Free Nothing But Trouble by Lisa Mondello

her.  This would be so easy if every time he glanced her way he didn’t have the longing to reach out and pull her close to him.  Even with her lipstick half chewed off after a day of riding, even with the sweat clinging to her face and neck, and making her blue cotton shirt cling to her body, she was beautiful.  And he couldn’t keep his body from responding no matter how much he tried to tell himself this woman was off limits.
    Melanie Summers was not just another rodeo girl looking for a quick roll with a cowboy.  She had a softness as well as a polish that was foreign to him.  He guessed she wasn’t the type of woman to lend herself out for a night with no promise of something more the next morning.
    He’d been so angry watching Mitch with Melanie that morning.  He hadn’t been fair in his treatment of either of them.  Yeah, he could admit that now.  It would hardly be right if Mitch hadn’t noticed a woman as beautiful as Melanie.  But watching his slow, easy appraisal of her assets caused jealousy to kick him straight in the gut.  He’d never wanted to slug Mitch, but at that moment, he’d actually considered it, as if Melanie was something he’d branded as his own.
    He held on to the anger, finding it was easier to keep the boundaries between them in sight if his body was tight with fury.  It was better than the fire he was caught in every time her full lips stretched to smile.  That damn near did him in.  The simple act of her flipping a stray lock of hair behind her ear, brushing her delicate fingers against her cheek to wipe off some drops of sweat made him long to be the one doing it.
    And now, looking at her all lost in the sounds of the mountains, he had the unbidden image of her wrapped in his arms, making love in a mountain meadow blanketed only by the heat of the blazing sun.
    Abruptly, Melanie’s eyes flew open and she suddenly looked at him with the wonder of a child.  “Do you hear it?”
    He took his attention away from his nagging body, caused by the lingering thoughts of Melanie in his arms, and he listened.  He heard the call of a Western Meadowlark in a nearby tree, no doubt perturbed that they’d chosen a spot close to its nest to stop for a rest.  Through the buzz of insects and the breeze, he finally heard the rustle of trees and something trampling on the dry ground that had caught Melanie’s attention.
    “Hooves.”
    She nodded and whispered, “Do you think it could be some other people trailing?”
    Stoney thought about it a moment.  “Possibly, these trails are used by a lot of outfitters in the area.  If we stay on this trail we may meet up with some of them at one of the camps.”
    She frowned.  “Oh, with all this space, I just assumed we’d be alone out here.”
    “Is that a problem?  Because if it is, we don’t have to stay at a formal camp.  We can just find our own way.”
    “How well do you know the mountains outside the trails well-traveled?”
    “Josh and I practically lived in these mountains when we were younger.  I suspect that is why Hammond sent you to me.”
    Her face took on a dreamy quality, her eyes dark like the depth of a mountain pool.
    “Where’s the prettiest place you’ve ever seen?”
    He didn’t have to think about it.  He and Joshua had been there enough to know that once you’d been to the high plateau’s and caught a glimpse of the view, it ruined you for any other place in the world. 
    “That would be the high country.  The Wind River trails that lead up to the plateau.”
    She seemed almost giddy with excitement as she spoke.  “What’s it like up there?”
    “It’s rough trailing.  Like nothing you’ve ever known. But when you get there...Lord, that view is like nowhere else in this world.”  He felt a smile tug at his lips just thinking about it.  “I swear it feels like you can reach your hand right up and touch heaven.”
    “Then that’s where we’ll go.”
    He laughed wryly.  “No