In a way, it felt scary. She’d truly believed she’d never give her heart away again after the breakup with Jason. Because even though she’d been hurt, and angered at his ridicule and lack of respect, she’d loved him. It had taken her a long time to stop missing him, to stop fantasizing that they’d get back together. When she finally broke those shackles, she swore never to dive into that morass again. Yet here she was, in a great big swan dive. And with whom? A man who might be involved in illegal activity. Call it what it was: Smuggling. Those people were smuggling, no doubt about it. And she needed to find out what.
She expected to walk up to a fenced civilized viewpoint, but the trail narrowed, twisting into a small canyon that ran with water. There was a sign warning of danger, but nothing dramatic. The trail sometimes led right through the water, which kept Martin hopping to protect his black leather boots. Destiny wasn’t too keen on squishing around in wet shoes either, so they scrambled around and jumped from boulder to boulder, walking along narrow ledges.
Then suddenly they arrived at the Overlook Drop, and she could see why it was called that. Smooth, worn rock sloped off into nothingness. Her heart rate hit rapid-fire as she stared down and down and down.
“Don’t go any farther,” Martin warned, grabbing Destiny’s hand. “This rock’s as slick as glass, and there’s nothing to catch if you slip. You’ll fly out of here like down a chute.”
Still holding Martin’s hand, she stretched and attempted to peer over, but it was too far from the edge. Moving back to safer territory, she put the camera into action.
Tasting the water, she found it good and sipped a little from her cupped palm. Martin tried it, too, joking that if deadly substances contaminated it, they’d die together. He watched Destiny take a few more pictures, and when they didn’t keel over, they started back up.
Up. The key word. Two and a half miles down meant two and a half miles up.
“Martin,” she said presently. “Where’s the chair lift?”
“Ha-ha. You wish.”
There was no chair lift, of course. Or hovering helicopter to swoop them out. Just two feet to hike up, up, up that long trail. Laughing weakly and supporting each other, they finally reached the bench. But only a few minutes of rest spurred Destiny to press on. She felt so healthy and robust, as if she’d worked out.
“Water,” Martin chanted. “Cool, clear water . . .”
“Funny boy. I could drink a river dry.”
“Only if you share with me.”
At last they reached the campground and stumbled to a faucet. “Heaven!” Destiny declared, splashing her face and neck. She flicked water into Martin’s face. He put his thumb over the faucet and directed a jet at her, but she ducked and avoided the attack.
“Only half a mile more to headquarters,” Martin announced.
“Onward!” Destiny commanded. They started up the trail once again and she watched Martin as he walked ahead of her. He had such a lithe, graceful way of moving. Today he wore a pale green shirt that emphasized the unusual green-gold of his eyes. In a way, and not for the first time, he made her wish that she could be twins.
“Martin, I don’t think that’s the right way.” She stopped at a fork in the trail.
“Sure, it is. It goes up.”
“So does this way.”
“But this goes up in the correct direction.”
“Okay, bright boy. You’d better be right.” Following him, she soon concluded they’d taken the wrong fork. “Martin, this is a service trail.”
“How do you know?” He stopped and turned.
“It’s narrow and steep and rough.”
“But it still goes toward headquarters. You don’t want to backtrack, do you?”
“No, no! We’ve come this far. I’m not turning back.”
They hiked on. Presently Martin stopped.
“What are you doing?” Destiny asked when she reached him.
“Push me up the rest of the way, will you?”
“Push you? I’ll push you over a cliff, you maniac!” She laughed, shoving at his back. “Leading me off on this crazy old service path. Call me a dude. You got lost in Renegade Ridge Park on a marked trail!”
“Marked, my foot!”
Fueled by nonsense and laughter, they reached the visitor center. With a final burst of insanity, the raced for the store and cold drinks.
Bull had the tire mounted and balanced when they returned to the garage. Martin whipped out his card, wiggled his eyebrows at Destiny, and paid for the tire. She was glad Bull’s attention was focused on the credit card machine, and not on Martin’s antics.
It was late by the time they arrived back at the ranch. The dogs jumped around in greeting and Eric strode out onto the porch, like a war chief ready for battle.
“You finally came back,” he stated in a dangerous voice.
“And we found a tire for my car,” Destiny informed him.
“How clever of you. I told you I’d get you one. It was on order.” His jaw muscles knotted. “Where have you been?”
“Renegade Ridge Park.”
“We hiked to Overlook Drop,” Martin added cheerfully, walking right past them into the house. “And the tire came from Bull’s, the one you’d ordered. Good thinking, little brother.”
“You could have told somebody,” Eric said to Destiny, not meeting her eyes, nor commenting on the tire.
“We told Estrella we were going out.” She felt defensive. “I hadn’t been to the park and we decided to go rather than hang around the garage and wait for the tire, or drive back here.”
He shook his head. “Well, I guess you don’t owe me anything, do you.” Then turning on his heel, he strode inside.
Destiny clenched her fists, taking deep breaths to keep from stamping her feet and screeching. It had been such a fun day, so innocent. Now it had suddenly become shameful. And why had she needed to go to town in the first place? That reason might not be innocent, not innocent in the least.
