Shades Of Wyoming
by
Unknown

For my sister, Mable Warden, and her "cowboy," Leo.  Thank you for
showing us the Wyoming few people get to see.

Chapter 1

She was lost!

Julia brought the red Porsche to a grinding halt and stared at the vast
stretch of emptiness around her.  There wasn't a house, tree or
telephone pole within sight.  She hadn't passed another vehicle since..
she couldn't remember when.

She'd been driving for hours, ever since leaving the motel that morning
in Thermopolis, Wyoming.  After a while everything had begun to look
the same, the paved road had given way to hard-packed dirt and she'd
gone from one deeply rutted road to another without taking note of
where they led.

She supposed she'd been a fool to neglect getting a map and marking her
route, but the truth of the matter was that she simply hadn't cared
enough to do it.  For three days, ever since leaving Los Angeles, she'd
been on the road , headed..  nowhere.

Looking at the countryside around her, noting how it looked the same in
all directions, a sweeping panorama of undulating hills, covered with
silver sagebrush and back dropped by snowcapped mountains, she realized
she'd found just that-nowhere, U. S. A.

She sighed, heavily.  It was hot, she was tired, thirsty, and in need
of a bathroom.  Her eyes dropped toward the dash and she realized she
was in need of fuel, as well.

Taking off her sunglasses, she glanced up at the sky.  When had the
dark clouds rolled in?  The sky had been a deep azure blue when she'd
started out that morning.  Sometime in the past few hours, during her
preoccupation with unhappy reflections of the past, the sky had
changed.  Now it was gunmetal gray.

A rumble of thunder sounded in the distance and she glanced toward the
darkest of the clouds.  A shaft of white lightning darted between earth
and sky, a beautiful, awesome sight that made her catch her breath and
shiver.  She wasn't in the habit of being alone with-or at the mercy
of-Mother Nature.

She turned off the air conditioner to conserve fuel and lowered the
windows, considering heading back the way she'd come, then thought
better of it.  Somehow that smacked of going back, and she'd promised
herself she'd never do that-never return to Los Angeles and the life
she'd left behind.

Only pain and emptiness awaited her there.

Folding the sunglasses, she placed them on the seat beside her, took
her foot off the brake pedal, and let the car glide slowly forward,
picking up speed.  Perhaps there wasn't a place on the whole planet
where she could find happiness

Certainly, Julia couldn't do as her mother wanted and return to the
East to live.  She'd tried that once and it hadn't worked.  She didn't
fit into her mother's "old world," society background.

But then, neither had she really fit into the ultramodern crowd she'd
gotten mixed up with in California.  Oh, she'd pretended to, rather
than give up and go back East to live with her mother.  She'd pretended
for five years, to be exact

It was only because she'd met Mariette and they'd become close friends
that she'd stuck it out in California for as long as she had.  She'd
even managed, thanks to her friend's urging, to make a name for herself
among the elite crowd by having a showing of her paintings in a
prestigious art gallery.

Her no-nonsense style of capturing people and their emotions on canvas
had caught on in a big way.  She could have made a lot of money with
her paintings if she'd wanted, but she didn't need to sell them to
live.

It was her friendship with Mariette that had convinced her to give
California a fair try.  She settled in and allowed herself to get
caught up in the "live for today and to hell with tomorrow" life-style,
so fashionable in some circles.

But tomorrow came.  And it came with a vengeance.

It came for her on a dark, stormy night six months ago.  Julia had
returned after being gone all night and found Mariette lying crumpled
on the bathroom floor, so still.  so white..  so cold..  like a
beautiful statue made of marble that had never known life..

A few days ago, Julia had stood in that same bathroom looking into the
floor-to-ceiling mirror.  Dressed in a nightgown she'd worn for a week,
hair in a wild tangle around her head, eyes dull and lifeless, she'd
contemplated a bottle of sleeping pills in one hand.

Was that the answer?  Suicide?

How had life become so worthless?  It had been days since she'd left
her apartment or spoken to another human being She couldn't remember
the date, or when she'd last eaten a meal.

She felt used up, wrung out, as though all the life had been drained
from her and all her hopes and dreams for the future a lie.  There was
no bright tomorrow, no happy eve rafter , for anyone.  All that awaited
the human race was death; a legacy of emptiness after a life filled
with pain.

She was tired of the fight..

When had it happened?  When had the joy gone out of life?

She hadn't come into the world feeling that way.  She'd been born the
only child of wealthy parents in a long line of ancestors who had made
a name for themselves by helping to shape history.  Some were even
listed in the history books.

Her mother could trace her family back to the American Revolution.  But
Julia had been a disappointment to her mother from the start.  She'd
been more interested in drawing pictures than in dancing lessons or
modeling classes, and had no interest at all in academic studies.

After her paternal grandmother died and left her an annuity , Julia had
left her widowed mother to her women s meetings and fund-raisers and
moved as far away as possible , clear to the other side of the world.
There she had a brief, disastrous marriage and lost a baby.

Beaten down by life, needing the comfort of family, Julia had gone home
to Boston to stay with her mother.  She d even tried to conform to her
mother s style of living, but once she'd recovered from what her mother
called her European phase, Julia had known it was never going to work.
She and her mother were too different to live under the same roof, or
even in the same part of the country.

And that was how Julia had ended up in California.  Still serious, or
perhaps serious again was the right phrase, about her painting, she'd
worked hard to the exclusion of all else and garnered a showing.  The
showing had introduced her to southern California society, and she was
a hit.

It took awhile for Julia to realize that Mariette and her crowd were
into things she'd managed so far to steer clear of-drugs and alcohol.
Julia soon learned her friend had a problem, an increasingly bad
dependency on cocaine.

At first Julia had tried to help the other woman, but eventually she'd
gotten sucked into the morass surrounding Mariette, and from there her
life had gone quickly downhill It had taken Mariette's death to shock
her back into the real world, but nothing had changed since her days
after she returned from the Continent.  She was still out of step with
everyone else.

That was when she began to wonder if the problem lay not with everyone
else, but within herself.  She didn't like herself very much and
especially not what she'd becume.  So she went into hiding and after a
time reached the conclusion that the only way out was the one Mariette
had ultimately chosen A clean break-death.

She was on the point of doing something to that end when her eyes had
fallen on a photograph of her dead roommate taken during happier times.
At that instant something inside her had snapped and she'd
thrown the bottle of pills at her reflection so hard it cracked the
mirror.

She'd had to get out of there.  Changing quickly into street clothes,
she'd grabbed her purse and car keys and run from the house, knowing
she was running for her life.  Either she got out of the city now,
leaving it and its unhappy associations behind, to search for a new
meaning to life, or she knew she'd end up like her friend-dead on the
bathroom floor, without anyone ever knowing how desperate her situation
had become until it was too late.

That was three days ago.  Now she was coasting down a hill somewhere in
the middle of Wyoming, without a clue to her present location.

A bellow from overhead drew her eyes skyward.  The storm was drawing
closer, bringing with it a cool breeze.  It kicked up dust and fanned
the tops of the silver-green shrubbery lining both sides of the road.
The short curls escaping the colorful silk scarf holding Julia's long,
curly red hair back from her face blew in the wind as the pungent scent
of sagebrush filled her nostrils.

In a few minutes it was going to rain cats and dogs-or maybe out here
it rained snakes and toads, she thought with a wry trace of amusement.
In any case, the storm was closing in and so was night.

She supposed she ought to be frightened.  To be caught alone at night
in an unfamiliar part of L. A. , with a close-to empty fuel tank, could
be dangerous.  It stood to reason that getting caught in this wild,
desolate country in Wyoming under similar circumstances would pose an
equal threat.

It was her own fault.  She'd left the motel that morning in the same
careless manner she'd left California, telling no one she was going,
taking nothing but her purse, some clothes and a sketch pad and drawing
pencils.

Julia glanced down at the pristine face of the sketch pad on the seat
beside her.  She hadn't touched it since she'd laid it there.  Most of
the day had been spent in a kind of fog, going over the events that had
led up to her precipitate departure from California.

Even though she'd taken the time to purchase the tools of her trade,
the lack of inspiration that had plagued her since her friend's death
continued to prevent her from using them.  Her creativity was buried
deep beneath an overpowering feeling of inertia.

A strong gust of wind shook the car, bringing with it the promised
rain.  Julia automatically switched on the windshield wipers as a
flurry of large, cold drops pelted her through the open window.  She
took her foot off the gas, letting the car slow as she raised the
window and turned on the headlights.

Night in this country came swiftly, she noted as the diffused light
from a watery sun dropped behind the tops of the distant mountains.
Mountains that never seemed to get any closer, but remained always just
out of reach.

The low-fuel light on the dash blinked on, warning her she would soon
be running out of gas.  Julia scanned the horizon worriedly.

Was that a light?  She blinked and it was gone.  Slowing the car as it
crested the next hill, she squinted and stared hard into the distance.
It was difficult to see through the rain streaked window with any
accuracy, but she thought she saw the light again, for a brief instant,
and then it was gone.

For a while she lost sight of the light completely and forgot about it
as she drove through the increasing downpour, fighting the deepening
ruts it was creating in the dirt road.  Eventually, the rain slowed and
stopped, but the storm continued its show of lights in the heavens. And
when she saw the light again, she still wasn't certain whether it was
real, or merely part of the storm's dazzling display.

All at once the car's engine sputtered, coughed a few times, bucked
beneath her hands, and died.  With sinking spirits, Julia guided the
car to the bottom of the hill and onto the.  soft, uneven shoulder.
There it coasted to a stop.

That was that, she thought with a sigh of regret.  Now she was well and
truly on her own.

She'd read somewhere that it was safer to stay with your vehicle than
start off on foot.  In most cases that was probably true.  But the
locked doors were little comfort to her in her present predicament.

She was without food or water in a land where people were at a minimum,
and her need for a rest room was increasing with each passing
moment.  Waiting for someone to come to her rescue under these
circumstances seemed rather idiotic.

Julia pulled the keys from the ignition, grabbed her handbag, stuffed
the sketch pad inside, and stepped out of the car.  Staring into the
growing darkness around her, she realized she didn't have a
flashlight.

She'd really prepared herself for this trip, she thought with a snort
of self-disgust.  How was she going to find her way in the dark?

Providence, however, appeared to be looking out for her.  With her
first steps away from the car, the clouds rolled away from the moon and
allowed it to spill its white light onto the ground, lighting her
path.

It wasn't like having a searchlight to guide her path by any stretch of
the imagination, but it was better than the previous pitch black. Julia
stood a moment to take stock of her present location in relationship to
where she'd last seen the light.

Picking a spot to her right, in the phantom light's general direction,
she began to angle toward it.  She was about to leave the road behind,
but at this moment that didn't seem such a bad idea.  The road was
awash with water and sandy mud.

A wide stream of swiftly flowing water had created a gully at the edge
of the road and Julia did her best to find a spot narrow enough to
cross.  After a couple of yards, she gave up and stepped directly into
it.

Her white canvas shoes sank deep in mud.  It clutched at her feet and
ankles, making it close to impossible to retain her footing.  She
struggled on for a few steps when her right foot twisted beneath her.
She floundered, arms flapping wildly, and fell, losing her purse in the
fray.

She was literally up to her elbows in muddy water.  Feeling around on
the ground beneath it, she managed to get a solid purchase and used
both hands to push herself to her feet.  Soaked to the skin, she
stepped carefully through the last of the water and stood at last on
firm ground.  Peering around in dismay, she wondered where her purse
had landed.

Stumbling against a pyramid of sand, located a few feet from the edge
of the rushing water, Julia kicked at it, almost losing her footing
again, and wondered what it might be.  And then she recalled a
documentary she'd seen not long ago about large red ants, fire ants,
whose bite could be more painful than a bee sting.

Did fire ants live in Wyoming?

All at once she could feel thousands of tiny feet crawling all over her
body.  Brushing at her arms and slapping at her skirt, she did a kind
of dance away from the mound of sand and stumbled over something lying
beside it.

Her purse!  Bending over, she grabbed it, shaking it in case it too
were under attack from the miniature red devils.  Her skin brushed
against the spiny skeleton of a dead bush and she took a sudden
sidestep and tripped over a stand of sagebrush.

There weren't any ants, she realized as she went down for the third
time, scattering the contents of her bag among the tangle of brush in
her path.  The feel of their tiny bodies moving against her skin had
only been her imagination.

Now, thanks to her idiocy, everything but her sketch pad, wedged
tightly in her purse, lay somewhere at her feet.  She shook her head in
irritation and felt around on the ground at her feet.  With a feeling
of triumph she came up with two drawing pencils, a comb and her wallet.
Her car keys, makeup and the bottle of sleeping pills she'd brought
along at the last minute were lost somewhere among the thick clumps of
green bush and dry brush.  She continued to search on hands and knees
for a few minutes, but still came up empty-handed.

The clouds had returned and what little light there had been instantly
disappeared.  Suddenly the wind picked up, howling around the hills and
across the valley, blowing her hair into her eyes and almost ripping
the colorful scarf from her hair.  She gave up and climbed despondently
to her feet.

Clasping the purse with both hands, she decided that finding her car
keys would have to wait until she returned in daylight.  She hadn't
moved far from the car, she'd simply have to remember that her keys
would be somewhere this side of it.

She stood for a moment and looked in all four directions to get her
bearings before walking any farther.  When she finally moved, she came
up against an incline and found herself struggling to climb a hill.  It
wasn't a difficult climb at first, but soon it became steeper and more
rocky.  Shouldering her bag, Julia used her hands to pull herself up
the craggy face of rock.

The hill was in reality a ridge, and it took more than half an hour for
her to get to the top.  Along the way, she managed to lose her watch,
one of her shoes and her wallet.

At the top she stopped to rest.  The aerobic class she'd taken three
days a week, until six months ago, hadn't prepared her for mountain
climbing.  Stretching out, she laid her hot cheek against the cool rock
and breathed in uneven gasps.  After a time, she raised her head and
uttered a half strangled cry.

The light!  There it was!  It hadn't been apart of the lightning , or a
figment of her imagination, after all.  It was real!

She struggled to her feet, anxious for the sight of another human
being.  With the first step forward she lost her balance as her foot
came down on emptiness, and arms flailing, she flew out into space.

A startled scream followed her as she fell, landed and rolled to the
bottom of the hill.  Fortunately, this side of the ridge was less rocky
than the other and covered with sandy soil.  It cushioned what
otherwise might have been a fatal plunge.

Julia came suddenly to rest against a rigid cushion of pungent
sagebrush.  The breath was knocked from her, and for a time all she
could do was lie with eyes closed and gasp for air.  She was afraid to
move in case anything was broken or there was another drop-off close
by.

Finally, breathing normally once more, she opened her eyes and slowly
focused on the sky overhead.  One by one, she tried her limbs, and then
her spine, as she cautiously sat up.  Everything, thank God, appeared
to be in working order

Everything, she amended a moment later, clawing her way to her feet,
except her right knee.  It hurt like the dickens!  But, glory be,
somehow she'd managed to keep hold of her purse.  Clutching it to her
as though it were a talisman, Julia raised her chin firmly and marched
on, broken but not bowed.

She had no idea how long she walked, or rather limped, after that.  It
could have been a few minutes, or it might have been hours. Eventually,
the light got closer, and she could make out the shadowy outline of a
building set back a little to the right of it.

The building, she discovered on closer inspection, appeared to be a
very primitive-looking log cabin.  Her hopes for a hot bath, maybe even
a meal and a bed for the night, dissipated into thin air.

The wavering glow of the light drew her attention from the
disappointing sight of the cabin.  Well, at least that was a sign of
humanity.  Someone was here.  That surely meant a bathroom of sorts,
possibly a telephone, and best of all, transportation !

Determinedly she made her way toward the light, then, with a frown,
came to a stop.  It didn't make sense to her, but the light appeared to
be coming from within the side of a mountain.  Moving a painful step
closer, she realized it looked like an old mine shaft.  Wood shored up
the sides of the mountain and spanned the top, providing a door like
entrance at the bottom of a slightly sloping path leading to it.

Should she yell and make her presence known before eniering , or should
she even enter it at all?  Mine shafts could be dangerous, especially
old ones.  Besides, the idea of entering an old mine in the middle of
the night without any idea of what she'd find inside was more than a
little frightening

However, on the other hand, she couldn't simply stand here, waiting for
whoever was inside to come out.  Hobbling closer, using one hand for
support, Julia called weakly, "H-hello-is anybody there?"

She listened intently, but no sound came from the black, yawning maw
before her.  The long day and the mishaps she'd encountered since
leaving the car were taking their toll.  She knew she had just enough
strength left to go a little farther before falling facedown and lying
there for at least eight hours straight.

Julia started forward, the steep incline causing her to increase the
amount of weight put on her injured knee.  She hesitated, the pain so
sharp it took her breath away.

Supporting herself against the mountain's rugged surface , she threw a
brief, hopeful glance back toward the cabin, just in case it showed
heretofore undetected signs of life.  But it remained shrouded in
silence, dark and just a little bit sinister-looking silhouetted
against the night sky.

Julia wearily faced the mine.  The pain had finally subsided , so she
took another cautious step and felt her feet skid on loose sand and
rock.  She didn't fancy sliding down the path by the seat of her pants,
so she gritted her teeth and put an equal amount of weight on both
legs.  The injured one buckled, pitching her forward against a wood
support at the mine's entrance.

Swallowing a gasp of pain, she caught herself, took a shaky breath and
called in a loud voice, "Hello!  Is anybody there?  I saw your light!
Please," she muttered as she stepped through the entrance, "someone be
here."

At that instant she felt a stinging blow-saw a burst of white light-and
then.  nothing..

"Oh-o-o..."  Julia moaned.  Her eyes opened slowly, only to have them
snap shut again almost immediately in defense against the sudden onrush
of nausea.

Lifting an unsteady hand toward her forehead, her fingers encountered
something soft and wet.  They drew back in horror.

Blood?  Her fingers tested the substance cautiously against themselves.
No, blood would be sticky.  Pushing a finger beneath the wet object,
Julia found a lump the size of a goose egg in the process of growing on
her forehead.

"What..."

"You planning on fainting again?"

Julia's voice cut off in the middle of a moan and her eyes snapped
open.  She raised her head and focused on the owner of the deep,
rumbling voice coming from somewhere above her.

"

" Wh-who are y-you?  "

"I was fixin' to ask you the same thing," the man replied , pushing
back the curled brim of his wide-billed western hat with the first two
fingers of one hand.  Resting back on his haunches, he stared at her
quizzically.

Julia's breath became motionless as her glance was captured and held by
a pair of deep, lustrous brown eyes, rimmed with thick black lashes and
set below black, arched brows.  The black brows and lashes were a
startling, but very attractive, contrast to the thick blond mustache
growing above a wide, sensuous mouth.  " " II - oh-o-o..  " Her head
dropped back and her eyes closed, as everything began to swim out of
focus.  She wasn't certain if the dizziness was caused by the knot on
her head, or the unexpected attraction to the man kneeling at her
side.

"You gonna be sick?"

"No."  She gulped.  "D-dizzy..."

After a few moments the dizziness passed.  Julia opened her eyes to
find the man bending over her, a speculative look on his solemn face.
"" What happened- did you hit me?  " she asked all in the same breath,
a sudden frown of accusation marring her pale features.  As far as she
could reason there was no other explanation for the lump on her
forehead.

"No, ma'am," he responded instantly, lifting his hands up and
withdrawing from her.  He made an abrupt nodding motion with his head,
indicating the low central beam supporting the roof, and said, "You
didn't duck."

Julia followed the man's movement with questioning eyes and realized
almost immediately the accident had been her own fault.  She should
have paid closer attention when entering such an unfamiliar
structure.

"Oh-sorry," she apologized softly.

"If you feel like moving, I think you'd rest some easier in the
cabin."

Aware of the hard ground beneath her and an increasing variety of aches
and pains, Julia agreed with him wholeheartedly The only problem she
could see with the plan was the fact she didn't think she could stand,
much less walk.

But she needn't have worried; her gallant rescuer had everything well
in hand.  Removing the wet cloth from her forehead, he stooped and
lifted her easily into strong, muscular arms.  Julia wanted to make a
token protest, but wisely kept her mouth shut.

As they neared the spot where she'd so recently been felled, he ducked
to maneuver his tall frame through the low entrance and his face drew
close to hers.  Julia smelled tobacco on his breath, and for a brief
instant his rough cheek brushed against her skin.

She jerked back instinctively, feeling her heart miss a beat.  And
though he made no comment, she felt a momentary tightening of the
muscles in the arms bearing her weight.

Once they had stepped into the crisp night air, he straightened slowly,
keeping his eyes focused straight ahead, and carried her silently,
without seeming effort, toward the dark cabin.

Julia's skin tingled where his beard had rubbed against it, and she had
to restrain herself forcefully from lifting a hand to touch the spot on
her cheek.  She'd never liked what was popularly termed "designer
beards" on men, considering them nothing less than crude.

They reached the cabin after what seemed an inordinately long period of
time.  Her knight errant pushed against the door with a booted foot
before Julia could make the effort to reach out and open it.  The door
swung back, its rusty hinges creaking in protest, and they entered the
dimly lit room.

It was impossible to see much of the room's interior.  The only light
came from a fireplace centered along one wall, where only a few glowing
coals gleamed redly.

Julia blinked, screwed up her eyes in an effort to penetrate the
darkness, and winced as the bruise on her forehead throbbed in protest.
Her host seemed to know exactly where he was going without benefit of
light.  In a moment, Julia felt softness beneath her as he lowered her
to a bed.

"Just lay there a spell and rest while I go get the lantern "

"Wait!"  Julia raised herself on one elbow to call hurriedly after him.
"I-" She hesitated, reluctant to discuss such a personal matter with
this stranger, but it wouldn't wait any longer.  "I need to go to the
ladies' room."

"This is the only room there is."

"No," Julia said with a frown.  "I mean, I have to go to the ladies'
room-you know-the rest room."

"

" You can rest here"

"No, no-the toilet!"  What was wrong with him?  Didn't he understand
plain English?  "I have to go to the toilet."

"It's outside."

Somehow, she'd known that, or something similar, would be his answer.

Making his way back to the bed, he lifted her and strode toward the
door.  In darkness, they moved outside and around to the back of the
cabin, past a rough corral where an animal stirred in the deeper
shadows, then they traveled down a narrow path toward a small building
dimly outlined in pale moonlight.

"I'll go fetch the light while you take care of your business , " he
told her matter-of-factly, standing her on her feet and turning away.
He halted after only a few steps and turned back.  "You can
manage-can't you-without any help?  "

"Yes," Julia answered swiftly, "yes, I can manage perfectly well on my
own."  He was turning away as she added slowly, "There aren't any...
snakes-or anything-in here... are there?  "

"I doubt it," he answered, pausing to look back over his shoulder. When
she didn't move, he added somewhat reluctantly , "Maybe I ought to take
a look first, just in case."

Julia released her pent-up breath in an inaudible sigh, only to catch
it again when he stalked off in the opposite direction.

"Where are you going?"  she called, hobbling a step after him.

"I'm going to get the lantern, so I can look inside.  Isn't that what
you want?"

"Oh-yes."  She cast a quick glance toward the rough wooden structure.
"I'll just wait right here, shall I..."  she added, letting her voice
trail off as she looked after him and saw his tall figure swallowed up
by the night.

"

" Please hurry," she murmured softly, hobbling toward the outhouse.

The sudden loud scrape of something sharp against rock, somewhere
nearby, caused her to draw back in alarm against the rough wall.  She
hardly noticed the feel of splinters penetrating her cotton blouse as
she squinted into the darkness , looking for what had made the sound.
"" Is s-someone there?  " she asked weakly.

A small avalanche of dirt and rock greeted her words.  She gasped and
cringed back in fear.  " " Something bothering you?  "

Julia's head whipped toward the voice, her hands flying up in a
protective manner as she flattened herself against the building at her
back.

"Oh, it's you," she breathed, heart racing with fear.  " " Were you
expecting somebody else?  " he asked carefully , lifting the lantern to
peer into her face.

Was that a note of suspicion she detected in his voice?  "N-no, of
course not.  I heard something-" she motioned toward the hillside " "
over there.  "

"You want me to take a look?"

" " No!  I just want to..  do what I came to do..  and go back to the
cabin and lie down.  "

He nodded, noting the pale color of her cheeks and the bruised look
around her eyes.  She looked plumb tuckered out and about ready to drop
in her tracks.  The goose egg on her forehead had turned a deep blue,
and he'd be surprised in the morning if she wasn't sporting at least
one shiner from it.

Lifting the wooden latch, he opened the sagging door of the outhouse
and stepped inside.  A moment later, he backed out again.

"Nothing in there to harm you: He nodded toward the open door and Julia
hobbled toward him, squeezing past his chest to step inside.  " "
Please" She stopped him as he was about to turn away.  " " May I keep
the lantern with me?  "

He handed it to her and their fingers brushed in the exchange Julia
quickly drew back, feeling the light touch all the way to her toes. Her
precipitous movement almost dislodged the candle set in the glass bell
making up the lantern His mind filled with questions about her.  Where
had she and he grappled with it to keep it from happemng.  come from?
He'd been as surprised to find her lying on the " " Th-thank you, she
whispered, feeling a fool for her floor of the mine shaft as he would
have been if he'd stumskittish behavior. Keeping her eyes lowered, she
added in a ; bled upon a dead man.  soft voice, If you want to go
along the path a little way, I'll She looked like she'd been through
hell.  Crossing this call when I'm ready. country on foot, he well
knew, could be hell.  And it looked It might have been better if she'd
gone inside in dark- like that's exactly what she'd done.  ness, she
thought an instant later.  She wasn't at all imInside the cabin, he set
the lantern on a table and low pressed with the primitive facilities. 
Nor was she certain, ered his rare burden to the nearby bed.  He was
removing his upon first reflection, what use there was for a pile of
old arm from beneath her when her eyes blinked open.  Looknewspapers
ing him straight in the eye, she smiled.  A short time later, newly
educated about the use of i His breath became buried in a score of
feelings he hardly newspaper, Julia opened the door to find her host
standing recognized.  Whatever her reasons for being here, she was
right outside.  Her face flamed as she extended the lantern the
prettiest woman he d ever seen, goose egg, mud and all. toward him.  q
"My name is Julia.  What's yours?"  "You keep it," he told her, lifting
her off her feet.  He "Ryder," he answered deeply. "Ryder McCall.  " p
enough he ex" Ryder she murmured softly as though testing the pulled
her against him decisively, almost as though pected-and dared her-to
object.  sound of it on her tongue.  "Are you a cowboy?" she asked,
Julia stiffened and tried to hold her body rigid to kee snuggling down
against the pillows.  from making contact with his chest but her
reserve o "Well, ma'am."  He stood back and pushed at the brim of
strength had reached its limit.  The night air verged on be- his hat
with two fingers before answering.  "I punched a few ing cold, and the
warmth of his chest tempted her to make cows in my time.  So I s'pose,
among other things, you could use of it.  call me a cowboy."
Inevitably, she relaxed against him, wondering idly about Julia
nodded, letting her eyes drift shut.  She opened them at pungent odor
she detected on his abruptly and focused on his face.  "I'm glad I
found the sweet, r eyes began to drift shut.  A pounding se nsa- you...
I ve been looking... for someone... for a long, long clothes.  He
time.. tion, dir Wqlyand eve b hinh be an qto take onna dreamlike Ryder
straightened slowly, his eyes fastened on her sleep quality g g ing
face.  She was a thing of beauty the likes of which he d never seen,
and he was starved for the company of another Julqal g her face b neath
the manpq him She had no idea human being but she had no business being
here and she burro damned sure couldn't stay.  her warm breath, moving
rhythmically across the skin of his y p ck, was making him
uncomfortable or that h b - R der ulled the remaimng canvas shoe from
her foot and ne g , e was e turned it over in his hands curiously
before setting it on the comin more aware of her as a woman than he
wanted to be.  floor beside the bed.  Everything about her was strange,
With the sweet scent of her hair filling his nostrils, its from the way
she dressed, to her manner of speech.  Yet he softness creating a need
in him he was hard-put to repress, could tell right off she was a lady,
from the tip of her red her reluctant host paused and gently removed
the lantern hair to the ends of her dainty pink toes.  from her lax
fingers.  It would be easy enough to hold it and He barricaded the door
for the night and built up a fire in still carry her, because she was
as light as a feather.  the fireplace to stave off the night chill.
Then he blew out the candle in the lantern and moved the old rocker to
a spot in front of the fireplace, conscious all the while of the young
woman sleeping in his bed.

Taking his Sharps rifle down from the wall, he lowered his long frame
to the rocker, hearing it creak in protest as he settled comfortably on
the seat.  He laid the rifle across his lap and settled back with his
head resting against the high back of the chair, his eyes on the bed.
It was going to be a mighty long night.

Chapter 2

Julia stretched, yawned and opened bleary eyes.  Pushing the tangled
red hair from her face, she winced and touched the bump on her forehead
with a careful finger.  Her glance slowly focused on the rough beamed
ceiling overhead and she blinked in confusion.

Where was she?

Raising herself on one elbow, she looked around the room's dim
interior, sniffing the air like an animal scenting danger.  Her nose
wrinkled.  What was that strange scent?  It remmded her of
something..

And then she remembered.  Sitting bolt upright, drawing the scratchy
wool blanket to her chin, she looked for the stranger-the cowboy-from
last night.  But the room, or cabin rather, was empty, except for
herself.

A fire in the stone fireplace blazed brightly, casting flickering
shadows on the walls of the room.  Julia surveyed what she could see of
its contents.  It didn't take long-there wasn't much to see.

The walls were made of rough logs without paint or adornment.  In a far
corner to one side of the fireplace sat a corner cupboard with sagging
doors.  A few feet from it stood a rough, square table and two
straight-backed chairs.

On the edge of the table sat a wooden bucket, and beside it, a metal
drinking cup.  To one side of the fireplace was a small three-legged
table.

Julia's eyes slid to the uneven wood floor and the shaggy hide of an
animal spread before the fire; its long black fur appeared matted with
dust and age.  A rocking chair was placed nearby.  On the walls and
ceiling near the cupboard hung a few large black pots in different
sizes and an assortment of long-handled cooking utensils the likes of
which Julia had never seen outside a museum.

The single window in the room was situated in the wall beside the
closed door, and wooden shutters were latched across it.  Julia could
see a thin stream of light filtering through the cracks where the rough
boards didn't quite meet.

Her eyes fell on a saddle resting on the floor below the window with a
bedroll lying across the seat.  Well, that answered any questions she
might have had about where her host had spent the night.

Julia's gaze moved to the foot of the bed and lingered on an old wooden
chest with chipped black paint and leather straps across it.  Beyond
that, in the corner, stood an oblong metal tub, and beside that, a
small, wooden cradle.

Was her host married?  Where was his wife-the child?

What did it matter?  She was only here overnight and the night appeared
to be gone.  Though she had no idea of the time, since she'd lost her
watch during her trek up the hillside , she knew it was time to find
the cowboy.  Her car was sitting on a lonely back road in the middle of
nowhere, and she had no doubt a Porsche, even in Wyoming, would net a
car thief a hefty sum of money.

Throwing back the covers, she scooted toward the edge of the bed and
lowered her feet to the floor.  Just before her feet actually touched
the floor she experienced a momentary regret at leaving the bed's soft
haven of warmth.  The cabin might be primitive, but whatever the cowboy
used far a mattress was pure heaven, and she had slept like a baby.

Julia shifted her weight to her feet and felt the right one buckle
beneath her.  A shaft of burning pain shot from her knee all the way to
her spine.  She dropped quickly back onto the bed, feeling slightly
sick.

The leg she'd injured the night before was too sore to bear weight.  It
was painful just moving the knee joint.  Great!  Now what?  How was she
going to get anywhere if she couldn't stand and walk?  How could she
drive if she couldn't use the gas pedal?

Pulling up the hem of her mud-stained, ankle-length cotton skirt, she
gave a shudder at the sight of her misshapened knee.  God, she hoped it
wasn't permanently damaged.  What was she going to do all by herself in
the back of beyond with an injured limb?

Wait, she wasn't exactly by herself.  This crude cabin did come with an
owner, a cowboy of sorts.  She stood up and hopped on one foot,
supporting herself with a hand on the mattress, to the end of the bed,
around the trunk, using it for support, and along the wall to the door.
After a momentary struggle, she managed to open the heavy wooden door
and leaned against it to catch her breath.

Her eyes scanned what she could see of the immediate area.  Almost
directly in front of her were two Y-shaped sticks of wood crossed with
another piece of wood supporting a round iron pot.  To the left of that
stood a rough wooden bench with a large wooden tub sitting on it.  The
remains of a wagon-the pioneers would have called it a prairie
schooner-were on the ground a few yards from the cabin.  Resting
against it was an old plow with leading straps, the kind oxen, mules or
horses used to pull.

Failing to catch sight of the cowboy, Julia moved through the doorway
and outside.  The roof of the cabin extended outward, creating an
overhang that served as a porch with a dirt floor.  She paused there to
scan a larger area, looking for her host.

When she still failed to see any sign of him, she opened her mouth to
give a shout, hoping to attract his attention, wherever he might be.  A
slight sound to the right of her found its way to her ears.  Julia
turned-and stood transfixed

Him!  The cowboy-she couldn't remember his name was bent over what she
recognized from western movies as a horse trough.  He was busy sluicing
his head, neck and face with water-and he was naked from the waist up.
Black suspenders, attached to brown trousers, hung down around his
thighs.

Julia's captivated eyes traveled from light brown hair streaked with
blond, down long, sinewy legs, to scarred brown boots sticking out from
the ends of his trousers.  Her gaze made the return trip in a leisurely
fashion, taking in the manner in which the trousers molded themselves
to the man's powerful thighs, narrow hips and flat stomach.

She watched as he cupped both hands into the water and splashed it
against a powerful chest sprinkled lightly with curly brown hair.
Shaking the way a dog shakes water from its fur, he made a slight
gasping sound as the cold water struck his bare chest, and then
splashed himself again.

Julia felt her mouth turn dry as he sucked in his breath the instant
the cold water found its way down skin tanned the color of old copper,
causing the muscles across his chest to bunch and his flat stomach to
become even flatter.  Her eyes followed the trickle of water as it
became lost in the dark hair arrowing toward the low waistband of his
trousers.

In sudden need of a douse of cold water herself, Julia held her breath
as the object of her voyeurism picked up a towel.  He dried his hair,
wiped his face and rubbed vigorously at his chest.  Her lips parted for
speech, but before her mind could formulate any words, he pushed the
trousers well below his navel and used the towel to remove the moisture
from belly and hips.

Julia glanced quickly away, turning her eyes toward the mountains,
feeling suddenly guilty for gawking at him unaware But after little
more than a few seconds, she couldn't seem to help it, her gaze
wandered back-and found a pair of rich brown eyes, filled with some
undefined emotion, locked on her face.

Her host quickly reached for a blue chambray shirt hanging on a nail
beside him.  Ducking his head, he grabbed the shirt and turned away,
sliding it quickly over head and shoulders and tucking it into his
pants.  Pulling the suspenders up over both shoulders at the same time,
he ran a hand through his wet, curling hair, before turning to face her
with a light stain of red on both cheeks.

Julia was amazed at his obvious discomfort.  How many men did she know
who would show embarrassment at being caught in a similar situation?
Most of them would use it as a prelude to a come-on.  But not this
one..  how strange..

"Morning, ma'am."  He picked up his hat from the corner of the water
trough, pushed the rawhide strings tied together at the back, and
placed it on his head.  "You feeling some better this morning?"

"Yes," she answered quickly, trying to hide her embarg g g " rassment
at being caught watching him.  Except for my knee, she blurted.

Lifting her skirt, she stared down at the swollen knee in growing
Irritation.  He made no comment, and Julia glanced up.  at him
curiously.  She was amazed to see a sudden deepening of the flush
across his tanned cheekbones.

Ryder dragged his eyes from the sight of her bare leg and glanced
toward the mountains in the distance.  Without taking his eyes off
them, he reached toward the brown leatherqbelt hanging on the nail
where his shirt had hung

Julia s eyes widened as she watched him strap the gun belt and holster
around his narrow waist.  He positioned the holster containing a .  45
Colt low on his right hip, glanced up and suggested in a flat voice,
"Maybe you should stay off your feet awhile.  Let's go inside and get
you settled, then I'il fix us some vittles."

Vittles?  Julia looked at him strangely, wondering what language he was
speaking, while at the same time realizing she d embarrassed him by
lifting her skirt to show him her bare leg.  Where was he from, Mars?

Despite her curiosity, she now felt embarrassed herself.  Slightly
flustered, she turned away, thinking maybe she should have stayed
inside and waited for him to come to her.  With that thought in mind,
she moved quickly toward the door.

"Here, let me help you."

Before she could move or make a protest, Julia felt herself swept up
into strong arms and instinctively threw her own arms around his neck
for support.  She was instantly shocked at the impact his gentle grip
made on her senses.  Tilting her head back, she peered at his face so
close that even in the shadow created by the curled brim of his hat,
she could see tiny creases at the corners of both eyes.  Up close like
this, there was a vulnerability obvious in their dark depths impossible
to detect at a distance.

Ryder felt her eyes rest on his face and felt compelled to meet their
green glance.  Julia swallowed tightly, and for a long moment neither
moved.

In the ensuing silence, a fly whizzed past their heads, a bird trilled
in a nearby tree, a soft breeze stirred the scent of pine in the air,
and Julia felt as though something momentous was about to happen.

Ryder's glance flickered before traveling slowly over her face,
searching her eyes.  Julia felt a tingling sensation in the pit of her
stomach and bit down on her lower lip.  At the base of her throat a
pulse began to beat and swell.  Ryder's eyes fastened on it and
couldn't seem to look away.

The muscles in his arms grew tense and began to tremble An answering
tremble began somewhere deep inside Julia.

Ryder's glance drifted up toward Julia's lips.  Her arms tightened
instinctively around his neck as his head dipped slowly in her
direction.

There wasn't one single thought of denial in her mind as her eyes
qlrifted slowly shut and she lifted her head.  An instant later her
eyes popped open again in surprise.

The man wasn't preparing to kiss her as she'd though the was ducking to
enter the cabin.  A deep sense of shame flooded her, spreading a flush
of heat over her entire body.

She peered through the cabin's gloom and once again noticed the wooden
cradle.

"Has your wife gone to town?"  she asked as he lowered her to one of
the two chairs at the table and propped her foot on the seat of the
other one.

Though he looked a bit startled, he straightened and turned away
without making an answer.  Crossing the room to the window, he opened
the shutters wide and took a deep breath.  Julia's eyes noted the
breadth of his chest and recalled a vivid picture of that same chest
stripped bare.

From the window, Ryder strode to the fireplace and removed an
old-fashioned coffee boiler made of granite, hanging over the fire on a
black iron trammel attached to a chimney bar.  He poured liquid from it
into a tin cup and took the cup to the cupboard.

"I-is there something wrong with your wife?"  Julia asked hesitantly,
wondering why he didn't seem to want to talk about his family.

"I'm not married," he answered curtly, lifting the lid off a brown
stoneware jar.  "You like your tea sweet?"

"Yes, thank you," she replied in surprise, her eyes going toward the
empty cradle.

He wasn't married.  Now why should that thought set her stomach
aquiver?  She would only be here long enough for , breakfast, and then,
in a few hours, if she was luck she d be in her car on the way out of
the state.

A huge black fly buzzed into the room through the open door and landed
on the table close to Julia's right hand.  Her eyes widened at the size
of it, and she fluttered her fingers at it in repulsion, trying to make
it go away.

Its hairy body twisted and turned as it seemed to eye her with
interest.  After a time it must have gotten bored looking at her,
because her antics to try and shoo it away certainly weren't working,
yet it streaked off the table and whizzed around the room.

Ryder didn't seem to notice when it buzzed around his head, but swatted
at it when it landed on his sleeve.

"I thought the insects were bad in Texas," Julia couldn't help
commenting with a grimace of distaste.

"Insects?"  the man asked, pausing to lift a black brow in her
direction before adding a scoop of thick yellow honey to the cup in his
hand.  " " The fly.  " She nodded toward the creature as it dive bombed
the lid on the honey jar before swooping toward the open door.

"Oh, they're not bad yet.  Just wait till it gets hot.  After a fresh
kill in the summertime, they're thick as ticks on a dog's belly. That's
when you can't keep 'em out of an thing y

"Kill?"  Julia asked in alarm, picking up on that word alone.  " "
Mostly buffalo-I've seen 'em so thick on a buffalo hide the critter
looked like it was movin' even after it was dead.  First time I saw it
for myself, I got right up on the buffalo, ready to shoot, 'cause I
thought it still had some life left in it-till I saw there wasn't
nothin' beneath the hide, nothing but swarms a' black flies.  "

Julia shuddered at the picture he painted.  She felt her gorge rise,
and a moment later, when he placed the cup on the table before her, she
glanced down to see something floating on the surface and swallowed
thickly.  He must have seen what she was thinking in her face, because
he bent over and peered into the cup.

"Only dregs from the tea," he murmured, slanting her a look.

Something in his manner made her scrutinize him closely and she
realized he was enjoying her obvious discomfort.  She decided right
then and there she'd drink the tea and damn with him.

Taking the cup in both hands, she held it below her nose and sniffed at
the rising steam.  Over its rim, she watched as Ryder poured himself a
cup, noticing he took his straight, without honey.

"I caught some fine trout in the river early this morning, while you
were sleeping.  I'll make breakfast as soon as I've had my tea."

"Oh," Julia protested quickly, "I really can't stay."  There was
something eerie about this place, as though the rest of the world had
moved forward in time, while this cabin and its occupant had remained
fixed in one period.  Despite the fact she found him very attractive in
a raw, earthy way, she felt constrained to go, and as soon as
possible.

"I do appreciate your hospitality," she was quick to add, "both last
night and this morning, but I really must be on my way.  I'd appreciate
it if you could help me to the nearest town.  "

"Later," he said curtly, brushing aside her polite chatter.  q-Ie sat
down on the three-legged stool and rested his shoulders up against the
wall.  Stretching out his long legs and crossing his booted feet at the
ankles, he sipped his tea.

"You're not from around these parts," he added, noting her glare of
rebuke.  She was a feisty one.  It figured-with that bright red hair.

Uneasy beneath the intensity of his stare, Julia wanted to protest, but
after a moment's consideration decided it might be more prudent to
remain silent.  She was, after all, at his mercy.  Besides, it wasn't
as though he'd done anything to make her feel anxious, he'd been a
perfect gentleman-well, not perfect but a gentleman nonetheless.

And it wasn't as though she was headed somewhere in particular, or
someone was awaiting her arrival.  A few hours' delay would make no
great difference.  Besides, once she got past the crude outer exterior,
the man intrigued her in a strange sort of way.  After the terrible
emotional inertia she'd suffered in the past six months, feeling an
interest in something again felt good.

Julia raised the cup toward her lips and sniffed its contents with
interest.  It had the same pungent aroma she'd noticed upon first
awakening.

"What kind of tea is this?"  she asked curiously.

"Sagebrush.  I make it myself."

She lifted it to her lips and took a cautious sip.  Wrinkling her nose
at the unusual flavor, she stared at her host from beneath half-lowered
lids.  She couldn't help being curious about him.  Who was he, and what
was he doing living here alone, making like Daniel Boone and Davy
Crockett?

The hot tea trickled down her throat, making her stomach growl,
reminding her she hadn't eaten since the evening meal she'd had alone
in her motel room the day before yesterday Her host had mentioned fish
for breakfast, and at first thought the idea hadn't appealed, but the
more tea she drank, the more she was willing to give it a try.

"I'm sorry-I don't remember whether I introduced myself last night. I'm
Julia Southern."  She waited a couple of beats, and when he didn't
offer his own, she prodded, "And you are?  "

"McCall, Ryder McCall."

Julia took another- sip of the aromatic tea.  The flavor must grow on
you, she decided.  It was actually beginning to taste good.

"Do you live here alone, Mr.  McCall?"

Did he hesitate a fraction before replying?

"Yes."

She didn't bother asking if he had a telephone.  From what she'd
already seen that morning, it was obvious that was too much to hope
for.

"I didn't see a conveyance of any kind outside, so I suppose that means
you won't be able to take me to town yourself I wonder"

"Conveyance?"  he asked, curling his upper lip beneath the blond
mustache.

"Yes-have I said something to offend you?"

"No," he answered shortly.

"Then I don't understand.  You will be able to help me get to town,
won't you?"

" " No.  " " "No?  " She felt a momentary surprise at the curtness of
his reply.

"No, I don't go to town."

" " Well..  " She felt nonplussed by his attitude.  He was being
deliberately obstructive.  " What about a neighbor, could I get help"

"I don't have any neighbors,"

"No neighbors!  But everyone has neighbors-" " " Nope, not everyone, "
he contradicted her, getting to his feet.  " I don't: '

"I see.  Well, then, I suppose it must be lonely, living here all by
yourself-especially in winter.  I understand the winters here can be
rather harsh."  She didn't know what else to say.  She wasn't certain
what the man was up to; she couldn't classify his attitude.  He wasn't
threatening-not exactly but he wasn't friendly, either.  She got the
feeling he was still deliberating over what his attitude toward her
should be, and the jury wasn't in yet.

"I like it," he answered steadily.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said, I like living alone."

Julia studied his stern face, then shrugged.  "What do you do when you
need to go to town?  "

"I don't."

"You don't?"

"No."  He moved abruptly away from the table toward the fireplace.

Apparently, their conversation was at an end.  From what little
conversation they'd had she'd learned he didn't like people, so be it.
She was no threat to his isolation, all she wanted was a way into
town.

Despite his obvious antagonism, she didn't want to make him angry.  She
glanced at her swollen knee.  The way things stood, she was in need of
help, and his was the only help in sight.

"Is there anything I can do to assist you?"  she asked, watching him
work in silence.

"No ... thank you," he added belatedly, without a glance in her
direction, letting her know he could be polite when the need arose.

It seemed he was a man of few words, and that suited her just fine. But
as the seconds multiplied into minutes, she began to feel piqued by the
fact he could so easily ignore her.  It didn't matter, because, whether
he liked it or not, after breakfast, even if she had to crawl, she was
heading for the nearest town.

A little later, as she glanced around the cabin's crude furnishings ,
even after telling herself she couldn't care less, she couldn't help
wondering what had made him give up the comfort of modern society to
live in this way.  She didn't think she could do it-despite the way her
life had turned out.

"E-excuse me," she murmured to his stiff back.  "I'm sorry to have to
ask-but would you happen to have a comb I could use?  Mine was in my
purse and I lost it last night."

Ryder turned with a long-handled fork in his hand and looked at her
without replying.  After a moment he moved around the bed to an antique
cherry wardrobe standing in the corner that Julia had somehow missed
seeing during her previous assessment of the room.  Its fineness seemed
out of place compared to the crudeness of the rest of the cabin's
furnishings.

From the top of the wardrobe Ryder removed two objects , crossed the
room and handed them to her.  Julia stared down at the ivory comb and
matching brush.  Her eyes widened' Oh how lovely," she murmured,
turning the brush over and seeing the gold inlay of a grape-leaf design
on the back.  " Where did you get them?  "

"In the trunk."  Turning back to the fireplace, he deftly flipped the
fish sizzling in an iron skillet over the fire.

Julia removed the silk scarf at the back of her head and began to draw
the brush through the knots and tangles in her red hair.  The cabin was
filled with the aroma of cooking fish, and nothing she could remember
had ever smelled so appetizing.  She could hardly wait to taste it.

However, when he placed a plate on the table before her and handed her
a two-pronged fork, she stared down at it without moving.

Ryder pulled the three-legged stool up to the table and sat down across
from her.  Picking up his fork he tucked into his food with relish.
After a few moments he realized she wasn't eating.

"You don't like fish?"

"I like fish," she answered slowly, shifting her attention from the
plate containing trout, a hard biscuit of some kind and a spoonful of
canned peaches, to his face.

He gave her a keen look.  "Then what's wrong?"

"I-" she hesitated.  "Could I please have a damp cloth to wash my face
and hands?"

Ryder straightened, laid his fork across his plate and pushed the stool
back from the table in an abrupt movement He crossed the room, lifted a
cloth from the corner of the cupboard and strode outside.  A moment
later, he returned and handed the cloth to her without a word.

Julia scrubbed her face and hands with it while he stood towering over
her.  When she was finished, skin tingling from the coarseness of the
material, she placed it in his waiting hand and watched as he turned
and pitched it across the room.  It landed on the exact spot where it
had been when he'd picked it up.

Taking his seat, he lifted his fork, then hesitated before resuming his
meal.  He met her eyes with a questioning glance.

Julia smiled tentatively, willing to forgive and forget.  "Thank you,"
she murmured, dropping her eyes to her plate and lifting her own
fork.

"You're welcome," he replied, forking fish into his mouth.

"I know it's none of my business," she began a few minutes later.  Her
eyes were fastened on the chipped edge of the plate sitting on the edge
of the table before her.  "I know I'm only a stranger passing through,
but I can't help being curious Is this your permanent home?  I mean,
are you living here because you want to?"

Ryder swallowed grimly.  A muscle tightened in his lean jaw.  The dark
eyes flashed a firm warning.  "You're right," he agreed succinctly,
"it's not your business."

The silence between them stretched for what seemed an eternity.  He
couldn't help wondering what she was doing here, but an unwritten code
of the West forbade him to ask.

