"If those men do find the cabin, Daisy would be safer outside than pinned down inside. Zac knows that, but he doesn"t know these mountains like I do. He could get lost."
"You sure you aren"t afraid of something else?"
Tyler smiled. "Zac doesn"t like Daisy well enough to try to seduce her. Come on, I"ll let you take Zac with you. You can feed him to the cougar if he gives you any trouble."
Daisy paced the cabin impatiently. She was supposed to be trying to figure out who killed her father, but thoughts of Tyler kept intruding. He and the cougar were after the same thing -- a deer. She couldn"t think of that animal without a cold shiver. What if he were stalking Tyler?
"Sit down," Zac ordered. "All this charging about is making me too nervous to concentrate on my cards. If it"s Tyler you"re worried about, don"t."
"I can"t sit still," Daisy said, refusing to admit to Zac she was thinking of Tyler. "I"m about to go crazy locked up in this cabin."
"Up in Wyoming, people stay in cabins for months at a time and are perfectly all right."
"But they"re not locked up with you, are they?"
Zac"s gaze snapped up from his cards. His black eyes glistened brightly. "Watch it. Another crack like that, and I"ll--"
"You"ll do what? Lock me in my corner? Pitch me out into the snow?" Shock at her own words brought Daisy"s outburst to an abrupt halt. "I"m sorry," she apologized. "I don"t know what"s gotten into me." It was more than confinement. It was Tyler, but she didn"t know what to do about it.
"It"s the snow," Zac said, the glitter in his eyes becoming less intense. "Tyler says people out here aren"t used to it."
"No, we"re not," Daisy admitted, happy to let him blame it on the snow. She couldn"t explain about Tyler. She couldn"t even explain him to herself.
She figured she had to be losing her mind. There was no reason for her to be thinking about him so much, especially not the way she had been thinking about him. She had been thinking it would be mighty nice to have him around all the time.
She couldn"t like him that way. It didn"t make sense. Outside of the fact he had shown no interest in her except as a casualty to be cared for, he was exactly the kind of person she had sworn never to marry. He was a dreamer, an impractical spinner of fantasies.
Luxury hotels! What a fantastic scheme!
She was too impatient with the idea to give it any serious consideration. Even if he found his mine, he"d lose it his money and end up living in a cabin for the rest of his life, hunting for his food, reading his books. She picked up one and read the spine. The Lost Indian Mines of New Mexico. She put it down and picked up another. More lost mines.
She snorted in disgust. Thousands of men had wasted their lives looking for these mines. Tyler was a fool to think he"d be the one to find them.
But that"s how dreamers were. They were convinced the rules didn"t apply to them, that they"d be the exception, that somehow fortune would favor them above all others. That"s what her father thought. But instead of doing anything about it, he had sat around reading, talking, and wasting the money he did have.
"Why don"t you sit down and read one of those books," Zac suggested.
Daisy"s gaze focused on the t.i.tle. She had forgotten she was still holding the book on mines. "I"m not interested in lost mines," she said, shoving it back in its place.
"He"s got plenty more."
"I don"t want to read."
"If you don"t stop pacing, I"m going to tie you to a chair."
Daisy walked over to the window and looked out. Her spirits rose. "It"s getting lighter outside."
"Good. Maybe Tyler will find something beside a deer. I don"t like venison."
"Then why didn"t you bring something when you came?"
"I don"t go shopping," Zac replied, shocked. "I wouldn"t know where to begin."
"You go in the store and ask for what you want," Daisy said sarcastically. "They find it and give it to you." Zac was more useless than she was, yet he didn"t seem the slightest bit apologetic. In fact, he seemed to think it was other people"s obligation to take care of him. Why couldn"t she feel that way?
"If the sun comes out, maybe we can go out for a few minutes," Daisy said.
"Tyler said to stay inside."
"I didn"t mean to go far. Just walk about the yard a bit."
"Tyler said stay inside," Zac repeated. "He gets real irritated when people don"t do what he wants."
"I get irritated when people tell me what to do," Daisy snapped. She was startled at her second outburst in the same morning. Her father made her furious all the time, but she had always kept a tight rein on her tongue. Yet she hadn"t hesitated to speak her mind to Tyler or Zac. More surprisingly, they always seemed to take her objections in stride. At times she wondered if they even heard her. Her father would have had a fit.
She walked back to the bookcase and began to take out one book after another, but she didn"t pay any attention to them. She kept wondering why Tyler didn"t mind anything she did. More than that, she wondered why he thought she would be able to learn to manage her own ranch.
She was terribly afraid she could never succeed, but the possibility kept her mind spinning out of control, kept her nerves on edge.
"I"m going outside," she announced. "I can"t stand being cooped up in here one more minute."
"d.a.m.n!" Zac exclaimed as he slammed his cards down on the table and got to his feet. "Why can"t females ever do what they"re told?"
Chapter Eleven.
Weak sunlight shone through the thin layer of clouds. After so many gloomy days, it almost seemed sunny. Daisy hugged her coat under her chin to keep out the bitter cold. Beneath the snow, ice crunched with each step she took.
"It"s miserably cold out here," Zac said, picking his way across the snow.
"Then stay inside."
"I don"t trust you not to get into trouble."
"That"s no skin off your nose."
"Tyler will make it skin off my hide," Zac complained. "He has the mistaken notion I can keep you from doing exactly what he"s told you not to do."
"He"d pick me up and carry me back inside," Daisy taunted. She didn"t understand why that thought should excite her.
"I wouldn"t carry any female across this ice."
Daisy abandoned her attempt to goad Zac. He wasn"t a bit like Tyler. She didn"t want Zac to pick her up, but she practically skipped through the snow imagining herself being carried in Tyler"s powerful arms.
"You promised to stay in the clearing," Zac reminded her.
