The Heart's Pursuit by Robin Lee Hatcher Page A

fear. Only joy and exhilaration and freedom. And that man on the horse. Her heart quickened at the memory, but she tried to squelch the response.
    Hadn’t she learned anything from her experience with Bob? Was she so starved for affection that she would dream up a mystery man to fill the void? Of course not. She didn’tneed or want a man in her life. She’d learned her lesson with Bob. She was through with men. She would never marry.
    And besides, dreams were meaningless.
    Jared turned in his saddle to look back at her. “There’s a creek up ahead. We’ll rest the horses and eat.”
    Her breath caught in her throat. She hadn’t remembered it until now, but the man in her dream had been riding a black-and-white pinto. Just like Jared’s. The man had sat on his horse in the same way. Those shoulders. The way he wore his hat.
    Merciful heavens! Jared Newman was the man in her dream.
    He slowed his horse, allowing her to ride up beside him. “Is something wrong, Miss Matlock?”
    “No.” She gave her head a small shake. “But I think a rest is a good idea.”
        
    Jared wondered what was going on in Silver’s head. Since stopping to rest the horses and eat, she had avoided looking him in the eyes, almost as if she were afraid of him. But why? He hadn’t spoken a harsh word to her all morning, and he hadn’t threatened to send her back to Twin Springs in at least two days. But something was bothering her. She was as skittish as a green-broke colt.
    While the horses grazed, Jared and Silver sat on oppositeends of a log near the stream and ate a lunch of hardtack and beef jerky. Silver sat with her back angled toward Jared. It surprised him to discover how bothered he was by her cool silence.
    Deciding to put an end to it, he cleared his throat. “We ought to reach Laramie by day after tomorrow.”
    “That’s good.”
    “Maybe we’ll be lucky and someone will have seen Mr. Cassidy and Mr. Carlton when they passed through there.”
    “ If they passed through there. And we don’t know for certain they’re traveling together. Isn’t that what you told me?”
    “If Bob Cassidy is headed for Nevada—and I have reason to believe that’s the destination—he’ll have passed through Laramie.” He was lying to her again. But what else could he do?
    She twisted on the log, meeting his gaze at last. “Even if they’re together, they might have taken a southern route.”
    “It’s possible, but not likely.”
    “We may have lost any trace of Bob and his friend already.”
    “True enough.”
    Her cheeks paled. “Do you really believe so?”
    He could have told her that he’d been searching for one fugitive from justice for six years, that he’d lost and found that particular man’s trail numerous times over the course of those years. At least she knew what Bob Cassidy lookedlike. Jared had only the vaguest of physical descriptions of the man he sought. Except for the scar . . . and what he did to his victims.
    “Is it hopeless, then?” Silver asked softly.
    Maybe he’d be rid of her if he answered in the affirmative. Maybe she would give up and go home to Twin Springs. But oddly enough, he didn’t seem to want that. “No, Miss Matlock. I don’t believe it’s hopeless.” The words were true, as far as they went. Jared would ask about the two men traveling together, even though finding them was no longer his first priority.
    Silver sighed as she raised her eyes toward the sky. “How I wish I’d never met Bob Cassidy.”
    Jared found himself wishing the same thing. “Can’t any of us undo our past.” He remembered all too well the thoughts that had haunted him after he’d discovered his murdered parents and dying sister. Perhaps if he’d been at home, he could have stopped the killer. Or perhaps he would have been the fourth victim. More than once he’d wished he had been. He’d even begged God to strike him dead rather than let him live with the pain, rage, and loneliness.
    The Almighty