Only 06 - Winter Fire

her effect on him.
    Or if she did, she didn’t let on.
    â€œCase? Are you feeling all right?”
    He looked down into her beautiful misty gray eyes and realized that she had been talking to him while his mind had been somewhere else entirely.
    Below his belt.
    â€œPut the shovel down,” she said firmly. “It’s time to rest. We’ll have an early lunch. You sit there under the—”
    The scream of bullets ricocheting through the canyon cut off the rest of her words.
    Case grabbed Sarah and rolled between two pillars of rock before the echoes came back.
    â€œMy shotgun is—” she began.
    His hand covered her mouth.
    Here I am, facedown in the dirt again, chewing on his gritty leather glove , she thought. How come I always end up on the bottom?
    But there was a difference this time, and she knew it to the marrow of her bones. He was using his body to shield her rather than to overwhelm her.
    Motionless, together, they listened.
    The distant sound of shod hooves somewhere on the canyon rim came back on the wind.
    â€œMaybe five hundred yards off,” he murmured into her ear. “One mule. Maybe another horse. Can’t tell.”
    â€œHow can you—oh, that’s right,” she muttered. “Moody doesn’t shoe his mustangs.”
    In his mind Case constructed a picture of the lower part of the canyon. They were at the head of a treelike, branching network of dry canyons. Lost River Canyon was the main trunk. About where the little side canyon they were in bent south to merge with another, larger branch canyon,there were several places up on the rim where a man could lie in ambush.
    No more sounds came to Case or Sarah on the wind. When she would have spoken again, he muffled her mouth with his hand.
    She bit the base of his thumb.
    Gently.
    Heat went through him like a firestorm.
    Judas priest , he thought. Of all the times for her to get playful .
    Jaw clenched, he concentrated on listening for distant sounds rather than on the nearby soft breaths of the woman lying beneath him.
    Case heard exactly what he didn’t want to hear. Hoofbeats and the rattle of rock as mustangs or mules scrambled down a steep slope.
    He rolled aside.
    â€œStay here and stay low no matter what happens,” he said softly.
    â€œWhere are you going?” she asked in an equally soft voice.
    â€œAfter my rifle.”
    â€œWhere is it?”
    â€œAt the base of that pillar,” he said, pointing.
    â€œI’ll belly crawl to it.”
    A hard, strong hand clamped over the back of her right thigh, pinning her in place.
    â€œWhat the hell do you think you’re doing?” he asked in a low, furious voice.
    â€œJust what I said—getting your rifle.”
    â€œStay here.”
    â€œMy leg isn’t wounded,” she objected. “Yours is.”
    Case gave Sarah a look that would have etched steel.
    â€œ Stay here ,” he said softly.
    Her mouth flattened, but she stayed where she was.
    â€œWhatever happens, don’t show yourself,” he said.“The first one who sticks up his head gets a bullet between the eyes. Patience is the game.”
    â€œI understand,” she said very quietly. “I won’t move from here.”
    â€œPromise me.”
    â€œYes.”
    A cold steel weight pressed against her right hand. A glance told her that it was his six-gun.
    â€œIf you see something you don’t like, shoot it,” he said. “Beyond a hundred feet, the gun pulls a bit to the left. Over two hundred feet, shift the barrel one inch to the right. Anything farther away than that, ignore. Understand?”
    Sarah nodded.
    â€œThere’s a round in the chamber,” Case added very quietly. “Try not to shoot me by mistake.”
    â€œI don’t shoot what I can’t see.”
    â€œThat would be a comfort if you weren’t angry enough at me to skin me out for a rug.”
    Her teeth flashed against her dusty skin.
    â€œA mighty fine rug you would make, too,” she murmured. “I’m sure tired of that dirt floor.”
    â€œIf you don’t shoot me, I’ll cut you some flooring planks up in the mountains.”
    â€œIt’s a deal.”
    She couldn’t see his face, but she sensed the amusement buried inside him.
    Someday I’m going to sneak up on that man’s blind side and catch him smiling , she vowed.
    He left the cover of the red pillars like a hunting