Once a Hero Page 11

  Without turning he said, “Let me warn you that it looks worse than it is.” What Kee didn’t add was that he’d only heard about the trail. He had never been this way.

  Isabel followed him, waited until he stood aside and then she looked. She blanched. Her empty stomach found bile and she swallowed hard as it rose to burn her throat.

  The little she could see of the trail was narrow and twisting. It hugged the canyon wall on one side, the other dropped away. One misstep, only one and both horse and rider would plunge to their deaths below.

  “You cannot believe we will ride down this.”

  Kee ignored the trembling fear he heard in her voice. He tried and failed to see the trail through her eyes. The rocks were rugged and massive. A wild place. In the canyon below threaded the stream like a sliver of silver ribbon. Hawks soared above them. And there was the silence. Not one sound, not a breath of life, or so it seemed to him.

  And he turned to her, wanting her to understand how he felt. “One reason to go down this way is that they won’t be able to follow. If they do, it will slow them down. But for the other, I don’t know if I can explain it to you, Isabel. Few men have stood in this place, less have made that trail. It satisfies something deep within me to be one of them.”

  “You have a home and a family. If you died here they will never know. How can you desire something so dangerous?”

  “You’re right. I do have a home and family. But I’m not going to die here and neither are you.”

  “You like the danger of it, Kee? Is that it?”

  He looked away. “Partly. Have you ever been in a place and found that all is peace within yourself? Each new challenge this land presents is like that for me.”

  “Kee, listen to me. This trail is too dangerous. I have too much at stake to risk—”

  “That trail is manageable,” he stated with implacable calm. “You’ll be riding Outlaw. That mustang was born on these trails. I’ll ride one of the mares. They’ve known them, too.”

  “You’ll ride Outlaw. I’ll take the mare.”

  “No. You’ll do as I say. The mares are only green-broke. I won’t risk your life that way, Isabel. I asked you to trust me. Once you said yes. Say it now.”

  She stared at him, noting the lock of hair that fell across his forehead, the steady weight of his gaze, the lean strength that was Kee. She knew there was no choice. She could not go back. She would not leave him.

  But Isabel had trouble swallowing past the lump that lodged in her throat. She felt a cold sweat break out on her body when she looked again at the twisting, narrow trail. It seemed impossible for them to attempt it.

  “Isabel?”

  “I will ride Outlaw.”

  He walked away to go among the horses, and she watched him, trying to detach herself from her fear to understand him better. Some balance between them had shifted. She had lost a little of the determination that had carried her to this place. Because of Kee Kincaid. Because she did not want to see him die.

  Yet he could not hide his excitement in pitting himself against this trap of nature that had likely claimed many lives. He moved with confidence as if fear could find no place within him. This was part of Kee.

  She understood that, but it frightened her, too.

  She stood there, off to one side while he turned all but his own horses loose with a hard slap that sent them running.

  She knew she should help him switch the saddles. She could see where his wound had bled again. But she seemed unable to tear her gaze from the abyss below. Her breaths grew shallow. Fear built minute by waiting minute. She wrapped her arms around her waist as if to hold it inside herself where Kee would not see it.

  While she understood a little of what drew him to attempt this trail, she knew she could not ride down that piece of hell no matter how much she trusted Kee.

  In the end when he called her to mount the mustang, she went. There were killers waiting behind them, she had to go on.

  Kee stripped the lead rope from the mares and the packhorse. One by one he started them down. Isabel kept her gaze pinned to the black splashed across his mare’s rump as he led off.

  She held the reins loose in her hands, letting Outlaw have his head and pick his own way. If she looked away it was to the rock wall. At first the ledge was wide enough so the horse’s footing was solid and she took hope from that. But the trail narrowed and she had to lean back as the descent angled sharply downward. Terror seized her every time the trail took Kee out of sight, and never really let go of her.

