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And now that she had spent an evening with him, she knew that she wanted more than a mere acquaintance. She wanted to feel the wonders of his arms around her. She wanted to know the bliss of his kiss.
Runner gave Adam another handshake at the door, only offering Damon an icy stare. When he departed, he left a strange, quiet void behind him.
Stephanie rose quickly from her chair. She could not let Runner leave her all that easily. She would follow him. She would stop him before he mounted his horse. She would draw him into conversation with her. Somehow she must, or she would not get a wink of sleep tonight, nor would she be able to go about her business of taking photographs tomorrow without a heavy heart.
“Damn it,” Adam said, thrusting his hands deeply into his trouser pockets. “As a child, he wasn’t so temperamental. How am I going to be able to talk to him about anything ever again, much less tell him that the private spur is being built solely for me?”
“I warned you, Adam,” Damon said. “I’ve never been able to communicate with the Navaho. They’re a damn nuisance. I don’t know why you’re wastin’ time on them. Take what you want, and to hell with anything else.”
Damon watched Stephanie’s approach. His gaze raked over her. He had bedded many women in his lifetime, but none as pretty as her.
He glanced down at her firearm. Only women with spirit carried derringers. He could envision how feisty she would be in bed. She probably knew all the ways to make a man’s head spin.
Stephanie brushed past Damon and Adam and rushed outside. A half moon spilled its silver light over the sky as she hurried toward the hitching rail, where she hoped to find Runner before he had the chance to ride away. Runner’s horse was still there, but he was nowhere in sight.
Stephanie turned and took a slow look around her. “Runner?” she said, her voice echoing back to her in the silence of the night. Her breathing slowed as she peered more intensely through the dark shadows of the night. The only sounds that she heard were the crickets in the grass, the soft neighing of the horses in the corral, and a distant coyote baying at the sliver of the moon in the sky.
As she became more acquainted with the cloak of night, she could make out several outbuildings on all sides of her, a barn, the ranch hand’s bunkhouse, and a pole corral filled with horses.
Stephanie’s heart leapt when she saw a movement among the horses. She watched guardedly, then jumped with a start. A man was moving from horse to horse, checking them over.
She did not think that he was any of Damon’s ranch hands. This man was moving too stealthily and was obviously trying to keep his movements hidden in the darkness.
Her hand moved instinctively to her derringer. She rested her fingers on the leather holster, feeling safety in the feel of the shape of the firearm against the palm of her hand.
Her pulse racing, her throat dry, Stephanie began moving slowly toward the corral. Although she knew that it was none of her business who came and went from Damon’s corral, and disliking the rancher so much, she could not help but go see who might be stalking about in the night.
Her first thought was of Runner. He had not gone directly to his horse when he had left the house. Where else could he be then, except possibly in the corral?
Stephanie was curious to see why he found such an intent interest in Damon’s horses. If, indeed, it was Runner who was with them.
When she reached the pole corral, Stephanie crouched low and watched for another movement.
Beneath the spill of the moonlight, she was suddenly able to make out Runner’s features. His face was revealed to her as he stepped into view for only a moment, and then, just as quickly, was hidden among the horses again.
Stephanie’s heart pounded with the discovery. “It is Runner,” she whispered to herself. She knew that it was best not to reveal herself to him. Adam had come close to making enemies with him tonight.
She waited for a while longer. She still caught an occasional glimpse of Runner, then decided it was best to return to the house. Turning, she started to walk away, then her footsteps froze when she heard someone coming up behind her. Eyes wide, her knees feeling weak, she spun around and found herself eye to eye with Runner.
“What are you doing here?” he growled, his eyes lit with fire.
Stephanie found herself speechless at first, then listened with surprise as she found herself saying, “What were you finding so interesting in someone else’s corral?”
Chapter 7
Her loving yielding form I pressed,
Sweet maddening kisses stole,
And soon her swimming eyes confessed
The wishes of her soul.
—ROBERT DODSLEY
Realizing that she had placed Runner in an awkward position, Stephanie instantly regretted having spoken. She was just getting ready to apologize for her rudeness, when he suddenly answered her.
“I admire all horses,” Runner said, having found a way to answer her without incriminating himself. “Horses are a great love of the Navaho. We admire and own many. Mine are a part of me, my best friends, my companions.”