All at once, as though he couldn't help himself, Ryder asked, "What's
wrong with the way I live?"

Julia glanced at him and looked away.  It really was none of her
business.  She wouldn't have welcomed a stranger's intrusion into her
own style of living.

"Nothing."  She shook her head.  Running a finger around the rim of her
cup, she added, "I'm sorry I said anything.  Please, accept my apology.
How, or where, you live is none of my concern."  Her voice trailed off
and she picked up her fork.

He studied her for a moment longer before resuming his own meal.  "How
did you find your way here in the dark?"  he asked around a mouthful of
fish.

"Just luck, I guess," she answered with a slight curve to her lips he
didn't miss.  "I spotted your light about the time the storm hit."

Ryder stopped eating.  "What storm?"  he asked softly, narrowing his
eyes on her face.

Julia stopped eating at the tone of his voice and glanced up at him
curiously.  "The storm I got lost in last night-the reason I'm covered
from head to toe in mud."  Her voice took on an edge as the expression
in his eyes grew speculative " " The sky was clear and the stars were
out when I carried you inside last night," he said deliberately.  "
"Then it must have passed over by then, " she felt compelled to insist,
without realizing why.

What did it matter whether it had stormed or not?  It could have
stormed on one side of the mountain and not the other.  What mattered
was that she was here, needing his help to get away.

"Where are you from?  Did you travel a long way in this... storm?  "
His eyes searched her face and seemed to be reaching past her eyes into
her mind.  " " California" she replied slowly, watching him push his
empty plate aside, " I came from California.  "

Ryder stood and crossed the room to the cupboard in a slow, hip-rolling
gait Julia found oddly sensual.  When he returned he carried items she
didn't recognize.

"That so?"  he said, resuming the conversation.  A moment later he was
placing a small square of dark paper in a wooden tube.  He added
tobacco from a pull-string pouch down a small funnel into the paper and
poked it into place with a small rod.

"I figured you to be from back East," he added, removing the cigarette,
licking the open edge of paper and pressina it down flat with his
thumbs.

"No," she denied without thinking, following his precise movements with
a kind of fascination.  As she realized what , " he d said, she
amended, stammering, That is-I am originally , I was born in Boston.
How did you know-I don't have any accent left."

Ryder smiled as he placed the finished cigarette in his mouth.  "It's a
little trick I picked up when I was a kid.  We traveled a lot."

"Was your father a salesman?"

Ryder shoved the stool back almost violently and climbed to his feet.
Julia jumped at the sudden clatter and followed him with wide, startled
eyes as he moved to the fireplace and bent to light the cigarette.
Taking a long pull on it, he straightened and stood a moment longer
with his back to her before turning to face her.

"You travel from California all alone?"  he asked as he moved the
cigarette from one side of his mouth to the other.

"Yes."  Clearly, his own beginnings were to remain a secret She
wondered why.

"It's a long way for someone like you to come alone."

Julia shrugged, irritated at the way he expected her to answer his
questions, while refusing to answer any of hers.  " " Where you headed?
"" "I... don't know."  She was on the point of admitting she had no
particular destination in mind and then thought better of it.  It would
be imprudent to tell a stranger no one knew where she was, or where she
was headed.

"Bad things happen sometimes to people traveling alone."  A silken
thread of warning ran through his voice.  Julia shivered and gave him a
sharp look.  Was he threatening her?

"Are you one of those " bad things'?  " she challenged, suddenly tired
of this cat-and-mouse game they'd both been playing.

An inexplicable look of withdrawal came over his face.  He spun and
threw the half-smoked cigarette into the flames with undue force.

Now what had she said?  "Where-exactly-are we?"  she asked stiffly.

"Where-exactly" -he mimicked her "-would you like to be?  "

Anywhere but here, she was thinking as she replied, "I don't know,
someplace where I can get help.  Is there a town nearby?  "

"Two days' ride from here," he answered.

"Ride?"

"That's right, on horseback."

"

" You have a horse?  " she asked quickly.  "

"Then you could take me"

"I told you, I don't go to town," he cut her off sharply.

"Why not?"

"Town's got nothing I want."  "

" But" she protested.

"I got some things to take care of outside.  You just rest and I'll be
back in a while."  Hoisting his saddle, he strode out the door.

"But, you don't understand-" she called in growing frustration at his
disappearing back.

What was wrong with the man?  One minute he acted as though he could
hardly bear her company, and the next, he was refusing to help her
leave.

Chapter3

Julia's eyes darted around the cabin.  The minutes stretched into an
hour.  She began to wonder where he'd gone and if she should be afraid
of him.  He lived in a museum, yet he didn't appear to be aware of that
fact.  And his story about the buffalo had either been contrived to
upset her, or a figment of his imagination.

The interior of the cabin started to become oppressive.  Why would
someone live like this..  unless there was something terribly wrong
with his thinking-or he was hiding from something.

A sudden chill danced across her skin.  Rubbing her arms, she recalled
his mentioning danger for a woman traveling alone.  She was well aware
people sometimes disappeared on cross-country trips.  Travelers and
hitchhikers frequently were victims of fatal crimes..

Had his seemingly innocuous remark been in actual fact a warning of his
own evil intent?  Had she stumbled into the hideout of a madman?

The skin across her scalp prickled and pulled tight, her stomach
knotted painfully in sudden fear.  Her eyes darted to the empty plate
and cup sitting on the table.

She tried to tell herself everything was all right, that the man was
only an eccentric and that's why he lived here, like this, all alone,
but she couldn't seem to convince herself of that fact.

She began to shake.  What if he'd poisoned the food?  The drink?

The flavor of the tea had been strong-almost medicinal Was that tight
feeling in the pit of her stomach even now the beginning of a slow,
painful death from poisoning ?

The door to the cabin flew back, and startled, Julia let out a soft
cry.  In sudden panic, eyes darting around the room, she wondered how
she'd get away from him with her right leg in its present condition.

What if he attacked her?  The back of one hand brushed against
something cold, drawing her glance.  The fork!

By the time the tall, menacing figure filled the doorway, she was
clutching the fork in one hand.  As he advanced slowly toward her,
Julia raised the fork and drew her arm back prepared to use it if
necessary as a weapon.

Ryder stopped on the far side of the table and stood looking from her
strained expression to the upraised fork in her hand.  "Was the food
that bad?"  he asked, a hint of humor curling a corner of the sensual
mouth.

How could he look so ordinary and sane, standing there with a hint of a
grin on his handsome face, when he was planning to murder her and
dispose of her body?  " " Here, I hope this will do.  "

Julia stared from the thing in his hand to the sudden glint of shyness
in his dark eyes.  It took a moment for her to realize the significance
of what he held.  A crutch.  He'd fashioned her a makeshift crutch from
a tree branch.

Julia blinked rapidly and turned her face away, trying to get a grip on
her emotions.  She wasn't certain which feeling was the strongest, that
of relief at the realization he wasn't about to bludgeon her to death
in a fit of maniacal fury, or foolishness for even thinking that was
his plan.

"Thank you," she finally managed through unsteady lips, " " that was..
thoughtful"

"No, ma'am," he cut her off, the shyness leaving his face as his glance
came to rest on the upraised fork.  "I just figured it would be a might
easier on my back if I didn't have to haul you around-or worry about
you falling and hurting your other le- " He swallowed the rest of the
word and substituted, "yourself any more."

It wasn't polite to mention body parts in conversation with a lady.
He'd have to keep reminding himself of things like that, because he
hadn't had that many conversations with a lady and his manners were a
might rusty.  Taking off his hat, Ryder ran a careless hand through the
pale strands of hair lying across his forehead and swept them back ;
against the top of his head.

Julia was struck anew by the unusual contrast between the light brown
hair, black brows and lashes.  He was a remarkably handsome man, and
the virile cowboy image suited him perfectly.

Being an artist, she was used to analyzing people and their
character-types.  Sometimes, she even played a little game in her mind
in which she thought of people she knew and tried !  to match them with
characters in movies.  She knew she couldn't have picked an image any
more suited to this man than the one he'd already chosen for himself, a
kind of Gary

Cooper with a dash of Indiana Jones.  " " You ready to turn loose of
that yet?  " He indicated the fork and reached for it.  Julia gave it
up without a struggle.

"What that le-" he caught himself "-what you need is a good soak in
the river."

Julia looked startled, a hint of returning fear darkening , her eyes.

"To take out the soreness," he explained, nodding without looking at
her leg, "but first you got to learn to get , around on this," he
added, holding the crutch out to her.

Julia was very conscious of his nearness a moment later as he placed a
tentative arm around her shoulders, keeping as much distance between
them as possible, and helped her get to her feet.  There was nothing in
the least for her to obqect to in his handling of her as he helped her
walk back and forth across the rough planked floor.  He was very
careful to keep his hands from touching anything but her shoulders,
and his lips didn't so much as come within brushing dis- plained the
sweet, pungent odor she'd noticed on Ryder'stance of hers.  clothing as
he'd carried her to the cabin.  A short time later, satisfied she'd be
able to use the crutch She noted the horse was saddled and wondered if
her host without causing herself further injury, Ryder suggested they q
had changed his mind about taking her to town.  On the tail move
outside.  It wasn't as easy mampulatmg the crutch over I end of that
thought came another less pleasant one.  Did he uneven ground.  By the
time they'd moved around the cabin i expect her to ride the beast?  to
the corral, Julia was out of breath.  Stopping to lean on If so, he was
in for a surprise.  She knew nothing about the crutch and catch her
breath, she admired the small veg- horses, and after observing the size
of this one, decided she et able garden growing near the cabin.  liked
it that way.  In the cabin, when he'd mentioned riding "It looks like
you have a green thumb," she commented horseback, she'd imagined a much
smaller version.  If he with envy.  She couldn't manage to keep a house
plant alive, '. intended using this great beast to take her to town,
he'd even when the florist assured her it took almost no mainte- better
have a wagon stashed somewhere out of sight.  nance.  i Ryder drew a
reluctant Julia a few steps forward, but "Only thing I do is plant it,
nature takes care of the rest."  j didn't press her when she refused to
go any closer, and inHe shrugged, rejecting the intended compliment.
"I'Il pick I troduced her to Midnight.  She duly admired the horse's
some fresh vegetables for supper.  You like chicken stew?"  ( shiny
coat, thinking Midnight was an appropriate name for , " Sounds great
she murmured softly, curious about his the animal, because he was
indeed as black as the night sky.  reaction to a simple compliment. She
didn t bother to men; Sensing her nervousness-how could he not, when
she mentioned the little matter of her impending departure.  What was
eyed the stallion with slightly widened eyes and cringed the use?

Apparently he took no note of things he didn't want every time he
snorted or made a move in her direction to see or hear.  Ryder reached
behind him and pulled a thick clump of However, despite his help, or
lack of it, she fully in; coarse buffalo grass, then instructed softly,

" Hold this out tended being reunited with her car long before supper.
It and let him take it from your hand.  " would be difficult, but with
the crutch he'd so thoughtfully Julia looked from the horse's powerful
jaws to the flimsy provided, she could manage on her own.  How far
could the shoots of grass and shook her head.  " I-I'd rather not.  "
nearest neighbor be?  She drew back as the animal pushed his large head
An image of empty, undulating hills tried to push itself to through the
bars of the corral toward the grass in Ryder's the surface of her mind,
reminding her of the count she'd hand, and gave a nervous jerk when he
whinnied in protest, driven through yesterday, but she, too, was adept
at reject- because he couldn't reach it.  g g in " "thin s she didn t
want to acknowledge.  , Ryder hid a slight grin at her skittish
behavior, thinking Come with me, there s someone I want you to meet."
she was the greenest tenderfoot he'd ever seen, then he re ?  y ,

Someone Julia followed him curiousl to the back of the membered the way
she d lifted a fork against him in her own cabin.  He d told her he
lived alone.  defense and sobered instantly.  Grabbing hold of her
hand, The roof at the back of the cabin extended outward, he turned it
over and pushed the grass onto her palm.  forming a shelter with three
sides.  A corral had been built Julia balked at the move, but with the
crutch in one hand, across the front and was attached to the walls of
the cabin.  it was hard to refuse.  She bit her lip as he forced her
rigid It housed a magnificent black stallion.  palm closer to the
corral and held it beneath the stallion's This, Julia realized,
admiring the animal's beauty and muzzle.  strength must be the animal
she d heard the night before, Midnight sniffed at her hand, shied back
at the unfamilwhen she d visited the outhouse.  Its presence also ex-
jar scent and danced nervously around the corral.  Ryder explained that
the stallion wasn't used to her scent, yet, then couldn't help adding
impatiently that he sensed her fear, too, and softly urged her to calm
down and stand still.

Julia closed her eyes and turned her head aside, hoping that when he
was finished proving whatever it was he was trying to prove, she'd
still have a hand left at the end of her wrist.  Without warning, she
felt the horse's breath blow warm and moist against her skin and
twisted her head slowly to see him nibbling the grass down toward her
fingers.

She would have dropped the rest of the grass once she felt the
sandpaper touch of the animal's tongue, but Ryder tightened his grip,
lifting her hand toward the horse's muzzle Julia's fingers closed in
protest, and she tried to wrench her hand away, but Ryder only used his
other hand to calmly pry her fingers apart so the remainder of the
grass lay within easy reach.

Midnight's long tongue snaked out and curled around the remaining
stalks, inadvertently sweeping across the sensitive skin on Julia's
palm.  Her hand jerked, but Ryder wasn't through with her yet.  Raising
her empty palm, he pressed it against the horse's forehead, intending
it as a caress, but Julia's fingers curled into a tight, hard fist as
she resisted his efforts.  Speaking softly, in soothing tones, gentling
her as well as the horse, Ryder slipped his fingers beneath hers and
loosened them, spreading them out flat against the horse's soft coat.

But by now Julia was barely aware of the horse.  It was the warmth and
strength of the hand covering hers, the solid wall of chest, the
strong, muscled shoulder pressing against her, the soft crooning
whisper of Ryder's voice in her ear that held her undivided
attention.

Midnight's nervous dancing had stopped.  He snorted and blew loudly,
lifted his magnificent head up and down as though he was agreeing to
something, then stood quietly beneath Julia's hand.

"There, now you're friends," Ryder murmured in satisfaction

Confused by the feelings he was creating within her, Julia couldn't
help wondering silently, And you and l, are we friends now, too ?

Ryder dropped her hand abruptly and unbarred the gate.  Leading the
stallion from the corral, he mounted him with fluid grace.  Trotting up
beside her, he motioned to her.

"Give me your hand."

"Where are we going?"  she asked in apprehension.  It looked a long way
from the ground to the stallion's back.

"To the river.  A soak in the cool water will do your injury a power of
good.  Leave your crutch here, you won't need it ."

"I don't think I want to-"

Ryder's arms slipped beneath her from behind, causing her to drop the
crutch in surprise as he lifted her to the saddle in front of him.
Julia grasped the saddle horn as though it were a lifeline, noting that
it was indeed a very long way to the ground.

She didn't know which kept her most on edge during the short
ride-trying to keep her body stiff so she wouldn't rest back against
the man's chest, or trying to breathe as shallowly as possible, so his
arm wouldn't lay across her chest.

"Is it far to the river?"  Julia whispered on an expelled breath,
hoping he hadn't noticed how her nipples had grown tight when his arm
had brushed against her just now.

"Over that hill."  Julia glanoed in dismay to where he pointed.  They
were headed toward the mountains-the mountains that never seemed to get
any closer.

As though reading her thoughts, he added, "Don't fret yourself, it's
not as far as it looks."

Half an hour later, Julia sat on the bank of the river beneath a canopy
of cottonwood trees.  The trip hadn't been at all unpleasant.  It was
beautiful country.  They'd ridden from a valley of green cottonwoods,
willows and mountain ash to the banks of the river, where the rocks
were worn smooth by water, wind and time.

She'd even gotten used to riding in the crook of the man's arm and felt
just a little sad to have the ride end.

"How do we do this?"  she asked, feeling a flush of embarrassment stain
her cheeks.  As grateful as she was to him for the consideration he'd
shown her so far, she had no intention of sharing a bath with him, even
in a tub the size of a river.

"Shall we take turns?"  she added when he made no immediate answer.

"You bathe, I'll keep watch.  There's just one thing.  You ever swim in
a river before?"

"No," Julia responded slowly, "but I have in the ocean.  Isn't it about
the same?"

"I don't know," Ryder answered with a shrug.  "I've never been in the
ocean.  Anyway, the middle of the river has a mighty strong current.
Stay away from it," he admonished sharply.  "It's dangerous.  You do
that and you'll be just fine."

He handed her a piece of brown soap and dropped a bundle he'd untied
from the saddle's cantle onto the ground.  "There's a change of clean
clothes in there.  I'll be keeping watch from up there."  He pointed to
the brow of a hill a little way down river.  "If you need me, just cup
your hand around your mouth and give a holler-don't worry, I'll
hear."

Taking hold of Midnight's reins, he turned away.  Julia stood watching
as he and the horse climbed the hill.  When they'd gained the top
safely, she turned in the opposite direction and hopped along the bank
a short distance.

Finding shelter behind a huge rock surrounded by trees, she began to
disrobe.  Every now and then she peeked out from behind the rock to
check on Ryder's position.

The last time she looked, he'd made himself comfortable by sitting
cross-legged on the ground, his back to the river, with his rifle lying
across his knees.  Midnight stood nearby, munching on thick clumps of
the short buffalo grass.

Just exactly who, or what, Ryder was keeping watch for escaped her, but
she wasn't going to ask any more questions It did little good in any
case, since he didn't answer most of them.

She knew nothing about him, whether he was sane or just a hermit who
liked living alone.  If he was a hermit, hiding from people, so be it,
it was nothing to her.  And if he was crazy, well, that had nothing to
do with her, either.  The world was filled with crazy people who didn't
bother anyone She'd even met a few.

She would simply take her bath, change clothes-though she couldn't
imagine what he'd brougbt for her to change into-then ask him, beg if
necessary, to take her to his nearest neighbor, if he continued to
refuse to take her to ; town.  !  Standing in her underwear, two scraps
of dainty white lace, she picked up the curious piece of soap he'd
given her.  i It smelled awful, but as long as it did the job she could
stand it, just this once.

Julia made her way awkwardly toward the river's edge.  It wasn't easy
without the crutch.  She thought about sitting down and scooting, but
didn't want to ruin the expensive, delicate underwear.  They were the
only pair she had with her, everything else was in her suitcase in the
car.  ,

Once she d reached the water s edge, she hesitated.  The ; idea of
undressing in the open, even though the place was secluded, made her
uncomfortable.  She cast a quick look behind, toward Ryder's solid
back.  If she didn't want to ruin her underthings, they had to come
off.

It proved more difficult than she'd imagined.  She should have stayed
near the rock, where she'd have had something to lean against for
support while she removed them.

Dropping the soap to the ground, she reached behind her with one hand,
balancing on one foot, and managed to unfasten the lace bra and work it
down her arms.  Hanging it from a tree branch drooping near the water's
edge, she began to work the panties down over her hips, glancing around
nervously to make certain there were no uninvited observers

Everything went fine until she tried to slip the foot of her uninjured
leg from the panties.  The small branch of the tree she was using for
support broke suddenly with a sharp snap.

Arms flailing, Julia lost her balance and fought to regain it, but it
was a losing battle.  She staggered back, slipped in the mud, and fell
into the icy water.

A moment later, spluttering, shivering from the cold, she rose to the
surface.  Using one hand, while paddling to stay afloat with the other,
she pushed the hair from her eyes and tried to figure out where she
was.

The water felt like melted ice.  Her skin tingled and her teeth
chattered with cold.  All at once, she spotted the lace panties
drifting toward the center of the river.  Without a moment's thought
for her host's warning, she struck out toward them, intent on
retrieving her only pair of panties.

Julia's hand touched the softness of fine lace at the same instant she
realized she was in trouble.  The river was deep at its middle and the
current swift, but worst of all was the treacherous undertow.  It was
pulling her beneath the water 's surface.

"Help!"  Choking on a mouthful of water, coughing and spluttering, she
called again, "H-help!"

What was it Ryder had said?  Cup your hand round your mouth.  She
couldn't even get her hand up to her mouth unless she wanted to slide
beneath the water's surface.

The water was carrying her along at a fast pace, and Julia had no idea
how far she'd come from the point at which she'd entered the water.
Raising her head, she managed to get a fleeting glimpse of the bank and
what lay before her.  She wished she hadn't.  The river narrowed and
twisted up ahead, boiling with white foam.  That meant rocks-and
danger.

Julia gathered her strength and propelled herself as high as she could
in the water and screamed, "H-e-I-p m-e!"

Exhausted by the constant battle to keep from being sucked beneath the
water, she took a deep breath and slid beneath the water's surface,
rising a moment later.  easping for breath.

She was going to die!  ,

A week ago, she d wanted to die.  Now, with death imminently at hand,
she knew that was no longer true.  With every fiber of her being, she
wanted to live!

Taking a deep breath, throwing her head back until her eyes were filled
with nothing but blue sky, she bellowed, "R-y-d-e-r, h-e-1-p m-e!  "

Ryder was just thinking of calling to the woman tu see if she was about
finished with her bath when he heard the sound of his name bellowed in
fear.  Gaining his feet quickly, he whirled to face the water.

He didn't waste time looking for her on the riverbank, or near the
water's edge.  He knew she must be somewhere near the middle of the
river.  He scanned the water quickly and spotted her almost
immediately.  She was headed for the shoals where the water twisted
before entering a narrow canyon with steep rock walls and large, deadly
spires protruding from the water's surface.

If she reached the canyon alive, she still wouldn't last long, because
the canyon led to a waterfall.  And no one could survive the
five-hundred-foot drop to the waiting rocks below.

Sliding his rifle into the buckskin sling over the saddle horn, Ryder
mounted Midnight and galloped along the edge of the cliff.  There was
only one chance to save her.  A rock arch curved over the water a short
distance from where the river narrowed before entering the canyon.  It
was a long shot, but if he could make it in time, before she passed
that point, he just might be able to save her.

As he dismounted, his hand was already reaching for the grass rope
coiled and fastened to his saddle.  He scanned the water quickly as he
removed his hat, gun belt, boots, socks and shirt.  It took only a few
seconds to spot the woman's bright head bobbing in the water.

He wished there was some way he could let her know he was on his way so
she'd be ready for him when he got close enough to reach her.  But he
knew the sound the water made moving through the canyon, added to that
of the falls up ahead, would cover any attempt he made to call out to
her.

Dressed in suspenders and trousers, Ryder tied one end of the rope
around the wide trunk of an old cottonwood growing near the tall bank,
and the other end he knotted snugly around his waist.  Stepping out
onto the rock arch, he prepared to dive, waiting until he was certain
to hit the water a little way in front of Julia.  He knew he'd have
only one shot at it, so it had better be good.

Taking care to keep his feet and legs from becoming tangled in the
rope, he sprang up on the balls of his feet and lunged forward.  The
dive was neat and clean.  His body arched through the air like an arrow
plunging toward the water's surface.  The rope followed him down.  It
was his lifeline-his and the woman's.

Julia didn't see the spectacular dive, but she did see him hit the
water a few yards ahead of her.  At first she was only thankful to see
him, and then she realized he was in the same danger as she was
herself.  She didn't know about the waterfall, but the thought of
vanishing between the towering cliffs up ahead terrified her almost to
the point of hysteria

She lost sight of Ryder as she slid beneath the water, but caught sight
of him again as her head broke the surface.  He'd moved down river
toward the worst of the rocks.  She was exhausted from fighting the
pull of the water trying to suck her beneath its murky surface, and her
breath burned in her lungs, but her fear at the moment was for Ryder.
Was she about to witness his body being battered against the rocks
before experiencing the same fate?

Striving to keep afloat, she lost sight of him again as she was whirled
in the water like a bobbing, spinning top.  When next she spotted him,
it appeared as though he'd moved closer.

Was that possible?  Was he a strong-enough swimmer to fight against the
deadly current and win?  The thought made Julia's heart leap in her
breast.

Yes!  He was closer!  He was closer, and she was heading directly
toward him.  All at once she realized he was trying to tell her
something, shouting words she couldn't make out before they were
swallowed up in the ever-increasing roar of the river, and waving one
hand.

Without warning Julia smacked up against something solid in the water
and felt a burning trail of fire along her right side.  Rocks!  He'd
been trying to warn her she was drifting toward the rocks.

Julia threw herself to the other side and skimmed past the next rock
without making contact.  Ryder appeared to be moving closer now at a
much faster rate.  He was no more than an arm's length away.

Suddenly Julia realized something was wrong.  He wasn't in the same
spot-he wasn't directly ahead of her any longer.  She'd changed course
when she'd thrown herself away from the rocks.  He wasn't going to
reach her!  She threw herself toward him.

Ryder treaded water and lunged in her direction, his hand reaching
toward her.  Julia stretched, straining with everything in her to keep
her head above water and make contact with his hand.  Their fingertips
touched, lost contact.  She bobbed beneath the water, struggling in
panic to get to the surface, terrified she'd move past him without
realizing it.

Her head broke the water's surface, and in a blind panic she expected
to find him gone.  She was wrong.  Somehow, he'd managed to move toward
her again.  Their fingers touched, his slid between hers, clutching at
them.  And then his other hand was wrapping itself around her delicate
wrist.

Ryder drew her toward him slowly while fighting the pull of the water's
current against the rope.  When she was close enough, he enfolded her
against him, holding her slippery body in his arms.  With her pressed
safely against his heaving chest, he pulled the two of them up the rope
toward the riverbank.

It seemed to take forever, but finally they both lay against the wet
sand, breathing heavily, gulping in mouthfuls of air, thankful to be
alive.

At first Julia wasn't aware of her nakedness.  She felt the coarse sand
against her cheek, tasted the sweet air filling her lungs, felt the
warm kiss of the sun on her body and thanked God for life-and Ryder
McCall.

Opening her eyes without moving her head, she saw him through a gap in
the strands of red hair all but covering her face.  Only a scant few
inches separated them.

"Thank you," she panted.  "I seem... to be in... your debt... once
again."

Ryder blinked and looked up at her, water beading his dark lashes,
sticking them together in tiny clumps.  It ran in rivulets from his
dark blond hair, coursed down the planes of his face to his chest, and
dripped from the sides of his thick mustache.  Except for the rapid
tempo of his breathing , he lay without moving, his eyes locked on
hers.

All at once something flickered and sprang to life below the surface of
their dark depths.  Easing himself away from the riverbank, his glance
shifted from her face downward.  ; There was a toughness about him
missing in the men she Slowly and seductively, his eyes traveled over
the rounded knew-yet at times he was almost courtly in his manner to
swell of a firm breast peeking from beneath one curved arm.  ward
her.  She'd never in her life met a man like him.  The deep hollow of a
narrow waist and gentle rise of a softly But there was none of that
courtliness in his expression as rounded hip beckoned to him to
continue his examination, ; he looked at her now.  The skin on his face
looked as though despite the voice inside telling him it was wrong.  it
had been stretched too tight across the bones of his cheeks , By the
time his eyes had reached the long, tapering thigh the fine nostrils
flared, and the sensuous lips were held rig and graceful calf, Ryder
was filled with a need so great, he idly taut against the palpable
tension in the air between thought he might burst with it.  His dark
eyes smoldered them.  with fires barely under control as they flew back
to her face.  Julia was well aware she owed this man her life, in fact,
In that one searing glance, Julia was made fully aware of she owed
him much more.  Not only had he saved her at the her nakedness and all
its implications.  The pupils of her risk of his own life, he'd made
her realize just how precious green eyes dilated in fear.  Surely he
wouldn't save her from was the gift of life.  She'd always be grateful
to him for that.  the river, risking his own life in the act, and then
do some- Grateful, yes, a voice inside her reasoned, but gratitude
thing so vile as-no, she wouldn't even think the word.  ; didn't
stretch to cover what she saw building behind his eyes.  He was moving
toward her.  Julia felt her heart stop dead Ryder saw the varied
emotions passing over her face and and then begin to race in alarm. She
drew back in fear, but seemed almost to read her thoughts.  For a
moment he re all he did was lift a swathe of wet hair from one cheek
and sis ted the obvious answer to a question he hadn't yet sposmooth
it back behind a small ear.  His fingers lingered ken aloud.  against
her skin, slid around the sensitive outer curve of her Julia noted that
resistanre and grew tense, prepared to do ear, down the side of her
neck, to the silky smoothness of , battle if necessary to retain her
dignity.  her shoulder.  ; All at once Ryder's eyes closed; his head
dropped for Julia shivered and felt her nipples grow painfully hard.  "
,   ward and the tension suddenly drained from his body.  He You re
about the prettiest thing I ve ever seen.  His turned away.  Getting
to his feet, standing with his back to hoarse whisper broke the
strained silence.  A second later, his her, he loosened the rope around
his waist with unsteady warm qreath feathered her skin as he leaned
forward and fingers.  plaoed a soft kiss against the raw scrape along
her right side.  " I'll get your things," he murmured in a voice
devoid of Julia's eyes drifted shut at the touch of his lips.  So
gentle emotion.  " Don't go near the river while I'm gone.  I think was
the caress she hardly felt it.  But when his mustache you've soaked in
it long enough for one day.  " brushed her skin, she quivered and
shrank away.  Julia sat up, crossed her arms over her bare breasts,
and Ryder drew back, his dark eyes filled with a seething pas- bent
forward, letting her long hair shield her face.  She let sion.  He
needed her more at that moment than he'd ever her breath out in a long,
relieved sigh.  Just for a moment, needed anyone in his life.  she'd
thought she was in real trouble.  There had been such Julia lay still,
staring at him with wide frightened eyes, a hot, determined look on his
face, she'd been afraid he afraid to move in case the flimsy restraint
he held on the wouldn't take no for an answer.  dark passion she saw
blazing in his eyes broke free and God, would this odyssey her life had
become, never endq swamped them both.  She was shocked at herself to
dis- All she wanted was her clothes and a way to get to her car.  cover
that though she found him and the way he lived very Maybe her mother
had been right when she'd told her she disturbing, at the same time, he
excited her.  She sensed a wasn't capable of taking care of herself.
She certainly hadn't wild, untamed streak in him that called to
something in her.  i done a very good job oq it up to now.

Ryder threw a brief glance over his shoulder, noting Julia air of
wretchedness.  Who was this woman who had so nearly caused him to cross
the bounds of civilized behavior and become the animal society had
labeled him?  '

She brought out a side of him he didn't want to know.  The both of them
would have been better off if she had never showed up at the cabin.

Maybe he should point her in the right direttion and let ; her go.
Maybe she was nothing more than she said, a traveler in need of
help-but what if she wasn't?

Chapter 4

Julia's body moved stiffly against the gentle sway of the horse's slow,
steady gait.  On the ride to the river she had been trying to keep from
making intimate contact with her companion's body, but on the ride back
she had Ryder's full cooperation in the endeavor.  She felt like an
idiot.  She'd done exactly what he'd told her not to do and nearly paid
for it with her life, nearly taking his in the bargain.  ; No doubt he
thought her a complete fool.  She certainly !  felt like one.  But
she'd made so many wrong decisions in the past few years she supposed
another one was par for the i course in her case.

Since they'd left the river he'd maintained a stiff silence , broken
only by the sounds the horse made as Midnight picked his way through
the rocky Ilills toward the valley below She felt certain he would be
only too glad to see the back of her.

With that thought in mind, she was determined one way or another to
leave for the nearest town as soon as they returned to the cabin and
she was once more in possession of the crutch he'd fashioned her.

Her mind kept flashing back to that last scene between them on the
riverbank, but she wouldn't let herself think about it.  What she'd
seen, or what she imagined she'd seen, in the man's dark eyes was
better left forgotten.  Just thinking about it made her feel
unsettled.

If she were going to think about it at all, it was to tell herself the
man had only been reacting, as most men would, to the naked body of a
halfway attractive woman.

Back off, a voice inside warned sternly, don't get mcxed up with this
one.  This one is dangerous.

She listened to the voice of reason and knew instinctively it was
right.  Besides, after California, her emotions were still too raw to
even contemplate risking them on a man like the one holding himself so
stiffly behind her.

Even at that, she had a feeling that wherever life took her in the
years ahead, as long as she lived, she would never forget Ryder
McCall.

Hoping to ease the tension between them for the rest of their brief
trip, Julia searched around in her mind for a safe topic of
conversation.  Off to her right, through the thick grass, she glimpsed
two wooden crosses.

"Are those graves?"  she asked in surprise.

Ryder glanced in the direction she indicated and nodded as she turned
to him for an answer.

"Can we ride closer?"

Ryder gave a slight pull on the left rein and Midnight veered in the
direction of the graves situated on a slight rise about a thousand
yards from the back of the cabin.  The horse halted dutifully, sunlight
reflecting off his silky coat, as the man pulled back on the reins. And
when Ryder let them hang loose in his hands, Midnight lowered his head
and began to nibble leisurely at the clump of grass near his feet.

Julia stared at the two mounds of earth with rocks piled around their
outer edge.  Her glance shifted to the wooden cross on the closest
grave.  The letters on it looked as though they'd been burned, rather
than carved, into it.

Julia read aloud, "Sarah Purdy,1856-1875."  She made a swift
calculation and whispered sadly, "She was only nineteen.  That's too
young to die."

Her thoughts were on Mariette as she glanced toward the second cross.
It read very simply, "Baby John,1875."

Julia's throat closed up.  Her own child had been only a few months old
when she'd lost her, and she'd barely been !  twenty at the time.

"Life's hard for a woman," she murmured softly, thinking about how much
she had in common with the one lying i here.  "I guess it doesn't
matter what century you're born ; into-it's all the same."  She didn't
notice the slight puckering of Ryder's brows as he stared at her.

"Life's hard on us all."  He shrugged.  "That's the way it is, the way
God intended, I guess.  I always figured it meant he wanted us to know
nothing worth having came easy."

Julia lifted green eyes rimmed with sadness toward his ; face, but his
glance was focused on the cabin in the distance, an odd determined
expression written there.  His i words had surprised her.  She'd
already decided, on the ' strength of what she'd seen so far, that he
lived as he did i because he couldn't cope with today's society and
hades caped it by making an uncomplicated life for himself on the ;
prairie.

Some people might consider the lengths to which he'd taken it as a
little crazy, but who was she to judge him ?  ; Wasn't she on the
run?

But now, her eyes narrowed on his face.  She was confused His words
hadn't sounded like those of a man who'd retreated completely into the
past because he thought it was , easier than facing reality.

He intrigued her.  She wished they'd met under different circumstances.
At any other time, their coming together might have been a stroke of
pure luck for the both of them.

They might have helped each other before things got out of hand, but
now it was too late.  i She was being forced to weigh her life and
reestablish her values.  And she had a feeling Ryder was doing the very
same thing.  "I'hey were both searching desperately for something to
believe in, some reason to hang on in a world gone crazy,a world in
which neither quite fit.  But she suspected they would only confuse
each other more if they spent too much

Her mind kept flashing back to that last scene between Her thoughts
were on Mariette as she glanced toward the them on the riverbank, but
she wouldn't let herself think second cross.  It read very simply,
"Baby John,1875."  about it.  What she'd seen, or what she imagined
she'd seen, Julia's throat closed up.  Her own child had been only a
in the man's dark eyes was better left forgotten.  Just think- few
months old when she'd lost her, and she'd barely been ing about it made
her feel unsettled.  i y twent at the time.  If she were going to think
about it at all, it was to tell "Life's hard for a woman," she murmured
softly, think herself the man had only been reacting, as most men
would, ing about how much she had in common with the one lying to the
naked body of a halfway attractive woman.  i here.  "I guess it doesn't
matter what century you're born Back off, a voice inside warned
sternly, don't get mixed q( into-it's all the same."  She didn't notice
the slight puck up with this one.  This one is dangerous.  ering of
Ryder's brows as he stared at her.  She listened to the voice of reason
and knew instinctively ; "Life's hard on us all."  He shrugged. "That's
the way it it was right.  Besides, after California, her emotions were
still is, the way God intended, I guess.  I always figured it meant too
raw to even contemplate risking them on a man like the he wanted us to
know nothing worth having came easy."  one holding himself so stiffly
behind her.  Julia lifted green eyes rimmed with sadness toward his
Even at that, she had a feeling that wherever life took her ) face, but
his glance was focused on the cabin in the disin the years ahead, as
long as she lived, she would never 1 tance, an odd determined
expression written there.  His forget Ryder McCall.  ! words had
surprised her.  She'd already decided, on the Hoping to ease the
tension between them for the rest of strength of what she'd seen so
far, that he lived as he did their brief trip, Julia searched around in
her mind for a safe i because he couldn't cope with today's society and
had est opic of conversation.  Off to her right, through the thick
caped it by making an uncomplicated life for himself on the grass, she
glimpsed two wooden crosses.  j prairie.  "Are those graves?"  she
asked in surprise.  Some people might consider the lengths to which
he'd Ryder glanced in the direction she indicated and nodded taken it
as a little crazy, but who was she to judge him ?  as she turned to him
for an answer.  Wasn't she on the run?  "Can we ride closer?"  'q But
now, her eyes narrowed on his face.  She was con Ryder gave a slight
pull on the left rein and Midnight fused.  His words hadn't sounded
like those of a man who'd veered in the direction of the graves
sit ated on a slight rise retreated completely into the past because
he thought it was about a thousand yards from the back of the cabin.

The easier than facing reality.  horse halted dutifully, sunlight
reflecting off his silky coat, He intrigued her.  She wished they'd met
under different as the man pulled back on the reins.  And when Ryder
let qj circumstances.  At any other time, their coming together them
hang loose in his hands, Midnight lowered his head might have been a
stroke of pure luck for the both of them.  and began to nibble
leisurely at the clump of grass near his They might have helped each
other before things got out of feet.  j hand, but now it was too late.

Julia stared at the two mounds of earth with rocks piled i She was
being forced to weigh her life and reestablish her around their outer
edge.  Her glance shifted to the wooden ': values.  And she had a
feeling Ryder was doing the very same cross on the closest grave.  The
letters on it looked as though ) thing.  they'd been burned, rather
than carved, into it.  i They were both searching desperately for
something to Julia read aloud, "Sarah Purdy,1856-1875."  She made q
believe in, some reason to hang on in a world gone crazy,a a swift
calculation and whispered sadly, "She was only   world in which
neither quite fit.  But she suspected they nineteen.  That's too young
to die."  ;'q;q would only confuse each other more if they spent too
much time in each other's company.  Her search would have to take her
elsewhere, and Ryder would have to seek his own salvation without any
help from her.

Julia was lost in her own unhappy contemplations when Ryder's glance
moved suddenly to her face.  Their eyes met, and something rippled
beneath the calm surface of his dark eyes.  Julia felt her heart skip a
beat.  This would never do.

Tearing her glance from his, she sought refuge from the rekindling of
the dark fires building in his eyes.  "It looks as though they're a
recent addition."  She gestured a little desperately toward the crude
wooden markers.

"They've been there since I got here."  The deep timbre of his voice
vibrated along her nerve endings.  "I guess they must be part of the
family that lived in the cabin before me.  Thanks to them, I've had a
roof over my head and food in my belly."

"Oh, surely not."  Julia's finely drawn brow arched like a question
mark above her left eye.  Forgetting the sexual aspects of their
proximity, she turned to ask in a dubious voice, "I mean, in all that
time, wouldn't things have... spoiled?"

Ryder shook his head.  "This mountain air favors a man and his
possessions-and it hasn't been all that long a time."

Well, time was relative, she supposed.  A hundred years to an
archaeologist might seem a short span indeed.  But to her, a century
was..  ummaginable.

"Have you seen all you want to see?"  Ryder asked a bit testily.  His
hands tightened on the reins, causing Midnight to dance about nervously
as though he sensed his master's disquiet.

Ryder didn't much like being reminded of his own mortality ; there was
still a lot of life left for him to live.  That's why he'd stayed here
for so long, when it would have been safer for him to move on.

"Yes," Julia answered him softly, "I'm ready to go."  And she was,
ready to get back to her car and head in a new direction, before she
found herself probing too deeply into this man's reasons for being
here.

Clicking his tongue, Ryder coaxed Midnight to move.  Julia's glance
rested on the two lonely graves for as long as she could see them.  She
couldn't help wondering about the young woman and child buried there.

Outside the cabin, Ryder told her to stay put while he dismounted and
disappeared around the side of the building A moment later he returned,
carrying her crutch.  Propping it against the corner of the cabin, he
reached for her.  Hard fingers curved around her body, his thumbs
grazing the underside of her breasts.

Julia couldn't withhold a sudden sharp intake of breath.  He frowned
and muttered, "Sorry," adjusting his hold.

He'd forgotten, until her gasp reminded him, about the raw scratch
running along her right side.  It wouldn't do for him to remember it
too clearly, not if he wanted to forget how she'd looked lying on the
bank of the river a little while ago, without a stitch on.

Julia's eyes focused on his chin and stayed there as she felt him
acoept her weight.  She didn't know what to do with her hands.  They
finally found a resting place on his shoulders, and her eyes moved as
though with a will of their own toward his grim mouth.

He looked as embarrassed as she felt.  Speech was beyond her, but she
gave a slight nod of thanks as he released her.  The instant her toes
touched the ground, he stepped back.  Julia regained her balance and
made herself busy settling the crutch beneath her arm while her color
died down.

"You need to rest after your scare," her host muttered, turning away.
"" No!  " His back stiffened at the quick protest.  " " I really think
it's time I was getting on my way, " she added when he turned to face
her.  "Before I know it, it will be dark again, and I don't want to...
overstay my welcome, " she finished lamely.

"You aren't.  I'd tell you if you were."

"But you don't understand," she protested on the point of explaining
about her car.  Perhaps, despite his retreat from society, he'd
understand the possibly disastrous ramifications of an expensive car
left unattended for too long, even in this part of the country.

"Rest now," he insisted, trying to sound soothing, despite feeling
anger at being put in the middle of a situation he neither liked nor
wanted.  "We'll talk later, and if you don't want things stiffening up
on you, you'd better rest while I rustle us up something for supper."

Julia swallowed her protests and allowed him to persuade her.  She
really was tired after her ordeal at the river, and a little rest
before leaving was probably the only sensible thing under the
circumstances.

But she'd stay only a little longer, she assured herself quickly.  If
she couldn' tpersuade him to take her to a neighbor for help before
dark, she'd walk.

"All right, you win.  I do feel a bit tired."  She smiled a bit wanly
and pushed the hair back from pale cheeks that had caught the sun.  The
few steps to the door seemed like a mile.

"Bar the door while I'm gone and don't open it till I return ," he said
tersely, turning away.  "I'll have to see about getting' you a hat,
before you turn the color of a ripe strawberry"

Julia stood beside the door, staring at his stiff back.  A dull ache in
her knee moved up her thigh to her hip and the scratch on her side
began to burn abominably.  She really did need that rest.  But she'd
caught his muttered words and couldn't help again wondering why, if he
didn't want her there, he kept making excuses for her to stay?

Was it because he really didn't want her to leave?  Was he tired of
this life he'd chosen cut off from other people?  Or maybe he felt
himself slipping away from reality and was clutching at an unexpected
straw-her sudden appearance in his life-to help him hang on to it.

She couldn't afford to get mixed up with someone like him.  She had
problems of her own.  She couldn't take the chance on becoming involved
with an emotional cripple.  Her own emotional well-being was too
fragile, right now.

A tiny voice inside that wouldn't be silenced compared the man's needs
with that of her dead friend, Mariette.  Mariette had been slipping
away from reality, too, through the use of drugs.  If Julia hadn't been
involved in her own attempt , to escape from reality in alcohol..
perhaps the other woman would still be alive.

"I really don't see the need to bar the door," she protested aloud,
more because she was irritated with her own thoughts than because she
really gave a damn whether the door was opened or closed.

"Bar it!"  he ordered, pivoting on his heel to face her grimly.  " "
But you 'll be" " "Gone for a while, " he finished for her.  " " Do as
I say and bar the door.  "

"All right," she answered faintly, the trembling in her limbs
increasing.  She was just too tired to argue.  If he wanted the door
barred against some imaginary intruder, who might show up unexpectedly
in this idyll he'd created, then she'd bar the damned door!

"Oh," she added as an afterthought, whispering with a hint of
satisfaction in her voice through the narrow opening as she closed the
door, "don't bother with a hat, I won't be here long enough for you to
trouble yourself about my needing one.

Ryder's eyes glared at her through the door's narrow margin.  He looked
as though he wanted to say something more, but his lips remained
clamped firmly shut.

Why didn't he just go so she could lie down ?

"I'll be back before dark."

Julia nodded without really listening to the words, but his tone stayed
with her.  Was he making a promise, or a threat?

Without another word Ryder stomped away, and Julia dropped the heavy
wooden bar into place with a sigh of relief She was glad he was gone.
At the moment all she wanted was an hour or so of uninterrupted
sleep.

Turning to face the interior of the cabin, she stood for a moment,
letting her eyes adjust to the darkness after the bright sunlight
outside.  The room lay in shadow.  She lifted the loose bodice of the
dress away from her sticky body and blew out her breath, fanning the
damp hair curled against her forehead.  What this place needed was
central air conqditioning.

She had no idea where her host had gotten the dress he'd brought to the
river for her to change into, but it certainly was hot.  Looking over
her shoulder toward the door, her eyes slid to the window.  He'd
probably never know..

A few minutes later she stood with closed eyes and lifted her face
toward the cool breeze blowing through the open shutters.  Satisfied,
she turned to survey the room in the shaft of light now streaming
through the small square.

She had every intention of taking a short rest in order to be ready for
the ordeal ahead of her, should she be forced to leave this place on
foot.  She'd already made up her mind that if he wouldn't take her back
to civilization, then she'd get directions from him and make it there
under her own steam.  After all, she'd found her way to him, hadn't
she?

But after a few minutes of lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling,
Julia found she couldn't sleep.  She wondered where Ryder had gone and
when he'd return.

Her eyes kept popping open every time she closed them, and so finally
she gazed around the cabin, her thoughts on Mariette, Ryder, her own
past mistakes, and finally, the young woman whose grave rested out
back.  Had that woman laid here sometimes, like this, awaiting the
birth of her baby, wondering when her husband would return?

No, of course she hadn't.  At least not right here, on this same bed.
The 1870s were well over a hundred years in the past.  This bed and
mattress, the bed coverings, couldn't possibly be that old, despite the
fact Ryder had indicated things lasted longer in these mountains. Maybe
his belief that the cabin's contents were that old was a part of this
fantasy world in which he lived.

Her conscience smote her at the thought.  If that were the case, he
really neederl someone's help to bring him back into the real world.
Who was there to help him, but her?

Julia's eyes moved to the trunk at the foot of the bed and lingered.
Did it belong to him?  Was there something inside that might help her
to understand him better and his own special needs?

Curiosity got the better of her, and Julia found herself sitting in the
rocking chair shortly thereafter, lifting the trunk's cracked and
peeling lid.  She hesitated all at once.  She had no right to snoop
into the man's personal belongings

But, then, it might not be his.  Besides, a part of her was very
curious about the man..  and he' dnever know..

The trunk contained a wedding dress, some hand-stitched baby clothes, a
large family Bible, an unfinished quilt and a diary, none of which
belonged to Ryder McCall.

Julia admired the fine stitches on the baby clothes with a poignant
tear in her eye, marveled at how well-preserved the wedding dress
appeared to be, and carefully returned everything to the trunk.  All
except the diary.

She opened it to the first page and read, Presented to Sarah May
Douglas, May 15, 1868, for her twelfth birthday It was signed, Samuel
and Dorothea Douglas, her parents

The diary spanned five years.  The early handwriting was childish, but
very neat.  The first entry was a list of all the birthday presents
Sarah had received that day.  Julia continued to read.

A long while later, Julia climbed on the bed, her knee aching
abominably, and read the last entry with compassion stirring in her
heart.  The young woman was desperately frightened, her baby was due in
a few days' time and she was all alone.  Her young husband had left on
a cattle buying trip three months back, and being big with child and
sick with the heat of summer, she'd stayed behind.  He'd assured her he
would only be gone a few weeks, but he'd been gone so long..  she
feared something must have happened to him..

Closing the book, Julia held it in both hands, staring down at the
deep, rose-colored, satin binding.  How was it that the satin hadn't
lost its deep, rich color, she wondered curiously.

Opening the book again, she ran light fingertips over the smooth pages.
They were crisp and white, not dry and brittle , or yellowed with
age.

After a minute, she closed the book thoughtfully and placed it beneath
the pillow beside her.  Her eyes felt heavy with the strain of making
out the young woman's handwriting in the dim light.

Lifting her head and spreading her hair out on the pillow , she sighed
deeply and closed her eyes.  It must be about time for Ryder's return.
She'd just take a short, fifteen minute -or-so nap, and be ready for
him when he arrived.

Her last fleeting thought was that she hadn't found anything belonging
to Ryder in the trunk.  She'd hoped she would.  She had decided there
must be some dark mystery behind his being here and wished she could
solve it before she had to leave..  time was so short..

A fiddle played in tune with a mouth harp, and a deep voice called,
"Swing your partner, 'round we go."

Julia laughed up at the tall cowboy holding her in a loose clasp, his
dark eyes barely visible beneath the wide brim of a tall white Stetson.
They were both breathless from the dancing-and the excitement of being
this close to each other in a room full of people.

