by Maddie James
The next twelve days were going to be pure hell. And not the kind of hell that she’d originally thought.
Chapter Five
Two hours later found Kim in the center of the string, plodding along on an old gray mare named Sunshine who was at least twenty years old and moved like she was seventy. Thad led the string up a slow incline into the mountains. Several pack mules, she and Jillie, Tim and Aaron, and the couple she’d not put names to yet, along with the two wranglers named Ben and Luke were interspersed throughout the middle. Mack brought up the rear. As Kim glanced around her at the battered chaps, hats, and boots the men wore while sitting tall in their saddles, she let herself be drawn into a fantasy of the wild, wild west. She fashioned herself Miss Kitty and another cowboy entered her daydream in the form of Matt Dillon. When he strode closer to her on his horse so she could see his face, Matt Dillon turned into none other than Thad Winchester.
Shaking away a chill that crept over her spine, Kim let her gaze rest only on the reality of her situation. She was riding a stupid horse up the side of a huge mountain!
So far they had encountered the remnants of a beautiful sunrise, a misty fog that lifted as the sun rose over the San Juan Mountains, and a host of dewy, spectacular wildflowers as they headed into the Weminuche Wilderness.
They spoke only in whispers and Kim, for one, welcomed the peace that surrounded her. It was as though they were entering the wilderness with a reverence to its pristine beauty. A calm fell over her. If she needed anything, right now, she guessed she needed this. Although she would have never admitted it to anyone, especially Jillie, she admitted it to herself. After the hectic past twenty-four hours, she needed peaceful bliss and a calm scenario surrounding her to bring her back into focus.
She never would have thought it, but she was enjoying this immensely.
Finally, she relaxed in her saddle. Her old gray nag wasn’t going to go anywhere in a hurry, but the pack string as a whole wasn’t in a hurry. She wondered if this was their normal clip, or if Thad was deliberately slowing things down for her, thinking she couldn’t handle a faster pace. Not that he would extend her any kindness. That would be the last thing she’d expect from the mighty Thaddeas Winchester.
She didn’t care. Enjoying the peaceful panoramic view around her was all she cared about for the moment.
Her gaze drifted to the head of the string and landed on Thad. She was far enough away that she couldn’t see anything but the rigid line of his back as he sat in the saddle and the shadow his cowboy hat threw over his shoulders. Every once in a while, when he turned to check the string of mules behind him, she caught a brief glimpse of his profile.
She had to wonder about the man. He was obviously dedicated to his ranch, his business, but did he have a life outside of that? And what was it about her that clearly irritated him?
“Whoa!”
The shout went up somewhere from behind. Momentarily lost in her daydream, Kim started as the male voice pierced the quiet. Quickly jerking on the horse’s reins, she managed to stop Sunshine before she rear-ended the mule in front of her. Then Kim noticed Mack riding up beside her.
“Kim! Didn’t you see the gear trailing out of the manty in front of you?”
“What?”
“The gear. Half of the gear is hanging out on that mule up there—the other half is strewn across the last fifty feet or so of the trail. You’ve got to watch for stuff like that.”
“What?” Kim repeated. She looked two mules up. The mule in front of Jethro had indeed lost half of one of his manties, and now, the load unbalanced, the decker was sliding to the right. The mule didn’t seem to like it very much. With a soft curse, Mack rode ahead and dismounted.
“What do you want me to do?” she called out. Glancing toward the front of the string, she noticed Thad had dismounted and was walking briskly toward them. Tim and Aaron, placed between her and Thad, were turning in their saddles to see what was the matter. Jillie, three animals behind her, had already dismounted and was at her side. The horses seemed antsy.
Kim slid from her saddle. She guessed if they’d had to stop somewhere for an emergency, this was as good a place as any. At least the terrain was fairly flat and wide. There was a grassy area on both sides. In front of the string about a quarter mile up, a narrow trail lead steeply up the side of the mountain.
