The skirmish with the wolves had been even worse. At least back in King County, Erin had known where the man with the gun was, and she’d been able to determine from what direction a bullet might come. With the wolves, she’d been surrounded, and an attack could have come from any angle.

“You okay?” Wyatt asked.

Firelight illuminating her face, she turned toward him and said, “Just shaken up. It’ll be a while before I can relax and go to sleep.” She drew her shoulders up in a shrug. “I didn’t live near wilderness areas as a kid like you did. I love it up here.” She gestured at the darkness that surrounded them like impenetrable walls. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s beautiful. But the most dangerous dog I ever encountered in King County was a miniature schnauzer with an attitude problem. Those wolves are gigantic, and as regal as they look in photographs, there’s nothing inspiring about them when they move in on you drooling with hunger.” She lifted her loosely cupped hands. “And I’m still upset about our quarrel. Well, not a quarrel, really. I can’t argue that what I did was right. I can only beg for your forgiveness, and I do that tongue in cheek, because I would be furious if you’d done the same thing to me.”

* * *

Wyatt’s outrage had been snuffed out the moment he’d seen Erin run back into the firelight with a rifle. Instead of walking off his anger, he’d been forced to run if off. Now, he felt calm, as if all his emotions had been deadened. Well, not all his emotions. He still loved Erin. In fact, he was now aware of how deeply his affection for her ran. When he’d believed she might be injured or even killed, all his peripheral feelings had boiled away like steam from a stewpot, and he was left with only an intense love for someone he could never be with. Not if he truly loved her. And he did.

“Actually, Erin, when I look at it rationally, I have to admit that I might have done the same thing.” He took a deep breath. “And now, in retrospect, I’m glad you read the transcripts. You saw for yourself that I’m not a safe bet when it comes to intimacy. And after tonight, you know that when the circumstances aren’t just right, I’m unable even to protect you. You need a better man than I am.”

“What makes you think I need to be protected?”

“Don’t get all bent out of shape and let your father take part in this conversation.” He set his jaw and held her gaze. “Away from the fire, there was no light. For a few minutes there, I was both blind and deaf. I had no idea where you were, and if it hadn’t been for Domino coming to get me, I would have been tearing around out here, looking for you in all the wrong places. You could have been killed.”