Free Never Love a Cowboy by Lorraine Heath Page B

south.”
    “How many?”
    “A dozen or so.”
    Jessye nodded. “Fine.”
    Harry shook Pete’s hand. “Thanks for the tip.” He pulled himself onto the saddle and urged his horse south.
    With disappointment swirling through her, Jessye kicked her horse’s sides and followed Harry’s lead.
     
    With a blanket wrapped around her, Jessye stared at the fire blazing within the hearth of the small vacant shack they’d discovered earlier in the evening. They’d traveled three days without rain, three days without sighting cattle.
    Three days without speaking to each other.
    Strange how they could work side by side, do what needed doing, and never utter a word. She’d always imagined love worked that way—allowed people to communicate in ways that went beyond speech.
    But no love existed between her and Harry. She could see in his eyes exactly what she’d seen in her own for over a year after she’d given up her daughter: disgust, revulsion, disrespect.
    When she’d returned to Fortune, she’d removed every mirror from her room. She’d been unable to tolerate the sight of herself.
    That Christmas, her father had given her a beautiful mirror, edged in gold. “I don’t know why you left,” he’d said, “but I do know until you face yourself in that mirror, you’ll never really be home.”
    The first time had been the hardest. Each time, it grew a little easier…and each time she looked in the mirror, she forgave herself a little more.
    But with Harry, she’d find no forgiveness. He was indeed teaching her a lesson in hate, one she would have preferred not to learn.
    She heard the thunder rumble. The storm had hit just before they’d spotted the rustic cabin. But even with the fire and the dry clothing she’d changed into,she still trembled from the winter festering within her heart.
    Tomorrow, whether or not the frigid winds stayed, the cold within her would leave. She’d wait until Harry started forward, then she’d turn and go in the opposite direction.
    She neither wanted nor needed Harry’s company. She’d find her own cattle and to hell with him and his judgments.
    She heard him roving around the shack, scavenging for odds and ends. Their supplies were sorely depleted, but as long as she had bullets for her gun, she’d have food for her belly.
    “You should get some sleep,” he said quietly as he dropped beside her.
    “You should mind your own business.”
    “I’ve been trying to understand how the Haskells determined that they’d named their daughter in my honor when my name isn’t Harriet.”
    “Reckon that’s why you’ve been so quiet these past few days—you can’t think and talk at the same time.”
    “And what’s your excuse?” he asked.
    “I haven’t been in the company of anyone I thought was worth talking to.”
    He cleared his throat. “Is Jessye short for Jessica?”
    “Nope.”
    “Is it short for anything?”
    “Nope.”
    He sighed deeply. “Jessye, I am striving to mend this rift between us—”
    “Some things can’t be mended.”
    “We cannot continue going on as we have been—”
    She spun around and faced him. “You got that right. Tomorrow, I’m looking at the back end of your horse and heading in the other direction.”
    “You bloody well will not. I’m not going to allow you to travel alone—”
    “I traveled alone when I was seventeen. Went from Fortune to a mission east of San Antone. That’s a long stretch of miles. I gave birth to my baby alone, with no one to hear my screams, hold my hand, or wipe my brow, and I alone decided what was best for her. So don’t go telling me that I can’t do things alone!”
    She grabbed his saddlebag and began rummaging through it.
    “What are you looking for?” he asked.
    “That dang mirror you use when you shave.” She pulled it out and looked at her reflection.
    “Why in God’s name do you want that?”
    “Because I need to see someone look at me without hate in their eyes.”
    “I don’t hate