Stella Bagwell – A Ranger For Christmas (страница 2)
Vivian’s jaw dropped as she turned to stare at her boss. “Six months! I talked to Louis over the phone yesterday morning. He told me he’d be back at work in two or three weeks!”
Mort shook his head. “That was before the doctor discovered the tibia bone in Louis’s leg was more than a stress fracture. It’s going to require surgery to fix it. If things go well and Louis takes care of himself, he’ll be back to work by spring.”
Vivian stifled a groan. Today was the second day of December. Spring seemed like eons away. She couldn’t survive without Louis for that length of time.
Completely deflated by this turn of events, Vivian wilted into the chair she’d vacated moments earlier. “Oh, no,” she muttered. “Six months. Poor Louis.”
“No need to worry about Louis. While he’s laid up Inez will spoil him rotten. It’s filling his spot here at work that’s my concern right now.” Mort glanced at a large clock positioned on the wall to his right. “And I’d say your new partner should be arriving any minute now.”
His unexpected announcement caused Vivian to bounce up from the chair. “This morning? Now? Are you kidding me?”
Mort was about to make some sort of reply when a knock had Vivian whirling away from the supervisor’s desk to stare in horror-like fascination at the door. How could he have sprung such a surprise on her? Why hadn’t he warned her that she’d be meeting a new partner today? At the very least, she would’ve had time to mentally prepare herself.
“Come in,” Mort called out.
With her hands behind her, Vivian unconsciously wrapped her fingers around the edge of Mort’s desk in an effort to brace herself. Man or woman, young or old, this couldn’t be good, she thought. Louis was the only partner she’d ever had. He’d always been like a father figure to her and she trusted him implicitly. She didn’t want to share long working hours with a stranger.
She sensed Mort rising from his desk chair, but after that everything in the room suddenly faded, except for the man walking through the doorway. Even if she’d had time to think, he was like nothing she could’ve imagined for a partner.
Somewhere in his late twenties, he was tall and lean, with bronze skin, blue-black hair and black eyes hooded beneath a pair of black brows. High cheekbones and a hawkish nose dominated his angular features, yet it was the faint curve of his thin lips that caught and held her attention.
Who was this man? Rangers from other areas of the state sometimes visited Lake Pleasant headquarters, but if this man had been one of them, she would’ve definitely remembered. Just looking at him made her feel hot all over.
“Sawyer, good to see you,” Mort greeted as he went to shake the man’s hand. “And right on time, too.”
“Nice to see you again, Mr. Woolsey,” he said as he gave Mort’s hand a hearty pump. “I had planned to be here earlier, but a rancher on the res decided this morning was a good time for a cattle drive down the highway.”
“No worries about the time. And you needn’t bother with the Mr. Woolsey. Just call me Mort, like everyone else around here. Except for Viv. She calls me Mort, plus a few other things I’d rather not repeat,” he joked, then motioned for Vivian to join them. “Come here, Viv, and let me introduce you to your new partner.”
Certain she’d suddenly walked into some sort of hazy dream, Vivian drew in a deep breath and forced herself to move toward the two men.
“Viv, this is Sawyer Whitehorse. He’ll be working with you until Louis is back on his feet. And, Sawyer, this is Vivian Hollister.”
The man flashed a smile at her and extended his hand. Vivian fought off the urge to wipe her sweaty palm on the hip pocket of her twill pants and offered him her hand.
“It’s a real pleasure to meet you, Ms. Hollister,” he said. “From what I hear, it’s going to be tough trying to fill Louis’s shoes. But I’ll do my best.”
In spite of the cold weather outside, his hand felt as warm as a sunbaked rock and just as hard.
“Hello, Mr. Whitehorse. I—uh, didn’t learn until just a moment before you walked in that I was getting a new partner. But now that you’re here, welcome to Lake Pleasant State Park. I hope you’ll enjoy your time here.”
As he was still hanging on to her hand, his smile deepened and Vivian didn’t miss the dimple carving his right cheek. Was there anything unattractive about the man? she wondered. So far she’d not seen it.
