Riding West (17 page)

“Have you been there before?” She moved easily with the horse, well accustomed to riding. The gelding was a spirited animal, and she felt an affinity for him already. She suspected he‘d move like the wind if the need arose, and she named him Wind Dancer in her mind, smiling at the whimsy.

Chris obviously caught the expression and she enjoyed the telltale tug at the corner of his mouth as he watched her with open amusement.

“Somethin‘ funny goin‘ on, ma‘am?” he said, the natural drawl flowing into his voice again.

She shook her head and bit back the grin that wanted to spread over her features. “Nothing funny, Mr. McQuade,” she assured him, then urged Wind Dancer into an exhilarating gallop, leaning over the pommel of the saddle and reveling in the movement of the horse beneath her. Only seconds later she heard him closing the distance between them. Instead of censure or the anger she anticipated, Chris whooped loudly as he passed her and she laughed with pure pleasure and let her horse‘s gait open up further. The two animals were well-matched for strength and speed and it was a long while before Chris slowed and pointed to a copse of trees less than a mile ahead.

“We‘ll make camp there for the night,” he told her when she drew up next to him.

The sun was sinking rapidly on the western peaks of the mountains and the color streaked the sky with a splendor unlike any she‘d seen before. She stared, enchanted and enthralled by the fiery display that crested the snow-capped mountaintops. The orange-gold orb of heavenly fire gradually dipped behind the ridge of darkening mountains, its last searching fingers splaying over the tops, turning everything to purple tinted pink. Chris nudged his horse forward and she followed, caught between the glory atop the mountains and the magnificence of the man and horse moving ahead of her.

Less than an hour later they sat in front of a fire, coffee brewing and filling the night air with its enticing aroma. They shared some of the hard tack and jerked beef from Tom Caden‘s saddlebags, and Elizabeth felt a rare moment of tranquility as she gazed upward at the glittering sky. The moon was making a slow climb into the center of the tapestry of black velvet that draped over them, its silvery crescent growing brighter and brighter.

“What exactly do you do, Chris?” She finally dared ask the question she‘d been thinking about from the first time she‘d glimpsed him back in St. Louis.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

It‘s all about the story…

Action/Adventure

Fantasy

Historical

Horror

Mainstream

Mystery/Suspense

Non-Fiction

Paranormal

Red Hots!

Romance

Science Fiction

Western

Young Adult

www.samhainpublishing.com