Only 06 - Winter Fire

thinks I’m a terrible mother.”
    Hunter’s eyebrows shot up.
    â€œI said no such thing,” Case said evenly.
    â€œHuh,” she said. “You just keep pointing out that I’m strangling Conner on my apron strings.”
    He started to argue, muttered something under his breath instead, and looked to Hunter for help.
    His brother smiled in open amusement and said not one word.
    â€œHere,” Case said, handing the plate of food back to Sarah. “Exercise your sharp little teeth on this.”
    â€œAre you saying my stew is tough?” she asked sweetly.
    â€œJu-das priest ,” he exclaimed.
    She turned to Hunter.
    â€œShort rations of sleep make your brother testy,” she said. “Have you noticed? Now, if he would just trust me to stand guard, he would get more sleep.”
    Hunter stroked his mustache and tried very hard not to smile. He almost succeeded.
    â€œWhose side are you on?” Case demanded of his brother.
    â€œWhoever is holding the plate of food.”
    â€œHere,” she said, handing Hunter the plate. “Eat hearty. I’ve got corn to grind and wool to spin.”
    â€œI said I’d grind the corn,” Case said.
    Hunter smiled and then began eating. Fast. He could tell when a storm was about to break.
    â€œYou need sleep,” Sarah said curtly to Case.
    â€œAnd you don’t?”
    â€œI’m not nearly as testy as you are.”
    â€œSays who?”
    Case turned to his brother, who was heading for the door after polishing off the last morsel of stew.
    â€œHunter?” he said.
    â€œGood night, children.”
    The cabin door closed firmly behind him.
    â€œWhere is he going to sleep?” she asked.
    â€œOut back with the rest of us.”
    â€œDo I smell that bad?” she asked.
    He blinked. “What?”
    Tears stung the back of Sarah’s eyes. Case’s speed in getting rid of her after they had made love still stung.
    Get dressed before you catch a chill .
    Blindly she turned and reached for the stew pot, which was hanging over the fire.
    What’s wrong with me? she raged at herself. I never cry, but now I cry every time I turn around .
    â€œLately everyone is running from me like I tangled with a skunk and lost,” she muttered.
    Her hand closed around what she thought was the wooden grip on the pot handle. Instead, it was part of the cast-iron trivet itself, searing hot from the fire.
    â€œDamnation!” she said, letting go quickly.
    She shook her hand and gripped it hard to ease the sting.
    â€œWhat did you do that for?” Case asked.
    â€œI’m an idiot, what else?” she snapped.
    â€œHell, you’re no more an idiot than I am. Let me see.”
    Warily she flexed her hand, but she didn’t hold it out for his inspection.
    â€œIt’s fine,” she said. “Just singed, that’s all.”
    Case looked at the lines of strain etched around her mouth and felt helpless, which only made him more angry. His left hand flashed out and wrapped around her wrist.
    â€œYou’re so damned stubborn you wouldn’t tell me if you’d burned yourself to the bone,” he said, pulling her hand toward his chest. “I’ll just take a look for myself.”
    â€œWho gave you the right to—”
    â€œYou did,” he interrupted curtly.
    â€œWhen?”
    â€œWhen you invited me into your body.”
    She flushed scarlet and then went pale. She tried to speak.
    Not one sound came out.
    With a tenderness that brought more tears to her eyes, Case opened her hand. There was a faint red mark across the base of each of her fingers.
    He made a sound as though he had been the one burned. Then he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed each small mark.
    She shivered and made a faint sound at the back of her throat. The feel of his breath and the gentle brush of his beard against her palm brought back every intimate memory she had been trying to forget.
    Especially the end, when he couldn’t even bear to look at her.
    Get dressed before you catch a chill .
    â€œDon’t,” she said raggedly. “Don’t do this to me.”
    He looked up. His eyes were like green river pools, clear, yet with shadow currents moving deep within.
    â€œAm I hurting you?” he asked.
    â€œNot yet.”
    â€œDid I hurt you before?”
    â€œYes,” she said starkly.
    â€œWhen I was inside you?”
    She closed her eyes and