"I just want to walk a little way along the ridge," Daisy said. "Somebody"s already made a path."
The clouds suddenly parted and the sun shone brightly. The warmth seeped into Daisy"s bones, radiated throughout her body. It made her feel so good, so full of energy, she couldn"t possibly consider returning to the cabin. She had never seen the mountains from this vantage point. They were magnificent.
She trudged along, drinking in every sight and sound, ignoring Zac"s litany of complaints interspersed between warnings. The tree branches hung low with their weight of snow and ice. She broke off an icicle she found on a sapling bare of leaves, she put it in her mouth and sucked on it like candy. Birds huddled on tree branches, feathers puffed out to twice their normal size in an effort to insulate against the cold. A squirrel dashed along a tree limb causing a chunk of ice to hit the ground with a thump. Daisy didn"t know whether its rapid chatter was a greeting or a complaint about the weather.
She looked back, but Zac no longer followed. She laughed and hurried on. In a short while the cabin was out of sight, but she didn"t stop. She knew she would be locked inside the cabin as soon as Tyler returned.
She hadn"t gone much farther when she noticed movement up ahead. Memory of the cougar flashed in her head, and she stopped. She glanced behind her, but a stand of snow-covered firs blocked Zac from view. Even as she turned to go back, she realized the animal wasn"t the right color for a cat. It was much too dark. Besides, it appeared to be hiding behind a fallen tree.
After studying the animal for a few moments, Daisy decided it was struggling, not hiding. Drawing closer, she found herself looking into the deep brown eyes of a small doe. It had somehow become trapped under a fallen tree limb. Its struggles had brought it to the point of exhaustion. As Daisy came close, the animal made one last feeble effort to get to its feet then lay still.
"You poor thing," she murmured. "I"ll help you."
But the tree limb was six inches in diameter and partly frozen into the snow. Try as she might, she couldn"t lift it. She was relieved when she thought she heard Zac come up, stunned when she turned and saw Tyler advancing toward her with a rapid and purposeful stride. She couldn"t see his expression because of his beard, but if his eyes were any indication, he was furious.
Involuntarily she backed away. She hadn"t ventured out to defy him, but it would probably look like it.
"What do you mean running away every time I turn my back?"
He grabbed her by the shoulders. Even through the thick layers of clothing, she could feel his fingers dig deep into her flesh. She felt helpless in his grip.
"I just wanted to get a breath of fresh air."
"Couldn"t you find any air closer to the cabin to suit you?"
In spite of his anger, Daisy had to laugh. "No, I could still hear Zac"s complaints. What did you do with him?"
Tyler shook her. "Is it worth getting killed to escape Zac? Those men are still out there."
"I didn"t mean to come this far, but I saw where you"d made a path. And the sun felt so good--" A second shake wiped the smile from her face.
"It felt so good you thought you wouldn"t mind getting shot."
"I admit I forgot about the killers. You said they couldn"t follow us with all this snow."
"They wouldn"t have to follow you. You keep along this ridge, and you"ll soon be exposed. A man with gla.s.ses could see you from five miles away."
Daisy glanced around her, but her view was cut off by stands of fir, pine, and aspen.
"What can I do to convince you to stop running away?" Tyler didn"t seem so very angry now, just disheartened. "If I thought you"d be safe, I"d take Zac and move to another cabin."
"I wasn"t running away. And don"t you dare leave. I"d be scared to death."
"Are you sure? You"re not lying to get me off my guard?"
Daisy hated for Tyler to think she was so desperate to escape from him, but she couldn"t think of anything to say that would change his mind. Only completely different behavior could do that, and the best time to start was now.
"I"m not afraid of you, and I"m not mad at you. I just wanted to get out of the cabin for a few minutes. I thought Zac was following. What happened to him?"
"I sent him off with Willie."
"Why did you come back?"
"I had a feeling you might not stay put." He didn"t look upset now, just resigned.
"Did you find a deer?"
"No, but Willie"s still looking."
"I did. Right here."
Tyler"s gaze followed where she pointed. Catching sight of the deer, he climbed through the branches until he reached the trapped animal.
"Are you going to kill it?" she asked.
"No."
"You said we were almost out of food."
"I don"t kill helpless animals. Let"s see what"s wrong with it."
Daisy didn"t understand Tyler, didn"t suppose she ever would, but she was too relieved to care just now. She marveled at how gently he handled the deer. The animal seemed to know he didn"t mean it any harm.
"It"s got a gash where the limb hit it, but I don"t think anything"s broken," he said. "I won"t be able to tell until I move this limb."
Daisy hadn"t been able to budge the limb. Tyler lifted it without seeming to try hard. Daisy couldn"t deny the thrill that shot through her. She"d never met a man she felt was big and strong enough for her. Tyler was big enough with room to spare. She never felt overgrown or unfeminine around him.
She vividly recalled the feel of his arms around her, the pressure of his thigh against her leg, the shivers that lanced through her when his arms brushed the side of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Despite the cold, liquid heat warmed her entire body. Why couldn"t he have been the man for her?
Daisy told herself it was useless to dwell on what couldn"t be changed. She would do better to think about the deer and the gash where the limb struck it. The animal struggled to rise then fell back. "Poor thing, it can"t stand up."
"It"s mostly just tired. It"ll be fine after some rest." Tyler bent down and gathered the struggling doe into his arms.
"What are you going to do?"
"I hope it doesn"t mind sharing the shed with the mules."
The deer made one final attempt to escape, then gave itself up to its fate.
"Is the shed strong enough to keep the cougar out?"
"It"s kept him away from the mules."
Daisy couldn"t stand the thought of the cougar getting the little doe. She didn"t know why it should bother her so much. Maybe it was the doe"s helplessness. Maybe it was because she felt the same way.