Only 06 - Winter Fire

following us.”
    â€œAin’t seen ’em.”
    â€œShee-it.”
    With that, Ab reined his mule around and trotted off into the darkness. Kester’s mule followed.
    Case didn’t move.
    Neither did Sarah, for the simple reason that she was still pinned beneath him.
    Finally, slowly, he rolled aside. Before she could move to get up, he pressed a hand firmly between her shoulder blades.
    Together, motionless, they listened to the immense silence of the land.
    If she hadn’t been accustomed to hunting or simply watching wild animals, she would have grown impatient long before Case gave her any signal that it was all right to move.
    But she had spent many years with a rifle or shotgun, providing food for her younger brother and her worthless, treasure-hunting husband. She endured the discomfort because there was no other sensible thing to do.
    Her patience impressed Case as much as her absolute stillness. He had known few men and no women who could be motionless for long periods of time. Sooner or later, most men fidgeted.
    Sooner or later, most men died.
    Lord, but this girl smells good , he thought. Feels good, too. Soft, but not pudding soft. Like a rosebud, all springy and alive .
    Wonder if she tastes like rain and heat and roses all mixed together?
    With a silent curse at his unruly thoughts—and body—Case lifted his hand from Sarah’s back, freeing her.
    â€œKeep your voice down,” he said softly. “Sound carries a long way down these stone draws.”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œYou have a horse?”
    â€œNo.”
    What she didn’t say was that a horse would have made too much noise, alerting Conner that she was going off alone into the night. She had done that more and more often lately, driven by a restlessness she didn’t understand. She only knew that she found peace in the clean, moonlit silence of the land.
    â€œCan you ride, Mrs. Kennedy?” Case asked.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œI’ll see you safely home.”
    â€œThat’s not necessary, Mr., er…”
    â€œJust call me Case. My horse is in a grassy draw off to the south,” he said. “You know the place?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œGood. I’ll follow you.”
    Sarah started to speak, shrugged, and turned away. There was no point in arguing. If he wanted to see her home, then he would do so whether she liked it or not.
    Yet if he indeed was following her, he didn’t make any noise about it. After a few minutes her curiosity won out. She stopped and turned around to look for him.
    He was right there.
    The startled sound she made at seeing him looming so close behind her brought an even more startling reaction from him. One instant his hands were empty. The next instant a six-gun was gleaming in the moonlight, cocked and ready to fire.
    Case took a gliding step, then another, not stopping until he was close enough to breathe a soft question into Sarah’s ear.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” he asked.
    â€œI didn’t hear you, so I turned and you were right on my heels,” she whispered. “It surprised me, that’s all.”
    The gun vanished into its holster with as little warning as it had appeared.
    â€œBeing noisy can get a man killed,” he said matter-of-factly. “Especially in a war.”
    Sarah took a shaky breath, turned around, and started walking again.
    His horse was waiting at the narrow end of the draw. The only noise the big animal made was the quiet ripping of grass as he grazed in the little oasis. When the horse scented her, his head came up fast, ears pricked.
    The shape of the horse’s head against the moonlight told her that this was no ordinary animal. The clean lines, straight nose, flaring nostrils, and widely spaced eyes shouted of good breeding.
    â€œStay back,” Case said to Sarah. Then, “Easy, Cricket. It’s just me.”
    When he brushed past her, she realized why he was so soft on his feet. He was wearing knee-high fringed moccasins rather than the boots most white men wore.
    With smooth, efficient motions, Case tightened the saddle cinch, picked up the reins, and led Cricket toward her.
    The horse was huge.
    â€œBiggest cricket I’ve ever seen,” she muttered. “Seventeen hands if he’s an inch.”
    â€œHe was cricket-sized when I named him.”
    She doubted it, but kept her mouth shut.
    â€œLet him get your scent,” Case said. “Don’t