She turned to Rock, her stomach churning. "Rock, she's in danger. I just know it."
"Aw, Genny, you're imagining things. Just because she left in a hurry, you're making a big deal out of this. Your aunt wanted some time on her own. Maybe she found herself a man." His grin was knowing.
"Sophie?" Genny felt a surge of indignation. How could Rock believe that Sophie...? "Never!"
"Don't be too sure, little lady. She was givin' Pancho the come-on, out at Daniels' place."
"She was not." Rock was an unsophisticated cowboy. He couldn't possibly understand a cultured, refined woman like Sophie. Despite her worry, Genny had to admit there was no indication that her aunt had been taken anywhere against her will. It was just easier for Genny to believe than that Sophie would leave only a short note to explain her absence.
But she had not gone wherever with a man.
Not Sophie.
* * * *
Rock was having trouble keeping his laughter in control when he punched out Genny's phone number that night. So Miss Enderby was too uppity to go off for a wild weekend with a man, was she? Fat lot Genny knew. He had a hunch that there was a lot about Miss Enderby her niece had never guessed.
"Hullo?" There was hope in her voice. Despite all his reassurances, this afternoon and evening, she was still hoping to hear from Miss Enderby.
"I may have a clue to the whereabouts of your aunt," Rock said, the chuckles threatening to escape.
"You do! Where is she?"
"I said a clue, darlin'. We can't know for certain until they come back."
"Back? They? Who, Rock? Who took her away?"
God! He felt sorry for her. She'd really worked herself into a panic again.
"There was a note from Pancho on the bulletin board when I got home. I have a hunch it was there yesterday evening, when we were eatin' supper, but we missed it." He let the chuckle break loose. "I wonder why?"
"Stop it, Rock. Just tell me what it said."
"Not much. Just that he'll be away for a few days and not to worry. Sounds suspicious, doesn't it? Both of 'em being gone at the same time."
There was a long silence on the line. Rock began to worry that she had fainted or something. Finally, "I still can't believe that she'd go off with a man. Sophie?"
"She's a woman, isn't she? Why wouldn't she?"
"But Rock, she's nearly sixty. I would have thought she'd be too old."
"Genny, they aren't too old until they're dead. Not out here in Owyhee Country, anyways."
It was obvious that Genny couldn't quite accept what he'd told her. Well, that was okay. He'd check back with her tomorrow night, make sure she wasn't making herself sick with worry. As far as he was concerned, Miss Enderby was a consenting female. He just wished it hadn't been Pancho she'd consented with. She was another fancy city woman, and one broken heart in the household was enough.
Rock finally admitted that his feelings for Genny were more than simple lust. He wouldn't go so far as to call his feeling love, but he sure was in like with her.
Now all he had to do was wait for her to tear him apart when she went back to civilization.
Chapter Nine
"I could get used to this," Genny said into the mike. The gentle chill of early morning, the bright blue sky, and a view all the way to the edge of the world all contributed to her sense of well being.
Rock's voice was raspy in her ears. "Wait till you see these hills in the spring, along about the middle of April."
His arm brushed hers as he pointed to the left. If the world bore any relationship to her maps, they were approaching Skeleton Gulch. She saw the flash of wing that was a circling eagle. It rode the wind over the gray-green plateau, then stooped into a weightless plummet after its unsuspecting prey.
Rock guided the helicopter into a more gradual descent and they landed at the head of Skeleton Gulch.
The hike into the Shinbone didn't seem as far or as steep this morning. They walked quickly, in silent accord, comfortable with one another. If she weren't so worried about Sophie, she would be totally content. Four days, and they hadn't heard a word. If her aunt didn't show up soon, Genny was going to have to call New Hampshire. Mom might know where Sophie had disappeared to.
Rock stopped her with an arm blocking the trail. Without a word, he shoved her back into an alcove in the rock wall, held a finger to his lips. Mystified, Genny stood quietly as he slipped ahead, edging his way along the wall, looking for all the world like a spy on a mission.
Silence. She waited for what seemed an hour, wondering what had alarmed him. A rattler? No, for he wouldn't have told her to be quiet if it had just been a snake on the trail. A rabid cow?
