He took the tray and set it on the bed. Her simple kindness left him feeling as guilty as sin. “You’re a very nice woman.”

“Just because you annoy me doesn’t mean I’d starve you.”

“I don’t want to annoy you.” He stepped over quickly when she wandered toward the computer. “I don’t seem to be able to avoid it. I’m sorry you didn’t like what happened before.”

She cast him a quick, uneasy glance. “That’s better forgotten.”

“No, it’s not.” Needing the contact, he closed a hand over hers. “Whatever happens, it’s something I won’t forget. You touched something in me, Libby, something that hasn’t been touched before.”

She knew what he meant, exactly, precisely. And it frightened her. “I have to get back to work.”

“Do all women find it difficult to be honest?”

“I’m not used to this,” she blurted out. “I don’t know how to deal with it. I’m not comfortable around men. I’m just not passionate.”

When he laughed, she spun away, furious and embarrassed.

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. You’re overloaded with passion.”

She felt something shift inside her, strain for freedom. “For my work,” she said, spacing her words carefully. “For my family. But not in the way you mean.”

She believed it, Cal decided as he studied her. Or she had made herself believe it. In the past two days he’d learned what it was like to doubt yourself. If he could repay her in no other way, perhaps he could show her what kind of woman she held trapped inside.

“Would you like to take a walk?”

She blinked at him. “What?”

“A walk.”

“Why?”

He tried not to smile. She was a woman who would require reasons. “It’s a nice day, and I’d like to see a little of where I am. You could show me.”

She untangled the fingers she’d twisted together. Hadn’t she promised herself she would take time to enjoy herself? He was right. It was a nice day, and her work could certainly wait.

“You’ll need your shoes,” she told him.

***

There was a scent to the cool, slightly moist air. Pine, he realized after several moments’ mental debate. The scent was pine, like Christmas. But it came from the genuine article, not a scent disk or a simulator. The ground was thick with trees, and the breeze, though it was light, sounded through them like a sea. The clear pale-blue sky was marred only by the gray-edged clouds due north. There was birdsong.

But for the cabin behind them and a dilapidated shed, there were no man-made structures—just mountain, sky and forest.

“This is incredible.”

“Yes, I know.” She smiled, wishing it didn’t please her quite so much that he appreciated and understood. “Whenever I come here, I’m tempted to stay.”

He walked beside her, matching her pace, as they entered the sun-dappled forest. It didn’t feel odd being alone with her now. It felt right. “Why don’t you?”

“My work, primarily. The university wouldn’t pay me to walk in the woods.”