Sharisse smiled. The old timer was always so blunt. “Can you check the mail for me while you’re in town? I’m expecting a letter.”
“Sure thing, ma’am.”
No sooner did Mack ride out than Lucas came in the back of the barn leading two of the new mares. Billy was right behind him. The horses were only blanketed, and as Billy mounted one, Sharisse realized they weren’t going to saddle either horse.
“Isn’t it dangerous, riding that way?” she asked, just to break the silence.
“This is their first ride with a man’s weight on them. They need to get used to that before we go adding a forty-pound saddle.”
He was undoubtedly used to riding like that, so she had no business worrying that he might fall off. She didn’t want to talk about horses, anyway. Her single experience sitting alone in the saddle the day they returned from town had been most unpleasant. Her backside was still tender.
“I made you lunch.”
She gave it to him and watched anxiously as he put it in his leather bags. He was wearing his moccasins and a fringed buckskin shirt that stretched tautly over his hard muscles. Watching the play of those muscles had an effect on her, and she blushed furiously. If he didn’t relent soon, she was going to be tempted to do the unthinkable and make the first move herself.
Sharisse was glad the light in the barn was dim when, finally, Lucas turned and looked at her. Their eyes met, and she waited breathlessly for some kind of statement from him. But his eyes were unreadable. “This won’t take all day,” he said easily.
Her heart fell. “You’ll be back in time for dinner then?” she managed.
“Before then.” He started to mount, looked back at her once more, then growled, “Oh, hell!”
He yanked her to him and kissed her long and hard. When he leaned back, his eyes were soft, his emotions obvious once again.
“I haven’t been sleeping well lately.” The grin curled slowly. “I think maybe I’ve stewed long enough.”
“I think so, too.”
He was obviously reluctant to let her go, but he had to. “Don’t tire yourself out today,” he told her as he pulled himself up on the horse.
“I might make the same suggestion to you.”
He laughed delightedly as he rode away. Sharisse stood in the barn door smiling foolishly as she watched him racing to catch up with Billy.
Twenty-eight
Sharisse had avoided thinking about her father since Emery Buskett had mentioned him. But with the ranch nearly deserted all day and time on her hands, she found herself dwelling on Marcus.
Even if the means to leave came in the next few days, she couldn’t go directly home, not yet. If the reward for her return was as large as Emery had said, then her father’s rage was still at its height. It was out of the question to consider facing him until his temper cooled. But to be found by one of his detectives and returned to him would be even worse. So she couldn’t travel back to New York just yet.
She might be able to stay with her aunt. Surely Aunt Sophie’s house had already been checked for her, and was unlikely to be checked again. And her aunt would take her side after she heard how unreasonable her brother-in-law had been about Joel. Aunt Sophie was a romantic.
Another problem on Sharisse’s mind was that she would have to confront Stephanie about her jewels. Her sister had ended up costing her dearly, more than she could have known. She could understand the desperation that had made Stephanie do it, though. And what had Sharisse really lost but her innocence? Truth to tell, she didn’t miss it in the least.
She smiled as Lucas crept back into her thoughts. She wished the time wouldn’t tick by so slowly. Anticipation was building.
Sharisse strolled over to Willow’s house, but a quick look inside showed that both mother and child were taking advantage of the quiet day to nap. She wished she were tired enough to do the same, but she wasn’t.
She sighed and headed for the backyard. The garden could always use watering. It was planted in good mountain soil, but it still tended to dry out quickly in the heat, and it was hot today. The sky looked almost white, without a single cloud.
The bucket was down in the well. By the time she got it raised she was ready for a drink herself and set it on the ground to scoop up the water with her hands. In the second before her fingers disturbed the water, a face appeared in the water’s reflection, above her face.
Sharisse jumped up so fast that her head knocked his chin. The man grunted, and she gasped, and then they were staring at each other. She was so terrified she couldn’t even muster a scream. An Indian—short, dusty—looking at her as if he had never seen a white woman. Was he as startled as she?
Her hair seemed to fascinate him the most. She had let it down after Lucas left, remembering that he liked it that way. But now this savage was reaching for a lock falling over her shoulder. Was she going to be scalped?
Her voice failed her, but her reflexes didn’t. She knocked the Indian’s hand away, moving just enough to see another Indian on a horse coming around the side of the house. No! There were two others, and there were more coming!
She ran for the house and slammed the door shut. But one look at all the open windows told her it was pointless to bolt the door. The rifle over the fireplace was her only chance. Of course, she didn’t know the first thing about using it, but an only chance was an only chance.
