He pulled off the road next to a small wooden building that served as a trading post. “I’m not indifferent to my readership, Lenore.”

“But to the critics.”

“I admire the orderliness of your mind,” he said and stepped from the Jeep.

It was a good beginning, Lee thought, pleased, as she climbed out the passenger side. He’d already told her more than anyone else knew, and the two weeks had barely begun. If she could just keep him talking, learn enough generalities, then she could pin him down on specifics. But she’d have to pace herself. When you were dealing with a master of evasion, you had to tread carefully. She couldn’t afford to relax.

“Do we have to check in?”

From behind her back Hunter grinned, while Lee struggled to pull out her knapsack. “I’ve already taken care of the paperwork.”

“I see.” Her pack was heavy, but she told herself she’d refuse any offer of assistance and carry it herself. A moment later, she saw it wouldn’t be an issue. Hunter merely stood aside, watching as she wriggled into the shoulder straps. So much for chivalry, she thought, annoyed that he hadn’t given her the opportunity to assert her independence. She caught the gleam in his eye. He read her mind much too easily.

“Want me to carry the fudge?”

She closed her fingers firmly over the bag. “I’ll manage.”

With his own gear on his back, Hunter started down a path, leaving her no choice but to follow. He moved as though he’d been walking dirt paths all his life—as if perhaps he’d cut a few of his own. Though she felt out of place in her hiking boots, Lee was determined to keep up and to make it look easy.

“You’ve camped here before?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Why?”

He stopped, turning to fix her with that dark, intense stare that always took her breath away. “You only have to look.”

She did and saw that the walls and peaks of the canyon rose up as if they’d never stop. They were a color and texture unique to themselves, enhanced by the snatches of green from rough, hardy trees and shrubs that seemed to grow out of the rock. As she had from the air, Lee thought of castles and fortresses, but without the distance the plane had given her, she couldn’t be sure whether she was storming the walls or being enveloped by them.

She was warm. The sun was strong, even with the shade of trees that grew thickly at this elevation. Though she saw other people—children, adults, babies carried papoose-style—she felt no sense of crowding.

It’s like a painting, she realized all at once. It’s as though we’re walking into a canvas. The feeling it gave her was both eerie and irresistible. She shifted the pack on her back as she kept pace with Hunter.