How she missed him! She knew now she had always missed him…and this place. It belonged to them, to a memory, to love. Here on the mountain it didn’t matter what happened in the world below. This was a special world, and it was still beautiful, in spite of the mill. There were the green pines, the bubbling creek, and the lofty peak with its multicolored rock formations, a blue sky and puffy clouds above it.
She quickly dressed and went out, to be greeted by a sunny morning and the sound of singing birds. She picked up her rifle, realizing it was the same one Buck had taught her to fire when he’d first brought her up here. Her eyes teared, and she gently ran her fingers over the stock. Buck. He’d been so good to her, so patient. When things had gotten bad, he’d always been there to help. He’d been sweet and tender and good, but at the same time strong and sure and unafraid. When the breeze blew she caught a scent of pine, and it made her think of Buck’s rugged, fresh scent. With Buck Hanner, only with Buck Hanner, she’d been a real woman. She’d known love and desire and passion. She’d been loved by a real man. She’d felt his power, she’d succumbed to that wonderful urge to submit to his strong but gentle hands. She had known the wonderful security of strong arms, the joy of giving and receiving and being one.
She buttoned her sweater and walked down to the creek, rifle in hand, remembering all the things Buck had taught her about survival. She had enough supplies for a week, perhaps two weeks. She wished now she’d brought more. She never wanted to leave this place. Here she could feel close to Buck. She could find the real Harmony Jones again. Here there were beautiful memories. There was peace. She no longer cared for wealth or power, and oddly enough, all her hurt was gone. She didn’t even want to avenge herself on her parents. Here no one bothered her. There was no one to care whether she was rich or poor, to discuss her past or her future, and she didn’t care. In fact, she thought, it might be pleasant to die up here.
She walked to the place where the creeks met and watched the splashing trout. She thought about vengeance, how it only hurt people. She felt responsible for Jimmie’s death, and for Wade’s, as well as for Buck’s injuries. She had hurt people; she would have hurt her parents if she’d found them. She was glad now that she had not.
This was a good place for thinking, for sorting things out. It seemed odd that she could have been through so much and still be only twenty years old. She felt much older. Her life had been a tormented one ever since she’d been left on the docks of St. Louis, even before that, for her parents had never treated her well. It seemed that people had always used and abused her—all but one. Buck Hanner. Buck, she realized, had been the only truly caring person in her life, the only one she could depend on. But she’d spoiled that by being so quick to seek vengeance, by marrying Wade Tillis without knowing the real truth about Buck. She’d been so ready to believe Buck would leave her as everyone else she’d cared for had.
Perhaps it could never be the way it once was for them, but here she could be with him, in mind and heart and memory. This place was his…and hers. Here he had shot the grizzly, had taught her survival. Here he had nursed her after the grizzly attack, and she had nursed him after he’d been shot. She had actually taken a bullet out of him. That seemed to have happened such a long time ago, in another world, to another Harmony.
At least he had kissed her in the garden. Bruising as his kiss had been, surely it meant something. Someday, somehow, they would be together again. A rabbit bobbed up and perched on a rock nearby. She quietly raised the rifle and took aim. He’d make a good meal. She fired, hating to kill the innocent little animal but remembering that survival came first here. Buck would understand.
She stood up and walked over to the rabbit, picking it up and carrying it back up the hill to the cabin to skin it out. That done, she built a fire outside to roast the carcass, careful to clear away the pine needles and to encircle the fire with rocks, for everything was tinder dry. When the rabbit was roasting over the flames, she walked to the cabin steps and looked down at the maze of peaks and valleys, the miles and miles of rugged country that was Colorado.
She’d never go back to St. Louis. Maybe she’d never go back to Cripple Creek. This was a good place, her place. She was free here, free of prying eyes and whispers, of commitments, of decisions about money; free of servants and others who depended on her. And now, suddenly, she was refreshingly free of the thirst for vengeance. She felt she was a woman at last, the kind of woman Buck had wanted her to be in the first place. Now the thought of a sprawling ranch in some peaceful valley, with babies at her side, didn’t sound so bad. What more could a woman want than a good man and life in her belly? She glanced at the little grave nearby, hardly noticeable except to her own eyes.
“I love you,” she whispered. She looked out over the vast mountains then. “And I love you, Buck Hanner!” she shouted loudly, her eyes tearing. “I love you!”
Only the wind replied.
She slept peacefully, in spite of the lightning that pierced the night—there was no rain, only lightning and occasional thunder—and she awoke to a hungry stomach. She rose to put on some coffee, quickly dressing first. She had some rabbit left. She would eat it for breakfast.
She put the pot on the stove, then frowned when she heard strange popping noises in the distance. She went to the window, and high on a distant ridge she saw smoke.
“Oh, no!” she muttered. She studied if for a while. The wind was blowing in that direction, away from her mountain and the cabin. Perhaps there was no danger. She looked around the little cabin. She could not bear it if this place burned. She ran outside to get a better look at what was going on. The smoke was no closer. She watched the smoke for a long time; then she felt eyes on her. She turned to see the coyote, its yellow gaze fixed on her.
