by Janet Dailey
His finger traced the smooth line of her jaw. The nagging memory of her father's admonition to "be nice" to him chose that moment to return. Not that it mattered, Brig decided. He was secure in the knowledge that he had aroused feelings in her that no other man had.
"Did I forget to laugh? Sorry, " he feigned an absent apology. "It's time we got some sleep. "
"I suppose, " she murmured and snuggled into her former position.
The occasional flashes of lightning were growing less frequent as Brig listened to the patter of rain, Jordanna fell asleep long before he did.
The next morning, all that was left of last night's storm was drizzling rain and a few gentle rumbles of thunder. Shortly after dawn, they broke camp and started for the site of their base camp. The riders wore a variety of rain gear—yellow slickers, ponchos, rain suits. The clouds hung like a shroud on the mountain peaks, gray wisps drifting across the trail. The rough terrain was sometimes slick beneath the horse's hooves. There was little talking back and forth among the riders as they followed the wet gold rump of the buckskin leading the way.
By the middle of the afternoon, they had reached the more substantial accommodations of the base camp. A large, lodge-pole framed tent, complete with wooden table, benches, and a shepherd's stove offered them warmth and shelter from the misting rain. The manta from the packs served a double use as the tent floor. While Jocko put a match to the kindling to start a fire, Tandy finished unpacking the horses, and Brig pitched the small tent where he and Jordanna would sleep, preferring the natural heat of her body to the artificial warmth of the stove.
The next morning, the drizzle turned into a steady downpour as Jocko started dishing up stacks of flapjacks. The hard rain continued throughout the day, confining the hunting party to the base camp. Max took advantage of the opportunity to rest his weary muscles while Fletcher, ever the hunter, checked his gear. Tandy had brought along a deck of cards and the cribbage board, and he and Kit were soon locked in a game.
Brig found plenty to keep him occupied, from checking the horses and gathering more firewood to cleaning the saddles and tack and hauling fresh water. Jordanna was beginning to discover that the only place he didn't disguise his interest in her was in the darkness of their tent. The rest of the time he held himself aloof. The way his gaze seemed to keep track of her made her think that he was trying to be discreet rather than brazenly flaunt their intimate relationship in front of her father. With that reasoning, she couldn't find fault with his withdrawn attitude when they were in the company of others.
Jordanna passed the rainy time by helping Jocko. At first, he had started to refuse her offer to help with the meals until he realized that it was a means to occupy the hours. He had graciously accepted her assistance.
On the morning of the fourth day, the sun broke through the clouds. Within an hour after first light, Jocko and Tandy were left alone in camp as the party started out on its first day of active hunting
It was mid-morning when they sighted their first bighorns. They had stopped on the rim of a barren plateau to glass the adjoining ridges. Max and Kit had stayed with the horses, using the animals as windbreaks against the swirling mountain air currents. Fletcher, Jordanna, and Brig had taken their binoculars and moved to a vantage point on the plateau.
After twenty minutes with no success, her father had lowered his glasses to rest his eyes. "It's a natural area for bighorns, " he murmured.
"Yes, " Brig agreed and continued to scan the mountain basin to the right. "There's plenty of graze and water in the stream The steep cliffs behind offer the sheep a perfect escape route. " Brig sat comfortably on the ground, resting his elbows on his knees to support the arms holding the binoculars.
Jordanna detected a movement near some rocks and tried to zero her lens in on it. "I thought I saw something near that old landslide area. "
Both Brig and her father concentrated their glasses on the same area. "There they are. " Brig saw the brown-bodied rams first. "They've stopped grazing and have laid down to chew their cud and rest"
"They are young, " her father observed. "I only see one there with more than a half curl. " Glancing over his shoulder, he waved to Kit and Max. "Come have your first look at some bighorns. "
As the other two joined them, Jordanna offered her binoculars to her brother. While she and her father helped the two to locate the resting bighorns, Brig continued to glass the area for more, possibly older, rams.
