Only 06 - Winter Fire

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    â€œNow you understand why I can’t stay,” she said, turning away. “I can live with not being loved by you, but Icouldn’t bear your hatred. Tell Hunter I’m ready to leave right now.”
    â€œTo hell with Hunter,” he said curtly. “What about Conner?”
    â€œYou were right about him. He doesn’t want to go back East to school.”
    Case hissed a bitter word between his teeth. “That’s not what I meant.”
    â€œMy brother won’t be surprised,” Sarah said. “He knows you don’t love me.”
    â€œI was talking about the fact that Conner is still a boy,” he said tightly. “He needs you.”
    â€œHe isn’t a boy. You know that better than I do. You were the one to point it out to me. What he needs is less apron strings, not more. Which you also pointed out to me, as I recall.”
    â€œYou’re trying to trap me,” he said savagely.
    â€œNo. I’m letting you go.”
    Sarah turned back and opened her hands as though to show Case that there was nothing to hold him.
    Yet his eyes were wild.
    The eyes of a captive hawk.
    â€œFly away,” she whispered. “You’re free.”
    There was another harsh word, another raking of fingers through thick black hair.
    Then he spun around and yanked open the cabin door.
    â€œDo what you like,” he said. “It doesn’t matter to me.”
    The door slammed shut behind him.
    Hunter, Ute, and Conner were standing about a hundred feet away. The sky on the western horizon was the pale yellow of winter butter.
    Overhead it was a dark, dark blue that was as cold and empty as Case felt.
    Conner started to say something as Case stalked by.
    â€œLater,” Hunter said clearly. “Right now my brotheris looking for a fight. Let him take it out on himself. He’s the one who has it coming.”
    Case spun toward Hunter. “Just what does that mean?”
    â€œI’ll tell you the same thing you told me a few months back. Go talk to your horse’s butt. It has more sense than you do.”
    â€œThat’s more sense than all of you put together have,” Case snarled.
    Hunter smiled.
    Case took an eager, gliding step toward his brother, then stopped.
    â€œThat’s right,” Hunter said, nodding. “Hammering on me won’t change anything. Hell’s fire, if I thought a good thumping would change you, we’d be rolling around in the dirt right now. But it won’t.”
    The only answer Case gave was a whistle whose shrill edge sliced the night. A few moments later Cricket trotted up.
    He didn’t bother with a saddle or a bridle. He simply swung up on the horse and rode off into the descending night.
    Around him cottonwoods lifted their bare branches, embracing the icy grip of winter. The pattern of pure black traced against the darkening sky was as beautiful as a hawk soaring.
    The air was cold, clean, infused with time and distance and silence. Beyond the river, cliffs rose in ebony ranks, shouldering the increasing night with massive ease.
    Half of this is mine , Case thought.
    He waited, but no pleasure came from the knowledge that he owned half of the wild land. The cost of possessing it was higher than he had guessed.
    Sarah loved the land as much as he did. Her words kept echoing through his mind.
    Lost River ranch is all I want of the world. Being here suits me all the way to my soul .
    Yet she was leaving it.
    Because of him.
    Blindly Case rode farther into the night. Time lost all meaning. Only he was alive. He and the night.
    He and the night and a torment he could neither endure nor ignore.
    Moonlight slid along the surface of Lost River in silver swirls that reminded him of Sarah’s eyes, mystery and light combined. The liquid murmur of the water was like her hushed laughter when they lay together in the warm, tangled aftermath of passion.
    He would die remembering her soft confession whispered against the very flesh she had once feared.
    I love you, Case .
    Emotion splintered through him, shaking him.
    No , he thought harshly. I can’t go through it again, the love and the loss. That’s what pain is for, to teach you how to avoid more pain in the future .
    But not for Sarah. Pain, like pleasure, was for her simply part of being alive.
    Sarah, who was a fire in the center of his icy life. Without her there would be no fire.
    Only winter.
    Anguish twisted inside Case, a pain so deep