anything else for that matter. But she had hoped, foolishly, that Craig would show up.
    But why would he? she asked herself. After her withdrawal yesterday, he’d be wise to avoid her. No guy could possibly be interested in a woman with that kind of problem.
    But then she scolded herself for even thinking of it. Damn, she’d just been through an emotional wringer over a breakup, finding out her boyfriend thought she was a lousy lover and that he’d been cheating on her. Hadn’t she come out here trying to convince herself she wanted nothing to do with a man ever again?
    She could have laughed at herself for her inconsistency except right now it didn’t feel funny. What the heck was going on with her?
    She felt even more foolish because she had packed up enough of her things so she could accept his offer of spending the night at the cabin. But he’d have to show her where it was, and evidently he wasn’t going to.
    But why would he? She hardly knew the guy, but it was painful anyway. He hadn’t had to make the offer if he didn’t mean it. That seemed almost cruel.
    She wouldn’t have thought him the type, but as she’d amply proved, she was no judge of men. Apparently she couldn’t tell a nice one from a creep.
    Sighing, trying to buck herself up and convince herself not to take things so hard, she finished packing up and began her trek back to her car. The trail through the woods was quiet except for some birdsong and ordinarily soothing, but evidently nothing was going to soothe her today. Silly or not, she was feeling rejected.
    Of course, Craig could have just gotten busy with something he couldn’t just drop. He probably had all kinds of duties he needed to fulfill. Then she wondered why she was making excuses for him. He was just a near-stranger who had been nice to her a couple of times. She had no right to expect more from him.
    She was putting her supplies in her car when she heard a truck approaching. She straightened and watched as a forest service vehicle came around the bend in the road and pulled up behind her.
    It was Craig, and he climbed out with a smile. “I was afraid I’d miss you,” he said cheerfully. Evidently he didn’t begin to imagine the emotional loops she’d been running through as the day passed. Why would he? She was nobody special to him.
    “I was just leaving,” she said. She hated the way her spirits lifted at the sight of him as much as she hated the way they’d spent the day nose-diving because he hadn’t showed up.
    “Did you want to spend the night at the cabin?”
    “I’d been thinking about it.”
    “Good.” His smile broadened. “Let’s get going. Food will be slim pickings, though, since I didn’t get to town.”
    “I filled a cooler with enough for two,” she admitted, now that it seemed safe. Odd to realize that she hadn’t been feeling safe because she had thought he might be avoiding her. That was over-the-top, surely.
    Maybe she ought to just get into her car right now and drive to another state before she grew any more foolish than she already had. But running from things wasn’t her style.
    She followed him a mile up the dirt road until they took a left turn into a narrower, bumpier track that she remembered from the other day. Vaguely. She had only been starting to emerge from her psychological isolation at that point and was certain she couldn’t have found her way back here.
    Dusty was already in his corral, grazing contentedly on rapidly thinning grasses. A water trough near the cabin had been filled, and some kind of feed had been poured into a concrete basin.
    “He looks happy,” Sky remarked as she climbed out of her car.
    “He’s always happy,” Craig answered. “He’s got a good life, plenty of exercise, open spaces and food. I’m kind of like him myself.”
    Maybe so, Sky thought as Craig insisted on carrying everything