Sam thought of the way Libby had gone to work when they reached camp, pitching in with the cooking, determined to pull her weight. She was exhausted, he knew, and part of him felt guilty. Libby wasn’t used to this kind of hard labor, or riding, or any of the things she’d been exposed to on the ranch.
But aside from the money, Marty had been a friend, and Sam knew the man believed sending Libby to work on the ranch was the right thing to do.
“Time for marshmallows!” Jordy hollered, racing back to the fire.
Caleb and little Suzy followed, Caleb passing around the marshmallow-roasting sticks they had made.
Sam headed for the camp kitchen set up beneath a canvas awning, took out a couple bags of marshmallows, and returned to the fire. Everyone loaded their sticks with the puffy white balls and stuck them into the flames.
Sam’s gaze went in search of Libby. She’d been quiet all evening, and though every lustful part of him wanted a repeat of what had happened in her bedroom last night, Sam had forced himself to stay away from her. Even so, he found himself watching her, wanting to make sure she was okay.
Feeling a tug on his belt, he glanced down to see little Suzy looking up at him, blond ponytail drooping to one side of her head.
“My mars-mallow keeps falling off.” Suzy handed him her stick. “Can you fix it?”
Sam smiled. “Sure.” He grabbed the stick and a couple of marshmallows and slid them on just right. He walked her over to her mom. “Hold it right here, but don’t get too close to the fire, okay?”
Suzy bobbed her head, ponytail swinging precariously up and down. Jenny gave him a grateful smile. Unconsciously, Sam’s gaze went in search of Libby again. She was standing a few feet away, leaning over the fire to help Jordy.
Sam saw the flames racing up her pant leg at the same instant she screamed.
“Libby!” He hit her like a linebacker tackling the quarterback, taking the brunt of the impact as both of them went down. Sam rolled her beneath him, back and forth, back and forth, till the flames running up the side of her jeans were out.
Her eyes were huge and frightened as he jerked out his knife, flipped open the blade, and sliced open her pantleg. Her calf was red but not badly burned, and Sam felt a sweep of relief.
“I-I’m okay,” Libby said, her voice wobbly. “I’m okay.”
Sam pulled her to her feet and straight into his arms. She was shaking, but so was he. He didn’t let go, couldn’t force himself to let her go.
“I-I’m okay,” she said again, holding him tight, her face pressed into his chest until the trembling in her body began to ease.
Sam took a slow, deep breath and turned to see they were surrounded by everyone in the camp.
“She’s all right,” he said. “She’s going to be okay. I’ll put some aloe on the burn, and she’ll be fine.” But instead of going after the medicine, he swept her up in his arms and carried her into his tent. The flap fell closed behind him as he set her on one of the cots and grabbed the medical kit, took out a bottle of the clear, gooey cactus salve that was the best burn healer he knew.
Sam looked at her pretty face and those incredible blue eyes, and anger swept in to hide how frightened he had been.
“What the hell did you think you were you doing? Surely you know enough to stand back from a blazing fire!”
Libby stiffened and tried to stand up, but Sam shoved her back down.
“Sit still. You aren’t going anywhere until I take care of that leg.”
“Give me the bottle, and I’ll do it myself.” She held out a hand Sam ignored.
He took a tortured breath and slowly released it. “Look, you scared me, okay? You could have been burned very badly.” Crouching beside the cot, he gently smeared on the cooling medicine, then turned her ankle to make sure the red streak running up her calf was completely covered with the gel. “I don’t think it’s going to blister.”
“I was trying to help Jordy,” Libby said. “I didn’t realize we were standing so close. I’m sorry.”
Sam reached up and framed her face in his hands. He looked into those beautiful blue eyes, leaned over and very softly kissed her. “I should have been paying closer attention. I usually do, but...”
Libby leaned in and kissed him. “It’s not your job to babysit me. No matter what you think.”
Sam kissed her one last time, then pushed to his feet. “I need to get back out there. They’re all worried about you.”
Libby stood up from the cot. “Sam...?”
He turned. “Yes?”
“My first day of camp? It wasn’t really so bad. At least not until I set myself on fire.”
Sam laughed with sheer relief. “Good to know.”
He opened the tent flap and held it while Libby walked outside, where even the kids stood silently waiting.
“I’m fine,” Libby said to them. “Sam put some salve on my leg, so it barely hurts. Thanks for worrying about me, but I’m okay. I’m going to take a couple of Advil and go to bed. I’ll see you all in the morning.”
“Goodnight, Libby,” Jenny said, and the others chimed in.
She flicked Sam a last glance, then crossed to the tent she’d been assigned. The crew tents were set a little apart from the others to give the guests a feeling of privacy. As the group dispersed, Sam glanced over to see Libby disappear into her tent.
A shadowy figure stood in the darkness not far away, and unease filtered through him. The man in the shadows was Vince.
* * * *
Libby awoke in the middle of the night. It was pitch dark, so black she couldn’t tell the front of the tent from the back.
Outside, a soft shuffling and occasional sniffing sound moved along the bottom of the tent. Her hands tightened around the sleeping bag. Exhausted, she had forgotten to zip the tent when she’d gone to bed.
The shuffling and sniffing continued, the animal moving toward the open tent flap. Was it a bear? Oh, God, what should she do? If she didn’t sound the alarm, was she putting everyone in danger?
Her heart was pounding so hard she could feel it in her temples. The shuffling was getting closer. Sam would know what to do. She slipped out of her sleeping bag. It was now or never.
Libby bolted through the tent opening and rushed out into the darkness and over to Sam’s tent, which fortunately wasn’t zipped either.
She ducked inside. “Sam...” she whispered, leaning down to shake his shoulder. “Wake up. There’s a bear—”
He was already awake, she realized as he sat up in the dark and swung his long legs to the side of the cot.