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Authors: Jennie Leigh

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BOOK: Bitter Wild
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“It’s
gone.”

She
jumped as if she’d been bitten. Then she lowered the gun and whirled around to
face him. “What the hell were you doing?”

Jack
blinked at the fury in her face and voice. He shook his head. “I was looking
for you.”

“You could
have gotten yourself killed!”

She was
so angry that she was shaking. Jack frowned down at her. She wasn’t just angry.
She was as pale as a sheet and trembling so badly that he doubted she could hit
the broad side of a barn with the rifle she held.

“I’m
fine. That cat was as scared of me as I was of it.”

She
shot him an incredulous look. “Oh, so now you’re an expert on animal behavior.
Gee, why didn’t you mention that earlier?”

Jack
choked back his temper. “Am I wrong? Aren’t most wild animals afraid of us?”

“The
key word is most. That doesn’t apply to sick or wounded animals, or those
defending their young. That cat has a den close by. One wrong move and she
would have ripped you to shreds.”

Jack
couldn’t argue with that, though he did feel she was overreacting. He nodded to
the gun he still held. “I’m a hell of a shot, Ms. Nolan.”

She
gave his gun a contemptuous sneer. “You’re an even bigger fool than I imagined
if you honestly believe that thing would have done you any good. Oh, you might
have hit her. You might even have managed to wound her fatally. But you
wouldn’t have stopped her. She would have torn your throat out before she died.
Believe me, I’ve seen it happen.”

Something
dark and ugly flashed in her eyes then. Pain and regret and maybe even guilt.
She turned away from him suddenly and took a long, shuddering breath. Jack was
torn between wanting to try to comfort her somehow and an almost desperate need
to know what terrible secret had put that look in her eyes. Before he could
decide which way to go, she spun around and locked her gaze on him. The pain
was gone, leaving only her anger.

“We
agreed that I would be in charge out here. The next time I tell you to do
something you do it. If you ever disobey my instructions again, I’ll turn
around and take you straight out of here. Do I make myself clear?”

Jack
nodded. “As crystal.”

“Good,
because I don’t want to have to haul your dead body out of here slung over the
back of your horse.”

She
turned and scanned the trees where the cat had disappeared. Then she emitted a
low whistle and the dog came trotting up. Jack had no idea where the animal had
been hiding, though he should have known that it wouldn’t be far from her. She
patted the dog’s head absently, then focused on Jack once more. “Come on. Let’s
get back on Jester’s trail.”

Jack
frowned at her. “His trail? Are we on his trail?”

She
nodded. “We have been since we left Millie’s place.”

She
walked away and Jack followed her in silence as he mulled over everything that
had just happened. Frustration made his jaw clench, though he kept his mouth
shut despite the questions whirling around inside his head. From the moment the
sheriff had mentioned Casey’s name Jack had felt like something was being kept
from him. He’d seen countless hints about it, enough to know that it centered
around Casey. He couldn’t figure it out and it was driving him nuts. He hated
being kept in the dark, especially when it came to facts that might pertain to
his job. He locked his gaze on the back of Casey’s head as she led the way back
to Skip and the horses. She’d had a right to dress him down about disobeying
her instructions. He had agreed to do what she told him to and from now on he
would. And he wasn’t arrogant enough to argue with her assessment of the risk
the big cat had posed. If she said it had a den of cubs nearby then he had no
reason to doubt her. But he was convinced that her reaction to the incident had
been a bit over the top. He’d seen a number of things in her eyes during the
exchange, only a few of which could be chalked up to the natural rush of
adrenaline that would follow any such event. She’d been angry and anxious but
more than that, she’d been afraid. Jack didn’t know what was going on, but he
intended to find out. One way or another, he was going to get to the bottom of
whatever secret Casey Nolan and all her friends were hiding.

