This Fierce Splendor (37 page)

Patrick’s hands tightened on the reins until his knuckles were white. And Patrick certainly wasn’t going to turn to look up at the window either. It was loco for him to get upset like this over such a little
thing. Joshua’s wife. She was Joshua’s wife. Could she distinguish which rider was Joshua in the darkness? She had been married to his uncle for fourteen years. Surely she knew him well enough to recognize him at a distance. But perhaps not, perhaps he could make her feel a little less lonely if he— Patrick dropped back a few yards behind the last rider and looked back over his shoulder.

Rising Star was standing at the window.

He slowly lifted his arm and waved it in an arc. He could see her stiffen. Did she think he was Joshua? Oh, God, did he
want
her to think he was Joshua?

Her hand lifted in a gesture of farewell. Sweetness flooded Patrick’s being, followed immediately by hot guilt.

What the hell was he doing? He spurred desperately and his horse leapt forward until he was riding beside Joshua at the head of the column.

Joshua looked at him and smiled. “You in a hurry?”

“No.” Patrick swallowed. It had not been a betrayal. He had taken nothing from Joshua that his uncle had wanted. “You said Gran-da might need me up here.” He kept his eyes on the foothills, away from that lighted window framing the glowing beauty of Rising Star. “So I thought I’d better come up and show you tenderfoots how to tell the difference between a horse’s tracks and a jackrabbit’s.”

“W
ill you stop being foolish and let me help you?” Elspeth’s voice was tart with exasperation. “You’ve demonstrated how strong and stoic a Delaney can be. I think it’s time you exhibited a little intelligence as well. You’ve made camp, cooked our meal, watered the horses, and treated me as if I were incapable of buttoning my own shoes. I may not be experienced on the trail, but I am not entirely stupid. Tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”

“There’s nothing left to do. It’s late. Crawl into your blankets and get to sleep. I’ll just scout around on our back trail and make sure—”

“No,” she said clearly. “Torres couldn’t be after you yet, and I won’t let you exhaust yourself. Sit down and let me take a look at your wound. With all this moving about you’ll be lucky if it hasn’t started bleeding again.”

“It’s not bleeding.” He started to turn away.

“Let me see.” Her fingers were quickly unbuttoning his white shirt. “Any man who would jump out of a sickbed and carry on as you’ve done is hardly to be trusted,” she muttered. “Daft. Positively daft. Sit down.”

“I’m not blee—” He inhaled sharply as her fingers slipped beneath the bandage, exploring the tender flesh around the wound. “Ouch! What the hell are you trying to do to me?”

“Reminding you that you were shot only this
afternoon. I thought it time someone did.” She deliberately pressed again on the sore flesh. “
Sit down
.”

He sat down.

She immediately knelt beside him on the blanket and quickly loosened the bandage. “That’s better.”

“In your opinion,” Dominic said dryly. “It feels like someone stabbed me with red-hot splinters.”

“I didn’t really hurt the wound.” She unscrewed the lid from the small jar of salve Rising Star had given her. “You weren’t listening to me again. It was necessary I get your attention.”

“I think you succeeded.” He gritted his teeth as she carefully applied the salve. “You must have been taking lessons from Silver. The women of her tribe are very good at this kind of torture.”

Her gaze lifted. “Am I hurting you?”

“Hell, yes.”

“Good.” She swiftly replaced the bandage and fastened it in place. “Then you’ll have to take care that it will heal swiftly so you’ll no longer need my clumsy nursing, won’t you?” She sat back on her heels and met his gaze. “We’ll start by avoiding putting unneeded strain on it. There are many things I can do to help. Patrick showed me how to saddle a horse. From now on I will do that. I can gather wood and I’ll learn how to build a fire.”

“It seems you’re taking charge of everything,” he said sardonically. “Am I allowed to do anything?”

“Yes.” She swallowed. “I don’t think I could kill or skin a rabbit as you did. I would appreciate it if you would continue to provide for our meals.”

He studied her. “Yet you ate with good appetite.”

