The Crow and the Coyote (The Crow Series Book 1) by Kristy McCaffrey

Author:Kristy McCaffrey [McCaffrey, Kristy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Prairie Rose Publications
Published: 2015-10-13T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Jack spent the rest of the night with Hannah molded against him, snuggled in his arms, his legs on either side of her while he sat with his back against the cliffside and his rifle handy. Thankfully, she slept, but he didn't. He wouldn't let his guard down again. All night he kept watch, equally at peace, aroused, and vigilant for danger.

Loving Hannah in an explosive episode of passion had been unplanned, knocking the wind clean out of him. He wanted her—it had been there the moment he looked into her bright green eyes—but the last thing he wanted was to breach her boundaries after she'd been through so much with the loss of her pa, then her own death.

But when she had responded to him with so much need, it obliterated his self-control with one swift kick. Usually, he was more careful—he didn't spread his seed in carelessness. He had no need of bastard children. Fancy ladies knew how to take care of such things. And with others, he'd taken more care to prevent any…complications.

But not with Hannah.

And if that hadn't been enough to show him a force greater than both of them was at play, there'd been the damn tears. Stunned by the brief, intense encounter, emotions had welled up inside that left him on the verge of weeping. He'd quickly clamped down on it, making certain Hannah didn't see, for fear it might frighten her.

What woman wanted a man crying after loving her?

What the hell had happened to him?

I found Hannah.

Despite his mind telling him such things were hogwash, he knew that he'd been waiting for her his entire life.

****

Hannah awoke with a start. Still within Jack's embrace, the chilled morning air made her nose cold. He dozed, but as she moved, he came awake.

"Mornin'," he said, and rubbed his face.

"Good morning." Stiff and sore, she shifted to sit upright.

He pulled her back and kissed her. "I like seeing you first thing."

She smiled, then grimaced. "What's that smell?" The odor carried the stench of death.

She moved from him and rounded the rocky outcrop to where the animals and Sani had been. Relief filled her when she spied the horses and mule, but panic replaced it when she saw no sign of the Navajo woman.

"Where is she?" she asked, making a sweep of the area. Jack did the same, the rifle in hand.

"Tracks lead that way," Jack said, indicating a path to the opposite cliff wall.

"Is she alone?"

"It seems so."

A thin sheen of smoke settled into the canyon floor.

"What is that smell, Jack?"

"You stay here," he said. "Let me go."

"No. Sani's in trouble." She moved past him, but he stopped her. She looked into his dark eyes, fathomless, like the black sheen of crow feathers. "Don't leave me alone, Jack."

Wordlessly, he agreed and quickly secured their camp. He tended the animals, ground-tying them in an area that would offer shade as the sun crept across the sky.

Hannah walked behind Jack, with no weapon in hand since Sani had taken the shotgun.

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