Beneath Passion's Skies by Bobbi Smith

Author:Bobbi Smith [Smith, Bobbi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780821741214
Publisher: Zebra Books
Published: 1993-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

New Orleans

“Are you crazy?” Lucky blurted out as he stared at Angel, unbelieving. They had been up only a few minutes, but she had already announced a change in travel plans. Now, she’d said, this very morning they would be leaving for California on horseback.

“Crazy, no. In a hurry to get to Christopher, yes,” Angel answered calmly with a smile.

Lucky, however, saw nothing worth smiling about. “The deal was we were sailing. There ain’t no reason for us to have to ride across country,” he argued stubbornly.

“The deal was you would accompany me to California, period,” she reminded him.

“I thought we were going by boat,” the boy persisted.

“What difference does it make how we go as long as we get there? We should make much better time this way.” She couldn’t understand why he seemed so upset.

“And get ourselves lost or killed or worse doing it!”

“We will not. Do you remember the man we saw at dinner last night?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s Blade Masters, and he’s an experienced guide. I’ve hired him to accompany us.” When Lucky shot her a skeptical scowl, she added, “He knows the land. Everything’s going to be fine.”

So now Lucky knew what last night’s meeting had been about, but he didn’t feel any better. If anything, he felt cornered. “This is stupid! I ain’t goin’,” he declared. “You can forget the deal. Just pay me what you owe me for the time I’ve been with you, and I’ll clear out.”

His demand brought Angel up short. She’d prided herself on having come to understand him quite well. She hadn’t expected this reaction. Her gaze met his then, and she could see the tinge of fear behind his bluff and bravado. “Why don’t you tell me what’s really bothering you, Lucky?”

“There ain’t nothin’ bothering me,” he answered, defiantly. “I just quit. That’s all.”

“Well, in that case, I have bad news for you.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah,” she rejoined. “Our deal stands only if you accompany me all the way to California. If you walk out on me now, you get nothing. We agreed to the terms that I would pay you when we got there and not before.”

He glowered sullenly. He remembered the conversation.

“Now,” Angel went on, “do you want to tell me the truth? What’s the matter? Don’t you know how to ride?”

“I know how to ride all right,” he blustered. He couldn’t lose face by admitting that he’d had little experience with horses.

“Then, what is it?” she urged, her voice quiet and encouraging.

Lucky sulked. He was caught. If he walked away now without telling her the truth, he’d be penniless in a strange town. If he told her the truth . . .

“I know how to ride,” he mumbled reluctantly. “I just ain’t no good at it.”

Angel knew how hard it had to be for him to tell her that he couldn’t do something. “You want to know something?”

“What?”

“I’m no good, either,” she confided.

“You’re not?”

“No. In fact, I’m terrible; but that doesn’t matter. By the end of today, I plan to be riding with the best of them.

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