A Ranger For Christmas. Stella Bagwell

to her. Holt recognized that it wasn’t men Vivian mistrusted, but rather her own judgment of them.

      “You have a daughter?”

      “Yes. Hannah. She’s twelve going on thirteen. Although, to hear her tell it, she knows more than a twenty-year-old.”

      He grunted with amusement. “Don’t we all at that age?”

      She cast him a wry smile. “I suppose. I remember I was around that age when I told my mother I was going to be an astronaut and nothing could stop me.”

      “Obviously something stopped you.”

      She let out a soft laugh. “I got on an airplane with my two older brothers for a trip to California. Once the plane landed I was so terrified I begged them to rent a car for the return trip. They refused and I hid my eyes during the entire flight back home.”

      He grinned. “So you learned you didn’t like leaving the ground.”

      “I figured out exploring the desert is much more fun to me.”

      “Most women like office jobs. What made you decide to be a park ranger?”

      She shook her head. “I’m not the indoor type. And my parents pushed all of us kids to get at least some college education, so I studied for four long years and ended up with a degree in natural resource management and nearly enough hours for a degree in agribusiness. Later on—after I divorced—I was glad that I’d acquired all that knowledge. It was just what I needed to get a job here at Lake Pleasant.”

      “Hmm. You’ve got me beat in the education department. I’m still working toward my degree in wildlife ecology. A few more online courses and I should be finished by the end of this coming spring.”

      Just about the time Louis would be returning, she thought. By then she’d either be very glad to see Sawyer go, or very sorry. At the moment it was too early to predict how she’d be feeling about telling him goodbye.

      “I’m sure you’ll be excited to get that behind you. Are you planning to stay at Dead Horse Ranch after you get your degree?”

      He nodded. “Next year a management job will be opening up. I’ll need my degree to have a shot at it.”

      “And you want to work at a park that doesn’t take you far away from your grandmother,” she stated.

      He crumpled the empty cupcake wrapper and stuffed it into a sack with the rest of his lunch trash. “That’s right. Lake Pleasant is really farther away from the reservation than I’d like to be. But this job is only for a few months and Nashota, that’s my grandmother, insisted I take it. See, she has a mystical nature and something told her that my time here will bring me good fortune.”

      “You believe in that sort of thing?”

      A crooked grin slanted his lips. “I believe in Grandmother. Because I sure as heck can’t argue with her. She has a stubborn streak.”

      He made talking to him oh, so easy. And that was dangerous, she thought. If she wasn’t careful, she’d soon be telling him things about herself that were better kept locked away.

      She turned her gaze away from him and tried to focus on a giant agave plant growing off to her right. “I don’t know what kind of good fortune you might find around here,” she said, “but it doesn’t hurt to dream.”

      He asked, “Do you ever think about asking to be transferred to a different park?”

      The question brought her gaze back to him. “Not ever. I’ve never lived away from my family. It would take something very special for me to ever move away.”

      In spite of the sunglasses covering his eyes, she could tell his gaze was thoughtfully searching her face. Which surprised Vivian somewhat. So far, Sawyer seemed to be a lighthearted jokester, who appeared to consider flirting nothing more than a fun game.

      “You have family living in Wickenburg?”

      Thankfully he hadn’t yet connected the Hollister name to Three Rivers Ranch. And for today, at least, Vivian was glad he didn’t know she was an heiress to a cattle empire.

      “Yes. A mother, four brothers, two of whom are older than me, and a younger sister. My sister is currently living away, though.”

      “You didn’t mention a father. What about him? Or is that question too personal?”

      She very nearly laughed. He’d talked about her lips being kissable. Could he get any more personal than that?

      “No. It’s not too personal,” she told him. “I didn’t mention Dad because he’s been dead for several years. A horse accident.”

      “Oh. Sorry.”

      She sighed. Officially, Joel’s death had been ruled an accident, but as far as the family was concerned, there was too much mystery surrounding the incident to pass it off as an accident. But she’d only met Sawyer a few hours ago. She didn’t know him well enough to share the few facts they had about her father’s death with the man.

      “Yes. I still miss him terribly.” Her voice strained to speak around the lump in her throat. “What about you? Do you have siblings?”

      “No brothers. No sisters. It’s only me and Nashota. My dad died when I was eight years old—a construction accident. After that happened, my mother moved away with another man. I’ve never seen or heard from her since.”

      Looking at this strong and striking man, it was very difficult to imagine him growing up without a father and a mother who’d basically chosen to desert him. Given that sort of childhood, it was commendable that he’d turned into a responsible man.

      “That’s tough.”

      He shrugged. “Life is often tough. More for some than for others. I happen to think I was lucky. I had Grandmother to grab me by the seat of the pants and keep me on a straight path. Some of my childhood friends didn’t have as much. I wouldn’t want to tell you how they’ve ended up.”

      This morning his playful flirting had made her uncomfortable, yet surprisingly this genuine side of him disturbed her even more. The idea of him wanting, hurting and needing in the most basic human ways touched her more than he could ever guess.

      “Yes. Lucky you.” She rose from her seat of slab rock. “We’d probably better be going. We still have one more hiking trail to cover before we hit another set of campgrounds.”

      While she gathered up her partially eaten lunch, Sawyer left his seat and walked over to the edge of the bluff.

      “This is an incredible view,” he said. “From this distance the saguaros look like green needles stuck in a sand pile.”

      She looked over to see the strong north wind was hitting him in the face and molding his uniform against his muscled body. The sight of his imposing figure etched against the blue sky and desert valley caused her breath to hang in her throat.

      She walked over to where he stood, then took a cautious step closer to the ledge in order to peer down at the view directly below.

      “I never get tired of it,” she admitted. “There are a few Native American ruins not far from here. We’ll hike by those before we finish our route.”

      A hard gust of wind suddenly whipped across the ledge and caused Vivian to sway on her feet. Sawyer swiftly caught her by the arm and pulled her back to his side.

      “Careful,” he warned. “I wouldn’t want you to topple over the edge.”

      With his hand on her arm and his sturdy body shielding her from the wind, she felt very warm and protected. And for one reckless moment, she wondered how it would feel to slip her arms around his lean waist, to rise up on the tips of her toes and press her mouth to his. Would his lips taste as good as she imagined?

      Shaken by the direction of her runaway thoughts, she tried to make light of the moment. “That would be awful,” she