Did cows get rabies?
She heard the rumble of masculine voices, echoing between the vertical walls. A woman's high laugh. More rumbles, then silence. Soon the rattle of a stone indicated someone--or something--was coming up the trail toward her hiding place. Surely it was Rock. He hadn't met a bear or a cougar; a human voice had answered him.
She couldn't prevent a surge of fear, despite telling herself that her imagination was running amok. When Rock reappeared, she clung to him.
"Sorry, darlin'," he said after kissing her thoroughly. "I just wanted to make sure it was your archaeologists in there. We get some pretty dangerous characters out here sometimes."
Anger replaced her fear. What did he think she was, helpless? She'd been on the District two months now and they hadn't been entirely uneventful. She'd managed to get herself out of a couple of tight situations without assistance. What right did he have to assume she needed his protection?
About to yell at Rock, Genny clamped her mouth shut. She had to pull herself together. Her personal problems--and her increasing worry over a missing aunt--had no place in the field.
For a brief moment she wished the BLM pilot had brought her in to meet Frank and Elaine. Using the Bureau helicopter might not have been as much fun, but it would have been a lot less hazardous to her emotional equilibrium. She was a professional and it was time she remembered it.
"I never expected to find anyone but Frank and Elaine," she said, trying to freeze his ego with her voice.
Rock snorted. "If I'd seen these two anywhere else, I'd never have guessed they were your field people." He glared, as if it were her fault he'd assumed the Ainsworths were a couple of desperados and acted accordingly.
In spite of residual irritation, she had to smile at Rock's instinctive chivalry, his immediate action to protect her. Genny might deplore the old fashioned, masculine reflex, but she had to admit to a tingle of pleasure. She'd never been treated like a fragile treasure before. The Forsythe men treated their women as if they hadn't a brain in their heads, but they didn't cherish them.
"What a place!" Elaine waved and called from the mouth of the Shinbone. Her long braid was half undone and her clothing was dusty, for all it was yawningly early in the morning.
"Spectacular, isn't it?" Entering the grassy-floored gulch, Genny saw that the Ainsworths had pitched their dome tent where it would get the brief morning sun. A clothesline held underwear and socks. Up at the head of the gulch, three mules and a horse grazed, their saddles piled on a huge boulder. "How's it going?"
"I haven't started yet," Frank said. His braid, as long as his wife's, was still tidy, but his salt-and-pepper beard looked as if a crow had nested in it. "One of us has to do the mundane chores like setting up camp."
"Did you have any trouble getting in?"
"No. The flagging led us right to it. I haven't been down to the next canyon--Armbone, wasn't it?"
"It's a gulch," Genny said, involuntarily, and caught the gleam of Rock's grin. "Yes, Armbone Gulch is where I found the petroglyphs. If you've got time, I can show you." She started toward the mouth of Shinbone, but Rock's call halted her headlong rush.
"Hold on a minute, little lady. We've got a pretty full schedule today."
"I can find it, Genny," Frank added. "I've got a map, and you left flagging to
mark it, didn't you?"
Blushing, Genny nodded. She had never seen such beautiful carvings as the petroglyphs in Armbone and she knew Frank would be as enthusiastic as she was. She'd been looking forward to sharing them with him, to hearing his exclamations of wonder when he first saw them. But Rock was right. Their schedule was too full for her to take time to show Frank around. He was competent and experienced. She could trust him and Elaine to do a good job.
"Look at this, Genny." Elaine thrust a piece of greenish rock into her hand.
She looked. Turned it over and looked at the other side. Puzzled, she raised an eyebrow at the petite geologist. "I don't see anything."
"No, and that's what's interesting. From everything I'd read, I'd expected to find leaf fossils in all strata of the greenish tuff." She took back the shard, shaking her head. "I've looked at maybe a hundred fragments like this, and haven't seen a single one."
"Does that mean I get my reservoir?" Rock said.
"That means I need to do a lot more work," Elaine said. "I need to discover why there are no plant fossils here."