  The sun rose and painted the wall with a golden light. Isabel fought the temptation to turn around and look back. She was not sure how far they had come, only the sense of space to her side told her they had a long way to go. She continued to refuse to look down.

  She jerked in the saddle hearing the clatter of rocks falling.

  This was one of the times when Kee was out of her sight. She swallowed repeatedly. Her mouth formed his name but no sound came out.

  Without realizing what she was doing, she pulled back on the reins. Outlaw tossed his head, ready to go on, but he stopped on the narrow ledge.

  Isabel leaned against the rock wall barely feeling the sharp crevices that dug into her shoulder.

  “Isabel? What’s wrong?”

  “Coming, Kee.” She set her heel into the mustang’s side and he took a few steps forward, then stopped. She remembered what Kee said about the horse. She had to trust him to pick his own way. Up until now Outlaw had not hesitated. She urged him forward again.

  She felt as if death waited below. Its call was so strong, wanting her to look down below. She closed her eyes briefly and thought of Kee. She needed a little of his strength.

  Again came the sound of stones falling, rattling as they hit the walls of the canyon. The horse rounded the jutting rock that blocked her view of the trail. Straight ahead, Kee waited.

  And then she looked down when Outlaw stopped again.

  There was a gap in the ledge. Below it, a black crevice without end.

  “Come across, Isabel. Just let him have his head and he’ll take you across.” He spoke softly, swearing under his breath when he saw that she was freezing up. If he’d been riding the mustang, Outlaw would have jumped just as the mare had.

  He couldn’t dismount. Couldn’t turn around. There was no way to go back and get her. If he tried leading the horse when he had to jump back they would all go over the edge.

  “I cannot do this, Kee.”

  “Yes, you can. You have to. You can’t go back. And every minute we waste gives them time to get closer. I don’t want to be on this trail with a rifleman up above.”

  He knew trying to reassure her was more time wasted. She had to trust him. And he knew they were a long way from being safe. He had no time to be gentle with her.

  “I cannot cross this.”

  “Then stay there. I’m going on down. You either make the jump or stay.” His voice was as hard and cold as his eyes. He forced himself to look forward.

  “You would leave me here?” Disbelief colored her voice. “There are no names vile enough to call you.” Anger flooded her. His horse was moving. He really intended to go on and leave her.

  “Get out of the way, Kincaid.” She gathered the slack in the reins, still allowing the mustang plenty of room to stretch his neck for the jump.

  Furious with Kee, Isabel still waited until he was well out of her way before she whispered and urged the mustang to jump. She wore a cold sweat at the jagged landing, and heard more rocks falling below.

  Now she wanted to hurry. Kee would only laugh or ignore her fear. But it was real to her. They were not safe here. Would not be until they were gone from this place.

  They were halfway down when she came to a shallow overhang and found that Kee had dismounted.

  “Why are you stopping?” she asked, swiping at the sweat on her brow.

  “We need to lead the horses a ways.”

  Something odd in his voice caught he
r attention. “What is wrong, Kee? And do not lie to me.”

  “I haven’t lied to you. It’s a rough spot, that’s all. We can’t ride and I’m a little worried about your making it.”

  Still flushed with the anger over his earlier threat to leave her, Isabel glared at him. “Stop all this worry over me. If you can make it, then I will, too.”

  “Go on, then. Ladies first. I wouldn’t want you to think I’d been raised without manners.”

  Isabel stepped down. She almost hated the teasing light in his eyes. Was he daring her? If so, she would show him. She stepped out, holding the reins tight and faced the wall. Her free hand found tiny crevices to hold on to as she inched her way on the ledge. Perhaps she should have waited to take a better look, but it was too late now. Her cheek almost scraped against the rock wall when she turned to look back at Kee. He still stood in the shadow of the overhang, not looking at her face but downward.

  She forgot her anger. There was an intensity to his gaze that made fear grow. What was he looking at?

  She felt with one foot for safe purchase, found it, and took another step. The warm breath of the horse blew against her face. With each step and handhold she became more sure. Her breathing eased as she worked her way around another protrusion of rock. Now Kee was out of sight.

