“He’s traveled all over the world, been in a lot of dangerous places.”

“It shows.” Kyle looked back at Abby. “So I guess you two are . . . involved?”

“Not exactly,” Abby said.

“Exactly,” Gage said as he walked up. “At the moment, we’re focusing on finding what we came here for. Once we’re home, our priorities won’t be the same.”

Kyle looked at Abby. “Good to know.” Tugging his straw hat lower, he slung his pack over his shoulder, turned, and walked away.

Abby wanted to call him back, clarify the situation. She liked Kyle Jenkins. And she and Gage weren’t really together.

“He’s a good kid, but he isn’t for you,” Gage said.

Her hackles went up. “How do you know? Maybe he’s exactly what I need.”

“I’m what you need, and we both know it. Now let’s get packed up and get going. Be best if we could make a few miles before it starts raining. We’ll need to find some kind of shelter before then. From the looks of it, the tarps won’t be enough.”

But Abby was still stuck on I’m what you need, and we both know it.

As if he were some sort of mind reader. But part of her believed him. Gage was exactly right for her. Or at least he seemed to be. Of course, that was what she had thought about Benjamin.

Ben had said he wanted to travel as much as she did. They would be a perfect fit. He had family money, so he could do whatever he wanted, and he wanted her to go with him.

What he really wanted was a different woman in his bed every place they went. Their first stop was San Diego, where she told herself her suspicions about him were wrong. They made it as far as Hawaii before Abby caught him in bed with a waitress. It took half her savings to pay for her plane ticket home.

Gage attracted women with the ease of a snake charmer, but the relationships never lasted. Unlike Ben, he didn’t deny it. Though she might be fun for a while, Abby wasn’t sure she wanted to be just another one of Gage’s women.

Mateo appeared out of nowhere and walked up beside them. “Storm is coming,” he said. “Big thunderclouds. It looks bad. I will go ahead, see what kind of shelter I can find.”

“All right, but don’t go too far,” Gage said. “This is brutal country. Be worse once it starts to rain. We need to stay together.”

Mateo nodded, moving the thick black hair he’d tied back with a strip of rawhide. He took off walking, following the narrow path that showed on King’s map, a steep winding trail that dropped down into a canyon.