“Amber?” she said cautiously. The animal just stood there at the corner of the cabin. “Amber, is it really you?”
It watched her, not moving when she went back up the steps to get some of the rabbit and bring it out. She waved it at the coyote and it came a little closer, then took it from her and backed away a few feet. Her eyes teared. She’d always wondered what had happened to the animal, if the men had shot it. “Oh, Amber!” she said softly. It felt so good to see something from that special time, something alive that was a part of her stay on the mountain. The animal quickly ate the meat; then it sat down and just looked at her. “Amber,” she said with affection. “At least you didn’t desert me. You remembered.”
When the wind changed slightly, the breeze picked up, and Amber got up and stood, whining and sniffing the air. A few birds flew overhead, calling out loudly, and some small animals skittered past. Now Harmony could smell smoke.
She turned to see fire and smoke coming downward. There was a loud explosive sound, and the wind carried a ball of fire right over to the next ridge. She watched in wonder as that ridge was suddenly ablaze. Amber whined again and darted off.
“Amber, wait!” she called. She was panic-stricken. Would the fire come to her ridge after all? The wind seemed to be rising and it was coming from all directions now. Light smoke drifted over the cabin, high in the sky. She looked around for the coyote, but he was gone. Suddenly the animal was the most important thing in the world to her. She turned and ran around the side of the cabin, calling for him. But he made no appearance. What if he ran into the forest and got lost? What if he got caught in the fire? No! Amber!
She ran farther into the trees. There was no fire near her, but she could hear it crackling and popping, feel heat on the wind, smell smoke. “Amber!” she called again. “Come this way! Come with me!” She ran deeper into the woods. “Please, God, make him come back!” she whimpered. Why did it matter so much that she find one wild coyote? Yet she felt that if something happened to Amber, she would have lost everything. He suddenly represented all that was Harmony Jones, the Harmony Jones she wanted to be. If Amber died, it seemed to her that Buck would die too, that he would never come back into her life. She kept calling to th
e coyote, until she realized she’d fled far from the cabin. The wind whipped around her in a sucking motion, pulling her hair up with it. It was terribly hot.
She looked back, but the path behind her was engulfed in flames. The cabin! Was that on fire? No! This was her special place! Nothing must happen to it. She turned to look upward again for Amber, but there was no sign of the animal. She ran back down the path. She must find the cabin! She must find it, and save some of her things—the rifle Buck had taught her to shoot with, her horse and gear. She ran blindly through thick smoke, screaming as burning branches began falling nearby. The cabin! Amber! No! This was her place, her special place! She ran and stumbled, beginning to choke on the black smoke now. How could a fire move so quickly? There were explosive sounds all around her now, as huge pines suddenly burst, like bombs, into flame. Her face was quickly blackened by smoke, and salty tears made white streaks through the smudges.
Amber! Poor Amber! Why had he run off? How would he survive? She was confused and afraid, but somehow she reached the cabin. Little flames licked at the roof.
“No! No!” she screamed. “Please don’t burn!”
But in minutes the entire roof was ablaze. The rifle! She had to save that much! She ran inside, thick smoke greeting her when she opened the door. Fumbling through the smoke, she reached the rifle in the corner. It was hot, but she grasped it and made her way back to the door on her hands and knees. A piece of roofing fell in front of her and she screamed, quickly shoving it aside and scrambling for the door. She literally fell down the steps, the rifle rolling with her. Through tears of panic and sorrow, she untied her rearing horse and led him to the creek, where she fell to her knees and watched the cabin burn. For some reason she thought of the bed inside, the homemade bed with the rawhide strips for support, the bed she had shared with Buck Hanner. In it she had become a woman and had known true love.
She sat watching and crying, her body bruised and blackened. The horse reared unexpectedly, and when she lost her grip on the reins, the frightened animal bounded away.
She was alone, and all around her fire raged. She could feel its heat, but she no longer cared what happened to her. She hoped a tree would fall on her and kill her instantly. Amber was gone, her means of getting off the mountain was gone, and her little cabin was crumbling. Nearby the stamping mill was ablaze. To Harmony, the fire was an omen signifying that everything was over for her. She might as well die right here in the place she loved. She lay down on the ground beside the creek and closed her eyes.
How long she lay there, she wasn’t sure. She’d drifted from time to time for she was exhausted. Then she heard her name spoken softly.
“Harmony.” Someone turned her over and splashed cool water on her face. “Harmony, don’t die on me!”
She opened her eyes to see sky-blue ones looking down at her, broad shoulders hovering over her. “Harmony, we’ve got to get to safety!”
She stared at him. Perhaps she had died, and was in heaven. “Buck?”
“It’s all right. Everything will be all right now, Harmony. We’ll go away together and start over. We can do it.”
Tears spilled over her blackened face. Then she reached up, and in the next moment familiar, strong arms were around her, embracing her tightly. “Come with me, Harmony. Hurry.”