  Small stones were in the way. She kicked them, then stilled. She heard the small rocks fall away, but the clatter did not stop. If anything the rattling sound of falling rocks grew louder.

  “Kee, what—”

  “Keep going!”

  She obeyed his command. This was no time to let fear petrify her, or to think about what was happening behind her. If she did not keep moving forward, there was no place for Kee to follow, and she sensed that he was in some danger. That was why he made her go first. She knew that as if he had told her so. He had seen something that she did not, and rather than argue with her, he made her go first to safety.

  She looked down and ahead as far as she could see.

  Nowhere did the ledge widen enough to allow the mustang to pass her.

  Unless…Isabel glanced upward. There were cracks in the rock; she was clinging to them with her hands.

  “Kee, please tell me what is wrong. I am going on, but I feel you are not safe.”

  For long seconds she waited, then he answered.

  “The ledge is crumbling. The weight of the horses must have loosened the rocks. Go as fast as you can.”

  She scrambled ahead, wanting to see him, wanting to wait, but knowing she would only endanger him.

  Kee eyed the crumbling ledge, then looked at the mare. She rolled her eyes, nostrils flaring, but those were her only signs of agitation. She had sense enough not to toss her head or shift her footing in this precarious position.

  He was in trouble. Capital kind. And he had no one to blame but himself.

  The only crevice that was deep and wide enough to give him a handhold to swing over the gap was a little high and to his left. His wounded arm would have to support him. If he could hang free for a minute or two, the mare could get by without him.

  He spared a thought to putting his back against the rock and trying to reach up with his good right hand, but that was too dangerous.

  The left hand it was. Whether or not he’d have any footing left after the mare made the jump remained his problem. And if he had to hang suspended for any length of time he was in more than trouble.

  He could be dead.

  His boot crumbled more of the edge. He couldn’t wait a second longer to decide.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Kee jumped and slammed his bare hand into the crack, swinging his legs high and to the side. Trickles of gravel fell. Sweat stung his eyes. Pain shot from his hand to his arm and pierced his shoulder. He thought he would pass out if he had to hold on much longer.

  His hoarse shout got the mare moving. He closed his eyes and prayed she would make a clean jump. He hoped she did not panic and crowd Outlaw. That could put Isabel in danger.

  He opened his eyes. Slowly. Then, he looked down.

  There was no solid footing left for him.

  With his face pressed against the rock he again searched his immediate field of vision for some other handhold. He angled his head to the side and looked up.

  There was a crevice. Only it was too high.

  His arm muscles were screaming with pain. He felt blood soak his shirt from the wound that had torn open.

  Kee was weakening. The rock was cutting into his hand.

  He pressed his boot against the rock wall, praying for a foothold, anything that would allow him to relieve his arm of his weight.

  He had to move. The ledge wasn’t that far away. A good solid jump. With his long legs he could do it in his sleep.

  Once more he had no choice. It was do it now or lose his hold and fall.

  Kee chose the jump.

  His mind went blank for a few seconds as he scrambled to keep his balance.

  Suddenly something warm and strong and very solid grabbed hold of his hand. He couldn’t believe it was Isabel. But she had somehow gotten back to him. He gripped her hand hard as she helped steady him. But Kee couldn’t trust their footing.

  “Go. I’m all right. Just go as quickly as you can.” He wanted to ask ten questions, but asked nothing now. She nodded, but did not let go of his hand as they inched their way down the ledge.

  Kee opened his eyes to see light filtering through the thickly woven branches of a young stand of cottonwoods. His head felt thick with too much sleep. He vaguely remembered mumbling orders to Isabel about making camp, then he collapsed.

  The shooting sparks of wood on fire drew his gaze to that fire and the woman who sat across from where he lay.

  Isabel watched him with a narrow-eyed gaze that spelled trouble for him. He closed his eyes to block out the sight of her lovely face with those dark-blue gunslinger eyes fixed on him.

