Reckless Love

Ty looked at Ja

"Hell of an idea," Ty said curtly. "Wait here while I get my pack."

Ja

When Ty returned and saw Ja

It was the opportunity she had been waiting for. She allowed herself to be pulled upright, then stumbled and fell against Ty's body, letting him take her full weight. His arms closed around her automatically, supporting her.

The impact of Ja

"Ja

For a moment longer she savored the delicious warmth and strength of Ty's body before she slowly began to take her own weight again. Even then, she held on to his muscular arms, bracing herself against his strength.

"Sorry," Ja

Ty was glad Ja

"Poor little baby bird," Ty said sympathetically. "Come on. As soon as we get in better cover, I'll feed you."

His voice was a deep rumble beneath Ja

"Thank you," Ja

She turned away and began walking quickly toward the rugged wall of black lava and red sandstone that formed the east face of Black Plateau. Ty stood and watched the almost concealed sway of Ja

Yet he had to ignore it. He had to forget how good it had felt to rock his hips hard against the softness beneath her clothes.

He had to… but he couldn't.

Chapter Eighteen

Anger helped Ja

She found no traces of man and very little of beast. There were no signs that anything had used the trail recently other than herself. There were no hoofprints in the rare patches of dirt, nor scars where hooves had slipped or scraped across stone. She had never seen signs of any hoofed animal on the trail except occasional deer-and once, just once, tracks that indicated that Lucifer had skidded down over the precipitous path in order to shake off mustangers who had gotten too close.

The idea of any horse taking the trail down the plateau's east face made Ja

Climbing at a rapid rate, Ja

Ty grunted and shucked off the heavy pack, using it as a seat while his breathing returned to normal.

"Hell of a path," he said after a bit. "I didn't see any sign of Zebra coming up, but she sure headed straight here like she had something in mind."

"She did-avoiding a river of black rock about a quarter mile south of here," Ja

For several minutes there was silence while Ty looked out over the land from his new perspective, checking his memories against Ja

"Does the lava flow-the river of black rock-begin there?" he asked, pointing to what looked like a dusty black creek ru

Ja

"Yes."

Ty grunted. "I can see why Zebra goes around it. A lot of jagged rock and nothing much else."

He looked for a time longer, waiting for Ja

"How deep are those canyons?" Ty asked, pointing toward the shadows that looked rather like a network of black lightning fa

For a few moments Ja

"The canyons are deep enough that the wild horses go around them," Ja