She had been wanting him to kiss her all evening.  With longing, her
glance rested on the sensitive lips below a thick blond mustache.  They
parted suddenly and moved as he began speaking.  She strained,
listening, but couldn't make out the words above the sound of the music
and the talking , laughing crowd.

All at once, the lips became a firm line and the arms dropped as he
backed away from her.  As his figure withdrew , it began to fade,
becoming shadowy and indistinct as though seen through a cloud of
smoke.

Julia strained toward him, but her feet felt like lead weights, and she
couldn't move them.  "What?"  she shouted.  "What did you say?  I can't
hear you "

Again his mouth moved, and she heard a word or two.  "Louder!"  she
shouted.  "Speak louder!"

His figure was fading fast in the smoke-filled room.  But, suddenly,
the words he'd spoken made sense.

"Open the door!  Julia, open the door!"

Julia's eyes snapped open.  She stared at the ceiling overhead in
bewilderment.  What had happened to the roof of her house?  Where was
the cream-colored ceiling and pale, peach-tinted walls of her
bedroom?

"Julia!  Damn it-open this door!"

That voice sounded vaguely familiar and extremely agitated Who..  and
then it all came back to her.  Julia knew who dared to yell at her in
that harsh-sounding voice.

Ryder!

Sitting up, she scooted toward the edge of the bed.

Something hit the floor with a soft thud.  Glancing down, she saw the
diary and felt a rush of sudden panic.

She bent over and scooped it up, holding it pressed against her chest
with both hands, heart pounding, eyes riveted on the door.  She didn't
want him to know she'd read it!  For some reason, it seemed imperative
that he not find out she'd gone through the things in the trunk.

Sliding toward the foot of the bed, she grabbed her crutch, and
lumbered to her feet.  As quickly as possible, she replaced the book
where she'd found it, well, as near to where she'd found it as she
could remember, and called, " " I'm coming.  "

"I'm coming," she called again in answer to a heavy blow struck against
the wooden door, rattling the cabin's walls.  "I'm coming."

She struggled to lift the heavy bar and dropped it to the floor, but
before she could straighten, the door was shoved inward and Ryder's
tall, dark silhouette filled the empty space.  Over his shoulder, Julia
noted that dusk had fallen.

Without warning, hard hands grasped her shoulders and held her.  Julia
looked up into his face, or what she could see of it that wasn't
shielded by the brim of his hat.  She couldn't make out his expression,
but she could see the glitter, like tiny flames, in his dark eyes.

"Are you all right?"  he asked in gruff tones.

"F-fine," she answered dazedly, staring hard at his eyes.  Why was he
so upset?

"Why didn't you answer when I called?"  he asked curtly, his fingers
biting into her flesh.

"I... fell asleep.  I'm sorry," she found herself apologizing

She could feel the tension in the arms holding her and her heart began
to race in response.  Abruptly his arms relaxed and dropped completely
away from her-just as ehey had in the dream she'd been having a little
while ago.

Now he'd fade away, she was thinking, recalling the dream and how
bereft she'd felt as he'd done just that.  In silent protest, as though
in a trance, Julia moved toward him.  She felt very tired all at once,
too tired to think about anything, except how nice it would be to feel
the strength of this man's broad chest beneath her cheek.

Ryder's breath caught deep in his chest.  He stood unmoving , arms
dangling at his sides, neither repelling nor encouraging her, yet
accepting her weight.  He realized he liked having her this close, but
at the same time he didn't trust the sensation-any more than he trusted
her.

Julia wasn't aware of his ambiguous feelings.  A sense of peace, almost
of homecoming, stole over her.  It didn't make any sense, this feeling
of rightness she felt at being in this man's arms, but at the moment
she didn't care.  She didn't even mind the sharp poke in her ribs from
the wide buckle on the gun belt he wore.

"I thought something had happened to you," Ryder muttered against his
will.  "You didn't answer when I called... I thought you'd been...
hurt."

"No, I'm fine."  She swayed back so she could look up into his face and
gave him a small, reassuring smile, before once more nestling her face
against his shirt.  "I just fell asleep," she murmured against him, her
warm breath penetrating the cotton fibers of the shirt.

"It feels nice-" she hesitated, then continued in a difficult voice
"-knowing someone was concerned about me."

Julia felt him stiffen.  Had she said something wrong?  In a moment he
had put her away from him and crossed the room to stand before the
fireplace.

"The fire's low," he muttered brusquely.  "I'll get some wood: '

He made a wide berth around her as he passed from the cabin to the
growing darkness outside.  Julia stood without moving as the door
closed behind him.  Had she imagined the concern, the momentary
softening in him?

Had she imagined the air of anger about his taut figure just now?

Ryder stood leaning against the center pole supporting the cabin's
porch.  What was the matter with him?  Why did he feel responsible for
her?  He didn't want to; she was a grown woman and she'd made it here
all the way from California nevertheless, he did.

All the time he'd been hunting, he'd worried about leaving her at the
cabin alone.  He'd spent more time worrying about that, than in
checking his traps.  As a result, he'd inadvertently set loose a
prairie chicken twice the size of the one he'd brought home.

Ryder slapped.  the pole with an angry fist.  He didn't want her here,
damn it, sleeping in his bed, filling his mind with thoughts he had no
business thinking.  He tried to excuse his concern by telling himself
he was only practicing western hospitality, giving her a place to stay
until she was on her feet again.  But that just didn't wash.

She was a beautiful woman, and he hadn't been this close to a beautiful
woman in years.  All she had to do was look at him, those green eyes
sparkling, and he..

Ryder pushed the brim of his hat to the back of his head and wiped at
the sweat on his brow with the back of one hand.  His hand slid to his
chest, covering the spot where her cheek had rested.

All at once his hand fell away, and Ryder snorted in self disgust What
was he doing, acting like a mooncalf over a woman?  So what if she was
one of the first women he'd seen in over a year?  It was that kind of
foolishness that got a man hanged.

If he was smart, he'd take her to the nearest trail leading away from
the cabin and forget all about her-no, not yet.  Not until he'd figured
out why she was really here.  Her story just didn't set right with
him.

Ryder straightened away from the pole and turned toward the firewood
stacked along the end of the house.  It was getting late and there was
still supper to cook.  If it were only himself, he'd have been
satisfied to make a meal of hardtack and dried venison, but there was
the woman to consider

Julia offered her help tentatively, a bit surprised when he readily
accepted it and set her to slicing tomatoes and scraping corn off the
cob for the stew he'd promised her.  They worked in companionable
silence.  She learned what it was like to prepare a meal with none of
the modern amenities -not even running water.

It was interesting, even the part where she helped Ryder pick the
feathers off what he called a prairie chicken, then watched as he
singed the pinfeathers in the open fire.  The cabin had a peculiar
smell for a little while after that, but later, sitting before a meal
of chicken dumpling stew, sliced tomatoes and biscuits, she had no
complaints.

She was touched when Ryder came in from outside and laid a damp cloth
at her elbow before they began the meal.  His own face looked pink, as
though he'd scrubbed it at the water trough before entering the
cabin.

They were both hungry, having eaten nothing since the fish he'd
prepared for their breakfast that morning, and both ate without making
conversation.  Julia ate everything on her plate with relish.  Spearing
the last dumpling with her fork and popping it into her mouth, she
glanced up to find her host eyeing her with approval.

Laying the fork across her plate, she sat back with a full tummy,
strangely content for a woman who had no clear idea of where she was,
or where she was headed.

What would her mother say if she could see her now?  Julia almost
laughed out loud at the thought.  There was no question about it, she'd
be outraged by the primitive living conditions, and make immediate
arrangements to have Julia visit a psychiatrist as quickly as
possible.

It was totally dark outside, but inside, candles and the fire's muted
glow softened the roughness of their surroundings The room had a very
cozy feel and Julia felt thoroughly relaxed.

A voice at the back of her thoughts reminded her she'd done nothing the
whole day about getting back to civilization except talk about it.  Her
expensive automobile might even now be in the hands of ruthless car
thieves.

She shrugged mentally, it was too late to worry about that now.  If the
Porsche was gone, she couldn't do a thing about it.

A few hours ago, she'd been driving with no clear destination in mind,
searching for a place to hide until she had come to terms with the
latest disaster in her life.  Where was she going now?  In which
direction did she head, when she left here?

A muscle jumped in the calf of her injured leg and pain shot outward
from the knee.  Julia stifled a sudden moan and adjusted her
position.

She knew she would only be fooling herself if she told herself she
could walk out of here tomorrow.  There was no way her knee would be
well enough tomorrow, or even the next day, for that kind of trip.

Her glance rested on Ryder's profile.  And maybe that was all right
with her.  A few days filled with rest, sunshine and food might be just
what she needed.

Julia relaxed and watched as Ryder went through what was becoming the
familiar ritual of making a cigarette.  She was completely unaware of
the moment casual interest became total fascination.

Her gaze settled on the blond hair growing on one muscular forearm; the
flickering light from the candles turned each hair into a single strand
of pure gold.

"Would you like one?"

Julia's eyes fluttered and darted to his face.  "I-I beg your pardon?
"

Ryder held out the cigarette he'd just fashioned.  "I know ladies don't
usually smoke-at least not in public."  He thought wryly of his mother
and her friends.  "But there's no one here 'cept the two of us, and I
promise not to tell."

Julia stared into his dark, unfathomable gaze without answering.

"Well, yes or no?"

Julia raised one clearly defined eyebrow.  She refused to pander to the
game he played with the past.  "That kind of male chauvinism vanished
an eon ago.  Besides, I don't smoke."  She used to, but that seemed
like another lifetime ago.  One of the many things she didn't want to
remember from her past.

Ryder blinked and shook his head.  There she went again, using those
highfalutin words he didn't understand.  Putting the cigarette between
his own lips, he leaned toward the candle.  Did she do it deliberately,
to try to keep him off balance?  Their glances met across the flame,
and he saw her give a slight shiver.

"Anything wrong?"  he asked curiously, giving her a narrow, glinting
glance.

"No, nothing.  I was just thinking about gathering up the dishes."

"

" Leave them.  "

Julia paid no attention.  She was stacking things together when he
spoke again, startling her.  " " Leave them, " he ground out harshly. "
" I 11 take them to the river, later, and do them myself.  Sit down by
the fire and relax."  He stood, waiting for her to accompany him.

Julia did as she was told, taking a seat in the rocking chair facing
the fire, lying her crutch on the floor at her side.  When the meal was
finished, Ryder had allowed the flames to die down, and now there was
little left of the fire but glowing coals.

Ryder had brought his saddle in and placed it in the corner of the room
beneath the window.  Now he moved it closer to the fire, and instead of
sitting on a chair, he lowered his long frame to the floor and sat, one
knee bent, smoking his cigarette and staring into the dying embers.

Julia began to feel a little uncomfortable.  The silence was getting on
her nerves.  She had no idea how to start a conversation with this
man-none of her earlier attempts had met with much success.  Obviously,
he wasn't interested in world affairs, or the state of the nation's
economy..

Come to think of it, neither was she.  But that didn't settle the
question of what to talk about to a man who walked with one foot in the
present and one in the past.

"Supper was very good."  She shattered the silence abruptly.

Without relinquishing his contemplation of the fire, Ryder nodded.  " "
Where did you learn to cook?  "

"Here and there," he replied noncommittally.

"I took cooking classes once, but I only learned to follow a few basic
recipes."

Ryder looked her over critically, scanning the gentle contours of her
face.  It was a face untouched by harsh winter winds or the heat of a
dry blazing sun.  His glance shifted to the soft white hands.  These
were not the face and hands of a woman who'd ever walked behind a plow,
or scrubbed the dirt from clothes on a riverbank.

"Don't suppose you had to," he replied after a moment, returning his
gaze to the fire.

Stung by his remark, conscious as always of her family's affluent
background and resenting the prejudices it sometimes evoked in other
people's minds, she opened her mouth to blast him with words of anger,
then closed it again without uttering a single word.

He was right.  She hadn't wanted to learn to cook, just because her
mother insisted on it.  They employed an unreasonably expensive chef,
hired specifically to cook delicacies for her mother and her mother's
friends.

"And did you-have to learn to cook, I mean?"  she couldn't help
asking.

He shrugged, sat forward to flip ash into the fire and settled back
against the saddle, stretching his long legs out before him, crossing
his booted feet.  " " Only if I didn't want to eat my food raw," he
replied slowly.

Julia grinned, and Ryder, glancing in her direction, felt something
painful clutch at his chest.  She was beautiful even with the purple
bruise on her forehead.  He guessed she wasn't vain, either; she hadn't
once asked him for a mirror.

Julia noted his stare and lifted a hand to her hair selfconsciously
What was he thinking?  Was he looking at the sore place on her
forehead, the tangled rat's nest of her hair..  or was he remembering
how she'd looked at the river..

"Excuse me."  Face flushed a deep pink, she half rose from the chair.
"Can you tell me where the comb you lent me earlier might be?"

Ryder was on his feet instantly, flipping his cigarette into the fire,
glad of something to do so he wouldn't be so conscious of her
nearness.

"Sit still.  I'll get it: '

Julia dropped back into her chair.  A moment later he returned with the
comb.  "Here."  He handed it to her and went to open the door and stand
with his hands behind his back, looking outside.

Julia studied his profile, wondering why his figure looked so strained.
Did her presence make him uncomfortable?

She lifted the comb and began the awful task of trying to remove the
tangles from long, permed hair without benefit of a decent shampoo and
conditioner.  A sharp twinge in her right side forced a low murmur of
discomfort from between stiff lips.  She'd forgotten about the scrape
on her side.

It hadn't bothered her much until now.

"What is it?"  Ryder heard her smothered gasp and faced her.  " "
Nothing.  " She gave him a fleeting smile and lifted the comb, unable
to withhold a slight grimace.

"Nothing?  How does nothing make you look like that?"  he asked half
angrily.

Julia lowered her hand and shrugged.  Maybe she was being silly.  She
just hadn't wanted to remind him of her foolishness at the river.

"It's the scrape from the rocks this morning... it's kind of sore..."

Ryder qreleased his breath slowly, unaware he'd been holding it.  How
could he have forgotten about that?

"It's all right," she reassured him.  "I heal quickly."

He appeared to accept that and turned back to the open door, listening
to the sound of katydids in the silence that followed.  Julia plied the
comb to her hair.  After a couple of quickly swallowed yelps and a few
smothered damns, Ryder couldn't stand it any longer.  Stomping to her
chair, he took the comb from her fingers and told her to stand up.

Julia obeyed with some difficulty, wondering what he had in mind.  A
moment later, she knew.  Pulling the saddle around so she could perch
on it, he knelt behind her and slowly began to remove the tangles from
her matted hair.

A pall of silence descended over them.  For a while it was a waiting,
hold-your breath kind of silence, but after a time Julia found herself
relaxing.  She forgot the identity of the person working behind her.
Wrapped in a warm cocoon of contentment, the outside world and all its
problems only a vague memory, her eyes fluttered and grew heavy.

Into that golden void, the desp timbre of Ryder's voice made itself
heard.  He began to tell her about his hunting trip that afternoon and
how he'd spotted a herd of wild mustangs in the distance.

By the time the tangles were gone from her hair, Ryder had launched
into a story about a pair of young antelope he'd seen at play.  Julia
llstened without really hearing his words.  Their cadence, the rhythm
of his hands smoothing the comb through her hair, lifting the strands,
separating them and smoothing them with his fingers, had begun to make
her drowsy.

He was in the middle of another tale about a couple of prairie dogs
when he noticed Julia's head had begun tilting farther and farther
back, until it rested against his chest.  She gave a gentle snore, and
he realized he'd talked her to sleep.

Laying the comb on the floor, he turned the sleeping woman into the
circle of his arms.  Taking care not to awaken her, he gained his feet,
lifted her and carried her to the bed.  As he laid her down she rolled
over onto her back.

Without bothering to do more than loosen the long hair beneath her
head, he stood back and headed outside.  When he returned a short time
later, he carried a few silver-green leaves in one hand.  Placing the
leaves in a cup, he poured into it a small amount of hot water from the
pot hanging over the fire.  A pungent odor wafted from the cup to his
nostrils.

When the leaves were thoroughly moistened, he removed a soft cloth from
the corner cupboard and, taking the cup, he moved toward the bed.
Careful, so as not to awaken her, Ryder turned the sleeping woman over
onto her left side and propped her there with one of the feather
pillows.

His eyes traveled over her slight figure.  She was so finely made, his
throat ached just to look at her.  A pulse began to beat at his temple.
Women like this one were not the kind men like himself normally had any
truck with.

A heat began to grow inside him.  Sweat moistened his upper lip and
beaded his forehead.  His breathing quickened What if she awakened and
found him bending over her?  She'd probably think-he'd best get to what
he was about.

Pulling the blanket to her hips, he reached beneath it with an unsteady
hand and quickly slid the full skirt up her lithe limbs, careful not to
touch her.  With the raw wound exposed , it became obvious why lifting
her arm earlier had been painful.  The skin around its uneven edges
looked puffy and slightly blue.

Ryder determinedly kept his glance from straying to follow the line of
her rib cage up to where the smooth skin filled out and hinted at the
curve of a full breast.  Swallowing thickly, feeling the heat rise
steadily in his lower body, he concentrated on relieving the soreness
caused by Julia's injury.

With gentle fingers, he removed the softened sage leaves and carefully
placed them over the wound.  All at once, Julia stirred restlessly on
the bed.  Ryder hesitated.  She lifted and turned her head to look
groggily over her shoulder with unseeing eyes.  Muttering something
unintelligible, she laid back, letting her head drop down onto the
pillow.

Ryder continued to hold his breath, waiting to see if she'd stir again,
but the woman beneath him emitted a gentle snore and settled back to
sleep.  He waited a few seconds more and then went back to work.  When
the wound had been completely covered with sage leaves, he poured a
small amount of warm liquid from the cup onto the cloth in order to
keep the leaves moistened and then folded it over Julia 's side.  He
placed a dry cloth over that.

Finished, he stood back and looked at his handiwork.  He wasn't a
medico, but he'd learned a few things about doctoring the years he'd
lived with the Shoshone.  And he'd learned a few more during the years
he'd driven cattle north from Texas.

In the morning the wound would hardly trouble her.  But he wasn't
certain if the same could be said about the fact that he'd been the one
to apply the poultice while she slept.

Normally another woman would have treated her, but that wasn't
possible.  He excused himself for treating her by telling himself he
didn't need or want a sick woman on his hands.  It was bad enough
having a healthy woman to contend with right now; he didn't need the
added worry of one sick with a fever because of a neglected wound.

Standing back away from the bed, he gathered up the remains of his
handiwork and turned away.  He'd had all day and evening to learn who
she really was-if she wasn't who she claimed-and what she was after,
yet he'd learned nothing.  Like a besotted fool he'd combed her hair
combed her hair-and told her stories as though she were a child.

With a curse, he decided that maybe he deserved to be duped out of what
he'd found by a little bit of a woman.

Chapter5

Ryder was filled with self-disgust at the thought of how in a few
hours' time he'd let this woman get beneath his skin and insinuate her
way into his life.  Not only had he risked his own life to save hers,
but now he was playing nursemaid to her, as well.  And the worse part
of the whole thing was that now he didn't know if he planned on keeping
her with him because he hadn't yet made up his mind about whether she
was what she pretended to be, or because he simply couldn't abide the
thought of letting her go.

He blew out the candle on the table, then threw a brief glance over his
shoulder at the slight mound she made beneath the covers and felt a
deep gnawing at his insides.  He had to get outside and cool off before
he did something neither one of them would ever forgive him.  Once
outside, he stood beneath the clear night sky, eyes raised toward the
twinkling stars, and took several deep gulps of the bracingly cool
night air.

The sky and stars reminded him of a dress his mother had worn when he
was a child, made of black taffeta and sewn all over with clear glass
beads.  He remembered that as the light caught the beads, each one
appeared to erupt with a burst of white fire, making them look like
shimmering stars.

He'd liked seeing her in that dress.  Until she'd become ill , she'd
been a very beautiful woman with milky-white skin, clear blue eyes and
hair the color of moonbeams.

Strange, he hadn't thought about her in a long time.  He turned back
toward the cabin, moved softly inside and took the makings of a
cigarette from the cupboard.  Outside, he leaned against the pole and
rolled one.  With the cool breeze from the mountains blowing over him,
he considered what he knew about the woman inside.

She'd lied to him, he knew that.  She said she'd come from California,
yet it had been clear to him she knew nothing about riding a horse.  So
how did she get here from California ?  Did she walk all the way?  If
she'd come by wagon, she'd still have had to deal with horses, or
mules, or oxen.  Where were they?  Where was the wagon and why hadn't
she mentioned it?

Another thing that didn't quite add up-anybody traveling in this harsh
country of sun and wind and rain ought to look like it.  Where was the
dry, parched look to her skin, caused by hours spent beneath the
blazing sun.

The only sign she had of being in the sun was the faint pink on her
cheeks caused by their trip to the river, and if the short time they'd
spent there had done that to her, what would days spent on a dusty
trail, beneath a merciless sun, have done to her skin?

The condition of her hands belied her claims, too.  They were soft and
white, totally without the telltale calluses from hours of handling the
reins on a wagon.

Her clothes were another matter.  He'd never seen the likes of those
dainty lace underthings she'd been wearing, not even among the women
his mother had worked with in saloons in one mining town after another
all across the West.  He knew things and people were different back
East; he'd met enough Yankees in his life to know that for a fact, but
not even the ones he'd met had talked and acted like Julia Southern.

She laid claim to having crossed miles of Indian country.  Alone?
Without a gun?  He didn't think that was very likely, not in these
times, not with the Cheyenne and Sioux tribes on the move, killing
everything white that crossed their paths.  And what about the
Apache?

He'd noticed Indian signs when he'd been running his traps earlier that
day and that made him uneasy.  The cabin was located on the edge of
Shoshone lands.  That didn't bother him, he'd lived with the Shoshone
until he was almost twenty after his mother's death.

Washakie, the chief of the Shoshone, had been like a father to him, and
he knew the old chief would have welcomed him back any time.  But this
time Ryder preferred to keep the tribe out of his troubles.

He didn't doubt the old chief was well aware of his presence near their
lands.  When he'd first moved into the cabin, he'd seen Indian signs in
and around it more than once when he'd returned from a hunting trip.
But no one had bothered him, and after a few months the signs had
disappeared altogether

Lately, the Indian signs had returned to the mountains and valleys
where he hunted.  But it wasn't the thought of the Shoshone that
bothered him.  Some of the signs left had been Cheyenne, but mostly
Sioux.  Neither tribe was particularly fond of whites.

Ten years ago, in December of 1866, about the time Ryder was getting
ready to leave the Shoshone camp, Chief Red Cloud of the Oglala Sioux
had slaughtered seventy-nine soldiers and two civilians just outside
Fort Phil Kearny, located to the west of here.  A couple of years
later, Red Cloud had signed a treaty and was now, apparently, happily
settled on a reservation.

But Crazy Horse wasn't.  He was another strong Sioux leader and he
hated the whites.  In 1874, General George Armstrong Custer enraged him
by invading the sacred Paha Sapa, the Black Hills, on a reconnaissance
mission.  Paha Sapa was a holy place belonging to the Indians, deeded
to them by the Treaty of 1868.

Nothing the whites had done in the past had sQ enraged the Indians; it
didn't matter that the treaty gave the army the right to enter Indian
lands at any time, they didn't want the whites there.  But it didn't
matter what the Indians wanted;

when gold was discovered by Custer's expedition, the whites flocked to
the Black Hills.

Crazy Horse had become incensed and began wreaking his vengeance on the
white man at every opportunity.  He still was, as far as Ryder knew,
but this cabin was a long way from the Black Hills.

Ryder's eyes slid toward the mine shaft.  He held the cigarette clamped
between thumb and first finger and took a long drag on it, letting the
smoke drift out leisurely through his nostnls.

He'd been out of touch with news of the Crazy Horse raids for the past
year.  The last he'd heard, Crazy Horse's camp was located somewhere
near the Cheyenne River.  There was a real hullabaloo going on among
the nations over the government's offer to purchase the Black Hills and
the Powder River lands from their chiefs.

Tempers were short among both Indian and white man; maybe it was time
he cut his losses and made tracks out of here and in another direction.
But not until he'd settled the question of the woman.  It was his guess
she hadn't traveled across country alone.  So where was her
companion-companions ?

Ryder dropped the cigarette butt and ground it into the dirt with more
force than was necessary.  Shoving his hands deep into the pockets of
his trousers, he strode around the side of the cabin to Midnight's
corral.

He'd been keeping a close eye on the stallion since the Indian signs in
the area had increased.  Horse stealing was one of the young bucks'
favorite pastimes.  He was afraid one of these nights Midnight would
end up in the hands of a brave who couldn't resist the temptation.

The black stallion heard his master's approach and whinnied a greeting
as he moved from beneath the shelter and into sight.  Moonlight danced
on his sable coat as he trotted toward his master and friend.

Ryder lifted a carrot he'd pulled from the garden and held it beneath
the animal's nose.  Midnight sniffed at it, took it between his large
teeth and crunched it noisily.  When it was gone, he nuzzled Ryder's
chest playfully, looking for another

"What do you think, boy-" Ryder spoke in quiet tones , running a gentle
hand down the stallion's forehead "-is the lady a liar?  "

Ryder had found talking things over with the stallion sometimes gave
him the opportunity to mull things over more clearly in his own mind.
There were times, however, when he spoke to the animal simply to hear
the sound of his own voice.  Sometimes a man had to hear his voice just
to remind himself he had one.

As far as Julia Southern was concerned, either she was telling the
truth, she was after something, and he had a fair idea of what that
"something" might be.  If she'd been a man, he'd have known what to do
about the situation.  A gun could be a great persuader, and he'd have
used it to persuade his guest to talk.

But a woman?  No matter what the cost to himself, he knew he'd never be
able to justify using a gun against a woman.

Midnight stomped his front hooves and cribbed the top of the corral,
wanting another carrot.

"Stop that," Ryder admonished sharply, catching hold of his lower j aw,
feeling the tongue slide like sandpaper across his palm.  "You'll get
splinters in your gums."  The horse seemed content once he had the
man's attention and nuzzled puppy like against his chest.

Ryder stroked the broad, flat nose thoughtfully.  "She's not like any
woman I've ever known-not that I've known all that many ladies.  " He
laughed self mockingly, adding, "And she's definitely a lady, ain't
she, boy?"

Giving the horse a final stroke, he turned away.  He'd told Julia he'd
do the washing up from supper, but it could wait until morning.  He was
tired and wanted to have a last look around before turning in for the
night himself.

There hadn't been much sleep for him the last two nights.  In fact, he
hadn't slept much at night for over a year, but always before, he'd
managed to get a few hours' sleep during the day.

Now there was the woman, and just possibly a visit from her friends, to
consider.  One thing was sure, he'd be sleeping
with one eye open and his rifle close at hand from now on.

Ryder's silent figure blended with the night.  He slid from bush to
bush hiding in shadows among rocks and trees as he painstakingly
examined the area for signs of uninvited guests.

There had been another reason, a reason he preferred to forget, for his
lack of sleep of late.  Try as he might, he couldn't get the picture of
the woman sleeping in his bed out of his mind.

She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.  She was so.
feminine-not helpless, but untutored about how to live in the West.  He
supposed that had something to do with the way women from back East
were reared.  It was that quality, that innocence that made him want to
take care of her, and that made him mad.

One thing she didn't lack was spunk, because, whatever her reasons for
being here, she was here, and that took plenty of spunk.  It was the
same kind of spirit that drove the women who moved West with their
husbands.  He'd seen them working alongside their menfolk in the
fields, shooting and skinning buffalo, nursing a baby while they herded
stock, helping to make a life for themselves and their families in a
land that took life more readily than it sustained it.

Ryder admired those women, white and red alike-just as he couldn't help
admire Julia, and he'd continue to admire her, if grudgingly, even if
her reason for seeking him out had nothing at all to do with being lost
and everything to do with personal gain.

He didn't have much to do with people.  He'd always been a loner,
because that's the way he liked it.  Even the time he'd spent living
among the Shoshone had earned him the name Walks Alone.  He might have
stayed with them longer if the sister of a friend hadn't begun to eye
him with longing.

He'd felt the noose of responsibility growing tight around his neck and
left their camp as quickly as possible so as not to offend the friend
by turning down the young woman.  He couldn't stand the thought of
being tied to one place.  He was a man who lived for his freedom.

It was for that reason he'd broken out of prison.  He knew a prison
break would add years to his sentence if they caught up with him.  But
it was a sentence he didn't deserve, because he was innocent of the
charge of horse stealing brought against him.

He'd won Midnight fair and square in a poker game.  The horse's owner,
Chase Bartlett, hadn't wanted to honor the deal.  The witnesses to the
game had been cattle drovers like himself, hired to drive the man's
cattle to market.

The drive had ended, and everyone was planning to head out the next
morning in different directions.  That last evening , until late into
the night, was spent gambling.

The next morning, when Ryder had awakened, everyone was gone, and so
was the black stallion he'd won in the poker game.  Ryder followed
Bartlett to his ranch, a day's ride away, on the horse he'd ridden on
the cattle drive.  At the ranch, he'd tried reasoning with Bartlett,
but the man had refused to acknowledge his debt.  He'd had his ranch
foreman throw Ryder off the property.

That night Ryder returned and took Midnight, leaving the other horse in
the corral.  A posse had followed close on his heels and caught up with
him the next day.  He'd been arrested for horse stealing and no amount
of protest on his part had done any good.

The men who could have given testimony on his behalf were long gone,
scattered to the four winds.  That's how he'd ended up in Laramie
Territorial Prison.  The judge's final remark to him before sentencing
was about how lucky he was that Mr.  Bartlett was a forgiving man,
otherwise, he'd be having his neck stretched on the hanging tree at the
edge of town.

Ryder had managed to regain the freedom taken from him by Chase
Bartlett's lies.  Now, in one way or another, Julia Southern threatened
that freedom and he'd promised himself he would never go back to
prison.  He'd rather be dead than closed up by four walls, behind bars,
again.

The simplest way to solve his problem would be to take the woman out
and lose her.  He knew the countryside like the back of his hand.  He
could get her so lost she'd never be able to find her way back to
civilization.

Ryder stopped the thought right there, because he knew he wouldn't do
it, no matter what trouble she brought him.  He couldn't abandon her in
Indian country.

If he were honest with himself, he'd admit there was another reason he
wouldn't do something like that.  He liked the company.  If she hadn't
showed up, he'd have been just fine alone.  But she had, and she'd made
him realize how much he missed the companionship of another human
being

Loneliness could do strange things to a man.  He was beginning to worry
that it had begun to addle his brain.  In fact, that evening when he'd
returned from hunting and she hadn't immediately answered his knock,
was a prime example of just how addled he'd become.  He'd been
completely unsettled by the thought that she had up and left without
his knowing it.

Was he willing to chance a bullet in the back, a knife stuck between
his ribs-or a hangman's rope-to keep her here?

One thing was certain, he'd have to work harder to keep his guard up
against her from now on.  He might be nothing more than a trail bum on
the run from the law, but he was smart enough to know she wasn't the
kind of woman you took to bed and forgot all about the next morning.
He'd keep his eye on her, but from a distance.  He hadn't gained his
freedom just to lose it again, and especially not to a woman.

Julia, unaware of her host's suspicions, slept deeply.  A pair of dark
eyes followed her into her dreams.  Something about those eyes haunted
her.  She was drawn to them, yet I at the same time she feared them
without quite knowing why.

The next morning she awakened abruptly, a cold, soggy mess beneath her
in the bed.  " " What in the"

Dragging up her skirt, she kept one eye on the empty place where
Ryder's saddle had rested last night, and the other on the wet cloth
and brown mess falling away from her side.  It looked like-she didn't
know what it looked like.

Picking up a pinch of it between finger and thumb, she raised it
gingerly to her nose and sniffed.  She recognized that odor.  Where had
she "It's sage."  Ryder stood in the cabin doorway, blocking the early
morning light, shirtsleeves rolled to his elbows holding the dishes and
pans he'd washed from their dinner, the night before.

Julia hastily lowered her skirt and grabbed at the blankets , aware
that after a brief, fleeting glance he'd transferred his gaze to the
floor.  She felt unaccountably embarrassed at his having seen her bare
skin.  She didn't stop to analyze how strange that should be, she who
had worn bikinis on crowded beaches all her life.

"I made up a poultice last night and put it on the scratch."  Ryder
spoke matter-of-factly as he entered the cabin and strode to the table
where he emptied his arms.  "I should have awakened you," he added
after a moment when she didn't answer.  Feeling awkward, he stood
stiffly by the table not liking it at all.  wishing she d sa
something.

You were sleeping, he explained, "I didn't want to wake you... I did it
to keep yoi.  from getting a fever."

"Thank you," she managed at last.

Surprised, Ryder glanced in her direction and saw she was smiling at
him shyly.  A glimmer of an answering smile crinkled the corners of his
eyes before he realized what he was doing.

He sobered abruptly, gave her a short, curt nod, pulled the brim of his
hat low over his eyes, and without another word stalked from the
cabin.

Julia watched him disappear with a slight frown furrowing her brows.
She had a feeling she was beginning to get to him, and she suspected
she knew why.  The man resorted to anger, or did a disappearing act,
every time it looked like something personal was about to spring up
between them.

If she'd been awake last night, no doubt he'd either have given her the
poultice and told her to apply it herself, or he'd have maintained an
air of angry silence through the whole procedure.  That realization
might have upset her last night, but now it didn't, because it meant
she was getting beneath his skin, and for some reason she felt
compelled to do just that.

Later that morning, when she'd finished straightening the cabin, or as
much of it as she could on a crutch, Julia sat in the rocker to catch
her breath.  As the rocker moved back and forth, her eyes idly roamed
the cabin.  Ryder had mumbled something about wood and disappeared
again a little while ago, leaving her alone.

She'd been tempted to go after him and force him to talk to her, just
to annoy him, but didn't.  She didn't want to anger him, she wanted to
get to know him.  ThaYs why she was still here, instead of where she
ought to be-making sure her car was still in one piece.

Some time during the night, she'd decided she couldn't just walk out
and leave him.  The guilt she felt over Mariette 's death-Julia wasn't
there when the other woman had needed her-had convinced her to stay,
for a little while at least, and see if she could help Ryder.

Her eyes settled on her hands.  With her thoughts on Ryder , she was
only mildly appalled to discover that her usually faultlessly manicured
nails were raggedly broken and encrusted with dirt.

Were these the hands of an artist?  she asked herself mockingly.
Smiling, she thought about the answer her "friends" in California would
have given to that question.

Her gaze traveled from her hands to her clothes aqd the smile died. The
shapeless dress Ryder had given her to wear at the river was wrinkled
and stained with dirt.  With a grimace of distaste, she decided that
what she needed was a bath and a change of clothes-but clothes for her
were becoming a problem.

She really ought to insist Ryder either take her to her car, or that he
go for her, to get the few clothes she'd bought before leaving
Thermopolis.  But something stopped her.

She realized she was growing to like being here.  The man made no
demands on her at all.  And though he maintained a certain distance
between them, he treated her with consideration and respect.  As a
matter of fact, sometimes she had the absurd notion that he thought the
very fact of his being male offended her sensibilities.  There were
times when his Victorian attitude made her smile, but it made her
feel..  special, too.  She liked to think their..  friendship .  was
making a little progress.

Earlier that morning, she'd gone with him to the river to do laundry.
Ryder had looked at her with a deep frown when she'd asked him how they
were going to get the filth out of the clothes without a washer.

"You are the washer," he'd told her succinctly with a shake of his
blond head.  "And this is how you do it."

He'd proceeded to wet down the clothes and rub them with the brown
soap, which seemed to be a universal brand good for both personal
hygiene and household cleanliness.  Next he'd beaten the clothes with a
rock, making suds, then he rinsed them in the river.  They were
currently spread over bushes at the back of the cabin, drying in the
sunshine.

She'd noticed him eyeing her underwear, the ones she'd nearly drowned
for trying to save, as they were spreading the clothes out to dry, and
she'd have given a lot to know what was running through his mind at the
time.  He'd looked up and caught her watching him, and a deep tide of
red had run up his neck and stained the tips of his ears.  That's when
he'd tilted the hat low over his face, mumbled something about wood and
disappeared from sight.

Twisting around in the chair, she felt a slight twinge in her side and
remembered the poultice Ryder had applied the night before.
Surprisingly enough, it had worked.  The man was amazing.  Where did he
get such knowledge?

That was another reason to be counted in favor of her staying here
awhile longer.  She wanted to learn from him.  He was a man obviously
at peace with himself and his surroundings -except for the slight
paranoia he'd shown at the river when he'd insisted on "keeping watch"
while she bathed with a rifle across his lap.  The more she thought
about it, though, the more she was convinced it must have been wild
animals, bears, perhaps, that made him feel the rifle a necessary
precaution.

Julia pushed herself from the chair to her feet.  Her eyes had fallen
on the trunk.  A change of clothes was uppermost in her mind when she
decided to look a bit deeper into its contents.

She hadn't gone through all the things in the trunk the day before when
she'd found the diary.  Maybe somewhere at the bottom she'd find
something she could wear.  Ryder had suggested during dinner last night
that she look in the trunk and use whatever she needed from its
contents.

Laying her crutch on the foot of the bed, Julia pulled the rocking
chair forward and lifted the lid.  Slowly, she removed everything she'd
gone through the first time, laying the items on the floor.  Underneath
it all, she discovered two loose smocks similar in design to the one
she now wore.  There was also a set of tortoise-shell combs wrapped in
paper and a long nightgown of fine lawn patterned with tiny
yellow-and-green flowers and leaves.

The clothes gave off a musty scent, reminding her how long they must
have lain in the trunk.  They were surprisingly well preserved and free
of moths.  Holding the gown between her hands, she stared down at it,
thinking of the young woman to whom it had belonged.  A deep sadness
welled up inside her.  Perhaps she shouldn't wear the clothes , after
all.

"Whew!  It's hot out there," Ryder muttered, wiping the sweat from the
inside band of his hat with a large colored bandanna.  "I'm going
fishing-" His words died as he caught sight of Julia's unhappy face.
Moving closer he asked, "What's wrong?"

She looked up.  "Nothing.  I was just having second thoughts about...
borrowing these clothes."

"Why?"  He frowned, looking from the gown to her unhappy face.  "Their
owner doesn't need them anymore."

She hesitated before explaining.  "I lost a friend-someone very close
to me-not long ago.  I packed her things and sent them to her family.
Handling these things has reminded me of that time."

"We all die sooner or later."  He'd accepted that fact a long time
ago.

"I know," she answered sadly, her green eyes searching his face.  "But,
my friend-she shouldn't have died.  Not the way she did-not so young."
Again she hesitated before asking, "Do you think they know?"

"

" I. heyq, ,

"Yes, those who have died, do you think there's something .  something
more..  after death?  "

"More?"  he asked, the frown intensifying.

"Yes."  Julia nodded.

He shrugged.  "Indians believe that when this body dies you simply
change form and continue life."

"

" Do you be live that?  " she asked curiously.

"I don't know."  He shrugged again, uncomfortable with the
conversation.  "They seem convinced of it.  I s'pose one of these days
I'll find out for myself-when it's my turn to go."

Julia shivered.  "Are you... afraid?"

Ryder straightened his shoulders and crammed his hat down on his head,
turning away.  "I'm not afraid of an thing y

"I wish I wasn't."

The poignant tone of her voice stopped him.  He turned back.  "I'm
going fishing," he said on the spur of the moment , then added,
surprising her, but surprising himself even more, "Come with me."

"Fishing?"  she asked.  He sounded as though he actually wanted her
company.  If that were true, then it would be the first time since
she'd stumbled across him and the cabin.

Because, though he'd shown no inclination to help her on her way, he
showed no great desire for her company, either.  Most of the time he
found something to do to keep him away from her.

"You coming-or not?"

Julia nodded.  "Let me put these clothes out to air.  Later, " she
added quickly before he could exit the cabin "when we come back-after
the evening meal-would it be too much trouble to have a bath in the
tub?"

"No trouble," he murmured tightly, refusing to let the image of her
pale, naked body enter his mind.  "No trouble at all."

A little while later, sitting on the bank of the river, munching on a
ripe, juicy tomato plucked straight from the garden, Julia watched as
Ryder threw his line into the water What was he thinking with his eyes
all screwed up in that manner?

"Do you have a family?"  she asked abruptly.

Ryder stiffened an instant before his head swung in her direction.
"Didn't your mama ever teach you it isn't polite to ask questions of a
penonal nature?"

She could tell by his expression he was debating about whether or not
to answer the question.  "I don't mean to pry, " she murmured softly. "
" I just..  " She shrugged and looked away.

"I don't have any family," he relented abruptly.  "None that I know
about.  My ma's dead.  I don't know about my pa-I never met him."

"You never met him?"

"My mother was a prostitute," he declared flatly.  "Any one of her
paying customers could have fathered me."

Julia was shocked into silence.  She hadn't meant to open old wounds.
Ryder met her eyes, and she was surprised to find nothing in his
expression but signs of a faint curiosity directed toward her.

"Have I shocked you?"  he asked with a hint of derision.

"N-no-well-yes," she amended.  "But not by what you said, but by your
attitude.  You seem so... well-" She hesitated'I guess adjusted is the
word I'm looking for-you seem so well-adjusted to the idea.  "

Ryder shrugged.  Before he could make any further comment a sudden tug
on his line drew his attention.  Lifting the line out of the water, he
smiled at the size of the trout dangling from its end.

"What about your family?"  he asked as he removed the fish and baited
the hook.  "Your parents still living?"

Julia's attention was focused on the hook he was baiting.  It was a
grayish-white and obviously not made of any metal she'd ever seen.
"That's an unusual hook.  I don't believe I've ever seen one quite like
it.  What's it made of?"

Ryder raised a brow in her direction, but only answered, " " Bone.  " "
"Bone?  "

"Yes, I made it myself from the wing bone of a hawk."

Again he amazed her with his knowledge and ability.  The bone hook
seemed quite effective in catching fish.  Subconsciously , she wondered
why he went to such lengths to pre serve an aura of the past, even in
such a minor thing as a fishing hook, when it would have been much
easier to bring along metal ones.

"My father is dead," she said, answering his question about her family,
knowing instinctively that at this point in their relationship, it
would do no good to bring up questions about his reasons for "hiding"
from the present.  "He died when I was a teenager."

"

" Teenager?  " Ryder looked back over his shoulder with a frown.

"Yes, I was thirteen when he died.  I was traveling when he had a
sudden heart attack.  It was fatal."

Ryder forgot his puzzlement over the unfamiliar term she'd used and
watched the gathering sadness on her face.  "You were close to your
father."

"Yes.  Father and I always got along well.  We understood each
other."

"And your mother?"

"Mother pushed me all the time.  She was never satisfied with what I
did.  She wanted me to be the best-always the best-at everything."

Wiping tomato juice from her fingers onto the grass at her side, Julia
lifted her crutch and got to her feet.  Talking about her father
brought back the pain surrounding his death.

She hobbled to the bank and stood for a time looking out over the clear
blue water.  What she didn't tell Ryder was that her mother had held
the funeral before Julia could get back from Europe.  Her mother had
told her she'd done it for Julia's own good.  Now Julia wouldn't have
to remember him in a casket, but as she'd last seen him at the airport
waving her off.

But Julia hadn't felt better knowing she'd never see him again.  She
wanted one last time to see his dear face, to tell him she loved him
and say goodbye.

Julia knew her mother had resented the close tie between father and
daughter.  And she knew that was the real reason for her having gone on
with the funeral without waiting for Julia s return.

She wandered back to where Ryder stood with his fishing line dangling
in the water.

"Did you miss not having a father?"  she asked him abruptly.

"You don't miss what you never had."

"I miss my father every day of my life," she couldn't help whispering
passionately.  "All he ever wanted was for me to be hapPy."  , " " And
were you?  "

"Until he died."

Ryder eyed her troubled profile.  "What took you to California ?"

"Escape," she admitted softly.  "I was trying to escape my mother's
domination."  Turning toward him suddenly, she raised a haughty brow
and asked, "Are you surprised I can admit that?  "

The haughtiness faded abruptly and a lost look stole over her delicate
features.  "You aren't the only one who's learned to adjust... to some
things at least," she added after a moment's hesitation.

"What about the others-the things you haven't adjusted to?"

Julia folded an arm across her chest and locked her fingers on the
crutch beneath the other arm.  "I don't want to discuss them," she
answered shortly.

"What brought you here?"  he asked carefully, probing her face with
curious eyes.

"Here?"  she asked with a raised brow.

"To this territory."  "

" I was looking for something.  "

Ryder's insides grew tight with tension.  "What?"  he managed to ask in
a normal voice.

"Treasure," she answered ambiguously, meaning the treasure of knowing
peace.  She couldn't come right out and admit what a mess she'd made of
her life.  She didn't want him to know the depths of despair to which
she'd plummeted before finding the courage to climb out of the abyss
into the sunlight.

She was searching for treasure, all right, but it wasn't the kind you
exchanged for money.  It was a new life, a new identity, one she could
be proud of.

"What kind of treasure?"  he asked tautly, eyeing her with slitted
eyes.

"It doesn't matter," she answered with drooping shoulders'I'll probably
never find it.  " Then she added on a sudden note of determination, "
But maybe I'll keep looking , anyway.  " She shrugged.  " Who knows,
maybe someday

I'll find it when I least expect it.  "

Was she warning him she knew about the bounty on his head?  Was she
telling him in a roundabout way that he hadn't fooled her and she
didn't give up all that easily?

"I think I'll take a walk along the water's edge."  Even though she was
standing in bright sunlight Julia shivered.  Something about the
changing expression in Ryder's eyes just now chilled her to the bone.

Ryder watched her go.  She'd looked almost..  scared for a moment.
Scared of what?  Who?  Him?  Or someone else?  He'd thought he was
safe-until now.

Julia sat on the edge of the bed contemplating the saddle resting near
the fireplace.  She felt bad about taking the only bed in the cabin.
The cabin door opened abruptly and Ryder walked in.  His head was bare
for once and he carried his boots in one hand.

The blond hair curled wetly against the side of his head, lying in
tight ringlets across his forehead and beside his ears.  He'd put on a
clean pair of trousers without the suspenders she was used to seeing
him wear.  The sleeves of the brown shirt he wore were full at the
shoulders and gathered at the cuffs.

He looked younger and defenseless somehow without his boots.  Julia's
eyes rested on his hair, and her whole body tingled at the thought of
how soft those blond curls must feel.  Just for a moment she wished she
were bold enough to find out for herself.

Glancing away, hoping he couldn't read her thoughts, she broke into
nervous speech.  "I wish you'd let me sleep in the chair.  I'd be
perfectly comfortable-"

"You'll sleep in the bed," he interrupted tersely, "and I don't want to
hear any more about it."  He nodded toward the saddle and bedroll.
"I'll be just fine with that."

So, all right then, sleep on the floor and be damned to you, she
thought, miffed at his tense attitude.  Laying down, she turned over
onto her side facing away from him and pulled the covers up to her
chin.  She was asleep in minutes.

The flames in the fireplace had burned low when she awakened abruptly a
few hours later.  She had no idea what had awakened her.

Raising herself on an elbow she looked around the shadowy room with
sleep-narrowed eyes.  Catching sight of the long-limbed body lying
before the fire she smiled in relief and lay back against the pillows.
Whatever had awakened her didn't matter as long as Ryder McCall lay
only a couple of yards from her bed.  Snuggling deeper beneath the
quilt she drifted back to sleep.

Some time later she was awakened again, this time by the howl of an
animal outside.  She must have been dreaming, because there was a faint
thread of the dream still unraveling in her head.  She recalled a face,
a face that smiled pleasantly one minute, then turned dark and
threatening the next.

Julia rolled over and sought refuge in Ryder's comforting presence. Her
heart jolted to a standstill as she again heard the lonely howl of the
animal in the distance and realized at the same time that Ryder's
blankets were empty.

With no clear thought of where she was headed, or of what she'd do when
she got there, Julia threw back the blankets and slid her bare feet to
the cool boards of the floor.  She could only guess at the time, but
felt as though she'd slept for hours.  It must be somewhere near
morning.

All at once the cabin door slid back and Ryder stepped inside, his
rifle in his hand.  Julia watched as he closed the door, barred it, and
moved cautiously into the room.

He glanced toward the bed and halted abruptly, realizing she was
sitting on the side of it watching him.  His steps turned in her
direction.

Julia looked up at him with wide eyes, aware of a sudden tension
filling the space between them as he stood over her, the rifle still
clutched in one hand.

She was the first to speak.  "S-something woke me ups -some kind of
animal outside" " " A coyote on the prowl .  " The timbre of his voice
sounded deeper than usual.

"You were gone."  She couldn't help the accusing ring the words seemed
to acquire in the following silence.

"I know," he answered softly.  "How long have you been awake?"

"I don't know."  She pulled the quilt across her lap, aware all at once
that she was wearing nothing beneath the thin nightgown.  A nightgown
that covered her from neck to ankles , but under the circumstances it
seemed provocative, nonetheless.  "N-not long.  I was having a bad
dream."

"Well, I'm back now, and you know it was only a dream.  You can go back
to sleep."  He hesitated when she didn't move but sat staring at him
with large eyes.

"Come on."  laying his rifle on the floor, he put a hand against her
shoulder and at the same time raised her feet to the mattress.  "lay
back and go to sleep."

