Willa glanced at the slight brunette across the fire pit. Haunted was the word that came to mind. The poor thing looked haunted. If she only knew how lucky she was to be here tonight, among creatures and friends, and not with that monster, Jack.

Jeff dropped an armload of wood beside the fire pit and began to strategically pyramid the logs. He was quite handsome. Willa shook the thought right out of her head. He was a pastor who loved kids. Never had she run into anyone more out of her league than that. Even if his voice did shoot shivers down her spine, she couldn’t allow herself the luxury of fantasizing about that or about him right now.

Right now, she had to find a way to get into his pants.

Beyond the fire’s flickering flames, Jeff watched curiously as Tracey stared at Willa. The girl’s jaw was hardened and a slight scowl creased her brow. Tracey was overcome with anger. A feeling he knew only too well and had spent most of his life wresting to control. He rose and turned to their unexpected guest. “Willa, would you mind keeping an eye on the kids for a few minutes?”

“Me?” Willa’s eyes widened in surprise. “Um. Sure. Okay, I guess I could do that.” Skepticism lay thick in her voice. She stood up, looked around, then sat back down again.

Jeff smiled at the uncertainty playing across her face. Her eyes locked onto his. He didn’t break the contact, but stood there baffled by the strange warmth spreading through him.

She blew back a stray, red curl that had fallen loose from its clip. “They won’t wander off and get lost or anything, will they?”

“I don’t think so,” he murmured. “I mean, no, they won’t. But if they do, they all have their whistles and they’ve been taught to hug a tree.” He wondered what her hair would look like falling free around her shoulders.

“Hug a tree? Do you belong to some nature lover’s organization or something?”

She couldn’t be serious, Jeff thought. Certainly, she was teasing him. But he couldn’t discern even the faintest flicker of amusement in her eyes. He stepped closer, close enough to smooth a smudge of dirt off her nose. He draped his whistle around her neck, then rested his hands on her shoulders. Something sparked in his fingertips. He almost pulled back, as a strong current quickened his pulse. He stared into the fathomless depths of her blue-green eyes. Did she feel it, too?

“If you get lost, find a tree, hug it, and blow the whistle.” Caught on a lump in his throat, his voice sounded no louder than a whisper. He cleared it. “Don’t keep wandering around or I won’t be able to find you. It’s basic wilderness rule 101.”

Her mouth formed a perfect little O then widened into an embarrassed smile. “I knew that. Of course, I—” she clutched the whistle. “Thanks.”

“Anytime,” he said, feeling suddenly inane. Somehow this woman had him turned inside out. “God, grant me strength,” he whispered and tried to clear her from his mind. But her faint vanilla scent lingered, toying with his imagination.

Suddenly, his resolve to stay free of romantic entanglements and concentrate on firmly establishing connections with the kids in his church wavered. But, he reminded himself, courting a woman, discovering if she had values and character traits that were in alignment with his took time. Time he needed to devote to his youth group. He’d once found a woman he thought could have been “the one,” but he’d been wrong. And the distraction had cost him Dawn. He wouldn’t make that mistake again—especially with Tracey. The troubled teenager would have his complete attention.

He turned to the girl. “Walk with me?”

She nodded, and keeping pace a few steps behind him, they left the camp and climbed deeper into the woods. Dusk came quickly here, bringing with it a multitude of insects, big and small. He swatted a flurry of mosquitoes out of his face, and tried to focus on the task at hand. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine.” Her short, sweet, and clipped answer left him nothing to build on.

“Want to talk about it?”

“About what?”

About how you ended up on the strip poised to flush your life into L.A.’s almighty sewer, he thought. He shouldn’t expect her to open up so quickly. The death of a parent was never easy, he knew all too well. First there was the grief, then the anger and sense of abandonment. It was hard for anyone to deal with, especially a thirteen-year-old girl.

“There’s just something about her I don’t trust.”

Jeff looked at her, confused.

Tracey pulled at a branch as she passed it. “It’s clear that woman has never set foot outside her own backyard.”

“Oh,” Jeff said, understanding. There was something to all those pouts and glares she had directed at Willa.

“She’s a total fraud.”

“We don’t know that. We shouldn’t pass judgment.”

Tracey snorted. “She’s afraid of everything! She freaked at the sight of a snake. What had she expected, lying down in the grass? I can’t wait to tell her to check herself for ticks.”