Spirit Horses (30 page)

Shane, sitting next to her, had picked up a stick
and was scratching around in the sand in front of them. He slowly glanced over
at her and said, “I’ve never been very good at coming up with the right words
to say at times like this. One thing I do know is that sitting here next to you
in this moonlight, I’ve never seen any woman look more beautiful than you do
tonight.”
 

She slowly raised her head and met his eyes with her
own. “Well, you’re either better than you think you are at saying how you feel,
or you’re a smooth talker from way back. Whichever one it is, it’s working real
well for you. So if I were you, I’d go ahead and make your move.”

The two then came together for a long kiss that both
had yearned for all evening. Tara gently fell back on the blanket as the
embrace turned into a passion that neither one of them wanted to control. It
had been years since either of them had chosen to be with anyone, but tonight,
under the moonlight and bright stars, they each knew this was right. They were
meant to be here, together, in this place, at this time.

They lay there, tangled in each others arms under
the clear starlit sky, totally at peace with the idea of being together. The
closeness and comfort they felt with each other had allowed them to reach a
level of passion they both realized could only be for one another. They were
completely satisfied, although too tired and still too afraid to proclaim out
loud their true feelings.

When they went back to the cabin, they crawled
together into one of the soft cots. They fell asleep knowing that no matter
what happened for them in the future, this would be a night they would both
remember.

Shane woke just before sunrise. Even in her sleep,
Tara seemed to still be trying to hide her injuries as she lay with that side
of her face on the pillow. They had fallen asleep in each others arms, she with
her head on his chest. Now, as she lay next to him, he found himself unable to
take his eyes off her delicate light brown features. He again wondered if she
had any idea how stunning she really was. He carefully slid out of the cot so
as not to waken her. Tashawa was still asleep in the next room as he quietly
tiptoed out of the door to go tend to the animals.

Late yesterday afternoon when they returned to the
shack, he had called Tigee on the radio as promised. He told him about the
trouble they had run into at the cave. He also told him about the truck tracks
Tashawa had found. The old man was worried about them remaining out there, and
he tried to discourage their going back out to investigate further. Shane promised
they would get in and out of the area as quickly as they could. Hopefully, the
equipment tracks would lead them to the evidence they came out here to
find.
 

Either way, he and Tigee agreed they needed to get
the women back safely to the ranch as soon as possible. If there was any more
trouble, Tigee would send over JB and Hawk, who were already in the area
watching the herd. They still didn’t know that Shane and the women were out
there, and Tigee wanted to keep it that way if possible. Especially since the
potential for a dangerous fight seemed to be growing everyday.

Bo Nethers, Jack, and Thomas had made it back to town the previous
night. Jack was in the worst shape, but they all needed to go to the emergency
room. The doctors fixed Bo’s broken nose, stitched up Jack’s face, and then
treated Thomas for a concussion, as well as the two cracked ribs he received
from Tashawa’s furious kicks.

“Who was that son of a bitch?” Thomas asked as he
slowly sat up in the bed grabbing his side in pain.

Bo answered, “I don’t know, but my friends and I
already kicked his ass in town about a month ago. He ran off with that hot
little Shoshone bitch, holding his tail between his legs. That’s the last I’ve
seen of him, until today.”

“Well, whoever he is, he’s a dead man walking,” Jack
said angrily.

Bo had called his father to tell him about the
trouble, and Vince Nethers was at the hospital waiting for them when they came
out of the emergency room.

“You’re telling me that one man did all this?”

“He got the jump on us, Dad. We were caught off
guard.”

“What was this white man doing that far out in the
valley,
anyway?”

“I don’t know, I guess he was on a hunting trip.”

“Well, he must have had a guide to get him that far
out. Did you see anyone else?”

“No sir, he was alone,” Bo said, as he gave a keep
your mouth shut look
to Jack
and Thomas. Bo didn’t want to have his father find out what had really started
the trouble.

Vince Nethers was a devious man when it came to
business, but there was no way he would have put up with his men trying to rape
the women. After all, they were supposed to be keeping a low profile in the
valley.

“I want to find out who this guy is, and what he is
doing around here. I don’t want this prick getting in my way.”

“I’m sure he was just hunting,” Bo lied. “I don’t
think he’ll be any more trouble. We worked him over pretty good.”

Thomas and Jack kept their mouths shut. The two had
revenge on their minds. As far as they were concerned, their beef was with
Shane and had nothing to do with what Nethers had hired them
to do.

Vince looked over at them and said, “Did you get
everything covered up out there?” He was referring to the equipment tracks at
the two new locations where they had done some testing.

“Yes sir, Mr. Nethers,” Jack said. “It would take a
real pro to find anything out of the ordinary around there.”

“Well, at least that’s been taken care of, but I’m
still going to check into this guy and find out who the hell he is.”

“I’ve seen him talking to old man Jensen,” Bo said.

Vince nodded his head. “I’ll have a talk with Jensen
tomorrow. In the meantime, I want this hunt set up, and I don’t want a single
horse breathing when it’s over.”

“Yes, sir,” Bo answered. “With
Jack and Thomas here, we’ll be able to come up with a plan to take the herd out
of the picture real soon.”

Vince looked at the two Indians. “How many guns will
you need to get all the horses at one time?”

