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«Damn it, you’re twisting my words!»
«Am I? I know you’ll leave me, Whip. I’ve known it from the first time I heard you talking about the sunrise you’ve never seen. ‘Nothing is more beautiful. Nothing is more compelling. ’»
«Sha
«No,» she whispered, stopping his words by brushing her lips just once over his. «I believed you then. I believe you now. You will leave. And I will stay in my cabin.»
«I won’t let you.»
«Yondering man, you can’t stop me.»
Whip closed his eyes. His mouth was flattened, his lips pale.
«You’re tearing me apart,» he said in an anguished whisper.
«I’m just —»
Whip talked over Sha
«I want you. I want you like I’ve never wanted anything — except the sunrise I’ve never seen. I can have one or I can have the other. Do you know how it feels to be torn apart like that?» he demanded in despair and rage. «I would tear the soul out of my body if it meant an end to this pain!»
Tears burned behind Sha
«I would do the same,» she whispered. «But you can have what you want most, Whip. Freedom. I’m not baiting any traps or building any cages with you in mind.»
«The hell you aren’t,» he said roughly. «I have to know you’re safe.»
«And I have to know I’m free! Like you, yondering man. Free as the sunrise.»
«You can’t be. It’s not the same for a woman.»
«Not for a married woman, no. But I’m not married.»
Whip opened his eyes and saw the tears in Sha
«Honey girl, don’t cry. I never meant to hurt you.»
«And I never meant to tear you apart,» Sha
«I can’t,» he said simply. «Not until I know you’re safe.»
«You have to.»
«Sha
«If you stay, you’ll hate me,» she interrupted starkly. «I’d rather die, Whip.»
«And that’s just what you’ll do if you go back to that damned shack!»
«My choice, Whip. Not yours.»
Slowly Whip lowered Sha
SHANNON looked over the di
«Thunderation,» she muttered, using one of Cherokee’s favorite phrases. «I forgot the plates.»
If Willow noticed Sha
«Blazes, but that boy is quick,» Willow said, coming back into the kitchen.
«He has Caleb’s speed,» Sha
Willow smiled. «If Ethan grows up one half as handsome as his daddy or his uncle, all the girls in Colorado Territory will beat a path to our door. How is the stew coming along?»
«It’s ready.»
«Good. I saw Caleb walking in from the barn when I put Ethan in his crib.»
«Was Whip with him?»
«No, but he won’t be far behind. In case you hadn’t noticed, my brother likes home cooking.»
Sha
What’s wrong with me?Sha
«I noticed,» Sha
«Should be. Mark my words, though. Whip will complain that there aren’t any biscuits.»
«No, he won’t,» Caleb said, closing the kitchen door behind him. «He left a few hours ago.»
Sha
«Left?» Willow asked, turning away from the stove. «Where did he go?»
«To see Reno.»
«Oh.» Willow frowned and went back to spooning stew into a big wooden serving bowl. «Odd that he didn’t say anything to me. That’s not like him.»
Caleb’s whiskey-colored eyes focused on the slender girl whose hair was the color of autumn.
«Did he say anything to you?» Caleb asked Sha
«No. But then, he’s a yondering man.»
«That doesn’t excuse bad ma
Caleb hadn’t stopped looking at Sha
He had decided it should.
«I understand Whip did some digging on your gold claims,» Caleb said.
Sha
«Any luck?» Caleb asked.
Willow shot him a surprised look. «Caleb, that’s none of our business.»
He turned toward her with startling swiftness. «Not usually, no. But this isn’t usual.»
Willow gave her husband a long look, said something under her breath, and went back to spooning stew.
«Any luck finding gold?» Caleb asked again, turning to Sha
«No. Whip said he lost the drift, whatever that is.»
Caleb grunted. «The drift is the direction the vein of gold takes in the bedrock. When you lose it, all you’re doing is hammering stone.»
«Whip did a lot of that. He came back every day covered in rock grit and sweat.»
«Did he? Why? He hates gold mining almost as much as I do, and he hates working for wages even worse.»
«Whip was worried about me,» Sha
«There’s always hunting,» Caleb said. Then he smiled slightly, remembering the story of the grizzly. «But you’re not much of a shot, are you?»
«Ammunition is too expensive to waste practicing,» Sha
«I’m surprised Silent John didn’t make his own bullets. Most men like him do.»
«He did. But he never trusted me enough to teach me how. He was mighty particular about the weight of his bullets. He counted each grain of powder.»
«I’ll just bet he did,» Caleb said, thinking of Silent John’s reputation with a. 50-caliber buffalo gun. «Do you think he’s still alive?»
«No. But please don’t tell anyone.»
«Why?»
«I don’t want two-legged wolves howling around the cabin each time they get a skin full of rotgut,» Sha
Caleb nodded, unsurprised. «What about Whip?»
«Whip?» Sha
Caleb laughed softly, even as he understood the pain in Sha
«Does Whip think Silent John is dead?» Caleb asked.
«Yes.»
«Then what’s the problem?»
«I beg your pardon?» Sha
«Why did Whip light out of here like his heels were on fire?»
«He wants me to stay with you and Willow.»
«So do we,» Willow said from the stove.
«I…thank you,» Sha
«Can’t or won’t?» Caleb asked in a clipped voice.
«Caleb,» Willow said. «We have no right.»
«Did you see your brother when he rode out?» Caleb asked curtly.