Supper was very quiet. Eric managed to inform them that tomorrow they were going to ride out and explore some caves in a canyon near the creek that had Native American petroglyphs in them.
“I rounded up some more horses while you were out running around,” Eric said to Martin.
“Well, little brother. You come to the Double Bar-M and I’ll round up the horses, okay? Now just get off it.”
Eric shoved away from the table and stalked out the back, letting the screen door slam hard behind him. Grimly, Martin marched right out behind him. Domingo and Estrella sat quietly, finishing their food. In a moment Destiny rose and went out behind the brothers.
Eric strode to the corral and propped his foot on the lower board, crossing his arms on the second board from the top. Martin came up beside him.
“What are you trying to do?” Eric asked evenly after a stretch of silence.
Martin took a similar stance, also leaning on the corral boards. “About what?”
“Come on, don’t go stupid on me. Are you trying to get back at me?”
“You mean Destiny?”
“We’re not talking about Baron.” A dull pounding set up behind Eric’s eyes and he leaned his forehead on his crossed arms.
“Hey, little brother. I can’t do a thing by myself. It takes two. She’s one fine girl, but . . .”
The screen door opened and closed and he stopped talking.
The brothers stood beside the corral, leaning on the boards, watching the horses that milled around inside. Destiny walked over to stand between them. Her hair brushed Eric’s arm. He glanced down at her before nodding in the direction of the horses. “See the little brown mare right there in the middle?”
She nodded. The pretty horse was a warm toast brown with a small white patch on her ches
t.
“That’s Muffin,” he continued. “You’ll ride her tomorrow. Ever done any horseback riding?”
Destiny gulped, thinking that she would really appear a city dude to him if she admitted how little experience she had. Not that she had none. After all, she was a Texan.
“When I was a teenager. A friend’s grandparents lived near Alvin and they had horses. On weekends, she and I would go ride. But it’s been a long time.”
“You’ll do fine,” Martin put in. “Muffin’s gentle. Right, little brother?”
Eric looked over Destiny’s head at Martin. Then with a sigh, he said, “Right, hermano.”
It disturbed her to think she might be the cause of this latest blow-up between the brothers, but then, anything and everything seemed capable of setting them off. The cats came out and buffed their legs. She reached down and petted Goldie who arched lovingly beneath her hand. Tiger moved away and watched suspiciously.
You’re like your master, she thought. He wanted to be cared about, but he didn’t dare open up that much.
Martin held out a hand and made kissy noises at the horses and all three of them came over to the fence and stood there while the humans scratched their faces and patted them. Destiny learned that only Pinto and Gringo, Domingo’s white horse, were kept up. The rest were turned out to forage. Only when there were other riders did extra horses get rounded up and kept in the corral.
“Lee Duncan’s going to join us.” Eric reached past her to rub the horses’ noses.
“Fine.” She shifted, aware of his closeness and irked he appeared not to share the awareness. Still, Destiny anticipated the ride to see the petroglyphs in the morning. Lee riding with them didn’t bother her. She had nothing against the man, actually rather liking him. As long as he didn’t get drunk or try repeating their date.
The morning dawned clear and bright. She noticed Martin wore spurs that chink-chinked as he walked. Not Eric. “No spurs?” she queried, allowing her gaze to roam from his boots to his face as if challenging him.
“Pinto doesn’t need to be spurred.”
The intensity in his dark eyes thrilled her, but she forced herself to act nonchalant.
“I don’t wear them for Diablo,” Martin said with a twinkle. “I wear them to impress the gals. Listen, little brother. Women go for spur-wearing cowboys. Right, sugar?” Grinning widely, he threw an arm around Destiny’s shoulders and wriggled his eyebrows at her.
“Oh, absolutely. I’m underwhelmed, totally.”
He laughed and released her, and she glanced at Eric. He watched impassively, his expression revealing nothing.
“Eric, are we going near the swimming hole?” Martin asked.
“Close. Why?”
“Let’s take some cutoffs and jump in.”
Eric focused on Destiny, a strange expression on his face. “Want to go swimming?”
“In Ranger Creek?” She eyed him with suspicion. “You’re teasing. The creek’s dry in this area, right?”
“Nope. There’re tinajas, water holes, still holding water. Some stretches of the creek nearly always have water in them.”
“Well . . . sounds great. I did bring a swimsuit.”
“Then go, girl,” Martin chuckled. “Pronto!”
Rushing to her room, Destiny grabbed her bright aqua bikini and a towel. Lee Duncan’s Mercedes drove up just as she entered the front room. Lee climbed out and Eric walked outside to control the dogs. When the passenger door opened, Destiny knew before she saw the blue, tooled leather boots emerge that it would be Iris. She sighed with resigned dismay. Iris’s outfit sported tints of blue today, and she wore a blue straw western hat with a spray of blue feathers at the front crown.
As they all came into the living room, Estrella brought a food basket to Martin. “I’ll get your lemonade.”
“Let me get it,” Martin said, following her.
Eric led the way to the corral and Martin brought up the rear, carrying the basket and cooler jug.