Julia let him assist her and gave a sigh of contentment when the covers
rested beneath her chin.  "I'll sleep now," she murmured, "now that
you're here."

As he was turning away, she caught at his sleeve and stopped him.  "You
aren't going out again?"  she asked anxiously.

"No," he answered tightly, withdrawing from her touch.  "I'm in for the
night."

Julia was asleep almost as soon as her head touched the pillow.

Ryder stood for a long time staring down at her sleeping face with a
grim set to his mouth.  Just when he was beginning to think he had her
all figured out, she confounded him again.

He was hardly aware of reaching out to smooth a strand of bright hair
back from her lips.  He could do such things while she slept, things he
didn't dare even contemplate while she was awake.

She'd almost caught him tonight.  How long would he be able to keep his
secret from her, the secret he suspected she was there to try to ferret
out?

Chapter 6

Julia left the cabin and stood for a moment in the bright sunlight,
feeling its heat penetrate the thin material of the loose smock and
warm her skin.  Nights in the mountains were chilly, she discovered,
but the days were sunny and hot.

Lifting her face to the sky, she let her eyes drift shut and gloried in
the feeling of peace that slowly settled around her heart.  She hadn't
felt this carefree since the summer before her father's death, when
he'd taken her and her mother for a holiday on the coast of Spain.

In the last few days it seemed as though she'd left all her troubles
somewhere back on the road with her car.  Maybe that was the real
reason she hadn't approached Ryder with the idea of finding it, even to
get her clothes.

She glanced down at the drab color of the dress she was wearing and
then lower to the deerskin moccasins on her feet.  Brown had never been
her color, but the dress was comfortable enough and the moccasins were
softer and easier on her feet than any shoes she'd ever worn.

Her glance lifted and moved around the empty yard, looking for her
host.  As usual, he seemed to have disappeared She considered wandering
around to the back of the cabin to see if he was working in the garden,
but her eyes drifted toward the entrance to the old mine shaft and
curiosity stirred.

She'd been at the cabin for four days now, and Ryder hadn't mentioned
the mine once in all that time.  Neither had she, but that was because
it had slipped her mind until now.

The place seemed to have little to do with Ryder's life, so she hadn't
given it a second's thought.  But now, looking at it, she felt
intrigued.  She'd never been anywhere near a real mine until the night
she'd stumbled into Ryder McCall's life.  And it was a light coming
from the mine that had led her to him.

What could he have been doing in there at night?  She decided to take a
look inside and find out.

Maneuvering the crutch down the slight incline toward the entrance of
the shaft wasn't as difficult as it appeared.  She used the rough
surface of the hillside for a handhold, making the short descent
easier.

At the entrance she paused and remembered to duck her head, but once
inside she halted again, met with an impenetrable darkness.  If she was
going to go exploring, she needed a flashlight.  That, however, didn't
seem likely, she realized with disappointment, given her host's lack of
modern amenities.

Suddenly, she remembered the lantern Ryder had used the night of her
arrival and wondered what he'd done with it.  Thinking it was probably
back at the cabin, she turned to go in search of it when her hair
brushed against something overhead.  She heard a soft metallic creak,
gave a slight jerk of surprise, and looked up.

She wouldn't have to search for it, after all.  The lantern swung from
a nail in one of the wooden timbers above her head.  The only problem
now was lighting the candle inside the glass bell.  And since she
didn't carry matches or a lighter, that meant a trip to the cabin,
where a fire always burned in the fireplace.

A short while later, Julia again stood in the dark mine shaft, lantern
in hand.  She hadn't seen Ryder on her trip to the cabin, but this time
she was glad.  Somehow, the more she thought about it, the fact he
hadn't mentioned the mine and never seemed to go near it whenever she
was around, seemed a bit suspicious.  Was he hiding something?

Just for a moment she allowed her thoughts to run wild and envisioned
him as having committed some crime for which he had to elude the law.
Might she find something, like a cache of money or stolen jewelry,
hidden somewhere inside?

The idea seemed fanqastic, nevertheless she couldn't totally wipe it
from her mind.  After all, before a few days ago, she'd never seen the
man before in her life.

Holding the lantern aloft in one hand, she took stock of her
surroundings.  Above her, large wooden beams formed a kind of cradle
that appeared to cup the ceiling.  One large timber ran down the center
of the shaft with smaller arms branching off it and extending outward
toward the walls where they appeared to be fastened somehow to the
rock.

Julia was surrounded by rock, rock ceiling, rock walls and a rock
floor.  Having taken that all in, she began to move down the narrow
passage away from the entrance.

As she progressed slowly down the tunnel, she began to note a change in
the air.  It became cooler and felt slightly moist against her skin.
Just for a moment, an intense feeling of dread swept over her.  She
shivered and stopped.

The inside of the shaft was like an underground burial crypt, and being
inside it, alone, felt almost like being buried alive.  The fetid smell
of rock and earth filled her nostrils , and as anxiety spread she
seriously considered turning back.  But curiosity was a potent magnet;
she pulled herself together after a few moments and allowed it to drag
her forward.

She was no great judge of distance and had no idea how far she'd
traveled when she came to a point where the tunnel branched into two
separate passages.  The new tunnel veered off to the left, while the
one she'd been following continued on a straight course.

Swinging the lantero in first one direction and then the other, she
shrugged and followed what appeared to be the main shaft.  After a few
yards, the ceiling began to slope downward and the wooden cradle
overhead disappeared.

Julia began to feel claustrophobic as the walls and ceiling narrowed
around her.  All at once her crutch bumped against a shelf of rock at
her feet and she lurched to a stop.  Raising the lantern, she squinted
into the darkness and saw what appeared to be a large cavern.

She stepped into the chamber and held the lantern high, looking around
in amazement at the spacious room with its tall, cathedral like
ceiling.  From outside the mine there was no indication that a cavern
of this size was contained within the mountain.

After the initial shock had woro off, Julia began to take note of a
variety of strange objects she couldn't begin to identify in the dim
light.  Moving closer to get a better look, she almost stumbled over a
wheelbarrow made of wood with iron wheels and handles.

On the floor beside it lay a pick, a flat-bladed shovel with a bucket
like scoop, an anvil, a handheld drill and a sledgehammer Beside that
sat a wooden bucket filled with dirt and rock.

It looked as though someone had been mining-something Bending down, she
sifted some of the debris in the bucket through her fingers
curiously.

"What are you doing in here?"

Julia jumped and nearly dropped the lantern.  Whirling as agilely as
possible with a crutch in one hand and the lantero in the other, she
faced a very angry Ryder.  He held a single candle close to his face,
and his expression was enough to scare anyone.

"I-I was just 1-looking around," she stammered.  "I wasn't bothering
anything"

"You have no business in here."  He strode toward her , furiously
snatching the lantern from her startled fingers.  "I don't like people
snooping into my private affairs."

Blowing out the candle he held in his other hand, he glared at her as
he shoved it in a pocket, then bent to look her directly in the eye.
"This mine is none of your concern -do you understand?  It's dangerous
to go poking your nose into things you know nothing about."

"Y-yes ... I'm sorry."  She noted the stern lines of his face and
backed away from the angry glitter in his dark eyes.  "I

w-was curious-that's all.  " She flinched at his sudden movement, as
though she expected him to strike her.

Ryder swallowed the hot, uncontrollable part of his anger and
straightened away from her.  She looked terrified, and suddenly he
decided to press his advantage while he had it.  Drawing closer, he
rasped, "Who are you?  Why are you here?  What are you after?"

"I-you know who I am-I told you why I'm here, and

I'm not after anything.  " She managed, despite her fear, to inject a
note of indignation into the last.

"What if I don't believe you?"  He stepped closer, crowding her against
the rough wall at her back.  "You ask a lot of questions-pry into
things that don't concern you for somebody who's just lost.  Who sent
you?"  he goaded, noting the wary look in her frightened eyes.  "Are
you working alone?  Or you got someone out there waitin' with a gun?"

"My God," she whispered in renewed fear, "you are crazy!"  Brandishing
the crutch in both hands, she pushed it between them, causing him to
back off.  " " I. et me go, " she pleaded suddenly, her eyes locked on
his relentless expression.  " I won't tell anyone you're here.  I won't
tell them about the mine=I won't tell them anything -I promise!  "

Ryder's fury grew with each word she uttered.  So, she was on to him,
and now that she'd been caught she wanted to make a deal.  He wrenched
the crutch from her nerveless fingers with one hand and whipped it
behind her, using it to press her up against him.

Julia looked at him with terror, realized she was totally at his mercy,
licked suddenly dry lips and whispered, "What are you going to do to
me?"

"I could break you in half," he answered coldly, tightening his arm
until the buckle on his gun belt became a part of her belly.  He felt
the slight quiver as she caught her breath and leaned closer, until his
face was only inches from hers.  "I could leave you right here, bound
and gagged, and no one would ever find your carcass."

"W-why?"  she asked with what little voice she could muster.  The bar
across her back made it almost impossible to breathe.  "Why would you
want to hurt me?  I've done nothing to you."

He felt her body quaking with rigors of fear, and all at once he felt
ashamed.  What if she was telling the truth?  What if her only offense
was that of finding him when he didn't want to be found?

She was scared out of her wits with fear of him, and still she
persisted in her story.  Maybe she was what she claimed to be-and maybe
he was a fool.

He let her go so abruptly she stumbled backward and would have fallen
if he hadn't dropped the crutch and caught her shoulder to steady her.
He held her upright while she regained her balance.

"Are you all right?"  he asked in quieter tones, seeing the agitated
rise and fall of her breasts, becoming all at once very much aware of
her as a woman.

"Y-yes, fine."  She sidestepped away from him, her hands going to the
wall behind for support, and he let her go.

"Look, I didn't mean to scare you-" He broke off.  Now why had he said
that?  He was angry with her and had meant to scare her, scare her into
telling him what he wanted to know, and to prevent her from any further
meddling.

Yet, at the same time, part of his anger had stemmed from fear-not for
himself-but for her.  Once again, she had him riled to the point he
didn't know which side of the horse to mount.

"Come with me," he said abruptly, "I want to show you something."  He
led the way to the point where the two tunnels came together, forming a
Y. He stepped around the corner into the opposite tunnel and paused,
waiting for her to catch up.

They'd gone about a hundred yards into the second tunnel when Julia
became aware of a drastic change in temperature It suddenly got colder,
and an unidentified sound filtered to her ears.  She quickened her pace
and moved closer to Ryder.  He stopped abruptly, and she barely managed
not to bump into his back.  " " There" He broke the silence abruptly,
and his voice rang hollowly, bouncing from wall to wall.  " Careful,"
he warned as she drew closer.  He lifted the lantern and stepped aside
so she could see where he pointed.  " That's what you might have walked
into if you had taken this tunnel instead of the other one.  "

Julia eased up beside him and looked past the light, down over the
sheer face of a cliff and at what lay below.  Her eyes grew wide with
shock.

Before her lay a cavern twice as large as the one they'd just left,
only this one was filled with black roiling water.

"It's an underground river," Ryder explained.  "It comes down out of
the mountains and swells each spring with the melting snow.  If you'd
stumbled into that, God only knows where you'd end up."

"I had no idea," Julia whispered, drawing closer to him, forgetting her
fear of him.  She'd almost chosen this tunnel.  g, " If she had...
Shiverin she murmured, " Please, can we

The stark reality of what might have happened kept her from asking the
many questions running through her mind.  Questions about who he
thought she might be and why someone would be after him with a gun.

When they left the shaft, Julia found a spot in the sun and sat for the
next few hours basking in its warmth, trying to dispel the memory of
icy, black water.  As the sun rose higher, Julia finally forsook it for
shade.

Leaning her back against a rock, she watched Ryder work with Midnight.
He seemed tireless as he exercised and groomed the beautiful animal.

Julia sensed the feeling of shared love between the two, man and beast,
and found herself feeling envious of the horse.  She couldn't help it;
ridiculous as it sounded, she envied the close relationship between the
two.

Ryder's anger with her a little while ago had terrified her, but later,
there had been real concern for her in his voice when he'd shown her
the underground river and apprised her of what might have happened if
she'd unwittingly stumbled across it on her own.  That had made it
easier for her to forgive him for his anger and suspicion.

Her curiosity, however, had been aroused by the questions he'd asked.
Were they an indication he was running away from a who and not a what
as she'd previously suspected?  She could understand that, too.
Wasn't she bent on staying clear of her mother?

She knew she ought to be eager to get away, considering he'd as much as
threatened her life.  He had problems, there was no doubt about that,
especially if he expected someone to come looking for him with a gun.
She had problems of her own, and she didn't need the added worry..

But what if they could help each other?  Was she a fool to think she
could help him?  Maybe he needed professional help..  and maybe, like
Mariette, he just needed someone with him to get him through the
night.

As for her, how could he possibly help her?  She shifted her position
on the hard ground.  What could this man know that would help her?
Coming from the background he'd described, he'd have no conception of
people like her mother, her ex-husband, Gabriel, or Mariette.

No, the idea was preposterous.  Not only that, her knee was much
better.  She could almost walk without the crutch.

Just this morning, she'd hopped out of bed feeling so well she hadn't
even thought about grabbing the wooden support A moment later, a slight
twinge of pain had reminded her she was standing upright without it.
Just as she'd reached for it, Ryder had entered the cabin.  He'd stood
for a moment without moving, and feeling unaccountably guilty, she'd
launched into speech.

"I'm sorry-" she clutched at the high neck of the gown "-I should have
been up long before now.  I just woke up."

Without comment he'd excused himself and backed out the door.  But
Julia had an uncomfortable feeling that her date of departure had been
decided.

A soft breeze stirred the branches of the cottonwood behind her,
bringing her thoughts back to the present.  She looked up through the
leaves and closed her eyes for a brief moment.  She was beginning to
think she didn't ever want to leave this place.  Julia smoothed the
skirt over her knees with an impatient hand and darted a glance toward
Ryder.

No, it would be better if she left.

From the corner of her eye she caught sight of a bright speck of yellow
and turned to see a butterfly flitting from flower to flower in a bed
of lacy pink blossoms.  Her gaze wandered out over the lush valley,
rich with growing things, and drifted toward the rugged, snowcapped
mountains in the distance.  It was such a contrast and yet so very
beautiful

She heaved a sigh and relaxed tense shoulder muscles.  Just being here
was helping her.  She didn't want to leave this place- not yet !

Her attention moved back toward the man, and she put the unhappy
thought about leaving out of her mind.  For the moment at least she
could simply enjoy being here.

As she became absorbed in watching man and beast, she was struck by the
similarities between the two.  The same leashed power evident in the
stallion's muscular haunches was revealed in the bulging thigh muscles
of the man.  The fighting spirit she saw in the stallion's black, fiery
eyes, was the same expression she'd seen in Ryder's eyes a short while
ago when he'd confronted her in the mine.

She heard the sound of Ryder's deep voice in the background of her
thoughts, speaking low to the animal.  Periodically , his words were
met with a snort of response from the stallion.

The sound of the wind and the music of the birds, along with the even
drone from an occasional insect, combined to create a soothing symphony
that all but lulled her to sleep.  How could she give this up?  Why
should she have to?

Added to this sense of peace was an ever-growing need to know more
about the man, Ryder McCall.  Who was he?  Where had he come from?

She tried, but couldn't stem the flow of questions flooding her mind.
The more she watched him, the more she wanted to know about him.

The inadequate amount of information he'd offered her the day before
had only whetted her desire to know more.  She tried to picture him
growing up in some big-city ghetto.  The kind of life he must have
lived during his formative years was no doubt a part of the reason he'd
sought sanctuary in these quiet mountains.

All she knew for certain was that his mother had been a prostitute and
his father was unknown.  A sad story, but unfortunately, not an
uncommon one in this day and age,

when life seemed to be lived by the split second rather than by the
hour.  She had firsthand knowledge about living life in the fast lane,
but she didn't want to think about herself.

She wanted to know about the man inside Ryder McCall, the one he hid
from the world.  She wanted to touch his soul-and she knew without a
doubt that she could only do that by painting him.

As she looked at him, standing so tall and straight in his cowboy garb,
she realized he could have been posing for a western movie poster.  If
she were posing him, she'd have him remove the sweat-stained shirt,
leaving the muscles across shoulders and chest bare, to be kissed by
the sun.

Leaning suddenly forward, she realized she wanted to paint him.  She
had to!  Her mind began to formulate a pose.

All at once the enthusiasm drained from her and was replaced by a sense
of frustration.  She had a feeling the man would never agree to pose
for her, and besides, she didn't have any painting supplies.

Suddenly, Julia's eyes narrowed and she straightened abruptly.  She
couldn't paint him-but she could sketch him!

A few minutes later, seated at the base of the tree with pencil and
paper in hand, she eyed Ryder's broad back for a long moment before
concentrating on the paper.  Her fingers flew; she paused to use a
finger to do a bit of shading, and began again.

As she worked, her thoughts became as furiously busy as her hands in an
effort to plot her strategy.  She'd do the sketch without asking, then
offer it to him as a gift to show her appreciation for his
hospitality.

If the sketch appealed to him, he just might agree to allow her to
paint him.  And if he agreed to that, Julia would have an excuse, now
that her knee was nearly healed, to stay here for a little while
longer.

She hesitated for a moment to look deep within herself, assessing her
motives.  She'd found something here she hadn't been able to find in
any other spot in the world.  She'd found peace, and in that peace, a
healing process had begun

The wounds were deep and old, starting with the death of her father,
including her disastrous marriage, the loss of her own child, and
culminating with Mariette's death a few months ago.  Leaving California
had brought to a close a lifelong conflict stemming from choices she'd
made in an attempt to "find herself."

She could admit now that she hadn't been as interested in finding
herself as she'd been in running away, or proving to herself she was
nothing like the woman from whom she ran-her mother.

This time with Ryder McCall had done that for her, or at least his
allowing her to share the peace he'd found had helped to accelerate the
healing process.  And now she wanted to help him, too.

Despite her thoughts while in the mine cavern, she didn't believe him
to be mentally unbalanced.  That had never seriously been a
consideration.  But sometimes, when she looked behind the dark eyes,
she saw something she thought she recognized: a faint expression of
desperation.

Apparently, despite his extreme efforts, he had found only a measure of
the peace he sought.

Even though he appeared to be well-adjusted about the fact of his
birth, she was convinced there was something more in his past he
couldn't handle.  She wasn't a psychologist and didn't claim to be, but
somehow, she felt certain her continued presence would do him good.

While reasoning that out in her mind, her pencil had been flying
steadily over the drawing pad.  She paused to compare her drawing with
the real subject and was pleased with the results.  After a moment's
contemplation she once more fell to work, so deeply immersed in the
forming shapes, she forgot everything else.

Ryder lifted Midnight's left foreleg and checked between the shoe and
hoof.  A rock or burr caught between the two could cripple a horse in a
short span of time, and being without a horse in this country could
cost a man his life.

He'd been aware almost from the first of being under scrutiny by Julia.
She'd been restless all morning.  At first he'd thought it was because
he'd walked in on her as she was getting out of bed that morning and
after that she felt too embarrassed to show herself, but later he'd
realized that wasn't it.

After breakfast, while she'd done the washing up, he'd gone to work in
the garden.  That was where he'd been when he'd realized he hadn't seen
her for a while.  He'd gone to look for her, worried that she'd
wondered off and might be in trouble.  "The Indian threat was real, and
he knew he was going to have to do something about it before long.  But
he hadn't mentioned it to her, because getting around on a crutch kept
her from going any great distance from the cabin.

When he didn't immediately find her, he'd become suspicious In growing
desperation he'd searched the cabin for the second time and then the
root cellar.  He'd even wondered if she'd sneaked off for a rendezvous
with a partner while his back was turned.

And then he'd thought about the mine.  She hadn't mentioned it since
the night she'd arrived, and that seemed mighty suspicious to him.  It
would have been normal for her to show some interest and ask him about
it.

When he didn't find the lantern where he'd left it, he knew she must be
inside, and he'd been mad enough to eat the Devil with his horns on.
She'd hornswoggled him into believing her and played him for a
greener.

It wasn't until he'd actually entered the mine shaft after lighting a
candle that he'd thought about the underground river and remembered how
she'd nearly drowned.  He feared that it might already be too late to
save her.  No matter how many times he told himself he didn't trust her
or that she wasn't his responsibility, he still felt responsible for
her.

Then he'd found her poking around in the cave, and his anger had grown
swifter than a dust storm on the prairie.  If he hadn't suddenly become
aware of her as a woman and backed off, he didn't know what might have
happened.  Maybe keeping her here hadn't been such a smart idea, after
all.

After they'd left the mine he'd followed her around the back of the
cabin and watched her take a seat in the sun alternately shivering and
rubbing her arms.  He suspected she was remembering the underground
river and what might have happened to her there.

When he'd finished weeding the garden and moved to the corral to give
Midnight a rubdown, she'd moved to a spot beneath the gnarled trunk of
a cottonwood and sat watching him work.  He thought she'd fallen
asleep, but a few mmutes ago she'd gotten up and disappeared around the
side of the cabin.

He'd followed close on her heels, determined to keep track of her from
now on.  She'd entered the cabin and he'd waited outside, wondering
what she was up to this time.

He'd barely made it back to the corral ahead of her, when she'd come
walking into view with something clutched in 1-,er hands.  It took a
moment for him to realize she had paper and pencils and that she was
writing something.

He kept an eye on her without appearing to, and slowly a feeling of
unease crept over him.  She would write for a few moments and then
she'd pause to study him and then write some more.  He was flummoxed
until he began to sawy what she must be doing.

She was putting his likeness on paper.  And the only reason he could
think of for her to do that, was so someone could use it to identify
him.  She was making a wanted poster !

He couldn't let her do that.  Her injury was almost healed, he'd seen
that when she'd negotiated the uneven path in the mine without too much
trouble.  The time had come for him to get shed of her.

Julia was finally finished with her work.  As Ryder's face had come to
life on paper, she'd stared down into the eyes she'd drawn and wished
she could see what was behind their haunted expression.

Now it was evening and the meal was finished.  Ryder had gone through
his ritual of making a cigarette and was in the process of lighting it
when Julia showed him her sketch.

"Well, what do you think?"  she asked when he sat staring at it without
speaking.

"It's a very good likeness," he commented obliquely.

"Yes, it is.  I think iYs one of the best I've ever done."

"Why did you make it?"

" " Why "Yes, why did you sketch me?"  His eyes were on her face,
searching for hidden motives.  "You're a very good subject-both you and
Midnight," she added, nodding to the picture of both man and beast.
"I'd like to paint you-the both of you-but since I haven't any paints
or brushes, I did the next best thing."  "Have you done a lot of
these?"  " " A fair number," she admitted.  " Back in.  Boston, was it?
" " That's right.  But, actually, I didn't do a lot of this sort of
thing in Boston-not pencil sketches like this.  I started doing this
kind of thing after I moved to California.  " " "A wild place,
California ."  "Have you ever been there?"  she asked carefully,
unconsciously holding her breath as she waited for his answer "I was
there... once.  But I didn't stay long."  "Why was that?"  she asked
quickly.  "I didn't like the people.  You get paid for doing drawings
like this?"  he asked, changing the subject.  Julia shrugged, trying to
hide her disappointment.  She had thought for a moment that she was
about to learn something more about him, something that might answer
the questions chasing themselves around inside her brain.  "Sometimes,"
she answered, "but mostly I do it for fun.  l. This one is for you: "
You're giving it to me?  " he asked carefully.  " yes, I'd like you to
have it.  " " My way of saying thank you for the hospitality you've
shown me.  After all, we are strangers.  " " "Not anymore," he denied
softly, a dark, dangerous gleam in his eyes.  Julia swallowed and
managed a smile.  "No," she agreed, "you're right, we aren't.  I hope
we're friends.  The sketch is something to remember me by when I've
gone."  "Oh, you're not going anyplace yet," he said quickly, then
added by way of explanation, "Your injury isn't healed.  And truth to
tell, I've liked having someone to talk to these past few days.  It can
get mighty lonely by yourself after a while."

"Yes, I imagine it can," she agreed faintly.

"I like it that way, you understand," he was quick to add.  "But it
never hurts to break the monotony."

So, that's what she was to him, a break in the monotony.  Julia
couldn't help a slight twinge of irritation at the thought.  She'd
hoped he'd be pleased by the sketch, but he'd seemed more suspicious
than pleased.  Not that he didn't seem anxious enough to have her stay.
For a moment her pulses had leapt at the realization, and she'd been
almost willing to admit she not only found him intriguing, but very
attractive, as well.  Then he'd admitted it was because he was lonely
and she'd been firmly put in her place.

The evening went downhill from there.  Ryder thanked her for the
drawing, excused himself and disappeared.  Julia waited up for him for
a while, wanting to discuss the idea of doing a painting of him, but
she eventually turned in, convinced he didn't like the sketch any
better than he liked her.

The fire had burned low and the cabin was filled with the sounds of
night when he returned from his evening stroll at least that's what she
assumed he did every night before turning in.  She didn't really know,
because he never invited her along.

Julia lowered the blanket an inch and peered at him from between
slitted eyes.  Her breath caught at the back of her throat.  He was
watching her, and the look on his face had nothing to do with
attraction.

Chapter 7

Early the next morning Ryder awakened Julia as the sun was peeking over
the mountains.

He placed a pair of buckskin trousers identical to the pair he was
wearing on the bed beside her, along with a matching pullover shirt.
"Put these on, they're better for horseback riding than what you're
wearin'."

"Horseback?"  she repeated groggily, not yet fully awake.  "What-"

"We're going on a trip into the mountains."

"Trip?  But-why?"

"I want to hunt some larger game.  The meat I been snarg , in is fine
for a meal now and then, but it s time to stock up for winter.

"Winter?  But, spring is barely past."

"I know, but summers are short here in the mountains.  "

"You can leave me here-I don't mind," she assured him quickly, more
fully awake with each passing second.

"No.  It isn't safe."  He still didn't mention the Indians , because he
and Julia would be traveling in Indian territory and he didn't want a
nervous woman on his hands.  "Besides , I have a... surprise for
you."

"Surprise?"  Julia held the blanket up to her chin and scooted up in
the bed.  "For me?  What kind of surprise?"

"If I tell you, it won't be a surprise, now will it?"  he asked with a
quirk of one black tqrow.

"No, I guess not, but-"

"Get dressed.  Breakfast is waiting."  He pointed to a plate of dried
meat and hardtack.

Julia eyed the plate without enthusiasm, but before she could make
another protest he was out the door and gone.

She joined him a short while later, feeling ridiculous in the buckskin.
Midnight was saddled and, as the saying goes, looked loaded for bear.
Not only were there two bedrolls tied behind the saddle, but a pair of
brown leather saddlebags had been added, as well.  The Sharps rifle was
riding in a sling to the right of the saddle horn over which Ryder had
placed his coiled lariat and the long straps of two canteens, one on
each side.

As far as his own getup went, Ryder was a sight to behold , mounted on
Midmght and dressed in soft, golden yellow buckskin.  The shirt laced
up the front and was fringed at the shoulder seams.  He'd traded his
boots for a pair of moccasins that came halfway to his knees with a
short fringe around the cuff and down the back.

The handle of a knife was barely visible protruding from the top of the
right moccasin, and the Colt .  45 was strapped to his right hip.  This
time, the rawhide strap on his hat was pulled tight beneath his chin,
and the hat's curled brim shaded his expression.

Julia stood and waited for him to lift her onto the saddle But before
he did, he reached behind him and pulled out a beat-up looking hat and
crammed it down on top of her head.

"Tie the string beneath your chin so it won't blow off.  The sun gets
hot after a while."

She did as she was told and felt almost giddy as h:s hard hands reached
for her and lifted her onto the saddle before him.  He held her
securely in the circle of his arms as they rode away from the cabin.

Even though he'd continued to shun the familiar use of her name, Julia
felt as though he had accepted her into his life, at least for the time
being.  As for herself, she was fighting the thrill of being this close
to him.  He looked like a western movie hero, and she felt a little bit
as though she was in some epic western herself.

She knew from the last ride they'd taken that it was impossible to
maintain any distance between them while riding in this fashion and
didn't bother trying.  All it had got her the last time was a stiff
neck and sore spine.

They didn't talk much as they rode, and lunch consisted of more dried
meat and a sip of water from one of the canteens Julia was rather
excited at the prospect of sighting horses in the wild and thought at
one point she'd done just that.  But before she could get Ryder's
attention they were gone and she shrugged mentally, thinking what she
thought were horses were probably only cattle, anyway.

The trip took the whole day, and it was close to sunset when they
arrived at a spot surrounded by tall, craggy mountains.  Steam rose
from the ground and formed pools of water.

"IYs a natural hot spring!  " Julia exclaimed.  She slid from the horse
before Ryder could dismount and assist her, then leaned against the
horse's heaving side.

"Oh, you've been here," Ryder commented.

Did he sound just a bit disappointed?

"No, I've heard about them, but I've never actually visited any."  She
looked around in the waning light at the steam rising from the ground
and couldn't help commenting , "It's kind of eerie, seeing steam rise
out of the ground like that, isn't it?"

"I like it."  Ryder dismounted and moved around Midnight to help her.

You would, she thought, as he reached her side.  "I thought it would be
easier if I helped you, instead of bringing the crutch."  He stood
awkwardly, uncertain how to go about that and wondering if she was
going to object to the idea.

"That's fine," she said, putting her arm through his and leaning on him
as they made their way toward a smooth, flat-topped rock.  It looked
perfectly suited for use as a seat.

The sun had half disappeared over the tops of the mountains , and the
sky was filled with a yellow-orange glow.  Julia looked around and
noted vegetation apparently didn't grow near the small geysers.

In most places, the ground around them looked uniformly gray, except
for the tiny rivers of liquid flowing from them.  In some places the
rivers had dried up, leaving trails of colored minerals in their
wake.

"The Indians have believed in the healing power of the water in this
area for years," Ryderexplained hesitantly.  "I thought the warm waters
might help your..  injury."  He was never comfortable discussing
anything of a personal nature with her.

"Do they really work?"  she asked, intrigued in spite of the uneasiness
caused by the starkness of the area.  A persistent voice at the back of
her mind questioned the lack of evidence of any civilization in the
area.  They hadn't passed a house or seen a telephone or electric pole
all the way there.

"See for yourself," Ryder told her, "that's why we came."

"I thought we came to hunt," she queried with a hint of a smile,
pushing the uneasiness out of her mind.  She wanterl to enjoy this trip
and use the time to get to know this man better.

"That, too," he agreed without an answering smile.  "You wait here,
while I make sure the baths aren't in use."

"In use?"  she asked with a raised brow.  Were there other people then,
close by?

"By varmints," he explained, "the four-legged variety."

"Oh."

"I'll be right back."

Good as his word, she'd hardly got used to his being gone when he moved
around a boulder and came into sight.

"Have we far to go?"  she asked carefully, as he took her arm and made
as though to lead her to Midnight.  She was beginning to understand the
meaning of saddle-sore.

Ryder grinned over the top of her head, guessing the reason for the
question.  Hours in the saddle could be rough on a body unused to it.

"qe waters will take care of all your aches and pains " , he assured
her, then added, "If you feel like walking, it isn't far."  They
rounded the large boulder and hadn't gone more than a few hundred
yards, when Julia caught breath at what lay before her.  It was a srene
like she'd never imagined.  A body of water the size of a pool lay
spread out before her, sunken a few feet below the surface where they
stood.  It was ringed by huge boulders on three sides, and steam rose
from its surface like a soft white cloud.  A series of rocks, like
stepping-stones, led to its warm depths.  "Well, what do you think?"
Ryder asked in deep tones somewhere near her left ear.  "It's ...
magnificent."  She laughed self-consciously, in awe of her present
surroundings.  "Can't you just imagine a huge black caldron below the
surface, filled with bubbling liquid , stirred by the Devil with
pointed horns and a long, pointed tail?"  Ryder lifted an eyebrow and
asked, "You have some imagination, haven't you?  I need to hobble
Midnight so he won't wander off.  I'll be right back."  He turned away,
pausing with his back to her and suggested, "Why don't you get into the
water while I'm gone?"  Julia felt her face flame.  The thought of
being naked in the water with this man standing a few feet away was
enough to turn her blood to steaming bubbles.  When he'd gone, she
raised her hands to her cheeks and stood without moving, thinking about
this unusual dose of modesty she seemed to have acquired in the past
week.  Perhaps modesty bred modesty, because he was certainly modest
himself.  For a long moment she stood undecided.  Should she take off
her clothes and get in the water as he'd suggested, or merely soak her
leg up past her knee?  It was too tempting to resist.  Disrobing
quickly, carefully folding her underwear and placing it out of sight
beneath the trousers and shirt, Julia moved onto the stepping-stones
and drew slowly toward the steaming waters.  Ryder was in the process
of rounding the huge boulder when she reached the water and paused to
test it with the toes of one foot.  He couldn't move.  The sight of her
bare , shapely back, rounded buttocks and long tapering thighs stopped
him in his tracks.

She was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, and though he knew he
shouldn't be spying on her like this, he couldn't seem to turn away. It
wasn't until she'd lowered herself beneath the water to her chin that
he was freed from his momentary paralysis and managed to turn away.  It
was several minutes before he could gain enough control over himself to
round the boulder as though nothing had happened and present himself to
the woman.

"There you are," she called in lazy tones.  "I was beginning to get
worried-is everything all right?"  His face looked a bit strange, and
there was an odd glitter in the dark eyes he kept turned away from
her.

"Everything is fine, just fine."  He placed a towel on the folded pile
of her clothes and straightened.  "How's the water ?"  He stood
awkwardly at the edge of the stones, hands held stiffly at his sides.

"It's magnificent-" She broke off.  There was that word again, he'd
think she didn't know any other.  "Are you coming in?"  she asked
abruptly.

"No, I don't think so.  Someone has to keep watch-" " " Oh, please, do
come in.  I'll feel so guilty if you don't: She was playing with fire,
but what better place than this, in the midst of the Devil's caldron?

"I'll turn my head while you get in, I promise."

Ryder made no further protest.  Removing the gun strapped at his hip,
he shed his clothes hurriedly, casting an uncomfortable eye in her
direction every few seconds.  He knew what he was about to do might
lead to further trouble , but was unable to deny himself the pleasure
of being with her like this..  just once.

He wrapped his gun in his shirt and laid it on the edge of the pool
within reach, then lowered himself beneath the water's surface. Closing
his eyes, he allowed every thought to leave his mind and simply enjoyed
the sensation flooding his body.

"Euphoric, isn't it?"

Julia's soft voice coming from so close beside him jerked him back to
an awareness of his surroundings.  His eyelids popped open, and he
found himself staring directly into her shining green eyes.

All at once he felt tongue-tied, unable to speak even the simplest of
words.  A tightness filled his chest, and a heaviness settled in his
lower body.  He drifted below the water, unable for the moment to keep
himself afloat.

Julia ducked her head and laughed as he bobbed to the surface.  Her
hair was plastered against the top of her head, and beads of moisture
caught in the dying rays of the sun sparkled like diamonds against her
forehead.  The smile on her lips looked warm and inviting.

He felt like a drowning man and wanted nothing more than to kiss the
droplets of water from her red lips as he went down for the last time.
Something in her expression seemed to say, Do it, and Ryder drifted
closer.

Julia felt his rough hands cup her cheeks and let her eyes drift shut.
Their legs collided beneath the water, creating minor explosions in
every part of her body, and his warm breath bathed her damp skin a
second before his lips touched hers.

The kiss deepened as Julia felt his thumbs stroke the sides of her jaw.
Her hands reached for him, and they both sank below the water.

Her fingers touched his chest, slid up around his shoulders , and they
clung together, bodies brushing intimately as they rose and their heads
broke the water's surface.  The kiss ended abruptly when Ryder wrenched
his mouth from hers and pushed her away.

In seconds he was climbing out of the water, reaching for his clothes
and hurrying out of sight.

Julia held herself still, moving only enough to keep from sliding below
the water, and stared at his retreating back.  What had she done?
Feeling hurt and confused, it was a long time before she left the
water.

Ryder was waiting for her on the other side of the huge boulder, fully
clothed, the six-gun strapped to his hip and his rifle lying across his
lap.  He looked up at her approach, but his glance didn't quite touch
her face.

"It isn't safe to camp too near the water, but I know a spot near here
where it's safe.  I've camped there a few times in the past."

It was over an hour later when they finally sat around a small camp
fire and ate in silence.  Again, the meal consisted of dried meat mixed
with a little water from the canteen and heated.  They washed it down
with sips of tepid water from the canteen.

Supper was a lonely meal for Julia, but nothing compared to the long
hours ahead.  She'd never heard the sounds of night the way she heard
them in the long hours of darkness Every noise, no matter how loud or
soft, caused the hackles to raise on the back of her neck.

The fire Ryder had laid was small.  With longing, Julia sat looking
across its diminishing flames at the face of the sleeping man.  Drawing
her knees up to her chin, folding her arms around them, she waited for
morning, jumping at every unfamiliar clatter, eyes darting constantly
around her in the dark.

Sometime in the wee hours of the morning she must have fallen asleep,
because she awakened to the smell of roasting meat.  Her gnawing
stomach reminded her she'd eaten very little in the past twenty-four
hours, and Ryder didn't have to get her out of bed.

They ate rabbit mixed with a few dried vegetables to form a stew and
drank some of the sage tea he'd introduced her to on her first morning
at the cabin.  Nothing had ever tasted so good to her as the meal they
ate that morning.

Though neither one mentioned the subject, the events of the night
before were in both their minds.  They were polite, too polite, to each
other and very careful to see they didn't touch-not even fingers-as
they passed the food and tea back and forth.

"You're moving easier this morning," Ryder observed abruptly.

Julia stopped gathering the bones from their meal and looked in his
direction.  "My knee feels fine this morning."  Her immersion in the
hot springs had certainly helped, but Julia knew they hadn't performed
a miracle.  The leg had been well on its way to being healed before the
soaking, but she didn't tell him that.  "Are we heading back to the
cabin now?"  she asked curiously "No, I thought you might like to see
how I caught breakfast I learned to hunt from the Indians."

"I don't have to watch you... kill anything, do I?"  she asked warily.
"No," he answered shortly.  "If you don't want-" "No," she interrupted
him,"I'd like to know how you... do it," she finished awkwardly.  The
first thing they did was to bathe, separately, and dress in a fresh
change of clothing Ryder had hung out on bushes the night before.  He
explained to her that this was so the game they were tracking wouldn't
smell them coming a mile away.  There were other rules, too.  She had
to avoid all conversation , keep as quiet as possible and think no
song.  Julia grinned at that, certain he was teasing her, but he
explained seriously that the Indians believed that because animals love
music, they listen for songs, even those that are thought.  She eyed
him skeptically, thinking he was going to grin at any moment.  The grin
actually stat ted around his eyes, became a faint twinkle in the dark
orbs, then died before it reached his mouth.  "Where did you say you
learned to track game?"  Julia asked softly.  "From the Indians," he
replied, moving away.  "Really?"  She couldn't quite keep the note of
skepticism from her voice as she followed him as quietly as possible,
watching as he stopped to kneel and stare at the ground.  He turned to
look in one direction, then another, before motioning her to follow
behind him.  When he did the same thing a little farther down the
trail, Julia stopped where he'd stopped and hunkered down to stare at
the ground.  She had no idea what she was looking for and couldn't see
anything unusual in the leaves, twigs, rocks and dirt.  "Do you see
it?"  Ryder asked very softly as he knelt beside her.

" " See what?  " She transferred her puzzled frown from the ground to
his face.

"The way the leaves here have been disturbed."  p He ointed to the spot
with one finger.  " " And here, see the way the soil has been thrown
aside in small clots?  "

Though he pointed out the signs, Julia couldn't really say she saw
them.  She guessed it took an experienced eye to see what he saw.

"What is it we're following?"  she asked.  "Can you tell?"

"Look at the tracks."  He pointed at the gash like dents in the earth.
"See the way the front is wide with a rounded edge, then tapers back
toward the end?"

Julia murmured, "Uh-huh," as she screwed up her eyes and concentrated
hard on the unidentifiable marks.

"I'd say we're looking at the tracks of a pronghorn."

"

" Pronghorn?  "

"

"Antelope, " he explained.

"Really?"  she peered closer, but still couldn't make head nor tail out
of what she saw.

Ryder's eyes traveled over the side of her face nearest him, thinking
how soft and rosy her cheeks looked in the early morning light,
forgetting for the moment all about his lesson in tracking.  He was
ashamed at the thought of what he'd almost done.  Julia was a lady-not
a woman of easy virtue-and if he was any kind of man at all, he'd be
able to control his animal needs.

She'd braided her long, wavy red hair that morning while he d doused
the fire.  He'd watched from the corner of his eye, noting how inviting
she looked with her eyelids still puffy with sleep, a soft, vulnerable
look to her mouth..

"I said, how far do we follow it?"  Julia asked for the third time.

"W-what?"  Focusing his attention on what she was saying , instead of
on the shape of her mouth, he met her glance, realizing suddenly how
near he'd drawn to her and instantly backing off.  " " I asked if we
were going to follow the antelope all day, " Julia whispered, wishing
he'd take advantage of their nearness to kiss her again.

Sluides of Wyoming 123

"No," Ryder responded gruffly.  "We'll camp in the same plaq we camped
last night.  That will give you a chance to soak in the hot springs
again."

Mounted once more on Midnight's sturdy back, they made their way toward
the hot springs.  Ryder spotted something moving toward them in the
distanoe and took cover until he could make out what it was.  They
moved downwind and sat hidden among the rocks as a herd of wild horses
galloped by, their tails and manes streaming out behind them in the
wind.

"How beautiful " Julia exclaimed.  "I had no idea horses !  still
roamed free."

"

" Not so many as there used to be, " Ryder told her sadly.

"Times are changing, the old ways are dying out."

He didn't say much after that, but Julia sensed his distress As the day
wore on they traveled through a deep gulch and over wind-scoured
buttes.  Around midday Julia spotted what looked like a small dust
storm in the distance.

Ryder pulled Midnight to a halt and sat studying it.

"What is it?"  Julia asked worriedly, thinking it might be a dust
storm.  "Should we take cover?"

"Brown grass eaters," he murmured.

"Brown grass eaters," she repeated on a questioning note.

"Buffalo," he explained "That's a herd of buffalo

Julia was astonished at the size of the herd and how fast they moved.
"I didn't know there were so many of them left," she whispered in awe.
"" Not so many anymore, " Ryder murmured.

"You love all this, don't you?"  Julia made a sweeping gesture with one
arm, indicating the animals and the countryside.

Ryder shrugged, tightened the reins and turned Midnight back in the
direction from which they'd come.  The sun was high overhead, and Ryder
wanted Julia settled for the night before he left her to visit the
Indian camp nearby.

He chose a very secluded spot for their camp that night close to the
hot springs, but far enough away that he wouldn't have to worry so much
about leaving her.  He warned Julia against making any noise by telling
her some kinds of wild animals were attracted to sound.

Later, before dark, Ryder took her fishing, only this time he didn't
use a hook and line.  Pulling off his boots and socks, unstrapping his
gun belt, he rolled up his pant legs and shirtsleeves and waded into
the shallow end of the stream where it flowed over deep rocks.

"What are you doing?"  Julia asked in amazement.

"I'm going to show you how to catch fish with patience, instead of
worms," he replied enigmatically.

"Is this a joke?"  she asked with a smile.  looking up from his bent
position, hands held over the water a few inches apart, he answered,
"Food is a serious matter.  I never joke about food: '

Julia didn't know what to make of him.  She never knew where she stood
with him, because she couldn't read his moods.

One minute he was angry with her and the next, worried about her
safety.  He was a modest man, careful of the proprieties , yet she'd
sensed a leashed hunger in his kiss.

For a man of the twentieth century, he appeared well versed in the
all-but-forgotten skills of the past.  He was a man who attracted her
and at times frightened her, but never failed to intrigue her.

She wasn't even surprised to see him catch a fish with his bare hands.
She was beginning to think he could do anything , once he'd set his
mind to it.

That night Julia bathed alone.  When bedtime rolled around, Ryder
placed his blankets on one side of' the fire and indicated Julia was to
put hers on the other.  Reluctantly, she did as he bid, then lay awake
staring at his sleeping form.

The same noises that had plagued her the night before returned in
force, only this time they were accompanied by the feeling that eyes
were watching her.  The night grew chilly, and Julia huddled closer to
the small fire.  Wrapping her blanket around her, she sat cross-legged,
shivering, staring from the prone figure across the fire to the dark,
silent night surrounding them.

When the full moon began to dip in the night sky, an animal began to
howl in the distance, softly at first, a low, mournful sound.  Julia
grew tense, wondering what kind of animal made such a sad sound.

After a few minutes it grew silent, then the sound came again, only
louder this time.  It echoed from mountaintop to mountaintop, causing
Julia to scoot closer to the fire.

The sensation of eyes watching her grew stronger.  The short hair stood
up on the back of her neck and all along her arms and legs.  Her glance
fastened on the hat pulled low over Ryder's face.  How could he lay
there and sleep through all that racket?

On the point of demanding that he wake up and keep her company, she was
surprised to see him lift an arm and use two fingers to push the hat
back from his face.  Sitting up , he met her accusing glance over the
flames of the fire and asked, "Something bothering you?"

"N-no-" Now that she had his attention, perversely, she didn't want it.
"It's just ... so noisy tonight."  She shrugged, wishing she had the
nerve to move around the fire and spread her blankets beside him, angry
with him for not suggesting it himself.

"That's only a coyote calling to his mate.  The canyon walls make him
sound close, but he's really a long way off, clear up in the mountains
behind us," Ryder assured her.

Julia cocked her head in a listening attitude.  " " And that " , she
asked referring to the loud, harsh cur-lee, cur-lee.  " " WhaYs that?
"

"ThaYs a curlew-a bird-it's nothing to be scared of, so why don't you
lie down and try and get some sleep?"

Reassured by his matter-of-fact attitude, Julia spread out her blankets
and lay down.  She didn't want him to think she was a coward, and he
appeared calm enough.

A short while later, the night grew quiet, and from the even rise and
fall of his chest, Julia assumed Ryder had gone back to sleep.  She was
preparing to do the same when a loud howl erupted from the darkness
directly behind her.  Jumping as though she'd been shot, she climbed to
her feet, clutching the blanket to her, and stared fearfully into the
darkness outside the fire's small pins of light.

She began to back toward the fire, darting an anxious glance in Ryder's
direction.  It looked like nothing disturbed him.  Well, that was fine
for him, he was used to all this..  wild life.  She wasn't!

Gathering up all her blankets, she moved closer toward his side of the
fire, still not quite daring to actually lie down beside him.  Sitting
with a blanket wrapped tightly around her shoulders, she rocked back
and forth, eyes darting in every direction, prepared to wait for
morning without closing even one eye again that night in sleep.

She kept the fire going by doing as Ryder had shown her, and placed
twigs on the flames.  It helped her to stay awake.  Every now and then
she threw an envious glance in his direction , wishing half angrily
that she had his kind of selfpossession

Her eyes eventually became locked on the flames, and their hypnotic
dance began to make her drowsy.  Her eyelids grew heavy, her chin
sagged onto her chest, and soon her eyes drifted shut.  Head dropping
forward, she dozed, only to awaken a few moments later with an alarmed
cry.  Her eyes flew toward Ryder.

He was awake and watching her.

Their glances caught and locked.  What was that ellusive expression she
saw far back in his dark eyes?

All at once, with a soft sigh of surrender, Ryder folded back the
corner of his blankets.  Julia stared at him without moving.  Was he
inviting her to share his bed?

She couldn't-yes, she could!  Before he could change his mind, she was
up and around the fire.  Placing her blanket over his, she crawled
beneath the covers and lay down against him.  In seconds the heat from
his body penetrated the icy chill of her flesh and she grew tense.

She felt an answering tension in him and realized she'd never be able
to get to sleep now..  not with his heart beating a strident tattoo
against her left cheek..

Ryder felt, rather than heard, the uneven sigh float through Julia's
parted lips.  All at once she gave a little moan and turned onto her
side, throwing an arm around his waist and a knee across his thighs.

Apparently, she was comfortable at last.  He was glad.  He couldn't
have borne much more of the stiffness.  Yet now..  with her knee so
intimately close..  her breasts pressing against his shoulder..  the
smell of her hair in his nostrils..  sleep was impossible.

She smelled so good.  He couldn't decide what it reqinded him of, but
it was a clean..  womanly scent.

He dared to touch the side of her face with a gentle finger , and the
feel of her soft skin had the same effect on him as would a kick in the
stomach from a mule.  It jolted through his whole body and left him
feeling slightly sick.

He wanted to strip the clothes from her body and touch her all over..
Ryder moved uncomfortably against the knee prodding him, feeling like
the worst scoundrel alive for having such lustful thoughts about her.
She'd come to him because she was afraid, nothing more.

He'd brought her along on this trip for many reasons, not the least of
which was to decide whether he believed her story about her sudden
appearance in his life.  And still he'd made no decision.  All he knew
at the moment was that it had been a long time since he'd slept with a
woman, but that time would seem as nothing compared with the hours that
now lay ahead of him until morning.

His visit to the Indian camp would have to wait.  He couldn't leave her
tonight.

Julia squirmed in her sleep, shifted her head until her cheek rested
against Ryder's shoulder, her lrps against his lower jaw.  Ryder tried
to ignore the disturbing sensations her closeness created inside him,
but it was hard.  The kiss they had shared at the hot spring had
whetted his appetite for more.

