Between kisses and heated touches, he told her. But she didn't pay attention. Instead, she marveled at how much she thrilled to the touch of his hands and the lingering taste of his mouth. If the ground hadn't been muddy, she would have dragged him down and pulled the blissful weight of him on top of her. Since she couldn't do that, she let his deep voice enchant her, enjoying the sound of his words more than the words themselves.
"What are you thinking?" she asked as she straightened her clothing before they returned to camp.
"I was imagining you in Paris," he said, smiling down at her. "I'd love to see your face the first time you saw Versailles. Or when you entered Notre Dame."
Fox felt her eyes shining at the pictures that rose in her mind. "I'd like to have coffee in one of those sidewalk cafes. Hold my pinky finger out like this." She mimicked her idea of a grand lady and was rewarded when he laughed. "And ride in one of those little boats and dangle my fingers in the water like the ladies in pictures do." She let her head loll back and made a trailing gesture with her hand.
Tanner caught her up in his arms and held her so tightly that the breath squeezed out of her. "Christ, Fox. I" His mouth came down hard and he kissed her until her scalp was on fire.
When he released her, she blinked at him, stunned, and raised trembling fingers to her lips. "My Lord," she whispered. "Tell me what I said to bring that on so I can say it again."
"Do you suppose anyone would notice if I snuck into your tent tonight?"
Laughing, she kissed him on the chin. "Probably no more than three people." She loved it when he sighed with frustration and disappointment equal to her own.
Tanner led a string of mules and Fox rode beside him most of the next day. They talked about growing up, told funny stories on themselves, shared memories that explained and entertained. Late in the day Tanner found himself talking about the mining industry and how he'd grown bored doing a job so familiar there were few challenges left to conquer.
"What would you rather do?" Fox asked curiously.
"There's a growing market for fossils," he said, having thought about it. "I'd enjoy hunting fossils for museums."
"Why don't you do it then?" she suggested, direct as always.
The answer circled back to his father. The expectation had always been that one day Tanner would take over the business. His education had been directed toward that end and most of what he'd accomplished since had added skills that would serve him well when the time came. His father had worked a lifetime to build something for Tanner's future and the future of any children he might have. Naturally he expected Tanner to eventually head the company.
"I suspect my father will consider me going into a different line of work as the ultimate betrayal," he said, keeping his voice light. But that conversation would come, and soon. He knew he would not return to the Carson City area to pick up where he'd left off. And he knew his decision to leave the mining industry would devastate his father.
Fox glanced at him but didn't comment. There was no way she could understand the bonds of family obligation or the desire not to wound a man who had sacrificed and worked hard to give Tanner the best that a father could give. When Tanner went out on his own it would be hard on them both.
"You've told me about life as a mining engineer, what would your life be like if you were a fossil hunter?"
"Rustic," he said, smiling. "I'll live like a gypsy, moving from place to place in the west. Camping out for weeks or months during the search. If I'm fortunate enough to find well-preserved specimens, I'll solicit buyers, pack the bones and ship them. And begin the search again."
Fox's eyes sparkled with interest. "That sounds interesting. If there's any money in fossils, it sounds like a good life."
"Only you would say that," he responded, laughing.
"I don't think most women would." But she wasn't remotely like most women.
Their conversation drifted to the sandstone hills around them and the towering red cliffs. Here the wind had sculpted soft sandstone into strange and wonderful shapes. Before they reached the staging area for the river crossing, they passed a hundred wind-wrought arches of amazing and magnificent proportions. As fossils were on his mind, Tanner would have liked the time to prowl the hills in search of ancient treasure. Someday it would happen.
Beside him, Fox swore then slapped a hand on her thigh as if angry with herself. She drew a breath and said, "Well, my stars. I'd hoped to get here early enough to camp by the fort, but others beat us to it."
"My stars?" Arching an eyebrow, he smiled at the flush on her cheeks.
She ignored him, her gaze on the ruins of a fort the Mormons had built and then abandoned after problems with the Utes. "We'll camp closer to the river."
