Rose looked at Tyler in disbelief. The man really was out of touch with humans. "You're in a relationship with six mares," she said. "It's like you have six wives."
One corner of Tyler's mouth tipped up slightly, as he replied, "Not quite."
"Okay, maybe that's a flawed analogy, but you know what I mean. But I'm not one of your mares and I refuse be treated like one," Rose said. "Even when you brought me back here to your quarters you walked ahead of me, expecting me to follow behind like the rest of your harem."
Tyler looked at her, bewildered, like she'd pointed out something he'd never considered, which tugged at her heart some because she sensed that with her, and any other woman, he was completely out of his element while struggling with something that didn't come naturally to him, like talking to horses.
"Tell me something," she said. "Have you ever been in a relationship with a woman before?"
"I'm around women a lot," Tyler replied.
"That's not the same as being in a relationship. You've been living up here alone with your horses for how long? A couple of years? Maybe since you graduated from high school?"
"Can we start over with this?" Tyler asked. He closed the gap between them, and to her surprise, tucked a finger beneath her chin and kissed her lightly on the lips, then waited to see what she'd do, which was to stare at him, stunned, while her lips tingled from a kiss that was barely long enough to register, yet there was a definite field of energy coursing between them.
"You're not talking again," he pointed out.
"That's because I don't know what to say," Rose replied. "You just kissed me and I have to process it some because I don't know where this is leading. I just started working here at the ranch and I want to keep my job, and if something started between us, it could be awkward."
"Something already has started between us," Tyler said, "and it doesn't have to be awkward unless we let it. Let's try this again." This time he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, yet still a little awkwardly, like he didn't kiss woman very often and was feeling his way along. But as the kiss held, Rose found herself slipping her arms around his neck and kissing him back, and when he tightened his arms around her, she became immediately aware of a rock hard body pressed closely to hers. The angles and curves of her body seemed to fit perfectly with the solid flat muscles of his, and the feel of his arms around her left her a little giddy, because those were the same arms and hands that guided six mares into doing miraculous things.
Her little moan of contentment brought her back to the moment.
Breaking the kiss, she looked up at Tyler in confusion and found him smiling. "I think we just closed the cultural divide a little," he said.
"No," Rose replied, her arms still around his neck, "we shared a kiss that sent tingles rushing through me, and I could probably get addicted to more of your kisses, but the cultural divide between us is as wide as before, and that's not going to change with more hugs and kisses. And before this goes any further, you need to take me back so I can think about things."
Ignoring her request, Tyler kissed her, this time with more confidence, and Rose responded again, all the while wishing she had more control, even as she found herself being drawn more tightly into Tyler's arms, until she felt the beating of his heart against her breast, and his mouth angling over hers first one way, then the other, and still she had no will to shove out of his arms. Instead she let out another little moan of pleasure and finished the kiss, then remained in his arms with her face against his chest while he rested his cheek against the top of her head, and as he silently held her, she had no desire to be anyplace but where she was.
After a couple of minutes ticked by, Tyler tipped his head so he could look at her, and said, "I don't get the impression you're too concerned about this cultural divide you seem to think we have. We just connected and communicated and shared a special moment and there was no time during that kiss or afterward when I felt you resisting me."
"That's because I didn't," Rose said, "but that's why you need to take me back before this goes any further because I really do need to think about things. What we have going may not seem problematic to you, but it's very problematic to me, and at this point I can't even begin to explain to you why it is because your mind is simply not open to what I'd say."
Removing her arms from around him, she turned and headed down the passageway in long, determined strides while hoping she'd get her sanity back once she was away from Tyler where she could attempt to make sense of things, because when he was near, all logical reasoning went by the wayside.
***
The following Sunday, when there would be no guests at the ranch to wander up to the cavern to sit in the spring, Tyler set two battery-powered lanterns close to where he'd be drilling, which was a section of the cavern that snaked around a bend, putting it a short distance away from the area where hot spring pool and petroglyphs were located. He hoped the sound of the drill would not funnel down to the ranch. He reasoned that he was far enough into the mountain that it would be muffled at best. He also picked a time when his dad was operating a chainsaw while cutting firewood for the house and the lodge for the following winter, which would drown out any sounds coming from the rock drill.
With a small light strapped around his head and plugs stuffed into his ears, he pulled the cord that started the rock drill and positioned the bit into a fissure that he'd partially opened with the hammer and chisel before leaving for Wyoming. Even with a gas-powered drill it was slow going because he was drilling into granite, but it was considerably faster than using hand tools.
But while the drill, bit by bit, made its way through rock, his mind was divided between hanging onto the 50-pound piece of equipment, and Rose's reaction when he kissed her at his place, four days before. He hadn't talked to her since he dropped her off at Marc's house that same day because she asked him to stay away, claiming she needed time to think. He suspected she'd learned about his dyslexia, or decided on her own that he was different from other people, and she wasn't sure what to do about it.
