Free Only in My Arms by Jo Goodman

"What are they doing down there?" she asked. "Why are they breaking up?"
    Her questions were unimportant to Ryder, and they weren't answered. "Save your strength," he told her instead. "We still have a long way to go, and this route is the hardest." Even as he said it, her horse stumbled. Loose rock and gravel shot out from under the mare's hooves and clattered down the canyon walls.
    "Are you trying to get me killed?" Anna Leigh snapped. "I want to go back with the lieutenant." She stared daggers at Ryder's spine when he didn't respond. It was too dangerous to fight him for control of her animal, so she concentrated on staying in the saddle until they reached the top and the land flattened out again. In the end she didn't have the opportunity to wrest back the reins because Ryder tossed them negligently in her direction.
    "Don't make the mistake of trying to return by the way we just came," he warned. "Your mare can't do it, and you'll break your neck."
    A single glance down told her he was right. "I'd have thought that would please you," she said tartly.
    Ryder merely shrugged. "Let's go."
    "Wait a minute," she protested. "I'm thirsty."
    "I just saw you get a drink from Harding's canteen. You can't need another one already. C'mon."
    Anna Leigh stubbornly held back. Her broad-brimmed straw hat shaded the upper part of her face from the sun; even so, her blue eyes glittered with anger at Ryder's high-handedness. She sat stiffly in her saddle, refusing to move.
    Ryder glanced over his shoulder. "You can drink as you ride." He kept going, expecting her to follow. He had covered fifty yards before he realized she wasn't behind him. When he looked back she was exactly where she'd been minutes earlier. In this test of wills Ryder could see that as long as she was conscious she had the upper hand. As he reined his mount around he actually considered knocking her out and throwing her over his saddle. Only the burden that would have put on his mare made him think better of it.
    When he came upon her he didn't say anything. His level gray stare bore into her. His mouth was expressionless.
    "You needn't look at me like that," she said. "I told you I was thirsty."
    "And I told you to drink on the way."
    Anna Leigh pointed to the canteen she had strapped across her shoulder. The leather strap had left a light sweat stain on her white blouse where it slanted between her breasts. "There's something wrong with my water," she said. "It doesn't taste right."
    "It probably tastes like the canteen," he said. "That happens in this heat. There's nothing wrong with it."
    Anna Leigh's lower lip was thrust forward. The saucy pout usually got her what she wanted. On this occasion she got what she wanted in spite of it.
    "Take mine," Ryder said, unstrapping it from his horse. He held it out to her.
    Anna Leigh offered hers in exchange. She unscrewed the top on his canteen and drank her fill. Droplets of water slid over her chin and onto her blouse, flattening it against her skin.
    "Easy," he said. "You'll get a belly ache."
    Lowering the canteen, Anna Leigh wiped the bottom of her chin with a gloved hand and then plucked at her damp blouse. "Concern? From you?"
    "You can't ride if you're sick."
    "Is that why you're not drinking?" she asked. "Or do you believe me that the water's bad?"
    Obviously she required some proof before she was willing to move on. Ryder uncapped the canteen she had given him and took several deep swallows. It was no different than he'd expected; it had the tinny taste of the container. "Satisfied?"
    Anna Leigh wrinkled her nose and let her distaste show. "I don't know how you drank that," she said a trifle breathlessly.
    He strapped the canteen in place and gave his mount a kick. "Let's go."
    This time they covered a distance just short of two miles before Anna Leigh pulled up. She watched Ryder move on ahead of her, weaving unsteadily in his saddle. His horse slowed, uncertain of where to go with no firm direction. Finally the