“Buck, the cabin—”
“It’s too late. Come on.”
He kept a powerful arm around her and quickly untied his own skittish mount, holding the reins tightly as he hurried with her along the creek, keeping to the water and leading his horse. “I know a place where we’ll be safe,” he was saying.
It didn’t matter. Buck was here. Of course he knew a place that was safe. Buck Hanner always knew what to do. Flaming branches fell around them, but she wasn’t afraid. She stumbled on blindly beside him, as he led her to the place where the waters met and pushed her into a little cove. The rocks formed an arch there, and the water rushed through it. Beneath the rocks it was cooler, and she was sheltered from falling debris. He let go of her then.
“I’m taking my horse to an archway of rock not far from here,” he told her. “You stay put.”
“No!” she screamed. “Don’t go away again!”
He touched her face. “It’s all right, Shortcake. I’ll be right back.” As he left her, she screamed his name, but her voice was lost to the rushing waters and the roaring flames. Several minutes later he was back, just as he had promised. He knelt in the little cove and pulled her close, and she embraced him gratefully.
“Buck, our cabin! We have to have the cabin!”
“We don’t have to have anything but each other,” he told her, kissing her golden hair. “We’ve never needed anything more, Harmony. Not the money or anything else.”
“Buck!” She looked up at his handsome face. “You’re really here!”
He searched her eyes. “Here to stay, if you want me.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she could taste their salt. “Want you? I’ve always wanted you, even when I thought I hated you! I…I came up here because in this place I could feel close to you. I was going to stay here forever…and never go back! I thought you didn’t want me anymore.”
He smiled that familiar, handsome smile. “Why do you think I went through all that hell to get back here? There were times when it would have been much easier to die, Harmony.” He lightly kissed her mouth. “I was so scared when I saw the fire this morning. It was heading right for your area. I about broke my neck to get here in time.”
“Buck, I didn’t know! It was so easy for me to think you’d left me—”
He put a finger to her lips. “It’s all over, Harmony. We’ve both been through hell. But it didn’t change our love. That’s all that matters.”
She sobbed. “But how can you love me now, after what I did?”
“I understand you better than you realize, Shortcake. You’ve just got to learn there comes a time when you trust someone or you don’t.” He kissed her eyes. “My God, Harmony, I could never have survived without being able to picture your face and remember you in my arms. I needed the memory of that winter up here on the mountain.”
“Oh, Buck!” She wept against his chest. How wonderful it was to be able to lean on him again, to feel his arms around her. He still loved her! He was here! Whenever she’d really needed him, he’d come.
“How about the ranch, Harmony? Will you go with me, marry me, have my babies?”
“You know I will,” she replied quickly. “I’d go with you to hell and back. Just don’t ever go away without me again—not ever!”
“I won’t. I promise.” He kissed her hair again. “God, I was so afraid I’d get here too late.”
She snuggled against him, both of them sitting in the welcome coolness of the water. “I was going to lie down and die,” she told him. “I just didn’t care anymore.”
He squeezed her tightly. “You shouldn’t have felt that way, Harmony, but it’s over now. We’ll go back and get a wagon, and load up your personal belongings, and then we’ll leave Cripple Creek. We’ll go someplace new, start a ranch.”
“But first we’ll be married,” she said, raising her face to look into his eyes and assure herself that he was really with her.
Their eyes held, and passion swept through her, the old, wonderful, passion that only Buck Hanner could elicit from her. “First we’ll be married,” he answered. “I’ll make it all up to you, Harmony. I’m so sorry about the baby.”
“It was probably better,” she answered. “But I knew, Buck. I knew when I lost it how much I’d love a baby. I want more. I’m not afraid to have children now.”
He smiled that provocative smile. “Good. Because you might be pregnant quite often, little girl. It will take me a long time to get enough of you, if I ever do.”
His lips touched hers, and the fire he brought to her veins seemed hotter than the fire that raged around them. She pressed herself against him as he leaned against a rock, his strong arms en
veloping her and assuring her of love and protection. No. Buck Hanner would not leave her. Not Buck. And they would not leave this place, not truly. It would be with them forever, in their hearts and memories. No matter what happened to this mountain, it would always belong to them. The cabin was not gone. It was still standing, in their mind. They would remember it and those days on the mountain where they had learned to love.
She was lost in him now, oblivious to the light whining sound outside the arch. Amber pawed at the water, smelling her scent and knowing Harmony was inside. But she was with someone and seemed very occupied. A rabbit flashed by, and the coyote rushed off into the now smoldering woods. After all, he had a family to feed.
Also by Rosanne Bittner
The Bride Series
Tennessee Bride
Texas Bride
Oregon Bride
Caress
Comanche Sunset
Heart’s Surrender
In the Shadow of the Mountains
Indian Summer
Lawless Love
Love’s Bounty
Rapture’s Gold
Shameless
Sweet Mountain Magic
Tame the Wild Wind
Tender Betrayal
The Forever Tree
Unforgettable
Rapture's Gold Page 37