When she emerged, she discovered Carson putting out picnic food on the camp table beneath some pine boughs to give them shade. Johnny had the duty of setting up the camp chairs.
Tracy approached them and looked all around. “With the smell of the pines so strong, this is what I call heaven on earth.” She eyed her son. “Do you know how lucky we are, Johnny? Can you believe Carson and his friends have gone to all this trouble for us? We’re going to have to think of something really special to do for them.”
“I know.”
They settled down to eat.
“Guess what?” Carson said after swallowing his second roast beef sandwich. “You’ve already done something special.”
Johnny stopped chewing on his sandwich. “No, we haven’t.”
“Want to bet? You accepted our invitation to come. We hoped you and your mom would like the idea.” He darted her a penetrating glance. “That’s all the payment we needed.”
Carson.
“At first I didn’t want to.” Her son was nothing if not honest.
“I don’t blame you. I’d have been scared to go someplace where I’d never been before. I think you were very brave to come.”
“I’m not brave, but my mom is.”
“She sure is.” In an unexpected gesture, Carson pulled out his phone and clicked on the photo gallery. “Now take a look at this.” He handed it to Johnny.
“That’s me riding Goldie!”
“Yup. How many kids do you know your age who can go on a trail ride in the mountains on their own pony?” Tracy hadn’t seen him take a picture. She was amazed. Had he taken one of her, too?
Johnny’s brown gaze switched from the photo to study Carson. “I don’t know any.”
“Neither do I. So don’t ever tell me Tony Baretta’s son isn’t brave.” Carson’s expression grew serious. “You’re just like your dad and I’m proud to know you.”
The conviction in his tone shook Tracy to the core and affected Johnny to the point of tears. They didn’t fall, but they shimmered on the tips of his lashes with every heartbeat. “I’m proud of you, too. You’re sick all the time and still do everything.”
If Tracy wasn’t mistaken, Carson’s eyes had a suspicious sheen. As for herself, a huge lump had lodged in her throat.
“If everyone’s finished eating, what do you say we put the rest of the food in the bear locker and go for a swim? Remember we have to fasten it tight. Occasionally a black bear or a grizzly forages through this area, but unlikely you’ll ever see one.”
Johnny looked at Tracy. “Don’t worry, Mom. Carson brought bear spray. He’ll keep us safe.”
She lifted her gaze to a pair of blue eyes that blinded her with their intensity. “I have no doubt of it.”
The three of them made short work of cleaning up and went to their respective tents to change into their bathing suits. When Johnny was dressed, he came running with his beach sandals and towel to her tent. She’d put a beach cover-up over her one-piece blue floral suit.
Before leaving Sandusky, she’d searched half a dozen shops to find something modest. Other women didn’t mind being scantily clad, but she wasn’t comfortable walking around like that.
Once she’d covered them in sunscreen, she grabbed her towel and they both left the tent in search of Carson. He’d beaten them to the shore and was blowing up a huge inner tube with a pump. Johnny squealed in delight.
The only thing more eye-catching than the sight of this pristine mountain lake was Carson Lundgren dressed in nothing more than his swimming trunks. Tracy had trouble not staring at such an amazing, hard-packed specimen of male beauty.
She felt his keen gaze play over her before he said, “Johnny? I want you to wear the life jacket I left on the table. Even if you’re a good swimmer, I’ll feel much better if you wear it while we’re out here. Don’t be fooled by this lake. You can only wade in a few feet, then it drops off fast to thirty feet.”
Johnny’s dark head swung around. “Okay.” He ran over and put it on. Tracy made sure he’d fastened it correctly.
“I think we’re ready!” Carson announced. He tossed the tube in the water, then dove in and came up in the center with a lopsided smile that knocked her off balance. “Come on in, and we’ll go for a ride.”
Johnny needed no urging and started running. Tracy threw off her cover-up and followed him in. “Oh—this water’s colder than I thought!”
“It’s good for you,” Carson said, and then promptly coughed. The moment was so funny she was still laughing when he helped her and Johnny to grab on to the tube. Once they were all comfortable, he propelled them around.
They must have been out there close to an hour, soaking up the sun and identifying wildlife. Sometimes they swam away from the tube. Carson flew through the water like a fish and played games with them. When everyone was exhausted, they went back to shore to dry off and get a cold drink.
“I think it’s time for a little rest.”
“But Mom, I have to go talk to Goldie. She’s missed me.”
“You can see her in a little while. Come on. It’s time to get out of the sun.”
“What are you going to do, Carson?”
He’d been coughing. “I’ve got a few phone calls to make, partner. It won’t be long before Buck arrives with the Harrises.”
Tracy didn’t know how he was able to spend so much time with them when he had the whole operation of his cattle ranch to worry about. “Thank you for another wonderful day, Carson.”
He flicked her a shuttered glance. “It’s only half over.”
She knew that, yet the fact that he’d mentioned it filled her with fresh excitement. With an arm around Johnny, Tracy walked him to her tent, but stopped by his to get him a change of clothes. Once he was dressed, he lay down on top of her roomy sleeping bag. After she got dressed, she joined him. In two seconds, he was asleep.
Tracy lay there wondering if Carson’s calls were all business. Since he’d come home from war, surely he’d been with women he’d met in Jackson or through his business contacts, even if it hadn’t been an official date. That would go for his friends, too. Any woman lucky enough to capture his interest would be wondering why he hadn’t been as available lately.
When she realized where her thoughts had wandered, she sat up, impatient with herself for caring what he did in his off time. She was supposed to be thinking of him as a friend, but her feelings weren’t remotely like anything she felt for her brothers-in-law.
He would have been a charmer during the years he was competing in the rodeo. He had to be driving a lot of women crazy, these days, too. Carson was driving one woman crazy right here on the ranch and she didn’t know what to do about it. Tracy had to admit those blue eyes and the half smile he sometimes flashed were playing havoc with her emotions.
After she’d met Tony, nothing had kept her from responding to him in an open, free way. Now, she had a son who came first in her life and the situation with Carson was so different it was almost painful. If he had feelings for her—sometimes, when he looked at her, she felt that he did—he hadn’t acted on them. But then again, he was naturally kind and generous. She didn’t dare read more into a smile or an intense look than was meant. He’d told her that she and Johnny were their guinea pigs.
The daunting thought occurred to her that Carson’s emotions weren’t invested, which explained why he never did anything overtly personal. Next month,