"What now?" Max asked.
"We'll wait, " Brig said. "There might be more around that are out of our view at the moment. "
They waited another hour, periodically glassing the area, but nothing larger than what they had first seen appeared. Mounting, they rode to another section where Brig had spotted some good sized rams before.
An hour before sundown, they returned to base camp without having seen a ram either Fletcher or Jordanna were interested in trying. Max had found the experience boring. Although he tried to hide it, it showed.
"I had barely recovered from the ride up in the mountains and I'm stiff and sore all over again, " he grumbled to no one in particular.
But Tandy took up the comment "Aren't your muscles used to all that riding yet?"
"We spent more time getting in and out of the saddle and climbing ridges and embankments than we did riding. The back of my legs are killing me, " he complained. "It was all a waste of time as far as I'm concerned. "
"Patience and persistence, Max, " Fletcher smiled across the fire and tamped down the tobacco in his pipe. "If a hunter doesn't have those two qualities, he might as well give up and go home. "
The veiled criticism prompted Max to sit a little straighter. "I suppose, but I guess I'm used to a little more action. "
"We'll have you participate more actively with us, " Fletcher declared. "I have a spare set of binoculars. Jordanna will get them for you. Tomorrow when we go out, you can help us look for game instead of standing around. "
"That's generous of you. " Max smiled tightly.
"After all this is your vacation. I wouldn't want you to be bored to death. " There was a mean taunt in her father's droll tone that made Jordanna frown.
"It's late. " Kit rose abruptly from his cross-legged position in front of the bonfire. "I think I'm going to call it a night"
"I suppose we all should, " Fletcher straightened, too, to join the exodus to the large framed tent. "Good night, Jordanna. "
"Good night, Dad, " she replied and noticed that he said nothing to Brig. She had suspected that he didn't exactly approve of her behavior, but this was the first indication of it. He was placing the blame on Brig.
She stared into the dwindling flames of the fire, unaware that all of the others had retired.
"Are you planning to sit in front of that fire until you toast like a marshmallow or are you coming to bed?" Brig was standing to one side, studying her in an oddly calculating way.
Jordanna chased away her father's attitude. She was too old to need his approval of how she conducted her affairs. Besides, Brig was waiting for her and that was more important. Rising, she cast him a provocative look.
"Don't you like to eat toasted marshmallows?" she mocked.
His arm curved around her waist to pull her against him and outside the circle of firelight. That familiar, languorous warmth melted her bones as she rested against his hard length. A faintly breathless anticipation parted her lips. Tipping her head back, she gazed into his raw, virile features, bronzed by the glow from the fire. She could see the flames dancing in his hard brown eyes.
"I like my marshmallows burning on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside, " he said huskily before his firm, male mouth took its first bite of her lips. Jordanna curled her arms around his neck as he lifted her off her feet to carry her to the tent.
The fifth day was as unsuccessful as the previous one. On the sixth, they spotted the first trophy class bighorn. They were near the place where they had seen the group of young rams. The large ra
m was grazing on a grassy ledge, its brown body and white rump as roundly stuffed as a sausage. The massive horns were thick at the base and curled close to the head, spreading out at the broomed tips. The battering of the rutting season had chipped one side of the horns, but the flaw didn't diminish the size of the prize.
"He's way over forty inches. " Fletcher's statement was barely a whisper. He lowered his binoculars, excitement gleaming in his eyes.
"Look at how far back the points have been rubbed, " Jordanna murmured in awe.
"That's so he can see to the side, " Brig said. With his binoculars, he scanned the terrain immediately around the heavily horned ram. "He's located in a bad place. "
"Yes, " Fletcher agreed and glassed the area again. "Even if I was able to execute a successful stalk and got into position for a shot, look where he's likely to fall if I hit him. "
Jordanna directed her attention to the area below the ram where a crevasse of jagged rocks opened the earth as if the mountain had yawned to reveal a gaping mouth of teeth.
