Get Lucky by Lorie O'Clare Page A

picture. Why in the hell would he do that? She had to look like shit. Her heart started racing and again her anger peaked. Just as quickly she forced herself to calm down. Why should she care? Tourists had taken her picture before. Granted, most of them asked. Marc wasn’t her usual tourist, though. The quick seesaw of emotions almost made her dizzy.
    Marc continued searching her face as he rambled on about his phone. She got the eeriest sensation the chatter about his phone was a front while he focused on her, searching for proof she was distraught about something. London gave herself a mental shake. Marc didn’t have an agenda, other than getting her naked. She forced her paranoid thoughts out of her head.
    “Does it make phone calls?”
    “Damn. I forgot to ask.” He brushed his finger down her cheek, a quick gesture that ended before she could say anything about him touching her like that where someone might see. “I’ll let you get back to work. See you in a couple hours.”

     
    *   *   *
     
    Marc had to admit the walking tour was fun. They were a large group, over twenty. London and another guide, Meryl, the curly-haired redhead, wore battery-packed microphones wrapped around their ears so everyone could hear them. They told anecdotes and stories of the Old West as they walked the group through a pretty easy hike. He wasn’t the only one feeling the lack of exercise and actually breaking a sweat on their return to the ski lodge. Others around him sounded winded as they chatted among themselves.
    “As you look at these mountains, you see their beauty and a great place to vacation,” London said into her microphone. “However, in 1879 prospectors endured the elements and made it to this area. They determined the area contained large deposits of silver ore. That was the beginning of Aspen, Colorado. They saw these mountains as a major investment.”
    Marc didn’t try finding a spot alongside London. He brought up the rear and could hear her melodic, cheerful voice as she continued sharing Aspen history.
    “Over the next fourteen years, Aspen’s fortunes rose as it eventually produced one-sixth of the nation’s silver and one-sixteenth of the world’s silver.”
    “A lady like you would look better in gold than in silver,” a man next to London said too loudly.
    If he thought his comment would garner laughter from the rest of the group, he was mistaken. Everyone ignored him. A much younger man, twenty years old at the most, eased in alongside London and whispered something to her. Her laughter could be heard through the microphone. Marc wouldn’t be surprised if someone as sexy as London wasn’t hit on by male guests on a daily basis. Her dark blue jeans hugged her perfectly shaped ass, and the down coat she wore hid the shape of her upper body but hugged her narrow waist. The sunset glowed off the mountains and glistened in her long straight black hair. She definitely competed with their surroundings as being the most beautiful sight out here.
    London appeared to handle the men’s attention with professional ease, stepping around them without making it obvious she avoided their advances. Marc didn’t want to be one of the many who struggled for a moment of her time. Instead he focused on the glory of the mountains. He’d never seen anything like it.
    There were other hikes he could sign up for to do some serious hiking into those glorious mountains. Instead, they’d taken a pretty level path between two of the mountains and around a large gully that included several breathtaking waterfalls. There wasn’t anything that compared to the beauty around him. Marc stared in awe at his surroundings, swearing he’d drifted into some alternate universe that was a frozen winter wonderland.
    London and Meryl stopped the group and turned to face them. The men surrounding London seemed to fight for who would stand next to her as she continued speaking.
    “In 1881 the first Aspen newspaper was