“I realize it’s foolish to be squeamish.” She buttoned his shirt. “We must eat. If you think it unfair that I don’t share in the preparation, then of course I will do so.”

He shook his head slowly. “No, I think I can handle it by myself.”

“And you will let me do the other tasks until your shoulder is less sore?”

A curious smile tugged at his lips. “What will you do if I don’t?”

She smiled back at him with angelic sweetness. “Then I’ll find it necessary to dress your wound five times a day instead of two, and we’ve already established how clumsy I can be.”

He suddenly threw back his head and laughed. “My God, I’ve changed my mind. I think you could give Silver lessons. When I remember what a meek little miss you were when you first came to Hell’s Bluff—”

“I was never meek. Unsure, perhaps, and frightened.”

The grin faded from Dominic’s face. “You didn’t show it. You always stood up to me.”

“I didn’t want to be a coward.” She gazed into the blue-orange heart of the flames. “My father always told me a MacGregor must never be afraid.” She tried to smile. “Besides, it wasn’t only you I feared. Everything was so new and strange to me and I felt very much alone.”

“Did you?” Dominic didn’t look at her. “I guess we all feel like that sometimes.”

“And then so many things happened. I was injured, Andre—” She closed her eyes as that memory came back to her. “Poor Andre,” she whispered. “We were alike, you know. Two strangers who couldn’t understand this wild country.”

“You’re not like Marzonoff. Not any longer.”

She opened her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I mean you’re beginning to understand us now.” He smiled faintly. She looked surprised, he thought. Perhaps she didn’t realize how much she had changed in these last weeks. Determination, courage, and dogged endurance had probably always been a part of her character, but now those qualities had been refined and sharpened. “Aren’t you, Elspeth?”

She thought about it. Then she nodded slowly. “I guess I do understand you better than when I first came.” Her lips tightened. “That’s not to say I approve of the barbaric way in which you westerners accomplish your ends. I believe you need a great deal of civilizing.”

“Uhmmm …” His lips twitched. “Like the civilized way you accomplished your purpose tonight? As I remember, you used both pain and intimidation.”

“I didn’t—” She stopped. “Well, perhaps I did, but it was the only way I could deal with a stubborn man who insisted on—”

He held up his hands to stop the flow of words. “I’m not quarreling with your methods. I thoroughly approve of them.” He grinned. “I’m used to them. That’s the way we do things out here.” He added softly, “The barbaric way.”

“It’s not the same. I didn’t …” She trailed off as she noticed the amused smile on his lips was deepening by the second. It was definitely time to change the subject. “How long will it take us to get to Kantalan?”

“I’m not sure. Perhaps three or four weeks.” He reached into his back pocket and drew out a piece of soft deerskin and unfolded it to reveal a crudely drawn map.

Elspeth felt a flicker of excitement. “This is the map White Buffalo gave you?”

He nodded. “I dug it out of my saddlebags before we left Killara.” His index finger tapped a spot at the top of the map. “Here’s where we are now.” His finger traced a line down the smooth leather surface. “We cross the Mexican border here and then bear southeast until we get to the Sierra Madre range. Kantalan is encircled by high mountains which White Buffalo said were impassable.” His finger tapped a small X on one of the inverted V’s forming a circle around the largest X on the map. “Except for a pass right here on the third mountain to the east of the Sun Child. It’s hidden by a waterfall and, according to what Cadra said, we’ll have to swim the horses thirty yards or so before we get to the shallows.”

“No wonder no one has discovered it in all these years,” Elspeth said. She pointed to the tallest of the mountains indicated on the map. “The Sun Child?”

Dominic nodded.

A shiver went through her, but she didn’t know
whether it was from excitement or fear. “In only a few weeks we’ll see it. We’ll see Kantalan.”

Dominic folded the map and put it back into his pocket. “If there’s anything to see.” He picked up a stick and stoked the flames of the fire. “Lie down and go to sleep. I want to get an early start. I’d like to be halfway to the border by tomorrow night.”

