She started to struggle when he didn’t, until she saw he wasn’t taking her to his horse yet. He set her down, taking a moment to steady her, then simply walked away.
Grateful for the bush between them and yet so utterly embarrassed, she found it hard to reconcile the two strong feelings. Her only consolation was that it was dark and he wouldn’t notice how red her cheeks were. And then she chided herself for being so silly. Clinging to her civilized mantle was ridiculous when she was smack in the middle of the wilderness. But the conventions of polite behavior were ingrained in her! She wasn’t sure she could shed them.
Morgan came back to carry her to his horse. She knew he only did it because he was impatient to leave. So even though she was nestled against his chest and had one arm around his neck, she was compelled to admonish him, “Your helping me this way doesn’t improve my opinion of you one bit. You shouldn’t have stolen me away from my hotel. You should have given me a chance to buy a horse and hire servants so I could travel to my father’s mine in a more civilized fashion. Which, I should add, would have caused less trouble and work for you.”
“You’re no trouble—well, let me rephrase that: you’re no trouble when your mouth is shut. How about you thank me by shutting it now? Or do you need help with that, too?”
He’d stopped and was glancing down at her. His face was awfully close to hers. Was he talking about a gag or a kiss? She wanted neither from him, so she kept quiet and shook her head vigorously. She was done complaining for the moment and back to blushing.
When she was seated on the horse, she saw that he’d already put out the fire and repacked. Before mounting, he handed her the hotel blanket. She didn’t need it yet, but probably would as the night wore on since her jacket was designed to look pretty, not to keep her warm. But she didn’t expect this ride through the darkness to last very long, not when he hadn’t gotten any sleep at the last campsite.
The sky was filled with stars and the moon was indeed bright. The crickets were loud, but a roar in the distance prompted her to put her arms around Morgan. He made no comment, so she kept them there since it made for a steadier seat.
They continued east, at least she assumed so because he didn’t recross the river they’d camped by. But the shadowed landscape became barren again, so she gave up trying to find some sort of landmark in the dark.
Two or three hours later, Morgan finally stopped and said, “I need some sleep,” and abruptly dismounted.
Before he lifted her down, she had a brief unobstructed view of the dark shape of a mountain rather close by in front of them and another in the far distance to her left. Then his hands were around her waist again, only this time he set her down more slowly and she felt her body brush against his. He was standing too close to the horse. Was the man half-asleep already, not extending his arms fully this time to prevent them colliding?
He made no apology, probably wasn’t even aware that their bodies had touched so intimately. The moment her feet were on the ground he moved away from her, so she didn’t give it another thought. She didn’t move, and wouldn’t until she saw where he was going to place the campfire. She assumed he was going to make one, if only for warmth. It was much chillier now. She felt it even with the blanket wrapped about her like a cloak.
Following him with her eyes, she saw that he’d apparently gathered a large armful of dried branches at their last camp while she was sleeping and had tied them to one of the mules. She was glad that he’d thought ahead, since there were no trees anywhere in sight, just a few scraggly bushes and a lot of dead grass. And she didn’t see any water nearby.
Once he got a fire started, she slowly moved over to it and sat down. He tossed her another blanket before unsaddling his horse and spreading out his horse blanket on the other side of the fire. He immediately lay down, using his saddlebag for a pillow.
He did all this without saying a word to her. Was he not talking because he believed she was an impostor, or was this how he behaved with everyone? It was probably true that he’d become a hermit. He was simply accustomed to silence. Or was he just too tired to talk?
She wasn’t, and stated emphatically, “I need to reiterate that I am who I say I am. And I know you knew my father.”
“I knew Charley, which ain’t the same thing.”
“Then tell me about Charley. You worked with him, you must even have liked him because you took him to the doctor in town when he was hurt. Was he happy out here? Please, I only had two visits with him in the last nine years. Tell me something about his—his last days.”
He sat up. The look he gave her across the fire sent chills down her spine. “What I’m gonna tell you is I’m tired, otherwise I might applaud. How long did it take you to study for this role?”
The question infuriated her. “Eighteen years, that’s how long I’ve been Violet Mitchell!”
“Yet you only show up after Charley dies, ’cause he would’ve called you a liar same as I am. Nice try, lady, but if I don’t get some sleep, you won’t like me tomorrow.”
A distinct threat, yet she still mumbled loud enough for him to hear, “I don’t like you now.”
She regretted it immediately, even if it was true. It was still rude, which wasn’t like her at all. And turning him even further against her wasn’t going to get her any answers. So she raised the proverbial white flag with the neutral remark, “There was water not far from here. Why didn’t we camp by it?”
He lay down again and turned on his side facing away from her. “Water draws animals.”
And he wouldn’t be awake to deal with them? She started imagining all sorts of creatures lumbering or slithering past them on the way to that last water they’d passed. Those animals had to come from somewhere!
She gripped her closed parasol like a weapon and glanced around her. Then heard: “I’m not going to tie you. Disturb my gals and I’ll wake up. Run off and I won’t care. You might last a few hours on foot, but I doubt it.”
Speechless, she glared at his back. The man was utterly coldhearted. She decided she preferred his silence to nasty warnings like that one.
Chapter Ten
VIOLET DIDN’T GET ANYmore sleep. She just sat there huddled in her blanket for the remainder of the night. Morgan’s proximity didn’t help one bit to ease her fear when she knew she could be bitten by a snake or dragged off by a wolf or eaten by a bear before she could wake him up to kill it. There were just too many wild animals in this land, not enough people, and the towns were too far apart. Every little sound, even the swish of a mule’s tail, startled her, making her gasp.
It seemed incredible that only a few months ago she was being fitted for beautiful ball gowns. She’d been so excited with the Season approaching, had such hopes and wonderful possibilities before her. Thanks to her aunt and uncle’s sponsorship, she, an American, was going to have her debut in London. And she’d found the husband she wanted before the Season had even started, only to have to sail away the next day—to this.
All of her dreams had been coming true, but she couldn’t return to that upper-class world if her father’s mining venture wasn’t successful. That future, the one she wanted, hinged on finding his mine and it being a lucrative endeavor.
