Only 06 - Winter Fire

made him think of how good her breasts had felt against his leg when she changed his bandage. The thought of enjoying that sensation again, without his wound and her clothes to distract him, had a predictable effect on the fit of his pants.
    Damn , he thought. I better keep her mad at me. It’s easy enough to do. She’s so damned independent .
    But what he really wanted to do was kiss her curving, female body until she melted and ran like honey on his tongue.
    Think about something else , he told himself.
    It was hard, even when she was out of sight.
    By the time Sarah scrambled out from behind the last wall of the ruins, her jacket was unbuttoned, her hat was pushed back on her head, and her doeskin shirt was unlaced to let air run over her hot skin.
    Beneath the loose laces, Case was sure he could see the velvet shadow between her breasts. He wanted nothing more than to bury his face in that sweet, warm flesh.
    â€œWell?” he asked roughly.
    â€œNo silver.”
    â€œI figured that out. Any sign that someone has been here since the Indians left?”
    â€œThere are a few places that show recent fires,” she said. “But Ute and Conner hunt game in this canyon, and Hal surely searched here…”
    She shrugged as her voice faded.
    â€œShow me where to dig,” Case said.
    â€œYou shouldn’t do that. Your leg is hardly healed.”
    â€œMy leg stood up just fine to the last shovel work I did,” he said evenly.
    She grimaced. She had lost that argument, too. He had taken his turn burying raiders right along with Ute and Conner.
    â€œFine,” she said tightly. “Dig down to China for all I care.”
    â€œI doubt the padres hid the silver that deep. They believed they would find hell long before they found new heathens to save.”
    A smile tugged at her mouth. Determined not to let him see it, she turned away.
    â€œI’ll show you where to dig,” she muttered.
    The digging went more slowly than the original search had. The ground was either packed hard or heaped up with rubble from the walls, or both.
    Soon Case discarded his hat and jacket. Then he unbuttoned his black wool shirt to the waist, started to pull out the tails, and stopped. He looked toward Sarah.
    â€œGo ahead,” she said. “I won’t faint.”
    What she didn’t say was that she had seen him without anything at all, even a bandage. She didn’t have to say it.
    The knowledge quivered in the air between them like a bell recently struck.
    He took off his shirt, hung it over a dead piñon branch, and picked up the shovel again. He wore nothing but a wedge of curly black hair that narrowed as it approached his belt buckle.
    Sarah knew what was beneath that, too.
    Her breath shortened and she looked hastily away. Herstomach gave an odd little lurch as a tingling sensation rippled through her body.
    What’s wrong with me? she thought frantically. It’s not like I’m some wide-eyed girl to get all flustered at the sight of a man’s bare chest .
    But widow or not, she was unsettled by his half-naked body. She was also too fascinated to look away for long.
    He filled her eyes.
    His deceptively easy movements were a combination of strength and grace that reminded her of an eagle circling overhead, utterly at home within his strength in ways that she could only envy.
    Someday Conner will be like that , she thought. Strong, quick, supple .
    Fully grown .
    Fully male .
    The thought brought both pain and pleasure to her. Pain because Conner was growing up too quickly. Pleasure because he was growing up so well.
    But no man can be as beautiful as Case , she thought. Not to me. Case is…special .
    That thought was even more unsettling to her than the idea of her younger brother teetering on the brink of manhood.
    â€œNothing here but more rubble,” Case said.
    â€œTry over there.”
    The husky note in her voice brought his head up sharply. She was looking off down the canyon, checking on the horses.
    â€œDon’t worry,” he said. “Cricket won’t wander even though he isn’t hobbled.”
    She nodded without looking back toward him. Then she raised her hot cheeks to the breeze. She wasn’t aware that the motion lifted her breasts against her shirt.
    Case stared at the gentle, unmistakably female curves pressed against the clinging doeskin. His blood surged andhis body leaped with an urgency that he was becoming used