When
they reached Skip and the horses Jack half-expected Casey to give them both
another speech about her being in charge. She surprised him though when she
simply nodded to Skip and told them to get back on their horses. Jack had a
great deal more difficulty getting into the saddle this time around. He was
hurting so bad that moving at all was nearly impossible. He practically drug
himself up onto the horse then watched as Skip finally managed to do the same
after a couple of failed attempts. Jack turned to catch Casey frowning at Skip,
though she didn’t say a word. She just turned her horse around and moved away.

They
rode in silence for a long while. Jack glanced at his watch finally as he
realized it was starting to get dark. He was surprised to see how early it was.
He glanced up and credited the early twilight to the trees towering overhead.
He brought his gaze back to Casey. He’d long since given up trying to maintain
any sort of dignified image. He was hurting in ways he didn’t know was
possible. He would have cried if he thought it would do any good. He’d heard
Skip emitting low groans of pain for the past half hour or so, but Casey didn’t
seem to notice. No doubt she felt perfectly fine. She glanced back over her
shoulder at them, then reined in her horse. Jack was a bit surprised by the compassion
he could see in her eyes and hear in her voice as she spoke.

“I know
you two are hurting, but we need to go on just a bit more before we stop for
the night. I don’t want to just camp out right on your fugitive’s trail. I’d
feel a lot more secure if we could find a spot that afforded us a small measure
of security. There’s a place nearby, about another fifteen minutes away.”

Jack nodded
and tried not to moan in relief. They were stopping. His mind said they ought
to go until they couldn’t go any more, but for once he let himself ignore the
demanding urge of his need to find Jester. If he had to spend much more time on
the back of the horse he wasn’t going to be able to move. Casey shot him a
tight smile, then turned around and they were once again moving through the
trees.

She was
good to her word. She reined her horse to a stop fourteen minutes after she’d
promised them they were almost ready to camp for the night. Jack looked around
at the small clearing. He was surprised to see a small, rough built lean to
right in the middle of the clearing. Casey swung down off her horse and Jack
noticed her wince. He was ashamed of the small sense of gratitude that swept
through him. So she wasn’t impervious to the pain after all. She turned to look
up at him.

“This
is it, gentlemen. We’ll be camping here for the night. Y’all might as well get
on down and get those saddles off your horses. The sooner we get the animals
settled, the sooner we can get set up camp so we can get something to eat and
catch a little sleep.”

Casey
led her horse to the lean to and tied it up. Jack followed her, hobbling along
like a penguin. He said nothing as Skip drug himself up and all three of them
began to unsaddle their horses. It took what felt like forever to get the
animals taken care of. Jack sighed with relief when he finished feeding his
horse. All he wanted was to lie down on the ground and sleep. He didn’t care if
he ate. He didn’t care if he even had a blanket. He was exhausted and he hurt
too much to move. He heard Casey speak up behind him.

“Just a
little more and you two can drop.”

He
turned around to find her standing just behind him, holding a canvas bag. She
gave him a sympathetic look, then turned and walked a few feet away from the
horses. The bag turned out to hold a tent, a luxury Jack hadn’t anticipated.
She showed them how to set it up, then went about getting a second tent ready.
They were small, barely large enough to hold two people. Jack wasn’t
complaining, though. He and Skip threw their bedrolls in their tent, then
helped Casey gather some wood to make a fire. Jack watched as she set up some
stones in a circle then piled the wood in the center. It didn’t take her long
to get the fire going. Then she surprised him again by producing a couple of
pans and a coffee pot. She set up some kind of folding grate over the fire then
emptied a couple of cans into a pot and filled the coffee pot with water.

She
pushed to her feet, then stumbled. Jack reached out and caught her before she
could fall.

“Are
you all right?”

She
pulled away from him as if his touch scalded her. “I’m fine. I just tripped,
that’s all.” Before he could say anything, she handed him a spoon.

“We
can’t afford to waste any of our supplies so if it burns, we eat it anyway.”

She
turned away and he called out, “Where are you going?”

She
bent over and picked up her rifle, then took something out of her pack. She
swung around to face Jack.

“Chance
and I are going to take a look around, just to make sure there’s nothing close
by that we might need to worry about.”

