Canyon Shadows by Harper Vonna Page B

simple and complex as him seeing another woman. If so, she understood his reluctance to explain further, but if not, why hadn’t he said more than I can’t?
    Distance was good, she assured herself. This sexual undercurrent between them was powerful, at least on her part. Yesterday she’d tried to analyze it, break it down. Today she simply acknowledged that it existed.
    At least for her.
    Despite her vow to get on with her day, she remained where she was watching Maco stride toward the horse corral. He opened the gate, stepped in, took hold of one horse’s reins, and swung into the saddle. The move was so graceful, so natural, part of his being. Holding the reins with one hand, he leaned forward and stroked a thick neck. The horse broke into a trot followed by an easy canter that lasted until they reached the start of the trail down.
    Maco glanced over his shoulder at her, then returned to his task. Her thoughts and more went with him. Her body felt not just what it was like to be on horseback, but masculine thighs spread over a saddle and shoulders straight, ready for his life’s demands.
    Be careful, cowboy.
     
    Only once she and the dogs were back on the county road did she shake off the memory of Maco astride a surefooted animal and allow herself to revisit her reaction to seeing the ranchers’ weapons. Could the rifles have had something to do with Ona’s shooting?
    But if so, why had they been at her place?

     
    “This isn’t the end of it,” Jason announced as Maco and he watched the dusty pickup drive away. “They’ll be back.”
    “I know.” Dismounting, Maco sighed and rubbed the back of his neck where the afternoon sun was stinging him despite his hat. He was thirsty, tired, and on edge. His erection was gone, but it wouldn’t take much to get it going again—like thinking about how Shari had studied him before they’d gone their separate ways.
    “Sorry about that,” he’d said about his hard-on. What had she responded? More to the point, what had she thought?
    Maybe that she couldn’t trust him any farther than she could drop-kick him. Maybe that the sooner she was shed of him the better.
    But if that was the case, why had she rested her hands on his shoulders?
    Damn it, what was he, an adolescent fighting to get a handle on this libido thing?
    “What is it?” Jason asked. “Something they said chewing on you?”
    “What?” Concentrate, damn it! “No, they didn’t say anything we haven’t heard before, but then it was during public meetings.” Feeling a restlessness that had nothing to do with the conversation, he scratched Silver between the gelding’s ears. Touching the horse quieted him a bit. “This time Roe didn’t temper his words. And their weapons—”
    “Yeah. Shit. If they’re playing a game, I wish to hell they’d knock it off. It stopped being funny a long time ago. Hell, it never was.”
    Maco rolled his head from side to side. “No, it wasn’t.”
    “They’ve got to understand we’re not going to back down. And the government’s got too much invested.”
    “If they put their hands on our machinery, I’ll tear them apart.”
    Jason cursed. “You make me think of a pit bull.”
    “Right now I wish I was.”
    Patting Silver’s shoulder, Jason stared at him. “This is about more than Mustang Construction. What is it? Shari Afton?”
    “They threatened her.”
    “What? Why?”
    Replaying what had happened, he acknowledged that maybe they hadn’t threatened Shari after all. Maybe his reaction had been out of proportion. “She’s not part of this. Damn it, I don’t want her in danger simply because she’s providing the dogs. She’s been through enough dealing with what happened to her pet yesterday.”
    “She’s a grown woman who’s running her own business. She can hold her own.”
    Silver’s head dropped. Obviously human concerns didn’t matter to him. “Running a business and having your dog shot’s two different things. She loves that