"Shit!" Rock visibly controlled his anger. "Well, don't let us delay you, Ms. Ainsworth. The sooner you're done with your investigations, the sooner my cows'll have their water."
"Rock, there's no guarantee..." Genny began.
"Yeah, I know. If there's even one itsy bitsy fossil here, my cows'll go thirsty." He turned away. "I'll wait for you up on top. Don't take too long."
"Spoiled brat," she muttered. For an educated man, he was certainly insensitive to the need to preserve archaeological resources. And she was getting darned tired of his habit of stalking off whenever he didn't get his way.
Oh, well. She still had a job to do. "How long do you think it'll take before you have some results for me, Elaine?"
"That depends. If I don't find anything in the talus," she pointed at the large and small piles of fallen rock that ringed the meadow, "I can probably say with some assurance that there's nothing to find. But if I do, well, you know."
Yes, Genny knew. She and Elaine had worked together two years ago, mapping the extent of a rich plant fossil site in Wyoming. As a result of their investigation, the area had been close to all development.
She hoped she wouldn't have to give Rock news like that. "Do what you can," she said. "And Frank, if you don't mind, I'd like you to start here, in Shinbone. I don't want to keep Rock waiting any longer than necessary."
"Sure, Genny." Frank spread his copies of her large-scale maps across the tent. "This is the most likely spot for petroglyphs," he said, pointing at the narrow upper end of the gulch, "so I thought I'd climb up there this afternoon. I should have some answers for you in a few days."
"Okay, when do you want to meet?"
"Week from Thursday? Four o'clock at the trailhead?"
"Right. Now, let me show you just where I think you'll find some more." She pointed along Skeleton Gulch, leading his eyes to the mouth of Toebone. "I didn't get in there, but there's a wall with a ledge at just the right height."
Half an hour later Frank reminded her that Rock was waiting.
"Oh, no! I forgot." Quickly Genny gathered her maps and notes together. "Now, have you got everything you need?"
"Relax, Gen. We've done this before." Frank's grin was understanding.
"Of course you have. That's why I wanted you to do this job for me." Frank and Elaine Ainsworth were the best field team she'd ever met. Archaeologist and geologist--a perfect combination. It would be too bad when they finished their doctoral research and were no longer available for short-term projects like this one. "I'll see you Thursday. Bye, Elaine."
Elaine waved from her precarious position at the top of a steep talus slope, but she never looked up from the rocks she was sorting.
The rest of the day was a dead loss, as far as Rock was concerned. Genny was so busy being an archaeologist that she seemed to forget she was a woman.
She had apologized for taking so long in the Shinbone, but he could tell she hadn't really been sorry. Or maybe she was sorry she inconvenienced him, but not sorry she'd stayed so long with her friends.
Well, at least the Ainsworths were Westerners. They'd have a realistic view of the relative value of a bunch of leaf fossils and rock carvings versus cattle.
Wouldn't they? He surely did wish he knew how long he'd have to wait for a decision on his waterhole.
"D'you still want to go to that site up by Monument Rock?" he asked Genny as he guided the helicopter across Rattlesnake Creek. He was gettin' damn tired of being nothing but her taxi driver. They'd dropped in to five sites so far today, each one as boring as the next. Once she'd showed him some black smudges that were supposed to be smoke paintings; another time her enthusiasm had been for a falling-down old cabin that Rock knew for a fact had been a line shack for the Circle H back in the Twenties.
The last site had been a kitchen midden he'd found, up above Three Forks. That had really turned her on.
Good thing something did. She'd surely paid little enough notice to him today.
"Are you still angry?"
The soft words in his earphones startled him. "Huh?" Hell, he wasn't even sure which way was up today.
"I asked if you were still angry."
A quick glance showed she was looking straight ahead, but her teeth were worrying her bottom lip.
Damnation! That's what he should be doing right now, instead of playing taxi driver. He should be kissing the dickens out of her, so she'd forget about rock carvings and rickety log cabins and million-year-old leaves. "Naw. I'm not angry." Nope. He was mad as hell, but he wasn't angry.
