He stared at her, noting the shy pride on her flushed cheeks. Though she was panting from her exertion and had to be half-frozen, she seemed in high spirits. He sighed, raking his hand through his hair. “Darlin’, what were you thinking? I could have gone after this. There was no reason for you to do it yourself.”
She smiled and threw herself into his arms, nearly knocking him down with her exuberance. “This trunk isn’t the main reason I went back to the coach.”
He hugged her, breathing in her light, flowery scent, thanking God once again that she was all right. “Why did you go, then?”
She pulled away, reaching once again for the trunk handle. “Help me move this while I tell you. I want to get back to the cave as soon as possible. It’s freezing out here.”
He shook his head, smiling, but reached down and took the handle from her. “I can get it. You just talk.”
She looked as though she was going to protest, but he gave her a stern look and she complied with a laugh. “All right. But if you need a rest, let me know.”
“Just talk.” He gave the trunk a mighty pull, surprised to find it glided pretty well over the compacted snow. She watched him for a few moments, then fell into step behind him.
“When I woke up, I started thinking about what you said last night. About the coyotes having been at the bodies?”
He turned to look at her, and she shuddered. “It was horrible, but you were right. It’s impossible to tell what they once looked like. So, I found the shackles and put them on the driver.”
“You didwhat?” He stopped, staring at her in stunned disbelief.
She nodded, looking hopeful and so sweet it broke his heart. “It wasn’t easy, but I remembered where you were standing when you tossed them to the ground. Anyway, I dug through the snow until I found them. I figure when help comes, I’ll just tell them you and the marshal were killed in the wreck, and the driver went for help and never came back. I don’t think they’ll look too hard. They have no reason not to believe me. Then, in a few weeks, you can assume a new name and find me in Texas.”
Overwhelmed, he sank down on the trunk, aghast and amazed. He couldn’t believe she’d come up with such a brilliant plan, trekked through the storm to implement it, and put shackles on a half-eaten, two-day-oldcorpse, all so they could stay together without the law breathing down their necks.
“Ah, Bethany,” he murmured, his voice heavy with regret. “You don’t know how much this means to me, but I can’t let you go through with it. I can’t let you lie to the law just so I can go free. I’d rather go back to prison for the rest of my life than risk seeing you there for even a day.”
Her smile slipped, and hurt gathered in her expressive eyes. “Let’s talk about this once we get back to the cave. I’m freezing.”
Squaring her shoulders, she turned and trudged through the snow, all the fire and excitement that had gotten her through the last few hours dampened by his thoughtless words.
He was such an ass. She’d done all this for him; he could have at least praised her plan, shown her he appreciated the thought and effort she’d put into it. With a heavy sigh, he pushed to his feet and started after her, pulling the heavy trunk in his wake.
“It’s not that I don’t think it’s a good plan,” he called, frustrated with her sudden change of mood. “I think it’s a great plan. I just don’t want you to do anything you’ll regret once this is all behind you.”
She whirled to face him, anger replacing the hurt. “Is that what you think? That I’m doing this because I’m a stupid, helpless woman stuck in circumstances beyond my control? Do you think once help comes I’ll forget how much I’ve come to care about you and regale my friends with stories of the dangerous outlaw who forced me to make love to him?”
He stumbled to a stop, a little taken aback by her furious tirade. In truth, he did worry, once she was safe and sound at her sister’s house in Texas, that she’d look back on him with embarrassment, if not shame.
“You’re the sweetest person I’ve ever met, darlin’. You’d say please and thank you to a grizzly. Once you’re safely away from here, I’m afraid you’ll realize that allowing me in your bed was a mistake. I just don’t want to see you compound it by lying to the law.”
With a wordless sound of outrage, she spun on her heels and stomped away, stumbling through the snow, mumbling beneath her breath as she outdistanced him. Frowning, he watched her for a moment, then started after her, wondering what he’d done to turn his little snow angel into a fire-breathing dragon.
