The Temptress (Montgomery/Taggert 8)

Blinking, wide-eyed, Chris looked up at him. When he’d kissed her, a spark of pure, undiluted fire had run through her. “Oh,” she whispered and moved toward him.

He released her shoulders as if they burned him, then turned his back on her. “I got to get this horse out of here and we’d better get back before Prescott misses us,” he mumbled.

Chris felt a little lost, not sure what she’d done wrong. He’d seemed so pleased with her, so happy a moment ago, and he’d kissed her. Not a kiss of passion, but one of friendship, between two people who’d shared a great deal, but when she’d shown interest in him, he’d moved away.

Glancing down at her body, she wondered if maybe she wasn’t appealing to him. All her life she’d been told she was pretty, but her curves were subtle, not exaggerated as was the fashion.

“The maid at Mr. Lanier’s who recognized you, was her name Elsie?”

“Yeah,” he said under his breath, his back still to her. “You leave first and I’ll come later.”

With a sigh, Chris began climbing the steep bank, pushing vines away as she climbed. Elsie was the same height as Chris but weighed thirty pounds more—and all of it equally distributed above and below a twenty-inch waist. If that’s the kind of woman he liked, no wonder he moved away from Chris.

She sighed all the way back to camp, fastening buttons that had come undone in the fracas.

“Are you all right?” Asher greeted her. “You were gone an awfully long

time.”

“I’m fine,” she said, pouring herself a cup of coffee. “And you?”

“I’m all right and I’m glad you got some rest. Tomorrow will probably be another hard day of riding.”

“Yes,” she said, looking at him over her cup. “I am glad to rest. Is there anything to eat? Long afternoon naps make me ravenously hungry.”

Chris didn’t see Tynan until the next morning. Twice, she tried to catch his eye, to smile at him, but he wouldn’t look at her. It was as if he wanted to pretend yesterday hadn’t happened.

Yet, the more he ignored her, the more she watched him. They stopped to make camp in the afternoon and Tynan immediately put Asher and Chris together. Chris sat and watched Ty as he took care of the horses and as he walked past her, she was sure that once she saw him limp. Could he have hurt himself yesterday? He kept that blasted hat pulled down over his face so far that she couldn’t really see his face, but as she watched, she saw him grimace as he lifted one arm to take the reins of the horse. Asher looked annoyed once, but Chris kept on watching every move Tynan made—and the more she saw, the more she was convinced that he was in constant pain.

Chris gave a big yawn. “I think I’m rather tired and if no one minds, I’ll go down the trail and take a nap.”

Tynan turned around and, briefly, his eyes met Chris’s, but he looked away almost instantly. “Don’t go too far,” he mumbled as he passed her and went down the trail into the forest.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather take a walk with me, Chris?” Asher asked. “I would so like to hear more about your newspaper work.”

“I really am very tired. Perhaps another time,” she said as she took up her sleeping roll and carpet bag, and, acting as if she could barely move, she started down the trail behind Tynan.

As soon as she was out of Asher’s sight, she opened her carpet bag, removed her medical kit and started running down the path, hoping she could catch Tynan before he disappeared.

She seemed to have gone a long way and there was no sign of him when she thought she heard a horse neigh. Doing what she knew she shouldn’t, she left the trail to walk to a place where she hoped she could see what was below her.

The area off the trail was frightening to her, she was afraid of the covered drop-offs that Ty had shown them, and who knew what lurked beneath the layers of greenery?

She made it to the base of an enormous tree, parted the hanging moss and looked below. Tynan was standing several feet below in a rocky clearing, his shirt off, rubbing down one of the horses. When he turned and she saw his back, she let out a little gasp. She had been horribly right when she thought he moved as if he were in pain. Even from several feet away, she could see that the gashes that crisscrossed his back were only half healed. And she was sure the wounds had been made by a whip. What he’d done yesterday, tearing about on his horse, hauling her up, her clutching his back, must have caused him untold amounts of pain.

She waited until he’d turned again, so that he was facing her, and then she moved back into the forest, acting as if she were just coming out of it. She made a lot of noise and called his name.

When she emerged and could see him, he’d put his shirt on and was just pulling on his boots.

“Here,” he called up to her.

“How do I get down there?”

“You don’t. Go back to the camp.”

She smiled at him and took a tentative step forward, as if she meant to go straight down the side of the drop off.

“No!” Tynan yelled, but it was too late.