Luke pried his fingers off the handle he’d been clutching in a death grip. “Would you care to explain what your intentions were back there in the garage?”

“I intended to steal us transportation. Which I did.”

“No, I mean when we were stuck hiding behind that equipment. It wasn’t exactly the time or place for slap and tickle. And besides, I thought you were . . . um, off the market for a few days.”

Her smile turned downright cheeky. “Hey, just because the Ferris wheel isn’t running doesn’t mean the entire amusement park is shut down,” she said with a laugh, opening her door and hopping out.

Luke stared after her, nonplussed.

He suddenly gave a bark of laughter and scrambled after her, happy to realize their little affair was still on—which made him glad he’d snuck out to the drugstore yesterday and purchased a whole box of condoms.

Camry opened the back door of the truck to let the dogs out as Luke approached her, still chuckling. “What’s so funny?” she asked.

“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking how this excursion into the wilderness is going to be a lot more interesting than my last one.”

Tigger bounded out of the truck behind Max, only to give a yelp of surprise when she suddenly disappeared. Luke fished the dachshund out of the snow and set her back on the seat. “Yes, Tigger,” he said, brushing off the shivering dog. “I’ll bet this is exactly how you pictured your Christmas sleepover with Auntie Cam, isn’t it?”

“Her sweater is in the green backpack,” Camry said. She opened the rear hatch and started transferring their gear to the snowcat. “Just stomp down a circle in the snow so she can go pee.”

Luke dug through the backpack, found what looked like a doll’s sweater, and started dressing Tigger. Or he tried to, realizing he should have paid better attention when Kate had conned him into playing house with her dolls. “At least it’s bright pink, so we’ll be able to find you,” he muttered, pushing what he hoped was the neck down over Tigger’s head. “What are we going to do for fuel?” he called back to Camry. “I don’t remember seeing any gas stations on Springy when I was there.”

“I stole this particular groomer because it burns diesel. And Megan and Jack are building a camp on the lake at the base of the mountain, which means they would have lugged up a drum of fuel last summer that we can use.”

“Did you hear that, Tig? We’re going to teach you to steal, too. That way we can all share a jail cell so you won’t be scarred for life.”

Luke finally sighed in defeat, scooped Tigger up, and carried her to the back of the truck. “Here,” he said, holding the dog out to Camry. “You figure this contraption out and I’ll load our gear.”

She tucked her hands behind her back. “You need the practice for when you have kids,” she said, her eyes shining with amusement.

Luke hugged the half-dressed dachshund to his chest. “I’ve decided not to have children, because I’m afraid they might addle my brain.”

Camry instantly sobered, spun around, grabbed their sleeping bags, and headed to the snowcat.

Luke smiled at her stomping away, and rubbed Tigger’s head with the short beard he’d started growing three days ago for their camping trip.

Oh yeah, it was going to be a very interesting adventure.

Camry gritted her teeth as she grabbed the handle to keep herself from flying into the windshield, rethinking her brilliant idea of teaching Luke how to drive the snowcat. “Are you aiming for every damn rock and fallen log?”

“It’s not like they’re marked with BUMP signs.” He shoved Max into the backseat. “I can’t see them because Max keeps breathing on the glass and fogging it up.”

“Wait. Stop here,” she said. “I think this is the turnoff we need to take.”

“You think?”

Cam scowled over at him. “It’s been years since I’ve been this far north. I’ll get my bearings once the sun rises.” She reached over and shut off the engine, opened her door, then nearly fell out when Max shoved past her. “Okay, you overgrown brat, it’s time we set down some rules,” she said, lunging after the dog. She took hold of the lab’s head and held him facing her, her nose only inches from his. “One, you wait until I tell you it’s okay to get out. And two, you stay in the backseat with Tigger. You try to crawl in the front with us again, and you’re riding on the roof with our gear.”

“That put the fear of God in him,” Luke said, walking around the snowcat with Tigger in his arms. He stopped to look at their surroundings in the stingy light of the breaking dawn. “It might have been years since you’ve been up here, but I just spent two months scouring these woods. This tote road leads up the south side of Springy.” He pointed in the other direction. “And that way will take us closer to the lake, and eventually around to the north side of the mountain.”

“Then we should go that way,” she said. “Since your trajectory data points to the satellite’s having come in from the north.”

“Except that it couldn’t have,” he contradicted. “Based on its orbit at the time it malfunctioned, Podly should have crashed into the south side of Springy.”

Cam stopped packing down the snow to make a spot for Tigger and looked at him. “So are you suggesting we search the same woods you already spent two months searching, or do you want to look where the satellite really is? Because I happen to know it’s on the north side of the mountain.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “How?”

“Because I watched its entire descent.”

“You actually saw it?”

Cam took Tigger out of his arms and set the dachshund in the circle she’d stomped down. “Winter was having her baby right then, and my other sisters and I were sitting down on the dock in front of her home, waiting for the big arrival. That’s when we noticed what we thought was a meteor streaking through the sky, heading right toward Springy Mountain. It was coming from the north, traveling south. We all saw it, but just then Mom came out of the house and shouted to us that we had a brand-new baby niece.” She shrugged. “I completely forgot about it until Saturday, when you told me Podly had crashed north of Pine Creek last June.”

Luke stared at her, his jaw slack. “Then I guess we head north, don’t we? Wait. You said you were at Winter’s house. She had her baby at home?”

Cam nodded. “My mother and all my sisters had their babies at home. It’s sort of a MacKeage tradition.”

His jaw went slack again.

“What’s so odd about that?” she asked. “Women have been having babies at home since we lived in caves.”

“But what if something went wrong? You’re miles from the nearest hospital.”

Seeing that Tigger was done with her business, Cam set her in the snowcat, then turned back to Luke. “I guess you could say that it’s also our tradition to have relatively easy births.”

Luke’s expression turned unreadable. “So if you were to have a baby . . . would you be expected to have it at home, too?”

“Expected? No. Each of my sisters chose to have her babies at home with a midwife, but they weren’t expected to. In fact, Daddy practically begged them to go to the hospital.” She started looking around for Max. “But if I ever do decide to have children, I would likely follow tradition.”

Luke took hold of her sleeve and turned her to face him. “Does that scare you?”

“It’s a moot point, since I’m not having kids.”

“Because they’ll steal your passion for science?” he asked softly.

“And because I want it to be my choice, not the universe’s.”

“Excuse me?”

Camry eyed him for several heartbeats, then sat down on the track of the snowcat with a sigh. “Okay, since you’re madly in lust with me, I suppose you have a right to know why I’ve been . . . reluctant to have intercourse.”

He snorted, but then held up his hand when she shot him a scowl. “Okay, we’ll go with reluctant.” He sat down beside her. “So what’s the universe got to do with your having sex?”