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The game continued until Sha
Whip watched too, motionless, aching with feelings he couldn’t name.
A rock arced out of the aspens to land with a soft thump at Prettyface’s side. It must have been the signal for the game to resume, because the hound leaped forward, nose to the ground, tracking his mistress at a lope. Soon Prettyface vanished into the aspens.
Whip waited, smiling, guessing what was going to happen next; the stalk and the laughter stifled into silence, and then the instant of discovery.
A few minutes later he heard laughter and saw flashes of movement in the aspen grove. Sha
No wonder she got to me so fast when that grizzly cornered me. She and that hellhound of hers keep each other sharp.
Despite Sha
Whip laughed softly as he uncocked the rifle, coiled the long lash so that it could ride once again on his shoulder, and walked toward the girl and the savage mongrel that played like a puppy with her.
I’ll bet Sha
And there’s always Reno or Wolfe or both of them together if the fight gets too hard for Cal to handle alone. Sha
I could go yondering again and not always be looking back, wondering if Sha
Relief at the solution to his problem swept through Whip, loosening some of the tension that had ridden him without mercy since he had discovered just how i
Sha
She had seen very little of Whip in the two days since he had discovered she was a virgin. When she awoke at dawn, he was already gone to Rifle Sight. He didn’t come back until it was too dark to work any longer. By then he was too tired to do much more than bathe and eat and fall asleep.
«I’m glad you came back early,» Sha
Whip smiled. «You sure?»
She nodded almost shyly.
«Even though I’ve been less company to you than that beast?» he asked ruefully.
She nodded again and whispered, «Yes.»
Whip looked at the heightened color of Sha
Toanyman.
«Whip?»
«Mm?»
«What is it? You look as smug as a rooster with twenty hens.»
Whip laughed and wished he could hug Sha
But separate they would, for the undiscovered sunrise would call to him.
«I don’t want to hurt you,» Whip said, no longer smiling.
Sha
But Sha
Knowing would make it worse. Knowing would cut out her heart and leave nothing but darkness in its place, an emptiness she couldn’t hide from Whip no matter how hard she tried.
«I know you don’t want to hurt me,» Sha
«Horse —»
«I’m fully of age,» she interrupted, «and I’ve been warned more than once that you don’t want ties. If I get hurt, it’s on my head, not yours.»
«But —»
«Come back to camp and wash up,» Sha
«My shirt isn’t what’s nettling me,» Whip retorted. «It’s you. My conscience won’t let me leave you at the mercy of the likes of the Culpeppers.»
Then don’t go!
But Sha
He loved the unseen sunrise more than he would ever love any woman.
«Tell your conscience that I got along just fine before I met you,» Sha
«But you didn’t!»
«How do you know?» she asked reasonably. «You weren’t here.»
«Damn it, Sha
«Yes. Damn it.»
With that, she started walking to camp. Prettyface and Whip fell into step along either side.
«How did the digging go?» Sha
Whip grunted. «Worse than yesterday, better than tomorrow.»
She tried to think of something encouraging to say. She couldn’t. Fear for her own future was too strong. Yet if she talked about that, Whip would think she was building a cage for him, nailing him to the floor of her dreams while his own dreams called to him from the other side of the bars.
«I’m not going to find gold in Rifle Sight,» Whip said bluntly. «Not tomorrow. Not the day after. Not ever.»
Sha
«There are other claims,» she said through pale lips.
«You said Rifle Sight was the best one.»
«Maybe I was wrong.»
«Maybe. But I’ve got a better idea.»
«What? Jump somebody’s claim?» she asked bitterly.
«I’ll leave that to the Culpeppers, and I’ll leave robbing trains and banks to the James brothers.»
Sha
«What’s your idea?» she asked.
«The only real safety for a girl like you is in a nice town with picket fences around the houses and church bells ringing and a good, settled man for a husband. But —»
«I don’t want to marry,» she interrupted curtly.
«— there’s no place like that in Colorado Territory,» Whip continued.
«Thank God,» Sha
Whip ignored her. As he spoke, his original enthusiasm for the idea of sending Sha
«The next safest place for you would be Cal’s ranch,» Whip said firmly.
Sha
«The ranch lies beyond those peaks,» Whip said, pointing to the west, «about a day’s ride from your cabin on a good horse in good weather. Two days if you take Razorback. Four if you walk.»
«And no time at all if you stay home,» Sha