“I’ve decided not to leave until Wednesday.” She shoved her fork into her eggs. “Or maybe Tuesday evening, so we’ll arrive in Pine Creek around midnight. It’ll be easier to steal the snowcat then.”

Dammit, she was ditching him! “Then let’s leave tonight,” he offered, careful to keep his frustration from showing. “The sooner we get going, the sooner we’ll find the rest of Podly. I had the Weather Channel on all afternoon, and they’re talking about another snowstorm heading north by Thursday or Friday. With any luck, we can be on and off the mountain before it hits.”

She shot him a confounded look. “You said you spent two months searching for Podly. You expect that because I’ll be with you this time, we’re going to drive directly up to the satellite, load it in the snowcat, and be off the mountain in a matter of days? It will probably take us weeks to find where it crashed.”

“Then all the more reason to leave now.”

“I can’t,” she muttered, poking her eggs a bit more forcefully. “I have a couple of commitments here I have to deal with first.”

“What commitments?”

“I babysit four dogs, remember? I can’t just take off all of a sudden and leave my clients without day care.”

“They’re dogs, Camry, not kids. They can stay home while their masters work, like normal dogs do.”

“But I promised Tigger’s and Max’s owners that I would keep them over the holidays. The Hemples are leaving for England tomorrow, and I’m supposed to have Tigger for an entire month. And Max’s mother is leaving on Tuesday for Wisconsin, and she won’t be back until after New Year’s.”

“Call and tell them you have a family emergency or something.”

“You want me to lie to them?”

Luke very kindly refrained from pointing out that she’d been lying to her parents for almost a year. “Then let’s get on the phone and find alternative accommodations for their pets. Surely there are kennels around here.”

“Tigger can’t stay in a kennel! She’d be scarred for life. And so would Max. Why do you think these people have me babysit them? They’re not dogs, they’re family.”

Luke sighed, not wanting to ask his next question, but seeing how his lower brain was in charge, he asked it anyway. “So what’s your plan, then?”

She looked back down at her eggs. “We’re going to have to take Tigger and Max with us,” she said, so quietly that Luke had to lean forward to hear her.

He reared back. “You expect to take two dogs to Springy Mountain in the middle of the winter? Camry, the snow’s deeper than Tigger is tall. And the snowcat’s going to be crowded enough with the two of us and our gear. Where are you planning to put Max? He’s the size of person.”

“We can carry most of our gear on the roof, and we’ll steal one of the resort’s larger groomers. That way we can even sleep in it if we have to.”

Luke dropped his head in his hands to stare down at his plate. Had she changed her mind about his going with her, or did she intend to go home at all?

She touched his arm, and he lifted his head. “You have my word, I’m not trying to ditch you,” she said, apparently reading his mind. “It’s just that while I was packing this afternoon, I suddenly remembered I’d committed myself for the next month.” She smiled crookedly. “We’ll find Podly, I promise. And who knows, maybe Max and Tigger will come in handy. They’re both hunting breeds; they can sniff out the satellite for us.”

Luke laced his fingers through hers. “If you’re really not trying to ditch me, then why do I have to go back to the hotel until Tuesday?”

Her cheeks turned a lovely pink, and her gaze dropped. She tried to pull away, but Luke actually tossed her hand away with a snort. “You’re out of here ten minutes after I leave. Only you’re not going home, you’re running away again.”

“That’s not true! It’s just that . . . I don’t want . . . Dammit, I’m not going to be fit company for the next two days! I just want to be left alone, okay? Come back Tuesday afternoon, and we’ll leave after supper.”

“Not fit . . . What in hell are you talking about?”

Her cheeks turned blistering red. “Look, I started my period today, okay? And for the next two days, I’m going to be a miserable, achy grump.”

He was so relieved, he started laughing.

Camry jumped up and ran out of the room.

Luke instantly sobered. “Hey, wait! I’m sorry!” he called, scrambling after her.

Her bedroom door nearly hit him when she slammed it shut, and she managed to get it locked before he could open it.

He thunked his head against it with a groan. “Camry, I’m sorry. I wasn’t laughing at you. I mean, not really. Dammit, don’t shut me out.”

“Go away,” she said, her voice coming through the wood only inches from his. “I’ll be right here come Tuesday, I promise.”

God, he was an idiot. For a man who’d managed to earn several degrees, he didn’t seem to have a clue when it came to women. Which was surprising, considering he’d spent the first thirteen years of his life in an all-female household.

“Have I mentioned that I was raised by my single mother, my grandmother, and my aunt?” he asked, his head still resting on the door.

“No,” she whispered after several heartbeats.

“And I can certainly attest the old myth is true, that when women live together their menses gravitate to the same schedule.” He chuckled.

“What’s so funny about that?” she growled.

“I just thought of your poor father, living in a household of eight women.”

“That’s a sexist remark!”

“It’s not sexist if it’s a scientific fact.”

“Go away, Luke.”

He straightened away from the door, running his fingers through his hair. Dammit to hell. He didn’t want to leave. “The only reason I pointed out my having been raised by women was to let you know that I don’t care how grumpy you get. I can pretty much handle anything you dish out.” He hesitated. “Except being told to get lost.”

When she didn’t respond, Luke walked to the living room, threw himself down on the couch, and glared at the transmitter sitting on the coffee table. He leaned forward and picked up the stubbornly silent instrument. “You are obviously the design of a feminine mind,” he muttered. “Why in hell do women have to be so complicated?”

“Because it’s our job.”

Luke jumped, fumbling to hold on to the transmitter, but it still went flying when Camry plopped down on the couch beside him.

“Because men are such simple creatures, women need to be complicated to balance things out,” she continued, preventing him from going after the transmitter by snuggling against his chest.

Luke wrapped his arms around her and sighed heavily.

“Did your mother really tell you to get lost all the time?”

“No, my aunt did. She was a grumpy woman every day, but it wasn’t until I was nine or ten that I realized she was downright mean a few days each month.” He softly snorted. “The day we moved out of Gram’s house and in with my new stepfather, my mother actually apologized for making me live with Aunt Faith for thirteen years.”

“Why was Aunt Faith so grumpy?”

“Who knows. My guess is she was bitter. Even though my biological father took off the day he found out about me, I think Faith was jealous that Mom had even had a passionate affair.” He shrugged. “Faith didn’t have much luck with men, and I finally decided she was lonely.”

“Maybe she would have had better luck if she wasn’t so grumpy.”

Luke chuckled humorlessly. “I actually told her that once. It was around the time my mother met André Renoir. I was eleven. Aunt Faith went from grumpy to openly hostile the deeper in love Mom fell with André.”

Camry popped her head up. “André Renoir became your stepfather?”

Luke nodded. “When I was thirteen. And he legally adopted me the day they got married.” He nudged her head to his chest so she’d quit looking at him. “I hadn’t minded André up until then, since he made Mom happy. But I didn’t see why I suddenly had to change my name, too, as well as let him have any say over my life.”