Thomas shrugged his shoulders and said, “There are
probably sixty to seventy horses all together. If we can get them all into
Jasper canyon, I think a dozen good shooters could handle it.”

“You guys will have a big bonus coming to you if you
pull this off,” Vince replied. “You just let us know when you’re ready, and Bo
will get you all the men you need.” Vince turned and walked away.

By the time the women were out of bed, Shane had the horses tacked up
and ready to go. He was eager to get back out to the area where Tashawa spotted
the equipment tracks. As he turned he was surprised to see Tara standing in
front of him. “Damn,” he said, “why do you people always sneak around like
that?” Tara laughed and with no hesitation she slid her arms around his neck
and softly kissed him.

“Did my hideous face scare you out of bed?”

“It was like waking up next to the bride of
Frankenstein,” he replied.

This caused a frown and a mixed reaction from Tara
at first, then she playfully slapped him on his chest. “Very funny,” she said
as she turned her bruises away from him.

Shane slowly reached his hand out to her chin and
gently pulled her face back around to look in her blue eyes. “You know between
me and the two dogs, that jerk ended up paying quite a price for hitting you.”

“I thought for a minute that you were going to kill
him.”

“If he ever touches you again, I swear I will.”

Tara quickly replied, “I want you to promise me that
you won’t go looking for trouble with him. He’s bad news and capable of almost
anything. I don’t want something bad to happen to you because of me.”

“Okay, relax, we don’t have to talk about this now.
You know,” he said, changing the subject, “that eye will look just fine in a
few days. Until then, maybe you could wear a veil.”

“Shut up,” she answered, as she caught him off guard
and pushed him backward into one of the horses.

“Easy,” he said, “or I might have to tag that other
eye of yours.”

“Yeah, right, I’d kick your skinny ass,” she
replied.

Still joking around, they walked back to the cabin.
As they got close to the porch, Tashawa was coming out the front door with some
more meat for the dogs. “You keep feeding them like that, they’re going to
start thinking you’re their ma,” Shane said.

After breakfast, they went outside and finished
packing the horses for the day’s ride.

Tara asked Shane, “Do you mind if I try your horse
out for a short ride?” The request took Shane by surprise, but he had no
objection to it.

“Why do you want to ride him?”

“Tommy went on and on after he rode your horses. He
said their training is pretty cool, and if I ever had the chance, I should get
on one.”

Shane took a few minutes to show Tara some of his
horse’s control and maneuverability.

“Wow! How did you get him so light and responsive?”

“You like that, do you?”

“Yeah, he feels great.”

Working with Tara on his horse, brought back
memories of when he put his wife Jennifer on Tory for the first time. The horse
was only about four years old then, but her reaction was the same as Tara’s had
been today. As Tara stepped off Tory, she noticed the change on Shane’s face as
his mind slipped to the past. It was only a few seconds before he snapped out
of it, stuck his foot in the stirrup, and climbed in his saddle.

“It’s a good thing that you still keep your family
alive with your thoughts of them,” Tara said when she got back on her own
horse. “I admire how you honor them with your memories.”

Shane wasn’t sure how to respond to this, so he
didn’t. He was just glad that she understood that Jen and the kids would always
be a part of him. She seemed to accept and appreciate this, and to be secure
enough with herself to keep it from getting in the way of her feelings for him.

“Well, now that everyone is on their own horse,”
Shane said loudly, “let’s go finish what we came here to do.” The three planned
to stay close together today. All of them, including the dogs, were, of course,
more on guard after what happened yesterday. Just as he and Tigee had discussed
on the radio, Shane was dead set on getting in and out of the area as fast as
possible.

As they rode through the wilderness, Shane tried to
think of how he might describe this place to the folks back home in Tennessee.
He just couldn’t think of words that could do it justice. After all, there were
plenty of mountains with their wilderness beauty in the great state he came
from. But, for some reason, things seemed more invigorating out here. He
couldn’t quite put his finger on why, they just were. The mountains, forests,
and even the sky seemed to have an ambience that was unique to this place.
Maybe it was because this land and these people had given him back his life and
a reason for living. No matter what the future brought, he would be forever
grateful for that. It was hard for him to believe, in this vast valley where
there were so many similar fields and forests, that Tashawa could find the
exact spot where she’d seen the tire tracks yesterday without any wavering.

It was easy to see that someone had put a lot of
effort into concealing the signs. If it wasn’t for the unique tracking skills
possessed by this Shoshone woman, neither Shane nor Tara would have been able
to locate them. They followed the tracks to an open field, where Tashawa
climbed off her horse and began to look around. At first she seemed puzzled,
then Shane could see the light go on in her head. With a smile, she motioned
for Shane and Tara to follow.

“Someone has worked very long and hard to cover
these tracks,” she said. Then she led them to an area on a side of the field
that had a lot of brush and high grass. Hidden in the brush was a strange
burrow. The long trench was about fifteen feet wide and not very deep. It ran
about half the length of the large field. Now Tashawa seemed very confused. She
stepped into the burrow and felt the bottom with her hand. “This ground had not
been dug out, it’s been packed down. How and why would someone do this?”

Shane reached in his saddlebags and pulled out his
camera. “I believe we’ve found what we’re looking for,” he said, as he snapped
a couple of pictures. “They sure did a good job of hiding it.”