«Would it be possible to stop singing the paragon’s praises long enough to get on the trail?» Jessica asked. «We’re making the townspeople nervous.»
«THAT’S the damnedest rig I ever saw,» Rafe said, reining his horse alongside Jessica’s, «and I’ve seen a few odd things in my wandering life.»
Despite the bone-deep tiredness that gnawed at Jessica, she straightened in the sidesaddle and focused onRafe, grateful to have something to take her mind off the wind.
Huge mountains rose all around the riders, their peaks invisible beneath a seething lid ofslatecolored clouds. Climbing up in elevation was like riding back into winter. Wind took snow from the clouds and churned it into billowing veils of white. Wind pried at the snow on the ground, lifting particles of ice and turning them into a stinging, invisible rasp that scoured unprotected skin.
But most of all, the wind keened and moaned, prying at Jessica’s self-control to get to the nightmares beneath.
«Don’t they have sidesaddles in Australia?» she asked quickly, unable to bear either the wind or her own thoughts.
«I didn’t see any, but I didn’t see more than a handful of white women, either.»Rafe glanced sideways at her. «Is it as uncomfortable as it looks?»
With gritted teeth and a stifled moan, Jessica shifted her weight, trying to settle the voluminous skirts of her riding habit more comfortably around the sidesaddle’s off-center horn.
«On a gaited horse, over level country, for a few hours at a time, it’s quite comfortable.»
«But old Two-Spot’s only ‘gait’ is a trot that would shake the change out of a man’s pocket,» Rafe finished for Jessica, «we’ve been riding sixteen hours a day for three days, and you look so worn I’d swear the sun would shine right through you.»
The wind flexed, twisted, and howled down from the pass ahead, carrying the icy promise of more snow.
«I don’t think the presence of sunlight is going to be a problem,» Jessica said, smiling briefly.
«All the same, when Wolfe comes back from scouting ahead, I’ll suggest that we make camp early tonight.»
«No.» The naked command in her own voice made Jessica wince. «I don’t want to be the cause of any delay,» she added more gently. «I’m stronger than I look. Truly.»
«I know.»
She gaveRafe a sideways look of disbelief.
«I mean it,» he said. «I wouldn’t have bet you could get through the first day, much less the last two. But if you don’t get more rest, you’ll have to be tied to that damn fool saddle by this time tomorrow.»
«Then that’s just what Wolfe will do. We have to get over the Great Divide before a real storm comes.»
Rafe’smouth flattened beneath the light bronze beard stubble. He knew what was driving Wolfe. They had cut sign of other men headed for the pass over the Great Divide. In the last six hours, they had skirted areas where groups of men had camped in anticipation of the coming storm. The closer they came to the pass, the more likely it became that they would stumble over other men.
«Gold fever,» Rafe muttered. «Worse than cholera.»
«I doubt it. I’ve seen cholera go through a village like a scythe through a field of grain, leaving nothing standing, no adult living to bury the dead, and only a handful of children left alive to mourn.»
He stared at Jessica, surprised again. «You were one of them?»
She nodded. «I was nine.»
«Sweet Jesus,» he muttered. «How did you survive?»
Jessica smiled wearily. «I keep telling you. I’m not as fragile as I look.»
«I hope not,» Rafe said bluntly, «or you won’t make it over the pass. These mountains are as rough as the ones I saw in South America, and a damn sight worse than anything Australia had to offer.»
«Yet these mountains fascinate you.»
Rafehesitated, surprised by Jessica’s insight. «I hadn’t thought of it that way, but you’re right. Of all the mountains I’ve seen, these are different. Taller than God and meaner than the Devil, yet there’s a beauty in the basins and long valleys…»
He made a soft, puzzled sound. «It makes me feel like somewhere ahead there’s a cabin I’ve never seen, a woman I’ve never known, and both of them are waiting for me, filled with warmth.»
«You’re a good man, Rafael Moran,» Jessica said, her voice husky with bittersweet emotion. «I hope you find them.»
Rafelooked at Jessica with eyes that were the same color as the clouds. The sadness in her was almost tangible, as great as the weariness that made her lips pale and drawn.
A flicker of motion from the trail ahead distractedRafe. Even as his hand wrapped around the butt of the shotgun he carried, the burnt toast color of the big mare Wolfe had bought in Canyon City condensed out of the black and white of the landscape.
«Wolfe’s coming,» Rafe said, easing his shotgun back into its saddle scabbard.
Jessica nodded and fell back into the semi-daze that gripped her whenever she let down her guard.
Silently, Rafe decided to suggest an early camp if Wolfe didn’t suggest it first. But when Wolfe rode up, he had an almost tangible aura of alertness around him. Even before he spoke, Rafe sensed that there would be no early camp.
«It’s snowing in the pass,» Wolfe said tersely. «If we don’t get through now, we’ll have to make camp until the pass opens again. It could be a week or more. Even if we went without fire, it would be dangerous.»
«A cold camp?» Rafe asked. «Are there more men ahead?»
Wolfe nodded curtly.
«Did they see you?»
«No.» Wolfe reached into his saddle bag and withdrew a box of cartridges. «Cut to the right after you cross the stream, skirt the base of the ridge, and wait for me in the forest on the other side.»
Without warning, he snapped the box of cartridges inRafe’s direction. When the other man caught it with a motion of his hand that was so swift that it blurred, Wolfe smiled.
«You’re Reno’s brother, all right. Fastest hands I ever saw, except maybe Cal’s.» Wolfe’s smile faded. «How are you with a long gun?»
«Better than some and a damn sight worse than you.»
«Take Jessica’s carbine. Ride with it across your saddle.»
Rafeleaned over, lifted the carbine from Jessica’s saddle scabbard, and checked over the gun with the easy, economical motions of a man doing a familiar task.
«What about you?» Rafe asked without looking up.
«There’s a knoll about a thousand feet from their camp. I can watch them and you at the same time. If they start moving, I’ll start shooting. Some of them are bound to get past, though. No way I’ll get all nine before they get to cover.»
A blond eyebrow climbed asRafe realized that Wolfe was prepared to kill the men from ambush, if need be.
«You know those boys?» Rafe asked.
«I had words with some of them at a stage stop.»
Jessica’s breath came in audibly.
Rafelooked at her, then at Wolfe. «I see. In that case, I’ll be happy to pick off the stragglers.»
Wolfe smiled thinly. «If anyone gets past me, watch out for a man with a brown, drooping mustache. He’s wearing a gray cavalry cape and riding a black Tennessee walking horse with three white socks. He has a hideout gun behind his belt buckle, but I wouldn’t recommend letting him get close enough to use it.»
«Friend of yours?» Rafe asked dryly.
«Never met the man. Cal killed his twin brother, Reno got the kid brother, and I got a couple of cousins, along with some other gang members.»
«Claim jumpers?» Rafe asked.
«They had it in mind. But first they took Willow. It was the last mistake those boys ever made.»
Rafe’seyes narrowed.
«Don’t give Jericho Slater an even break,» Wolfe continued. «ThoseSlaters makeQuantril’s Raiders look like altar boys. If he finds out you’re Reno’s brother, he’ll kill you any way he can.»