The Renegades: Cole (14 page)

“How come you’ve still got that gold watch in your pocket, then?” Aurora shouted back. “Better leave it with Cookie so it won’t be ruined.”

“Don’t you be worrying about my watch,” Cole said. “I don’t aim to get wet above the knees.”

“You’re in for a big surprise, then,” Aurora taunted him. “Leave your hat here, too—I’d hate to ruin it.”

Cole laughed.

“Run that broomtail for the sake of your honor,” he said.

The men lined up between them and the river, still making wagers.

“One,” Cookie shouted, “two, three.”

He brought his bandana sweeping down. Both horses leapt forward and stretched out into a flat-out gallop.

A
urora’s heart beat hard enough to take her breath away, her hair blew wild, stinging her cheeks, her hat bounced on its strings against her back. Shy Boy moved beneath her, strong, sure, and fast, confidently stretching out farther and farther, reaching for the river shining in front of them as if he’d never had a shy day in his life.

But Cole’s Border Crossing was pounding alongside them, nose to flank, she could hear his hooves separately, somehow, in the thunder both horses were laying down. Half a dozen yards from the water, the bay roan passed them in a blur of color and motion, a bloodcurdling cry of victory coming from Cole’s throat. Passed them easily, with her Shy Boy giving everything he had in his big heart.

Seconds later, Border Crossing plunged into the river, and Cole brought him wheeling around, throwing glimmering drops of water high into the air and onto his own laughing face.

“Sorry,” he called, “we just couldn’t help ourselves.”

The next instant, as Shy Boy hit the water, Cole was bounding out of his stirrup to lift her from the saddle.

“It’s too cold,” she yelled, laughing, too, through her disappointment. “Bet’s off. I admit you beat me.”

She tried to push him away, tried to cling to her saddle horn, but her strength was nothing against his. Even with her struggling and bucking in his arms, he was striding toward a deeper spot in the river without missing a step, while the crew—her own,
loyal
, Slash A hands!—were all shouting encouragement to him. Along with teasing remarks to her. She’d never hear the end of this, never!

Before she could draw a deep breath, Cole dropped her into the water. The water! Oh, the water was so much colder than she’d expected that it slammed all the air out of her lungs in one fell swoop. Still, she managed to throw her arms around his neck and cling with all her might. She fought, unsuccessfully, to put her legs around his waist. If only she could pull him down with her!

Slim chance. He bent lower and dunked her, screaming, hair, hat, and all, with a swift, strong motion that wet her to the bone and left him dry above the knees, just as he’d planned. Except for his arms, of course, which plastered themselves against her when she came up into the stiff breeze again.

‘Turn me loose!” she cried, gasping between every word.

Instead, he dunked her again, just as thoroughly, and she came up fighting, screaming as she could get breath back from the shock of the freezing water. A great burst of laughter rolled toward them, along with indistinguishable shouts. Abruptly, she quit struggling. Nothing would be funnier right now to
everyone
than the trail boss flailing her fists uselessly against Cole’s chest with him laughing at her.

She glared at him through narrowed eyes.

“You didn’t have to do it
twice!
”

He grinned his devil’s grin.

“When you chose the wager, you didn’t say how
many
dunkings.”

“You are a sneakin’ coyote!”

He gathered her closer against him.

“No, no, you’ve got my name wrong. My Chickasaw name is Rides-Like-Running-Lightning.”

For half a second she stared into his so-sincere brown eyes and almost believed him.

“It is
not
,” she said. “Now carry me to the bank.”

He didn’t move.

“Why do you say that’s not my name?”

“Because an Indian never tells his real medicine name. Only the person who gave it to him knows what it is. I’ve heard that my whole life.”

He laughed.

“Thanks for that bit of lore,” he said. “Is it true of all tribes?”

“Yes.”

He laughed again.

“What you need to learn from this is not ever to challenge a man named Rides-Like-Running-Lightning and a horse named Border Crossing to a horse race.”

“Never challenge a man who won’t go by the rules is more like it,” she said hotly.

“Your exact words were, ‘Loser gets dunked in the river,’ “ he said, “not ‘Loser gets dunked in the river one time only.’ ”

“You are so mean,” she said. “You just couldn’t resist doing it again because you made me scream.”

