gold.»
«Oh? You going to eat grass while you dig?»
Shannon blinked. «No.»
«Then you better ride as far as your cabin with me. There aren’t enough supplies left up here to keep even a stubborn little idiot of a girl alive.»
«Don’t worry. There’s no ‘stubborn little idiot of a girl’ around to eat the supplies. There is, however, a thick-shouldered, thickheaded blind man with the appetite and disposition of a starving grizzly who —»
Abruptly Shannon remembered that she had promised herself not to lose her temper with this stubborn, blind mule of a man.
«There are enough supplies for a day of digging,» she said with false calm.
Whip looked at the cloud-seething sky and then back to Shannon.
«By this time tomorrow, it will be storming fit to drown Noah,» he said. «A smart little girl would get her rump moving down the hill to shelter.»
«A smart little girl wouldn’t be up here —»
«Amen.»
«— with a rock-stubborn blind man!»
«Pack up,» was all Whip said.
Shannon didn’t move.
With a savage curse Whip turned to her.
«You calling me stubborn,» he said coldly, «is like the pot yelling at the kettle for being black.»
«Do I sense agreement on the subject of your stubbornness?»
«Right now we couldn’t agree on water being wet, but that doesn’t change the facts. There’s no gold in Rifle Sight. There’s a storm coming. There aren’t enough supplies to see you through the storm.»
Shannon wanted to dispute Whip’s words, but she knew he was right. She had been so busy playing with Prettyface and arguing with Whip that she hadn’t bothered to look at the sky.
She came to her feet in a graceful movement that belied her ragged men’s clothing.
«Fine,» Shannon said grudgingly. «I’ll ride with you as far as my cabin.»
«Don’t do me any favors.»
«Don’t worry, yondering man.»
Despite their mutual ill temper, Whip and Shannon worked side by side breaking the camp, understanding what must be done without discussion.
By the time Crowbait was packed and Razorback was saddled, much of Shannon’s anger had bled away into a numbing kind of sadness. She doubted it was the same for Whip. His face was still set and his eyes were still narrowed as he swung into Sugarfoot’s saddle.
Prettyface ranged out around the horses and mule as they took to the vague trail down the mountain. The trip to the cabin was accomplished swiftly and in a silence that made Shannon’s heart ache. Not until they were at the cabin door did Whip speak.
«Gather up some supplies while I check Crowbait. He’s walking kind of light on his left fore-foot.»
Shannon dismounted and went into the cabin. There weren’t many supplies left, but she didn’t grudge a mouthful of them to Whip. He had bought the food, after all, and shot the game. She had done nothing but cook and eat.
She packed all but one day’s worth of her supplies into a burlap bag and carried it out to Whip. He tied the bag onto Crowbait’s pack with a few rawhide strings.
«All set?» he asked.
Numbly Shannon nodded.
Whip swung up into the saddle and looked down at Shannon. The pain in her was almost tangible.
«Hey, honey girl,» Whip said gently, tilting her chin up to him with his left hand. «Turn that smile right side up. People as stubborn and hot-blooded as we are will argue from time to time. Nothing wrong with that.»
Shannon gave Whip a trembling smile. She brushed her lips over the soft surface of his riding glove.
«Thank you,» she said in a low voice.
«For what?»
«Not riding off in anger. I…I don’t think I could have endured it…not knowing where you were, knowing only that you were angry when you left.»
For an instant Whip could only think how good it would have felt if Shannon’s lips had been against his skin instead of his glove. Then the implications of her words sank in.
«You’ll know where I am,» he said flatly. «You’re coming with me.»
Hope flared like lightning across Shannon’s soul.
«I am?» she asked.
«Bet on it.»
«Where are we going?»
«To Cal’s ranch, just like I said.»
Shannon closed her eyes and fought against the desire to take whatever Whip offered, just so long as she could be with him.
«No, thank you just the same,» Shannon said quietly. «I’ve got claims to work and Cherokee to look after and game to hunt and —»
«Judas H. Priest, you do know how to push a man.»
«— Prettyface wouldn’t do well with strangers,» Shannon finished in the same quiet voice. «I’m staying here, where I belong.»
Whip looked down at the slender, determined girl. He couldn’t help admiring her spirit even as it infuriated him.
«What’s to keep me from picking you up, tying you to that old mule, and taking you wherever I want?» Whip asked.
«Common sense.»
Whip hesitated, then let air hiss out between his teeth.
«You’re going to fight me every step of the way, aren’t you?» he asked.
«I’m not going anywhere with you, so I can’t very well fight you every step of the way, can I?»
Shannon never even saw Whip move. Suddenly a hard arm was around her and she was jerked off her feet. Whip held her against his body with an ease that angered her even as it set her blood on fire.
It set his blood on fire, too. She could see it in the sudden dilation of his pupils, feel it in the hard tension of his body, taste it in the hot kiss that left her shaking and clinging to him, whispering her foolish love for a yondering man.
«It won’t work,» Whip said roughly, hating him-self and the girl who watched him with love in her eyes. «I won’t stay here. I won’t love you.»
«I never asked —»
«The hell you didn’t,» he interrupted savagely.
Whip put Shannon’s feet back on the ground so quickly that she staggered. He jerked the packhorse’s lead rope off Sugarfoot’s saddle horn, freeing Crowbait.
«I want you like hell on fire, but I won’t give up my soul to have you. That’s what love is, honey girl. Giving up your soul.»
He backed Sugarfoot away from Shannon, spun the horse on its hocks, and set out across the meadow at a fast canter.
«Whip!» Shannon called. «I didn’t — I really didn’t mean to ask for your love!»
Nothing came back to her but the fading drumroll of Sugarfoot’s hooves.
Only when Whip was out of sight did Shannon notice that he had left his pack animal and all the supplies with her. She stared at Crowbait’s patient brown eyes and fought not to cry out against the sadness that was sweeping over her like a cold wind.
Even though Whip was furious, he had thought of her welfare rather than his own.
«Whip!» Shannon called. «Come back! I can’t help loving you any more than you can help not loving me!»