He could feel her soft breath fanning his lips and knew he had only to
move his head..  just a little..  and..

The muscles in the arm around Julia's shoulder quivered and grew taut
as he unconsciously pulled her tighter against him.  The weight of her
knee resting across his thighs eased for a fraction, then shifted
closer to his groin.  It was all he could do to withhold a moan of
pain-not the pain of injury , but the pain of self-denial.  He wanted
her so badly he literally ached with it.

Taking a deep breath, he looked at the huge black bowl of stars
overhead.  Every point where her body touched his throbbed with
sensation.  Sweat broke out along his hairline and above his upper lip.
He licked his lips nervously, felt the sharp prick of his mustache and
caught a strand of her hair on his tongue.

Lifting an unsteady hand, he swept the hair from his lips, hesitated,
then smoothed it back against her cheek.  His fingers lingered against
her soft skin with a will of their own, slid slowly down the curve of
her neck and stopped just above her right breast.  He didn't have to
stretch his imagination to recall how pink and white her body had
looked at the hot spring the night before, or the way the tips of her
small breasts had jutted toward the sky.

The muscles in his neck quivered with the need to turn his head toward
hers.  How sweet her lips had tasted..

All at once his fingers curled into a tight fist and he jerked his hand
from her shoulder.  Closing his eyes, he held his breath, trying to
steady his breathing-hoping to push the image of Julia's naked body
from his mind.

Snapping his eyes open, he stared at the brightest star within sight.
Maybe if he counted the stars..

She moved against him.  Her hand at his waist slowly crawled up his
chest, slipped over the side of his face and stopped with her fingers
threaded in the blond curls at the side of his head.  Julia gently
turned his face toward hers.

Ryder was breathing the same air she breathed as Julia raised herself
on one elbow and pressed his head toward hers.  Her mouth slid
smoothly, hungrily over his, testing the strength of his lips,
enclosing them in a damp warmth he felt throughout his throbbing
body.

Julia's fingers tightened in his hair as Ryder strained his neck to
accommodate her lips, his own mouth opening eagerly beneath hers.  His
arms moved to her shoulders, squeezing her up against his chest until
he could feel her breasts flatten against him.  The blood thundered
through his veins, like the thunder of a herd of stampeding cattle as
their hooves furiously pounded the ground.

Her lips drank of his, drawing the passion from deep within him.  And
when she let loose of his hair and quickly began to push the buckskin
shirt aside as her hands massaged the muscles across his chest, Ryder
couldn't withhold a groan of pleasure.  Her palms covered his chest,
her fingers became tangled in the wiry curls as their kisses deepened
and her pelvis pressed ardently against his hip.

She felt like nothing he'd ever held in his arms.  His hands moved up
her back and into the red hair, pushed their way through it, till they
spanned her head.  His lips moved with hers, against hers, over and
around hers, tasting her in a way he'd never tasted other lips.
Breathing heavily, he pushed her head back until his lips could savor
the soft skin on her long white throat.

His kisses moved to her ear, where he nipped playfully at the lobe and
felt her shiver beneath his hands.  Julia wrenched her face from his
hands, pushed the shirt aside and bent to press wet, enthusiastic
kisses against his breastbone

Ryder couldn't stand it any longer.  He wanted to see every inch of her
beautiful body, wanted to touch it with his hands, pay tribute to it
with his lips.  Pulling at the back of her shirt, he lifted it up; she
ducked her head and a moment later her satin smooth, mauve-tipped
breasts were visible in the silvery moonlight.  His hands reached out
to them, cupped them gently, palms tingling as they smoothed across the
taut nipples.  " " So..  beautiful, " he murmured between gasps,
leaning forward to press hot lips against the full curve of one breast.
" So beautiful..  " he repeated, burying his face in the hollow between
them, drawing back to whisper, " like alabaster in the moonlight.  "

Julia's hand reached toward the laces at his waist and Ryder helped
her.  Together they removed his breeches and then hers.  Finally, they
lay close together on the blankets, naked.

"Make love to me, my wild cowboy," Julia whispered from beneath him.
Her hands slid up his flanks and around to his chest, helping him
straddle her quivering body.  " " Make love to me, " she repeated as he
turned with her until she sat astride his prone body.  The words seemed
to echo on the air between them as Julia leaned toward him.  Her long
red hair fell across his face as he thrust into her, unable to withhold
his need for release.

Ryder jerked sharply and woke up.  For a moment he wasn't certain what
was happening.  He glanced toward the woman at his side, expecting-he
didn't know what he expected

It didn't matter, she was fast asleep.  With a hint of disbelief , he
realized that sometime during his calculations on the number of stars
overhead, he must have fallen asleep.  Julia now lay facing away from
him, curled like a kitten in sleep.  It must have been her movement,
the feel of her hair on his face as she turned away, that had awakened
him.

Ryder eased his arm from beneath her and slipped from the blankets.
Cramming his hat on his head, he kneeled for a moment to raise the
covers toward her chin, then stood and moved toward the fire.

He took a deep breath.  He felt exhausted and weak.  A fine sheen of
perspiration covered his entire body and his heart was only now
beginning to settle down to a normal rate.

From the far side of the fire, Ryder sat on his haunches and drank
thirstily from one of the canteens.  His eyes darted toward the slight
mound beneath the blankets-his blankets -his woman No , not his woman !
He stared into the fire and told himself , again, that he must have
been dreaming.

Again, his eyes darted toward Julia's slight figure uncertainly , the
taste of her lips lingering on his tongue.  Pulling the hat low on his
forehead, he added a few twigs to the fire, fqling a chill seep through
his clothes to his damp skin underneath

One hand lifted and unconsciously fingered a tender spot at the edge of
his mouth.  It had all been a dream.  He'd have to keep reminding
himself of that, no matter how real it had seemed.  It had all been a
dream.

Chapter S

Julia was falling in love, and the thought scared her.  She hadn't a
clue about when it had happened, but sometime in the past week she'd
come to care deeply for the tall, mysterious cowboy, and she didn't
have a very impressive track record when it came to men.  As a matter
of fact, she didn't have an impressive record when it came to emotional
involvements of any kind.

However, if Ryder's behavior last night was any indication of his own
feelings, she figured she didn't need to worry too much about it.  He'd
run from her at the pool as though she was the devil incarnate and he
the virgin sacrifice.

Considering her own reluctance, that should have reassured her, but it
didn't.  She wanted to know why he'd run and couldn't help wondering if
it had something to do with his playing cowboy and acting as though for
some reason she was out to get him.

It was obvious that he didn't trust her.  She wondered if it was just
her, or if his distrust stretched to encompass all women.

She supposed none of that should bother her since she'd be leaving him
soon.  All the same, she couldn't help noting a slight twinge in the
vicinity of her heart when she remembered the tenderness and the hunger
in the one kiss they'd shared.

The idea of trying to get him to agree to pose for her seemed ludicrous
under the circumstances.  She knew the desire to paint him had only
been a thinly veiled attempt to justify her wanting to stay with him,
in any case.

She recognized that now and knew if she were smart she'd put a stop to
any feelings she had for him here and now, before they got out of hand.
The idea of her helping him over whatever emotional trauma that had
caused him to hide himself away in these mountains was quixotic at
best.  She wasn't capable of helping herself.

Last night that fact had been brought home to her as she'd fallen
asleep in the cowboy's arms.  She hadn't even been able to deal with
the sounds of the mountains at night.  It was a minor thing, but still
it made her realize she wasn't ready for a new relationship and
especially not one involving someone who appeared to be as big an
emotional cripple as herself

It was true that she'd found peace from the torment that had driven her
like a wounded animal to make one rash judgment after another,
resulting in even more pain and misery.  But she still hadn't learned
to weigh situations, or people, before making a decision.

She and Ryder could only hurt each other more, and because she had come
to care for him, she didn't want that to happen.  On the point of going
in search of him, she glanced up and found him standing beside her.
She'd been so engrossed in her thoughts she hadn't heard his
approach.

He bent to drop two cleaned and gutted trout on the rock beside her,
and against his will their glances met.  They were so close he could
see the light smattering of freckles the sun had brought out across the
bridge of her small nose.

"Supper," he said shortly, straightening and turning away.

Julia closed her eyes for a moment to try and calm the furious pounding
of her heart.  He didn't even have to touch her, now all he had to do
was look at her and she melted.

When she opened her eyes they landed on the accusing eye of a dead
fish.  "My turn to cook, huh?"  she muttered in resignation.

"Your turn," he agreed, hearing the almost-silent whisper

Well, at least he'd cleaned them, Julia thought, as she placed the fish
in a skillet of fat Ryder had saved from an earlier meal and set it
over the fire.  The first time they'd fished together, he'd
painstakingly showed her how to scale and gut them.  When she'd
protested, he'd told her she had to learn how to do it herself, because
if she ever caught the fish, she'd have to clean them.

While they cooked, she mixed a small amount of water with a couple of
handsful of ground corn the way she'd seen Ryder do it and fashioned
small round balls.  As she worked, she stole glances at her
companion.

He'd dropped his hat on the ground beside his saddlebags and sat down
with his back against a large boulder a little way from the fire.  He
must have taken a bath while he was fishing because his hair was
slicked wetly back from his forehead and the sides of his face.  She'd
never actually seen him shave, but his face always appeared smooth and
free of any beard except for the mustache.

For a moment she paused and pictured what it would be like to watch him
shave.  She bet he used a straight razor and lather in a mug with a
brush.  " " Somethin' wrong?  "

Julia realized she was staring at him and glanced down at the corn
dodgers waiting to be fried.  "No, nothing."

Ryder finished cleaning his pistol, slid it into the holster at his hip
and leaned forward to slide the knife from its sheath in his boot.  For
a moment Julia's eyes followed his movements as he reached into the
saddlebag and removed what looked like a long gray rock.

A flash of sunlight off the blade drew her eyes back to the knife.  She
couldn't help thinking how dangerous it looked.  The blade was long and
broad along the spine, but tapered suddenly to a point.  The main part
of the blade was single edged , but the tip was double-edged and looked
razor sharp.

Ryder seemed oblivious to her scrutiny as he began to draw the knife
back and forth steadily across the whetstone The sound grated on
Julia's nerves.  When she didn't think she'd be able to stand it a
second longer, he stopped to test the blade's sharpness against the
edge of his thumb.  Apparently, it didn't yet meet his standards,
because he began the process all over again.

"When are we going back to the cabin?"  Julia asked abruptly, hoping to
still the nerve-racking sound.

Ryder paused and met her glance.  "Not for a day or two.  Why?  Is
there some reason you want to get back to the cabin?"

"No-I think it's time I left, that's all.  My knee is almost as good as
new she hesitated " " and I do have a life of my own to lead, you
know."

"In California?  Or Boston?"

" " Neither.  " Her eyes rested on her hands as she dropped the corn
dodgers into the part of sizzling lard next to the fish.  " I haven't
decided where I'm going to settle.  I might go south.  "

"Texas?"  he asked with raised brows.  "

" Maybe.  "

"How you going to get there?"

"I'll manage."

"What's your hurry?"  Ryder glanced back to the knife he held and began
to move it against the stone slowly.  " " You meeting somebody in
Texas?  "

"No," Julia answered quickly.  "I told you I was traveling alone."

"Then what are you worried about?  Give your injury time to heal
proper."  He glanced up from beneath the black brows at her face. "That
is, if you're sure you aren't keeping somebody waiting."

Julia found it almost impossible to keep from squirming guiltily
beneath his stare, despite having no reason to feel guilt of any kind.
She'd caught him staring at her strangely several times that day, and
it added to her uneasiness now.  She wanted to be angry at his
insinuation that she was deliberately keeping something from him.

But instead of anger she becoming filled with a bitter disappointment
If she needed any proof that her idea of helping him through whatever
kept him a prisoner in these mountains wouldn't work, there she had it.
It would take more than her feeble efforts to make him regain his
desire for human company.  She was only wasting her time.  " " The food
is ready.  "

"Good, I'm hungry.  This mountain air gives a body an appetite."

Julia picked at her food.  It seemed the mountain air didn't have the
same effect on her that it had on him.

As the evening wore on, as though in unspoken agreement , neither
mentioned anything of a personal nature.  Julia listened as Ryder
talked about the mountains.  He seemed to know a lot about them, but
when Julia asked him where he'd gotten his information he only
shrugged.

Earlier that morning they had moved camp at Ryder's insistence.  The
new spot Ryder had chosen was close to one of the smaller hot springs.
He picked it deliberately because the Shoshone didn't frequent it much,
preferring the larger, more easily accessible ones closer to their main
camp.

Now night had fallen, and he knew it was time to do something about the
real reason behind this trip north.  He planned to visit the large
Shoshone camp near the headwaters of the river.

Ryder glanced across the fire at Julia's sleeping form and knew he
didn't want to leave her.  The thought of what might happen to her
should a Sioux brave stumble across her alone made him hesitate a long
time over his decision.

He'd been surprised to see how readily she'd snuggled down in her
bedroll and fallen quickly asleep.  He supposed she must be tired after
getting so little sleep the night before

That thought brought to mind his own bout of sleeplessness and made him
recall the dream he'd had of their making love.  It had seemed so real.
The dream had come back to him in vivid recall several times that day
when he'd least expected it, causing him an agony of mental and
physical confusion.  Once, when he'd come suddenly across Julia at the
pool bathing her face and hands, he'd gotten so caught up in the
memories he'd nearly gone to her and lifted her into his arms to ease
the torment.

He didn't want to leave her, in fact he'd have liked nothing better
than to spend the night wrapped tightly in her arms, his body speaking
to hers..

But, in the end, despite his worry about her safety, he did leave her.
He had to, because he had to know what the Indians were planning,
especially if it meant he'd have to leave the only real home he'd known
since his stay with the Shoshone

Ryder placed his pistol and rifle on the blanket beside Julia, knowing
she'd understand what to do if he didn't make it back.  She might be
from the East, but the instinct for survival was strong in man-and
woman.

As he left their camp, he allowed himself one last glance at her
sleeping figure.  He carried only his bowie knife for protection,
hoping he wouldn't need to use it, but knowing he would if the
necessity arose.

The Indian signs he'd seen since reaching the hot springs surprised
him.  True, the Shoshone believed in the healing properties of the
waters, but the signs were not only Shoshone After what he'd seen
around his own cabin, he'd expected to see Cheyenne, but he'd also
spotted Blackfeet Sioux, Minneconjou, Oglala and Flatheads.  And the
gathering of so many nations together in one spot didn't bode well for
the white man.

Their second day at the springs, when he and Julia had hunted together,
Ryder had been uneasy about the signs.  It had been a good thing Julia
wasn't able to read them, or she'd have known they were surrounded by
Indians.

After that first day, Ryder hadn't taken Julia with him to hunt.  He'd
left his pistol with her, instructed her to stay put, and hunted alone,
using a bow and arrow he'd fashioned himself.  He'd hunted quickly and
quietly, keeping a close watch on his back.

Ryder had made plans to pay a visit to his old friend Washakie, chief
of the Shoshone.  The old chief was well into his seventies, but still
a fierce leader when the need arose.  He was proud of the fact that he
was a friend to the white man, even though it had caused trouble among
some of the more hot-blooded young braves in his tribe.  Regardless of
that, the old chief stood firm in his beliefs.

Ryder doubted his past ties with the tribe would help him if a young
buck, bent on making a name for himself, caught him tonight and decided
to lift his scalp.  But he was more concerned with the thought that he
might have to abandon the cabin upon his return.  The Shoshone might
not bother him, but the same couldn't be said for the Cheyenne and
Sioux moving through the area.

He remembered well the location of the Shoshone camp and, employing
what he'd learned from his red brothers Ryder moved toward it on silent
feet.  He decided that if it wasn't possible to speak with the old
chief without anyone else knowing, he'd nose around on the fringes of
the camp and see what he could find out on his own.

He was about a mile from the Indian camp when his thoughts drifted back
to Julia.  He hoped he'd done the right thing in bringing her with him.
If anything happened to her.  All at once a sixth sense warned him that
he was no longer alone.  Dropping swiftly and silently to his knees, he
peered through the darkness with narrowed eyes.

He was closer to the Indian camp than he'd thought, and there were
guards hidden among the trees up ahead.  He should have realized the
woods were unnaturally silent.  The silence was broken suddenly by the
soft hoot of an owl.  Ryder listened closely and wasn't surprised a
moment later to hear an answering reply.

It was a signal he recognized.  One brave had signaled another , but
still Ryder thought he was safe, until he heard a twig snap lightly
somewhere in the darkness to the right of him.

The short hair stood up on the back of his neck as adrenaline pumped
into his blood, bringing every sense sharply alive.  He searched around
in the darkness for a means of cover other than the tree behind which
he now knelt.  If he was caught this close to the camp in the middle of
the night, the guards would make short work of him.

By morning, when Julia awakened to find him gone, he'd be little more
than a memory.  He hadn't taken the time to cover his tracks, because
he was in a hurry.  He knew the braves who found him would follow them
back to camp and there they'd find Julia, alone and unprotected,
completely at their mercy.  She wouldn't stand a chance.

The trunk of a dead maple, felled by age or storm, lying a few yards
away, caught his eye.  Ryder scrambled quickly toward it on elbows and
knees.  He'd press himself into the slight hollow between trunk and
ground and hope the Indians would simply step over it, never suspecting
he lay hidden there.

Ryder was in the process of sliding as close to the trunk as possible
when he realized the part lying next to the ground was completely
rotted away.  Pushing a hand into it, he discovered the inside was
hollow.  Hurriedly, he scooped out leaves and twigs and whatever else
dwelt inside, then rolled inside scattering debris across the open side
next to the ground to cover his tracks.

Seconds later, a moccasined foot thudded softly against the side of the
tree, rocking it gently and startling Ryder.  After a moment of silence
the trunk rocked again.

Ryder held his breath, wondering what was going on above him.  All at
once the wood cracked overhead and his muscles tensed.  He'd been
caught!  Expecting at any moment to be dragged from his hiding place at
knife point, Ryder took a deep breath and prepared to do battle for his
life.

The wood creaked louder and small hitc of dead wood, termites, dust,
and spiderweb showered his face and chest.  Ryder held his breath to
keep from coughing or sneezing and giving his presence away.

In the silence, filled with the uneven thump of his own heartbeat, the
sound of voices carrying on a subdued conversation drifted to his
straining ears.

He listened for a moment and then grinned in relief.  It seemed two
Shoshone guards were using the log for a place to sit and gossip,
little knowing Ryder was using it for a hiding place.

Ryder sobered instantly when he realized the gist of their
conversation.  He understood enough of their native tongue to learn
that the Cheyenne and Sioux were preparing for a large battle with the
pony soldiers, somewhere to the north, at a place called Rosebud
Creek.

Chief Washakie had left camp and gone to meet with the white soldiers
camped near the creek to offer his assistance.

The two braves didn't agree with the old chief's position.

Along with several other young bucks, they planned to join the Sioux
and fight with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse against the white eyes.

They were drunk on thoughts of the forthcoming battle and chided each
other good-naturedly on who would take the most scalps.  They talked
and joked about who was the bravest and who was better with bow and
arrow, war club and knife.

Ryder listened for a while, smiling at their good-natured ribbing.
Indians had a very well-developed sense of fun and liked to tell jokes
and play practical jokes on one another.

He'd been the brunt of a few himself when he'd lived in the

Shoshone camp.

Eventually, worry about Julia began to take precedence over everything
else.  What if she awakened and found him gone?  If she should happen
to come looking for him and stumble into these two..

Eventually the two braves finished their conversation, sobered and
left, but Ryder waited awhile before leaving his hiding place, just to
make certain they were gone.  He wanted to get back to camp, get Julia
and leave.  It wasn't safe for them to stay here any longer.  Come
first light, he intended for them to be long gone.

A few hours later, as he moved into the canyon where their camp was set
up, his eyes went immediately to the spot where he'd left Julia.  It
took a moment for him to realize she was gone.

Julia made her way around the rocks and stood staring at Ryder s rigid
back.  So, he'd come back.  He'd been gone for hours.  She wasn't
certain just when she'd realized she was alone, because the realization
had come while she was asleep, but suddenly, she'd sat bolt upright,
eyes going to his bedroll, and found it empty.

For a moment she'd been terrified, and then she'd heard Midnight nicker
softl and realized that wherever he d gone, he hadn t left for good. 
Ryder wouldn't leave his horse behind

On the tail end of that thought had come panic.  What if he'd gone to
answer the call of nature and been bitten by a snake?  She'd cast that
fear aside almost as quickly as it had come, knowing how much in tune
he was with his surroundings Ryder was not the kind of man to get
himself bitten by a snake.

Her mind had struggled with the fear that he'd been injured in some
other way, and for a brief time she considered going in search of him,
but knowing so little about this country she figured she'd be more of a
liabili than a help, especially if he d only gone somewhere to be alone
for a time.

He'd already made it glaringly plain he didn't require the company of
people.  Maybe she'd been way off base in her assessment of his reasons
for living out here by himself.  Maybe he really liked being alone and
her company was a trial to him.

No, she didn't believe that.  If that were true, he wouldn't have been
so willing to keep her with him while her knee healed.  Whatever the
reason for his absence, she'd been worried about him and just wanted
him to come back unharmed

In her anxiety she'd rolled over, and her arm had come into sharp
contact with the cold steel of the six-gun.  Wherever

Ryder had gone, he hadn't wanted her to follow, that was why he'd left
the gun.  She hadn't touched it, but she hadn't moved it, either.

After a while, she'd drifted into a restless sleep, easily disturbed by
the sounds around her.  Sometime later she'd awakened to the call of
nature.  And now he was back.

Should she demand to know where he'd been?  No-their relationship was
already strained.  He'd returned unharmed , and she hadn't suffered for
being left alone.  Some questions were better left unanswered.

Without saying a word, Julia moved up softly behind him.  The firelight
cast eerie shadows around the camp.  Ryder turned at her approach, but
Julia kept her eyes on the ground at her feet.  Taking up her place
beneath the blanket once more, she ignored him, turned onto her left
side, facing away from him and closed her eyes.  ; After a long moment,
she heard him move and bend over her.  She knew he lifted the rifle and
gun, and waited tensely for him to move away.  He hesitated and her
tension grew; she wished he d say something or simply move away so she
could relax. After what seemed like an eternity he moved, and Julia
released her breath in a long, inaudible sigh.  She didn t close her
eyes the rest of that night and knew without looking that Ryder didn't,
either.

The next morning, before the sun's rays had lightened the sky to more
than a dull hue of gray, Ryder awakened her.

"What is it?"  Julia flopped onto her back and stared up ; into his
stern face.

"IYs time to leave."  "

" Leave?  ',

"Yes, we're going home."

"Home?"  she repeated faintly.

"Back to the cabin," he explained patiently.  "It's time to leave
here."

Julia sat up, holding the blanket to her chest fully awake.

Her eyes searched his face, and she sensed there was something more he
wanted to say, but he only straightened away from her.

"Ryder-" She prevented him from retreating by placing a hand on his
arm.  "I've... enjoyed our time together" There was more she wanted to
tell him but she couldn't find the right words.  She'd never been what
you could call shy, but he made her feel that way

Please.  Her gaze traveled slowly from his chin to his eyes.  "Can't we
stay just a little loner?  It's so peaceful here."  g

This was a last attempt on her part to get close to him, in the hope
that he'd open up to her and share some of what he was feeling inside.
She would still be leaving once they got ; back to the cabin, but she
didn't want to leave with things so .  incomplete, like a half-finished
canvas, between them.

Their eyes locked, and Julia felt the world shrink until there was
nothing but the two of them.  Drawn toward him by that feeling, she
rose on her knees and drifted closer.  The blanket slipped from her
grasp as she raised one hand and touched his face with quivering
fingertips.

Ryder caught his breath.  His jaw worked, but no sound escaped the
stern lips as he cupped her hand in his, pressing her cold fingers
tight against his rough cheek.  He wanted her-needed her-badly.  He'd
wanted her since the instant he'd stumbled against something at the
entrance of the mine shaft and lifted his lantern to see her beautiful,
unconscious face.  He'd needed her since the moment he'd held her
naked, half-drowned, in his arms.

Everything in him was telling him to take her-right there-right
now-yet, still, he hesitated, fighting the clamor of his senses.  One
question kept resurfacing in his brain, overriding everything else. Was
she a liar?  Was she lying to him, even now, not only with words, but
with the soft, inviting look in her liquid green eyes?

Sliding her hand from his cheek to his lips, Ryder dared to plant a
slow, warm kiss on its palm.  Julia's pulse leapt at the gesture, but
Ryder knew it was a kiss of regret.  They were from two different
worlds and nothing would ever change that.

She'd been born and raised in the East.  Her mother was a society
matron.  By her own admission, Julia was used to servants and wealth.

He'd been born in the back room of a saloon and raised in one hellhole
after another.  His mother had been a whore, and he was a bastard.
Before she'd taken up saloon work, his mother had once told him she'd
been a ladies' maid in a fancy house, but the gentleman of the house
hadn't been able to keep his hands to himself.

And if that wasn't enough, Julia was obviously well educated -while
he..  it didn't matter, it would never work between them.  Perhaps in
another time, in another place..

Loosening her hand, he put it away from him and stood.  "It's time to
go."

Julia watched in silent protest as he dismantled their camp.  His
attitude remained aloof, and when they were ready to leave he mounted
Midnight with a taut, almost angry slant to his harsh-lipped mouth.  He
lifted her with a careless arm and held her on the saddle before him as
they left the sheltered nook and passed between the steep canyon
walls.

Julia couldn't help castingq a regretful last glance at a place she'd
remember for a long time to come.  She knew that for a brief moment
she'd touched him and he wouldn't soon forget their stay here together,
either.

After the initial disappointment over his present attitude had worn
off, Julia turned her thoughts to the reason for his sudden desire to
leave the hot springs.  Something was wrong, but under the present
circumstances, she doubted he'd discuss it with her if she asked.

The journey to the cabin was made almost completely in silence.  It
seemed to take longer than the trip out, but then again, she'd been
convinced they were traveling in circles part of the day.  That only
served to make her realize how unfamiliar she was with the area and
didn't make her feel any better about the way things stood between
herself and her silent riding partner.

It was late evening when they arrived at a spot about a quarter of a
mile from the cabin.  Julia was exhausted and looking forward to a
visit to the outhouse.  She'd thought about asking Ryder to stop, but
his posture had been so unyielding , she hadn't wanted to.

Ryder brought Midnight to an abrupt halt on the crest of a hill
overlooking the small valley where the cabin stood sheltered by
mountains on all four sides.  He dismounted and led the horse and its
rider to a secluded spot among the rocks.  There he stopped and handed
the reins up to Julia.

She accepted them with raised brows and asked, "What's wrong?  "

He didn't answer.  Withdrawing the pistol from its holster Ryder
checked to make certain each chamber was loaded, then held the gun out
to her by its barrel.

Julia sat looking at it without making any effort to take it.  "I don't
want that."  "Take it.  I'm going to have a look around the cabin
before we ride down."

"" Because sometimes it's smart to know what you're walking into before
you walk into it.  Here, " he repeated impatiently, " take the gun. "

"I don't want it," she repeated stubbornly, trying to pull her fingers
away when he lifted her hand, turned it over, and tried to fold her
fingers around the handle of the gun.  If he wouldn't tell her what was
going on, she decided stubbornly , she wasn't going to cooperate.

Paying no attention to her continued refusal, he forced the gun into
her hand and closed her fingers over it.  "If for some reason I don't
come back, you'll be glad you have this."  His glance locked with hers.
"If that should happen, don't come looking for me, just head out of
here as fast as you can.  Go due east and ride like hell-don't stop for
anything -you got that?"

Julia stared at him with startled eyes and didn't answer.

"You got that?"  he asked again, tightening his hand over hers and
giving it an insistent shake.

She nodded.

"After a while, you'll come to a town situated at the base of the
mountains.  You'll be all right there.  Somebody'll help you get to
wherever you want to go."

Lifting his rifle from its scabbard, Ryder turned away.

"Wait!"

Ryder hesitated a fraction before turning back.  Laying the rifle
across one arm and resting the other one along its barrel , he met her
eyes steadily and waited for her to speak.

"Why are you doing this?"  she asked with a frown.  "What is it you
expect to find down there?"

He wasn't going to tell her about the Indians.  There wasn't any use in
her wonying about trouble, before trouble knew her name.  He'd seen the
bravest of men turn weak kneed when faced with a band of half-crazed,
painted Indians on the warpath.

"Just do like I say," he answered dispassionately, "and don't worry
about anything else."

The sun flared as it began to slide below the tops of the mountains at
his back, bathing his tall figure in a glow of bright light.  Julia
blinked, and when she opened her eyes he was gone.  For a moment she
was filled with the darkest sense of apprehension she'd ever known, and
then, like Ryder , it too was gone.

Time passed and she grew restless.  Why wasn't he back?

She was exhausted, and after the nights she'd spent sleeping on the
ground, the thought of the feather mattress on the bed in the cabin was
very inviting.

At first she had no intention of getting off MidnighYs back, but as
time passed and she got no relief from the pain in her tailbone by
shifting her weight from one hip to the other, she decided she couldn't
stand it a moment longer.

She simply had to get off to relieve the agony.

Climbing gingerly off the horse, she stood for a moment looking at the
reins, at a loss as to what to do with them.  She started to drop them,
then realized she'd never seen Ryder drop the reins when he dismounted.
What had he done with them?

With a shrug she tied the two pieces of rawhide together i in a granny
knot and looped them over the saddle horn

There, that would do, now they wouldn't drag on the ground and get
caught beneath Midnight's feet.

Using both hands she rubbed at the sore spot on her lower back.  When
the pain had eased a bit, she walked around the horse, hoping to remove
some of the kinks caused by sitting for so long.  It also helped to get
the circulation started again in her feet and lower legs.

The day had been hot and dusty, and on the ride home the canteen had
been passed often between the two of them, but she was still thirsty.
She didn't think she'd ever get the taste of dust out of her mouth.
Lifting the canteen from its resting place, she unscrewed the lid and
took a long satisfying swig.

The water was tepid and tasted slightly metallic, but as she let it
trickle down the back of her throat a little at a time, she knew that
nothing, not even the sparkling bottled water she was used to drinking,
served chilled or over chipped ice, could taste any better at this
moment.  Replacing the lid, she wiped the back of one hand across her
mouth, hung the canteen across the saddle horn and turned away.

It felt so good to be on solid ground.  She wandered away from Midmght,
who was busy chewing on tufts of tall, purplish grass she'd heard Ryder
refer to as needle grass, and looked for a comfortable spot where she
might stretch out and wait for Ryder's return.  Unable to find a place
that didn't look as though it harbored things like spiders and snakes,
she turned back after a few minutes.

Her eyes lifted to the spot where she'd left Midnight and Julia stopped
dead in her tracks.  Where was he?  Scanning the immediate area with
disbelieving eyes, she started to run.  What was it about this country
that had man and animal disappearing in the blink of an eye?

Julia searched frantically in the failing light without finding any
trace of the horse.  Even though she stumbled around boulders and past
short, stunted trees and through the tall grass, forgetting her earlier
fear of creepy-craw lies it was no good.  He was gone.

She looked down at the gun clutched in her hand and decided

Ryder would probably turn it on her when he discovered the horse was
missing.

"Midnight!"  she called anxiously.  "Where are you?  Here, boy-here
Midnight!  Here, horse!  Where have you gotten to?-damn it!"

What was she going to do?

Ryder kept well hidden as he moved through tufts of yellow foxtail,
needle grass and timothy across the field toward the cabin.  From the
ridge it had looked deserted, but he knew that could simply be a guise
to lure him into a trap.  Keeping that in mind, he stayed low as he ran
from the cover of rocks and bush to the back of the corral.

He quickly scanned the corral, saw it looked undisturbed , and moved
around the side of the building, hugging the wall.  His rifle ready, he
inched his way toward the front of the cabin, listening for sounds that
would indicate the cabin was occupied.

At the door, bracing himself for action, he threw the cabin door wide
and leaped over the threshold.  Knees bent and shoulders hunched, rifle
level, he scanned the cabin's dim interior.

It was empty.  Kneeling before the stones of the fireplace he pushed a
finger into the ashes, searching for heat, but the ashes were cold. The
cabin was safe-for the time being, at least.  ; Next he visited the
mine shaft and the root cellar to make ; certain no one was lying in
wait until night to make their move known.  He found no sign of
visitors, either white or red.

Stepping out of the root cellar, he looked toward the hills where he'd
left Julia.  He'd been gone a long time.  He figured it was time to go
and get her, before she decided he wasn t coming back and lit out on
Midnight.

He returned via a different route, just to make sure he hadn't missed
anything, keeping his eyes peeled for Indians In the morning he'd take
a better look around for fresh signs, but tonight he was worn out and
it looked safe enough to stay in the cabin.

While he made his way to the hillside where he'd left Julia , his mind
was busy with thoughts of what he should do ; in light of what he'd
learned at the Shoshone camp.  He realized that since Julia had
arrived, he'd been entertaining thoughts of leaving the Wyoming
Territory.  He could head south across the border into Mexico, or go
north into Canada

Mexico was sunny and warm, and once he crossed the border the long arm
of the law wouldn't be able to reach him there.  But the weather in
Canada was more like his home , or so he'd been told.  He'd never been
there; maybe it was time he gave it a try.

What about Julia?  What was he going to do about her?

He figured he was wrong to suspect her of being a bounty , hunter or
having anything to do with the law.  It just didn't fit what he knew
about her-or least ways, what he thought j he knew about her.

He'd been plumb stupid to keep her with him at the cabin.

If she'd been working with somebody to capture him for the reward on
his head she'd have made her move by now, and he knew it.  She made him
think of a home with kids running in the yard, maybe a small herd of
cattle..

Whoa!  He put a bridle on such thoughts.  Who was he kidding?  He was a
wanted man.  The law wouldn't let him settle down and raise a family
just as though he was like everyone else.

He'd busted out of prison, and a guard had been killed.  Even though
he'd had nothing to do with that, he'd been tarred with the same brush
as those who did.  The law would never let him be, not now.

Ryder came upon the spot where he'd left Julia with Midnight.  He
halted and turned this way and that, looking for them, but they were
gone.  Julia and Midnight were gone!

He couldn't believe his eyes.  Hunkering down, he studied the signs on
the ground where he'd last seen them, but it was getting dark, almost
too dark to read them.  From what he could make out, it looked as
though Midnight had gone in one direction, while Julia had gone in
another.

He had a choice to make.  He could either go after his horse, or search
for the woman.  He hesitated, torn by the knowledge that if Midnight
was captured by Indians he'd never see him again and the fear that
Julia wouldn't survive a night spent alone in the mountains.

There was really only one choice he could make and he knew it, but that
fact only served to make him angrier than he already was.  The fool
woman hadn't paid any attention to anything he'd taught her.  She
belonged back East, where she wouldn't get herself, or anybody else who
had the misfortune of making her acquaintance, killed.  And that's
exactly where she'd go after this, if he had anything to say about
it.

He found her a short while later wandering in the hills near the river.
And with the kind of noise she was making, it was a wonder she hadn't
been surrounded by the whole Sioux, Cheyenne and Shoshone tribes.

Circling around in front of her, he stepped out from the cover of a
choke cherry bush and stood directly in her path.  Julia let out a
scream and Ryder grabbed her, jerking her up against him, smothering
any further cries with a hand over her mouth.

When she'd calmed enough to realize who had her, she quit struggling
and sagged against him, and Ryder removed his hand from her mouth.

"Oh, God, I thought you were-" She broke off to shake her head.  "I
don't know-I don't know-I'm so glad to see you !  " She threw her arms
around his waist and hugged him unpulsively.

Ryder stiffened and pushed her away.  "I thought I told you to stay
put," he said curtly.

"I know, and I did-I was, but, Midnight didn't.  I just turned my back
for a moment, only a moment, and the next thing I knew "

"Here, give me that," he said, taking the Colt .  45 she was waving
about in her anxiety, "before you shoot somebody"

"I can't understand it-honest-I only turned away for a second."

"Did you hobble him like I showed you?"

"Hobble him?"  she repeated with a dawning sense of guilt.  "No... I
didn't think about it-but I tied the ropes together and put them over
the saddle horn

"Well, that's just dandy," he interrupted her furiously.  " " If you
looped those tied reins over the saddle horn he won't be able to lower
his head far enough to eat or drink!  "

"I'm sorry," she apologized in a tiny voice.  "But he'll be all right,
won't he?"

He wasn't backing down.  She'd done an asinine thing, and it could cost
Midnight his life.  "I don't know.  If he manages to find his way home,
he might be.  If not, he'll be easy game to a pack of hungry timber
wolves or coyotes."

"You mean they might..."

"ThaYs right, or he might break his leg-and then, if I ever do see him
again, I'd have to shoot him."

"Shoot him," Julia breathed in horror.

"Come on," Ryder said, taking her arm in a rough grip.

"Where are we going?"

"To the cabin."

"But-" She hung back.  "Aren't you going to look for him?" 

"I'd have about as much chance of finding him tonight, as I'd have in
finding a fly in a currant pie," he answered churlishly, throwing her
arm away.

"I'm truly sorry," she whispered in a subdued voice, almost running to
keep up with him.  " " I was only looking for someplace to rest..  I
didn't think"

"That's exactly what you didn't do," he interrupted bitterly , "You
didn't think!"

Back at the cabin, Julia sat on one of the wooden chairs, rubbing her
right knee.  The pace Ryder had set on their descent to the valley
hadn't done it any good.  She glanced at his figure kneeling before the
fireplace and looked quickly away when he glanced up and caught her
eyes on him.

He was attempting to start a fire with flint and steel.  The
sulphur-tipped matches he used very sparingly, because of short supply,
were rolled in a piece of waterproof buckskin and secured in his
bedroll somewhere on Midnight's back.

Julia glanced at him furtively, noting the tight lips and clenched jaw.
He hadn't said anything more about her letting

Midnight wander away, but his anger hung like a heavy pall over the
atmosphere in the cabin.  Every now and then he mumbled something to
himself as he struck flint against steel without getting the desired
result.

She'd made a mistake, Julia admitted to herself-a bad one-and she was
sorry for it.  If there was a way she could make it up to him she
would.  She'd buy him another horse-no, it wouldn't be the same.
Midnight was more than just a horse to Ryder, he was a friend, and you
couldn't buy friends.

When the fire was finally lit, Ryder made them some hot tea.  He handed
her a cup with a piece of dried venison to chew on and mumbled
something about taking a last look outside before turning in for the
night.

I. eft alone, Julia sipped at the aromatic tea, but didn't touch the
meat.  When the cup was empty, she took a pillow and blanket from the
bed and laid them beside the bearskin near the fireplace.  Ryder hadn't
lit any candles, and Julia didn't bother to, either.  In the light of
the fire she dressed in the nightgown and climbed into bed.

Hours later, Ryder lay sleeping before the fire, and Julia lay watching
him.  She had really fallen in love this time; she knew that, because
she wanted to stay here with this man , Ryder McCall.  The old Julia
would already be on her way, running from the mistakes she'd made,
running from Ryder 's anger, from his almost paranoid insistence that
danger lurked all around them.

She knew all about running, she'd been running when she found the cabin
and Ryder.  She was good at it, because she d done it so many times in
the past.  But not this time, this time she was going to stay and see
things through to the end.  Whatever Ryder needed from her, she was
going to be there to provide it.

This time, Julia, a new and stronger Julia, had found her niche in
life, and she wasn't going to give it up without a fight.

Chapter 9

cc

Bar the door after I leave, don't venture outside, and don't open it
for anything till I get back.  You got that?  " Ryder tucked his rifle
beneath his arm and waited for her reply.

Still half asleep, Julia wrapped the blanket more tightly around her
and nodded.  It was chilly this morning, even if it was somewhere in
the middle of June, and her toes curled against the cold boards of the
cabin's rough floor.

"I'll take the rifle, you keep this."  Ryder used his free hand to
remove the gun belt and lay it and the gun on the table.  "Keep it
close-use it if you have to.  Shoot first and ask questions later,
that's the only safe thing to do in times like these.  "

Julia glanced at the unwieldy-looking gun with its six-inch barrel and
looked quickly away.  She didn't believe in violence There wasn't a
problem in the world that couldn't be settled if people talked to each
other.  And that was what she and Ryder McCall needed to do, talk.

"Did you hear me?"  he asked tersely.  " y ,  y

What-oh, yes, I heard you Julia answered quickly.

"Then remember it."  He made as if to turn away, paused and took a step
closer.

Julia felt her heart accelerate at the fleeting expression in his dark
eyes.

"I don't know how long I'll be gone."  His gaze rested on the pale hand
holding the blanket together at her throat.  He couldn't look at her
face because it was.  all soft and innocentlooking, from sleep, and if
he did he'd forget why he was angry with her and he didn't want to
forget.  Anger was the only thing keeping him from taking her in his
arms that very moment.

"Not long, I hope," he added gruffly, turning without another word and
striding firmly toward the door.  i " " Ryder!  " , He paused, closed
his eyes for a second and kept his back turned.

"Please, be careful."  The words were dragged from her !  by the
solemnity of the moment.  Whether the implied threat out there was
real, or only imagined, Ryder believed in it.  ; She wanted him to know
she cared about his safety.

After he'd gone, Julia barred the door dutifully as he'd instructed.
She added a few sticks of wood to the fire and went back to bed.
Snuggling beneath the covers, she found herself staring unblinkingly at
the twisting flames in the fireplace.  Soon her thoughts became
unfocused.  If she let herself go, she could imagine this was truly a
hundred years ago and she and Ryder were pioneers eking out a living on
the untamed frontier.

A sad, almost whimsical smile curled the edges of her lips as her eyes
drifted shut.  How wonderful it would be if that were true.  That would
mean that none of the mistakes she'd made in the past would have
happened and she could start life fresh at Ryder's side.

Life must have been simpler back then.  relationships far less
complicated.  Julia awakened slowly to her surroundings with eyes still
closed.  She felt warm, too warm.  She swallowed with a dry throat, her
mouth feeling as though it were filled with cotton She listened
carefully, hearing only an occasional unidentified pop and snap.

One eye opened and fell immediately on the fireplace.  The fire had
burned down until there was nothing left but brightly glowing red
coals.  The popping sound came again as a pocket of air exploded in one
of the logs and sparks flew in all directions.

Her glance shifted lazily from the fire to the dark, shaggy hair of the
bearskin resting on the floor near the fireplace.  A shaft of white
light streamed down onto it, and Julia could see dust motes dancing in
its glow.

Her eyes slowly followed the thin streak of light to its source.  The
wood shutters on the window were closed, but a gap between two of the
uneven boards allowed the bright ray of sunshine to spill into the
room.

Shoving the blankets down to her waist, Julia pushed sleep-snarled red
hair from her eyes, yawned and stretched.  What time was it?  Her eyes
roamed the room, automatically seeking a clock, before she remembered
that keeping track of the time wasn't a necessary prerequisite for her
present style of living.  There was no clock-watching done here.

Loosening the tangle of blankets around her lower limbs, she sat up on
the side of the bed, then stood.  The first order of business this
morning was a trip to the bathroom rather , the outhouse.  Ryder had
introduced her to the chamber pot kept beneath the bed, but Julia
wasn't about to use that, even if she was alone.

Without bothering to put on the moccasins he'd given her, she hurried
toward the door.  Her hands were on the bar across it when she
remembered his warning tci stay inside while he was gone.  But surely
he hadn't taken into account the amount of time he'd be gone, or her
present need.

Lifting the bar, she opened the door cautiously and peered through its
narrow gap.  The sun was high, she judged it to be somewhere around
noon.  Ryder had left very early that morning; he probably hadn't
counted on being gone this long when he'd told her to stay inside.  If
he had, surely he'd have conceded her need to visit the outhouse-no,
he'd have expected her to use the chamber pot.

Well, she wouldn't do it!  Why shouldn't she go to the outhouse?  It
was daylight' outside and there wasn't a thing in sight that might hurt
her.  She hadn't heard the sound of another human voice, or seen any
sign of another human being, with the exception of Ryder, since she'd
arrived.  And she saw no reason to fear something she could neither see
nor hear.

Pulling the door back with a flourish, thinking Ryder would never know,
Julia hurried outside in bare feet.  Skirts flying, she rounded the
cabin and made a dash down the track toward the small wooden structure
enclosed on three sides by tall rocks.

Her return a few minutes later was made in a more leisurely fashion.
Her right knee was telling her to take it easy, unless she wanted to be
hobbling around on a crutch again.  As she drew near the garden she
veered toward it and stopped to pick a ripe red tomato.

Wiping it on the skirt of her gown, she bit into its tender flesh with
relish, tasted its tart sweetness, and felt the juice run down her
chin.  She wiped it off with a satisfied smile, lifting her face to the
warmth of the sun.

Life here could be so wonderful if only Ryder could forget , as she was
learning to forget, all the harshness in the modern world.  It was he
who had created this small haven of peace in the midst of a world
filled with strife.  Why couldn't he enjoy it?  Why did he insist on
filling it with demons from his past?  That was what he must be doing,
it was the only logical explanation for his fear.

Julia's gaze traveled from garden to corral, cabin to root cellar, and
finally touched on the two graves in the distance She liked it here and
didn't want to leave, not ever.  The determination behind that
realization came as something of a shock.  This wasn't the first time
she'd thought about staying here, but always before, she'd centered her
reasons for wanting to stay on Ryder and a desire to know him better.
Now she realized there was more to it than that.

It wasn't only Ryder's presence making her want to stay; it was more.
She felt a kinship with this vast land of beautiful rolling hills,
sage-covered prairie and majestic mountain ranges.  She belonged to
this land in a way she'd never belonged to any other place.  She'd
found her home, her true place in life, and she wasn't going to leave
without a fight.

Julia laughed self-consciously at such fanciful thoughts; no one was
forcing her to leave.  She shivered and slanted a glance around her,
telling herself the feeling of eyes watching her was only in her
imagination.  If she was going to help Ryder, she couldn't succumb to
such feelings of paranoia when she was alone.

Shrugging off the feeling, her steps grew lighter, and she did a little
dance as she made her way back to the cabin.  Her excitement grew at
the thought of seeing Ryder again now that she'd made the decision to
stay.  And that was exactly what she'd decided.  If Ryder would allow
it, she'd stay..  indefinitely.

One way or another she was determined to make him realize how wonderful
life could be for the two of them..  if only he'd let it.

In the cabin, Julia poured hot water from a kettle hanging over the
fire into the washbasin sitting on the corner of the table.  With a
smile for his thoughtfulness, she realized Ryder must have put it there
for her before he left.  She washed her face and hands and was about to
throw the water out when she decided to make a more complete job of
it.

She was going to fix her hair and wear something more feminine than the
buckskin trousers and shirt he'd seen her in for the past few days. She
wanted to make him take note of her as a woman.  It would make the
proposal she intended making to him a little easier.

She'd finished her bath and was dressed when she began to look for the
comb and brush made of ivory Ryder had given her to use.  They should
have been lying on top in the trunk, but they weren't.  She remembered
she hadn't taken either of them with her on the trip to the hot springs
because she'd been afraid she might lose them.  So that meant they
weren't tied up in Ryder's bedroll somewhere on Midnight 's back-they
had to be here.

Getting down on her hands and knees, she looked under the bed, paying
special attention to the small space between the end of the bed and the
back of the trunk.  Something caught her eye, but she couldn't see well
enough without more light to identify it.

If only she had something long, she could slide it into the small space
and push whatever it was out into the open.  Her eyes scanned the
contents of the room and landed on a broom leaning against the wall
near the tub.  It wasn't a broom like she was used to-it looked more
like the ones depicted in cartoons about witches, but it was a broom
nonetheless and it had a long handle.  A moment later, using the rough
wood handle, she pushed it into the narrow opening and shoved with all
her might.  After two tries, she finally managed to push the object
from the gap and out onto the floor on the far side of the bed.

Dropping the broom, she climbed on the bed and scooted across it to
hang off the other side.  She was reaching toward what looked like a
rope, not a comb and brush-when it moved !  ; Julia froze.  Screwing up
her eyes, she peered closer and i saw it move again.  A peculiar sound
began to fill the silence , and every muscle in her body became rigid.
She couldn'tqeven breathe!  She'd never seen one outside the movies or
television, but that didn't keep her from recognizing that unmistakable
sound.

Rattlesnake!

' Ryder removed the saddle from Midnight's back and lowered it to the
ground.  He drew the halter down over the stall1 on proud head and took
the bit from his mouth.

"Okay, boy, now you can go get something to eat and , drink."  He
patted the muscular flank and watched as the horse moved slowly toward
the water trough.  ; Ryder was in a forgiving mood.  He'd found
Midnight easy enough, because the stallion had only wandered a few
miles upriver. He didn't look as though he'd come to any harm, and
Ryder was plenty thankful for that.  , ; It was still early when he'd
found the horse, so he decided to take the t1me and check some snares
he had set in an area close to the cabin.  Two of them had netted him a
rabbit and a prairie chicken.  And that put him in an even better frame
of mind.

He'd tied the game together, slung their carcasses across the saddle
horn and headed back to the cabin.  He hadn't gone more than a couple
of miles when he'd run across a hunting party of Indians.  Ryder had
hung back in the cover of trees and watched and listened.  They were
Shoshone, but he made no attempt to attract their attention.  After
hearing the conversation between the two Shoshone braves near their
large camp at the hot springs, he didn't want to take any chances that
the fever of battle had spread this far south.

