As the group dispersed, Grant turned to Faith. His dark eyes bored into her, and he kept his voice low. “Be careful. Take precautions in everything you do.”
A shiver slid through her. “You think one ofthemwas trying to hurt you?”
His jaw locked. “I’m more worried they were trying to hurtyou. You’re usually the one who starts the campfire. They might have thought that was the tinderbox you were going to use.”
She wrapped her arms around herself, and her gaze slipped to where Riggs and Skeet knelt by a trap near the water. “I’ll be careful.”
She couldn’t bring herself to ask the question that rose in her mind. Did they suspect her deception?
She had to get away.
The men had finished setting their traps, and all were lying around camp, mending or cleaning supplies. But mostly ogling Faith. Did they suspect her real identity? Or were they suspicious that she’d placed the gunpowder?
Grant saw it too, and was acting as protective as a mother bear, aiming curt remarks at any man who looked overlong in her direction. He didn’t say anything to reveal her gender, just turned the man’s attention elsewhere. But how long before he blundered?
She needed time away from all these men. Just a few minutes to walk along the creek and talk in a voice that wasn’t so artificially deep it strained her throat.
As soon as she ladled the last bowl of stew and handed it to Grant, she stood. “I’m going to the creek.” She sent him a look that he would hopefully interpret asDon’t come after me.
He nodded, his eyes holding their own warning. “Be careful out there. It’ll be full dark soon.”
She kept her face neutral as she nodded and turned to walk away. The cooler air this evening brought a small relief as she walked, her steps quickening to put distance between herself and the camp. The sound of the creek rushing over rocks eased her spirit as she neared the water. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to ease the knot in her chest.
This little stream flowed into the lake where the men had set their traps. Its water was too shallow for there to be a waterfall farther upstream. And Parson knew she wanted to see every falls around the area they traveled, so he would have said something if he knew of one along this waterway.
But still, she followed the trickle up the slope. This wasn’t a full mountain, just a boulder-strewn hill easy to maneuver in the half-light of evening. The effort stretched her limbs and cleared her mind. But as the incline became rockier and more vertical, the murmur of the water grew louder.
Could there be a waterfall here after all?
Shrubby brush clung to the sides of the creek, concealing the water unless she stood right next to it. One particular slope required her to move away from the stream tomaneuver the climb upward. When she worked back to the edge of the bank, the louder rustling stirred hope in her chest.
She pushed aside the branches to reveal a pool at least a horse-length wide. A small fall of water spilled into it from a height as tall as her head.
A lovely setting, and possibly considered a waterfall, though nothing grand like the one where she’d met Grant.
Still, she should explore the area thoroughly. Steps Right could be here.
The rock behind the falling water clearly held no opening, so she climbed farther up the slope, then searched a distance away from the stream in both directions. With so many boulders, she had to take care to push aside the grass and brush around every one of them.
White Horse had showed them how easily a cave could be concealed by a small tree and a rock placed at just the right angle in front of the opening.
She found nothing, though. This must not be the right waterfall. She hadn’t really thought it would be, but...
As she stood in the darkness next to the rustle of cascading water, she raised her voice loud enough that someone nearby would hear. “Steps Right, are you there? I’m a friend of your son, White Horse. You saved my father many years ago, and I’ve come to bring you a gift from him.”
She wasn’t certain how much English the woman understood, but probably not as much as she’d just spoken. Not that she was actually hiding nearby, listening. Still ... “Steps Right. If you’re there, speak to me. I come in peace.”
Only the murmur of the water answered.
She released a long sigh. She should go back to camp now. Parson would have the men bedding down soon, so shewouldn’t have to worry about evading questions or suspicious looks. If he was planning to post a watch as he’d done the past two nights, she would need to know her assigned time.
Pushing one foot forward, then the other, she started down the slope. At least this walk would be easier than the climb up.
She’d only gone halfway when the click of a rock skittering against another stone came from the line of trees ahead. She froze, straining to hear in the darkness.
“Faith?”
The sound of Grant’s voice eased the weight on her chest, and she exhaled a long breath. She couldn’t even be frustrated with him for following. She didn’t have to keep a wary façade in place around him. She could be herself, and the thought of a friend to ease the disappointment beckoned.