Jack
opened his mouth to argue, then snapped it shut again when she shot him a
warning glare. “Stay here. Don’t worry if I’m gone for a while. I’ll be back, I
assure you.” She nodded to Skip, then tossed him whatever she’d taken from her
pack.

“Rub
this on everything that hurts. It stinks to high heaven, but it’ll make you
feel better.” She swung her gaze to Jack. “You, too.”

With
that she turned on her heel and walked away. Jack felt compelled to follow her,
but he held his ground. If she’d wanted help she would have asked for it. But
it flew in the face of every fiber of his being to just stand by and let her go
alone. He shifted his gaze to the dog that walked at her side. Okay, so she
wasn’t alone. She had a hundred and twenty pound monster at her side. It made
him feel marginally better. He turned around as he heard Skip swear. He had the
jar she’d tossed him open and his nose was wrinkled up.

“She
wasn’t kidding.”

Jack
shrugged. “At this point, do you really care what you smell like?”

Skip
shook his head. “If it takes the pain away, I’ll roll in the stuff.”

Casey
didn’t stop until she knew she was well out of sight of the two men. Night was
falling fast now and the darkness was creeping through the trees like a living
thing. She leaned against the trunk of a large tree and shifted all her weight
off her left leg. It was throbbing with pain and she sucked in a sharp breath
as she massaged her thigh. She’d thought she was as healthy as she’d ever been.
She should have known better. Spending half a day on the back of a horse was
hard on even the most fit person. And it would only be worse tomorrow. She
sighed and leaned her head back against the trunk of the tree. Maybe John had
been right. What if she was pushing herself too far? She shook her head. No,
she needed to do this. The pain she could live with. She’d suffered worse.
She’d just suck it up and go on. It wasn’t anything more than what she was
asking the two federal agents to do. She felt a small smile touch her lips as
she thought about the pain she’d seen Jack Hall trying so desperately to hide.
His partner wasn’t nearly as macho. She knew they were both hurting. They were
going to be so stiff in the morning that they’d think they couldn’t move at
all. The liniment would help, but nothing would take the pain away completely.
She felt Chance nudge her hand and she looked down at him.

“Okay,
we’ll make the rounds and get back. I’m hungry, too.”

Jack
could barely stand the smell of himself, but he had to admit he did feel
better. The pain was at least tolerable now. The chili Casey had dumped into
the pot had long since gotten hot. Skip had poured instant coffee into the hot
water and they’d both finally given in to the loud roaring of their stomachs
and eaten. Jack didn’t know what Skip was thinking but he was desperately
trying not to let the worry he was feeling show. Casey had been gone for more
than an hour. A number of less than pleasant scenarios had been playing out in
his head from the moment she’d disappeared into the woods. Anything could have
happened to her. He was trying to figure out just how long “a while” was when a
sound somewhere to his right caught his attention. His hand went automatically
to his gun as he spun around. Casey was less than five feet away. She had a
sardonic look on her face as she strode toward him.

“Good
thing I’m not a threat.”

Jack
was too relieved to see her to be riled by the barb. He took his hand off his
gun as he spoke. “Find anything?”

She
shook her head. “Nothing close enough to be a danger.” She laid the rifle
against her pack, then headed toward the fire. Jack had left the pot of chili
sitting close enough to keep it warm without burning it to a charred crisp. She
ate right out of the pot and somehow managed to look classy doing it. Jack
couldn’t believe what an amazing wealth of conundrums she was comprised of.
Beautiful and graceful while being deceptively strong and tough. She could make
him so angry he could barely see straight and still leave him feeling a need to
protect her. He was swiftly starting to suspect that she didn’t need his
protection, though. She was independent and intelligent and apparently
completely at home in the woods. Beneath all the strength was a touch of
vulnerability that he couldn’t seem to avoid noticing. That’s the part of her
he wanted to protect. That was the part that held the pain he’d only caught
glimpses of.

BOOK: Bitter Wild
5.99Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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