The fact of their being so close to the cabin continued to worry him.
This time it was Shoshone hunters looking for wild game; the next time
it could be a war party of Sioux.  It was lucky he'd found Midnight
when he had, otherwise they probably would have found him and Ryder
would be without a horse.

He wondered if there was any news of the battle Chief Washakie had left
to take part in, but he'd hung back in cover, even though the distance
made it difficult to hear, and waited for them to leave.  Ever
conscious of the fact that if anything happened to him, Julia would be
alone.

Julia..  just thinking her name gave him pleasure.  It just might be
that he'd have to take the chance of getting caught and take her to
town, where she'd be safe.  He'd been thinking about that since the
night he'd kissed her at the pool.

Once the Indians had left, Ryder had ridden hell-bent-for leather
straight back to the cabin.  He told himself it was because he had
worried about her safety, but he knew deep inside it was more than
that.  He couldn't wait to see her sweet face again, or hear her say
his name with that breathless little catch the way she'd said it that
mornine.

Ryder left the game he'd caught on the tree stump beside the ax
sticking in it and quickly made his way toward the cabin.

Julia's eyes darted from the snake coiled at the edge of the table leg
to the top of the table.  She could just make out the shape of the gun
and holster lying beneath the towel she'd used for her bath.

It seemed as though she'd been crouched on the bed for hours watching
the snake, waiting for it to move and fearing that when it did, it
might move toward the bed.  Finally it moved, and her worst fears came
true as it slithered out of sight beneath the bed.  She had a terrible
few seconds wonde ring if the flat head would appear over the
edge of the bed.  But Julia breathed a sigh of relief when it moved
slowly into sight and made its way toward the table.

She thought about it and realized it must have gotten inside when she'd
gone to the outhouse.  She'd left the door standing open, and the snake
had probably come inside looking for relief from the midday sun.

Her eyes moved toward the gun.  She'd never fired a gun in her life. If
she tried she'd probably only miss and end up making the snake more
nervous than it already appeared.  She'd heard somewhere that
rattlesnakes could attack without provocation.

"Miz Southern-ma'am!"  Ryder's deep voice bellowed softly, suddenly,
into the silence.

Julia gave a startled little yelp and jerked a glance toward the heavy
door.  He was back!

The sound of Ryder's voice appeared to have startled the snake, too.
The gray, brown-splotched head lifted, and small, beady eyes stared at
Julia coldly, unblinkingly.  The tail, consisting of four-no
five-joints waved back and forth hypnotically.  Julia found she could
hardly take her eyes off it.

"Miz Southern-Julia-are you in there?"  He thought he'd heard her
voice, but now there was only silence.

Julia drew herself up on the bed in consternation and stared from the
snake to the closed door.  She'd forgotten to bar it!  What was she
going to do?  All he had to do was push on the door and "Don't come
in!" she called sharply, glancing again at the snake's rattle as it
began to quiver faster.

"Are you ill?"  Ryder asked in quick concern.

"N-no, I'm fine.  I-" She didn't know what to say.  She didn't know
what to do!

"Are you... decent?"  he asked diffidently, thinking the breathless
sound of her voice might be caused by embarrassment at being caught
without clothes.

"Yes-no-that's it.  I'm dressing!"  Maybe if he thought she was
dressing he'd go away for a while and the snake would get tired and go
to sleep and then she could sneak past it.

"Oh, well-I'll just take care of Midnight and come back when you're
done."

"F-fine-Midnight!  Did you say you found Midnight?  G-good, good.  Is
he all right?"  She was talking to keep him there, because despite her
idea of making a run for the door, she didn't want him to go away and
leave her alone again with the snake.

Ryder was on the point of leaving, but something held him back.
"Midnight's fine.  Are you sure you're all right?"  he asked
uncertainly.

When she didn't immediately answer, he put a hand against the door,
felt it give, and made a quick decision.  "If you don't have any
clothes on you better cover up, 'cause I'm coming inside."

"No!"  He wouldn't stand a chance against the rattlesnake It was much
too close to the door, and she knew they were quick and dangerous. "You
can't.  There's a snake-a rattlesnake-in here!  "

"My God, woman!"  he bellowed.  "Why didn't you tell me before now? Are
you snake bit?"

"I was afraid to tell you," she admitted in a weak voice.

"Are you snake bit?"  he repeated tensely.  " " No-no, I'm not.  " " "
Where' sthe snake?  "

Julia bunched a corner of a blanket in her hands nervously The snake
was getting jittery.  The coil it had made of its body became tighter.
and it had raised its head at least a foot off the floor.  The rattle
quivered faster.

But that wasn't what frightened her the most.  Somehow, it seemed to
sense she wasn't the threat.  The snake's unwavering attention had
become focused on the cabin door.  " " It' shy the table, " she
answered in a loud whisper, " "just below the leg nearest to the
door-and I think it knows you're out there," she added fearfully.  " "
Keep back, I'm comin' in !  "

Ryder shoved against the door.  Julia leapt from the bed and without
giving a thought to what she was doing, threw the blanket she held
clutched between cold, shaking hands over the deadly snake covering it
completely.  Grabbing one of the wooden chairs hurriedly, she tumbled
it over on top of the blanket.  By the time Ryder had slammed the door
back on its hinges and entered the room with his rifle at the ; ready,
the danger was over.

"Where is it?"  he whispered tautly, pointing his gun at the floor as
he peered around cautiously.

Unable to speak, Julia pointed toward the wriggling lump beneath the
blanket.  She was sitting on the rungs of the overturned chair, her
arms wrapped around the quivering knees she d drawn up to her chin.

"You're sitting on the snake?"  he asked incredulously.

Julia nodded.  "Ab-bite can be d-deadly," she explained shakily.  "I
was afraid it would strike you before you could shoot it.

"Besides," she confessed with trembling lips, "it's my fault the snake
got inside.  I left the door open.  The snake q. shouldn't have to die
because of my mistake."

Ryder shook his head as he lifted her off the chair and earned her to
the bed, where he sat her down gently.  Striding to the chair, he
gathered the snake up in the blanket and took it outside.

A few moments later, he returned empty-handed.  "I left ; the blanket
outside on a bush."

"

" The snake"

"Is somewhere in the grass out back."

Julia noddedq Her limbs were still shaking so badly she didn t think
she d be able to stand if she had wanted to.

"Are you all right?"  he asked with quick concern, seeing the state she
was m.

"I'm fine.  I was never in any danger-not re all ,

"Where's the gun I left you?"  he asked abruptlyy, his face , wiped of
all expression.

Julia averted her eyes and pointed to the table.  Now she was in for
it.

"Why is it on the table, instead of in your hand?  I told you to keep
it with you-didn't I?"

Julia nodded silently.

"And why was the door left open?"  He was becoming angrier by the
second and suddenly suspicious.  "Where did you go?  " .  " " Nowhere.
"

"Nowhere!  You don't leave the door open so a snake can get inside if
you don't go nowhere!  Don't you pay any mind to anything I tell
you?"

"" I had to go to the outhouse, " she explained in her defense " "You
had to go to the outhouse, " he repeated slowly.

"Yes."  All at once Julia's glance challenged him.  "You said not to go
outside, but you didn't take into account certain .  functions one must
perform."

Ryder's glance slid from her sparking green eyes to the toe of his
boot.  His discomfort about discussing such intimate details with a
lady returned full force, but this time he was too angry to back down.
"" You could have used the"

"No, I could not!"  She knew he'd mention the chamber pot.

"You could have died before I got back," he persisted doggedly.  "If I
hadn't found my horse-damn it-that's another thing, I wouldn't have had
to go looking for Midnight if you had done like I told you yesterday
and stayed put!"

"Well, really," Julia exclaimed in a fed-up voice, "I suppose
everything is all my fault now.  It's my fault Midnight got away, my
fault you had to go after him, my fault I had to visit the john, and my
fault the snake was looking for a cool place to rest"

She was running out of breath.  "My fault I left the damned door open,
my fault-all my fault!"  She felt like throwing something at his
head.

"Why didn't you use the gun?"  Ryder persisted mulishly He'd never
argued with a woman before, and her quick changes of mood confused
him.

"I didn't use it," she rounded on him furiously, "because

I don't know how to use the damned thing!  "

"Don't know how to use it?"  he repeated in consternation , shocked at
her use of profanity.  Cussing was a man's thing, not a lady's.

"Is that all you can do," she asked irritably, "repeat whatever I
say?"

"I don't understand you," he told her with a frown.

"You knew I left the gun-I've been leaving the gun-so i you could
protect yourself.  If you didn't know how to use it, why didn't you
just say so?"

"I..."  She shrugged, at a loss all at once for words.  "I ," didn't
want to," she finally admitted.  " I didn't want you to think I
was-ignorant.  "

"You didn't want me to think you were ignorant," he repeated with
deceptive mildness, moving up behind her and taking her by the
shoulders, turning her to face him.  " " Have you any.  idea what can
happen to someone alone in this country without a weapon?  Any idea at
all?  Ignorant He laughed without humor.  "No, I don't think you're
ignorant-I think you're just plain dumb!"

Julia gasped and jerked away from him.  "Dumb!  Why you-you-hick!
Don'tyou dare call me names!"

"What would you call risking your life and the lives of others without
reason?"  He took a step toward her, pointed a finger beneath her nose
and answered his own question.

I'call it dumb, plain, ordinary, common, dumb !  "

Get out!  Julia screamed.  "Get out of here-before I use the gun on
yocc !"  Hurrying toward the table, she swept the towel aside, grabbed
the gun from its holster and whirled toward him, waving it in the
air.

But he was gone.  The door stood open, attesting to the fact he d taken
her at her word-he'd gotten out.

Julia looked from the empty doorway to the gun in her hand, realized
what she held and felt tears clog the back of her throat.  Very
carefully, she laid the gun down on the table and backed away.

Moving numbly toward the rocking chair, she dropped down onto the hard
wooden seat, put her hands over her face and cried.  This is not how
she'd pictured their first conversation on his return, not how she'd
pictured it at all..

Ryder stood in the doorway and stared at the woeful picture she made.
He hadn't meant to make her cry.  True, she'd acted foolishly in the
past couple of days, endangering not y , on!  her own life but his and
Midnight s, too.  Still, he hadn't acted any better just now, when he'd
argued with her.  What she needed was to be taught the proper ways of
the West, not yelled at.  " " Stop crying and come with me, " he
demanded abruptly.  He didn't like to see her in tears, but didn't know
how to apologize.  He'd never had the need to apologize to a woman
before now.

Julia wiped both cheeks with the palms of her hands, sniffed, and
denied haughtily, "I'm not crying.  And why would I want to go anywhere
with a man who thinks I'm stupid?"  she added huffily.

"I didn't say you were stupid, I said you were dumb.  And you are," he
maintained stubbornly.  "Least ways, it looks like you are about guns,
and what it takes to survive in this country."  He wanted to make it
plain that he wasn't starting another argument with her before she
could get her dander up again.  Then he couldn't help adding, "I wonder
how you got this far, without getting yourself killed."

"

Well, excuse me, but life in Boston, or California, for that matter,
didn't prepare me for you or any of this," she gestured with one hand
toward their surroundings.

"I understand that.  That's why I've decided to teach you how to
shoot."

"What?"  Julia was on her feet in an instant.  "I don't want to learn
how to shoot."

"Why not?"

"Well... because I haven't any need to learn.1 refuse to kill
anything."  " " What if you come across another rattler, one who ain't
so patient this time?  "

"That's easy," she grinned cheekily, "I'll simply call for you."

"And if I'm not around?"

She could tell by the stubborn set to his jaw he wasn't going to let
this go.  She might just as well cooperate, or at least pretend to
cooperate, and save time.  After he saw how inept she was at it, maybe
he'd be happy to forget all about any more shooting lessons.

"All right," she said, giving in.  "Let's get this over with."

Outside, on the hill near the front of the cabin, Ryder had placed a
row of empty cans from the root cellar as targets.

He must have been sure of himself, she thought, as she screwed up her
eyes and peered at them in the distance.  " " y y is

Surely you don't expect me to hit any of those from here?  she asked in
amazement.

"This is easy," he answered.  "When you get good, you'll be able toqhit
all of them dead center from the doorway of the cabin.

"I doubt that," she muttered beneath her breath.  "I doubt that very
much."

"You ready?"  he asked from behind her.

"As ready as I'll ever be," she replied tartly.

Ryder moved up behind her, put his right arm around her shoulder, with
the Colt in his hand, and lowered it so she could look down the barrel
at the sight.  "You see that?"

Julia felt his mustache brush against her right ear and couldn t
control the sudden shiver that raced down her spine.  She took a deep
breath to help get herself under control and found herself more aware
of him than she'd ever been.  He smelled like sunshine, tobacco,
horseflesh and man-sweat.  An_ d she'd never known a more potent
aphrodisiac

"Are you listening?"  Ryder asked testily.

"Y-yes, of course I am.  You said..."

"I asked if you can spot the target down the end of the barrel, just
above the sight."

Julia raised herself on her toes and answered, "Now I can."

Ryder lowered the gun in disgust, took both her hands and clamped them
around the handgrip.  He took hold of her right index finger.  " " This
finger is the one you use to pull the trigger.  You got that?  "

His cheek was so close to hers, she could almost feel the brush of his
whiskers.  "I g-got it."  She swallowed tightly.

"Okay, now straighten out your arms like this.

He proceeded to put his hands on the underside of her upper arms and
his knuckles brushed against the sides of her breasts.  Julia smothered
a gasp as her nipples tightened into hard knots, and she felt the
muscles in her arms begin to quiver.

"No, no," Ryder told her impatiently, "hold the gun steady.  You're
liable to shoot your foot off, or kill what you aren't aiming at, if
you don't."

"Right," Julia murmured, taking a deep breath, " " steady.  " He was so
close she could feel his chest move in and out with each breath.  His
knees fit into the curve at the back of her legs, and if she lowered
her hips just a tiny bit she could almost be sitting on his lap.  The
thought made her knees feel weak.

All at once a vivid memory of the kiss they'd shared sprang into her
mind and her knees gave way.  Ryder caught her back against him, and
the curve of her buttocks molded itself to his groin.

"S-sorry, it must be the heat."  Julia fanned her face with one hand,
the gun dangling heavily from the other.

"What are you doing?"  Ryder asked, trying to pretend he wasn't aware
of her soft curves.  "Don't wave a loaded gun around like that!"  He
reached for the gun, and it went off.  The bullet whistled past his
head and landed in the bush somewhere behind him.

"Oh, my God!"  Julia let go of the gun and it fell to the ground.  "Are
you all right?"  Her hands reached for his face, but Ryder was bending
down to pick up the gun.  " " I can see teaching you how to shoot is
going to take some time," he commented dourly.  " All right, let's take
this from the start.  First, you need to stand like this.  " He showed
her how to stand with feet slightly apart, arms lifted to shoulder
level, the gun held between both hands.  " "You think you can do that?
" He shifted his attention from the target to her face.

Julia nodded.  "How's this?"

"Good, good," he answered approvingly.  "Now, here, you take the
gun-and remember, it's loaded and dangerous" " " Loaded and dangerous,
"Julia repeated.  " " I won't forget"

Once again Ryder took up a stance behind her, placed his arms around
her shoulders, and showed her how to hold the gun in the correct
position.  This time his hands lay alongside the back of hers with his
fingers curled around her wrists.  " " All right, take aim.  You
looking down the sight?  " he asked softly, knowing she was looking up
at him from the corners of her eyes.

"Yes," Julia murmured, turning her face toward the targets and closing
both eyes, aware only of the warmth of his body surrounding hers.

"All right, fire when you're ready."

Julia pulled the trigger, unprepared for the resulting kick.

The gun jerked in her hands, the shot went wild, completely missing the
targets, and she catapulted back into

Ryder's waiting arms.

Ryder gazed down into her face.  It figured.  "You can look now," he
said in disgust.

"Oh, sorry," Julia murmured guiltily, opening her eyes and staring up
into his face.

"It's all right...."  His voice trailed off as he became aware of just
how close they were standing.  Unconsciously, his breathing became
timed with hers.  She was so beautiful, even up close like this.  His
eyes moved from her long, gold tipped lashes, down over the freckles
across the bridge of her nose to her lips.

He'd felt that mouth beneath his once, and he'd never forgotten the
taste of it.  He'd tried, but it was impossible, she haunted his dreams
like a ghost.

"I think you've had enough for one day," he murmured deeply,
remembering the night she'd slept curled around him like a kitten
seeking warmth and the resulting dream.

No!  Julia could see him distancing himself from her, the way he'd
distanced himself from her since the night he'd kissed her, and she
knew she couldn't let that happen again.

She had his attention now, and she wasn't going to give It up so easily
again.

"Notyet!"  She spoke the words aloud.  Ryder looked startled, and she
explained, "I'm not ready ; to stop just yet.  Give me another chance.
I'll do better much better, I promise.  Just show me one more time how
to q; hold the gun."

He studied her for a moment, then moved behind her and lifted his arms.
Julia could feel his hands shaking as he placed them alongside hers.
So, he wasn't as immune to her as he pretended.

Did his blood burn with the same wild rush of passion burning in
hers?

"Is this good?"  she murmured softly, brushing her hips back against
his stomach as she pretended to shift position.  "Am I doing it
right?"

"Y-yes, that's..  good," he whispered in a strained voice.

"And this," she asked in soft suggestive tones, resting her head back
against him and turning her face so their lips were only a whisper
apart, "is this the way you... like it?"

"Yes," he breathed unsteadily.  He was on fire for her.  His face swung
slowly toward hers, and the brim of his hat touched her cheek.
"Just..like... this."

Julia lowered the gun slowly, aware of nothing but him as his hands
slid up her arms to her shoulders and turned her into his chest.  The
forgotten gun dangled from one hand as his lips came down hard on hers.
But somehow, she continued to hang on to it, even as she raised herself
on her toes and lifted her arms up around his neck.

She'd never been kissed by a man with a mustache until Ryder, and she
liked it.  The short stiff hairs made her lips tingle; they tickled her
skin when he brushed his mouth against hers, then trailed his lips down
to the side of her neck.

One of Julia's hands moved to the back of his neck, ruffling the short
hair, making him quiver, as she strained against him standing on her
toes.  She felt his hands move to her waist, and then he was pulling
her closer.

Sliding her fingers through the soft curls at the back of his neck, she
knocked the hat from his head.  Her sudden openmouthed kiss shocked
him, and when her tongue pushed its way past his teeth to his gums
Ryder felt as though his insides caved in.

He couldn't believe the depth of this woman's passion.  He felt one of
her hands slide down his neck, across the front of his shirt, to his
waist.  A moment later she had pulled the shirt from his trousers and
slipped her hand up his naked belly to his chest.

Julia molded herself to him, rocked her hips against his pelvis and
kissed him until he felt as though the ground was being torn from
beneath his feet.  That was when he knew he had to have her.  Lady or
not, he knew he'd never rest until he'd had her naked beneath him, and
not in a dream this time, but in reality.

Lifting her high in his arms, Ryder strode purposefully toward the
cabin.  Julia kissed his chin, took hold of his face with one hand and
tried to draw his mouth down to hers for another kiss.

"Wait, woman, wait," he half muttered, the coroer of his mouth against
hers.  "Let me get you inside...."

But Julia couldn't wait, she'd wanted him for days and her desire for
him had long since grown past the bounds of patience.  Forcing his
mouth to hers, she enfolded his lips with.  hers and kissed him
deeply.

Once inside the cabin, with their lips still locked together , Ryder
slid her slowly down the length of him until her feet touched the
floor.  He was learning fast.

Capturing her face between his palms, he opened his lips over hers and
touched her mouth experimentally with the tip of his tongue.  He liked
it.  He liked the freedom this woman offered him with her love-making.
He drew her bottom lip into his mouth and sucked gently on it, his
groin quickening as he heard her give a soft moan.

Julia began to slide the suspenders down his shoulders.  " " Hurry, "
she murmured between kisses.  " " Oh, hurry I want you !  "

A moment later, Ryder put her abruptly from him.  While he thrilled at
the streak of wildness in her, a part of him was shocked by it.

Julia stared up at him with passion-glazed eyes.  "What is it?"  she
asked in growing bewilderment as he continued to hold her aloft.  "Is
something wrong?"

"

" You-you're so..  wild..  "

"I want you: She tried to press closer, but his hands tightened on her
shoulders, keeping her at bay.  " Don't you want me?  " she asked when
he failed to respond.

"

" Y-yes..  but..  "

"But what?"  The look in his dark eyes was almost one of censure.

Why was he holding back?  Ryder asked himself.  Was he going to deny
himself the pleasure of loving this woman who tied his insides up in
knots because her eagerness reminded him of the past-of his mother?

"Have I done something wrong?"  Julia asked hesitantly'I only want to
make you happy.  " She withdrew slightly.  " " If you don't want me"

Ryder's head dipped, and his mouth took the words from her lips.
Bunching his fingers in her hair, he pushed them through the long,
curly red strands, spreading them against the sides of her face.

He loved the silky softness of her hair, he wanted to feel it next to
his skin.  His hands glided down her back to her waist, his palms
cupped her derriere and pulled her hard against him, removing any
lingering doubt she might have about whether or not he wanted her.

Kicking the door shut, Ryder let her go only long enough to drop the
bar into place, then he was moving with her toward the bed.  Julia
stood where he'd left her, waiting impatiently as he lifted the smock
over her head.  She wanted to be in his arms with his mouth pressed
hotly over hers.

Beneath the smock Julia wore the delicate lace underwear she'd almost
lost her life trying to save in the river.  Ryder felt his heart stop,
then kick against his ribs as the enchanting beauty of her full,
sienna-tipped breasts, narrow waist, and long tapering thighs were
revealed to his hungry eyes.

"I've wondered what' you look like in these," he whispered thickly,
touching the lacy bra with one finger, "ever since I first saw them
."

"Oh, Ryder."  Julia melted against him, lifting her arms as though to
put them around his neck, but Ryder stopped her.

"I don't think we'll be needing this."  A smile crinkled the corners of
his dark eyes and his mustache twitched with humor as he removed the
forgotten gun clutched in Julia's numb fingers.

Placing the gun on the trunk at the foot of the bed, he turned back to
her and enfolded her in his arms.  "I wanted you the moment I first
laid eyes on you in the mine shaft," he confessed with his lips against
her hair.  " " I wanted you even more at the hot springs.  "

Julia drew back to kiss the corner of his jaw and asked, "Why did you
wait so long to tell me?  Didn't you know I wanted you, too?  "

"I do now," he answered, seeing her passion for him flare in her green
eyes.

Julia climbed on the bed and waited for him to join her, an anxiety
growing inside her as the moments passed.  What if she disappointed
him?

Unaware of her fears, Ryder removed his own clothes with hurried
movements and dropped down on the bed beside her.  He felt humble just
looking at her and could hardly believe she was his to love.

"Come," Julia whispered gently, afraid that if he didn't touch her soon
she'd lose her nerve.  Motioning with both hands, she lay back against
the fluffy down pillows and added, "Come to me-make love with me."

Ryder turned and slid the naked length of his quivering body alongside
hers.  Lying on his side, he reached out to smooth a curl back from one
cheek and let his fingers glide down the ivory skin of her neck to the
hollow between her breasts.

Julia closed her eyes and raised her taut breasts, heavy with desire,
to his touch.  Ryder made her feel beautiful, unlike her ex-husband,
who had always complained she was lost in her painting even when they
made love, and he made her feel desirable.

She felt the palm of his hand skim over the taut nipple of one breast,
and then he was cupping it gently in his palm.  A moment later, his
head dipped and she felt the gentle prick of his mustache stab
sensitive skin as his lips closed over the nipple.

Julia's eyes opened wide, she caught her breath, and her glance fell on
the top of his head.  Leaning forward, she planted a kiss against the
soft cap of blond curls.

Ryder lifted his eyes so he could watch the excitement fill her face as
his tongue circled the puckered nipple, then rubbed gently across it.
The dark pupils of her green eyes dilated with mounting passion.  She
could hardly lie still beneath the onslaught of his tongue and lips as
she offered her other breast up for his hedonistic torture.

Ryder held one soft globe in each hand, covering them with hot kisses.
All at once his face dipped to the hollow between and he pressed a
deep, fervent kiss against her breastbone.

"I've never had a woman like you," he couldn't help murmuring as his
lips moved lower.

"What do you mean-like me?"  Julia asked, touching the sun-streaked
curls at the base of his neck.

Ryder smoothed a hand down her side to her hip and thigh before
answering slowly, "You're different from any woman I've ever known."

"

" Is that known in the biblical sense?  " she asked with a raised
brow.

Ryder slanted her a look from beneath level black brows before touching
the tip of his tongue to the depression in her navel.  One hand came to
rest on the inside of her thigh and Julia caught her breath, unable to
think about anything but the sensations he was causing inside her.

"Well... I've never before known a man like you, either ," she finally
managed to get out.  "So that makes us even-oh!  Don't do that," she
whispered breathlessly.

"You mean that?"  he asked, watching her face.

"Oh, yes," she moaned lifting her hips to his touch, ,"

The sensations spreading through her body were all at once too intense
to bear.  Shoving against his chest with a firm hand, Julia forced him
over onto his back and raised herself to lie half over him.

"What's this?"  she suddenly asked, frowning, running a finger along a
deep scar that started low on his side before curving down toward his
pelvis.

"Bull."

"Bull?"  she asked in a puzzled voice, letting her fingers glide along
the cratered edge.

"I was gored by a-bull," he gasped as her fingers walked their way to
his manhood.  !  "How awful!"  Julia sympathized.  "Thank God you're
all right.  I never realized working on a ranch could be so dangerous
."

"You," he answered, rolling her over onto her back, lifting a leg
between hers as he mounted her, "are dangerous."  !  "Do you like it?" 
she asked softly, waiting tensely for his reply, keeping her eyes
locked with his as she massaged him gently.

"I..."  He leaned forward until her breasts were squashed against his
chest.  "Like... you.."

His lips covered hers, as hardness pressed against softness Softness
yielded and he felt her welcome him inside.

Julia's fingers bit into his shoulders as she felt him move ; against
her, quickly taking her to a height of passion she'd never even
imagined.  She surrendered herself to his mastery and rode the tide of
his mounting desire quickly catching fire.

Their bodies fused together and moved as one, giving pleasure, taking
pleasure, igniting a fire that raged quickly out of control between
them.  It consumed the both of them, rendering them to ashes,
destroying all they'd once thought and believed of life and love.

And still the fire wasn't finished with them, because as the passion
flared, then burned low, their dreams were rebuilt.  Out of the ashes
of what was once two separate human beings , there emerged what was now
and would always be two parts of one whole.  They were joined together
forever.

When the loving was finished, each felt as though something momentous
had taken place between them, but neither understood its significance.
And so they lay, hands clasped tightly between their quivering bodies,
each filled with a sense of rightness, a sense of peace, and in
complete accord.  A little later, Ryder moved slowly from the bed to
place a log on the fire.  They'd loved the afternoon and evening away.
Night had fallen and the cabin had grown chilly.

Ryder knelt on his haunches before the fireplace, stoking the blazing
fire.  His body ached in a hundred places, but there was a new sense of
strength inside him-and a glow, a glow that made the aches pale by
comparison.  His glance drifted toward the bed.  This time he knew for
a fact that it wasn't a dream.  She was really there and she was his.
Getting to his feet, he moved silently toward the bed to look down on
her sleeping face.

He didn't want to awaken her, but couldn't resist the lure of her soft
skin.  Gentle fingers explored her face, a breast, the concave hollow
of her belly.  Just for a moment, he dared to imagine that soft skin
stretched taut, her belly filled with his child.

Such thoughts were foolish under the circumstances, he knew that, but
he couldn t stop them from forming in his head.  Neither
could he stop the voice that kept reminding him she was his..  but only
for a short time.

Chapter 10
cc q

What is it?  " With heavy-lidded eyes, Julia gazed up into the face
of the man standing beside the bed.  She'd been dozing, lost in
memories of the love she and Ryder had shared a short time ago, deep in
the afterglow of remembered passion when something had awakened her. 
Julia stared in surprise at the look of profound regret in Ryder's dark
eyes.

"You..."  Ryder dropped to his knees and buried his face against her
stomach.  " " You..  are..  so..  beautiful, " he whispered against her
soft skin.  Drawing back, he took one of' her hands between both of
his, and raised it to his lips.

I always want to remember you like this-with your skin all soft and
dewy, like a brand-new morning, your eyes shining like you know a
secret no one else knows.  "

"You sound as though I'm going to be leaving soon."  Julia rose and
leaned toward him.  "I want to talk to you about that"

"Make me a picture of you, like the one you did of me," ; he
interrupted her quickly.

"W-what?"

"Please, draw yourself for me-now-looking like you do right this
minute.  I want to remember you with your lips swollen from my kisses."
He touched her lips with a gentle fingertip.  "I want to remember that
expression in your eyes, the one that says you've just been made love
to by a man by me."

"I..."

"Will you do it?"  he asked her eagerly.  "Will you do it for me?  " "
" Yes.  all right.  " Julia leaned forward to plant a soft kiss at the
corner of his mouth.  " I'll do it for you.  "

Ryder found her pencils and drawing paper and held his shaving mirror
for her so she could see her own reflection.  " " Is that me?  " she
breathed slowly.  " " I 've never had stars in my eyes."  She looked at
the man holding the mirror.  "You put them there."

"Draw," he whispered, holding up the mirror.

The next few days passed without incident.  The days were filled with
hunting, fishing, bathing in the river and learning to shoot a gun.  At
night they made love and Julia slept in Ryder's arms.

The sketch Julia had done of herself sat propped against the wall next
to the fireplace, beside the one she'd done of Ryder.  Neither of them
mentioned the eventuality of Julia 's leaving.  They didn't discuss
their past, or their future.  It was as though both were afraid to
trust in anything but the present, and by an unspoken mutual consent
had agreed to make time stand still for as long as possible.

Julia was learning to cook on an open fire, not always with the
greatest success, but Ryder was patient and very tolerant of her
misjudgments.  He never complained of overcooked rabbit or undercooked
vegetables.

Julia was aware of his patience and silently blessed him for it But as
the days passed, she began to feel the strain.  The only conversations
they had were about the most innocuous of subjects.

She still wanted to paint him, but didn't mention it again after one
unsuccessful attempt at trying to talk him into going to town for
painting supplies.  He'd listened without expression to her request and
then simply walked away.

Outside, he'd saddled Midnight and ridden off into the hills , staying
away until twilight.

Julia had been angry at first, but as the day had worn on she'd grown
concerned and at evening she was terrified he wouldn't return.  When he
finally did, apologizing for being gone so long, she'd wanted to run
into his arms and tell him it didn't matter, nothing mattered as long
as he was safe.  But she didn't run to his arms, because his attitude
of aloofness had returned, making her shy of him.  i That was the night
Ryder went back to sleeping on his , saddle in front of the fire.  A
new strain had entered their !  relationship, putting a wedge between
them.  Julia was at her wits' end for a solution to the problem, but
afraid to say too i much, in case he became angry or fed up and told
her to leave.

She hung on doggedly to what they had, convinced that sooner or later
he'd break down and tell her what was bothering him.  In the meantime,
she consoled herself when he wasn't around with long glances at the
sketches she'd drawn of him and of herself.  Surely, she kept telling
herself , the expression of love she'd observed and sketched on j her
own face the night they'd first made love was a reflection of the
emotion she'd seen on Ryder's face that night.  j one day, after he was
satisfied that she knew how to use the pistol, he insisted she wear it
all the time for protection against wild animals.  Julia hadn't
bothered making any protest, suspecting it wouldn't do any good.  After
that, she began to dress in the buckskin trousers and shirt all the
time, because it was easier with the gun and holster, and it didn't
seem to matter to Ryder what she wore, anyway.

And then one night Julia awakened to find him gone.  The bedroll lying
before the fireplace was empty.  At first she thought he must have gone
to answer the call of nature, but as time passed without his returning,
she became worried.

What if he'd met with an accident?  She remembered the rattlesnake, and
the fact he'd cautioned her about bears only the other day.  The
thought of his lying helpless, bleeding from wounds inflicted by a wild
animal, filled her with fear for his safety and remorse for the anger
she'd begun to feel toward him lately because of his continued
indifference to her.

Julia began to reflect on how Ryder seemed overly cautious about taking
his rifle wherever he went.  True, it might be prudent in this country
to use extra caution because of wild animals, but Julia sensed it was
something more.

What did he fear?  She'd come to know him during this time they had
spent together, and she no longer entertained the idea that he might be
mentally unbalanced.

If Ryder believed there was danger, then there was danger And that
thought opened new areas of concern for her.  What if someone had come
sneaking around the cabin in the middle of the night looking for money
or weapons?  Things like that happened all the time, even in remote
areas like this one.

Could that be where Ryder was now?

If anything happened to him.

On the point of crawling out of bed, Julia heard a sound she couldn't
immediately identify.  Her glance shifted toward the table.  The gun
and holster Ryder had insisted she keep close at hand for safety was
lying on the table in the same spot as the last time she'd needed it.

The sound came again and this time she recognized it.  Someone was at
the door.  Pulling the cover up to her chin, she peered at the door
with one eye.

The door burst open suddenly and Ryder's tall frame filled the doorway.
Julia's heart leapt at the sight of him.  She breathed a long heartfelt
sigh of relief.  On the point of letting him know she was awake, she
hesitated, something in his manner stopping the words in her throat.

Ryder closed and barred the door with the utmost care to keep from
making any undue sound.  Julia felt warmed by the thought he did it out
of consideration for the fact she was sleeping.  A few moments later,
he found something on the heel of one boot and Julia quickly revised
that thought as she saw him direct a furtive glance toward the bed, get
to his feet and hurry outside, taking the offending boot with him.

When he returned a short while later, his glance went first to the bed.
Julia's curiosity was aroused, but a cautious voice warned her not to
let him know she'd witnessed his actions a few moments ago.

She pretended to be asleep and continued to give that impression until
the room grew silent.  Finally, feeling slightly foolish for playing
possum, Julia opened her eyes a mere slit and saw he'd gone to bed.

All at once, Ryder raised himself on one elbow and cast a long look
toward the bed.  Julia's heart fluttered and stood still.  She was a
fool to doubt him.  He yearned for her just as she yearned for him, it
was there in his glance.

She was on the point of letting him know she was awake when Ryder's
head shifted slightly.  Julia's breath caught at the back of her
throat.  Firelight now glittered in the dark eyes, revealing their true
expression.  ; Julia shivered and closed her eyes in denial of what
she'd seen.  She wished now she had been asleep when he'd re turned, so
she wouldn't have witnessed that last look, a look that said he knew
she was playing possum and he could play the game, too.

All the next day, Julia was aware of Ryder in a way she'd never been.
He watched her and she watched him.  But despite the fact they hardly
spoke to each other and were obviously uncomfortable in each other's
company, neither seemed anxious to put any great distance between
them.

Bedtime rolled around, and as had become his habit of late, Ryder went
outside to smoke.  He used that, or a visit to check on Midnight, as an
excuse to leave while Julia got qdy for bed.  His ventures outside took
long enough to ensure she'd be soundly sleeping by the time he
returned.

Tonight, Julia fooled him.  When he came back inside after what must
have been an hour, she was ready for him.  She was resolved to find out
if he disappeared every night after she'd gone to sleep.

She didn't dare allow herself to speculate on where he went, what he
did.  or who he saw.  Despite her feelings for him, she knew very
little about him.  He'd made certain of that.  What if he had someone-a
girlfriend-or a wife?

He'd told her he wasn't married, but he could have been lying

* * *

The minutes dragged by slowly, and Ryder made no move to leave his
place by the fire.  The crackling and popping from the fireplace were
the only sounds in the cabin.  Occasionally , Julia heard an owl hoot
or a coyote howl outside She began to get drowsy.

She had no idea of the time, but it was beginning to look like she'd
gotten upset and suspicious over nothing.  Every time she peered
cautiously toward his bedroll, she could see Ryder's chest rise and
fall rhythmically in sleep.

She had just about decided she was ready for sleep, too, when Ryder
stirred.  Julia caught her breath and held it, then realized if she
didn't breathe normally, he'd know something was up.

Forcing herself to breathe slowly and evenly, she waited for another
sound, any sound that would tell her what he was doing.  All at once
she could hear a muted rustling and then a soft thud as the door was
unbarred.  He was leaving.

A moment later, when she opened her eyes, sure enough, he was gone. But
where?

It was hours later, some time just before dawn, when he returned. Julia
had slept and awakened several times by then, and when he opened the
cabin door, she was wide awake.

All day she watched him without appearing to as they went about what
had become for her the normal routine of everyday life in this country
of untamed beauty and freedom And that night she lay tensely, waiting
for him to make a move.

Again, as before, just when she'd concluded he was staying in that
night, Ryder silently gathered his things and made for the door.

It was closer to sunrise when he returned this time.  How long would he
keep this up?  The strain, caused by too many sleepless nights, was
beginning to tell on the both of them.

By the fourth day, Julia was living on the edge of raw nerves.  They'd
been lovers, shared the most intimate act two people could share, and
yet he kept this secret from her.  She was beginning to suspect it was
this, and not his past, that kept them apart.

While she lay tensely through the long hours of night unable to sleep,
wondering what he was up to, she began to imagine all kinds of reasons
for his strange behavior.  The worst of which involved another woman
and a passel of kids.

Out of that fantasy grew a sense of fear that quickly turned to anger,
and Julia began to ignore Ryder, keeping to herself as much as
possible.  She toyed with the idea of leaving in the middle of the
night, while he was gone on one of his nightly appointments but common
sense kept her from doing it.  Ryder had once told her, if something
happened to him to head for a town that lay at the base of a mountain
range to the east.  But he hadn't said how far away it was, or how long
it would take her to get there and even if she headed back to her car
and found it hadn't been stolen or towed away, unless this country
harbored good fairies , it would still be without gas.

A part of her urged her to face her fear and suspicion and tell Ryder
she knew he left each night.  Go on, the voice whispered.  Ask where he
goes, what he does and whom he sees.

Something always held her back.  She didn't want to admit it, but knew
it for what it was-fear.  She was afraid that when she confronted Ryder
he'd admit there was someone or some thing that prevented them from
being together.

Wondering if there might be something in the cabin she'd missed up till
now that would explain his strange behavior, Julia decided to have a
look.  Ryder was in the garden pulling weeds and she figured this was
as good a time as any.

An hour later, feeling greatly disappointed at having found nothing
pertaining to Ryder's past or present, Julia sat on her knees beside
the trunk and stared at what she had found.  She'd unearthed a small,
thin volume of verse buried in a bottom corner of the trunk.  The poems
were handwritten and unsigned.

Julia wondered if they could be the work of the woman who lay buried in
one of the graves out back.  The verses were about love and obviously
written by a woman who had lived a long time ago.

The poems portrayed life in the untamed frontier.  They were all
beautifully written, sometimes a little sad, but always full of the
deep abiding love she obviously felt for her man.  Reading them made
Julia feel guilty.  In her heart she professed to love Ryder, yet she
doubted him, even feared him at times.

Bowing her head in sudden shame, she clasped the thin volume against
her and "What are you doing?"  Ryder asked from the door.

Julia raised her head slowly, all the love she felt for him shining in
her luminous green eyes.  "I was looking through the things in the
trunk... and I found this."  She held the small, clothbound book so he
could see it.

"What is it?"  he asked, without making any effort to inspect it
closer.

"Poetry-a book of beautiful love poems."  Getting to her feet, she
moved toward him.  "I wonder if they could have been written by the
young woman buried out back."

"Why?"  Ryder asked, setting his rifle in the corner by the door.

"They're very old and obviously written by a woman, but none is signed.
There is a signature on the last page, but it's gotten wet at some time
or another and the letters have run together."

She turned to the last page.  "Here, take a look, see if you can make
it out."

Ryder didn't even bother to glance at the book.  Moving around her, he
went to the fire and bent to lay a few sticks of wood on it.

"You've about let the fire go out, and there's a wind coming up, clouds
on the horizon.  We're in for some rain before evening, and from the
chill in the air, it's like to get mighty cold tonight."

"Aren't you going to look at the book?"  Julia asked following to where
he knelt before the fireplace.

Ryder kept his back to her for a couple of beats, then turned to look
up at her.  "Why?  What good would it do me to look at something I
can't make head nor tail of?"

"How can you know that until you look?"  she asked in a vexed voice.

"Because I can't read!"

Julia fell back a step in surprise.  "You... can't read?"

"That's what I said."  Climbing to his feet, he brushed past her and
made for the door.

"Wait!"

Moving close to him, Julia laid a comforting hand on his forearm and
said, "There isn't any shame in being unable to read.  I admit it comes
as a bit of a shock, but-" " " Is that right?  " he cut across her
words angrily.  " " Well , I'm real sorry about that, yes sir, I'm
might sorry to be the one to shock such a lady, " he mocked her.  " "
Maybe I better get myself out of your sight till you get over the
shock.  "

Jerking his arm from beneath her hand, he stormed from the cabin,
leaving Julia to stare after him in sadness.  Why hadn't he let her
finish, instead of immediately taking umbrage at her words?  She'd been
about to add that his being unable to read meant nothing, compared with
the other skills he possessed.

The afternoon wore on, and as Ryder had predicted, the wind brought
rain, a cold, bone-chilling rain.  Julia combined a pot of vegetable
stew with leftover chicken and rabbit

She left it simmering over the fire, and its appetizing aroma filled
the cabin, yet she couldn't work up an appetite for it when she sat
down to eat alone.  Ryder still hadn't returned.  She'd gone to look
for him just before the rain qan to fall, but his saddle was gone and
Midnight's stable was empty.

She'd really hurt him.  Her eyes moved for the hundredth time toward
the rifle standing upright in the corner of the room.  He'd gone off
without his rifle.

Leaving the bowl of stew untouched, she lifted the quilt it around her
shoulders and went to sit in the rocking chair before the fire.  Wind
whistled around the eaves of the cabin, sounding like a multitude of
lost souls calling in the distance.  Rain drummed on the roof, and : q
the  er by the cupboard water began to drip from the q. Julia stared
at the flames and rocked, back and forth, back and forth.  The rocker
made a slight noise, and after a few minutes it began to sound like a
name-Ryder Ryder Ryder

Her chin sagged onto her chest, the room took on a damp chill, and a
thin stream of water made its way slowly toward where she sat in the
chair.

The cabin door opened slowly.  "I could smell that stew cooking clear
on the other side of the meadow."  Ryder loosened the rawhide ties
beneath his chin, took off his hat and shook it out the door, casting a
quick look toward Julia 's unyielding profile.

"It's unseasonably cold out there-more like winter than summer," he
added into a silence broken only by the rain beating against the cabin.
He removed the yellow oilskin slicker and hung it on a nail on the back
of the door, darting short, quick glances toward the silent figure in
the rocking chair.

Julia turned her head and followed his movements.  He looked wet, tired
and hungry.

Rubbing his hands together, Ryder turned toward the fireplace,
muttering, "It's cold in here."

He was glad to have sometl>ing to do to keep his eyes off Julia.
Putting some wood on the dying embers, he stirred the coals until
bright yellow flames began to leap toward the chimney.

Holding his hands out to warm them, still on his haunches, he swiveled
to face her.  She wasn't looking at him, she was staring at the flames,
and every few seconds she shivered.

Ryder's glance moved down over her pinched face to the quilt around her
shoulders.  His eyes shifted lower and he saw bare feet peeking out
from beneath the edge of the blanket.

Scooting toward her, he reached out and lifted one of her small feet in
both hands.  He looked up as she made to withdraw it and whispered,
"Sit still-you're near to frozen"

Julia stopped trying to pull her foot from his grasp and let him place
it on his thigh.  He began to rub it gently between the palms of both
hands, warming it.  A few moments later, he lifted the other foot and
gave it the same treatment.

Eyes on the delicate contours of her feet, he spoke in a low, contrite
voice.  "I'm sorry about running out on you like that.  I shouldn't
have said what I did.  I've never been what you'd call sensitive about
not having any book learnin '."  His voice faltered.  "And I didn't
mean it when I implied you weren't a lady.  You are, every inch a
lady-"

Julia's fingers against the damp curls on his forehead stopped his
words.  He glanced up slowly, swallowing tightly at the expression on
her face.

"I accept your apology... and I must make one to you.  I didn't mean to
sound... when I spoke of your..."

" " Ignorance, " he filled in for her.  " lack of formal education,"
she corrected him.  " Anyone can learn to read," she added quickly.

He shrugged and looked away.  "You're different from the women I've
known.  You're educated, genteel... I feel... unworthy when I'm around
you: '

"ThaYs ridiculous!  Being able to read doesn't make me any better than
you," she insisted quickly.  "I could teach you to read"

Ryder set her feet on the floor and stood, suddenly feeling very
uncomfortable.  "I... don't know."  He shook his head.  Having her see
him struggle to learn would be mortifying He didn't know if his pride
could stand it.

Realizing something of what he was feeling, Julia wisely let the
subqect drop for the time being.  She hadn't won him over, but at least
they were talking again.  "If you'll sit down at the table, I'll fix
you a bowl of stew."

"I'd be obliged."

Julia was bending over the fire, ladling soup into a bowl, when she
felt a light touch and looked down to see the top of Ryder's
blond-streaked head.  He was holding the moccasins so she could slip
her feet into them.

A little later, Julia sat down in the rocker and watched Ryder hungrily
tuck into his food.  Her heart swelled with emotion.  He was a proud
man, but he'd humbled himself to her a little while ago and she knew
that must have been very hard for him.

Ryder McCall was what most people would call a man's man.  But he was
also gentle and sensitive, a very complex man by anyone's standards.
She felt as though she knew him a little better now, after this latest
disagreement and she felt very proud to know and love him.

Yet for all the things she knew, or thought she knew about him, there
were at least twice as many she couldn't even guess at.  He hid his
true self from her, revealing only bits and pieces at a time, keeping
her always just a little confused

Later, after she had gone to bed, she watched him sit in the rocking
chair and smoke, his eyes on the flames.  What was he thinking?  Were
his thoughts about her?

After a while Julia dozed, but her sleep was uneasy.  She couldn't
guess at how long she'd been sleeping when she awakened abruptly,
knowing instantly she was alone.

Her eyes fell on the empty blankets.  He'd left her again to do
whatever it was he did at night, while she slept.  All at once, she
couldn't stand it any longer.  She was angrily determined to find out
what his nocturnal wanderings were all about.

Climbing from the bed, she hurried to the door and peeked outside.  She
was just in time to see his dark figure, lantern in hand, disappear
into the old mine.  Without waiting to put on shoes or grab a wrap,
Julia darted out the door, through the muddy yard toward the mine.

It had stopped raining, but the sharp wind continued to blow.  It
ripped at her hair and pulled at her nightgown, trying to strip both
from her body.  Julia fought it, fought to keep her footing in the
thick mire and struggled on toward the mine.

As she all but fell inside the entrance, Ryder's figure disappeared
around a bend in the tunnel ahead.  Without a light of her own, she
stumbled down the narrow passage, running her fingers along the right
side to help feel her way.

She must have traveled faster over the rough terrain than she realized,
because as she rounded a curve, she nearly caught up with him. Stopping
abruptly, she pulled back behind a slight outcropping of rock to catch
her breath and waited to see which tunnel he'd take.  He didn't even
hesitate as he passed the shaft to the left, but continued toward the
large cavern at the tunnel's end.

Julia leaned against the cold rock and closed her eyes,

breathing heavily.  She jumped all at once, barely containing a
startled yelp caused by the abrupt noise coming from inside the cavern
ahead.

What was he doing?

Julia swallowed quickly, took a deep breath and moved closer to peer
around the jutting edge of rock wall.  She watched for a long moment in
confusion.  If she didn't know better, she'd think he was mining..

Mining?  What?  Silver?  Gold?

No, it couldn't be, she was thinking as Ryder picked up an _
odd-looking tool with a point at the end, held it against the wall and
struck the flat end of it with a heavy wedge-shaped hammer.  A small
avalanche of rock and dust fell to the floor.

There was no doubt about it, he was mining something.

Julia wished she could get a closer look, but didn't dare move into the
cavern.  Whatever it was, he didn't want her to know about it.

She'd read about gold fever and how it affected people's minds.  Could
that be what had Ryder under its spell?  She qemembered what she'd read
in the history books while she was in school about the California gold
rush.  It had started in January of 1848 when James Wilson Marshall, a
man hired by John Augustus Sutter, intent only on building a mill

On the American River, built a damn across the water, and qvered gold.
_ But that had been in California, not Wyoming.  She'd tlever even
heard of gold being found in Wyoming.  And beSides, she'd always
pictured the men who hunted gold q;.  days standing in a river, with
their pant legs rolled up dipping  large flat pans in the water,
swirling around, letting it spill out over the edge a little at a time,
for shiny bits of yellow dust and rock.  ' qtyder appeared to be
taking his directly from the wall itq

The words, mother Lode, popped into her head.  If she be red correctly,
that was a pure vein of gold found in land of rock-quartz, or something
like that.

My God, if that was what this was, the man was probably as rich as
Croesus!  That's what he'd been hiding from her all this time.

He'd found a gold mine and didn't want anyone to know about it.  That
explained his living as he did.  No one would suspect him of being
wealthy-just slightly crazy.  One look at the way he lived no doubt
sent visitors quickly on their way, thinking he had a screw loose.