"Even if you were able to recover its body from the crevasse, the horns are liable to be broken in the fall, " she sighed.
"We'll wait. " Her father stretched out, belly down on the ground. "Maybe he'll move to a more accessible location. "
"I might as well get comfortable, too. " Max shifted his position so that he, too, was lying on the ground.
For more than an hour, the monarch of the mountains grazed on the nutritious grass on the ledge. The tension mounted, gradually building to an excitement as the ram began wandering away from the crevasse.
"Come on, " her father urged under his breath as he watched the slowly moving bighorn. "That's a good place right there. Lie down, you crafty, old bastard. "
"He is, " Brig said, "but I don't care much for his choice. You would have been better off if he'd kept grazing. At least you could have moved whenever his head was down. This way you aren't going to be able to get very close to him without him seeing you, not with this wind. "
After exchanging opinions about which was the best route for a stalk, the two men started out. Jordanna, Kit, and Max were left on the ridge to watch. It was a long, arduous route they chose. It involved circling half of a mountain slope on foot and climbing to the backbone of a ridge in hopes of approaching the bighorn from above, not always a successful maneuver with a high-strung suspicious wild sheep, hunted to perpetual wariness.
An hour after the two men had disappeared on the stalk, Max turned to Kit "Is there any coffee left in that thermos Jocko sent? I sure could use a cup. " He sniffed at his runny nose and beat his arms to try to warm them.
"I think so. " Kit carefully slipped down from the ridge to where the horses were tied and returned with the thermos.
"Don't drink it all, " Jordanna cautioned. "Dad and Brig will probably need some when they get back. "
It was another hour before Jordanna glimpsed the two men through her binoculars. They had just crested the ridge above the ram, but the steepness of the slope and a ragged tangle of rocks blocked the ram from their view. She watched her father try to maneuver into a position where he could find the ram in his rifle scope.
Something went wrong. Either the wind changed or a localized air current carried their scent to the ram. In the blink of an eye, the bighorn had bounded to its feet and was racing up a craggy rock face amidst a clatter of hooves on stone. He leaped and climbed with the sureness and grace of an aerialist Her father never had a chance to get off a shot.
"All this time, " Max grumbled, "and he didn't even fire a shot. "
"If you don't like it Max, " Kit murmured, "you don't have to come along every day. You can stay in camp. "
Max glared at him with a look that said such a suggestion was preposterous. Jordanna hugged her arms around her knees. The man was really determined to sell that stock to her father, no matter what personal discomfort it cost him.
By the time Brig and Fletcher circled back to where they were waiting, it was late afternoon. Fletcher looked exhausted and offered no argument when Brig suggested they return to camp early.
The sight of the massively horned ram had fueled Fletcher's enthusiasm The next morning he was eager to find it again. They covered a lot of ground and sighted several respectably horned rams, but Fletcher was determined not to settle for less than the prize he had seen—at least, not yet.
It was two whole days before Brig located the big ram again.
"Is it the same one?" Jordanna was lying on the ground, her elbow nearly touching his as she propped up her binoculars.
"It's the same one, " Fletcher insisted. "See that chip broken off the right horn. "
"Yes. "
Brig's mouth thinned into a grim line as he surveyed the possible route of a stalk. He heard Fletcher swear under his breath and guessed that the hunter had seen the same thing he had.
"There is only one way to get to him and that's too dangerous, " Brig stated.
"I suppose we wait again, " Max said and breathed out a disgusted sigh.
"Maybe he'll move, " Fletcher muttered, but he didn't sound hopeful.
Brig glassed the area again. No matter how thoroughly he studied the area, he could find only one route where Fletcher could get within range of the bighorn resting serenely on the mountainside. The way was worse than treacherous. They would have to circle the base of a wide landslide area where the footing would be questionable. A loose rock tumbling from their feet wouldn't necessarily alert the ram to their stalk, since falling rocks were a frequent occurrence in its world. But Brig's blood ran cold at the sight of the chasm at the base of the talus. One missed step, one faulty choice of where a foot should be placed, and it would mean a five hundred foot drop.