He gave her that same, heavy-lidded look he’d used on the street in Pueblo City.

“I always like to make the ladies scream,” he drawled in his low, reckless voice.

A thrill ran through her in spite of her anger, a thrill that had nothing to do with the cold water and the breeze. She shivered.

Thank goodness she had the presence of mind to pretend, however.

“Take me to the bank right now so I can change my clothes.”

“I’ll keep you warm,” he said, holding her closer.

“I’ll walk.”

She was feeling his hard, solid heat right through her chill. Mad as she was, she was liking
being in his arms. Liking it a lot. Too much.
Far
too much.

Kicking, she struggled to get down.

“I’ll walk, I said.”

He turned and started toward the bank, toward the men who were hooting and calling to them.

“Learned your lesson?” he said.

“Oh, sure,” she said sarcastically, “but Rides-Like-Running-Lightning is not your Chickasaw name. And it
ought
to be Sneaky Coyote because that’s what you are.”

He grinned down at her.

“I’m only trying to surprise you now and then, help you learn to keep your guard up at all times.”

His calm, superior, authoritative tone enraged her. She started beating at his chest in spite of all her good intentions.

He grabbed both her wrists.

“Uh-uh,” he said, in that same infuriating way, “careful, careful. You don’t want to let the men see you’re a sore loser. That’s a bad rep to get.”

She glanced over her shoulder and saw that they were coming closer to the whole laughing crew.

“Especially when you’re the challenger,” he said, low, into her ear. “This horse
and
the dunking was your idea.”

Aurora smoothed her face into blankness and let her hands fall.

“I know,” she said, using a chastened tone.

His grip loosened a little.

She grabbed him around the neck, threw herself suddenly to one side, and as he staggered in surprise, twisted in his arms to slam her leg across the back of his knee just as he took another step.

“Whoa!”

The crew laughed and cheered as he sat down in the water, hard. But he didn’t even come close to losing his grip on her, and when she struggled to push him over backwards, he let her do it, taking her with him full-length into the shallow water, rolling over instantly to wet her again from head to toe. But this time both of them were laughing.

“That’s our
other
lesson for the day,” she said, gasping from the cold between every word. “We
both
have to learn to be good losers.”

“We
could
both be winners.”

Staring into each other’s eyes, they stopped laughing. Aurora realized that her arms were still wound tightly around his neck, but she couldn’t move. His were around her body, feeling like iron ropes under his skin, pressing her breasts against his hard chest until the heat from his flesh poured into hers in spite of the freezing water.

We can’t keep from touching each other, no matter how hard we try. We couldn’t even keep from talking to each other this morning, even when we were so angry we were all rattles and horns
.

He knew it, too. She could see the knowledge in his eyes.

It scared her senseless.

“Turn me loose,” she said, through lips nearly paralyzed from wanting his kiss.

He knew that, too.

“No chance,” he said, and took her mouth with his.

Desire, pure, crushing desire for his body, for all of him, ate her alive in an instant. She reached deep inside for her fear, for her anger, for
some
other feeling to save her.

Making herself struggle against him took nearly all her strength, but she did it, while her treacherous mouth kissed him back. Then, his mouth was gone and he was scooping her up out of the water, carrying her to the bank.

And all the hands were gathering closer to try to see exactly what was going on.

That made her fear full and real, made it roll in waves over her. The attraction between them actually was real, too, enough for other people to see it.

“You only kissed me because everyone was watching,” she said tightly. “Don’t you dare ever do that again. And don’t you dare kiss me in private, either.”

He gave her a look that set the desire to pounding harder in her blood.

“Don’t challenge me, Aurora. Haven’t you learned that yet?”

She narrowed her eyes and looked daggers at him while he laughed.

He set her down onto her own feet the minute he stepped up the bank and onto the grass,
but he did it so slowly, so deliberately that she had to restrain herself from slapping his lingering hands before she turned to face the others. She fought not to show it, so she wouldn’t seem a sore loser.

“Pick another finish line, boys, if you’re going to race,” she said, wringing water from her riding skirt. “This one’s got a deep hole you might fall into.”

That made them all laugh, except for Cookie.

