The first rays of the morning sun danced across Sam’s eyelids. With a yawn and a leisurely stretch, she opened her eyes.
Matt lay beside her, his hand clasped around hers. He’d never awakened her for a watch. She wondered when he’d succumbed to sleep. He looked peaceful, the lines in his face not quite as deep as usual.
With a smile, she remembered the kiss he’d given her. And the promise not to reveal her secret to Jake. This morning, she thought the sun shone more brightly and the wind blew more gently. Everything was going to be all right.
She eased her hand out of his. She stood and walked down to the river. Kneeling at the water’s edge, she washed the sleep from her eyes. Then she sat back on her heels.
Swimming in a river with no cattle milling in it wasn’t frightening. She just had to remember that what had happened at the Red River might never happen again.
And if it did, she’d be more prepared.
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Matt walked toward her. Taking her hand, he pulled her to her feet, then drew her into his arms.
Eagerly, she welcomed his kiss. Her knees grew weak and her toes curled as she wound her arms around his neck. Warmth sluiced through her, chasing away any early morning chill that lingered.
He broke off the kiss and leaned back. “I’m gonna miss that when we get back to the herd.”
His smoldering gaze made her stomach quiver. “Me, too,” she admitted.
Crouched at the edge of the group of cowboys gathered around Sam, Matt had an incredible urge to kiss those lips that were spouting the words to Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. The other fellas were engrossed with the book that Cookie had pulled out of the wagon and handed off to Sam to read. Matt figured they’d be a sight more absorbed with the reading if they realized they were listening to a girl.
He still couldn’t get over the fact that no one seemed to notice how delicate Sam looked. Of course, she tended to allow a layer of dust to coat her face. But he knew below that dust was a smattering of freckles that dotted her nose and cheeks.
It was pure torment to ride beside her each day, every night, and not be able to hold her, kiss her, or just touch her. Even sleeping next to her was torture. Her gentle breathing was like a lullaby, lulling him into sleep. But throughout the night, he’d awaken with a start, afraid that he was going to find himself folded around her. Afraid he might do for real what he did in his dreams—hold her close and kiss her like there was no tomorrow.
He shifted his gaze slightly as Jake sat beside him.
“You and Sam seem to have mended whatever fences you’d broken,” Jake said in a low voice, as though he knew the men wouldn’t forgive him for disturbing Sam while she read.
“Going on that scouting mission sure helped,” he admitted, grinning inwardly with the memory of how much he’d enjoyed being with her away from everyone else. “You need any more scouting done, you just let us know.”
“I prefer to do the scouting myself. I’ve been hearing tales that the farmers in Kansas are loading up their rifles and trying to stop the cattle from coming through,” Jake murmured.
Matt felt anxiety reel through him. Longhorn cattle tended to carry tick fever. They never came down sick, but the livestock that came into contact with them did. Kansas and Missouri had passed quarantine laws prohibiting cattle from coming through during the summer months when the ticks were active. But they’d be loco to try and herd cattle in winter. “What are we going to do?”
Jake shrugged. “We’ll see what happens.” He slapped Matt’s back. “We’ll hit the river tomorrow.”
Matt nodded. It took a lot longer to move a herd of cattle than it did to travel on horseback. And it was a lot harder to prod cattle across a river than it was to ride a horse through it. This time, he’d make dadgum certain that Sam stayed by his side.
The river that had looked so peaceful three days earlier now churned up the brown water with the cattle’s passing. Even riding drag was no guarantee that trouble wasn’t waiting to happen.
Matt glanced over at Sam. She was staring at the water with her brow furrowed and her green eyes darkening. Her bandanna hung loosely around her neck. The corners of that luscious mouth of hers were turned down.
“You gonna be all right?” he asked.
She turned her head slightly and gave him a tremulous smile. “Yeah.”
But she looked pale, and sweat beaded above her upper lip. This river was the first they’d had to cross with cattle since she’d nearly drowned and he’d discovered she was a girl. “You want to ride with me?” he asked.
She shook her head slightly and thrust up her chin. “Nope. I’m a trail hand, and hands guide the cattle across the river.”
His respect for her grew. She had true grit, that was for sure. He desperately wanted to reach across and squeeze her hand or plant a kiss on that tempting mouth of hers. “I won’t let you drown, Samantha Jane.”
“One of these days, Matthew Hart, I’m going to come to your rescue.” She released a bravado yell and urged her horse down the steep bank and into the deep river.
Matt followed, wondering if she hadn’t already come to his aid, rescuing his heart from a self-imposed exile.
During the war, it had hurt to see so many wounded, killed, or taken prisoner. He’d thought it was best not to care…and then he’d spotted Sam.
Although he tried not to, he did care. He cared for Sam a lot.