"And closer to the mosquitos."
They rode past the crumbling walls of the fort, nodding to those already camped there. Tanner thought he recognized two or three parties who had been at Green River. His guess was confirmed when three men called a greeting to Hanratty and Hanratty shouted back.
Once camp was set up and the fire going, Hanratty asked if there would a problem if he had supper with the men near the fort.
Tanner glanced at the gold tucked beneath his saddle. "Go ahead."
"There might be a poker game later."
Tanner nodded. "Just be ready to go in the morning."
Hanratty looked over his shoulder at Jubal Brown. "I'd invite you in, but those boys don't trust strangers."
"Makes a body wonder how you got so friendly with them."
"It's my charm," Hanratty said with a grin. He slicked back his hair and settled his hat before he walked away.
Frowning, Tanner watched Hanratty go, taking with him any hope for some private time with Fox. Since Peaches didn't count for the two-gun rule, he couldn't leave Jubal Brown alone.
"Mr. Hernandez," he said later. "Would you care for a game of chess or checkers?"
"I think you could beat me tonight with your eyes closed." Peaches raised a weary smile. "Instead, how about we just talk some?"
"I'd like that, too. Anything particular on your mind?"
Peaches apologized for a coughing fit then said, "Do you believe in heaven and hell, Mr. Tanner?"
"I regret to say that I've never settled that question to my satisfaction."
Peaches nodded. "I do believe. But it's troubling me that the standards for heaven are set so high. Maybe too high for an ordinary man to slip through."
"Well that's just crap," Fox said, joining them. "If you can't get past the gates of heaven, then no one can. And that means it isn't a place you'd want to be anyway. Now think about it," she said, handing Peaches a cup of cold river water. "If the standards are as high as you're thinking, then there wouldn't be enough people up there to give you a game of chess." She slapped a mosquito on her neck. "When you dieyears from nowSaint Peter is going to drag your butt inside with a whole lot of hallelujahs. He'll hand you some wings and a halo and the prettiest angel. Probably give you some new overalls if you ask nice."
"Is this a private conversation or can anyone join?" Jubal sat down beside Peaches. "Do you play poker, old man?"
"I don't care much for it, but I play."
"You two?" Pulling a deck out of his waistcoat pocket, Jubal riffled the cards.
"Better think about it," Fox warned. "If you play with me, I'll have everything you own in three hours."
Tanner smiled. "I've played a time or two."
"Good." Jubal moved away from Peaches to a spot where Peaches couldn't see his hand. "We'll have our own poker game."
"We'll have to play with beans," Tanner insisted. "I don't take money from employees."
"That won't be a consideration," Jubal said. When Tanner stared at him, he sighed. "Beans it is."
At one time or another, each of them had been far ahead of the others, but at the end, exactly as she'd predicted, Fox walked away with all the beans. She winked at them, then said good night and, whistling, swaggered to her tent.
<
br /> "Nothing I hate worse than losing to a woman!" Jubal looked as if he might throw the cards in the river, then thought better of it and pushed the deck back into his waistcoat pocket.
Peaches's laugh ended in a prolonged spell of bloody coughing.
"It's bad, isn't it?" Tanner asked softly. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Don't know if I'm going to make it to Denver." Peaches pressed a handkerchief to his lips. "Did she tell you about her stepfather?" He'd waited to ask this question until Jubal had left them and crawled into his tent.
"Yes."
Peaches examined his expression as if searching for a reaction he didn't see.
"There's something missing, isn't there?" Tanner asked after a minute.
"It's her story to tell, except I'm wondering if she'd listen to you."
"You're talking in riddles."
"I know it," Peaches said, rising, his gaze on his tent. "And I apologize. We might talk about this again."
Curiosity urged Tanner to press for an explanation now, but he didn't. Instead he sat by the firelight, listening to Peaches cough. He, too, wondered if Peaches would make it all the way to Denver. Every day Peaches looked older and coughed more. He'd started holding an arm across his chest. No one talked about it, but they had all taken a hand in doing Peaches's chores even though Peaches protested. But the protests were halfhearted, and that concerned Tanner as much as it did Fox.
