Chapter Four

Polly blew out a deep breath, blowing away the fringe stuck to her forehead with perspiration. She’d hauled in ample amounts of firewood and dumped them in the fireplace, had tossed some leaves in with it for tinder, and was trying to use a dying ‘flamethrower’ to light the mess of it, but all she got was a trickle of smoke – then nothing.

She’d helped make fires as a kid, but these days, if she wanted a fire she pressed a button on the fireplace or insisted someone else do it. She didn’t even use a charcoal grill, for God’s sake…

With a less than ladylike oath, she pushed the logs around again, and then flicked the ‘flamethrower’.

Nothing.

Dammit.

She flicked it again and again… still nothing.

A scuffling noise outside the front porch caused Polly to sit up, her ears perked for sounds of the marauding moose that she was sure was going to crash through the door and eat her.

Another scuffle, then another.

And then…

The most fiercesome, loudest baying she had ever heard in her life rocked Polly from the fireplace and into the middle of the family room, looking for a weapon.

Grabbing a table lamp, she quietly stalked to the door, forcing herself to tug the curtain aside just enough to see the terrible creature outside.

After a beat, Polly looked outside again, then again.

He was the CUTEST.THING.EVER.

All warm eyes and light hair, and what appeared to be a smile on his face.

She threw open the door in the rapidly diminishing daylight and almost instantly began cooing.

"Aren't you the cutest?" she said, bending over. "Aren't you the sweetest?"

The Labrador retriever sitting on her porch thumped his tail several times, and then licked the hand not grasping the lamp.

"Where did you come from, boy? Huh? Are you lost?" Polly cooed in a voice reserved only for babies and puppies – she’d never had the urge or desire to have either, but this little guy… well, it was those eyes that gave her that adoring look that somehow melted that place of her heart that abhorred anything that shed indoors.

"Ajax!"

Polly’s head snapped up at the voice echoing through the trees, though there was no body to match the sound.

‘Ajax’ thumped his tail again, then woofed loudly.

"C’mere boy!" The voice sounded a bit more frantic now, and a crashing in the trees to her right caused Polly to grasp her lamp a little more tightly.

Cute puppy was one thing, rabid hunter with a shotgun would DEFINITELY be another.

"Uh…hello?" She called out into the descending darkness, her voice barely above a whisper.

Another crash, and a man emerged from the thicket, causing Ajax to wheel around, bark, then turn circles on the cabin's porch. Clearly worn out from this burst of activity, Ajax then slumped to the ground, rolling over to have his tummy scratched.

"My boy, thank god," the man said, tugging a pine needle from his hair. "I thought you'd…"

The man looked up from Ajax and saw a frightened woman standing in the doorway, grasping what appeared to be an antique lamp.

"Hi," he said with a winsome smile, taking in her crimson tousled hair, bright blue eyes and rumpled sweatpants, all well illuminated by the porch light – as well as her look of confusion tinged with fear.

She said nothing, her eyes flicking from the submissive puppy to the man loping towards her porch. He didn't LOOK like he'd wandered off the set of Deliverance, but a girl couldn't be too careful.

"I hope Ajax didn't scare you. He and I were on a trail, and then he just took off after a rabbit. He must have seen the cabin and made a break for it. He's not much of a woodsman yet, but I thought a tramp around might do him some good, but I swear he's just…

Realizing he was rambling, he bit off his words and smiled again, trying a different tack. "Nice lamp."

Polly noticed she had raised the lamp in a defensive stance, and quickly lowered her arm again. Upon closer inspection, she realized he might not be so terrifying.

Blond spiky hair, a boyish grin, dancing hazel eyes and what was poured into the backside of those jeans didn't look too shabby… but there was something about him…

Polly stared at the man before her for another beat, and then snapped out of her reverie. "Hi," she finally said with an attempt at a smile.

No shotgun, no banjo, no coonskin cap.

Time for a little cautious optimism.

"Hi," the man echoed with another smile. "I'm really sorry…we must have scared the heck out of you. Unless you were getting ready to redecorate the front porch," he said, eyeing the lamp again.

Polly blushed and turned to place the lamp back on the table. "Sorry… I'm sorry. Your dog scared me. I thought maybe it was…"

"Was?" he prompted.

"Well, a bear."

He raised an eyebrow.

“Or…maybe a moose?" Polly ventured, feeling silly.

The man, however, remained serious though she detected a glint of humor in his eyes. "Good news. Moose and bear pretty rarely bay outside of front doors. But then, only labs that are delinquents do that, so I guess I'm not much of an authority."

"Ah."

"Yes."

"Okay."

Polly bit the inside of her cheek, and then released it after a moment. "I'm not much of a woodsman. Woodswoman? I'm not…I'm not exactly Nature Girl, so I'm a little…" She shrugged in a gesture of explanation, before opening the door wider. "Please, come in."

"Thanks. If you aren't Nature Girl, why are you staying in the middle of the woods, if you don't mind my asking?" He asked, stepped up onto the porch and into the light properly so Polly could get a good look at him.

And even as Ajax wound himself around her legs, seeking attention, she gasped out loud and fought the urge to shriek then run and change out of these ratty sweatpants.

Looks like Chase Colton had come back to town.

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