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«I…I…»
«Don’t know?»
«I can’t think when you touch me,» she said, her voice husky. «And when you aren’t touching me, all I can think about is the next time you’ll touch me.»
Whip shuddered and gripped Sha
«Your honesty makes me burn,» Whip said against Sha
«Then you’ll leave?» she whispered unhappily.
«No, honey girl. Then I’ll come to you.»
9
«I still think we should split any gold we find fifty-fifty,» Sha
Beneath Sha
«Whip?»
Ignoring Sha
«Cat got your tongue?» Sha
«I’ll take wages, just like any other coolie,» Whip said.
«Someone should bridle you, shoe you, and use you as a mule,» she said under her breath, believing Whip couldn’t hear.
«Anytime you want to ride me, just ask,» Whip said in a deep voice.
«You have a mule’s long ears, too,» she retorted.
Whip saw the flush on Sha
«You’re so sweet to tease,» he said. «I swear, I could get drunk on you.»
«It’s the altitude.»
«No, honey girl. It’s you.»
Sha
«I never know when to take you seriously,» she said, sighing. «You’re the first man I’ve ever known who wasn’t hell-bent on gold or fighting or…»
Too late, Sha
«Sex?» Whip asked dryly.
She nodded.
«Oh, I’m hell-bent on that,» he assured her.
«You have an odd way of showing it,» Sha
His smile flashed against his tan face.
«You noticed,» he said.
«What?»
«That I haven’t touched you since breakfast two days ago.»
«Now why would I notice a thing like that?» she retorted coolly.
Whip’s laugh was as darkly masculine as his smile.
«Are you burning yet, honey girl?»
«I don’t know what you’re talking about.»
«I know. That’s why I haven’t touched you.»
Sha
«Good question. When you think of the answer, let me know. I’ll do the same for you.»
She made an exasperated sound and turned back to the trail, ignoring Whip’s gentle smile.
Prettyface was waiting up ahead where the trail forked. One vague path led to the Chute, which was still buried under summer avalanches. The other path led to the Rifle Sight claim, by way of a place Silent John called Grizzly Meadow.
«Go right, Prettyface,» Sha
The big dog promptly trotted off to the right.
Sha
«Whip?»
He held up his hand in a sharp signal for silence.
Uneasily Sha
After another minute Whip finally turned in the saddle to face Sha
«Nothing,» he said. «Just a bird startled by a deer, I guess. Indians have no reason to climb this high and outlaws are too darned lazy.»
«Grizzly?»
«Wouldn’t surprise me. We’re following a game trail. Bears follow it, too. They don’t break any trails they don’t have to, unless it’s berry season. Then they’ll plow through hell itself to get to a ripe thicket.»
Sha
«Have you seen any sign of grizzlies?» Sha
«Look on that tree to your right.»
Sha
«Do you mean this scar?» she asked.
Whip nodded.
«But it’s at least eight feet off the ground,» she objected.
«Closer to ten.»
«What does that have to do with grizzlies?»
«Silent John didn’t teach you much, did he?»
«No. My learning comes from books he brought — bringsme from time to time so I won’t bother him with my chatter.»
«When a male bear marks out his territory,» Whip said, «he rears back on his hind legs and slashes as high up on a tree as he can.»
«Why?»
«An old trapper told me it was to warn off other males. If a wandering male couldn’t measure up to the resident claw marks, he just put on his best behavior and drifted to new territory.»
Sha
«From the looks of those marks,» Whip added, «there’s a fair-sized grizzly that stakes his claim here in the summer.»
Instinctively Sha
«Don’t worry,» Whip said without looking at Sha
«Maybe. After the mule was killed, Silent John told me bears are notional creatures. Like Indians. They do or don’t do according to their own whims. And a female with cubs is pure poison. You see one and you go the other direction. Quick.»
Sha
«I think that was the most words Silent John ever spoke to me all at once,» she said. «It was his way of telling me how important the information was.»
The thought that Sha
«Don’t worry,» Whip said tightly. «Those claw marks aren’t fresh. Anyway, most of the time bears want nothing to do with men, except to steal food if you’re fool enough to leave some lying around where you’re sleeping.»
Despite his reassuring words, Whip kept checking the back trail, as well as both sides of the vague track that led to the high claim.
As Silent John had warned, bears were notional creatures.
Whip saw nothing for his efforts but the untamed beauty of the country itself. It was a place of jagged stone crowns thrust up to the clean wind, of high green divides, and of quaking aspens whispering among themselves while thunderstorms stalked the skyline on stilts made of lightning.
«Can’t you get more speed out of the mule?» Whip asked after a long time of silence.