Only 06 - Winter Fire

the pain?”
    He gave her a sideways look.
    â€œSo tell me about your marriage, Mrs. Kennedy,” he said, his tone sardonic. “What was so awful that you decided never to ‘suffer’ a man again?”
    â€œThat’s none of—” Abruptly her mouth snapped shut.
    â€œâ€”my business?” he finished smoothly. “Then why is what did or didn’t happen to me your business?”
    Again silence competed with the wind.
    In the end, silence won.
    When Sarah finally reined her little mare up into a side canyon, she hoped that Case’s thoughts were happier than hers.
    But she doubted it.
    â€œI suppose there’s a reason you chose this canyon outof all the others we’ve passed,” he said, breaking the long silence.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œMind telling me why, or is that another thing that’s none of my business?”
    She looked sideways at Case. Her eyes were the color of hammered silver. Her voice wasn’t any warmer.
    â€œThere are ruins halfway up on the south side,” she said distinctly. “There are also fingers of red rock where the canyon branches up toward the rim.”
    â€œWhat kind of ruins?”
    â€œLike castles, only different.”
    â€œWell, that tells me a whole lot. Now I know exactly what I’m looking for.”
    â€œWhat you’re looking for is a good dressing-down,” she muttered.
    He simply turned and watched her with eyes that were far too wintry for a man who otherwise looked only a few years older than Sarah herself.
    Suddenly she felt weary all the way to her soul. Her thoughtless questions had transformed Case into a cold stranger rather than the intriguing man she had brought back from death with her hands and her prayers and sleepless nights. A man whose dry humor and gentleness hinted at possibilities she didn’t even name.
    But she knew they existed.
    She had sensed them as clearly as she sensed his male hunger for her.
    Never mind that , she told herself. Never mind who Emily was or what she did to Case. It doesn’t matter .
    Nothing matters but finding the silver for Conner. He knows how to laugh and love and hope .
    â€œHal had an old map,” Sarah said.
    â€œHow old?”
    She shrugged. “He didn’t say. I didn’t ask.”
    â€œWas it just a drawing or were there words?”
    â€œA few here and there. And a letter.”
    â€œWhat did it say?” Case asked, curious despite himself.
    â€œThat a pack train of silver crosses, coins, bars, cups, plates, candle holders, and rosaries was lost during a flood.”
    â€œA whole pack train?”
    She nodded.
    â€œMost of the worked silver was recovered by the Spanish,” she said, “but ten bags of silver coins weren’t found. About three hundred pounds of silver bars were never seen again either.”
    He whistled softly. Then he ran a speculative eye over the immense, rugged land around him and called himself a fool for even being interested.
    Three hundred pounds of silver bullion could vanish into any one of the thousands of nameless little canyons and never cause a ripple. The land was built on the scale of eternity rather than man.
    â€œWere the words in Spanish or English or French or Latin?” he asked, curious despite himself.
    â€œLatin mostly,” she said. “Some Spanish.”
    â€œAre you certain?”
    â€œThe man who wrote the letter was a Jesuit priest,” she said distinctly. “Latin was the preferred language for church documents, although some correspondence was in an ancient form of Spanish.”
    His dark eyebrows rose. “Your husband must have been quite a scholar to figure out that letter.”
    â€œHal couldn’t read or write English, much less anything else.”
    â€œWho translated the letter?”
    â€œI did.”
    Case made a satisfied sound, as though he finally had run some prey to ground.
    â€œYou know Latin,” he said.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œGreek?”
    â€œYes.” She looked over at him. “Surprised?”
    â€œOnly that you’re still at Lost River ranch.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œWith your education, you could get a job teaching school in Denver or Santa Fe or San Francisco.”
    Sarah felt her throat contract and her face stiffen.
    She didn’t want to live in the cities where her learning would be valued. All she wanted was to live on her ranch with the wild