No doubt about it, a four-day, tent-sleeping, gear-lugging, outdoor-roughing-it hike in the Andes qualified for waaay outside her box. She’d been thinking more along the lines of a spa trip to St. Bart’s for a seaweed wrap-something she’d never done in a place she’d never been.

But even she had to admit that such pampering wouldn’t qualify as “challenging.” Was it fate that had Nelson scheduling her for this trip? Let’s hope so, her inner voice whispered. Right. As opposed to it being a bone-breaking, nightmarish, hikers-eaten-by-giant-snakes coincidence. Which probably just proved that this trip was fate. A mighty, between-the-shoulder-blades shove outside her comfort zone. One that, based on her St. Bart’s spa idea, she sure as hell wouldn’t have planned on her own. And one that was exactly what she needed.

In fact, if Dr. Brett Thornton wasn’t in the mix, everything would be perfect. Or at least as perfect as a four-day hike up a mountain could be.

The timing, however, was not great. With Meg’s wedding only a month away, her sister was bound to freak when she heard Kayla would be away for a week. Kayla took her maid-of-honor duties seriously, and she hated to leave Meg now-especially since her future in-laws were arriving this weekend from California. But unless she wanted to resign from her job here and now, she had little choice.

“Listen, Kayla, I know this is a bit outside your realm,” Nelson’s voice jerked her away from her thoughts, “but surely if Thornton, who no doubt spends all his time peering through microscopes, can make the hike, so can you.”

“So far you’ve flattered me, appealed to my vanity, and now you’re trying to rev up my competitive spirit.”

Nelson smiled. “Is it working?”

She wanted to say no. Tell him that she was tired. Physically, emotionally exhausted. And so damn weary of doing things she didn’t really want to do. Like trek to another continent to partake in what boiled down to spying on a man she had no desire to spend one minute with, let alone one week with.