the county road and the semitrucks waiting for them,” Dawson said. “Where is this rendezvous spot?”
“If any of us got lost or anything happened, we’d meet at one of the corrals.”
He nodded. But with her missing, he wondered if the rustlers wouldn’t change their plans, try to move things up. They could move the cattle only so far each day without losing most of the herd.
“You realize that once I take my cattle back, your life will be in even more danger,” Dawson said as they sat around the small fire he’d built. He’d made them coffee and they now sat next to each other, both staring into the flames. “There will be hell to pay and who do you think they are going to blame?”
“You just worry about getting your cattle back,” she said without looking at him. “I can convince Rafe to let me tell his boss what happened,” she said into the stony silence.
Dawson shook his head. “You and Rafe are that close?”
She let out an irritated sigh. “If you’re asking if Rafe and I are lovers, the answer is no. I did what I had to do to get in with the rustlers, but there are lines I won’t cross.”
He glanced over at her, wondering if when she’d tried to seduce him earlier she would have crossed that line. He thought there was probably a better chance of finding himself with a gun barrel stuck in his ribs.
“This quest for justice, it won’t bring your father back.”
“Don’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same thing if it was your father,” she said. “My father was a lot like you, determined not to let them take cattle that didn’t even belong to him. It cost him his life.”
Dawson rose and walked to the cave entrance. The fire had burned down to embers again, making the back of the cave glow warm with light and heat. But where he’d gone was dark. Starlight bathed the meadow in a shimmering silver.
He heard her come up behind him and tensed for a moment but didn’t turn. In that instant, he knew she would have to overpower him. It was the only way he was going to let her go back to the rustlers.
She joined him in the cave opening, the two of them silhouetted against the night. He could make out a sliver of moon over the trees, the pines etched black against cobalt-blue. The air was crisp and fresh and he couldn’t remember a time when he’d felt so aware of a woman. The night seemed alive with an electric current that made everything about it more intense.
As he looked over at Jinx, he wondered what it would have been like to have met under other circumstances. She met his gaze. A shudder moved through him and it took all his strength not to pull her into his arms.
“You should try to get a couple hours of sleep,” he said as he turned to go back into the cave.
JINX LET OUT THE BREATH she’d been holding. Just moments before, she’d felt a connection to this man…. She shook her head, telling herself that she’d only imagined it. All Chisholm cared about were his damned cattle.
She followed him back into the cave. He seemed almost angry as he tossed her his bedroll. “We leave before daybreak, so you should get some rest. We are definitely going to need the element of surprise.”
“I don’t want to take your bedroll,” she said and held it out to him. He didn’t take it. Instead he asked, “So it was just you and your dad?”
Was he testing her? Was it possible he still didn’t believe her story? She was too tired to care. She spread the bedroll out in front of the fire and sat down on it, leaning back against the cave wall. “My mother died when I was a baby.”
Kindness filled his eyes. “I’m sorry.” He sat down next to her. “You’ve had a lot of death to deal with.” He leaned back and she saw exhaustion and something more in his eyes.
She’d heard about his father being arrested for murdering one of his wives. The story had made all the major papers because of who Hoyt Chisholm was. His arrest was one of the reasons she’d talked the rustlers into hitting Chisholm Cattle Company.
“I was fine with just my dad,” she said. “I was raised on the ranch, started riding on my own as soon as I could sit a saddle.