Having had to untie the manty from the right side of the mule, Thad and Mack laid it on the ground. The other, on the left, was spread out before them and they were busy repositioning the remaining items to be repacked. Thad lifted his gaze to the women, then stood. Hands on his hips, he eyed Kim and spoke gruffly. “On a pack trip we have to keep our eyes open, ladies. This isn’t a Sunday picnic. We’ve all got to pull our weight. Lucky for you,” he said, pinning Kim with disgust, “Mack noticed the manty before we’d started up that narrow trail. We would have lost everything.”
“Jillie noticed it before I did, Thad,” Mack added while he stomped over to snare a duffel bag laying ten feet to their rear.
Well, bully for Jillie. Kim shot her a look.
Thad didn’t shift his gaze. “Good! Well at least one of you is adept at something.”
“All right, that’s it!” Kim stepped closer. She’d kept her silence way too long. “How do you know whether I’m adept at anything? You’ve known me less than a day. All you want to do is sit up there on your high-and-mighty throne and toss orders out to the peons. I, for one, am not a peon.”
“That’s obvious.”
Hands on hips, she narrowed her gaze at him. “So what’s that supposed to mean?”
He inched closer and glared down into her face. “It means that you’re out of your league here. You can’t handle a horse and you’re not pulling your weight. Obviously, you’re not used to getting your fingers dirty. And I’m not sure if I’ve got enough liability insurance to cover any disaster we might encounter because of you. That’s what I mean.”
“You certainly had no hesitation about assigning me the cook’s duties.”
“I have every hesitation, Miss Martin. But I also have this little rule. I never back down on my word. I’m simply expecting to have to pick up the pieces once your finished.”
Kim stared him down, then huffed out a thick breath. “Look, Mr. Winchester, I don’t know who you think I am or why you think I’m going to cause you problems, but I assure you, that I won’t. I made a mistake. It won’t happen again. I’m a fast learner.”
It was all Kim could do to reign in her temper. The nerve of the man. Get her fingers dirty? After a deep breath and a moment longer of glaring into the depths of his ebony eyes, she bent over and picked up a parcel at her feet and thrust it at him.
“I really don’t like you, you know that?”
“Good. The feeling is mutual. Now. Go back and get the rest of the gear we lost.” He stepped away, dismissing her, then shifted his gaze to the others. “We might as well stop here and rest the animals. It’s going to take a few minutes to repack,” he grumbled.
Kim stood dumbfounded beside her horse. Frozen to the spot, she watched his wide back turn away from her, his muscles rippling as he and Mack worked to reposition the other manty on the decker. Why were they always at each other’s throats? What was so wrong with her that she always got his dander up?
“C’mon, let’s get the stuff that fell out.” Jillie nudged her shoulder, pulling her out of her trance.
“Here, I’ll help. Why don’t you stay here with the others,” a different male voice added.
Kim looked to her left and saw that Tim Rumer had joined them. He offered her a very gentlemanly smile and his elbow. Kim liked the way he looked. Dark hair, cut short. Clean shaven. Smelled of after-shave. His shirt was starched and his blue jeans weren’t dusty...yet. He oozed charm and sophistication. Ah...her brain screamed. A hint of civilization. Why hadn’t she noticed before?
Kim smiled, offered him her arm, and glanced at Jillie. “Go play with the cowboys, Jillie. Tim and I will get
the stuff. And tell Mr. Winchester not to worry. We’ll be back soon enough and then he can get his precious trail ride back on the road.” She dismissed Jillie with a wave of her hand, then she and Tim took off to the rear of the pack string.
When they were far enough down the trail, Kim reached down to pick up the first aid kit. As she rose, she glanced quickly behind her. Thad Winchester stood apart from the horses, hands on hips, glaring down the trail after them. Quickly, she turned away and hooked her arm even tighter in Tim’s. She laughed out loud at something he said, she had no earthly idea what, as they tripped down the trail toward somebody’s duffel bag.
But as her mind registered the lonely, angry look on Thad’s face behind them, a heavy thud landed in the pit of her stomach.
****
Evidently, Thad decided to ride until they could ride no longer. Mack protested, as did each of the wranglers, Tim and Aaron, and finally Jillie. Kim kept her mouth shut. She certainly didn’t want to rile Thaddeas Winchester any further. It seemed she didn’t even have to open her mouth, she riled him simply by existing.
