Her eyes were fully open as she watched him walk about the camp, checking that Asher was covered, that the horses were properly tethered, that the food was covered and that the fire was out. When he came to Chris he started slightly to see her eyes open.
“You should be asleep,” he said, standing over her. “You have to get up early tomorrow.”
“How is the trail ahead?”
Asher stirred in his bedroll and Ty knelt beside Chris, lowering his voice. She rai
sed on one elbow.
“It’s all right, just some brush across it, but I cleared most of it.”
“Did you get anything to eat?”
She saw the whiteness of his teeth as he grinned at her. “You are going to make some man a wonderful mother. Yes, I ate. Now go to sleep and I’ll see you in the morning.”
She lay down on the hard bedroll but he didn’t leave.
“Miss Mathison, I’m sorry about this afternoon. I shouldn’t have lost my temper. It’s just that I think we should keep this trip on an employee, employer basis. As I pointed out to you, I haven’t been around women for a while and there are things that are difficult for me.”
“Do I make things difficult for you?” she whispered in such a way that there was no doubt of her meaning. She hoped he’d say she was making his life hell.
He rocked back on his heels and grinned at her again. “Not anything that I can’t handle. Now, be a good girl and go to sleep.”
“No good-night kisses?” she asked, a little angry at his laughing at her.
“Not from me,” he said and she smiled because there was horror in his voice. As he walked away, she turned over on her stomach and went to sleep.
The first thing that greeted Chris the next morning was the sight of Tynan bending over the fire. His hair was damp and there were fresh fish frying in a skillet.
“Did you go fishing?” she asked, smiling at him.
He mumbled something but she couldn’t hear what it was before he stood and walked to the horses.
All morning Tynan stayed away from her and the three of them rode in silence on the trail.
When they stopped at noon to eat, Tynan quickly told Asher to take Chris with him to gather firewood.
Asher took Chris’s elbow and half propelled her toward the path they’d just traveled.
“I hear your father is in shipping, too,” Asher said for the second time before Chris heard him.
“Yes, he is,” she said distractedly. “Canning, shipping, cattle, a couple of saw mills, anything he can get his hands on.”
“Yet you left it all to run away to New York to become a newspaper reporter. But now you’re back.”
“Not by choice. I plan to return to New York as soon as I get back to my father’s house.”
“Ah, I see. Somehow, I thought you had other plans.”
“Such as?” she asked, turning to look at him. “Did my father tell you that I had other plans?”
“Only that you were ready to settle down, that you were still young enough and he had hopes that you—”
“Young enough for what?” she interrupted.
“Why, to start a family I would imagine.”
Chris bit her lower lip to keep from replying hastily. “No, I don’t think I’m over the hill yet, even at my advanced age. I assume women can still bear children at my age.”