"So what's the matter with you? You've been about as charming as a hyena with a toothache." He heard laughter in her voice.
"Yeah, well, you've been about as friendly as a wounded moose."
"That's unfair! I was perfectly cordial until you got into a snit because I took so long down in Shinbone Gulch."
"A snit? I got in a snit? What about you? It wasn't me who got bent all out of shape when I was reminded that we had a lot of ground to cover today."
"I did not!"
"You sure did...what the hell?" She was laughing at him. Her full throated laughter filled his ears and sent shivers down his spine.
"Oh, Rock, listen to us. We sound like children, fighting over who threw the ball through the window."
He bristled, until their recent words replayed themselves in his mind. Darned if she wasn't right. They had sounded like a couple of kids having a spat. And she did have a job to do. She wasn't here just for fun, like he was. He squeezed her knee. "Let's start over. Do you still want to go to the Monument Rock site today?"
"Yes, please, if it won't make you too late getting home," she answered politely.
"No sweat." He aimed the 'copter north by northwest. The later they got done, the more likely she was to agree to spend the night at his ranch, instead of wanting to go back in to Vale.
"No, Rock, I can't," she told him later that afternoon, at the ranch. "I've got to go back to Vale."
"Why?"
His arms were holding her flush against his unyielding chest and thighs, his mouth was hovering just fractions of an inch above hers. It took all of Genny's willpower to remember that she had responsibilities. Her job. Her cat.
Aunt Sophie, who was still missing.
"I'm going up to Baker tomorrow with Dan. We're leaving early." His breath was warm and moist on her face.
"I can have you in town right after sunrise."
"No. I can't." To her own ears, she sounded as desperate as she felt. "I want to but I can't."
"I'll come home with you, then." Before she could answer, he took her mouth, devoured it, sapping her of intelligence and will.
He was swollen and hard against her belly. Genny couldn't help herself as she rocked against him, exulting in her power to arouse. She opened to his tongue, meeting it with purpose and enthusiasm. His taste suffused her mouth, his scent surrounded her and filled her
nostrils. She wanted to fuse with him, to take him into herself until they were one being.
When he finally released her, after his lips had explored her cheeks, tasted her earlobes, and lingered at the hollow behind her ear, Genny slipped free of his arms. She couldn't think when he was touching her.
The sun cast their shadows long across the sagebrush-covered slope. She looked across the empty landscape, saw how its rugged topography and arid climate had shaped the man who held her. It was a hard land, and he was a hard man. It was a lonely land, as he was a lonely man. It offered haven and grandeur to those strong enough to meet it on its own terms. To meet it and the man it shaped.
Could she?
Did she want to?
Right now, right this minute, she wanted nothing more. Owyhee Country was beginning to feel like home. Rock's embrace was beginning to feel like where she belonged.
"I really have to go," she said, her voice sounding weak and strained.
"Your place or mine?" His eyes were asking more than if they would share a bed tonight.
"Both." Before he could explode, she laid a hand on his arm. "I've got to be alert tomorrow, Rock. You know if you come to my place, we won't get much sleep. Let me do my job this week. I'll drive out to the ranch Friday, after work. We'll have the whole weekend."
He gave in, grudgingly.
* * * *
It was an awful week. The trip to Baker ended up taking two days. She and Dan pulled in about three Thursday afternoon to discover that Frank Ainsworth had radioed a request for some special equipment he needed immediately, if not sooner. So early Friday she hitched a ride with Chuck in the BLM helicopter, then waited for him to pick her up on his way back from Jordan Valley. She had planned to call New Hampshire before she went to work this morning and ask her mother if she'd heard from Sophie, but she completely forgot. When she finally remembered, she was halfway to Skeleton Gulch. She might as well wait until she talked to Rock. Maybe he'd heard.
To make matters worse, she'd arrived home from Baker to discover Marmalade had knocked her answering machine to the floor. It held one message, from a cemetery plot salesman. If Rock had tried to reach her--or worse, if Sophie had--they hadn't been able to. The only consolation was that there hadn't been any messages for her at work. She supposed that meant no emergencies had occurred. She hoped.
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