Morning Light (19 page)

Clint realized he felt as if a thousand pounds had been lifted from his shoulders. He tightened his arms around Loni, glad of the sleeping bag, which kept the embrace asexual. “Thanks for talking to me. I actually feel better about it than I have since she died.”

“I'm glad,” she said softly.

He thought about it for a moment. “I'm surprised you had to ask me about it. It's more your style to have seen it in a vision.”

She didn't respond for several seconds. “I didn't say I hadn't.”

Clint tipped his head around to meet her gaze. Her eyes still shimmered with tears. “You already knew?” He didn't know whether to laugh or wring her neck. “Why'd you make me tell you the story then?”

“Because you needed to tell it.”

He couldn't help but smile. She was right. He had needed to tell it. Instead of wringing her neck, he settled for placing a soft kiss on the crown of her head. Then, turning his cheek against her hair, he let his eyes fall closed. He'd hold her for just a few more minutes, he thought. Then he'd walk her back to the tent.

Her bed was vibrating. Loni frowned in her sleep, then came slowly awake, wondering how that could be. She didn't own a vibrating bed. She lifted her lashes to stare stupidly at a sea of blue. Not her blue sheets. And the blankets lying on top of her felt way too heavy.

“Oh!”

She jackknifed to a sitting position, horrified to discover that her vibrating bed was Clint Harrigan's chest, the expanse of blue the front of his chambray shirt. He lay sprawled on his back, legs spread wide to accommodate hers. She stared at the front of his jeans, where moments before her pelvis had been nestled. Was it only her imagination, or was the fly of his Wranglers protruding more than usual? Her gaze shot to his face. His sleep-rumpled black hair lay in lazy waves over his high forehead, and his jet-black eyelashes were fluttering as he stirred awake.

“How did I…?” She pushed a hand into her tangled hair, wincing when her fingers encountered knots. “When did we…?”

He blinked slowly awake. When he finally focused on her, his brown eyes looked confused for a moment; then they cleared. “Sorry. I only meant to sit there a few minutes more and then hustle you off to bed. I must've nodded off.” He pushed up on one elbow, noted the early morning sunlight that pooled around them, and said, “Well,
shit.
We've slept half the day away!” He reached for his boots. A moment later he swore again, this time even more vehemently. “My
hat.
Would you just look at my hat?”

He held it up for her to see. The crown was smashed flat on one side. Loni wasn't sure how much a Stetson cost, but she had a hunch they were expensive. “Oh, Clint, I'm sorry.”

“Not your fault.” He pushed his fist into the bowl and the crown sprang back into shape—sort of. When he settled the Stetson on his head, he looked a little lopsided. “I'm the one who flattened it.”

That was the last time they spoke for nearly an hour. There followed a frenzied rush to break camp, get the horses saddled, and be on their way, their sense of urgency so acute that they skipped morning coffee, settling for water instead, and ate granola bars for breakfast after they hit the trail.

Loni couldn't say getting back in the saddle was a pleasant experience. Her muscles screamed in protest, and her tender backside panged with Uriah's first step. But after about fifteen minutes she began to feel somewhat better, able, at least, to face another long day of riding without whimpering at the thought.

The terrain began to change by midmorning. They'd passed through the gorge and come to an area where the river widened out and flowed lazily along, its green depths seeming to barely move. Instead of rising like walls only a short distance away at each side of the stream, the mountains were set farther back now, creating swaths of flatland along the riverbanks.

Clint waved to Loni, inviting her to come forward and ride abreast of him. Malachi snorted and threw his head, clearly affronted to have Uriah usurping his position as lead horse.

“Calm down,” Clint scolded, running his hand along the gelding's neck. “You don't always have to be in front.”

Loni reined Uriah back just a bit so Malachi could stay a neck ahead. That seemed to smooth the older gelding's ruffled feathers. Clint flashed her an appreciative grin. “Thanks. He's a wonderful animal, just a little arrogant around the edges sometimes.”

“Has he always been that way?”

Clint reached over to tug the bill of her cap down. “You don't watch it, you'll end up with a nose to rival Rudolph's. Best to keep your face shaded. Here in the mountains the sun doesn't feel that warm, but it'll blister you all the same. As for Malachi, he came along when I was first getting my horse-breeding business well established. He thinks he's the founding father of the stable. He isn't, of course. Methuselah has that honor, but he's a good-natured old stallion who allows Malachi his delusions.” He leaned sideways to get his canteen. After taking a drink, he passed her the canvas-encased vessel. “I miss my coffee. How 'bout you?”

Loni normally drank tea, but she did miss her morning caffeine. Her cell phone rang just then. Startled, she handed back the canteen, fished in her jacket pocket, glanced at the caller ID, and opened the communication device.

“Hi, Mom.”

Annabel MacEwen wasted no time on greetings. “What in heaven's
name
do you think you're doing? And why haven't you been answering your phone? You hare off into the wilderness with a total stranger without even showing me the courtesy of
discussing
it with me first?”

Loni had forgotten to readjust the phone volume, which she'd set on high while she worked at the shop, where workmen were making noise. She poked futilely at buttons, trying to turn it down.

“What's that beeping noise?” Annabel cried. “Are you trying to hang up on me?”

Loni stopped pushing buttons. “Of course not. Can you just calm down?”

“Calm down? I have been worried absolutely sick. Do you think I don't know what's happening out there? You're not the only one with second sight, you know. I can't believe you slept with him. He's a total stranger, young lady. At least have a care for your safety—if not for your own sake, then for mine. How will I live with it if something happens to you? What if he's a homicidal maniac? You have no way of knowing, not for sure.”