But he'd had time to think too, and although he hadn't spoken to her, he had wandered over to the museum on several occasions to stand with the visitors and listen to what she was telling them, mainly because he wanted to learn about her culture and traditions, but most of what she said escaped him because every gesture of her hands as she talked, or look in her eyes when they darted to him for an instant, or the rise and fall of her chest when she held his gaze on occasion, had him thinking about how she'd felt in his arms, and how much he wanted to hold her again.
It was all new to him, wanting a woman with him day and night, especially night. It seemed lonely lying in bed while thinking about how it would be with her in his arms, naked and clinging to him after they'd made love, then simply lying in his arms for the rest of the night. Things had definitely escalated for him during the past four days.
At best, when he'd invited her into the pasture to meet his mares, he'd done so to see if she was interested, nothing more, but even before he tried to kiss her she'd let him know in a dozen different ways that she was, and now he couldn't get her out of his mind, and he spent his evenings drawing pictures of her because it helped fill the void.
What came from all of it was a clearer understanding of Jeremy's motive for giving up everything, including a rodeo bull-riding career he'd worked hard to establish, and disappearing from his family's lives, maybe forever, because he couldn't live without the woman he loved.
But as attracted as he was to Rose, Tyler wondered to what extent he'd go for any woman. Leave his home and family and go into witness protection, not knowing if he'd ever return? Give up his mares and follow Rose to places unknown because circumstances demanded it? He didn't think so. But he did understand Jeremy's reasons. For him, life without Billy wasn't worth living.
On returning to the ranch from Cody though, it was all he could do to keep from telling his parents and the rest of the family that he and Josh had seen J
eremy and Billy and little Amy, their latest grandchild. He'd thought about Amy too. In fact, she'd made a lasting impression on him. She had a sweet smile and trusting eyes. Maybe it was the trusting eyes that got to him, big brown innocent eyes that held no secrets. They told him clearly that she liked it when he held her and she trusted that he wouldn't drop her or harm her. It came to him what an enormous responsibility Jeremy and his other brothers had as fathers. He'd never given it much thought before, though he reasoned it was not unlike the responsibility he had for his mares...
After a while, he killed the engine and set the rock drill down, and lowering himself to his knees, moved the rock fragments away from the hole. After removing one of the ear plugs, he put his ear against the opening and listened. At best he might hear a hissing sound as steam escaped from inside the mountain if the cycle of sounds started up. At worse, he'd hear the usual wails tapering off into sighs. But after a few minutes, when he heard nothing, he concluded that he was between cycles of sounds and started up the drill again.
He hadn't been drilling long when a shadow fell over the area, throwing him into semi darkness. Cutting the engine, he laid the drill down, removed his ear plugs and turned, startled to find his father standing not more than eight feet behind him.
"What's going on in here?" Jack asked.
Having prepared for such a scenario, even though he'd hoped to avoid it, Tyler said, "I'm trying to open up a fissure and see if the sounds in here change." After explaining his geothermal-geyser theory, he added, "The sounds are nothing more than steam seeping through cracks and fissures, and that same steam could turn a turbine and power a generator and convert the geothermal energy into electricity to run the ranch, and with the hot water already at the surface, it would be relatively inexpensive to set up a hot-water heating system. But right now all I want to do is see if there's anything to my theory."
"Have you talked to Marc about this?" Jack asked. "This cavern is his domain."
"I haven't mentioned it," Tyler replied, "but I won't be drilling anywhere near the pool or the petroglyphs. All I'm trying to do is open up a few fissures in this area, which is where I'm sure the sounds are coming from, and see if the sounds change, nothing more."
Jack looked askance at the drill, then at Tyler, and said, "How much longer do you intend to do this?"
"Not long," Tyler replied. "Is the drill making a lot of noise back at the ranch?"
"No," Jack said. "I didn't hear it until I got to the foot path leading here, where I came to cut up a tree that fell across the riding trail."
"Then is it okay if I go at it a little longer?" Tyler asked.
"I suppose, as long as you don't move out of this area," Jack replied. "But the spring and the petroglyphs must remain undisturbed."
"They will," Tyler assured his father. "This shouldn't take much longer and when I'm done, I'll shove all the rock fragments back and it will look like it was when I started."
"See that it does," Jack said, then turned and left. It wasn't long before Tyler heard the buzz of his father's chainsaw on the riding trail below and knew he was sectioning the downed tree.
Somewhat surprised that his father hadn't objected to what he was doing—maybe because he too saw the merit in using geothermal energy to run the ranch—Tyler stuffed the plugs back into his ears, picked up the drill and started in again. With another hour he might get deep enough into the mountain to make a difference.
Sometime later—he didn't know how long because he'd lost tract of time—he was again clearing away rock fragments, but in the silence he realized his father was no longer cutting up the tree, and beyond the cavern it was quiet, so quiet that even with the ear plugs still in place he began to hear the eerie sequence of sounds emanating from inside the mountain. He removed the plugs and listened intently this time, trying to discern if they had changed pitch or duration, but the sounds went through their usual cycle and died.