Domingo had the horses saddled. An extra horse, Destiny realized, attempting to insert the toe of her boot into the stirrup, and it’d never dawned on her who it might be for. Muffin was hers, another horse was Lee’s, and the third horse—she hadn’t even thought of Iris. How could she have missed it? Dummy! She felt so clueless.
Eric came along and boosted her like a feather into the saddle. Tingling from his touch, she peeked through her lashes at Iris who scowled back. Though dressed like a rich dude, Iris could obviously handle a horse.
Destiny dug back into her memory and hoped she wouldn’t appear too foolish.
They rode away from the corral, following a faint trail. Muffin, gentle as her name, sweetly plodded along under Destiny’s guidance. Eric rode up beside her.
“No hat.” He gazed at her from the shade of his own. “I should nail one to your head.”
“You’re so kind.” She tossed her curls. “I’ve never liked hats. They give me a headache.”
“This old sun will give you a headache, remember?”
“I’m fine now.” She hated being treated like an invalid. Or worse like she possessed no common sense at all. Just because she didn’t do everything their way, didn’t mean it was wrong. Plus, anyone could get overheated. It happened sometimes. Destiny tilted her chin up defiantly.
Eric dropped the subject and they rode side-by-side in silence for a few minutes. Then Iris slowed, very deftly cutting between them and pointing at something, asked Eric a question. Destiny let it go. Diablo pranced up beside her and she admired the black stallion.
“Martin, you have a beautiful horse.”
“Thank you, sugar. I think so, too. You should’ve worn a hat.”
“You and Eric ought to record that and play it over and over.”
“Would it do any good?”
“No.”
Barking in merriment, the dogs joined them. Joby and Muddog trotted alongside Eric, and Rowdy came to Martin’s side. It seemed as if everyone owned dogs in this mountainous ranchland. Destiny often saw dogs in pickup beds and in cars. Not only had Martin brought the bull Eric was buying or leasing or borrowing—she hadn’t figured out which yet—but he’d brought his horse and dog.
They reached the caves Lee wanted to see and started climbing the steep rocky slope. “I’ll go first to snake bust,” Eric said.
“He’ll what?” Destiny asked Martin.
“Check for snakes. Could be rattlers in the rocks. You don’t want to grab one with your pretty little hand, do you?”
No, but she didn’t especially want Eric to grab one either. He declared the way safe so they made their way single-file up to the caves.
“Oh, they’re exquisite,” Destiny exclaimed, aiming her ever-present camera. She made out six small figures chasing what appeared to be several deer. What a strange feeling to stand in the cool cave’s entry, viewing a painting done so long ago. What had the artist been thinking while he worked? Is that what he intended? That people would one day see his work and wonder about him? It was like peeking through a time portal.
After Lee examined the cave, they started back down. They found a pile of flint chips and Lee picked up two complete arrowheads. Eric led them single-file back down, Iris right behind him. Destiny followed Iris, and Martin and Lee brought up the rear. Reaching a part of the trail covered with loose rock, Iris skidded and with a little cry tumbled right into Eric. He turned quickly, catching her as she fell.
“Ooh, my ankle,” she wailed, obviously faking the injury in Destiny’s opinion.
Destiny steamed as Eric helped Iris the rest of the way down, then picked her up and carried her to her horse. This time her arms were around his neck, and her triumphant smile beamed over his shoulder at Destiny.
“Where are we going, Eric?” Iris asked, as h
e hoisted her onto her horse.
“The swimming hole.” Turning away, he didn’t act too concerned, much to Destiny’s satisfaction. “You can see how your ankle feels then, maybe soak it in the cold water.” Eric added. He boosted Destiny, swung onto Pinto’s back and they rode off. Iris urged her horse forward to Eric’s side.
The swimming hole fascinated Destiny. Yards and yards of smooth white rock marked the passage of many a gallon of rushing water. In the center of this smooth, dry expanse, a deep pool glimmered. Nature had carved steps in the rock down to the water. Delighted, she climbed down to explore and take pictures. The pool wasn’t large, perhaps ten-by-twenty feet, and she could see the steeply sloping bottom. Martin and Lee joined her. They climbed back to the top together and walked over to the grove of small cottonwoods and desert willows where Iris sat, her boot off. Eric was examining her ankle.
“ . . . don’t see any swelling,” he said as Destiny walked up.
She peered at the ankle, then smiled brightly at Iris. “Aren’t you lucky? I don’t think you’re hurt much at all. Do you, Eric?”
“Nope,” he said shortly, and stood. “Hey, Martin. Grab the food and let’s eat.”
Iris glared, but Destiny ignored her.
After lunch, they all went behind rocks to change. Destiny felt the eyes of every cowboy who’d ever ridden the range of New Mexico staring at her. She felt silly in a bikini and boots, but she needed footwear to walk over this rough ground. She was disappointed to see only Martin wearing cutoffs. Did Eric decide not to swim? And she’d wanted to see him in his cutoffs! She turned to hide the blush staining her face and walked to the pool with Martin. They took off their boots and climbed down to the water, which lapped about seven or eight feet below the surface rock.
Renegade Moon (CupidKey) Page 11