It was hard to say just how long she waited and watched, a deep sense
of disappointment growing inside her as the hours sped by.  Ryder
seemed tireless as he worked well into the night.

Julia could understand his wanting to keep others from trying to steal
his gold, but why hadn't he explained things to her?  Did he think she
was after it, too?

The thought hurt, even though she tried explaining his actions away by
telling herself he didn't know her any better than she knew him and it
was her own fault if he didn't trust her.

In the beginning, keeping her past a secret from him had been a kind of
defense mechanism.  Later, she'd been afraid that a man who lived as
simply as Ryder, wouldn't understand what had caused her to live the
kind of life she'd lived in California.  She'd been afraid he'd condemn
her for it.

Lost in her own unhappy thoughts, Julia didn't at first notice when
Ryder finished his work for the night.  He was kneeling on the floor
emptying what he'd labored so long for into a small sack with
pull-string ties.  That's when she realized he'd be heading out of the
mine directly toward her in a very short while.

Making her way through the tunnel as swiftly as possible in complete
darkness was a terrifying experience.  She kept remembering the
underground river as icy fingers of fear played up and down her spine,
convincing her she'd somehow got off track and was heading directly for
it.

Eventually, she came to the entrance and made a dash for the cabin
knowing Ryder wasn't far behind.  She made it only as far as the tree
stump near the end of the cabin when his tall figure exited the mouth
of the tunnel and came into sight.

Hiding in the shadow of the stump, Julia prayed Ryder wouldn't head
directly for the cabin.  How would she explain being outside?  Her
panic subsided somewhat when she reaq she could always say she'd been
on her way to the outhouse.  But even that wouldn't explain why she was
crouched beside the stump.

Ryderpassed so close to her she could have reached out and touched his
leg.  He moved past the stack of wood at the end of the cabin, and
headed into the darkness behind it.

Julia waited a moment and then followed.  She saw he carried a shovel,
and she had a feeling she knew its purpose

Climbing over the corral fence, Ryder strode toward the shelter where
Midnight stood nickering softly.  He stopped a couple of yards inside
the corral, along the cabin's back wall.  There he dug down about a
foot, picked up the sack of gold he'd dropped to the ground beside him
while he dug, plaoed it in the hole, and began covering it up.

Julia's eyes darted over the ground inside the corral.  How many more
sacks lay buried there?

She had to admit it was a clever idea.  With Midnight qonstantly moving
over the area, no one would suspect someone had been digging there.
And, too, if a stranger came snooping around, the horse would give
Ryder plenty of warning before he could find the gold.  Julia saw he
was finished and hurried back to the cabin, following so close behind
she didn't even think to wipe her feet.  She made a dash toward the
bed, and her head ltad barely touched the pillows when Ryder strode
sound Julia peered from between slitted eyes as he made himq qelf
comfortable on the floor.  His saddle was outside.  He q'.  hadn't
brought it in when he'd returned that evening, prob =q'tbly because it
was wet, but that didn't stop him from fall immediately to sleep.  And
she knew why.  He must be _ us ted by his labors.  "qittlia didn't find
sleep that easily.  Even though a few of , questions plaguing her about
him had been answered,

there were plenty left to confuse her.  And yet that made no difference
to how she felt about him, nor the wish to have him lying close beside
her at this very moment wrapped in her arms.

Chapter 11

The storm was only a memory the next morning when Ryder awoke to a cold
cabin.  He rose and put a few sticks of wood on the fire, thinking it
was time for another hunting trip.

If they were going to stay in the cabin much longer, they'd need
something more than the meager supply of wood on hand to keep them warm
on nights like the one just past.  And they needed more meat, too.

He still hadn't decided if he was going to be here this winter.  It
depended on a lot of things.

Snuggling back beneath his blankets, he glanced toward the bed at
Julia's face in repose.  Mostly, it depended on her.

He'd treated her badly yesterday.  It hadn't been fair to get all riled
up at her because of his own shortcomings.

Raising himself on an elbow, his hand cupping the back of his head so
he could see her better, he noticed how her 'qcin glowed in the
firelight.  Just looking at her tied him all up in knots inside.  He'd
like nothing better right this minqe than to slide beneath the covers
and awaken her with..  '" his eyes rested on her full, pouting lips.
They moved, and  lq she must be dreaming.  He wondered if he figured
in her dreams.  Probably not, he grinned wryly, unless they were
nightmares.

He made a quick decision.  Last night was the last of the gold-at least
as far as he was concerned.  He'd had enough.  He was going to tell her
who he was, all about where he'd been and what he'd done.  If that
didn't make her run away screaming, he was going to tell her he wanted
her to stay with him, explain what that would mean to her, and then
he'd tell her about the gold.

He had a gut feeling, one that had been growing inside him since the
night he'd found her lying at his feet that he should trust her.  He'd
fought the idea, but all along he'd known it was no use.  She got under
his skin right from the first, and from that moment on, the importance
of the gold had dulled by comparison.

True, he'd been suspicious of her, even tried to convince himself she
wasn't who she said she was, but he knew that was only fear talking to
him.  He was afraid of the feelings simply looking at her provoked
inside him.

Even before his mother had died, he'd learned to keep to himself.  All
his life he'd watched people use each other.  The men in the saloons
where his mother worked used her, and occasionally tried to use him to
get to her and his mother had used them and their money until her
death.

His time spent living with the Shoshone had been a time of discovery.
For the first time in his life he'd lived with people who weren't after
what he had.  The Indians wanted nothing from him because they didn't
think he had anything worth taking.  He was a white boy who didn't know
enough about how to live in the world around him.

The land, the creatures of the forests, mountains, prairies and plain,
were gifts to man from the gods, red or white, it didn't matter.  Man
had only to use what the gods had provided for food, pleasure and
shelter.

The Shoshone knew the secret of living in harmony with their
surroundings.  They freely offered that knowledge to Ryder, but it was
up to him to accept or reject it.  It made no difference to them or
their way of life.

Ryder had accepted it and thought he'd learned well until he returned
to the white man's world.  As a boy he'd
qrned
intolerance and greed from his own people.  And on his return to the
white man's world he learned nothing had changed.  White men listened
to no one, took what they wanted, whether it was theirs to take,
leaving only destruction and chaos in their wake.

Because it was the world he'd been born into, Ryder tried once again to
fit into it.  He trusted the word of a man he thought was a friend, and
that put him on the wrong side of the law.

Ryder told himself he wasn't like them-like the men who had condemned
him without just cause.  He didn't lie and cheat, or steal.  Nor was he
greedy.  At least he hadn't been up to now.  And that's why he'd
decided it was time to move on.  He had all the gold one man could
spend in a lifetime, and there was still plenty left for somebody else
who might come along needing it.

Julia stirred on the bed, drawing his attention as her eyelids
fluttered open.  She saw him watching her and smiled e lazily.

"Good morning."  In those first few moments of awareness ; she forgot
his deceit.

"Good morning," Ryder murmured deeply.

Julia's glance slid from his face to the firelight glinting off his
hair, burnishing it with gold.  Her smile on her face became arrested. 
Her eyes wavered toward his face.  He watched her with a puzzled slant
angling the black brows.  "I'm hungry," she murmured abruptly, at a
loss for something to say, yet needing all at once to speak.  Her
ttimmy growled, prompting her to ask, "What's for break Ryder rQse to a
cross-legged position, still watching her.  'qHow about leftover
stew?"

Her nose wrinkled at the thought.  Ryder's eyes flickered , '; : and
Julia looked hurriedly away.  '"If that doesn't tickle your fancy, then
how about fresh qh?  I'll do the cooking," he added as he stood.  xq;,.
qulia sat up, thinking about the first meal they'd shared.  qad been a
breakfast of fried fish.  At the time she'd t him odd, now she
understood-or at least thought qiqnderstood-the reasoning behind his
living as he did.

"Is that frown for the fish-or my cooking?"  he asked with a gleam in
his eye.  It seemed he remembered that meal, too.

Julia pushed her feet from beneath the blanket and smiled obligingly at
his rare attempt at humor.  " " Fish sounds fine " , she answered,
noting the taut way he stood with arms hanging at his sides.  " And you
don't have to do the cooking : '

"I want to," he murmured stiffly.

Her eyes focused on his face.  What was the source of the expression
she saw there?  Julia felt her pulse begin to hammer Was he about to
reveal the secret of the gold?

"I'll fish, while you dress," he murmured in a constrained tone,
shifting his glance from her motionless figure and heading for the
door.

Julia's shoulders sagged in disappointment.  Just for a moment she'd
thought he was about to reveal the secret of the gold.  She'd been
wrong, it was the sight of her getting out of bed that had made him
nervous.  Pushing the covers aside, Julia stood, forgetting the gold as
she was struck anew by Ryder's old-world sense of propriety.

He was the most modest man she'd ever known and she had to admit she
found it charming.  She liked his gallantry.  He granted her all the
privacy she desired; not an easy thing to do, living as they were in
such close quarters.

She was in the act of removing her nightgown when she noticed its
mud-splattered hem.  Remembering her trek of the night before, she
lifted the bottom of one foot and inspected it.  She hadn't worn shoes
last night!  Her foot and the spaces between her toes were stained
brown with mud!

For a moment she was overcome with panic.  Had Ryder noticed?  If he
had, why hadn't he mentioned it?  And what might he do if he had?

Obviously, he didn't want anyone to know about the gold-and now she
knew.  Had he guessed that?  She was filled with a sense of impending
doom.  She should never have followed him.  It was his secret-his
gold.

Wait!  She was letting her fears get out of control.  He couldn't have
noticed the mud, or he'd have mentioned it.  He might be reluctant
about displaying his body, but the qe certainly couldn't be said about
his letting her see his anger.

Besides, even if he had seen the mud, there was nothing to connect it
with a visit to the mine.  She could have gotten muddy going to the
outhouse last night in the rain.

Julia bent to straighten the covers on the bed.  If he hadn't noticed,
then she'd better get rid of the evidence before he returned so she
wouldn't have to answer any questions.  She didn't want to have to lie
to him.  A quick wash in the basin , just as soon as she'd tidied the
bed, would take care of that.

She pulled hurriedly at the covers, giving a quickly smothered gasp of
dismay when she spotted a telltale dark stain.  Throwing back the
blankets she saw twin trails of b  mud spreading halfway down the
sheet.

In her ignorance, she hadn't considered the obvious.

Muddy feet ultimately led to a muddy bed.  Julia brushed q*q
frantically at the thick crust of dried mud with her finger nails.

When the crusty top was gone, she used a damp cloth to remove the dried
stain.  Once all traces of the stain were gone, she spread the quilt
and blanket over the top of the damp sheet.  Tonight she might be a
little uncomfortable, sleeping on a damp bed, but at least Ryder would
be none the wiser about her late-night venture.

Iiyder baited his hook and threw it into the water with unnecessary
force.  Julia knew about the gold!

There was mud on her feet!  And even though she could lisve soiled her
feet by going to the outhouse during the night, he knew she hadn't. If
she'd awakened and found him

, gone this mornin first thing, she d have asked him where 'd been. He
knew she'd followed him, just as surely as he'd known she was playing
possum when he'd returned to the cabin y thisnnorning.   e ought to go
back, right now, and force her to confess q,:qtion-no!  He couldn't do
that.  He wasn't ready to go-not yet!

In his anger, Ryder clutched the fishing line so tightly it snapped in
two.  He blinked and stared down at it in surprise Busying himself with
repairing the fishing line, he considered her reasons for being there.
He'd cast aside any thoughts about her working with the law.  She
didn't handle herself well enough to have been trained for that kind of
work.

But, what if someone else knew about the mine?  What if he'd sent Julia
to find out if there was any gold in it?  Or worse yet, maybe whomever
it was knew about the gold and sent her to find out where he kept it
hidden.

Ryder knew he wasn't the first to mine the gold.  Someone else had dug
out the mine shaft, maybe from a cave that was already in the mountain.
It was more than likely that over the years others had come to know
about it, too.  He just hadn't figured on any of them still being
attached to their hair because the mine was so near Indian land.

A few years ago, the Indians didn't understand the white man's
obsession with the yellow rock.  But it hadn't taken long before for
them to learn it could buy them things, like guns and ammunition-and
whiskey.

It also made the white man do crazy things to get their hands on it.
Indians weren't all that interested in digging for the yellow rock, but
they weren't above stealing it whenever they got the opportunity.  Or
killing the whites who searched for it to keep them from overrunning
their lands.

Ryder had got away with living this close to Indian land because the
Shoshone knew him.  And too, he did nothing to anger them.  He didn't
kill the game for pleasure and took only enough to live on.  He didn't
trap and kill large numbers of ammals for their fur pelts, leaving the
meat to rot in the sun.

But most importantly of all, as far as they knew, because he mined the
gold only at night, he wasn't scratching the yellow rock out of the
earth.  His being there didn't threaten them with the possibility of
word of the gold leaking out and bringing droves of whites, crazy with
the lust for the yellow rock, down on their heads.

Ryder had deceived his red brother as badly as Julia was deceiving him
and he felt guilty for it.  Everything pointed qdes of Wyoming to the
fact it was time for him to pull up stakes and light out of there.  The
tribes were gathering for a big battle and this place was no longer the
safe haven from the law it had once been.

And as for Julia..  everything had happened so fast between them..  A
part of him felt guilty about hiding the gold from her.  He didn't want
to believe she was there to steal it from him.  but he'd been wrong
about people in the past.

Almost from the first, he'd known she was hiding something And even
though that had made him leery of her, in a way he'd understood.  He
had never liked people pestering him about his own past, even before
his little ruckus with the law.

For a time, when she showed no interest in the mine, he'd let it be. He
couldn't forget the fact she'd saved his life when the rattler had got
in the cabin.  Still, if she'd been after the gold, she wouldn't have
wanted him dead before she found out where he hid it.

There was no denying she'd been sniffing around the mine looking for
something the day he'd caught her at it.  She'd been mighty interested
in everything she saw.  Was that so she could report back to someone?

Ryder pulled in another sucker fish and added it to the growing pile at
his feet.  He could put his fears to rest by asking her a few
questions.  And if the answers weren't to his liking..

He'd been a fool to consider keeping her with him.  The gold was all
he'd had before she'd shown up out of nowhere ; it was all he'd have
when she was gone.

But could he take a chance on letting her go, when she knew about the
gold?

Julia's head was swimming with questions.  Once she'd taken care of the
mud and finished dressing, she'd prepared everything Ryder would need
to cook the fish.  Now, with that done, she had nothing to do but wait
for his return

With chin on hand, she found her glance resting on the inevitable gun
lying on the table only inches from her fingers Ryder was not the
person he pretended to be, of that she was certain.  But then, who was
he?

Why did he shun people and hoard gold?  He had told her he didn't go to
town.  So, what did he do with his gold?  Did he distrust everyone-or
only her?

A sudden wave of horror seized her.  What if she wasn't the first to
learn what he was doing?  What if there had been others?

Those graves out back didn't look as though they'd been there over a
hundred years.  And then there was always the underground river.  That
would make an excellent place to dispose of bodies-wait!  What was she
doing?

Did she really think Ryder capable of..  cold-blooded murder?

She didn't want to.  She didn't want to doubt his sanity or his morals.
It was just..  fear?  Was it fear for her own safety making her think
such awful things about him?

She ought to feel ashamed at the thought.  Hadn't he taken care of her?
He didn't have to, he could have got rid of her any time, especially
when they'd gone to the hot springs.

Julia climbed to her feet and paced the room nervously, telling herself
she was going crazy.  Ryder was just an ordinary man who happened to
live-her eyes slowly scanned the room-in an extraordinary fashion.

She dropped into the rocking chair and began to rock furiously There
was an explanation for all this, a logical explanation , there had to
be, and all she had to do was find it.

The rocking chair slowed.  Julia glanced at the rough furniture , the
stone fireplace, the bearskin rug.  If there was a logical explanation,
then she didn't know what it could be.  The only one that came readily
to mind was too preposterous to be believed.

Why didn't she simply admit she was in love with the guy?  If she saw
him shoot someone dead right before her eyes she'd try and find a good
reason for it.

She knew it didn't matter what he'd done-she loved him.  She'd found a
tender, gentle side to the man she'd never found in any other, except
for her father.

Still, she couldn't help wondering if there had been a woman who'd
loved Bluebeard; one who had known about his crimes and still insisted
he was innocent right up to the end.

When Ryder returned a little later with more fish than they could eat
for breakfast, Julia still hadn't decided what to do.  The meal was
prepared in mutual silence with each tiptoeing around the other warily,
until, as they were sitting down to eat, Ryder suggested a hunting
trip.

For a moment Julia couldn't speak or breathe.  Was this it?  Was he
going to take her hunting and make sure she had a little accident?

Almost immediately she realized that was a ridiculous thought.  Why go
to the trouble of taking her someplace else, when he had ample
opportunity to do it here and dispose of her body in the mine without
anyone knowing?

Ryder mentioned the trip again and suggested they leave the next day if
she was agreeable.  They would only be gone a couple of days.  It would
be the perfect opportunity for her to show him how well she'd learned
to handle a firearm.

Julia agreed, unable to silence the small voice inside suggesting she
was being led like a lamb to the slaughter.  A part of her wanted to
believe the trip was a prelude to his telling her about the gold, but
that dissenting voice continued to urge caution.

As the day wore on, it became more than obvious he was avoiding her and
the voice of caution gained precedence over the other, saner part of
reason.

The next morning, Julia was awake and ready to get started the instant
Ryder moved.  She hadn't slept much all night.  Visions of the past,
the night her friend Mariette died, had come back to haunt her.

She was more than anxious as they prepared for the trip, because she'd
reached a decision.  She was going to confront

Ryder with her fears and questions.  It was time to get them out into
the open.  She had grown to care for him, and there was reason for her
to believe he'd come to care for her, too.

Surely, based on that, there was sound reasoning behind the questions
she needed answered.  Ryder would see that for himself.  There must be
total honesty between them.

Tying her red hair back firmly with the silk scarf she hadn't worn in
days, Julia decided to make an opportunity while they were gone to tell
him about her background, all of it, from birth to the present.  There
were many aspects of her past she didn't particularly like remembering
and dreaded to speak about, but for Ryder, she would do it.

They rode south, taking a route in the opposite direction from the one
they'd taken to the hot springs.  Julia found herself wondering if
they'd see anyone else on this trip.  It still amazed her to see no
signs of civilization, no signs of life, except for animal life.

As a matter of fact, now that she thought about it, they hadn't
followed any actual roads on the first trip they'd made, only paths.
She wondered, and not for the first time, how Ryder knew where he was
going.  She decided to ask.  It would be the first spoken words between
them since leaving the cabin.

"I'm never certain where I am in this country.  How do you stay on
course?"  " " I mark the trail by the position of the sun"

"What if iYs cloudy?"  she interrupted.

He was very aware of her in his arms, of her hair blowing against his
chin.  His arms tightened involuntarily around her.  It would have been
better if she'd kept silent, then he could continue to pretend he
wasn't aware of her with every beat of his heart.

Clearing his throat, he pointed in the direction they were riding and
said, "Take a look out there.  What do you see?"

Julia looked hard before answering.  She had started this conversation
to keep a sense of normality between them.  If she didn't keep talking,
she'd be turning around in the saddle any moment now and offering him
her lips.  " g

Sa ebrush, bushes, trees, rocks, hills-snow on the mountains," she
replied slowly.  " "That all?"

"Yes," she answered doubtfully, wondering if there was something she
should see and didn't.

Ryder halted Midnight and pointed to one particular mountaintop.  " "
Do you see that mountain peak?  See the way it sort of spreads out on
either side as it climbs upward?  Doesn't it look like the head of an
elk?  "

"Elk?  No-I-" She started to shake her head, then hesitated.  The
longer she looked at it, the more it began to take on the appearance
he'd suggested.  "Well... maybe " , she finally conceded.  " " And
there" He pointed in another direction off to the left.  " Do you see
that lonely stand of tall pines?  "

"Yes," she was quick to answer this time.  "

He pointed in another direction and asked, " The rock, , y ?  just
there do you see how it casts a shadow like a tall beehive

"Okay," Julia said, managing a grin, you ve convinced me.  You know how
to mark where you're going.  "

"Not only where I'm going," he corrected her, a hand hovering near her
cheek, "but where I've been."

"Where you've been?"

"That's right.  An Indian looks at all sides of a trail, so he knows it
coming and going.  That's how I do it, I learned it from the
Shoshone."

Julia barely heard his words.  She turned to look at him, and their
eyes had met.  Despite the matter-of-fact tone of his voice, a deep
hunger burned in the dark eyes locked with hers.

She couldn't resist him.  The same hunger she saw in his eyes had been
steadily growing inside her.  She tilted her head for his kiss and let
her eyes drift shut.

All of a sudden, a striking change in the landscape over Ryder's left
shoulder caused her eyes to pop open again.  They widened in
surprise.

"What is it?"  Ryder asked gently, noting her change o1 expression.

"Indians," she murmured slowly.  "A bunch of men or horseback...
dressed in feathers and paint... right behinc us.  We must have
inadvertently blundered onto a movie set."

Her eyes crinkled in amusement as she thought about the way she'd been
living for over two weeks.  "How appropriate," she murmured with a
laugh.  A few minutes ago she'c been looking for signs of civilization.
What could be more civilized than a movie company?

It took a moment for her to realize Ryder's whole attitude had changed.
His head swiveled toward the left.  There were at least ten Indians,
mounted on sorrel or pinto ponies , sitting on the other side of a deep
gorge running down the length of the canyon.

The leader was a young buck with an eagle feather braided into a lock
of black hair hanging at the side of his face.  The tobiano pinto he
rode had a blood mark, an upside -down, red handprint, on its left
shoulder.  That was the highest honor a warrior could receive.

Zigzag streaks, denoting thunder and lightning, ran from the horse's
rump down its legs.  Those were signs of power and speed in battle,
believed to be delivered from the god of war.  The ponies of the other
warriors were painted similarly

"Sioux, war party," Ryder muttered tautly, hoping the Indians hadn't
yet spotted them.  "Hang on tight, we're gonna make tracks."

"Make tracks?"  Julia asked in bewilderment.  "Why?"

"Because I want to keep my hair," Ryder answered, hauling back on
Midnight's reins, urging him forward with the light use of his heels.

Running was an area in which Midnight excelled.  He outdistanced the
short-legged, broad-chested, Indian ponies in moments, even carrying a
double load.

The stallion came from excellent English riding stock.  He'd been
imported expressly for stud purposes.  The government intended to breed
a horse to be used for a remount program designed for the U. S.
Cavalry.  The man Ryder had won him from in a poker game had bought him
in England and had him shipped to the U. S. for that purpose.  " " Come
on, boy !  " Ryder urged him on as his arms tightened around the
bouncing woman, riding astride the saddle , in front of him.  " Let's
put some distance between us and them !  "

"What-are-you-doing Julia yelled, grabbing hold of the saddle horn with
both hands and hanging on for dear life.  Her words came out in uneven
segments as the wind was forced from her lungs with each jolt from the
saddle.

"I'm trying to keep that red hair of yours from ending up on some
warrior's lodge pole," Ryder replied, turning his head for a quick
glance over his shoulder.

"Are you crazy?"  Julia shouted.  "Stop this horse, right now, and let
me off!  "

Ryder met her angry eyes with flint like determination.  "Either keep
still and let me get us out of here, or I swear I'll drop you on the
trail and let the young bucks take their turns with you, while I get
away."

Julia gasped in shock at the crude picture he painted.  "What are you
saying-are you telling me this isn't a... performance?"  she shouted
above the sound of the horse's hooves hurling over the hard packed
ground.

A volley of arrows whistled past their heads.  Julia ducked
instinctively, then turned to cast a glance of shocked indignation
behind her.  "Well, really, that is carrying things a bit too far."

"Performance?"  Ryder repeated, whipping Midnight to a faster pace.  "I
don't know what in blazes you're blathering about-but if you mean you
think they're only chasing us for exercise, just give a listen to those
war cries."

Julia twisted in the saddle to stare up into the rigid planes of his
face.  "You're serious, aren't you?"  she asked in stunned amazement.
"" They're chasing us..  because they want to..  kill us?  "

Ryder didn't bother answering.  He was too busy turning his horse
toward a possible escape route.

A fifty-foot chasm divided the mesa from the valley floor.  If he could
get across the valley and into the mountains on the other side, they
could hide in one of the hidden caves located there.  The caves were
inaccessible to those who didn't know how to reach them and they'd be a
perfect place to lay low until the Indians were gone.  These mountains
and valleys weren't the natural hunting grounds of the Sioux; he was
counting on their not knowing about the caves.

An arrow sliced through the sleeve of Ryder's shirt.  Julia cried out
in alarm, twisted toward him, and ripped it from his shirt, tossing it
away in anger.

"We'll be out of range in a few minutes," Ryder reassured her.  "Just
keep your head down till then."

They heard the sound of a rifle crack behind them and Julia grabbed at
his arm in fear.  "Are we going to be out of range of that, too?"

Ryder shook his head.  "Not quite-what are you doing ?"

"I'm getting the rifle," she replied, hauling it from the sling with
difficulty.  She was terrified.  She didn't understand what was
happening, but she understood getting shot at, and she wasn't about to
sit still and let "Indians" get away with it.

"Keep your head down," Ryder warned again as she raised up to cast a
quick look behind.

Julia ducked her head immediately, leaning away from Ryder and raising
the rifle to take aim and fire.  She slammed back against Ryder's
strong arm.  She'd forgotten about the weapon's recoil.

"What are they doing?"

Julia peered around his shoulder.  "I don't know, they're gone."

"No."  Ryder shook his head.  "They're moving down off the rim of the
canyon.  In a few minutes, they'll be on this side of the ravine and we
won't be able to outrun them."

"What are we going to do?"

"eWe've only got one chance.  We have to hide in those mountains."
Ryder pointed to the cliffs ahead of them.

Julia looked and shuddered.  "I can't climb up there."

"You have to, it's our only chance."

Searching for a way out, she insisted, "Midnight will never be able to
manage the rocks."

"Midnight isn't coming," Ryder replied, slowing the horse and glancing
behind.  "Still no sign of the war party good This is what we do.  When
I tell you, you jump and roll when you hit the ground.  I'll be right
behind you: '

"What do you mean, Midnight isn't coming?"  she asked worriedly.  "You
can't mean you're going to leave us stranded out here without
transportation !  "

"You said it yourself, he can't make the climb.  Besides he's going to
keep going so our friends back there think qey're still following us."
 gut-"

"Now!"  Ryder gave her a push.  "Remember-roll!"

Julia landed on her rear with a hard jolt and an angry cry.

Letting momentum carry her forward, she tucked her head down between
her shoulders and did as Ryder had said; she rolled in the dirt.

When she finally rolled to a stop, she lay panting, ex ng an Indian to
appear at any moment and grab her by the hair of the head.  A sudden
hand on her shoulder startled her into whirling around with clenched
fists.  " Ryder's palm came up as she let fly " Whoa-it s me.  with
a fist.  "Come on-hurry.  I can hear the sound of horses."

Using a branch from a bush, he brushed at their tracks as q, backed
toward the shelter of rock.  From a hiding place, they watched the band
of Indians unknowingly pass them

"We're safe," Julia panted, brushing the hair back from q, dusty
forehead and cheeks.

"No" Ryder shook his head.  "It won't take long for =: them to run
Midnight down.  When they do, they 'll begin qcktracking.  Soon as they
see where the hoofprints get :qghter, they'll figure out where we are."
"What do you mean, lighter?  " "A horse carrying a rider-or two as the
case may beaq deeper gouges in the earth than one running light: " "Oh,
God.  This is a nightmare!  "    ~Let's go " Ryder motioned for her
to follow him.  "We a long climb before us.  We ain't out of this
yet."

"Well, what now?"  Julia asked, sitting on the hard floor :q qave.
They'd been climbing for what seemed like itus when Ryder had spotted
whatever sign he was look for and they'd found this cave.  valley below
looked so far away, it made her dizzy to over the edge of the cliff.
Every muscle in her body ached, and there wasn't a spot she could name
that wasn't either bruised or scraped raw.

"Now we wait," Ryder replied, sitting back against the wall just beyond
the entrance.  From there he could see the trail dropping away from the
side of the mountain.  He knew the cave was invisible from below and so
was the trail, but you could never tell with Indians.

"How long?"  Julia shuddered.  She was hungry and thirsty and
completely out of patience with everyone, including

Ryder.

"As long as it takes," came his inflexible reply.

"Do you think they'll search these mountains for us?"  she asked with
arms clasped around quivering shoulders.

"They'll search.  Just like a dog on a scent, they won't give up till
they catch us-or get tired of the hunt."

"So we just sit here and wait for them to find us?"

"You got a better idea?"  he asked shortly.

She glared at him before dropping her head to her chest, too tired to
hold it up any longer.  Her eyes fell on the canteen lying on the floor
between them.  She eyed it thirstily, but couldn't seem to make the
effort to reach for it:

Ryder scooted till his back was against the rock forming the mouth of
the cave's opening, laid the rifle across his thighs, and kept his eyes
trained on the empty stretch of trail outside.  That's how he wanted it
to stay, empty.

Julia looked up and watched as he made himself comfortable She had a
lot of questions she wanted to ask him.  But at the moment, it was an
effort just to keep her eyes open.

She'd close them for a moment..  just till her heart stopped thumping
as though it was trying to beat its way out of her chest..  and then
she'd ask him..  what this was all about..

Chapter 12

Julia shifted over onto her side, pulled the cover up to her chin and
tried to get comfortable.  This was the hardest bed she'd ever slept
on.  What had happened to the feather mattress ?

"Are you awake?"

Lifting an eyelid, she stared with one eye across the cave at the blond
head of the man turning something on a spit over a fire.  " " I thought
it was all a dream, " she whispered softly.

From her tone of voice, Ryder could tell she was disappointed to learn
it wasn't.

"Are you hungry?"

Julia stared at the meat on the stick and felt her stomach cramp with
hunger.  "Yes," she answered, sitting up and pushing the hair back from
her eyes and feeling for her scarf.  Her eyes grew round as she
realized it was gone.  When had she lost it?  Where?

Ryder caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, saw her sudden
expression of fear, and knew immediately what she was thinking.  " "
It's gone.  Your scarf is somewhere out there.  " He nodded toward the
entrance to the cave.

"I'm sorry," she whispered in remorse.  "I didn't realize "

"I know," he said, cutting her off.  It was too late to worry about it
now.  He'd realized it was missing when he'd carried her sleeping form
into this second, larger chamber of the cave.  He had liked seeing her
wear the scarf, its rainbow of colors had looked real nice next to her
red hair.

"Forget it," he told her, "it's too late to do anything about it now.
Come over here and get yourself something to eat."

"The Indians," she whispered, scooting closer to the fire and lowering
her voice, "what if they find it?"

Ryder shrugged.

"Are they gone?"  she asked hopefully.

"I don't know.  They weren't awhile ago, when I went hunting for
supper."

"

" You mean "

"I mean they're camped below us.  Don't worry," he added, seeing her
sudden fear, "they'll never find this cave."

"How did you find it?"

"You know that bearskin rug on the floor in the cabin?"

She nodded.

"Well, I tracked that wily ole varmint to this very cave got him, too:
He nodded in satisfaction.

"But the smoke from the fire," Julia protested.  "Won't the Indians see
it?  "

"Look up."  He gestured upward with the point of the knife he'd been
using on the meat.

Julia saw a thin trail of gray smoke rising slowly toward the top of
the cave.  "How do you get it to do that?"

"I don't."  He grinned wryly.  "There's a vent hole up there
somewhere."

"Why did those men chase us?"  Julia asked abruptly, watching him slice
the meat away from the bone and into small pieces, laying, them on a
flat piece of rawhide.  " " Why were they dressed like that?  Do you
know them-are they after the gold?  "

Ryder sat back on his haunches, his face an expressionless mask, and
met her baffled stare.  "I wondered when we'd get to that."

20!

"Then it is the gold they're after-isn't it?"

Ryder shook his head and began to saw at the meat again

"Like I said before, you ask a lot of questions-" he stopped and
considered her taut figure from beneath lowered brows before adding
"-for somebody who doesn' cotton to answering questions about
herself."

"" You know who I am" " " I know who you said you were, " he corrected
her, wiping the knife blade on the leg of his trousers before laying i
down.  He reached for an obqect on the floor beside him anq

Julia followed the movement.

She frowned.  "What's that?"

She'd seen that small pouch, or one very like it, some where before.

"This?"  He weighted the soft doeskin pouch in the palm of one hand.

"Yes, where did you get it?"

"I've had it a long time.  It's my medicine bag: He closeq ; his fist
around it and pushed it out of sight beneath the nec of his shirt.  , "
"Medicine bag.  " she asked with a frown.

"That's right.  It was given to me by my adoptive father the man who
took me to live with him when I lived amon the Shoshone."

"I suppose there must be a lot of those thing around... with that same
design-"

"No.  The markings on every medicine bag are different."  And so was
what lay inside.  His bag contained things from his youth: a bird's
feather that had landed in his ha on his first hunt; a sign from the
gods, his adopted fat he had said, that he was blessed; a stone he'd
used to kill rabbit, proving his aim was sure and swift; the tail from
buffalo he'd killed to save another's life during a hunt; an a small
glass bead from the dress his mother had worn to t buried.  " " But..
you must be mistaken..  I know I've seen it bi fore.  "

"You might have seen it in the cabin."

"No-" Julia shook her head decisively.  "That isn't it.

She was certain she'd seen the bag, with the unusual sui burst design
and stick figures around it before, but it hadn't been in Ryder's
possession at the time.

Where?  Where had she seen it?

And then she had it-a bar in California-the night Mariette had died.

She'd gone to the bar alone, depressed about her inability to work. She
hadn't touched a paintbrush in months.  She began to drink.  The hours
passed, and the noise in the crowded bar faded to a dull roar in the
background of her mind, dulled, along with her emotions, by the
quantity of alcohol she'd consumed.

After a while, she had gotten up and left the booth at the back of the
bar to go in search of a bathroom.  When she'd returned, the waitress
had cleared her table, taking the drink she'd ordered just before
leaving.

Julia was a frequent customer at the bar and was on friendly terms with
the bartender.  She went to him and complained about the drink she
hadn't touched.

He'd given her another, and they'd talked for a few minutes He asked if
she was waiting for someone, and she'd told him no.  Then he asked if
she knew the guy who'd been sitting in the corner watching her for most
of the evening.

Again Julia had told him no and started to turn away.  But he detained
her, took something from below the counter and laid it on the bar next
to her glass.

"Whoever he was," the bartender said, "he left this behind I thought if
you knew him, maybe you'd see he got it back."

Julia had looked at the bag with bleary eyes.  It was unusual , both in
color and design.  The artist in her forged to the surface through the
alcohol-induced fog in her mind.

She reached for the bag.  Long fingers snaked out and picked it up
before hers could touch it; the bag was weighed in the palm of a broad
hand for a moment ; then the fingers closed around it.

Julia lifted her head, but the man's face wouldn't come into focus. All
she saw was one big blur just a moment before her eyes closed and she
sank slowly to the floor, unconscious

She awoke some time later lying on a couch in the back room of the bar.
A young, attractive waitress was with her.  She told Julia a customer
had picked her up when she passed out and the bartender had told him to
carry her in here and lay her down.  The bartender, Pete, had
instructed her to stay with Julia until the latter woke up.

Julia asked what time it was, saying she had to get home before it got
too late.  The young woman had grinned and said it was almost dawn.
Pete had closed the bar, but hac found plenty of work to keep him busy,
so he'd let her sleeF undisturbed.

The young waitress then went to get Pete, and Julie climbed shakily to
her feet.  While she was gone, Julia usec the phone on the desk to call
a cab.  She was worried about Mariette.  When either of them was
planning to be gone overnight they always let the other one know ahead
of time Her friend would be worried sick.

As Julia was climbing into the cab a short time later, thi waitress
stopped her with a question.  "What's the name o the guy who carried
you into the back room?"

Julia looked back over her shoulder and shook her head "I don't know, I
wasn't with anyone last night."

"Well, he sure seemed to know you," the other womai replied with a
knowing wink.  "He was some hunk," she'q murmured enviously, closing
the cab door, "a real cow boy."

The words echoed inside Julia's brain now as she lookeq up at the man
seated across the fire from her.  "Who ar you?"  she whispered in a
voice devoid of air.  "Where did you come from?"

"Ryder McCall," he answered stonily.

"How did you get me here?  What's this all about?  Have you been
following me?"  Her voice rose higher and highe as the hysteria inside
her built.

It didn't make sense.  Somehow she knew this man was the same man who'd
been in that bar all those months ago o the night her best friend had
taken her own life.  But wh2 could he have to do with that?

How could he have known she'd go to Wyoming?  How could he have known
she'd go to the cabin?  The light!  C

course, she would follow a light..  but that still didn't explain any
of the rest of it-the cabin and its contents, the gold, the Indians..

She must be going crazy-that was it!  The alcohol had affected her
mind.  She was insane!

Julia got to her feet in a daze and stalked nervously around the cave.
What was she going to do?  How did she get out of this mess?

Pushing her hands through her hair, pulling at it, she began to
whimper.  She stumbled against the cold, rough wall of the cave and
slid slowly to the floor on her knees, clasping her arms around
herself, whimpering, rocking back and forth.

Ryder watched her in growing concern.  He knew it, he'd expected
something like this to happen when she learned about the Indians being
on the warpath.  He figured the best thing he could do as long as she
didn't do anything foolish like trying to run out of the cave, or start
screaming, was to leave her alone and let her get over the worst of her
fear.

Pushing a piece of meat into his mouth, he chewed slowly, keeping his
eyes on Julia.  It wasn't that he didn't want to go to her, take her in
his arms and comfort her-he did.  But, once again, he sensed this
wasn't the right time to offer her comfort.  There was more to this..
more to her strange behavior than met the eye.

"

" W-where are we?  "

The fire had gone out and the cave had grown cold.  Julia had no
conception of time in this dark, soundless void she'd awakened to only
a few minutes ago.  " " In a cave.  " Ryder's deep voice came to her
from out of the blackness.  " " Where?  " she asked urgently.  " "
Where are we ?  "

Ryder frowned, wishing he could see her face.  He was saving what
little wood they had because he didn't know how long they might be
stuck in this cave.

"Wyoming Territory," he answered carefully.

"Territory?"  Julia asked, picking up on that word, feeling her stomach
turn a flip-flop.  No, it couldn't be!

Some time during the past few hours, since remembering having seen the
medicine pouch, she'd thought of and discarded several explanations for
the events going on around her.  Events she couldn't explain.

"Did you say Territory?"  Her voice quivered.  "Don't you mean
State-Wyoming State?"

"Wyoming isn't a state-not yet."

No, what she was thinking was impossible!  Things like that didn't
happen-maybe on television..  but not to real people..  not in the real
world.  ,..  " " W-what" she licked suddenly dry lips " "what is today
's d-date?"

"I don't know."  Ryder scratched his head, wondering where all these
questions were leading.  "Somewhere around the middle of June, I
'spect.  Why?"

"The year?"  Julia swallowed tightly, feeling as though an icy hand had
her in its grip.  God, this was crazy, but if what she suspected.
everything-all the confusion she'd felt over the past couple of
weeks-would make sense.  " " Eighteen-seventy-six.  "

Julia held herself stiffly, almost afraid to acknowledge what he'd just
said.  "D-did you say eighteen-s-seventy-six?"

"That's what I said," he answered, lighting a match and setting the
wood to flame.  He had to see what was going on in her face.

Julia sagged against the wall.  Her teeth were chattering so hard she
could barely get the words out.  "Th-that's what I th-thought y-you
s-said "

"Are you all right?"  Ryder asked, coming up onto his knees.

Julia tensed at his movement, raising her eyes to his face.  "I'm
fine," she answered warily.  Something in her expression must have told
him she wouldn't welcome his touch , because after a moment's
hesitation, he settled back on his side of the fire.

"Will you tell me s-something about yourself?"  she asked, watching
him.

"I have done-"

"No, not that," she interrupted him quickly.  "Where did you get that
pouch?"

"I told you, I got it from my adopted father, when I lived with the
Shoshone."

"H-how long did you live with them?"

"Six years.  My mother died when I was twelve.  She was sick a long
time and the woman who ran the... place where she worked... didn't like
having a kid around."  He shrugged.  "I left-took off across the
territory-right after

Ma's death.  "

Julia listened with a growing sense of unreality.  Could she really be
sitting here, listening to a man who had probably died close to a
hundred years before she'd been born?

Ryder's glance moved toward the fire's rippling flames as he continued
to speak.  It seemed now that he'd started, he couldn't stop.  "Chief
Washakie and his band found me half dead from starvation in the
mountains up north where we visited the hot springs.  They took me
in-he made me his son."

"How did you get there?"

"I hired on to a wagon train going to California.  I was supposed to
help tend the stock.  The man who hired me thought I needed reminding,
every now and then, who was boss"

"He hit you?"

"Among other things."  Ryder's bitter expression turned lethal.  The
beatings weren't the worst of it, but he wouldn't speak of that.

"Were you happy with the Shoshone?"

He nodded.  It had been the best six years of his life, or so he'd
always thought..  until now.  " " Why did you leave them?  "

Ryder shrugged without answering, but in the flames he saw the face of
a young Indian girl.  He'd left because of her, because she was falling
in love with him, and though he cared about her, he didn't love her.

After the life his mother had led, he'd decided he'd never do what his
father had done to his mother.  He'd never get a woman pregnant then
leave her to raise the kid all alone.  But he also knew he wasn't the
kind to stay in one spot very long.  It seemed like he was always
looking for something he never found.

When he'd told Julia about his mother, and the fact of his own birth,
it was because he wanted to shock her.  He had expected to see the same
look on her face he saw on the face of everyone else when they learned
he was a bastard.

The truth of the matter was that his mother did know the name of his
father.  He'd been a family man in the town where Ryder had been born.
He'd wanted children but his wife refused to conceive.

Years later, when Ryder's mother told him the whole story, she hadn't
tried to make herself sound innocent in the matter: She'd told it
honestly and concisely.  She'd worked as a seamstress for the wife of
the man who'd fathered her child.

She admitted she'd deliberately allowed herself to become pregnant in
order to lure the man away from his wife.  She loved him and had
thought he loved her.

But her ploy hadn't worked.  When the man's wife learned about the
baby, she immediately set about getting pregnant herself.  Ryder's
mother had never recovered from the blow she'd received when the man
had told her he loved his wife and denied fathering the child she
carried.

Still, she hadn't been able to leave the town, or Ryder's father, for a
long, long time.  And when she did, she'd taken up the life of a
prostitute.  Ryder always blamed the man; he never thought of him as
his father, for that.  He'd made her a prostitute by coming to her in
the first place and then throwing her away when he was through with
her.

"What did you do after you left the Indians?"

Julia's soft voice brought him back from a very painful past to the
present.  "I worked as a drover for some of the big cattle ranchers.
When I got tired of that, I took up gambling.  I'd learned to deal a
fair hand of poker while my mother was alive and I never forgot how."

"What brought you to the cabin?"

Ryder shrugged.  "

" What keeps you there?  "

"The gold," he murmured deliberately, meeting her eyes for the first
time since he'd begun answering her questions.

"G-gold?"  Julia repeated.  He heard her smothered gasp of surprise.

"That's right.  The vein you saw me working a few nights ago is a vein
of the purest gold I've ever seen.  I mine it at night"

"Why at night?"

"The Shoshone leave me alone, because of my friendship with Chief
Washakie, but that might change if they thought I was mining gold. They
know the news of gold spreads fast, and it would bring hundreds of
white men onto their land, hunting their game, polluting their water,
killing their people.  To keep that from happening-they'd kill me and
anyone else involved."

"Is that why the Indians below chased us today?"

" " Those Indians aren't Shoshone, they're Sioux.  I started noticing a
large movement of Cheyenne and Sioux passing through this area a couple
of weeks ago.  One night at the hot springs, while you were asleep, I
sneaked close to their camp.  I heard two young bucks talking about a
place to the north where they were going to fight the pony soldiers.
"

"Battle?"  Julia tensed.  "Can't you stop them?"

Ryder looked at her.  "How?"

"Where is this battle going to take place?"

"A place called Rosebud Creek."

Julia bit her lip.  "I don't suppose it's possible to change the past,"
she whispered dismally, thinking not only of the famous battle that had
taken place on June 25 in 1876, but about the battles she'd had in her
personal life, too.  "No matter how much you'd like to," she added
softly.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing."  Shaking her head, she shivered convulsively.

"You're safe here with me," he assured her.

"I don't feel very safe," she murmured faintly, thinking not only of
the Indians outside, but of the world she'd left behind.  " " This
mountain is catacombed with caves.  There's a small underground pool of
clear water in the next chamberq-we have food and wood for the fire.
We'll get out of this.  "

A sudden question popped into Julia's head.  "The two graves behind the
cabin... do you think the Indians..."

"I don't know."  Ryder shook his head and stirred the fire.

A silence fell between them neither seemed to want to break.  Julia lay
down and turned away from the fire.  This whole conversation seemed
totally beyond the bounds of reality.  She was lying in a cave talking
to a man about Indian medicine, war parties, dead settlers and gold
mines, as though they were a part of her everyday life.

She had to be crazy!  She'd seen painted Indians, been chased and fired
upon by them, yet in her heart of hearts she knew that wasn't
possible..

Was all this nothing more than a figment of her fevered imagination?
Had she ever really left Los Angeles?  Or was she still in the city,
confined to a padded cell in some mental hospital, living this dream
that seemed so very real?

Julia raised her head, tempted to test reality.  What if she told Ryder
all about herself-about her real self?  Maybe facing the nightmare
head-on would cause it to dissipate.

No, she couldn't!  What if this wasn't a nightmare?  What if it was
real?  What if, somehow, impossible as it seemed, she really had
stumbled into a time warp and tumbled backward in time?

That would explain so much that had been puzzling her about her
surroundings-and Ryder.

Turning over onto her side, facing the fire, she glanoed at him through
partially closed lids.  He was real, he had to be.  She'd lived with
him..  spoken to him..  touched him..  made love with him..

Would speaking about the future bring the past to an abrupt end?  Would
all this, the cave, the Indians, Ryderdisappear ?

She couldn't take that chance!  Because whether this place was real,
whether Ryder really existed or was only a dream, Julia had fallen in
love with him and that's all that mattered If it was a dream, please,
God, she prayed silently, let me never awaken.

For the first time in her life, she had purpose, and a real sense of
the person she could be.  She couldn't lose that feeling-or Ryder-not
now..  not now!

Ryder lay by the fire darting glances toward Julia's closed eyes and
pale face.  She was acting very strange, more strange than ever
before.

She'd disappointed him.  He'd expected her to own up to knowing about
the gold and about following him last night.  He'd hoped she'd tell him
more about her own past.

The crackling fire drew his attention, and as he stared into the bright
flames, he looked inside his own heart.  He remembered the day they'd
loved the afternoon away.  He could see the sketch she'd drawn of
herself at his request, and he wished they were back in the cabin right
now.

He'd never expected to feel like this about any woman.  Thoughts of his
mother's wasted life, spent loving a man who didn't love her, had made
him determined to keep that from ever happening to himself.

Julia had once said how surprised she was that he didn't seem to be
affected by his childhood, and he'd always thought that, too.  But now
he doubted the truth of that.  Perhaps, like being unable to read or
write, he'd simply refused to admit it.  If he didn't admit it, or
think about it, it had no power to hurt him.

Julia had made him start facing the truth about himself.  She was a
totally unexpected element in his life.  He didn't know what to make of
her.  She had turned his life upside down.  Yet, these days spent with
her..

The passing years were just something he got through on a day to day
basis with little change from one to the next, until she came into his
life.  Time had never been precious to him, not until a little while
ago, when he thought it was about to run out before he'd had a chance
to tell her what she meant to him.

"Julia."

The deep timbre of his voice whispered across the space separating
them.  Julia lay without moving as the vibrant sound played over her
nerve endings.  For the first time since she'd met him, he'd actually
spoken her name in something other than anger or fear.

Julia lifted her head after a moment and looked up into his face; into
those magnificent dark eyes.  " " Ryder?  "

He was moving toward her.  At her side, on his knees, he drew her up
before him.  His glance moved over her face and body.

He couldn't get his fill of looking at her.  If he looked at her till
the end of time, it still wouldn't be long enough.  She was beautiful
beyond anything he'd ever seen and more precious than the breath of
life.

His hands cupped her cheeks and lifted her face up to his.  Slowly,
reverently, while the firelight danced on the walls around them, his
head descended toward hers.

The touch of his lips came as a shock to both of them.  A powerful
surge of feeling flashed between them, turning the air electric.

Ryder didn't fully understand what was happening, but it didn't matter.
Nothing mattered, not even the answer to whether or not Julia had only
sought him out for the gold.  Nothing was important but the powerful
feeling of love she'd brought into his life.

Whatever she wanted was hers for the asking.  Until she'd arrived, he'd
had nothing.  If she wanted the gold, it was hers, if she wanted his
life..  he would gladly lay it at her feet.

He tried to restrain the powerful fires of hunger burning him up
inside.  He didn't want to frighten her, but he wanted her to know what
he was feeling.  Yet, he was no good with words.  And then, as she bent
to his will, he knew words weren't necessary.  He could show her,
better than any words could ever convey, what he felt inside.

