Only 03 - Only You

lessons in the ways a woman managed a man. There had been a time in his life when he would have believed Eve’s silver tears and pale, trembling lips.
    “Well?” he said roughly. “Is it a deal?”
    Eve looked at the dark, oversize gunfighter who was watching her with eyes as hard as jade.
    “I—” Her voice cracked.
    Reno waited, watching her.
    “I was wrong about you,” Eve said after a moment. “I’m not strong enough to fight you and win, so you’ll take what you want from me, just like Slater or Raleigh.”
    “I’ve never taken a woman by force in my life,” Reno said flatly. “I never will.”
    Eve let out a long breath. “Truly?”
    Despite himself, Reno felt a wave of compassion for Eve. Cheat or not, saloon girl or not, no girl deserved the kind of rough usage she got from men like Slater and Raleigh King.
    “You have my word on it.”
    Reno saw the relief in Eve’s golden eyes and smiled thinly.
    “That doesn’t mean I won’t touch you,” he continued. “It just means that when I take you—and I will—you’ll be screaming with pleasure, not pain.”
    A tide of crimson replaced the pallor of Eve’s face.
    “Do we have a deal?” Reno asked.
    “You won’t touch me unless I—”
    “I won’t take you,” he corrected instantly. “There’s a difference, saloon girl. If you don’t like that bargain, we can go back to the first one—I get all of the mine and all of the girl. Take your pick.”
    “You’re too kind,” Eve said through her teeth.
    “Doubtless. But I’m a reasonable man. I won’t keep you forever. Just for as long as it takes to find the mine. Deal?”
    Eve looked at Reno for a long moment. She reminded herself that he had no reason to trust her, many reasons not to respect her, was quite capable of taking what he wanted and to hell with her protests; yet he was willing to treat her better than any inhabitant of the Gold Dust Saloon would have, given the same opportunity.
    “Deal,” she said.
    When Eve turned away to tend breakfast, Reno moved with his customary speed. She froze as his hand closed over her wrists.
    “One more thing,” he said.
    “What?” Eve whispered.
    “This.”
    She closed her eyes, expecting to feel the heat of his mouth over hers.
    Instead, she felt Don Lyon’s ring sliding from her fingers.
    “I’ll keep the ring and the pearls until I find a woman who loves me as much as she loves her own comfort,” Reno said.
    Then he added sardonically, “And while I’m at it, I’ll find a ship made of stone, a dry rain, and a light that casts no shadow.”
    Reno pocketed the ring and turned away. “Getsaddled up. It’s a long way over the Great Divide to Cal’s ranch.”
    “Why are we going there?”
    “Cal is counting on the winter supplies I’m bringing. And unlike some people I’ve met, when say I’ll do something, I do it.”

5
    B EYOND the Great Divide, the massive wall of mountains slowly changed, breaking into chains and clusters of ragged peaks rising in stone waves against the endless blue sky.
    Even in late August, the peaks were streaked with glittering snowfields. Creeks rushed down steep folds in the sides of the mountains, combined forces on the flats, then wound down long valleys and through basins like ropes of liquid diamonds beneath the sun. The vivid green of aspens and the darker greens of fir, spruce, and pine made a velvet robe across the mountain flanks. In the clearings, grasses and shrubs added their own bright shades of green to the land.
    Once Reno and Eve had ridden through the first pass beyond Canyon City, there were few signs of men traveling over the land, and even fewer marks of permanent residence. Wild animals abounded. Mustangs fled like multicolored clouds before a storm wind when Reno and Eve rode into lonelyvalleys. Elk and deer glided out from cover to browse along the margins of the clearings.
    Though wary of man, the deer weren’t as quick to flee as the wild horses. The pure, keening cries of eagles floating on the wind were woven like bright threads through the day.
    Reno was more wary than any of the animals. He rode every moment as though expecting attack. He never cut across a clearing unless it would take them miles off their course to circle along the margin where forest and grass met. He never crested a rise without pausing just below the rim to see what was on the other side. Only when he was satisfied that there were no Indians or outlaws nearby did he reveal himself