She giggled, and her arm went easily around his shoulder. “Must be coincidence,” she said in a dry tone that echoed his. “Did he make you go fishing?” Sarah wanted to know. “And sit around for just hours?”

Lee watched Hunter’s brow lift before she answered. “Actually, he did, ah, suggest fishing several days running.”

“Ugh” was Sarah’s only comment.

“But I caught a bigger fish than he did.”

Unimpressed, Sarah shook her head. “It’s awfully boring.” She sent her father an apologetic glance. “I guess somebody’s got to do it.” Leaning her head against her father’s, she smiled at Lee. “Mostly he’s never boring, he just likes some weird stuff. Like fishing and beer.”

“Sarah doesn’t consider Hunter’s shrunken-head collection at all unusual.” Bonnie picked up the teapot. “Are you having some?” she asked her brother.

“I’ll pass. Sarah and I’ll go and break camp.”

“Take your wolf with you,” Bonnie told him as she poured tea into Lee’s cup. “He’s still on my hit list. By the way, a couple of calls from New York came in for you yesterday.”

“They’ll keep.” As he rose, he ran a careless hand down Lee’s hair, a gesture not lost on either of the other females in the room. “I’ll be back shortly.”

She started to offer her help, but it was so comfortable in the sunny, cluttered kitchen, and the tea smelled like heaven. “All right.” She saw the proprietary hand Sarah put on her father’s arm and thought it just as well to stay where she was.

Together, father and daughter walked to the back door. Hunter whistled for the dog, then they were gone.

Bonnie stirred her tea. “Sarah adores her father.”

“Yes.” Lee thought of the way they’d looked, side by side.

“And so do you.”

Lee had started to lift her cup; now it only rattled in the saucer. “I beg your pardon?”

“You’re in love with Hunter,” Bonnie said mildly. “I think it’s marvelous.”

She could’ve denied it—vehemently, icily, laughingly, but hearing it said aloud seemed to put her in some kind of trance. “I don’t—that is, it doesn’t…” Lee stopped, realizing she was running the spoon handle through her hands. “I’m not sure how I feel.”

“A definite symptom. Does being in love worry you?”

“I didn’t say I was.” Again, Lee stopped. Could anyone make evasions with those soft doe eyes watching? “Yes, it worries me a lot.”

“Only natural. I used to fall in and out of love like some people change clothes. Then I met Fred.” Bonnie laughed into her tea before she sipped. “I went around with a queasy stomach for weeks.”