Page 45 of Thunder Pass

“Not even Daniel. I think he was afraid that Luke would show up with a shotgun if he so much as unzipped his pants.”

The mention of Luke made his erection flag a bit, but it came roaring back when Ruth experimentally touched it with her tongue. “It’s so warm,” she said in surprise, and licked him again.

“Girl, you are killing me.”

“In a good way?” Her smile held more wickedness than innocence, but the combination was lethal.

“Good, yes, but also bad because I don’t have any condoms with me. Birth control,” he added. “And protection.”

“I know about condoms. They came up in my research.”

She put her lips around his tip and he groaned loudly. “I think I need to know more about your research.”

“It’s a secret,” she murmured. “But I feel so good right now I don’t mind telling you, if you really want to know.” Her warm breath against his shaft added to the sensations he was experiencing.

“Oh I really, absolutely want to know.”

“‘Okay. I have a secret collection of books that I found at the summer flea market.” She swirled her tongue around his tip.

He fisted the sheets next to him, wild with lust—but also curiosity. What books had Ruth been reading all this time?

In between strokes of her tongue, she explained. “I keep them in a hiding place in the chicken coop, because I’m the one who takes care of the chickens the most. It’s private there and no one’s ever found them. They’re all about lords and ladies in England, and in some of them they have sex. A lot of sex, and it’s very, very fascinating and…arousing.”

Okay, that was it. The word “arousing” in Ruth’s gentle, husky voice, her red hair cascading over her naked shoulders and brushing against his skin, her tongue on his “manhood,” then her mouth, sucking…He turned his body just in time to explode into his hand instead of all over her face.

When he came back to himself, he found Ruth kneeling next to him, stroking his sweaty chest. “Thank you,” she said simply.

“You’re welcome. Wait, what are you thanking me for?”

“Now I know how it all works better. The only missing piece is the part where you go inside me. I won’t be nervous about it now.”

She sounded like that was definitely something that was going to happen. “We don’t have to go any further, you know,” he told her. “That was awesome, just that. What we just did.”

“Of course we don’t have to. But I want to.” Her eyes widened. “Don’t you? It’s okay if you don’t. I understand if it seems too…complicated.”

“Oh, I do, woman. I definitely do.” With his free hand, he tugged her head toward him so they could kiss. Her lips were lush under his, her hair fragrant with hotel shampoo, and he engraved this moment in his memory forever. “Now I have to take care of this, and then fill you in on my phone call.”

After he’d cleaned his hand and hopped in the shower for a brief rinse-off, he came back to the room and told her what he’d learned from Wild North Adventures. With a sheet wrapped around her bare shoulders, her gray eyes still a little hazy, Ruth listened closely.

“They had a Dan Bradford working for them, but he just disappeared one day and they never heard from him again. I asked what his last guiding trip was, and it was the one when I met him, when he came to Firelight Ridge. That can’t be a coincidence.”

“I suppose not, but what do you think happened to him? Did they say anything else?”

“She said they actually sent someone to his apartment to check on him, but he’d moved out. No notice, no forwarding address, nothing like that. They didn’t know where to send his last paycheck. They said everyone else got paid by direct deposit, but he always wanted a paper check.”

“Direct deposit?”

“That’s when they put the money directly into your bank account.”

“Oh.” She shrugged. “I know nothing about banks, or paychecks, for that matter. The Chilkoots have always avoided the banking system.”

“I think Dan Bradford did the same thing. I’m not sure what his reasons were, though.”

“Luke always called banks ‘the evil money leeches,’ if that helps.”

He laughed as he searched his duffel bag for a clean pair of briefs. “He sure has opinions, doesn’t he?”

“A million of them.” She wrapped her arms around her knees. “I used to tune him out, but now I wish I’d paid more attention. Maybe he did say something that would explain his connection to your father.”

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