“Very well.” She obediently stood up and moved the few yards to where Dominic had fashioned her blankets into a pallet. She settled her head on her saddle and found it made a fairly tolerable pillow. “Good night.” She pulled the blanket up to her chin and closed her eyes.

He watched her with amusement mixed with irritation. He might as well have been a eunuch for all the self-consciousness she was displaying in his presence. “I’m glad you’re being sensible. Some women would be nervous about being out here alone with me. Some women wouldn’t believe I’d keep my promise.”

“Then they’d be very stupid,” she said calmly. “Good heavens, you were shot today. You’re exhausted and in pain.”

But he wasn’t dead, he wanted to tell her. And he was beginning to think that he’d have to be dead not to want her. His shoulder wasn’t the only part of his anatomy that was throbbing.

What was he thinking? He should be glad she wasn’t afraid of him. He had made a promise that was going to be difficult enough to keep.

He lay down and drew the blanket over him, deliberately turning his back on the slim figure across the fire. He didn’t bother to take off his gunbelt. He would stay until Elspeth was asleep and then he would creep out of camp to make sure they hadn’t been followed.

Torres. Clever, bold, deadly. Dominic knew that breed of man well. There had been many like Torres stalking him in the last ten years. Yet perhaps Ramon Torres could be the most dangerous of all. He had displayed great patience and his twisted, dark whimsy in putting Elspeth into his bed last night struck a
chill through him. The thought of Torres handling Elspeth while she was unconscious and helpless made him sick with terror and fury, but it was the patience of the man that frightened Dominic the most. The knowledge that there was someone out there waiting, someone who would wait forever, if need be, for him to become careless. Waiting for him to fall asleep when he should remain awake, to relax when he should have remained alert, to take that one drink too many that would slow his speed.

But that would not happen tonight. Tonight there would be no carelessness, and, if Torres was out there, the bastard would just have to bide his time.

“Move over, Star.”

It was Joshua’s voice and it brought Rising Star from the depths of sleep to joyous awakening. She turned over, her arms going out to him. Her hands ran lovingly over his face, her fingers reading the lines of weariness and exploring the rough stubble on his lean cheeks in the darkness of the bedchamber. “Joshua.” She nestled closer.

His hands settled on her shoulders, holding her away from him. “Don’t come any closer. I smell of dust and sweat and I’m too damn tired to wash up right now.”

“I don’t care.” It had been four long days, and now he was home. She wanted to light the lamp and look at him, see him smile at her. “I want to hold you.” She took his left hand from her shoulder and lifted it to her lips to press her lips to his palm. “Did you find Torres?”

“No, he was damn clever about hiding his tracks. We’ve been searching those blasted hills, running around in circles, ever since we left Killara.” There was frustration as well as anger in Joshua’s voice. “Patrick finally found signs where he might have doubled back toward Killara. Da thinks he may be on Dom’s trail again.”

“You have given up?”

Joshua jerked his hand away from her lips. “Don’t be silly. Of course not, we’re going to change horses and set out again in the morning. We’ll get him.”

“I only thought—”

“Go to sleep. We’re both too tired for thinking right now.” He was silent a moment before he said haltingly, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be sharp with you.”

“It doesn’t matter. You are tired. I should not have questioned you until you’d had a chance to rest.”

“For God’s sake, it does matter.” His tone was ragged. “Will you stop being so damn kind? I hurt you, didn’t I?”

“Yes.”

He didn’t speak again, but she could feel the tenseness and pain emanating from his rigid body next to her own. She wanted to reach out and try to stroke the pain away but he would not let her get close enough. The barrier between them was too high to scale. They had to find a way to overcome that barrier, she thought desperately. They had to find a way to end their pain. But there was a way, she realized with relief. The child. “The baby moved much today,” she said softly. “I took a long walk this afternoon and thought about the child and how he will love it here at Killara. I could see you teaching him to ride, putting him on his first pony, just as you did Patrick. It will be such a fine time when—” She broke off. He hadn’t moved, but she could feel his withdrawal like a cold wind howling between them. “What’s wrong?”