Once a Hero Page 3

  “Listen!” Kee walked his horse closer to hers. He grabbed hold of her arm. “You just listen up and it might save you grief. The map’s no good. Six years ago there was an earthquake here. Every landmark is changed.”

  “No!”

  He had seen what news of death could do to a person and she reacted as if he dealt a death blow. Her face blanched, she closed her eyes, tears leaking through black lashes, and he barely managed to catch her before she fell.

  Chapter Three

  The press of a cold cloth brought Isabel out of her faint.

  “You’re a deceiving woman,” Kee murmured as he cradled her upper body against his chest. There was a sudden fear in her dark-blue eyes, and he hurried to finish what he started to say.

  “What I mean, is that you handled yourself like a real strong woman this morning with those men, and I wasn’t expecting you to faint.”

  “I never faint.”

  “A man once told me there’s a first time for everything under the sun.”

  She read the concern in his gaze.

  “I feel foolish. I have never done this.”

  “Too much happening. Bet there’s something else. You said it was still dark when those men found your camp, you couldn’t have had anything to eat. I’ve got a fire going and now that you’re awake, I’ll fix you some grub.”

  She shivered as a smooth move took the warmth of his body from hers. His words came rushing into her mind and with them, an unbearable pain.

  Worthless.

  He claimed the map was worthless.

  Everything she had done was for nothing.

  Isabel wrapped her arms around her waist and rocked. His look filled with compassion only added to her misery. No man could understand what this meant to her.

  The fire he had going was so small that he could cover it with his hat. She watched his deft moves to slice bacon into a pan. In moments it was sizzling, sending out an enticing aroma, but she didn’t think she could eat.

  She closed her eyes, pressing against the tree trunk. What was she going to do?

  Although there was no sound, she sensed him near and opened her eyes to find him hunkered down, holding out a cup of coffee.

  “Be careful, it’s hot. And start with these.”

  He unfolded a square of fine bleached linen. What held Isabel’s gaze was not the two biscuits but the tiny, even stitches that hemmed the cloth. Mother? Sister? Wife? The last sent a faint disturbing ripple through her. She was sure that somewhere there was a woman.

  “Go on, take one.”

  “Thank you. You truly are a kind man.” She gazed at him, watching the slow smile form, softening his features, even if his eyes held a hint of devilry.

  “Don’t be so sure. Better wait until you taste those.”

  “It would not matter. You have been very kind to me.” She hesitated, then in a softer voice added, “I—I have little reason to trust anyone. I have treated you badly. My grandmother would be ashamed of me. I am ashamed.”

  “A grandmother, huh?” Kee’s smile deepened as he attempted to ignore everything else she said. “I have one of those. She rules the house with a pair of black snapping eyes that can bring a man to his knees, but her heart is so full of love that you want to do anything to make her happy.”

  He found a small reward in her smile and caught himself leaning closer. He jerked back. Grandmothers. They were talking about their respective grandmothers. And he knew what his would do to him. Young women were to be respected, protected, and never, never seduced.

  Kee always calmed his conscience by letting the young lady take the lead. What his grandmother didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.

  Besides, what the hell was he doing thinking about her lips and kissing and seducing. The lady had problems. Big ones. He was not getting involved beyond seeing her somewhere safe. No way was he helping her hunt for gold. He had his horses to get home. He had…

  He had been staring into those big, dark-blue eyes for too long. Hints of secrets, of pain, a plea and more swirling in their depths. Looking down didn’t help him. Her lips were slightly parted, soft and full. His fascination increased the moment the edge of her white teeth worried her bottom lip.

  Temptation. Pure and simple.

  The small hitch in her breathing coming at the same time as his didn’t help him one bit.

  They were too close. He was going to take what was being offered in another second.

  “I know you are kind and brave, but I still do not know your name.”

  Where had that husky, seductive whisper come from?

  Kee felt gut-punched. Sweet heaven! Every nerve ending ruffled where her breath caressed his face.

  Those eyes weren’t all dark blue. There were tiny flecks of gold that enticed his gaze.

  Then she touched him.

  Sizzle. His blood pumped heat that spread through him. She would burn him alive.

  All this from the light skim of her fingertips across his unshaven cheek.

  He dipped his head down, lashes half veiling his eyes. He needed this kiss.

  She tilted her head back and to the side of the tree, but upward, leaning forward just enough.

  He could feel the tension that gripped both of them. He could smell the burning air. With one fingertip he lifted her chin, bringing her mouth a little closer.

  His thumb touched the corner of her mouth and now he was ready to…

  “The bacon is burning.”

  “It sure as hell is,” he murmured back, wishing he had thought to open his bedroll.

  Her hand pressed against his chest, and he felt branded.

  He went for her mouth and the kiss he now needed.

  His long fingers cupped her neck, his lips barely brushed her mouth. A moment to savor the slight shiver of her body, the quickening breath. That oh-so-special anticipation.

  He’d learned a lot growing up with a father and two uncles who never turned from a boy’s curiosity.

  Then he learned a lot more by putting all those frank answers into practice.

  Now.