One hour. An hour and a half. The ram hadn't budged from its spot Brig glanced at Fletcher, prepared to suggest that they try another day, but the almost obsessive gleam in the man's eyes stopped the words. He looked back at the ram. Without the magnification of the binoculars, it was a brown lump, barely distinguishable from its background, nature's camouflage.
"I don't see why you don't just go around that loose rock and sneak up on that sheep, " Max inserted, tired of the incessant waiting.
"It's too dangerous, " Brig stated.
"It doesn't look it to me. " Max shrugged his shoulders.
"Why don't we give it a try?" Fletcher suggested. Brig guessed that after more than an hour of studying those great, sweeping horns, Fletcher's obsessive need to bag that trophy had overpowered his reason. "Maybe when we get closer it won't look as bad as it does from here. "
"That sounds like a good idea, " Max agreed.
"You know it won't be any better. " Brig eyed the hunter grimly.
"I think Brig is right, " Jordanna gave him her support.
"It'll be dark soon and we'll lose the ram anyway. We might as well take a closer look at the route, " Fletcher argued and glanced at the curly-haired man on the ground beside him. "Do you want to come, Max?"
Brig saw his cousin's startled look and knew Max hadn't bargained on that invitation. Max had been eager enough for action as long as it didn't require any effort on his part. Cynical amusement deepened the corners of his mouth at Max's hesitation.
"Sure, I'll go, " he agreed unexpectedly.
"Don't be ridiculous, Max!" Brig snapped, impatient with his cousin's foolish attempt to please the man whose money he wanted. "You're in no condition to make a climb like that. "
Immediately he realized that he had used the wrong tactic. He should never have criticized Max in front of Fletcher, nor implied that he was physically less of a man than one who was his senior. Now Max felt he had to prove Brig wrong. Brig silently cursed the quickness of his tongue.
"Don't worry about me, Brig, " he said stubbornly. "I can make it"
"All we are going to do is take a closer look at that slide, " Fletcher reasoned. "If it looks too risky, we'll simply have to forget it"
"I'll come with you, " Kit volunteered and quick
ly rose to his feet
"No. " The denial from Fletcher was sharp and abrupt He tempered his tone when he glanced at Jordanna. "You stay here with your sister. Three people are enough. Any more than that and we'll sound like an army and spook that ram for sure. "
Brig could tell by the expression on the young man's face that he wanted to argue, but his father's reasoning was too sound. Brig understood the feeling, since Fletcher's insistence that they would turn back if it was too risky had forced him to agree to go along
Chapter 14
It was almost an hour before they reached the slide area. Brig had taken it slow for Max's sake. Glancing behind him, he saw his cousin struggling for breath in the high, thin air. His own lungs were burning from the demanding physical exertion of traversing the rough terrain on foot. But neither he nor Fletcher was suffering as badly as Max. Yet not once had his cousin begged for them to stop so he could rest. Brig had to admire his guts even if he questioned his sanity.
He stopped short of the slide area and glanced to the far ridge, where Jordanna waited with her brother. Fletcher joined him while Max collapsed against a large boulder, straining to catch his breath. Brig forced his concentration on the forbidding ground ahead of them
"It's no good, Fletcher. " His hands rested on his hips as he surveyed the perilous footing along the Up of the chasm.
"I'm not so sure. " Fletcher wasn't convinced. "Look there, where it's so narrow. " He pointed. "That huge boulder will give a person something solid to hang onto. "
"It's also something he has to go out and around from, " Brig reminded him. "And you can't see what it's like on the other side of that boulder for about a foot or more. "
"Supposing there's nothing there but empty space, so what?" Fletcher shrugged. "A foot is less than a man's stride. I think it can be crossed. "
"It's suicide. " Brig stared at the man with a determined look.
But Fletcher paid no attention to him. Turning, he said to Max. "How about it? Are you coming along with me?"