since he didn’t have his sight, his other senses were playing tricks on him. He was very much aware that he held a woman in his arms. She might look more like a man in the light, but in the darkness she seemed all woman. Her hair smelled slightly of honeysuckle, and once in a while the horse shifted and his arm brushed just below her breasts. He’d feel her stiffen in his arms, but she didn’t say a word. She must have been as sure as he almost was that each brush was simply an accident.
This time he had no intention of lying to himself and believing that the woman liked him. She’d made it plain how she felt about him and if he did one thing wrong, she’d probably dump him off the horse and leave him out here to bump into trees until he died.
A branch brushed just above them. Em turned her head toward his shoulder for protection, and Lewt’s arm went up to block the assault of dry branches. Instinctively, his other arm tightened around her as the limbs bombarded them.
A few feet later the branches disappeared as the horse moved on, but Lewt didn’t loosen his hold. “You all right?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” she whispered as she straightened.
The straightening did more to make him aware she was a woman than if she’d stayed still.
“Want to tell me why you’re afraid of the dark?”
“No,” she said. “And I’m not afraid of the dark. I just don’t like it.”
“Oh.” He fought down a laugh.
She elbowed him hard, then said, “All right, maybe I am a little afraid, but it’s none of your business.”
“Got it,” Lewt answered.
They talked of the day. Lewt filled her in on what had happened to Emily about the time they emerged from the trees.
Em kicked the horse and they broke into a full run.
Lewt leaned against her, pulling their bodies close so they galloped as one, but she didn’t seem to notice. He knew her thoughts were now on Emily.
They didn’t stop at the barn but rode to the front door. Sumner must have anticipated her action, for he was waiting to take the horse.
“She’s in the great room,” he said, before they could ask.
Lewt hit the ground and swung her down with one quick action. When her feet touched, she was already running into the house.
He hesitated, unsure of what to do. He knew he’d be no help to Emily; she was surrounded by people worried about her. He’d be just an intruder, watching someone else’s pain.
“How is the girl?” Lewt asked Sumner. He’d figured out two days ago that very little happened on the ranch that Sumner wasn’t aware of.
The old man shrugged. “When Miss Beth rode in first, she sent one of the men for the doctor in town, but Mrs. Watson came out for air about ten minutes ago and said she thought the girl was milking it a bit. Mrs. Watson seems to think the leg is bruised, but not broken, and since she can take a good breath in and out, there’s little chance the rib is more than cracked.”
“So she’s playing up being wounded?” Lewt filled in the blanks. “What kind of woman would do that?”
Sumner laughed. “All of them, I figure, when there’s two men in there already fighting over who gets to carry her around.”
“Maybe I should join them.”
Sumner shook his head. “You do and the poor girl is liable to be at death’s door. Besides, looked to me like you had your hands already full a minute ago.”
Lewt shook his head. “We were just riding double because she was worried that I might get lost in the trees. Believe me, if I wasn’t a guest here, Em would have left me to get back alone. I doubt she’d notice if I stopped breathing and fell dead in front of her. She’d just step over my body and go see about the horses.”
“It’s dark in those trees, is it?” Sumner whispered.
“Black as a closed trunk,” Lewt answered. “I would have never been able to follow her through the twists and turns.”
“Strange thing about horses, they can find their way at night like that. As long as you stay on your mount, it’ll follow the lead horse, and when horses are heading back to a warm barn it takes some effort to talk them into going the wrong direction.” Sumner’s gaze met Lewt. “You get my meaning, son?”