Alaskan Mountain Pursuit Elizabeth Goddard (best short novels .TXT) 📖

mood, she remained stubborn though, and he couldn’t help but admire the trait. Because the stubborn ones tended to be the ones who had the fight to stay alive when it came down to it.

And anyway, he saw something desperate in her eyes, something that told him she’d be better off in the woods, climbing mountains, than trapped inside. He took only a second to decide the extra work it would bring him was worth it, and that the benefits to what she was asking outweighed the risks.

“I think we should let her hike.” He winced a little internally at his phrasing. She wasn’t going to like the idea that she needed his permission to let her hike.

“See, Clay agrees with me.” She passed right over it in appreciation for having someone on her side, apparently.

“What’s your plan for keeping her safe?”

“I’ll be with her, obviously. We’ll take my car in case someone is watching hers and hasn’t taken note of mine yet, and we’ll choose less popular hikes where people aren’t going to see her in case the killer is working with a partner.”

“Do you think he is?”

“No, I don’t. But we need to be as aware as possible. Not cautious in a way that keeps you locked in the lodge till this is figured out, but very aware.”

She nodded.

“What do you think?” He directed the question to Noah. Though Clay took his assignment to protect Summer seriously, he knew that Noah’s position as her brother, and police chief, meant that he might have stronger opinions and he certainly had the right to them. Clay was just summer help, just a friend, not someone who mattered much in the grand scheme of Summer’s life. Even if keeping her safe felt more personal than any job he’d taken before.

“If you’re comfortable with it, we’ll try it for now.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Summer threw her arms around her brother and grinned. She looked back at Clay. “I’ll be on my guard. I don’t want to make your job any more difficult than it already is.”

“Fine. Work it out and call me as soon as you’re back at the lodge,” Noah said.

Summer nodded.

“We’d better get back inside for now. The fewer people out here in the parking lot, the less chance that one of the guests’ attention will be drawn to the vandalism.” Clay didn’t want to point out the possible implications for their business when Summer’s life was so much more important, but the welfare of the lodge seemed important to Summer.

“Right. Thank you.” Surprise was in her eyes as she turned to him.

Clay offered a small smile. “So what was wrong earlier?”

“When?”

He studied her face. Shook his head. “Never mind.” Whatever the reason for her odd behavior, it seemed to be over now and Clay was only overly curious when it benefitted a case. Otherwise he believed in letting people have their privacy. Their secrets.

He wasn’t much of a secret keeper himself. Or he hadn’t been, until recently. Now there were parts of himself he didn’t have any desire to share with anyone else—thoughts that haunted him when he tried to fall asleep at night.

“Where are you planning to hike today?”

“Bear Creek Falls.”

Clay raised his eyebrows. “Bear Creek? Really?”

“Yes, bears. As in those creatures in the woods up here. Why?” The smile that tugged at the edges of her lips showed a hint of amusement. Clay knew he was what Alaskans would occasionally refer to as a cheechako—basically a newbie, unfamiliar with the area—but he’d done a little research on the dangers he could expect to face before coming to Alaska.

“You carry bear spray when you lead these hikes, right?”

Summer rolled her eyes. “I’m from Moose Haven, Alaska, Clay. I carry a .44.”

He laughed, something he hadn’t been doing enough of lately. “Noted.”

“Although I carry spray too. It works out better for everyone if you can deter a bear from attacking with the spray.”

Clay nodded. He had both lines of defense Summer had mentioned also, and had planned to wear one on either side of his belt. Better safe than sorry. While the killer after Summer posed a bigger threat, it would be foolish to ignore the wildlife threat on the Kenai Peninsula.

“And this place is not somewhere you regularly hike, correct?” he confirmed as they headed into the lodge. Summer was walking toward the living room.

“That’s right. It’s been years since I’ve been there at all.” She frowned a little. “I wish I could use my usual places. I have my list of hike routes carefully thought out and edited to include what I think will challenge tourists just enough but still provide a payoff in views or something else. Anything not on that list, there’s a reason why it’s not ideal for tourists.”

“That matters less than keeping you safe.”

“True. But I don’t think you understand how much my family’s lodge means to me.”

“Why is that?”

She shifted in her seat. Clay waited, observing the tell and knowing she was either planning to lie—something that didn’t seem like her—or avoid telling him the whole truth.

“It’s my family’s lodge. Why wouldn’t I care about it?”

“It just seems to mean even more to you than that.”

“Let’s focus on the hike, okay?” She opened a drawer in the small end table beside the couch and pulled out a map.

“I should probably get a couple of those while I’m up here so I can learn my way around.”

“You’ll figure it out quickly enough, at least where roads are concerned. There aren’t that many of them. It might take a little longer to get the trails down. Even I don’t know where all of those go, which is why I was in trouble the other day.”

“What happened that you ended up somewhere you didn’t realize where you were?” Clay asked, realizing he didn’t think he’d heard that part of the story.

“I had to run from him when I had the chance. He was standing between me and one route I knew, and another