“That’s the truth. You plannin’ to practice, or was you goin’ to town?”
“Actually, I want to find Lucas. I was hoping you could take me to him.”
“Shoot. They’re a good three, four hours’ ride from here!” he exclaimed. “And there’s no tellin’ where they made camp. It would take me days to hunt ’em down. I can’t be away from the ranch that long.” He gave her a probing look. “What’s so all-fired important that it can’t wait a day or two? He should be back soon.”
She couldn’t very well explain, and her nerves were getting worse. “Will you just get me a horse, please?”
“Not if you’re gonna do somethin’ foolish. Now if you was to ride to town first and get you a tracker who could find ’em in less than a day…”
She brightened. “Yes! I’ll do that.” She didn’t know what she would pay a tracker with, but she would worry about that later.
“So that’s what you aim to do?” he asked, suspicious.
“I’m not a complete fool, Mack. I just didn’t know that I could hire someone to take me to Lucas. Now that you’ve explained that.”
“All right then, I’ll get you Sally. She ought to give you an easy first ride.”
She watched him amble off to the back corral. She wrung her hands, wishing he would hurry.
She was wearing her heavy traveling skirt, the only thing she had that she could possibly ride in, and every petticoat she possessed under it for padding. She no longer had a blouse to wear with it, and rather than borrow one from Willow and have to explain, she had taken an old shirt of Lucas’s that she could button to the neck. The cuffs had been rolled up several times. She had found an extra wide-brimmed hat of his, too, and had bound her hair into a tight bun beneath it. To put it mildly, she had never looked more ridiculous. But that wasn’t important, in light of the way things were.
“You running away from me, beautiful?”
Sharisse jumped, turning to face Slade.
“I…I was just…”
“She wants to see Luke about somethin’,” Mack volunteered as he came back. He was leading Sally, a small sorrel. “I told her she oughta just wait, that he’d be back soon enough, but the gal’s stubborn. Gonna find someone in town to take her to him.”
Slade was looking at her with an unreadable expression.
“It’s none of his business where I’m going,” she snapped at Mack.
“I don’t see why not, him bein’ Luke’s brother,” Mack grumbled. “And shoot, he knows the mountains better’n anyone. He could find Luke before the sun set. Why don’t you ask him to take you?”
Sharisse paled, shaking her head wildly. “That’s out of the question.”
“Why?” Slade asked smoothly. “I’ve got nothing better to do. I wouldn’t mind at all.”
“I couldn’t impose.”
“You wouldn’t be.”
“But—”
“There’s no use arguing, Miss Hammond.” Slade cut her off. “I couldn’t let you ride out of here alone. There’s just no telling who you might run into between here and town. Of course,” he added with a grin, “you can always stay put and wait for my brother to come to you.”
The insinuation was clear. Stay put, and wait for Slade to come to her bedroom. He was trapping her. If she stayed, she was lost. But he wasn’t going to let her leave without him. He could just as well carry out his threats on the trail. Which was the lesser danger?
He took her silence for agreement and moved off to get his horse.
She followed him until they were out of Mack’s hearing. “You knowwhyI was leaving,” she hissed. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?” He didn’t answer, didn’t even look up. “I want you to leave me alone. Can’t you understand?”
As if he hadn’t heard a word she’d said, he glanced over his horse, shouting to Mack, “No need to ready that one for her, Mack. She’ll ride with me.”
“I won’t!” Sharisse said.
“You can’t ride astride in that tight skirt, not unless you’re willing to bare your legs, which I’m sure you’re not.”