  But the hand on his chest wasn’t caressing. She was pushing him back.

  And those lush lips weren’t waiting for his kiss, but angled away and her voice…something about burning.

  And the smell…

  He jerked around to see the bacon grease on fire engulfing the whole pan.

  Things had heated up. Right to burning, all right.

  All the wrong things.

  With a swift move he was on his feet, running to the stream. Dipping his hat in, he started tossing water at the fire, catching the lovely lady who had wrapped the linen around her hand and attempted to remove the pan.

  In moments he stood close, kicking the sandy earth over the fire.

  He felt like a six ways to Sunday fool. He could think of only one time when he felt worse. He and Missy Gardner left a dance to celebrate the new school and headed back to the old one-room schoolhouse. They had been studying a history of kissing and felt a powerful need to explore what came next, only someone had beat them to it.

  Her father. And he wasn’t just kissing the store clerk’s wife.

  Isabel knelt with head down, her hands gripped together. One look and she had no choice but to hide. Laughter rolled through her, she could feel her body shake with it. But she knew enough about men’s pride to keep her face hidden. He stood towering above her, the wide-legged stance, hands on hips and scowling face reason enough for her to bite her lip hard. If he thought she was laughing at what happened, he would likely stalk off and leave her.

  But she was not laughing at him. She had been as caught up in the moment as he. The unexpected warmth that turned too swiftly to heat shocked her.

  Especially coming now, after his devastating news about her worthless map.

  The thought sobered her faster than anything else. With a graceful motion she rose. Using the folded cloth she pulled the blackened pan out and turned toward the stream.

  Kee didn’t
say a word. He was still fighting down the heat of embarrassment. Nothing cooled a man quite so quick. He did not want to watch the dip and curve of her body kneeling by the stream as she used the sand to scrub the pan.

  So lost in his own thoughts, it took a few moments to realize that she was talking to him.

  “I didn’t hear you.” His harsh voice made him look upward. There wasn’t any help coming, but it served to calm him down.

  “I asked you what your name is. You never told me.”

  “My name? Now you want to know my name. You almost, well, we just…ah, the hell with it. Kee. My name’s Kee Kincaid.”

  She nodded. That explained the belt buckle. “I do not believe I have heard a name like yours before.”

  “You don’t have to dance around it. Just say it’s odd. I won’t take any offense.”

  “From your voice, your very testy voice, I believe you take offense quite easily.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck, heaved a heavy sigh and decided she was right.

  “Look, you’re right. And I’m sorry. It’s just that a man’s feelings hog-tie him to one thing and then…”

  He stopped because she turned to look over her shoulder at him. And he saw that he hadn’t been alone in the heated feeling that sizzled between them.

  He was sure he was not mistaking her look. She wasn’t bold enough to say a word about it, but the knowledge was there in her eyes.

  Suddenly he felt like smiling. And talking.

  “My name is a family nickname. Short for Kenny. Short for Kenneth. The children shortened it down when they were learning to talk, and before you know it, everyone was calling me Kee.”

  “Children? You must have a big family. And are they yours?”

  “Yes. Yes. And no. Not so I know about them.”

  She sorted out his answer. Scrubbing hard on the pan as a little devil of envy for his big family and note of increased warmth in his voice once more reminded her how alone she was.

  “And you? Do you have family worrying about you out here?”

  “Only my grandmother waits, and she knows where I have gone.”

  Isabel was not really thinking about what she said. Not so I know about them. There might not be a wife, but there had been women. Again, that faint disturbing ripple went through her. She had no reason for it. She did not know this man. And if he made her heart beat a little faster, or left her feeling flushed over a kiss that did not happen, it was her own foolishness.

  She had a mission to complete. Nothing must stand in the way.

  Again he took her by surprise. She had heard no sound, but he was there, hunkered down next to her. He took the pan from her.

  “Scrub this any more and I won’t know it’s mine.”

  Kee took hold of her hand. “We got off to a real bad start. You’re still hungry and…” So am I. He had to look away from her penetrating gaze and swallow those unspoken words.

  He rose to his feet and offered her his hand. “I suggest we go back and find your camp. That is, we’ll find it if those two hombres left anything. I assume you had a horse and a pack animal.”

  The top of her head touched the tip of his nose. Kee hadn’t realized how tall she was. Just the right height to…Stop it! he warned himself and stepped away from her to help him do it.

  “You never said if there was anyone with you,” he said, turning away to repack his saddlebag. He tossed out the remains of the coffee, noted the crumbs of biscuit and promised himself that he’d feed both of them shortly.

  She was glad his back was toward her when she lied to him. “I am alone.”

  “Don’t figure you for a stupid woman, but you come mighty close. How did you think to travel in these parts by yourself?”

  “I came alone, Kee, because there was no one else to come. I managed.”

  He turned then. “Until this morning.”

  “Yes, until this morning when providence sent you.”

  Providence? She figured the Lord looked kindly on her and sent him?

  No!

  “I’m no angel. The Lord may have given up on me. Leastways that’s my mother’s opinion. She figures the devil is gonna roll out the red carpet for me when my time comes.”