They’d eaten lunch in the saddle. Sarah had packed each of them a hearty lunch which Kim had found in her saddle bag, but it hadn’t stayed with her long. Her stomach rumbled incessantly. They had stopped twice for quick latrine stops, but after the first time, Kim had kept in her saddle then, too. She didn’t relish the idea of digging a hole and squatting any more than she had to. Especially when it seemed everyone in the camp was hanging around waiting for her to finish. She’d decided she’d wait until they stopped for the night, then sneak off to relieve herself when no one was around to monitor her comings and goings. That is, if she could wait that long. The day long jostle on Sunshine was hell on a full bladder.
When it seemed he’d proven his point, or his anger had finally subsided, she wasn’t sure which, Thad finally signaled to the others and stopped. The wide grassy area sat high in the mountains, a stream running to the left, peaks of the San Juans to the right. Tall grasses willowed with the warm evening breeze and a bird warbled from somewhere in the distance. It was very late, the sun low in the sky, and Kim seriously wondered if there would be time to set up camp before nightfall.
Groaning, each rider stretched and eased their tired bodies out of the saddle. Kim stood beside her horse, forcing her legs into a normal standing position, wanting like hell to find a dark shadow behind a huge tree to steal a few minutes of privacy. Instead, she looked around wondering what the next move was. She had no idea how one went about setting up camp.
She didn’t have to wait long. Thad, after barking orders to the wranglers to secure the saddle horses, came straight toward her.
He stared into Kim’s face and stopped abruptly. “You and Jillie stay here, we’ll bring the mules in by twos and drop the manties. Lay them in a row over by that tree and start unpacking.” He thrust his arm to the right. “Mack and I will set up the kitchen fly as soon as you find the kitchen equipment. In the meantime, the rest of us will tend to the stock. We’ll set up the tents once the stock has been fed and picketed. Once you’re set up, we’ll expect dinner within the hour. I’m hungry. So are the rest of the us. So don’t dally.”
Kim met his gaze head on and smiled cynically. Quickly, she thrust two fingers of her right hand up to her forehead and flung them forward in mock salute. “Yes sir!” she sang out.
Her eyes didn’t waver from his and she watched as a twinkling of light danced within his dark irises. Suddenly, he seemed all gruff on the exterior but a bit vulnerable on the inside. Abruptly, he pulled the dark glaze back over his eyes, keeping her stare from penetrating any further. Amazed at the small glimpse of the man inside, Kim felt her throat close and her pulse pick up its cadence. Her sarcastic salute had taken him momentarily off guard and she wondered just what it would take to pull the man entirely out of his brusque shell.
Snapping her gaze away from his face, she shivered and sloughed off that thought. Agitated, she glanced at Jillie and stepped away, almost frantic that she’d even entertained the notion. “Come on, Jillie, we’ve got work to do.”
Without a backward glance she pulled Jillie past Thad toward the first two mules, their shoulders brushing in the process. Nervously, her fingers flew over the knots untying one of the manties while Jillie held it. Glancing over her shoulder only once, she saw Thad quickly turn away and walk toward Mack. For the next fifteen minutes, she kept her eyes glued to her tasks, tried to quell her jumpy stomach and her pounding pulse; ignoring the pressure of her bladder.
She knew, however, that there would come a time when she couldn’t ignore any of those things any longer. She had a sinking feeling that the next few days might prove to be even more interesting than she originally thought.
****
The stream gurgled in front of him as Thad crouched near the waters’ edge and stared into its depths. Behind him, the horses whinnied now and then; having already been watered, they awaited their evening meal. He should be back there helping Ben and Luke.
Just a moment of solitude, he told himself. Just one minute.
He had to get his head together. He’d acted like an idiot since early this morning. Why, he wasn’t quite sure but he knew it had a helluva lot to do with Kim Martin.
He wasn’t the ladies man, never had been. Not to say that he hadn’t had his share of women, casual or otherwise. And far as he knew he harbored no weird hang-ups about getting involved in a relationship with any woman, but so far in his life, there’d been no woman to tempt him into anything permanent.
