Free Lifeline Echoes by Kay Springsteen Page B

opened up to an easy, ground-eating
lope. Still they didn't talk, but the ride began to work its magic
and Sandy started to relax. She contented herself with watching
Ryan.
    He sat easy in the saddle, his hands light
on the reins. His own movements were the perfect counterpoint to
those of his horse, and he didn't look like he'd spent any time at
all away from the ranch. He was taking in the scenery the same
hungry way he'd been looking at her.
    Enchanted by the look of him, Sandy raised
her camera and discreetly captured some shots. When he turned to
glance at her, the camera was slung over her shoulder once
again.
     
    ****
     
    Climbing back on a horse had been another
part of coming home. Like all the other parts, Ryan moved easily
into it, but he still found himself wondering if this was right. He
hadn't expected the feeling of a horse beneath him to generate such
overwhelming emotion. He wanted to talk, craved the human
companionship he'd been finding with Sandy but now he was
fascinated by the land. And uncharacteristically tongue-tied with
her.
    To the north a series of bluffs came into
view, and the trail led them into the shadows of a narrow canyon.
The walls were close. When he'd chosen the route, Ryan hadn't
realized how much the tight quarters would bother him. Little
twitches between his shoulder blades grew stronger as the passage
between the rock walls grew tighter.
    A movement on the bluff above them sent a
barrage of gravel sliding down the cliff. Probably an elk or a
bighorn. Buck shied and Ryan flinched. The sound of falling debris
prickled at his nerves, scraping along old memories and drawing
them to the surface.
    Ryan turned to warn Sandy about the
mini-avalanche but she had already guided Galaxy to the far side of
the trail. She waved a reassuring hand at Ryan then tilted her head
to look upward, squinting at the edge of the cliff overhead.
    "Is there another way out of here?" Her
voice trembled, an echo of the tremors in Ryan's gut.
    "Yeah," he said a little more brusquely than
he'd intended. "We'll take a different way home."
     
    ****
     
    The walls of the canyon finally began to
open up, the single narrow path widening and flattening into a
trail of loose shale. Slowing the pace, Ryan pointed to the left
and urged Buck upward through a break in the trees. The path was
lined with sediment washed down from the heights through years of
spring rains and winter melts.
    Gravel crunched and rolled underfoot as the
two horses climbed the steep wash. Sandy was afraid one or both of
them would tumble back to the bottom, but the seasoned geldings
were sure-footed.
    They burst into the sunlight on a high crest
and Sandy drew in a long awestruck breath. The valley was long,
bordered on two sides by dense pine forest stretching toward the
distant shadow of the stately heliotrope mountains. A creek
meandered through the center, edged by tall grasses, and yellow and
white wildflowers.
    Each direction held more wonder and she
snapped at least a dozen different pictures without moving. "I
thought you said this was open range."
    Ryan scanned the deserted meadow, a puzzled
frown shadowing his face. "It is. It's where Cross MC turns the
herd out for the summer."
    "Where are the cattle?"
    Sandy snapped a picture of Ryan looking over
the valley. His love for the land was reflected in his eyes. He
drank in the sight like a very thirsty man drinking from a
well.
    "That seems to be the question of the
moment," he said after a long time.
     
     
     
    ****
     
     
     

Chapter Five
     
    Sandy followed Ryan,
amused when he would cast a look over his shoulder as if to assure
himself she was there. She was expecting one any minute now. And
there it was. With a laugh, she squeezed the shutter and captured
his impatient hurry-along look before nudging Galaxy onward.
    Unexpectedly, he pulled his horse up. When
Sandy edged Galaxy beside him, he held up a hand to warn her into
silence, then pointed ahead and to the right. The bay