Chapter 16

How dare you be a girl?”

The idiocy of that question showed exactly how furious Damian was. Casey had expected some surprise, but not this serious anger now visible in every line of his body.

“I don’t think I had much choice in the matter.” She was pointing out the obvious.

“You know what I meant! You deliberately deceived me,” he growled accusingly.

“No. Now that I didn’t do. I just didn’t correct any conclusions you drew on your own. And you never asked. But don’t feel bad. It’s the same conclusion most folks come to about me.”

“I’m not most folks, I’m the man who is traveling with you, and I can’t believe how inappropriate this is. We even slept in the same bedroom!”

“Actually—I slept out back with the horses last night,” Casey admitted.

But she wished that she had mentioned it that morning when he replied sarcastically, “Sure you did.”

She frowned then, trying to figure out exactly why he was so livid. She settled on his word “inappropriate.” Was that his problem? Did he think she had relatives who were going to arrive with shotguns in hand and force him to the altar because they’d spent a little time in a bedroom together? Not that that couldn’t happen, but it wouldn’t, and maybe she ought to mention that.

“I hope you’re not under the mistaken opinion that my not being chaperoned means we’d have to do something ridiculous like get married. We’re nearing the turn of the century, Damian. Consequences like that—”

“Still apply and you know it!”

She cringed at the level of his shouting. “Well, not in this part of the country—at least not when no one but the two folks involved know about it. If you’ll just set your anger aside for a moment and think about it, you’ll realize that no one knows you’ve been traveling with a woman.”

“Woman? I would hardly call you that, kid,” he said derisively.

That stung, since Casey had considered herself a woman for the past three years. And this was beginning to remind her of the argument with her father, which was about to set her off. She made one more attempt at reasoning with him before that happened.

“The point I was trying to make to you, Damian, is no harm has been done, so you have no call getting upset like this. Just because I’m a—female—doesn’t alter our working relationship in any way.”

“The hell it doesn’t.”

She raised a questioning brow. “Oh? And how is that, when it doesn’t change what I’m capable of or why you hired me? I’m still one of the best trackers around, thanks to my father’s teaching.”

“Father? Oh, so now you miraculously have known parents as well? And I suppose a real name, rather than one you claim is unknown to you?”

He would have to bring that up, she grumbled to herself, but to him she explained, “Lying about my name had nothing to do with deceiving you.”

“Excuse me? Since that’s exactly what it did, I fail to see—”

“I don’t give anyone my real name, Damian, because my father is likely searching for me, and I don’t want to be found yet. And don’t bother asking why. It’s personal. But the easiest way to keep my whereabouts unknown is for the folks I meet not to know who I really am, and rather than use a false name, I simply claim I don’t know it.”

“And pretend to be a boy.”

“No, that I don’t do. If my short hair, height, and skinniness give that impression, it’s not my fault folks jump to that conclusion.”

“Let’s not forget your clothes.”

“The clothes I wear are necessary for trail riding,” she told him. “But I have never once claimed to be a boy. If that were the case, I wouldn’t have admitted to being a girl just now, would I?”

“Why the hell did you?”

“Because I don’t lie about it.”

“You should have, Casey.”

“Why? It’s not going to change the way I deal with you. And it shouldn’t change the way you treat me. So why are you making such a fuss about it?”

“You are a girl.”

“So what?”

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair before he said, “If you think that doesn’t make a huge difference, then you haven’t much sense for a female.”

She stiffened. “I hope that doesn’t mean what it sounds like, but just in case it does, maybe I should warn you that men have been known to get hurt if they trifle with me.”

“That doesn’t exactly solve the problem.”

What problem? You can’t actually be interested in me in that way.”

“Can’t I?”

She leaped to her feet, drew her gun, and aimed it straight at his chest. “So get uninterested, Damian.”

“You aren’t going to shoot me.”

“You don’t really want to count on that, do you?”

He stared at her, hard. She stared right back without blinking or wavering in her aim.

He finally looked at the gun and said, “Put it away. I’ll keep to my side of the fire—for now.”

That didn’t exactly reassure her, but since she didn’t want to shoot him, she did as he suggested and sat back down. However, she didn’t change her inscrutable expression, nor did she take her eyes off him.

After a painfully long minute passed in silence, with them both still staring, he said, “The bird is burning.”

“So do something about it. Where is it written that I have to do all the cooking?”

“Probably in the book that mentions that I don’t know how to cook.”

She blinked. And then she relaxed. If he could say something like that, then they were most likely done with the fight, such as it was—for now.

But just to make sure, she said, “I’m getting some sleep right after we eat. You should do the same. If we’re going to reach the next town before nightfall tomorrow, we’ll need an early start as well as a little hard riding. Think you’ll be able to handle a faster pace?”

“I’ll do what I have to do. I always have.”

The words were agreeable enough, but the tone was still a tad disgruntled. However, Casey wasn’t going to press her luck by instigating any more conversation. Hopefully, a night’s sleep would give Damian a better perspective on the situation. She doubted it would help her, though, to forget that the man had indicated an interest in her.

She wasn’t going to get any sleep at all, again, for thinking about that.