Free Promises Keep (The Promise Series) by Sarah McCarty Page B

here and now. She forced herself not to look away from the intensity of his gaze as he uttered with the utmost sincerity, something impossible to believe.
    “I promised you everything is going to be all right from here on out.”

Chapter Five
     
    Everything was going to be all right. The intriguing, totally ludicrous thought lingered in Mara’s mind. She pondered it silently as Cougar took her to the livery stable and rented a buckboard. She pondered it while he refused to listen to every argument she had as to why she didn’t need to be taken to Doc’s place. She pondered it in the face of the proprietary hovering Cougar seemed determined to maintain. She pondered it not only because it was enticing, but also because pondering that theory helped her to ignore the panic that surged through her with every turn of the buckboard’s wheels.
    The residents of Cheyenne might not have been the most gracious, but in their midst, she’d been able to maintain an illusion of safety. Here, on the road out of town, there was nothing but woods, fields and crickets.
    The buckboard hit another one of those large bumps that made up the road. Despite the musty corn shuck mattress Cougar had retrieved from Lord knows where, the jarring hurt and a low moan escaped. Cougar turned in his seat.
    “Sorry about that.”
    Her “I’m fine,” went ignored as he pulled on the reins. The buckboard came to a halt. In the time it took her to blink in slow resignation, he was down off the seat and coming around the wagon bed.
    “Just this once, couldn’t you take my word for it that I’m fine?”
    He vaulted up onto the wagon. “Nope.”
    She frowned as he rested his hand on her forehead. “Why not?”
    His hands slipped down to where she was clutching the gray blanket he’d tossed over her. “Because you lie.”
    “I most certainly do not!”
    “Yes, you do.”
    She managed to swat his hands away from her torso, but they just slipped around the back of her neck and started massaging the stiff muscles there.
    “Because you hate to be touched so much, short of dying, your answer to my question would always be the same.”
    “If you understand me so well, you should know what you’re doing now is annoying me greatly.” She tugged at his wrist with her hand. “Please.”
    “Okay.”
    To her horror, he took off his blue cotton shirt. He took his packet of makings out of the pocket and tossed them on the wagon bed. He held the shirt up, turned it this way and that, and a wry smile touched his mouth. “Not much left worth saving after that fight.”
    Mara swallowed and managed a choked agreement. She stared in fascinated horror as the muscles on his chest and arms bunched and then relaxed as he tore the shirt in half. Above his left nipple, two bloody half circles where she’d bitten him stood out clearly. She glanced over the tail of the wagon and saw nothing but green grass and leafed out trees. Oh God, they were miles from anywhere!
    She couldn’t fight, so she did the next best thing. She started talking.
    “Did I remember to thank you for saving me back in town?”
    “Nope. I think you’ve been a tad remiss in the manners department.”
    Rip!
    Mara jumped as the shirt divided into fourths. “Well, thank you. Do you know how much further it is to Doc’s?”
    He picked up a section and she couldn’t take her eyes off his hands as they diminished the blue cotton into four-inch wide strips. “Yup.”
    She looked down the muddy stretch of road as it snaked across the plain and disappeared into the horizon. “How far?”
    “We’ve a fair piece to go yet.”
    Which told her nothing. He had five or six of the strips in his hands as he hunkered down beside her. They looked about the right size to act as bonds. She clutched the neck of her dress with one hand. The other slid across the mattress in search of a weapon. At this point, she’d settle for a piece of straw. Her heart slammed against her ribs. For the life of her, she