Only 06 - Winter Fire

again?” Case asked, his face expressionless. “If so, I have to warn you I wouldn’t take kindly to it.”
    â€œWhere’s your crutch?” she asked.
    â€œIn the fire.”
    â€œFor the love of God,” she said, throwing up her hands. “Fine. Go to the sweat lodge with Conner and Ute. Turn the color of a lobster and keel over on your furry face!”
    Thoughtfully Case ran a big hand over his cheeks and tried to remember the last time he had shaved.
    Must have been Hunter and Elyssa’s wedding , he decided.
    â€œI broke my shaving mirror,” he said.
    Case looked from Ute to Conner.
    No help there. Neither one of them had enough chin fur to be worth a razor. Nor were there any windows in the cabin to use as a makeshift mirror.
    He looked at Sarah.
    â€œI don’t have a mirror,” she said. “Neither does Lola.”
    â€œHow do you get your hair braided so neatly?”
    â€œPractice.”
    He didn’t ask about Lola. As far as he could tell, Lola braided her hair when she washed it, which wasn’t very often.
    â€œWhat did your husband do?” Case asked.
    â€œShe used to shave him,” Conner said.
    Speculatively Sarah looked at Case’s thick pelt.
    â€œI’d wear out a razor on you,” she said.
    â€œI’ll hone it,” he said.
    She shrugged. “It’s your hide.”
    â€œI’m not worried. You’ll patch up whatever you cut and fuss over me like a mother hen in the bargain.”
    Something in his tone suggested that he liked having her fussing over him.
    She looked away from him, afraid that her cheeks were warming again.
    First he says that he hates wanting me , she thought. Then he acts like he can’t wait to have my hands on him again .
    Or is he just being a teasing big brother again?
    Men are such annoying, unpredictable creatures. It’s a wonder mothers don’t just drown all of them at birth .
    â€œLet me by, please,” Sarah said in a tight voice. “I have a hawk that’s overdue to be set free.”
    When she went through the doorway, Case moved aside, but more slowly than she expected. She bumped solidly into him.
    â€œI’m sorry,” she said, trying to step aside.
    Her shoulders thumped against the door frame. There was barely room for her to breathe.
    â€œHeavens, there’s a lot of you,” she muttered.
    The corners of his eyes crinkled a bit.
    An instant later Case startled Sarah by lifting her casually and setting her inside the cabin. Instinctively she braced her hands against his shoulders as he lifted. The flexed power of his muscles did odd things to her stomach and nerve endings.
    It wasn’t fear. Sarah was sure of it.
    She knew what fearing a man felt like.
    â€œThere’s just enough of you,” he said too softly for anyone else to overhear.
    He released her with a slow movement of his hands that was just short of a caress. Then he turned to the other males.
    â€œSarah’s right,” he said. “I’m not up to a sweat lodge and a dip in a cold creek just yet.”
    Conner opened his mouth to argue.
    Ute was faster.
    â€œGood,” he said. “Stand guard on Sarah. She’s got less sense than a chicken when she’s watching a hawk fly.”
    â€œA whole troop of soldiers and a brass band could march up behind her and she wouldn’t notice.” Conner agreed.
    â€œThat’s not true,” she said.
    â€œHuh,” Ute said.
    Her brother laughed.
    â€œI rode a green-broke mustang bucking and pawing toward her, making enough noise to raise the dead,” Conner said to Case, “and when she looked away from the hawk, she jumped like I’d popped up out of the ground under her feet.”
    â€œYou’re lucky she didn’t shoot you,” Case said.
    â€œThat was before those sons of—” Conner began.
    Sarah stiffened.
    â€œâ€”er, that trash moved into Spring Canyon,” he amended. “We weren’t toting guns all the time.”
    Case looked at the younger man. He was wearing a holster filled with a big old Colt Dragoon percussion model six-shooter. Case noticed the gun had been alteredto take metal cartridges. He had little doubt that Ute was the gunsmith who made the change.
    I hope Conner is half as good with that belt gun as he thinks he is , Case thought. Otherwise he’ll bite off a bigger chunk of Culpepper than he and Ute can chew