Aiden stopped in his tracks when he saw the most beautiful young woman he’d ever seen. She was sitting atop a boulder only a few yards in front of him. He wanted to call out to her. To warn her not to fall off. The first snowflakes would make the rock slippery. But he was a bear, and he couldn’t speak. He could growl, but that would only frighten her.

Instead, he dropped to the ground and lay still. Hopefully, she wouldn’t see him if he lay quietly. Beau, however, had other ideas. He wagged his tail and barked.

The girl, who’d been about to stand up, slowly sat back down and, after spotting Beau, saw him. He should have known that he couldn’t possibly hide as a bear. He was just too big. He tried putting his head down on the ground, thinking maybe she wouldn’t feel threatened.

It didn’t work. Sometimes, being a big black bear had its disadvantages. He rarely saw anyone up here, and usually, he smelled them long before he saw them. For some reason, he hadn’t smelled her.

Beau darted toward her, and Aiden reflexively jumped up to stop him. She gasped and moved backwards. No. Don’t do that.

He’d been right. The rock was slippery. When her foot slid, she overcorrected and… fell off the back. He leaped up and dashed up the rock to look over the ledge.

It was quite a fall – several feet. She groaned and moved. That was a good sign.

He turned and darted toward the trees. He needed to shift. And fast.

He shifted into his human form and pulled on his clothes.

Running back toward the boulder, he slowed and called out to Beau. Aiden waited until Beau barked before he went around to where the girl sat on the ground.

“Are you okay?” He hoped he did a good enough job of pretending this was the first time he’d seen her. But when she looked up at him with wide, green eyes beneath thick, dark lashes, he couldn’t look away.

“I don’t know.” She clutched her ankle.

“Do you want me to take a look?”

She hesitated. “Sure.”

Her ankle wasn’t broken, but it was most likely sprained. “We make a good pair, huh?” He held up his thumb.

“Are you like a Ted Bundy?” She attempted a smile.

“No.” That was something not to kid about up here in the rural mountains. “My name is Aiden Hunter.”

“Hunter as in the ‘lodge’ Hunters?”

He nodded. “I’m the oldest son, but please don’t hold that against me.”

She held out her hand. “I’m Emma Miller.”

He took her hand, and a little bolt of electricity shot between them. Her eyes widened. He jerked his hand back. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. It must be the… static electricity.”

“I’m sure it is.” Aiden had lived here his whole life and had never known anyone to complain of static electricity while sitting on the ground in the snow. “Emma Miller, what are you doing up here so far off the path?”

A guilty expression crossed her features. “I’m a wildlife biologist. I was looking for wildlife, but I think I found more than I bargained for.”

“How so?”

“I saw…” She looked at Beau. Blinked. And rubbed an eye with her palm. “A bear.”

“A bear?”

She glanced around. “Did you see it?”

“Where?”

She pointed. “Back there where you came from.”

He shook his head.

“I saw your dog…” She was obviously confused and rightly so. She’d seen a bear and a dog standing companionably. Not something people usually saw.

“Never mind.” She looked down at her ankle. “I should be able to walk on it.”

“Let’s find out.” He stood up and held out his hand. She put her hand on his arm. No spark this time. He put a hand under her other elbow and helped her stand up.

She grimaced. “I think it’s worse than it looks.”

“I don’t think you should put any weight on it.”

“I think you’re right. But getting down this hill is going to be a little difficult.”

He smiled at her calling the mountain a hill. “I’ll carry you.”

She laughed. “That’s probably not a good idea.”

“Okay. Just lean on me.”

She hobbled a couple of steps. “This might take a while.” She glanced around. “I saw a momma bear and two cubs earlier over there.” She nodded to her right.

“Really?” How had he not seen the mother bear and her cubs? Or at least smelled them. His senses were definitely off.

“I hope we don’t run into them.”

“Me too.” He would hate to have to shift into a bear in front of her in order to protect her from an angry female bear. It was high unlikely that they would encounter any other bears though.

Unfortunately, they had another problem. The snowflakes were falling steadily now. He looked up at the banking clouds. For once, his weathergirl seemed to have gotten it right.

Figures. Any other time, she would have predicted snow, and they would have gotten sunshine.

Emma appeared to be in pain if her expression was any indication. “Maybe you could let me at least try to carry you.”

“Maybe after we get on a more level surface.”

Walking in silence, they slowly made their way down the steep side of the mountain. Her fingers dug into his arm, and he had a firm grip on her. If one of them slipped, they would both go down.

They were getting close to the trail though, because he heard the tourists on horses coming back in the distance. He was surprised Brayden took them out with the snow coming in. But then Brayden rarely watched local weather.

“Let’s rest a minute.” He didn’t want to run into his brother and a handful of tourists. His brother would put her on his horse, and he’d probably never see her again. I’m being selfish.

As long as she was standing still, she wasn’t wincing. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t let her walk in pain when he had an easy solution. “I can call and get someone to bring a horse up.”

She turned and looked into his eyes. “I apologize for being such a bother.”

“No need to apologize. It’s my fault you fell.”

She looked at him sideways. “How is it your fault?”

Oops. “It was my dog who scared you.”

“It wasn’t your dog. It was your dog’s friend the bear.”

“Maybe the bear didn’t see Beau.”

“Oh, he did.”

Aiden needed to stop this conversation before he revealed too much. “Do you want me to call for help?” He braced himself to lose touch with the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen.

“Please don’t.” Her face flushed when he looked at her questioningly. “I came up here to have some alone time. You know. Sometimes I just don’t want to be around a lot of people.”

Maybe Emma was a figment of his imagination. In Aiden’s experience, girls who looked like Emma didn’t want to spend their time alone in the mountain forest.

Either way, she was trouble.