He tasted her lips, drew them into his mouth, ate them, sucked at their
sweetness, while his hands glided across her shoulders, moved down her
back and up beneath his own shirt to rest flat against her bare skin.
And that wasn't enough-touching her wasn't enough.  He wanted to feel
her naked in his arms, he wanted to be inside her, spilling his seed in
her, filling her with life-his life.

Circling her waist with his hands, he drew her up tight against his
chest.  They rose together on their knees, arms locked around each
other, lips fused, a passion raging between them hotter than the fire
at their backs.

Julia felt his heart thudding beneath the muscled wall of his chest,
and her own pulse echoed the riotous tattoo.  Her hands began to pull
at his shirt, found the suspenders and shoved them aside impatiently.

Ryder slipped the suspenders down over his shoulders and let her pull
the shirt loose from his trousers.  He felt her mouth, wet and hungry,
slide from his lips to his chin down the side of his jaw, leaving a
trail of hot kisses.

He couldn't wait any longer.  He fumbled with the buttons on her shirt,
trying to keep their mouths fused.  Julia was as eager as he and just
as determined to help rid them of their restricting clothes.  They
ripped and tore at each other's clothing, starving for the sight and
feel of each other 's flesh.

"Touch me," Julia moaned, lifting Ryder's hand to her breast.  " Hisq
palm cupped her warm flesh massaging it slowly.

"You re so soft, he breathed, bending to draw a taut nipple still
encased in a lacy bra into his mouth.  " I've never known anything as
soft as you feel in my hands.  " ,

Julia s head fell back.  She used both hands to press his face against
her.  Yes-oh-yes-like that..  "

Ryder's hot, hungry mouth traveled from one breast to the other, his
tongue rubbing softly against the sensitive flesh through the lace.
Julia stood it as long as she could, before pulling his mouth back to
hers.

They kissed deeply as she pulled the shirt up over his chest, their
lips parting only long enough for him to shed it before fusing again.

Julia propelled herself against him, her weight carrying him back
against the floor.  She spread herself over him like a second skin,
touching him through his trousers, feeling him hard against her palm.

Ryder's hands glided up her naked back, up the ridge of her spine, to
her shoulders.  He massaged them, moved his hands up to her neck
beneath her hair and kissed her all over her face.

When his mouth once more locked with hers, his tongue slipped between
her teeth, touching the tip of hers.  Julia moaned and captured his
tongue against the roof of her

Sjqdes of Wyoming 221 qouth, sucking it gently, as she pressed her hips
against him

In a frenzy of desire, Ryder sat up, stripped the trousers from both
their bodies and pulled her onto his lap, wrapping her legs around his
waist.  He entered her quickly, bringing a gasp of surprised pleasure
bursting from Julia's qps.

Grasping his hair in both hands, she held his mouth to hers as he moved
against her, rocking them, creating a rhythm of love.  Ryder's hands
slipped up and down her back, around to fondle her breasts, rubbing the
pebble-hard apples against the palms of his hands, and then back to her
hips.  He drew her closer and locked her tighter against him as the
rhythm of their lovemaking increased in tempo.

As though trying to hang on to something precious, yet fleeting, they
drew strength from each other, tried to steal time and prolong the
ecstasy.

"Now!"  Julia gasped.  "Oh-yes!"  Grasping his should en , she arched
back, feeling his face press against her bare breasts as the world
ripped apart.  It exploded into a million tiny pieces and flew in all
directions, taking Ryder and Julia along with it.

As before when they'd made love, each felt as though they had become
part of the other.  But this time they acknowledged it by look and
touch.  From now until the end of time, nothing could separate them.

Sometime later, Julia realized she was hungry.  Ryder offered her some
of the meat.  After she'd eaten some, she asked how he'd managed to
capture a sage hen right under the Indians' noses without their
knowing.

Ryder grinned.  "

" Remember the rattler that came visiting not long ago?  "

Julia nodded with a puzzled air.

Ryder gestured toward the meat she held in one hand.  "ThaYs his
cousin."

"C-cousin?"  The flush on her cheeks disappeared, leaving them pale.
She swallowed, gagged and swallowed again.

"Here, drink some of this."  He handed her the canteen filled with
water.  "And don't think about it.  We can't afford to pass up food,
any food, right now."

Julia knew he was right, but she hoped snake meat wouldn't be the main
item on their menu.  She washed the meat down with a large drink of
water, telling herself it tasted like chicken.  And anything that
tasted like chicken couldn't be bad for you.

When they settled down to sleep, Ryder held Julia clasped tightly
against him throughout the long night, wondering what the morning would
bring.

Chapter 13

The next morning, Ryder left the cave to check on the Indians He
returned to tell Julia they were gone.  Apparently, qey had gotten
tired of waiting as he' dpredicted and moved on to easier game.  ?
Their manner toward each other as they prepared to leave was warm, yet
subdued.  Last night, they had both made qme devastating discoveries
about themselves.  Yet neither knew how to broach the one subject
uppermost in both their

Julia still couldn't quite believe in the idea that she'd qmellow
traveled backward through a whole century of be.  Nor did she
understand the significance of her having en Ryder's medicine bag in a
bar in her own time.  None it made sense.  She wanted to tell Ryder
what she was thinking, but again the fear that she might somehow lose
him if she did, kept her

Under the circumstances, the hunting trip was canceled.  Ryder needed
proof that the area had become danger iq ;1q now had it.  The trip back
to the cabin was a slow, iComfortable journey, until they reached the
banks of the river and found Midnight happily munching on manna
grass.

Ryder decided to wait until they were at the cabin to sort things out
between them about the gold.  He no longer cared why she'd come to him.
He believed she loved him as much as he loved her and that's all that
mattered.  They hadn't yet spoken the words, but the feelings were
there.

He still needed to tell her about being wanted by the law, and that
worried him, because when he asked her to share his life, he'd be
asking her to live it on the run.  They'd always be looking over their
shoulders, worried someone might find out he had a price on his head.
It would take a special kind of woman to be willing to give up a life
of peace and security to live in constant fear with the man she
loved.

This time, unlike their return from the hot springs, they rode to the
cabin together.  Ryder wasn't aware they had a visitor until the last
minute, an indication of his frame of mind.

"Good day, ma'am."  The tall, dark-haired stranger, dressed in Levi
chambray shirt, wool vest and bandanna, lifted his Stetson and nodded
to Julia.

Still seated on Midnight's back, Julia returned the nod diffidently and
glanced at Ryder, who had dismounted and stood close to her side.

"Who are you?"  Ryder asked coldly, moving away from Julia and taking
up a stance familiar to their visitor.  His right hand rested on the
butt of the gun at his hip.

"Name's Whitson," the other man answered, eyeing Ryder with a lazy
smile.  "Delroy Whitson."  He moved toward

Ryder with a raised hand, but dropped it when the other man made no
attempt to take it.

Transferring his gaze to Julia, he said, "I sure hope you folks don't
mind that I spent the night inside.  I could tell someone lived
here-you keep a fine house, ma'am."

"What's your business in these parts?"  Ryder asked, still in that
unfriendly tone.  " " I was on my way to Fort Bridger when I..  lost my
way, " Delroy answered with a slight laugh.

Something in the expression in the man's unwavering blue gaze put Ryder
on edge.

Scratching at the thick black beard on his chin, Delroy continued,
"It's the damnedest-oh, pardon me, ma'am."

He shot a look of apology in Julia's direction and offered her a slight
bow before continuing.  "It's funny how that happened, my getting lost,
and all.  I'm not usually one to get turned around."

His eyes slid back to Ryder's poker-faced expression.  "I'd a probably
been fine if I hadn't happened on a war party about then."

"War party?"  Julia repeated faintly.

Delroy shifted his glance to her face.  "That's right, ma'am.  Sioux,
they was, a bunch of young buck all decked out in feathers and paint
lookin' for trouble."

Feeling a sudden kinship with someone who'd suffered the same scare as
themselves, Julia offered him a small, unoertain smile.  There was
something in his expression when he looked at Ryder that made her
uneasy, but he was the first man-white man-besides Ryder, she'd seen in
over two weeks and she was willing to give him the benefit of the
doubt.  " " You're welcome to stay "

"The night," Ryder cut across her invitation, glaring at her darkly.

Julia frowned, but accepted his decree and continued,

"With us and rest up, before continuing your journey."

"Why, thank you, ma'am," Delroy replied, removing his hat.  He ran a
hand through the long black strands and sighed.  "It's mighty nice of
you to be so hospitable to a stranger.  I haven't had home cooking in-"
He hesitated and dropped his eyes to the hat he held in one hand in
emb ment'Sorry, I didn't mean to jump the gun.  Maybe your invitation
didn't include a meal.  "

"Of course it did," Julia answered quickly, giving Ryder 's closed face
an unflinching look of resolve.  "You're more than welcome to share our
food."

"I didn't catch your name."  Delroy looked at Ryder.

"McCall," he replied.  "WhaYs your business at the fort?"

"I breed horses for the army," Delroy answered.  qlis atteotion moved
to the horse beneath Julia.  "I'm workin' to develop a breed of
horseflesh that can carry a riderq over a long distance before he has
to change mounts.  That s what country like this-where the people are
spread far and wide-really needs."

Delroy stepped forward and touched Midnight's forelock The horse jerked
his head and shied back a few steps, surprising Julia and causing her
to lose her balance.

"Oh!"  She forgot everything Ryder had taught her about staying on a
horse and threw her hands up in the air.  Her fear sparked a like fear
in the animal and Midnight reared up on his hind legs, unseating her.

Ryder made a sharp move in her direction, but the stranger got there
first.  He caught the frightened Julia in midair, holding her for a
moment before setting her on her feet.  Even then, he stood close to
her, his arms staying around her waist longer than was strictly
necessary.

"Are you all right?"  Delroy asked, looking deeply into her eyes.

Julia was flustered.  She'd made a fool of herself, and this man's
solicitude only made matters worse.

"F-fine."  She backed away, loosening his arms from around her.  "I'm
fine."  Cheeks flaming, she looked toward

Ryder, saw the chiseled expression on his set face, and glanced at the
other man still standing much too close.

"I-I'll just go inside and-" She made a fluttering motion with both
hands.  "I'll just go inside."

Ryder stepped between her and the stranger, took her elbow , and walked
her to the cabin door.  Inside, he stood with her a moment, body rigid,
and asked, "Are you sure you're all right?  "

"Yes."  She met his eyes and couldn't seem to look away.

"I don't care who he is, I don't like him touching you " , he whispered
from between clenched teeth.  Drawing her up against his chest, he
said, "If he touches you again, I'll kill him."  Slanting his mouth
over hers, he kissed her hard, put her abruptly from him and left the
cabin.

Julia raised a confused hand and touched light fingertips to her
throbbing lips.  What was that all about?  Who did he think Delroy
Whitson was?  She felt as confused as Alice must have felt when she
tumbled through the looking glass and landed in Wonderland.  She
remembered what had ocqrred in the cave and realized she had as much
reason as Alice to feel that way.

The meal that evening consisted of smoked venison in gravy, corn on the
cob, fried potatoes and bannock.  They ate in silence, and even if the
food wasn't up to gourmet standards, Julia noted the two men ate with
hearty appetites

As for herself, she picked at her food rather than ate it.

She kept casting worried glances between the two men, as though she
feared at any moment they might jump to their feet and start throwing
punches.

The atmosphere between the two continued to be strained, to say the
least.  Ryder didn't try and hide his dislike for Delroy but instead of
angering the man, it appeared to amuse him, and that only made Ryder
angrier.

At first Julia had looked on Delroy's presence as a kind of respite
from the strain of the last few days.  But now, she realized asking the
man to stay overnight hadn't been a good idea.  The atmosphere around
the table was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Since he'd given her that rough kiss right after they'd returned to the
cabin to find Delroy waiting for them, Ryder had hardly spoken two
words to her.  He kept her within sight, never leaving Delroy alone
with her for an instant, but he didn't look happy about it.

While she was preparing the meal, Delroy had insisted on adding
something to it.  He removed a sack of coffee from his saddlebags, and
Julia boiled a pot of coffee.  It was the first cup of coffee she'd had
in many days and she enjoyed it, even if it was stronger and more
bitter than she was used to drinking.

Ryder had refused the coffee, saying he preferred the sagebrush tea.
But Julia had seen the way he'd inhaled the air teeming with the aroma
of fresh-brewed coffee, when he thought no one was watching.  It was
childish of him to re _;q it because it had come from Delroy Whitson,
but in ead of making her angry with him, it only endeared him tsause
it made him appear more human.

Obviously Ryder didn't trust Delroy.  She assumed it was because of the
gold, but he cared for her and yet he didn't trust her, either.  Didn't
he trust anyone?

True, she was keeping things from him, but they had nothing to do with
the gold.  She had a sound reason for her reluctance to discuss
personal matters-or at least thought she did.

She could hardly believe what had happened herself, and she was an
intelligent, modern woman of the twentieth century , a woman used to
technology that would seem like magic to someone born over a hundred
years ago.  How could she expect him, a man from the past, to believe
she'd come to him from out of the future?

She caught Ryder studying her with puzzled eyes and guessed he was
probably wondering if her silence had anything to do with the gold. She
should have discussed her knowledge of it with him in the cave, but at
the time there had been other, more important, considerations to think
about.

She wished she could share her thoughts with him about this strange
thing that had happened to her, but the fear she'd felt in the cave was
still with her.  What if she spoke of the present, her present, of
which Ryder could have no part, and suddenly lost him?

"Ah, me-" Delroy pushed back from the table and patted his trim waist.
"That was a fine meal, ma'am, the best I believe I've ever eaten."

Julia gave a slight start, brought back to her present surroundings
with a bump.  "Th-thank you, Mr.  Whitson.  I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Patting his upper right-hand vest pocket, the man withdrew a long,
thick cigar and asked, "Do you mind?"

Julia shook her head.  He'd bathed, shaved and changed clothes while
she prepared the evening meal and looked rather attractive at the
moment.

She'd learned, though, not to make eye contact with him, because every
time she did, a flurry of chill-bumps erupted on the skin of her arms
and legs.  She couldn't put her finger on what it was about him, but
some fleeting expression far back in the depths of his eyes unsettled
her.

"You, sir?"  Delroy offered a cigar to Ryder.

"No, thanks."  Ryder stood abruptly and left the table.  He returned
with the makings for a cigarette.

"Have the two of you been here long?"  Delroy asked no one in
particular.

Julia shot a quick glance at Ryder before replying, "No, we " Yes.  "
Ryder raised his voice to cover hers.  " Been living here more than a
year now.  "

"That so?"  the other man asked, puffing on his cigar.  "Ever have any
trouble with the Indians?"

"No," Ryder replied shortly.

"I noticed two graves out back when I rode in.  Indians ?"  He glanced
sharply from Ryder to Julia and back.

Ryder shrugged.  "They were here when we got here.  Don't know how they
died.  Could have been a fever."

"I noticed there's an old mine shaft here, too.  You been inside?"

"

" I been inside, " Ryder answered.  "

"Any gold?  "

Ryder laughed contemptuously.  "What do you think?"

"Yeah," Delroy answered with a sardonic grin, "that's what I
thought."

While Julia cleared the table, the two men smoked in what might have
appeared to a stranger as a companionable silence , but there was
nothing friendly in the air between them.

"I expect you'll want to be on your way at first light " , Ryder said
abruptly, breaking the thick silence.

Delroy took a long drag on his cigar, blew out the smoke, and tilted
his chair back on its hind legs.  His eyes slid to Julia' You get to
town much, ma'am?  " he asked, deliberately ignoring Ryder's comment.

"N-no, I don't," Julia answered uncomfortably.  " " Where would the
nearest town be?  " he asked, considering the end of the cigar.

Julia shook her head without answering.

"A long way from here," Ryder answered sharply, pushing back from the
table and ending the conversation.

"Here, ma'am, let me."  Delroy jumped to his feet as Julia lifted the
heavy bucket of water she'd used to wash the supper dishes and started
toward the door.  "A little thing like you shouldn't have to lift a
heavy bucket like that.  It's a man's job," he emphasized, taking the
bucket from her hands.

He'd barely left the cabin when Ryder slammed a fist against the table
in anger and muttered, "That's it!  He

"Ryder, please-he'll be gone in the morning.  Don't send him out into
the night-remember the Indians."

When the other man returned, Ryder said, "It's getting late.  You can
put your bedroll outside, beneath the porch roof."

Delroy eyed the cozy fire in the fireplace.  It got cold in the
mountains at night.  "Thanks," he replied laconically.

He moved around the room until his eyes found the sketch Julia had done
at Ryder's request.  Moving closer, he picked it up and studied it
carefully.

"This is very good," he commented, looking at Ryder.  "Did you do
this?"

"No," Ryder replied stiffly.  He didn't like the man looking at the
picture, because it had been done immediately after they had made love.
Julia's expression was too open, and though she'd only drawn as far as
the tops of her breasts , Ryder didn't like another man seeing her bare
bosom.

"Well, ma'am, you're good.  But then, you got to know that already:
Picking up the sketch she'd done of Ryder, he studied it, too, but made
no comment about it.  " "Thank you " Julia folded her hands together at
her waist and smiled uncomfortably.

Ryder took the sketches from the man's hands as he was about to put
them back, strode across the floor, lifted the lid of the trunk and
dropped them inside.

Delroy watched him before making his way to where Julia stood.  Lifting
a hand, he brushed his lips lightly against the back of it.  Ryder was
on the point of jerking him away from her by the scruff of his neck
when he straightened and dropped her hand.

"I just want you folks to know, in case I'm gone before you get up,
it's been a real pleasure to make your acquaintance" The words included
both of them, but Delroy's glance rested on Julia's face.

Julia flushed a deep red and nodded, looking everywhere but at Ryder's
angry face.  "Thank you," she whispered again.  "Have a safe
journey."

That night Ryder barred the door and spread his blankets on the floor
in front of it.  His rifle, loaded and ready to fire, lay across his
chest.

A slight sound awakened Ryder sometime in the middle of the night.  His
hand went immediately to the rifle.  Grasping it firmly, he lay tensely
waiting and listening.

The creak of saddle leatqier met his ear and he relaxed.  Delroy, or
whoever he was, was leaving, and good riddance !

Looking toward the bed, Ryder smiled grimly.  It was time he put an end
to the questions between himself and the woman he loved.

For a time, after they'd found the man at the cabin waiting for them,
Ryder had wondered if he was Julia's partner in a scheme to get the
gold.  But in his heart of hearts he'd never doubted her, and within
the hour he'd known he'd been a fool to even suspect such a thing.

Ryder heard the sound of a horse's hooves leaving the yard, and still
he didn't rest any easier.  He'd seen plenty of men like Whitson in
prison.  They were back-shooters, the kind who'd share your camp fire
and grub, then knife you in the back for your horse.  Every time the
man had gone near Julia, he'd wanted to riddle him with lead.

Knowing he wouldn't sleep anymore that night, Ryder got to his feet and
stood warming his hands before the fire.  His glance strayed toward the
bed.  What he wouldn't give to climb beneath the blankets and lay her..
no, he'd made his decision.  He wouldn't touch her again, until she
knew the truth about him.  And he couldn't tell her that until he'd
made a decision about their future.

He'd thought he had it all figured out.  Because they loved each other
anything was possible, but then Whitson had showed up and now he wasn't
so sure anymore.  Delroy Whitson was the kind of man they'd have to
deal with every day of their lives if he took her with him.

Julia was fixing breakfast the next morning when Ryder removed the
drawings from the trunk and placed them where they rested on the low
table near the fireplace.  He looked up and caught her watching him.

"I didn't believe his story."

" q"

What story Julia asked.

"That he was lost and stumbled across this cabin.  "

" Why not?  "

"I think he knew exactly where he was and what he was looking for."

"What?"

"Gold, maybe.  Did you notice him messing around the mine at all
yesterday?  "

"No.  Besides, you told him there wasn't any gold."  Julia poured them
each a cup of the coffee made from the bag of beans Delroy had left and
shook her head.

"No, I didn't," Ryder denied.  "I just let him come to that conclusion
for himself."  He picked up a cup and took a sip.  realized what it was
and gave Julia an annoyed look.  Taking the cup to the fireplace, he
threw its contents into the flames.

"I don't trust him," he muttered half angrily.  He wasn't angry with
her, but with himself.  He had to come to a decision soon about the two
of them and he was getting nowhere

"He's gone," Julia reminded him softly, wondering at the repressed
violence in his voice.

"That doesn't mean he isn't hiding out in the hills somewhere , just
waiting for the opportunity to sneak back in here and steal the
gold."

"The gold," Julia repeated slowly.  "Is that all that s important to
you-the damned gold?"  Slamming her empty cup on the table, she whirled
around and made for the door.

Ryder started after her, but changed his mind at the last moment.  The
gold was important-to both of them.  If she knew the truth, she'd
understand just how important.

They couldn't continue to stay in the cabin.  Now that

Whitson had found them and was headed to Fort Bridger, word of their
being there would spread like wildfire.  People kept track of things
like that in this country.

Sometimes, especially in winter, when the snow was waistdeep , knowing
where a cabin was located, or where a squatter had built a sod hut,
could keep a man from starving or freezing to death.

Ryder knew their days here were numbered.  All he had to do was tell
Julia the truth-all of it.  The only thing that kept him from doing
that was fear-the fear of losing her.

"Where are you going?"  Julia slowed her rocking and watched as Ryder
lit the candle in the lantern, using a twig from the fire.  "Itqrning
on his haunches to face her, he answered, " It's been three days since
Whitson left.  I figure it's probably safe to work tonight.  "

Julia clamped her lips together and looked away.  She was very
troubled.  Ryder had been acting very strange ever since their night
spent in the cave.  He'd kissed her only once in all that time and that
had been the day they'd found Whitson waiting for them upon their
return.  After that, he'd kept his distanq.

Sometimes, she found him looking at her with an unreadable expression
in his dark eyes.  Those were the times -qhe wondered if he'd finally
come to realize how inept she was in her present surroundings.  Surely,
he'd noticed her awkwardness, just as she'd noticed his odd behavior.
But the days passed and he asked no questions of her.

The strain was getting to her, something had to happen soon to break
this veil of silence, or she was going to go mad.  "Don't go."  A sense
of impending disaster forced the qvords from her lips.

Ryder stood and moved away from the fire.  He picked up _':.  #qis
rifle.  "You'll be safe-I'm leaving the gun."  q=:q:  Don't go," she
repeated with her eyes on the flames be she couldn't look at him and
let him see the desperain her eyes.

"

" I have to.  "

"No," she refuted softly, "you don't have to."

"You don't understand, the gold is-" He hesitated.  "It's all I
have."

Julia felt her heart skip a beat.  "What do you mean, it's all you
have?  "

"I'm nothing without it," he muttered in a low strained voice.

"You're a man!"  Julia insisted, "A good, hard-working, decent man. You
don't need the gold!"

The word decent echoed in his brain.  "You don't understand "

Placing her hands on the arms of the rocker, she raised herself to her
feet and stoad facing him.  "Then explain it to me."

Ryder frowned.  "

" Why are you angry?  "

"I'm not," she insisted coolly.

"What have you got against being rich?"

Julia turned away.  "You don't need the gold."  Money had never brought
her happiness.

"Don't I?  How would you know what I need?  You've had everything you
want all your life, " he accused her without realizing he was going to.
Did he resent her for that?  "I've had just the opposite.  I came into
this world with nothing, but when I leave it, it won't be with
nothing."  5houldering his rifle, the lantern in one hand, he moved
toward the door.

"What if I told you I'll be gone when you return?"  she asked
abruptly.

Ryder stiffened.  She was trying to force him into making a decision he
wasn't ready to make.  He wouldn't be forced The door slammed behind
him.

Julia sat down in the rocker and began to rock, keeping her eyes wide
so the tears filling them wouldn't spill onto her cheeks.  Hours went
by and the cabin grew cold.

Julia shuddered and gave her head a slight shake.  How long had she
been sitting here, staring into the fireplace without moving?

Her limbs felt stiff, her body bathed in gooseflesh.  Getting pneumonia
wouldn't help her present situation.  What she needed was a roaring
fire, maybe a hot drink, and bed.

The cabin door creaked and opened abruptly, creating a stir in the air
around her.  Julia felt her heart leap.  He'd come back!  Ryder had
come back!

She spun to face him, a smile of welcome on her cold lips-the smile
froze.

"W-what do you want?"

"Gold."  Delroy Whitson grinned from behind the barrel of the
Winchester aimed unwaveringly at her chest.

Chapter 14

Ryder felt the fresh wind push at his back and glanced up at the sky.
Clouds scudded over the moon, blocking its light.  A storm was on its
way, he could smell it in the air.

He hadn't worked in the mine after all.  He'd spent the time sitting in
the second tunnel, staring down at the black water, thinking about
Julia.  He knew he'd dithered back and forth long enough, it was time
for action.  Keeping that thought in mind he headed back to the
cabin.

As he started to open the door, Ryder lifted the glass top on the
lantern and blew out the candle.  He didn't want to awaken her.  L.
ether sleep, she'd need a clear head for what he was going to tell her
later this morning.

"That's far enough."

Ryder gave a start and automatically jerked his rifle toward the man
seated on the trunk pulled before the fire.

"Don't try it," Delroy Whitson warned in a hard, ruthless voice.  He
nodded toward the trunk beneath him and placed the tip of his
gun-barrel against the wood.  "If you even think about it, I'll pull
the trigger."

" " Julia = " Ryder began.  "Is in the trunk," Delroy said, supplying
the rest.

"If you've hurt her, you polecat, I'll rip your heart out and eat
it."

"" Drop the rifle.  "

Ryder bent at the knees, keeping his eyes on the other man, and laid
the rifle on the floor.  "I had a feeling you'd be back-if the Indians
didn't get you first."

"Well, now, ain't you a prize?"  Delroy asked sarcastically

"Let her out of there, so she can breathe."  Ryder nodded at the
trunk.

"She's fine, don't worry about her.  The one you ought to be worryin'
about is yourself.  You're the one with the price on your head-for
murder."  Kicking the side of the trunk with the heel of his boot,
Delroy asked, "You hear that, missy?  Your boyfriend here is a
killer."

"That's a lie!"  Ryder made a sharp move in the other man's
direction.

Delroy cocked the hammer of the gun and grinned coldly.  " " Go ahead,
try it.  Maybe you'll make it, maybe you'll get me, and get to
her-before she dies.  "

Hands knotted into fists, Ryder forced himself to relax and think
calmly.  "I'm not a killer.  I had nothing to do with killing that
guard."

"No?  Well, that isn't what this here wanted poster says: Pulling out a
folded piece of paper, Delroy shook it open and threw it on the floor
at Ryder's feet.  " You're worth a thousand dollars to me-dead or
alive.  "

"What do you want?"  Ryder asked coldly.

"Why, what makes you think I want anything but your hide?  "

"If it's me you wanted, you had plenty of opportunity to back shoot me
when you were here the other day."

"Now, that's true enough."  Delroy nodded.  "Maybe it ain't you I'm
after."  " " Then who?  " Ryder asked quickly, his eyes going to the
trunk.

"Not her, you blockhead.  It ain't who I'm after," he explained in
exaggerated patience, "but what I'm after: '

"I don't know what you're talking about."  Ryder played dumb.

"Oh, I think you know all right."

Standing away from the trunk, Delroy lifted the lid and pulled Julia up
so Ryder could see her.  She was bound hand and foot, and gagged.

"Pretty little thing, ain't she?"  Delroy asked, smoothing a hand over
her hair, while he covered Ryder with the gun.

Ryder ground his teeth.  "Keep your filthy paws off her!  "

"Now, now."  Delroy let his hand slide down the back of her head,
around to her shoulder, and across the front of her dress.  "She's good
in bed, ain't she?  I'd bet on it, 'cause she's got red hair and that
means plenty of spirit, plenty of passion."

" " Why you" Ryder lifted the lantern he still held and made as though
to throw it at him.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you," Delroy warned.  "If I shoot you,
who's going to protect her from me?  You know," he muttered
thoughtfully, "maybe that's what I ought to do, anyway.  I'll bet she
could tell me where you got the gold hid."

"I told you, there ain't any gold."

"You're a liar!"  the other man snarled, lifting the gun and jamming it
against Julia's head.  "I'm fast losing my patience, tell me where the
gold is, or she dies!  Quick, where's it at?"

Ryder stared into Julia's frightened eyes.  She was trying to tell him
something with her eyes.  He thought she was begging him to tell Delroy
about the gold and save her life.

"Look, I ain't an unreasonable man," Delroy said suddenly in a calmer
voice.  "I tell you what, we'll make a deal.  You decide which you
want, the gold..  or the girl.  The decision is yours-but you can't
have both.

"I been a bounty hunter most of my life, and I ain't never gonna be a
rich man if I stay in this line of work.  Now, I figure a few sacks of
gold would take care of that.  " "Course, I'll have to forgo the
pleasure of taking in your dead carcass, but if you make it worth my
while, I can stand that.  Besides, I think the gold would help ease my
conscience some about lettin' you go.  I'm tired of bein' saddle sore
from chasing scum like you all over the countryside."

"All right," Ryder agreed, his eyes on Julia.

She began to shake her head and try to speak through the gag.  Delroy
shoved her down in the trunk and started to shut the lid.

"No!"  Ryder took a step toward him, stopping when the other man jerked
the barrel of the gun in his direction.  "Let her out-or you can forget
the gold."

"You makin' the rules now?"  Delroy asked with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah... I am... if you want the gold."  Ryder refused to back down.

"All right," Delroy conceded after a long pause, "I'll let her out, but
she stays tied up and gagged."

"No."  Again Ryder spoke up.  "I want you to turn her loose.  Put her
on my horse and let her leave.  Then, and only then, I'll tell you
where the gold's hid."

"You think I'm a fool?"  Delroy snarled angrily.

The air grew thick with tension.  Julia's glance slid from Delroy's
twisted face to the gun in his hand.  His knuckles grew white as his
fingers tightened on the grip.

"Then shoot me," Ryder told him calmly.  "But let me warn you-" he
nodded toward Julia "-she doesn't know where I've hidden the gold.

"Of course, you can always stay and take my place, work the mine.
There's one thing maybe you ought to know, the Indians in these parts
know me, that's how I've managed to keep my hair.  You're a stranger,
and they don't cotton much to strangers minin' gold near their land."

"I could shoot you, both of you, and look for the gold myself, " Delroy
threatened.

"Sure you can, and you might even find it... before one of the war
parties passing through these mountains finds you: '

Delroy rubbed at his beard, his eyes on Ryder's calm face.  He'd seen
plenty of Indian signs while in hiding in the area the past few days.
And he'd heard before leaving Fort Laramie there was trouble brewing
between the Sioux, Cheyenne and the cavalry.

"All right," he conceded at last.  "I'll let the girl go."

"I have your word on that?"  Ryder insisted.

"Yeah, my word," Delroy agreed.

Ryder breathed an inaudible sigh of relief, only to tense again at the
man's next words.  "But not till I get the gold in my hands."

"No-"

"Yes."  Delroy turned on Julia, took hold of her hair and pulled her
head back till he could put the tip of the gun below her chin.  "One
shot is all it'll take."

Ryder knew the palavering was at an end.  He'd gone as far as he dared
with Julia's life hanging in the balance.  He had no reason to trust
the man, but he had no reason to think the man would kill them if he
got his hands on the gold.  After all, he was wanted by the law.  It
wasn't like he was going to run to the nearest lawman and complain he'd
been robbed.

And why would Whitson want to kill Julia?  She had no part in any of
this.  Even if he shot Ryder after letting her go, at least she'd be
safe.

"All right," Ryder agreed, "but first we saddle Midnight , so the
minute the gold is in your hands, Julia can go free."

They moved outside where the storm Ryder had predicted was gaining
force.  Wind howled through the trees, whistleqd around the rocks and
did its best to knock them off their feet.

In the corral, Delroy held a gun on Julia while Ryder saddled the
horse.  Lightning lit up the sky, making the light from the lantern
sitting on the ground beside them unnecessary

Thunder crashed overhead, and Midnight turned skittish It took all
Ryder's patience to calm him so he could get the saddle and bridle on
the horse.

Julia kept a close eye on Delroy.  She didn't trust him.  She kept
remembering the night he'd spent with them and the expression she'd
seen in his eyes every time he glanced at Ryder and thought no one else
was watching.

It had been a shock to learn Ryder was an escaped convict wanted for
murder.  She'd listened to Delroy's accusations with a growing sense of
incredulity.  And when Ryder hadn't refuted them, except to say he
wasn't a killer, Julia had waited for a feeling of revulsion to fill
her at the thought of what he'd done.  But all she'd felt was a deep
sense of sadness for Ryder's sake.  It didn't matter to her if he was
wanted by the law, justly, or unjustly accused.  She loved him and
that's what really counted.

"There, he's saddled."  Ryder led Midnight across the corral to the
gate and looped his reins to the top rail.

"Okay, now take me to the gold," Delroy insisted impatiently " " You're
there.  "

Delroy lifted the lantern and looked around.  "What is this, some kind
of trick?"  Hard eyes locked on Ryder's face.

"No trick.  The gold is buried over there."  Ryder pointed to a spot
beneath the overhang at the back of the cabin.  " " Go get a shovel, "
Delroy told him.  " " But remember, I got the girl."

"No need," Ryder answered, moving inside the darkness and returning
with a shovel.  "I keep one handy."

An hour later, twelve bags of gold lay at their feet just as the storm
brewing overhead hit with a vengeance.

"Quick," Delroy yelled over the sound of thunder, "get my saddlebags
and stuff the sacks inside."  He motioned with the gun for Ryder to do
as he'd said.

Julia was tempted to throw herself against the man while his attention
was centered on Ryder, but fear of reprisal against Ryder stopped
her.

The knot of fear in her stomach, growing ever since she'd looked up and
seen Whitson standing in the door of the cabin, had become a heavy
rock, weighing her down.  She knew instinctively that Whitson was not a
man of his word.

"That's the last of it," Ryder said, fastening the flap on the bulging
saddlebags.  "Now let Julia go."

"Just one more thing," Delroy said as rain began to pelt them from all
directions at once.  "I want you to show me where the vein of gold is
located, just in case I decide to come back some time in the future for
more."

"That wasn't part of our deal," Ryder protested, wipinq the rain from
his face with the back of his sleeve.

Delroy shoved the gun beneath Ryder's nose and bit out "Our deal is
whatever I say it is-got that?"

Ryder glanced toward Julia, standing patiently while the " rain soaked
her clothes, and nodded.  All right.  But, then, you let her go."

Inside the mine, Delroy kept to the rear, one hand on Julia 's arm, the
other holding the gun between her shoulder blades as they followed in
Ryder's footsteps.

In the cavern where Julia had been discovered by Ryder, he showed
Delroy the vein of gold and how he'd kept it hidden by making a mixture
of water, sand, and rock, and plastering it over his work area.  Delroy
was impressed by the man's cunning.  He hadn't been able to find the
vein when he'd snooped around looking for it before Julia and Ryder had
returned that day.

"Okay, let's go."  He motioned for them to precede him from the
cavern.

Julia stumbled and would have fallen if Ryder hadn't caught her. "Can't
you at least remove the gag?"

Delroy hesitated, then shrugged.  Reaching for the knife strapped at
his waist, he cut through the ropes around Julia 's wrists.  "Go on,"
he told Ryder, "take the gag off her."

Julia stood quietly, her eyes on Ryder's face while he loosened the
gag.  Rubbing at her wrists, she smiled at him, once the gag was
removed.  "Thank you: " " I love you, " he answered.

Julia's eyes widened.  He'd never said that before.  She swayed toward
him, filled with a love so powerful it almost defied Delroy to do his
worst.  And then Delroy intervened.  " " This is a real touching scene,
but we still got things to do.  I want to know where you got rid of the
tailings when you mined the gold," he said to Ryder.  " I couldn't find
nothin', that's why I was almost convinced I was wrong about the gold.
"

Ryder wasn't surprised to learn the man had been looking for the gold.
"This way," he murmured.  Putting his arm around Julia, he guided her
along while speaking to her in low undertones.

"I didn't kill anybody.  I want you to know that.  A guard was killed
when six of us broke out of prison, but I didn't kill him.  Do you
believe me?"  he asked urgently.

"Yes," Julia answered.  "But it doesn't matter, even if you had killed
someone, I'd still love you "

"Don't you even want to know why I was in prison?"

"Only if you want to tell me," she answered softly, glancing back over
her shoulder, meeting Delroy's speculative glare.

"I won Midnight in a poker game at the end of a roundup The man who
owned him was my boss, a big rancher in the Territory.  I won him fair
and square, but the boss didn't want to pay up.  He took Midnight while
I was asleep and lit out, heading for his ranch.  " "He left me my own
nag, not a bad horse, but a deal's a deal, and a man's only as good as
his word.  I went after him and stole Midnight back.

"He had me arrested for horse stealing, and I s'pose I should have
swung at the end of a rope, but he had enough conscience to keep that
from happening.  He sent me to prison instead, and by the end of a
month I was wishing he'd had me hanged.  I was there for almost two
years, till I couldn't take it anymore.

"Like I said before, a guard was killed, but I didn't have a hand in
it."  His grip tightened on her arm.  "Do you believe me?  "

"Yes," Julia whispered, "I believe you."

They'd reached the juncture of the two tunnels.  Ryder stopped.  "Down
there is another tunnel," he told Delroy.  "There's an underground
river running through it.  That's where I dumped the tailings."

"If you don't mind," Delroy mouthed sarcastically, "I'd like to see it
for myself."

"Didn't you see it when you were here before?"  Ryder was getting a
real bad feeling.

"Maybe I want to see it again," Delroy answered with a slight motion
from the gun.

Julia took hold of Ryder's arm and they continued down the path.  At
the edge of the cliff, Ryder stopped and drew back.  "Here it is: He
pointed toward the black rushing water below.

"That's fine."  Delroy grinned in smug satisfaction.  "Just what I was
looking for-a way to get rid of trash without leavin' a trace."

Fear clutched at Ryder's insides.  The man had lied to him!  He'd never
intended letting either of them go.  He'd planned to kill them from the
beginning.  He was a fool for having believed the man's word.

Pulling Julia close, knowing they had only minutes to live, Ryder
buried his face against her hair and breathed deeply of her perfume.
"I'm sorry," he murmured brokenly , " " I've brought you to this.  If I
could change things.  I would.  Forgive me.  "

"It doesn't matter," Julia said urgently, drawing back to place her
hands against the sides of his face.  "I love you.  I don't mind
dying-as long as I'm with you.  Without you, life wouldn't be worth
living."

"It isn't fair!"  Ryder moaned, pressing kisses all over her forehead,
cheeks and mouth.  Lifting her hands to his face, he buried his lips
against their callused palms.  "I've just found you-I can't let you
go-not now-"

"That's enough," Delroy barked.  "Move away from her."

Ryder dropped her hands slowly and stepped back.  He met the other
man's cold eyes with a deep burning hate.  "You said you'd let her
go."

"I lied."  Delroy laughed.  "

" Bastard"

The gun thundered and Ryder's body jerked.  Julia screamed and reached
toward him as a large blossom of red appeared in the center of his
chest.  " " No !  " she cried in protest " " No-Ryder-no!  "

This couldn't be happening!  She'd traveled over a hundred years back
in time to find the one man in all the world she could love.  She
couldn't lose him now!  She reached toward him in desperation.

"I... love you... never forget that," Ryder whispered in an airless
voice, his fingers reaching toward her.  "I'll wait for you-o-o- "

Julia threw herself toward him, ripping her arm from the hand Delroy
had locked on her arm the moment the gun had exploded at Ryder.  She
felt the touch of his fingertips-and the gun cracked again.  The dark
eyes locked with hers filled with silent protest..  and pain.  As
though in slow motion, she saw his body jerk; watched as he took a
faltering step back, and their fingers separated.

"J-u-1-i-a..."  Her name echoed off the walls of the cavern as Ryder
disappeared slowly from view.  The last thing

Julia saw were his fingers reaching toward her.

"Oh-God-no!"  she cried, throwing herself toward the edge of the
drop-off.

The gun spit again and Julia gasped as hot lead buried itself deep in
her back.  She waited for the pain, but felt nothing except
thankfulness at the thought that now she wouldn't have to live in this
world..  alone..  without Ryder

As her body sailed toward the edge of the cliff-toward the churning
black water below.

"R-y-d-e-r!"  she cried, the sound of her own voice filling her head.
"Don't leave me-wait for me-don't leave me... alone... again."

Her vision filled with blackness; it danced and undulated before her
eyes, swirled inside her brain, filling her with qptiness.  This is
what she'd seen the first time she'd looked into the water's dark
depths..  death..

Somewhere above her the sound of a man's laughter rang t. out-then a
loud war whoop, a man's scream followed and q_q then silence.

Somewhere down below, the man she loved waited for q;, her.  Hand
extended, heart filled to overflowing with love, she went to meet her
destiny..  Ryder..  love..  and etermty .

Chapter 15

Julia regained consciousness slowly.  Her eyelids fluttered and opened.
She was in darkness.

Where-where was she?

Testing an arm to see if she could move, she felt around the hard
surface on which she lay.  It was solid, hard and cold-she was laying
on the ground.  Shivering with the cold, she became aware of a dry,
leathery taste in her mouth and a dull, throbbing ache in her head.

Was she dead?

No, the ground on which she lay was real and so was the pain in her
head.  But her thoughts were unclear, her mind filled with
half-remembered images and impressions.

Again, she wondered where she could be.  A moment later, she heard a
slight sound, lifted her head and frowned in concentration as she
spotted a tiny point of luminescence moving toward her.  A shudder of
dread coursed through her body.  She'd heard all about the after death
experiences people claimed to have had involving long black tunnels and
bursts of bright yellow light.

Maybe she was dead.

Her eyes stayed with the point of brightness until a sluggish memory
made her recognize it for what it was, a lantern , swinging at
someone's side.

Once that had been established, a flood of memories tumbled through her
head.  The mine shaft, she must be in the mine shaft.  Then it wasn't a
dream..

The closer the light came the more it caused her head to throb with
pain.  Any kind of clear thinking was impossible A sudden attack of
nausea threatened her and she fought it back with closed eyes and slow,
deep breaths.

An instant later, something cold and wet touched her forehead.  Julia
steeled herself to make no response.  Her mind was groggy and her limbs
leaden with cold, but one thing was becoming more clear with each
passing second.  She was afraid!

All at once, a picture of black churning water filled her mind.  Her
throat closed in protest as she gasped, trying to draw in air, the
memory of water forcing its way up her nostrils and down her throat
interfering with her breathing.  She nearly cried aloud in protest at
the memory of a sudden gunshot..  and death.

Gunshot?

All at once she felt herself lifted in strong arms and moments later, a
soft breeze stirred the short hair round her forehead and cheeks.  It
felt as though they were moving up hill.  Opening one eye, she peered
around the edge of the cloth covering her forehead.

There were stars overhead, but she could smell a lingering dampness in
the air.  It had stormed.  yes, of course, she remembered that now,
too.

It was storming when her car ran out of gas.  She'd been lost and there
hadn't been anyone around-the light!  She'd seen a light..  and a
tunnel..

Oh, my God!  She remembered now.  Someone had shot her!  She'd died in
a tunnel, fallen in an underground river ,

No, wait, that couldn t be real.  She was here, alive, looking at the
stars.  It must have been a dream-the bump on her head!  Yes, that was
it, she'd knocked herself out on the low beam of the mine shaft..

Wait, how did she know that?

Closing both her eyes tightly against a mounting confusion , she took a
deep breath and a scent tickled her memory Tobacco, she could smell
tobacco on the clothes of whoever carried her.

He had smoked, the man in her dream.  A deep sadness, coming suddenly
from nowhere, welled up inside her.  He was gone!

Who was he?  Where had he gone?  Where had she met him?  There had been
no one on the road where she'd abandoned her car-wait, she remembered
now.  He'd found her in the mine shaft-yes, that was it.  He'd put a
damp cloth on her forehead and carried her..

Oh, my God!  What was going on?

It was a dream-it had to be!  But..  There was one way to find out for
certain.  All she had to do was open her eyes and take a good look at
the cabin..  or the face of the man whose arms held her close to his
broad chest..

No, she couldn't look!  What if it was the other one?  What was his
name..  Whitson, that was it..  Delroy Whitson.  The last expression
she'd seen in his evil eyes floated before her mind's eye and no matter
how hard she tried, she couldn't hold back a slight whimper.

The arms holding her tightened fractionally and Julia's breath became
suspended.  Did he know she was awake?  Why hadn't he said anything?
Was it because he knew she'd recognize his voice and struggle to get
away?

But what if it wasn 't him..  wasn't Delroy Whitson ?  What if it was
the other one..  Ryder..

Along with the memory of his name came a tide of feeling so strong
Julia felt tears start to her eyes.  Oh..  God..  he was dead..

She'd seen him die..  and she'd loved him..  No, love couldn't
encompass what she had felt for the man.  She would willingly have died
for him-she did die for him!

Oh-she was so mixed up!  Had it been real?  No, of course it hadn't.

The wind stirred and Julia shivered.  The mountain air was cool for
summer, especially if you were dressed in wet clothing Wet clothing !

Was it true?  Was she in the arms of the man she loved?

But how could it be?  She'd seen him die-or else he hadn't existed in
the first place..  unless she'd really managed somehow to go back in
time-no, that was ridiculous!  It must have been a dream.

It didn't matter.  Maybe she had experienced some mystical dream and
seen the face of the man she would love before she met him.

And ifit hadn't been a dream ?

Then she wanted to go back!  She wanted to go back, because suddenly
she was completely cognizant of the events preceding her flight to
Wyoming-her mother, her failed marriage, the loss of her child, her
life in California-Mariette 's death.

She hadn't had the opportunity to tell him about any of those things.
She wanted to go back!  Nothing in this life made it worth living. Life
hadn't been worth living until she'd found him.

Her stomach cramped with nerves.  The cabin, one look at the cabin, and
she'd know the truth!  Julia opened one eye and turned her head toward
the building standing against the sky.  No!  Oh, no..

The rough cabin she had stumbled across in the dark was gone and in its
place stood a modern two-story log cabin, with a wide veranda..  and a
light shining in the window behind lace curtains.  Her eyes darted
around in the moon light, seeking something familiar and landed on a
mound to the left of the cabin.  The root cellar!  She recognized the
root cellar, this had to be the place of her dreams..

Julia closed her eyes and felt hot tears slide from beneath the closed
lids.  She wanted to cry out in protest, demand that he-this man,
whoever he was-take her back, back to the mine, back to the black river
where she'd last seen Ryder -she wanted to return to that other time..
return to her love.  She felt her rescuer pause, climb three steps and
cross what must be the veranda she'd seen.  One arm moved and she heard
a door open, a moment later they were inside.  , The familiar sound of
a crackling fire drifted to her ears.

She prayed silently to open her eyes and find the inside of this cabin
resembled the one in which she'd found shelter in the mountains of
Wyoming Territory in the year 1876.

It was a futile prayer and she knew it.

She felt herself lowered gently onto something soft and the cloth on
her forehead shifted to one side.  Julia reached for it, blinking as
soft yellow light dazzled her eyes.

For a long moment she lay and stared at the beamed ceiling overhead,
filled with a profound regret.  This was definitely not the cabin of
her dreams.  It seemed no amount of prayer would bring back what she'd
lost.

It was time to face the music, time to make her rescuer's acquaintance,
she realized listlessly.  His identity no longer mattered..  nothing
mattered.  now..

Raising herself on one elbow, she glanced over the back of the couch
and discovered she was alone.  Would she have to go in search of him-as
she'd had to go in search of him ?

Julia dropped her feet to the floor and felt a wave of dizziness sweep
over her.  It might be more prudent to lie back down and let him come
to her, but she was determined to meet this person on her own terms.

After a moment, she opened her eyes and caught sight of a man standing
before the fireplace.  His back was to her and while she watched, he
bent to add another log to the low fire.

Julia's heart squeezed with pain.  How many times had she watched Ryder
place a log on the fire in just that manner?

She couldn't look at the face of the man moving toward her, too caught
up in memories of another room..  another fire..  another night..

Her host moved to within a foot of her and stopped.  Julia 's glance
rested on the scarred brown boots sticking out from beneath a pair of
well-worn jeans.

He held an object out to her silently and Julia accepted it curiously.
Her eyes focused on it slowly, growing wide with disbelief.

No!  It couldn't be!  How was it possible?  Before she could comment, a
second item, similar to the first, was thrust into her other hand.
Julia's vision swam with tears.

Tearing her eyes from the drawing of a woman with sleep tousled hair,
kiss swollen lips and passion-bright eyes, Julia looked up at the face
of the man standing before her.

With leisurely calm, he lifted a hand and used two fingers to push back
the wide, curled brim of a white Stetson, revealing a thick blonde
mustache and deep brown eyes.  Julia's heart skipped a beat and began
to race.

The tears spilled down her cheeks as he lifted the hat and dropped it
to the floor.  Locking a pair of damp brown eyes with hers, he lowered
himself to his knees beside her.

He removed the framed drawings from her trembling fingers and laid them
on the cushion at her side.  Taking her cold fingers in his warm grasp,
he drew her slowly toward him.  Julia swallowed tightly, smiled
tremulously, and raised her lips for his kiss.

"What took you so long?"  a deep, familiar voice whispered huskily
against her quivering mouth.  "I've been waiting for you, for a very
long time."