Only 06 - Winter Fire

said.
    Sarah flushed.
    â€œI’m no angel,” she said. “Ask my brother.”
    â€œOh, I’m not doubting you. It’s Ute who needs convincing.”
    â€œI’ve tried. It’s like trying to talk Shakespeare to a rock.”
    â€œYou have to remember that Ute is comparing you to the other women he has known,” Case said dryly.
    She winced.
    â€œLola is a good woman,” she said. “Hard, but decent.”
    â€œYou’ve got that half-right,” he muttered.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œBig Lola is a legend in some parts.”
    â€œThat was then,” Sarah said firmly. “Since she came to Lost River ranch, she hasn’t done anything that needs apology. Except cursing, and that doesn’t count. Not really.”
    The corners of his eyes crinkled.
    â€œCussing doesn’t count?” he asked neutrally. “Well, that explains it.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œAn angel of mercy with a vocabulary that could scorch hell. Of course, I only heard that at secondhand. Could be an outright falsehood.”
    Her cheekbones burned with more than the crisp winter air.
    â€œI said I wasn’t an angel,” she pointed out.
    The suggestion of a smile deepened around his eyes.
    Sarah kept glancing at him, but no matter how often she tried, she couldn’t see if Case was actually smiling.
    â€œI should have shaved you,” she said.
    â€œWhy?” he asked, surprised by the change of subject.
    â€œI swear you’re smiling underneath all that chin fur, but I can’t tell for certain.”
    â€œIt’s too cold to go without fur” was all he said.
    â€œIt wouldn’t be too cold if you slept in the cabin.”
    She didn’t know why it still rankled her that he had moved out of the cabin, but it surely did.
    â€œI spent too long in your bed as it was,” he said bluntly.
    What he didn’t say was that her rose-scented bedcovers haunted his dreams even when he slept outside. He woke up as hard as the cliffs. When the savage ache finally subsided, it was never for long. It ambushed him at the most inconvenient moments.
    Such as now.
    Cursing silently, he shifted in the saddle.
    It was useless. In his condition there just wasn’t any comfortable way to ride.
    â€œWhy don’t you sleep next to Conner?” she asked. “There’s plenty of room near the stove.”
    â€œYour brother thrashes around like a young bull.”
    â€œBut what are you going to do when it snows?”
    â€œWhat I always have.”
    â€œWhich is?” she asked.
    â€œSurvive.”
    The single bleak word went into Sarah like a blade of ice.
    â€œThere’s more to life than survival,” she said.
    â€œYes. There’s the land.”
    â€œI meant hope and laughter and love.”
    â€œThey die with people. The land doesn’t. It endures.”
    His look and his tone said that the subject was closed.
    For a time she was silent. In the end, her curiosity about his past was too great.
    â€œWhat happened?” she asked baldly.
    â€œWhen?”
    â€œWhy don’t you have hope and laughter and love?”
    Case didn’t answer.
    â€œIs it something to do with Emily?” Sarah asked. “Did she run off with another man and break your heart?”
    His head whipped around toward her. The look in his eyes would have frozen flame.
    â€œWhat did you say?” he asked softly.
    Her mouth went dry. She wished she had never let curiosity get the better of common sense. She swallowed, tried to speak, and swallowed again.
    â€œYou called her name,” Sarah said. “When you were out of your mind with fever. Over and over. Emily, Emily, Em—”
    â€œ Don’t ever say that name to me again ,” he interrupted savagely.
    Silence expanded like the wind, filling the land.
    â€œIs she dead?” Sarah asked finally.
    There was no answer. Case didn’t even so much as look her way.
    The pain she felt surprised her.
    Well , she thought, I guess that answers one of my questions. Case loved Emily and she betrayed him .
    â€œAll women aren’t like that,” Sarah said.
    The silence kept expanding.
    Suddenly she was glad that she hadn’t shaved Case. She didn’t want any better idea of what he was thinking than she already had.
    â€œFine,” she said. “Close up like a bear trap. But hasn’t anyone ever told you that talking about something can ease