They would have crossed the Grand earlier in the day, but the party ahead of them wrecked, losing a horse and a teenaged boy to the swollen river. After a brief service for the boy, they crossed without incident. There was no understanding fate, Fox decided uneasily. Nothing fair in the way life played out.
Turning north, she led them along the east side of the Grand River, through the towering sandstone sculptures cut by wind and weather. At midday they did without a fire due to their late start, and ate jerky and cold biscuits while the horses and mules rested and grazed on tufts of sparse desert grass.
"You'll be happy to know that we're coming into the last leg of the trip," Fox said, sipping river water instead of the coffee she would rather have had. "We have almost four weeks left on your deadline, and should make it easily to Denver in that time."
"Easily?" Tanner asked, raising an eyebrow.
A thin smile touched her lips. "I'm hearing from other travelers that the Utes are quiet, especially the farther east we go. We don't have many more major river fordings. And crossing the divide isn't going to be as difficult as you're probably thinking it might be." She gave him a thoughtful look. "In fact, a man riding alone and fast could shave a week off the schedule."
"Are you suggesting I go it alone?" Tanner asked, frowning.
"I'm saying if you had to, you could." She walked a few steps away from him, her gaze on Peaches. He rested with his back against one of the sandstone arch pillars, his eyes closed. "You just follow the Grand until it cuts due north. The mountains would be tricky, but only until you crossed the divide. The pass is slow going, but you can't miss it. From there on, the roads out of the mining camps will take you down into Denver."
"I'd be lost on the second day."
"Liar," she said softly. "Your biggest problem would be the gold. How to hide it on horseback, but we'd think of something. And you'd have Hanratty and Brown with you."
Tanner put his hands on her waist and Fox closed her eyes as her skin tightened and her breath came faster. The end was drawing near and she couldn't stand it.
"We'll cross this bridge when and if we come to it," he said, his breath stirring the hair on the back of her neck.
"I won't leave him," she said quietly. "He never left me. That time we were apart, when I went off into the wilderness, that was me taking off, not him. And I always regretted leaving him behind. I won't do it again, especially not now."
"I would never ask you to."
"I'm not saying the worst will happen. Peaches is getting better every day," she insisted stubbornly, hoping God was listening. "But just in case, I thought you should know where I stand."
"You know what I'd like?" Turning her between his hands, he dropped his gaze to her lips and Fox felt her mouth go dry. "I'd like a few hours alone with you."
His touch was like flame circling her waist, leaping to set her mind ablaze. "I think you'll like the campsite I have in mind," she whispered.
His eyes narrowed and turned almost black with intensity. "Right after supper. No waiting for darkness."
She nodded, unable to speak. When he looked at her like this, it was a marvel that her knees held her upright. She licked her lips, and heard Tanner groan. It was hard to walk away and give the signal to move out.
The afternoon passed in an eyeblink with Fox thinking about the evening to come. Every nerve ending strained toward the moment when Tanner would take her in his arms. She could hardly concentrate when they stopped for the day and began setting up camp near the canyon lip overhanging the river. A thick stand of trees thrived here, unusual for the area, mostly pine and juniper, which had carpeted the stony ground with old needle falls.
Later Fox would flog herself for being so unfocused and stupid. It didn't register that she was hearing the hooting of owls from within the trees while it was still a couple of hours until nightfall. She did notice that Hanratty helped Peaches by unloading the money mule, but she didn't attach any significance to it. She continued with her own chores until she heard Tanner admonish Hanratty.
"The bank bags go underneath my saddle. You know that."
"Not anymore," Hanratty said, raising his gun he fired in the air.
As Fox spun, she saw three men riding out of the pines and junipers and understood in a flash what was happening and who had been the source of the owl calls.
"All of you, toss your rifles over here," Hanratty said, lowering his gun to sight on Tanner.