At forty though, he was beginning to sense his mortality.
Hell, was he having a midlife crisis? Was that why one look at Kim sent him into a hormonal surge? He hadn’t felt anything that strong, that urgent, since he was a teenager.
The pebbles behind him crunched with approaching footsteps. Rising, Thad turned to see Mack.
“The stock is set for the night,” Mack offered as he stepped alongside Thad. “Ben and Luke are setting up the dining tent. We can probably put up the stove any minute.”
Thad snorted. “Have those two women even managed to find it yet?”
He felt Mack’s stare.
“What’s with you, Thad?”
Thad continued to eyeball the stream. Abruptly, he turned and sighed deeply. “Hell if I know, Mack.” He sat on a large rock, jerked his hat of his head, and threaded his fingers through his hair.
“You know, you have been a little hard on her. That’s not like you.”
Thad stopped. “I know that, too.”
“Then what is it?”
Facing Mack, he rotated his head from right to left, trying to work the kinks out of his stiff neck and shoulder muscles. He looked Mack straight in the eyes. He opened his mouth once to speak, then closed it again. Finally, he told him, “You know the rules around here, Mack, about mingling with the guests. It’s a sound business practice and I’d advise you to keep that in mind.”
He stood.
Mack chuckled. “Are you saying that for my benefit, or yours?”
Thad didn’t answer him and started toward camp.
“You’re attracted to her, aren’t you?”
He stopped and slowly turned back toward his friend.
“Like an ant to honey.”
“Then why don’t we just forget the trip, send all the others back, and make it just the four of us. No official trip. No problem. What do you say?”
Thad contemplated Mack’s words. It was tempting. The thing was, Kim Martin had given him no indication that she was the least bit attracted. What the hell would she ever want with him? He was in no way near her league. “No. Just because I’m attracted, Mack, doesn’t mean we can throw the business to the wind. This is our job, our means of making a living. If there is anything whatsoever that develops between Miss Kim Martin and myself, it will be long after these twelve days are through.”
“So you’re just going to act like an ass for the entire trip?”
Na
rrowing his gaze, Thad studied Mack’s face. “If that’s what it takes.”
He stalked away.
“Well, that certainly won’t be difficult,” Mack muttered, just barely loud enough for Thad to hear.
Chapter Six
After unloading four mules, both she and Jillie hoisting eight ninety-pound-plus manties to the side, Kim collapsed against a tree, catching her breath before the next task. Unloading the animals seemed simple enough at first, but she’d never realized how difficult balancing the two packs could be when untying—not to mention the weight of each she and Jillie bore getting them to the ground.
“Come on,” Jillie croaked, grasping both of Kim’s hands and tugging. “Up and at ‘em. We’ve got to get unpacking.”
“Oh, phooey on unpacking.” Kim tugged the opposite direction on Jillie’s hands. “Sit down a minute. A girl has to rest sometime.” She cast a glimpse to the side, watching for Thad out of the corner of her eye, then shifted her gaze to her fingernails, inspecting each for chips. After a second, she glanced around her, searching out a desirable tree for the moment when she got to sneak off and take care of her needs. “The slave driver isn’t looking, catch a breath, Jill.”
Jillie caught her balance and stood upright. “C’mon, Kim. It’s going to be dark soon. I don’t want to be setting all this up in the dark. And we’ve got supper to fix.”
“Don’t you mean I’ve got supper to fix? I think His Highness made that perfectly clear.”
Jillie waved a hand over her shoulder. “Forget him. If I want to cook, I’ll cook.”
Kim chuckled and dropped her hands between her knees. “You? Cook? Ha! That will be the day! You are about as adept at cooking as I am at horseback riding.”
Again, Jillie grasped her hands and pulled, slowly easing Kim into an upright stance. “Never mind that. I’m helping anyway.”
“Ooh, ooh...” Kim winced and grabbed at her backside. “I think I’m in trouble.”
“Saddle sore?”
Rubbing her palms over first her derriere and then down both her inner thighs, she nodded. “And how.”