Winter Fire Read Free Page B

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 be afraid. He’s a stallion, but he’s a gentleman as long as I’m around.”
    â€œAfraid of a horse?” she retorted. “Not on your life.”
    Then her voice changed. It became low, soothing, almost singsong, as clear and unthreatening as the murmur of water in a creek.
    Cricket was as pleased by the musical sounds as Case was. The stallion’s surprisingly delicate velvet muzzlesnuffled over her hat, lipped at her long braids, and whuffled over her wool jacket. Then Cricket lowered his head and butted her chest in a naked request to be petted.
    Sarah’s soft laughter licked over Case like fire. He watched without a word while she slipped off her gloves and rubbed Cricket’s head and ears. She slid her fingers under the bridle to the spots where leather itched on horsehide and only human hands could scratch.
    Cricket sighed, nudged again, then leaned his head against her chest, as relaxed as a dog.
    Case couldn’t help wondering how it would feel to have such