Fury rose like a tidal wave as Fox did as he demanded. "Your poker pals, I assume?" The men reined up behind Hanratty, guns trained on her, Tanner, Jubal Brown, and Peaches.
"I warned you," Hanratty snarled. "You could have prevented this."
For an instant she had no idea what he referred to. Then she remembered and disgust pulled down her lips. She'd believed he was talking about her and Tanner when he said the trouble would be on her head and that she could have prevented it by accepting him.
"You bastard."
One of the men dismounted and walked to the bank bags. "I need some help here," he said once he discovered the weight of the bags. One of the other men dismounted while Hanratty and the remaining man on the horse covered Fox and the others.
While the first man slung a bank bag up behind his saddle, Fox assessed the situation. She was still standing beside the mules and thought she had a chance. There were too many of them to hope she could get them all, but damned if she was just going to do nothing. She'd go down fighting.
She eased back a step, then in one fluid motion, reached into the ammunition pack and withdrew the Colt she knew was there. She got off two shots and had the satisfaction of seeing the second man beside the bank bags go down and the man who had taken the first bag shout and grab his shoulder.
Before she ducked behind the mule, she glimpsed Jubal Brown bend toward the ground and come up with a boot gun. Peaches flattened out on the dirt and Tanner ran straight into flying bullets to retrieve his rule.
The gun battle seemed to last a lifetime, but in reality it was over in minutes.
"Fox? Are you all right? Jubal? Peaches?"
"The son of a bitch shot me in my fricking leg," Jubal shouted.
Fox came out from behind the mules in time to see Peaches sit up and run his hands over his body to check if he'd been shot. Discovering he hadn't been, he pulled up and rushed toward Jubal. Tanner stood over Hanratty's body, his rifle by his side. When Fox peered through the dust and smoke, she discovered the would-be robbers sprawled on the ground. Their horses had bolted.
A long sigh dropped her shoulders. But first
things first. She made sure the robbers were dead, then had a look at Jubal.
"The bullet went through the fleshy part of his thigh," Peaches announced. After stopping to cough, he continued wrapping a bandage around Jubal's leg. "I got the bleeding stopped and put on a poultice to protect against infection."
"Goddamn, I wish we had some whiskey," Jubal said, staring down at his ripped pant leg and the bandage Peaches was wrapping.
"It could have been worse. Could have hit bone and shattered your leg." Peaches looked up at Fox. "Give him what's left of the laudanum."
"I suspected something like this might happen," Fox said, kneeling beside Jubal and offering the bottle of laudanum. "But I thought it would be you."
"I know you did." Jubal managed a tight smile.
She apologized, then added, "I thought you might steal the gold for the Confederacy."
Jubal squinted up at Tanner, "I'm going to follow you right to the kidnapper's door. If there's no kidnappers, I'm going to shoot you and then ship the gold south."
"What you do after the kidnappers take the gold is no concern of mine. If something should happen to them and the gold should fall into your hands" Tanner shrugged.
"Speaking of the gold," Fox said pointedly, standing. Two of the bags were where Hanratty had placed them originally, near the fire. A third bag lay a few feet away where the robber that Fox shot had dropped it. The bag had broken and coins spilled on the ground. The fourth bag was missing, tied behind the saddle of a horse that had run off and could be God knew where.
When she said as much, Tanner shook his head. "We won't have difficulty finding that horse." Fox lifted her eyebrows and he pulled a hand down his jaw. "He's leaving a trail of coins."
She dropped her head and swore for a full minute before she studied the sky. "Oh my stars" just didn't serve in this situation. "We have about an hour and a half of daylight left. Let's get started."
At Tanner's suggestion, they found the horse first to prevent further wandering. Even so, the coins were scattered along a lengthy erratic path. They removed the horse's saddle and bridle, set him loose, and tied the nearly empty, bank bag to Fox's saddle. Then began the long back-bending job of following the coins back to camp, picking them up one by one. They had taken lanterns with them and needed the light before they finally arrived back at the fire Peaches had started. The welcome smell of coffee and frying bacon guided them in.
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