He grimaced. White Horse had proven his character more than once since then. He was capable and willing to protect Faith. And he’d saved Grant’s life.
Still ... safety wasn’t the only thing Grant had worried about when she said she was leaving with the brave. He wrinkled his nose. “It wasn’t so much your protection as your reputation that troubled me enough that I had to come along.”
Faith laughed. A surprising sound that caught him off guard with its freedom. She ended with a grin that flashed white teeth. “There’s no one out here to worry over my reputation. And if there were, you think they’d be any happier to have me traipsing about in the wilderness—unchaperoned—withtwomen instead of one?”
He pressed his lips. That was a valid point he wasn’t ready to concede.
She shrugged the concern away. “Anyhow, White Horse is like a brother in every way except a blood tie.” Then her expression sobered, softening. “Please don’t close yourself off to friendship. We have an important search ahead ofus—two of them. I suspect I, for one, will need a good friend to make sure I don’t miss anything important.”
He swallowed. She was offering an olive branch. A chance for them to carry on as they had been, maybe.
He should agree. He simply had to make sure he didn’t let himself think of her in any way other than as a companion on the journey. A feat that had become harder with each day they spent together. But this was his only option, for he wouldn’t abandon her to her search. He couldn’t.
So he dipped his chin. “You’re right.”
She gave her own decisive nod and pushed to her feet. “Are you feeling ready to climb up the slope? There’s work to be done.”
The morning sun filtered through the pine needles, dappling the ground with light. Faith breathed in the fresh scent of the trees as she rolled up her bedding.
Beside her, Grant grunted as he lifted both their saddles and carried them toward the horses. His eyes were bloodshot, his face drawn. Clearly, he hadn’t slept well. Because of his near-drowning?
As her mind brought back the memories from the day before, her chest ached with all the details he’d shared while they sat at the water’s edge. So much pain he’d experienced. As if being orphaned and separated from his brother wasn’t enough, he’d lost his wife, then her parents turned against him. No wonder he’d turned grumpy and standoffish.
She slung her pack over her shoulder, wincing at the familiar ache in her back. Shouldn’t she be accustomed to the rigors of the trail by now?
This would all be worth any pain or hardship once they found Steps Right and finally accomplished Papa’s request. The ache in her heart would ease, this pain from knowing she’d not fulfilled what he wanted most—what he’d begged of her specifically.
She reached the horses and strapped her pack behind her saddle. White Horse had already finished with his own mount and was fastening the bridle on her gelding.
“You ready?” Grant led his saddled horse toward them.
She nodded. “I was ready yesterday.”
He cracked the first hint of a grin she’d seen all day. A snort slipped from White Horse, but he moved to his own mount.
When they’d all settled in their saddles, White Horse motioned Grant toward the path along the cliff bank. “You ride first. I watch back trail.”
The reminder of what happened to Grant yesterday twisted a knot in her belly as they started forward. Who could have possibly pushed him into the river? It seemed so outrageous, not only that someone could have crept up behind them while they were all three standing there, but that there was another person in this wilderness at all. They’d not seen a soul since leaving Parson’s group.
And someone who wanted to hurt him enough to push him over the cliff?
She would have believed it his imagination or a tale he created to excuse clumsiness, except he’d also been attacked that night when he stood watch. He’d been by himself then.
The thought that slipped in made her middle coil even more. He wouldn’t have made that up. Would he?
He’d been injured. He couldn’t have done that to himself.
The water flowed steadily on their left in the canyon far below, and beyond the river rose a craggy slope that followed the water’s edge like a wall. Birds chirped in the trees on their right, and the fresh scent of new morning filled the air. It seemed impossible that anything awful might linger in this beautiful land.
Certainly not a stranger trying to hurt them.
As they maneuvered along the water’s edge, the sun gradually rose above them. Sometimes they passed through trees that shaded, but on the other side, the heat sweltered even more. At last, they crested a rise in the trail, and in the distance, the sound of rushing water grew louder.
Faith’s heart leapt. That had to be a waterfall, though she couldn’t see it yet. Maybe they were nearing the end of their journey. Maybe Steps Right was just ahead.
She glanced back at White Horse, and he spared her a quick look and a half smile before returning his focus to the river ahead. She turned forward again and nudged Two Bit faster, pulling alongside Grant.
They were all three riding side by side when she first saw the dip in the water’s surface that signaled the top of the falls.