“Well, it’s about time you got outta that river,” he called. “When you two come down with the pneumony in both lungs don’t expect me to haul you down the trail in my wagon.”

Cole stepped back into the water to bring the horses out. Trained to ground-tie wherever their reins were dropped, they stood where they’d been left.

“And don’t expect me to be loanin’ you my extry pair o’ boots!” Cookie yelled at him angrily. “Nobody held a gun on you and forced you into that river.”

Cole ignored him.

Cookie was worried about the attraction between them, too, that was why he was suddenly so cranky. Aurora turned and smiled at him, straight into his blistering glare. If he only knew, he wasn’t half as worried as she was. She had to get a grip on herself and
stay away from Cole
.

The men were busily collecting their bets and paying their debts, but as she walked to her wagon for dry clothes, they called to her.

“You did give him a run for his money, Boss.”

“His hoss stands a full hand taller with a lot longer stride. Yours ain’t no slouch.”

“Fine ride, Miss Aurora. You was burnin’ the breeze.”

“Thanks, men,” she called, and climbed up into the hoodlum wagon, as thankful for the privacy it offered as for the dry clothes it held.

The holiday afternoon became more and more of a success, with several horse races, a few wrestling matches, lots of mumblety-peg, and some much-needed baths in the bend of the river. Skeeter came back with a deer across his saddle as the sun was sliding down toward the top of the mountain.

Cookie sliced steaks to fry while the other men teased Skeeter about needing nearly a year to get one little deer.

All afternoon Aurora had avoided, as much as possible, talking to Cole, but as she was helping Cookie roll out the dough for the fried pies he made out of dried fruit on special occasions, Cole strolled over and sat on an upturned bucket by the chuck wagon’s tailboard to sip a cup of coffee.

After he’d changed into dry clothes, he had taken a fresh horse from his mount and scouted around the valley for a little while, then he had spent a long time cleaning and oiling both his guns. He had seemingly been as determined to stay away from her as she was from him.

But now he spoke to her and settled down to be cozy.

“You’ll have to move in a minute,” she said testily. “When I start frying these and bringing them back to the platter you’ll be in the way.”

“Sure wouldn’t want that,” he said in his most infuriating drawl.

He wasn’t trying to stay away from her at all. He would be no help to her in that pursuit.

“ ‘Course, as your bodyguard, I’ll have to stay pretty close whether I’m in the way or not.”

She gave an unladylike snort of derision.

“That is so like you—always using some feeble excuse to help you get your way, no matter if you do know you’re in the wrong.”

He laughed.

“Now, now, no need to cast aspersions on my honor,” he drawled. “First you try your best to drown me and when that doesn’t work you assassinate my character. I think
I’m
the one needs a bodyguard.”

“
Who
tried to drown
whom?
You’re not guarding me, you’re aggravating me, and you know it. Go away.”

“Aurora, I just have a feeling …”

That brought her around to glance at him sharply. He met the look with a knowing grin that brought heat to her cheeks.

“No, that’s not what I’m talking about—we can discuss that later if you want.”

She tossed her head and went back to her work.

“What
are
you talking about, Cole?”

“Just be extra careful and let me escort you whenever you go to the bushes.”

She felt her blush deepen.

“Can’t we just have one nice day, one afternoon of fun, without worrying about an attack? This is a secluded little valley. We’re a ways off the trail.”

“As if a rank greenhorn couldn’t track two thousand head of cattle,” he said sarcastically.

He tossed out the rest of his coffee, got up, and walked away.

She and Cookie finished preparing the meal, and the men ate mostly in silence, as always, then two of them rode out for first guard and the others began a card game. Aurora sat in the shadow of the chuck wagon, idly watching and listening to them.

And wondering where Cole had gone.

They finished one hand. While Frank was shuffling and dealing, Skeeter looked around for Aurora.

“Miss Aurora,” he called, “if I was to let down that tailgate to the hoodlum wagon and offer you a hand up, would you be inclined to give us a tune or two? I reckon if I’d dance with ol’ Frank I might save him from losin’ all his money.”

Frank looked up from the saddle blanket, where he was dealing out the cards.

“I’d not dance with you if you was the last partner on earth,” he said in his rough tenor
voice. “But I would admire to hear some music, Boss. It’s been a right nice day.”