Beneath the hunter green jacket with ranger patches adorning the upper arms, she could see that his shoulders were very broad, while his chest narrowed down to a trim waist. The trousers of his matching green uniform hugged narrow hips and long muscled thighs that evoked images of strength and stamina.
Darn it. Sawyer Whitehorse was wearing the same uniform that every other park ranger at Lake Pleasant wore, so why did he make it look so downright sexy?
He said, “Thank you, Ms. Hollister. I’m looking forward to it.”
Seemingly pleased with this new pairing of employees, Mort grinned. “Don’t you two think you ought to lighten things up and make it Vivian and Sawyer? The park guests might find it a bit odd to hear you addressing each other as Ms. and Mr.”
“That’s fine with me,” Sawyer said with another wide grin aimed at Vivian.
Was that a gleam in his dark eyes? Dear Lord, what was this man thinking? Didn’t he realize she was several years older than him? Besides that, she was going to be his working partner for the next six months, not a sex object.
“Please call me Vivian,” she said, while purposely extricating her hand from his warm grip.
“Well, that’s better,” Mort said with approval. “I think—” Before he could finish, the phone on his desk rang. “Excuse me. This call is important. You two don’t need me to tell you what to do. Viv, show him around and get him acquainted with everything.”
Mort left them to go deal with the phone call and Vivian walked over to fetch her jacket and hat from a hall tree standing near the front entrance of the office.
As she started to jam her arm into the sleeve, Sawyer quickly came up behind her to assist her with the garment. As his hands smoothed the fabric over her shoulders, an odd flutter attacked the pit of her stomach.
None of her fellow rangers had ever done such a gentlemanly thing for her. To them she was no different just because she was a female. And that was the way she wanted it. Until this moment. Until Sawyer Whitehorse had walked through the door with his long, lean body and sinfully sexy grin. Something about this man treating her like a lady made her feel ridiculously special.
“Thanks,” she murmured, then turned to face him. “Are you ready to head out, or is there anything you need to deal with here at headquarters first?”
“I’m ready. Just lead the way.”
When he’d first walked through the door, she’d thought his eyes were black like his hair. But now that she was up close, she could see they were the color of a rich coffee bean polished to a warm brown hue. The lashes surrounding them were thick and black and matched the brows that were presently arched with something very close to amusement.
Vivian levered her hat over her long, chestnut hair and tightened the stampede string beneath her chin. “I hope Mort told you that I rarely come back to headquarters for lunch. Mine and Louis’s section of the park is too far away to waste the time and gas. I hope you brought something with you.”
“It’s in my vehicle. I usually try to think ahead.”
He jammed his hat onto his head, then opened the door and gestured for her to precede him. As Vivian brushed past him, she caught the faint scent of soap and sage and some other spicy scent that was uniquely male. The fragrance evoked images of wild wilderness and making love next to a low-burning campfire.
Oh, my, where did that kind of erotic thought come from? And how was she possibly going to survive one day with Sawyer Whitehorse? Much less four to six months?
Shoving the questions aside, Vivian stepped through the doorway, while keenly aware of Sawyer following right behind her.
Outside, the sun was shining in a clear blue sky, but the north wind was crisp, even for December in Arizona. Vivian zipped the front of her jacket all the way to her throat as she walked briskly toward the SUV parked to the left of the building. Sitting next to it was a black Ford truck. Since she’d not seen the vehicle before, she could only assume it belonged to Sawyer.
“I’ll get my lunch and be right with you,” he said, his long stride easily keeping pace with her shorter one.
“Sure,” she said. “I’ll wait for you in the SUV.”
He veered off to collect his things from the truck and Vivian hurried on to take her place behind the steering wheel of the work vehicle. By the time Sawyer joined her, she already had the motor running and her seat belt snapped in place.
After placing his lunch bucket and a pair of leather gloves behind the seat, he paused to look at her. “Do you normally drive?”