He had just picked up the drill and was about to start in when a shadow again fell over the area where he was, so he assumed his father was back to check on him, but when he turned, he was disturbed to find Rose instead. Her gaze immediately went to the drill in his hands, then to the rock fragments he'd shoved into a pile. "Don't jump to conclusions," he said, while removing the ear plugs. "I'm opening up a few fissures, nothing more."
"You're drilling holes into the mountain," Rose said, in a plodding voice. "You told me you'd only be using a hammer and chisel."
Tyler set the drill down. "That was my initial plan, but when I got a chance to buy a used rock drill I decided to give it a try."
"Please don't do this," Rose said. "It's wrong."
"I'm not drilling near the spring or the petroglyphs," Tyler replied, while removing his head lantern. "In a week or so I'll give it up if the sounds don't change, and that will be that."
"It's not that simple," Rose said. "Just because Marc designated this a gathering place instead of a sacred one doesn't change the fact that there are spirits in this mountain, and your drilling into a cavern where there are petroglyphs is asking for trouble."
"I'm only opening up a few fissures," Tyler argued. "How much trouble could that cause?"
"More than you can imagine," Rose said. "I can't even begin to explain to you why because you've closed your mind to it, so please, just don't do this. Something bad could happen to you."
The look on Rose's face was one of worry more than anger, and her words led Tyler to believe she really did care about him, even if he was different in ways that even he didn't understand. Walking over to where she stood, he took her by the shoulders and kissed her lightly, and said, "If it makes you happy, I'll sit in the pool and listen to the sounds and talk to your spirits so if it turns out that I'm wrong about geysers, and you're right about spirits, maybe nothing will happen."
"You don't believe any of this," Rose said. "Is there no way I can convince you to leave this place in peace?"
"I won't be going at it much longer," Tyler assured her. "After I'm satisfied about my theory I'll quit and you can educate me about spirits and I'll listen and learn."
"You'll be listening because I'm making you feel obligated to do so," Rose said, "but it won't be coming from your heart so it won't work." She pressed her lips together, like putting an exclamation point on things.
"You're wrong," Tyler said. "Whatever you tell me about spirits I will try to take to heart because I want to understand you because you're the first woman I've ever been interested in." His thumb moved up to stroke her bottom lip and soften its firm line. "Do you believe me?"
Holding his gaze, Rose said, "About your taking to heart what I tell you about spirits, I'm not convinced, but about my being the first women you've ever been interested in, you convinced me of that the first time you kissed me."
Tyler looked at her, baffled. "Why then?"
"You didn't kiss very well."
Tyler didn't know whether to be angry, flattered, or annoyed because Rose nailed the truth. He'd had sex on occasion after a rodeo performance—buckle bunnies who found their way into his rig and got him aroused—but he never kissed them because he felt nothing for them, and after a few times he decided sex wasn't worth it and chose to send them away.
With Rose though, it was different, and he wasn't sure why because she brought a level of complication into his life that he hadn't expected. Until meeting her he'd been contented with his simple, uncomplicated life, living with his mares, and preparing for a line-up of performances that would begin to pay his bills. But following the instance with Rose in the pasture and her response to him afterwards, along with her concern for him now, things were changing.
"You're right," he said, "I'm not a very good kisser because I don't do it much, but maybe we could practice some. I think I could pick it up pretty fast." He pulled her into his arms and kissed her, and as it was before, Rose curved her hands around his neck and kissed him back.
Tightening his arms around her, he held her snugly against him
, acutely aware of her female form with its gentle curves and full round shapes that seemed to mold naturally to his body, filling all the gaps between them, making him want to hold her like that all night…
…A man can be a free spirit only so long before he finds himself thinking it would be a lot more fun to snuggle up to a warm female body than a pillow at night…
He still wasn't ready to let go when Rose broke the kiss, and said, "That was nice, but we need to slow things down and take a look at the whole picture. You can't keep setting aside our cultural divide like it doesn’t exist because it does. I'm very worried about what you're doing in here, and you refuse to give it any serious consideration."
"We have a whole lifetime to close our cultural divide," Tyler said, still keeping his hands locked behind her waist.
Rose removed her arms from around his neck and braced her palms against his chest, and said, "Do you realize how simplistic that is? You made up your mind that we are already in a relationship, and maybe we are in a sense, but not a long-term one because there's a big gap that needs to be closed before that can happen, starting with what you're doing with that rock drill."
Tyler glanced down at the drill, then looked into a pair of wide brown eyes that shone with points of golden light from his two lanterns, and said, "As soon as I'm satisfied about my geyser theory we'll start working on this cultural divide you seem to think we have. As for me, I don't think we're that far apart. We're the same species, when we kiss we fit together perfectly, and we've been silently communicating for the better part of two weeks now."
Rose sucked in an exasperated breath, looked at him with impatience, and replied, "All of what you just said is simple male-female attraction, but we have not communicated the things that matter and we are miles apart in our core beliefs. You descended from Nez Perce Indians, yet you know nothing about them. You live off by yourself with your horses, surrounded by woods and mountains and nature, and even have a hawk hanging around your place, yet you have no interest in your ancestors who were more like you than your mother and father and all of your brothers are. Haven't you ever talked to your grandmother about her Indian background?"
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