dissolve into sleep as easily as she had the night before.
It was as though she could still feel Bram's hands on her body, stroking, arousing....
It made her remember how she daydreamed about him when she was in high school. Not that she'd thought about him caressing her, a kiss was as far as she taken her fantasy about him. She'd longed to have him notice her, to think she was beautiful--even if she didn't believe she was--to ask her for a date.
Not that she would have been allowed to go out with him if he had asked. Not only was he older, he was also, in the eyes of parents of daughters, at least, dangerous. But that wasn't the only reason she found him fascinating. She carried around like a treasure the one time their glances had crossed when they passed in the hall.
His eyes, dark and fathomless, promised a delicious wickedness she couldn't quite imagine, though she was willing enough to experience it. His hair, equally dark, long and lustrous, never stringy, framed a high-cheek-boned face, a different face, one that made her tingle inside every time she saw him.
So here she was in the Superstitions with the guy. And he still intrigued her, she may as well admit it. Turned her on as well, since she was being honest with herself.
She definitely was not going to act on the attraction, though. Never. After all there was Davis to consider. Davis, who could and did sleep though vast amounts of noise and commotion....
Stop it, she warned herself. You are not going to throw yourself at Bram or even hint you might be available. You're going to behave in a mature fashion, which doesn't even include the possibility of involvement. He probably isn't really interested in you anyway.
Lying awake, looking up at the stars, Bram saw the first tiny cloud drift across them. Weather coming, definitely. Whatever the storm proved to be like, though, it'd be nothing compared to his own inner storm warnings.
Vala had been the one he'd always noticed in high school. He hadn't been sure why. For one thing, she'd had a long neck that made her look graceful. For another, her aloofness made her mysterious--what was she really like? Pretty enough in a different, less obvious way than some of the other good-looking girls. Fragile was the word that had come to him then.
In reality, Vala had turned out to be anything but fragile. She'd married the wrong man, obviously, but had the courage to divorce him and raise her son alone. She'd even been prepared to venture into these dangerous mountains alone to try to make Davis happy, foolish as that expedition would have been.
And so here they were and he wanted her with a much fiercer need than the boy he'd been in high school. Then he hadn't taken his desire any further than maybe imagining kissing her because, for some reason, he couldn't picture himself doing anything more. Not with Vala Channing, even given that she'd allow it, which he'd doubted.
What would be her reaction now? She'd certainly given him no reason to think she'd been attracted to him when they were teenagers. Did she feel any differently now? Was he the only one feeling the intangible link between them? He didn't think so. He could sense she was as aware of him as he was of her.
Best to leave it alone, he knew that. Always a mistake to get involved with a woman you were paid to guide.
Business and pleasure needed to be kept apart. Making love with Vala would be a risk. Unfortunately, he was a risk-taker. Not so daring a one as he'd been as a teenager, but risk was an intrinsic part of him, impossible to eradicate.
From somewhere far off a coyote howled at the moon. The Ndee thought of Old Man Coyote as a trickster. If he believed in the Old Ones he might think he was being warned. Or challenged.
Remembering the feel of Vala's body under his hands, he smiled, anticipating the challenge to come.
Chapter 4
The next morning the sky was overcast when they saddled up. Feeling much more like herself, Vala made sure to watch just how Susie Q's saddle went on. Maybe tomorrow she'd try doing it.
After about an hour on the trail, they all heard a faint rumble of far-off thunder. Minutes later, Bram pulled off the trail, guiding them to a small flat-topped rise that rose several feet above the rest of the