  “That is because you are a good man and the devil will have won.”

  “No. You’ve got that part all wrong. The red carpet is for the celebration in having one of his own back.”

  Isabel’s smile had a bitter cast. She doubted Kee Kincaid knew what true badness was. He could not have lived with evil such as she had known.

  She had to stop herself from delving into the past. She hurried over to her horse. A cold shiver crawled down her spine. Tension gripped her until she wanted to scream to release it.

  About to mount his horse, Kee glanced over and saw the way she hung on to the saddle. “Are you all right?” he called out.

  “Fine. I am fine.”

  Kee didn’t believe her. He started toward her, thinking she was too weak to mount by herself.

  Outlaw snorted and pawed the earth. Kee murmured to the mustang, wondering what suddenly bothered him. The horse lifted his head, ears pricked forward.

  “Hey boy, what’s wrong?” He lifted his hand to scratch between the mustang’s ears, but Outlaw shied from his touch. Kee took the horse’s warning seriously.

  Something or someone was close by and Outlaw didn’t like the scent. He tossed the lead rope to Isabel.

  “Keep the horses quiet and bunched up,” he ordered. “Outlaw won’t let anything or anyone near them.”

  Kee slid his rifle from the saddle boot, then he slipped off the short rawhide thong that held his Colt secure in its hand-tooled holster.

  Anger tightened the line of his mouth. He’d let his concern for the woman overcome good sense. Dead faint or not, he should have kept riding with her.

  Well, if those two hombres wanted more of what he’d given them, Kee was of a mind to oblige them.

  Only this time he wouldn’t waste time talking.

  He shot a last warning look at Isabel, then disappeared between the young cottonwood trees.

  Chapter Four

  Isabel quickly took each of the guns from their holsters and reloaded them. She swung one holster over to the other side, put the guns back, and then took Kee’s gun from where he’d stuck it in one of the boots.

  Holding his gun made her feel less alone.

  She hoped it was no more than an animal that had disturbed his horse. But the deep chill that shivered over her body warned that the animal was human.

  Her look was anxious as she searched the brush across the stream. She kept glancing back at Kee’s horse. The animal’s reins trailed on the ground. She walked her horse over and tried to grab the trailing leather, but the horse backed away from her.

  She stared at the place where Kee had disappeared. If he was hurt or killed, they could follow his tracks back to her. She could not be found again. The guns made sure she would not be helpless this time.

  She could ride away and leave Kee his horse.

  But when she glanced over toward where the horse stood, he was gone. Standing in the stirrups, she caught a glimpse of the dark-brown tail heading in the direction Kee had disappeared to.

  The choice to stay or go churned through her.

  Hands damp, heart thudding with fear, she had to make a quick decision.

  She owed Kee Kincaid a debt for saving her.

  Debts. There were too many of them.

  All were older than the one she incurred today with a stranger who almost kissed her.

  Whom she wanted to kiss.

  Decide!

  Kee made his way through brush and tumbled boulders. He found a gap about fifty or sixty yards wide and maybe a little longer. Water pooled at the bottom. There was a little grass and a few cottonwoods. He sat and waited, studying the place.

  A sound caught his ear. He turned fast, rifle ready to fire, only to swear to himself when Outlaw headed toward him.

  He gr
abbed hold of the trailing reins and cupped his other hand over the mustang’s nose to keep him quiet.

  “Stay,” he whispered.

  Kee stepped out and circled the water hole. He found what he was looking for. Footprints.

  The ground was too muddy to show the print clearly, just deep and man-size.

  As he circled back the way he had come into the gap, there came a questioning nicker from a horse. The sound was quickly cut off.

  Kee knew it wasn’t Outlaw.

  He moved fast in the ensuing silence to first stand then crouch in the shadow cast by one of the older trees.

  And he waited.

  The minutes passed slowly. Heat seemed intense in this small hollow.

  The mustang stretched his neck, nostrils flaring at the scent of water.

  Kee knew the horse would remember the days when he ran with the wild herd and they watered whenever they could. He did nothing to stop the horse as he took a few steps forward. The mustang kept his head off to one side to keep from stepping on the reins.

  Kee spared a thought to Isabel. The sound of gunfire would have traveled back to him. Yet he was bothered that Outlaw had abandoned the mares and the packhorse. Unless the mysterious lady had taken off to parts unknown.

  The way his luck was running, all away from him, he figured losing her would be the perfect ending to one hell of a morning.

  Kee thought he’d tracked the two men from this morning, but the presence of another horse changed his mind. Those two wouldn’t have had time to go back to wherever Isabel’s camp was and then trail him. He knew how rough the ground he traveled was, knew, too, how to leave almost no sign.

  Odds, and not in his favor, were that someone else was out there.

  Outlaw was all mustang. He stopped well before the pool of water. Tossing his head, stopping with ears pricked forward to whinny a bit, he drew forth an answering whinny. Once more the horse started for the water and stopped.

  There was only one reason Outlaw stopped. Someone was close to him.

  Kee wished he could see through the thick tangle of brush and rock on the opposite side. But he went back to watching his horse.