Mountain Moonlight - By Jane Toombs Page 0,21

the right time and place came together, they'd go up together like rockets. One question remained--was that the smart way to take it? He wasn't ready to get seriously tangled up with any woman, maybe never would be.

He fell asleep before he found an answer.

Nothing went well in the morning. For a start, the oatmeal burned. Then it looked like the pack horse had taken lame, though digging a pebble out of the left hind hoof seemed to help.

Vala insisted on trying to saddle Susie Q by herself and wound up with the saddle sliding under the mare's belly. She snapped at him when he tried to help, so he let Davis show her.

Before they mounted up, a brightly colored gila monster, in all its beaded glory, darted into the camp area and, when it stopped temporarily on a rock, Davis hunkered down over it, fascinated. Bram was watching to see he didn't get too close when Vala finally spotted the lizard.

"Get away!" she screamed at Davis. "It's poisonous. It'll bite you."

Davis backed off with a scowl. There was none of his cheerful chatter after that. When they finally set off, they made a silent crew.

At the first rest stop, Bram took Vala aside. "Don't hover over the kid," he said in a low tone, making sure Davis couldn't hear. "He's capable of thinking for himself--let him."

"I suppose you wanted him bitten by that poisonous lizard."

"I had an eye on him; he was in no danger."

She glared at him. "Davis is only nine."

Bram shrugged and walked away. The boy wasn't his; he'd done the best he could to loosen the apron strings. But it seemed to him that as Davis learned competence at different camp chores, he was beginning to realize he wasn't what his father thought of him--useless. She ought to encourage her son's independence.

They stopped to eat at noon at a relatively flat area that branched off in several directions. When Davis started to explore, Vala warned him to be careful of the cacti and to watch out for snakes. With some difficulty, Bram kept his mouth shut.

"Aw, Mom, I'm just trying to spot the bear," Davis grumbled. "We need to find it for a landmark."

"Okay, but don't go out of sight."

Didn't she realize her kid was about as dependable as any nine-year-old boy could be? Bram wondered. And didn't she remember how repeated warnings made a kid want to rebel? He shrugged. Maybe she hadn't been as ornery in their younger days as he'd been.

Davis returned, they ate, remounted and went on. Bram wanted to reach another plateau a couple of miles along the trail to set up their night camp so he kept a steady pace.

He wondered what she'd do when darkness mantled the mountain. Davis usually went into the tent early and so there'd be just the two of them under the stars.

Unless she made the first move, best to let things be until she was ready to take their relationship further. He doubted that would be tonight, considering the problem she seemed to be having about contributing to and enjoying the kiss.

He began whistling an old song that had a line in it about a kiss just being a kiss.

From her position at the rear, Vala recognized the tune and recalled enough of the words to decide it was directed at her. She glared at Bram's back. That damn kiss aside, where did he get off telling her how to raise her son? He didn't have any kids, what did he know about it?

She worked hard at trying not to be an overprotective mother and she resented being told she was. If she didn't take care of Davis, who would?

Later, after they reached the spot where their night camp was to be, Vala found that Bram had taken her at her word when she'd told him she'd take care of Susie-Q from now on. He and Davis got the gear off their horses in what seemed to her impossibly fast speed, rubbed the animals down, fed and left them--and her--while she was still struggling with the mare's saddle.

She could hear them laughing as they set up the tent.

At her? Hey, she wanted to call, it's not easy being a tenderfoot. At least I'm trying to pull my weight. But her annoyance faded as she realized her son had laughed more in the past few days than he had in the last six months. Bram was good for him, too.

Where had that "too" come from?