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He stepped inside, the sound of his boots hitting the floor loud in the stillness. “It’s empty.” Stepping back into the doorway, he looked to the sky again. “My gut says to keep riding but my ass says to stay put.”
She grinned. “Mine as well. I can not remember the last time I have been in the saddle so long.”
He leaned a shoulder against the doorjamb.“I can work that soreness out for you if you’d like.”
She felt her face heat as she blushed, the previous night's activities filling her mind's eye again. Ben chuckled before heading to Cash and unstrapping his saddle.
“We are staying then?”
He nodded. “Yes. We can’t run the horses all day and into the night, even though I want to. The sooner we get back to Willow Creek the better I’ll feel but the animals won’t last if I keep running them like I have been.”
He was right. Cash and Wind Chaser would do them no good if they could no longer walk. Resting them, and themselves, was necessary, even if they had little time to do it.
The cabin smelled musty when she stepped inside. The small space was covered in dust, the fireplace still full of old ashes. Memories of her time there with Aaron came back in an instant, and she smiled as she remembered them.
Aaron had been the first friend she had ever had. It had taken a while to open up and be comfortable around him, but once she did, it was as if they had known each other all their lives.
Ben carried their saddlebags in, dropping them by the door before heading back outside again.
Morning Dove walked further into the cabin, her attention turning to the old bed that sat in the corner. It had been wobbly and nearly falling apart when she had slept in it the previous winter. It looked worse now, and she wondered if it would hold her weight. It will not hold you and Ben. The thought made her pulse leap.
Sleeping next to him was the best feeling in the world. Twice now she had been wrapped in his arms as she fell asleep and even though he had not said this night would be any different, she had no reason to think it would be and that bed would not hold them both.
The old broom she had made was still propped in the corner where she left it. She used it to sweep the room and the swirling dust motes she could see from the light coming through the door looked like small diamonds sparkling in the sunlight.
Ben carried in an armful of wood, dumping it on the floor by the fireplace before dusting off his hands. His eyes met hers. She did not know what he was thinking, but she could guess. He crossed the room toward her, that loose-hipped walk of his making her heart flutter as she watched him.
He said nothing when he stopped in front of her, just lowered his head and kissed her, lingering before pulling back. “I could kiss you every hour of the day and still never get enough.”
Her fluttering heart started pounding. “I would welcome it.”
His smile lit his entire face. “Glad to hear it.” The kiss he gave her then stole her breath. His tongue pushed into her mouth as if he were possessing her, his arms banding around her to hold her tightly against him. She was dizzy by the time he pulled away, and she sighed before opening her eyes.
The look promised more. He headed to the door, that smile still lingering on his face.
He had teased her about falling in love with him. She wondered what he would say if he knew she had already been half in love with him, long before he rescued her in town from those men who had accosted her. Before the Avery picnic, before he had given her Wind Chaser. But telling him made the shyness she felt around him cloud her mind and kept the words from forming on her lips.
She did not fear his rejection, but telling him might make him do something stupid if Walter found her again, and she could not live with herself if something else happened to him because of her.
She would never get the sight of Ben dangling from the tree out of her head. All she had to do was close her eyes and she could see him struggling, see his legs kicking, hear the creak of the rope as it swung on the branch.
A shiver chased up her spine and a sense of foreboding she did not want to think about made her wonder if being here was smart. Maybe they should keep running, walking the horses as much as they could as long as they kept moving forward.
She looked around the tiny cabin. They needed to keep moving, but she was exhausted. She knew Ben was as well. It showed in the small lines on his face, in the drooping of his eyelids. They needed to rest. They could not run nonstop, regardless of how badly she wanted to.
Storing the broom in the corner where she found it, the tiny cabin was as clean as she could get it without water and a good scrubbing. It was an old hunting cabin, Aaron had told her. Fur trappers built them all over the mountain so they always had some place dry to sleep if they could not get back home before dark.
No one had bothered them the previous winter when they stayed there, but she had a sinking feeling in her gut that tonight they would not get so lucky. Ben seeing that fire down the river had been no fluke. She knew it was Walter. He was coming for her, just like he said he would. Question was, how long could they outrun him? And what would he do when he caught them?
Chapter Fourteen
You should keep moving.
The words whispered inside Ben’s head as he headed back to the tiny cabin where Morning Dove waited. The smell of wood smoke filled the air, and he wondered how far the scent would travel.
An uneasy feeling had lingered since the night before, laying awake for what felt like hours, his arms around Morning Dove as he tried to think of a way out of the mess they were in.
Getting back to Willow Creek as quickly as possible had been the only thing driving him since he saw her step out of Walter’s house and stopping here for the night seemed foolish, especially after spotting that fire burning down the river. He had no clue who it was, but Morning Dove insisting Walter would come for her made him fear she was right. If Walter was on their trail, stopping again was stupid. But he couldn’t run the horses until they dropped. He couldn’t force Morning Dove to travel nonstop. She was tired. He could see the fatigue with nothing more than a glance over at her. Dark circles lay under her eyes like bruises, and her shoulders sagged with exhaustion.