Loni held the phone away from her ear. Her gaze locked with Clint's. His firm mouth quirked at one corner, his eyes dancing with laughter.

“Even if he doesn't murder you in your sleep, what about the new life you're trying to make for yourself? When I told you to talk with your grandmother, I thought you'd have the good sense not to take
all
her advice! I saw you speaking to a policeman this morning. Oh, Loni, what
are
you thinking?”

Loni pressed the phone back to her ear. “Mom. Mom?
Mom!
”

“What?” Annabel asked crossly.

“You're shrieking. Clint can hear every word you're saying.”

“Good.” Annabel took an audible breath to refuel. “That's my daughter you're playing fast and loose with, young man. Isn't it bad enough that you've dragged her out into that wilderness area, and on
horseback,
no less? She's never ridden a horse in her life! What if she falls? What if it bucks her off? And then you compound it by seducing her the second night out? You'll have my husband to deal with when this trip is over; mark my words. From this point forward, I highly recommend that you comport yourself like a gentleman.”

Loni drew the phone from her ear again. Clint arched an eyebrow, studying the silver apparatus as if it were a strange object that had just dropped into her hand from outer space.

“Noo-noo-noo-noo, noo-noo-noo-noo,” he sang softly.

Loni recognized the sound track of her favorite old TV show,
The Twilight Zone.
She nearly choked trying to stifle a startled giggle, and she wasn't successful enough by far.

“Are you
laughing
?” Annabel's voice had gone from shrill to piercing. “Can you share the joke? I fail to see what you find so amusing.”

“I'm sorry, Mom. It's just…Never mind. If you'd let me get a word in edgewise, I'll—”

“A word from you would have been much appreciated
before
you made the decision to seek out Mr. Harrigan. A word from you would have been even more appreciated
before
you took off into the wilderness with a complete stranger.”

Loni sighed. “I'm sorry I didn't discuss it with you first, Mom. I just took it for granted you knew what was going on without my calling you.”

“Ha! Deirdre blistered my ears so bad a couple of months ago for innocently dropping in on her and Michael that I swore off touching things to look in on either one of you. And how am I repaid for trying to be a courteous mother? My daughters cut me totally out of the loop.”

Now that Loni came to think of it, her mother hadn't called to scold her about not taking her vitamins in over a month. “Oh, Mom, I'm
sorry.
I didn't know you'd sworn off.”

“Yes, well, I've seen the error of my ways, and I'll never do it again. If I'd been checking on you as I should, I could have stopped you from pulling such a crazy stunt.”

“No, you're wrong about that. This is something I had to do. And that's the main reason I didn't call you, because I already knew exactly what you'd say.”

“That you'd lost your mind, perhaps? That's exactly what I would have said!”

“But I haven't. I can't run from this, Mom. A little boy's life is on the line.”

“So was Cheryl Blain's, and you nearly destroyed yourself trying to save her. Now you're about to do the same thing again. You could end up having to leave Crystal Falls. Where will you go next? And what of the thousands of dollars you've spent remodeling that shop? You don't have the money to start over again somewhere else.”

Loni sobered, for she shared all the same concerns. “I don't have any answers. I only know this is something I have to do. If it blows up in my face I'll have to trust in God to bail me out somehow.”

That took the wind out of Annabel's sails. “Sometimes God can't bail us out, Loni. We mess up so badly His hands are tied.”

“I'll face that when it happens. For now all I can do is go where He leads me.”

Annabel sighed. Loni knew by the sound that her mother's rant had finally ended.

“He's very good-looking,” she continued, but in a calmer tone. “When you used to describe him I couldn't get a clear picture in my mind. In my opinion he's a little
too
handsome, though, the kind who's undoubtedly broken a lot of female hearts. Have a care, Loni. Don't end up being another notch on his belt.”

Clint arched an eyebrow again.

“Mom, he can still hear you.”

“Oh.” Annabel lowered her voice. “Be careful. That's all. I don't want to see you get hurt, physically or emotionally. I'm sorry for carrying on so, but I truly have been frantic.”

“I should have called, so I'm the one to apologize. I just…well, I wanted to avoid a quarrel, I guess. As for not answering the phone, it hasn't rung.” Loni thought of the mountains that had hemmed them in on all sides until a few minutes ago. “No reception, I suppose. We're in a more open place now.”

“Please be safe, sweetheart. I love you so much.”

“I love you, too. And try not to worry. Not everything you saw was exactly how it seemed.”

“Meaning you didn't sleep with him?”

For the first time in her life Loni finally understood why Deirdre sometimes grew so upset with their mother. It was unsettling to be spied upon during one's most private moments. “Not in the biblical sense, no.” Loni frowned slightly. “Which of my possessions have you been holding to zoom in on me, anyway?”

“Your blankie.”

“My what?”

“Your blanket. Remember? You couldn't be without it when you were small.”

“Do me a favor and put it away,” Loni said firmly. “I'm thirty-one years old, Mom. I'm entitled to some privacy. Put it back in the cedar chest and communicate with me the normal way, like other mothers do.”

“And how might that be?”

“By phone.”

“Ha. You just said it yourself, no reception. I'm hugging this blanket until you're safely out of there.”

After ending the conversation, Loni rode beside Clint in silence for several minutes. She couldn't be certain how much he'd overheard, only that he'd gleaned enough to probably be full of questions. She wasn't really surprised when he finally spoke.

“What did she mean when she talked about how you used to describe me? I didn't get the impression she was referring to the recent past.”