  He knew what she was angry about, and knew, too, that she had every reason to be so.

  The rightness didn’t make it any easier for him to swallow.

  Right now he wanted to see her eyes in the sunlight, eyes that would grow darker still and smoky with passion. The kind of blue eyes that poets wrote about. She would laugh if he told her as much. Kee peeked through slitted eyes. Yeah, especially now, when anger flushed those high cheekbones and thinned the line of her luscious mouth.

  Kee took a deep breath, and then wished he had not. He wasn’t fully awake, or he would’ve been aware of the pain shooting down his arm. But pain or no, he was going to get his apology out of the way first thing.

  He opened his mouth, but Isabel beat him to it, erupting with the anger that had built as she thought he would die.

  “Yes, I found a good place to camp in this canyon’s bottom. Not too near the stream, not too far. Yes, I gathered up the horses, and yes, I found this young stand of saplings. And to your surprise, Kincaid, I knew how to weave the branches together so our fire’s smoke would dissipate through the leaves and not easily be seen.

  “And I managed to picket the horses where they could have grass and water and not easily be seen, either. I also, to your great surprise since you grumbled and swore at me, found the salve in your pack and used your last spare shirt to dress your wounds. I even cooked. I also stood watch. And you, you stubborn, mule to stone-headed man, could have killed yourself. And for what?

  “To say that you survived that trail, that devil-made piece of hell. You almost died up there. You almost died up there,” she repeated in a voice devoid of anger, but rich with those last terror-filled moments. She was unaware that she used the back of her hand to wipe at her eyes, brushing away tears that would not stop. She blinked, hating to show him this weakness, then abruptly stood up with her back to him.

  Kee struggled to sit up.

  Isabel, alerted by some sense she could not name, knew he had moved and spun around to face him.

  “You must be thirsty.”

  “Isabel, I’m a lot of
things, but mostly I’m sorry. Sorry—”

  “For getting involved with me,” she finished for him. She closed her eyes, her arms wrapped around her waist as if to protect herself from what was coming.

  Seeing the way she stood as if braced for some verbal blow, Kee pushed to his feet. He swayed for a few moments, but forced himself to move around the fire to her. What he had to say needed some closeness. He needed that.

  He touched her shoulder and felt the shudder that trembled through her. “Isabel, I said I was sorry for a lot of things, but the one thing I’m not sorry about is meeting you. I’m not sorry I got involved in your problems. What I regret is that I acted like a damn fool kid and nearly got you killed. I’ll live with that for the rest of my life. I’ve taken risks, but I never put someone else’s life at risk. I did that to you. I can never make that up to you. I only ask that you forgive me.”

  Kee kept his hand on her shoulder, but raised his wounded one to lift her chin with the tips of his fingers. One look at her eyes, still bright with unshed tears, and the physical pain of his wound disappeared, buried beneath the knowledge that he had indeed risked both their lives. Words tumbled from his lips.

  “Forgiveness isn’t enough, Isabel. I couldn’t live with myself if I caused you injury or—”

  “No.” She silenced him with her fingertips. “Do not say the word. We are here. We made it. Do not punish yourself. You did not hold a gun on me and say I had to follow you. I made that choice. I was frightened.”

  She studied his face, wanting to brush back that one unruly lock of hair that fell across his forehead. In his eyes she read the truth of his words. There was something else for her to see. Humbling himself was not easy for him. His hand kneaded her shoulder and his warmth enveloped her. Just his touch was enough to distract her from everything.

  “Kee, please. When you touch me…I have trouble with these feelings between us.”

  “Passion, Isabel,” he whispered, touched by her honesty. “Desire. Me for you. And I believe you for me.”

  With a desperation born of a strong will, she closed her eyes, and her heart, against him. “It cannot be. Not now. I must do as I have promised. I cannot allow that Apache witch to win. For her winning will mean our deaths.”