Her heart squeezed. He cut a fine figure standing there, but it was more than the broad strength of his shouldersand the perfect symmetry of his features that drew her. His steadiness. His thoughtfulness. Even his shrewdness in the trade room made her smile. He possessed a great deal of business savvy and intuition that made him more than a match for any man.
Yet she’d also seen his fairness. The times she’d stood at the trade room door waiting for customers to leave before she entered, she’d watched him add trade goods to a stack when he felt furs offered him were worth more than the patron requested. How could she not be drawn to a man of such integrity?
twenty
As Lorelei turned away from Tanner to face the trail ahead, she caught a look from her sister. She fought the heat that rose up her neck under Rosie’s scrutiny. Did her sister suspect anything? Perhaps Lorelei should be the first to speak of her affection for Tanner.
But the thought of confiding in her eldest sister made her breath grow short. As much as she loved Rosie, she could be a bit daunting at times. Faith or June might be the ones to tell first.
Rosie’s brows lowered. “Are you worried about Curly while you’re gone?”
Maybe that’s all Rosemary had read into what passed between her and Tanner. She let out a sigh. “Tanner promised to take care of him. I think they’ll be all right for a day or two.”
Rosie nodded, then silence settled again for another minute. Her sister pointed toward the Sioux village. “Have they given you trouble of late?”
Lorelei glanced at White Horse to see if he wanted to answer, but he remained silent. Not unusual for him. So,she answered, “They’ve been good neighbors for the most part. They were curious at first, and it seemed there were always some watching through the gaps in the fort walls. But White Horse made sure they didn’t enter. Most days now, only a handful come to watch, and they don’t stay long.”
Curiosity marked her sister’s expression. “Have you spoken with any of them? Are they friendly?”
“I tried in the beginning, but it’s hard when I don’t speak their language.” She turned to White Horse. “Will you teach me more of the hand talk? I should have asked before now.” They’d begun learning signs and some of his Peigan tongue during the winter, but as soon as the weather cleared, ranch work had consumed most of their time.
He nodded. “I will.”
Their conversation waned as the terrain turned steeper, the rocky ground a challenge that required more focus. By the time the sun rose a quarter of the way to its zenith, they finally reached the pass, and White Horse halted them. He pointed down to a thin line of trees in the narrow valley below. “Camp is there.” His finger traced the slope of one of the mountains on their right. “Animal trail climbs to top.”
Rosie nodded. “Should we start in the valley?” White Horse was one of the few people Rosie looked to for advice. And rightly so, for he possessed innate skills in this land. Too, he’d already searched this place once.
He nodded, then nudged his horse forward to lead down the slope.
The trappers’ camp had been in one of the only flat spots in the small valley, nestled among the trees beside a tiny trickle of water that could barely be called a creek. The stream was likely only snowmelt from the mountains andwould dry during the hottest part of summer. Though even July and August in this land were nothing compared to the stifling heat of a Virginia summer.
After exploring the evidence of the men’s camp for a few minutes and letting the horses drink, they hobbled the horses to graze and studied the slope.
“Animal trail there.” White Horse ran his finger up the pale line that tracked back and forth up the mountain.
Rosemary started forward. “Should we spread out so we cover more ground?”
They divided the mountainside in three vertical sections, then started up. Lorelei had been given the center area. Was that because the route was easier? Or maybe that was simply the way the lot had fallen as Rosie issued orders.
Either way, she wouldn’t leave a stone unturned. White Horse had likely already covered this exact ground, so she needed to be creative and thorough with the places she looked.
She moved back and forth, peering behind rocks and nudging shrubs and tree branches aside to make sure they weren’t covering an opening in the mountainside. Adams had made it sound like the cave was up near the top of the peak, but she searched everywhere.
The others moved upward faster than she did, but she didn’t dare allow speed to make her grow lax in her search.
By the time she reached the area where the cave would most likely be, based on Adams’s description, the others had finished their sections and come to join her.
She glanced from one to the other. “Did you find any sign of a cave?” Both wore grim expressions, and White Horse shook his head.
Rosie glanced back at the area she’d searched. “There was an indention in the rock, but I don’t think anyone would call it a cave. It certainly wasn’t deep enough to sleep in, and I saw no sign that a person stayed there.”
White Horse nodded. “I see this too. Not what the white man told.”
Lorelei turned back to the route she’d been taking and brushed aside the thin branches of a scrawny evergreen no taller than her waist. There was no way a cave could be hiding behind that lonely tree, but she had to look anyway.
Rosie and White Horse searched the rest of her section ahead of her, but Lorelei still made sure to inspect every bit of it.
Yet, by the time they gathered at the peak, no sign of the cave had revealed itself.
