Only 06 - Winter Fire

existed shimmered briefly deep inside her, startling her with a tingling rush of pleasure.
    â€œWhere did that come from?” she muttered. “Do you suppose it’s catching?”
    The idea that a man’s pleasure could be contagious was more unsettling to Sarah than her first kiss had been.
    Working quickly, she finished the bath and covered Case up again. To her relief, neither her patient nor her own stomach did anything unexpected during the process.

7
    â€œ W hat do you think you’re doing?” Sarah demanded as she stepped into the cabin.
    â€œWhat does it look like?” Case asked curtly.
    The door closed hard behind her, shutting out a rectangle of winter-bright sun.
    â€œFrom here,” she said, “it looks like a darn fool hopping around on one leg using a rifle for a crutch and a bullet for a brain.”
    â€œYou’re right about the rifle.”
    Despite her irritation, she smiled. Case’s quick mind livened up her days.
    Not that Conner didn’t have a quick mind, too. But that wasn’t the same. She didn’t take much sass from her little brother.
    Case was a different matter entirely.
    Through narrowed eyes, she watched his awkward progress. The first time she had found him fully dressed and hobbling around the cabin, she had hidden his clothes while he slept.
    But if she had thought having only a loincloth to cover him would keep Case in bed, she had been wrong. The proof was in front of her eyes.
    And it was impressive.
    â€œWhat’s the hurry?” she asked reasonably, trying a different approach.
    â€œTen days lying here on my back have left me weak as a kitten.”
    Sarah looked at the muscular length of his body and laughed out loud.
    â€œA kitten?” she asked. “Case, even lions don’t have cubs like you.”
    His only answer was a muttered word.
    â€œWould you care to repeat that?” she asked innocently.
    â€œI’d care to, but you wouldn’t care to hear it.”
    The rifle butt slipped on the dirt. He lurched and probably would have fallen if she hadn’t leaped forward and offered her shoulder for balance.
    â€œEasy there,” she murmured, steadying him.
    â€œSave that sugar and satin voice for your hawk. He’s blind enough to believe it.”
    â€œHe’s wearing a hood at the moment.”
    â€œLike I said. Blind.”
    She smiled at Case.
    He didn’t smile in return.
    She was neither surprised nor upset. She had learned that he didn’t laugh or smile, though he had a sense of humor that obviously had been honed by living with a loving, mischievous family.
    At first she had assumed that the pain of his wounds kept him from smiling. But as he healed, she realized that nothing as simple as bullet wounds had taken his laughter.
    She didn’t know what had happened to kill all joy in him. She suspected it had something to do with the names he called out in his fever—Emily and Ted, Belinda and Hunter.
    But Emily most of all. Case called her name with a rage and grief and despair that tore at Sarah.
    She knew only too well how it felt to lose everything, to be torn from warmth and love, to be left shivering andstunned and alone but for a child who depended on her for sheer survival.
    â€œIf I hood you, will you stay where you belong?” she asked lightly.
    â€œYou get anywhere near me with a blindfold and Ute better have a gun on me.”
    She looked up at Case’s eyes. Their corners weren’t crinkled even the littlest bit, which told her that he wasn’t teasing.
    She sighed.
    â€œConner carved you a crutch,” she said after a moment. “I’ll get it.”
    â€œGet my clothes, too.”
    â€œNo.”
    Case’s mouth narrowed. He stared down into her determined face. As happened all too often, he was distracted by the mysterious color of her eyes, a gray that could dance with blue lights, shimmer with silver fire, or darken into storm clouds, depending on her mood.
    â€œYou want me running around in front of you naked,” he said evenly, “then so be it.”
    But his voice wasn’t as hard as he wanted it to be. The idea of being naked with the quick-tongued, courageous little widow appealed to him entirely too much.
    â€œYou’re not naked,” she countered.
    â€œYou sure about that?” he drawled. “Maybe you better check below my neck. Never know what might have come undone while I was