Kyle pointed toward a cluster of granite boulders just a few yards away. As soon as Gage rounded the boulders, he spotted her, standing stock-still not far away, every muscle rigid, the color leached out of her face.
Warning bells went off in his head. Gage heard the distinctive rattle, and his whole body tightened with dread. Kyle must have heard it, too. He dropped the armload of wood he was carrying and hurried toward them. Gage held up a hand, warning him back, and eased quietly closer.
“Don’t move,” he said softly, drawing the machete out of the sheath on his thigh. A diamond-back rattlesnake nearly as thick as his bicep hissed and rattled, coiled and ready to strike from its place on a rock ledge that was eye level with Abby’s face.
Gage eased close beside her, slowly raising the blade. “Stay exactly where you are.” For an instant, Abby’s eyes sliced to his, and he read her fear. Abby didn’t move, and Gage swung the blade, its deadly arc neatly severing the snake’s head from its thick body, sending it flying into the brush a few feet away.
Gage sheathed the knife with a metallic ring, took a couple of steps, and swept Abby into his arms.
“I’ve got you. Everything’s okay.”
Shaking all over, she burrowed into him and just held on. Gage tightened his hold. From the corner of his eye, he saw Kyle and Smiley drifting back to camp now that Abby was safe.
Gage took a deep breath, fighting images of Abby and the snake, trying not to think about what could have happened. Another deep breath and he managed to block the memory of the icy fear that had sliced through him when he’d seen the snake’s forked tongue slithering out, almost touching Abby’s lovely face.
She rested her cheek on his chest. “I was watching everywhere I walked. I-I didn’t think to look up at the ledge.”
He smoothed a hand over her hair. “It’s all right. It wasn’t your fault. Things happen in places like this.” Which was the reason he hadn’t wanted her to come along.
Abby eased away. “When I first saw you carrying that big knife, I thought it was overkill. You know what I mean? Now I’m very glad you had it.”
“Learned a long time ago, a big knife can do everything a little knife can and a whole lot more.”
“So that snake found out.” She glanced back at the ledge. “He was really big. King said the bigger they are, the less venom in their bite. He said they get smarter as they get older.” She gave him a wobbly smile. “They learn to save enough poison to catch their dinner.”
Abby had almost been bitten by the biggest, ugliest rattlesnake Gage had ever seen, and she was smiling. He desperately wanted to kiss her. He wanted to hold her and reassure himself she was okay.
“We’d better get back,” he said instead.
Abby nodded, took a step, and her legs gave way beneath her. Gage caught her around the waist before she hit the ground.
“Post-adrenaline effect,” he said, keeping her upright and steady. “It’ll wear off in a minute.” Instead of lifting her into his arms and carrying her back, as every instinct told him to do, he gave her a minute to compose herself.
“You ready?”
She nodded and started walking, her legs still a little shaky. He’d been staying close to her. From now on, he’d be staying even closer. In this rough country, there was no way to know when danger was going to strike next.
And the warning was still there, tingling at the back of his neck.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE WEATHER TURNED DICEY, FAT BLACK CLOUDS BILLOWING UP OVER the horizon. The warm, sunny weather predicted in the Apache Junction newspaper, the East Valley Tribune, had changed.
Abby waved goodbye to Smiley, who started down the trail back to the ranch at first light, the horses roped together single file behind him.
“Is he going to be all right?” Abby asked Kyle. “He’ll be out there by himself tonight.” The two of them were working side by side, both of them repacking the gear they had taken off their horses and would now be carrying in their backpacks.
A few feet away, Gage did the same, his knife strapped to his thigh, his sheathed rifle within easy reach on one of the mule panniers.
“Smiley won’t be alone,” Kyle said. “For safety’s sake, my dad and I made a last-minute change before we left. Dad’s riding in today, meeting Smiley at the halfway point. They’ll camp for the night and ride back together in the morning.”
“That’s good. After what happened with the snake, I can see how easy it is to get hurt out here.”
Kyle’s gaze traveled to Gage, who was still loading his backpack. Now that they would be traveling on foot, Gage’s jeans and cowboy boots were gone, headed back with the horses, replaced by cargo pants and hiking boots. “This is new to you, but Gage seems to know what he’s doing.”
“He’s traveled all over the world, been in a lot of dangerous places.”
“It shows.” Kyle looked back at Abby. “So I guess you two are . . . involved?”
“Not exactly,” Abby said.
“Exactly,” Gage said as he walked up. “At the moment, we’re focusing on finding what we came here for. Once we’re home, our priorities won’t be the same.”
Kyle looked at Abby. “Good to know.” Tugging his straw hat lower, he slung his pack over his shoulder, turned, and walked away.
Abby wanted to call him back, clarify the situation. She liked Kyle Jenkins. And she and Gage weren’t really together.
“He’s a good kid, but he isn’t for you,” Gage said.
Her hackles went up. “How do you know? Maybe he’s exactly what I need.”
“I’m what you need, and we both know it. Now let’s get packed up and get going. Be best if we could make a few miles before it starts raining. We’ll need to find some kind of shelter before then. From the looks of it, the tarps won’t be enough.”
But Abby was still stuck on I’m what you need, and we both know it.
As if he were some sort of mind reader. But part of her believed him. Gage was exactly right for her. Or at least he seemed to be. Of course, that was what she had thought about Benjamin.
Ben had said he wanted to travel as much as she did. They would be a perfect fit. He had family money, so he could do whatever he wanted, and he wanted her to go with him.
What he really wanted was a different woman in his bed every place they went. Their first stop was San Diego, where she told herself her suspicions about him were wrong. They made it as far as Hawaii before Abby caught him in bed with a waitress. It took half her savings to pay for her plane ticket home.
Gage attracted women with the ease of a snake charmer, but the relationships never lasted. Unlike Ben, he didn’t deny it. Though she might be fun for a while, Abby wasn’t sure she wanted to be just another one of Gage’s women.
Mateo appeared out of nowhere and walked up beside them. “Storm is coming,” he said. “Big thunderclouds. It looks bad. I will go ahead, see what kind of shelter I can find.”
“All right, but don’t go too far,” Gage said. “This is brutal country. Be worse once it starts to rain. We need to stay together.”
Mateo nodded, moving the thick black hair he’d tied back with a strip of rawhide. He took off walking, following the narrow path that showed on King’s map, a steep winding trail that dropped down into a canyon.