Rawhide and Roses (21 page)

Kim gasped. “Oh, my...it’s breathtaking.”

A panoramic vista of mountain and mist held her speechless. Craggy bare mountains in the distance contrasted with lush forests of assorted conifers and pines dipping into the valleys closer to them. The water rushing over the waterfall behind them fell into the creek meandering below, over rugged beds of rocks and boulders. White water cascades of smaller streams emptied into the larger creek, all on their way to unknown rivers, tumbling into canyons cut deep into the mountains. To their left, probably a mile or so away, there appeared to be a small lake.
           

Closer, were mountainside and patches of wildflowers. Beautiful, colorful, wildflowers.

“Oh, Thad,” she whispered. “There are so many of them. What are they?” Lavenders, scarlets, and yellows dotted the landscape like an artist’s palette.

Behind her now, Thad encircled her with his arms and held her close to his chest. He bent to whisper in her ear, his breath softly tickling her neck. “I don’t know all of them. The tall red ones are Indian Paintbrush. The smaller scarlet ones, near the edge of the creek are primrose. And the lavender and white are
Colorado
Columbine.”

“Their gorgeous.” She turned in his arms and circled his neck, then reached up to plant a soft kiss on his lips. “Thank you for bringing me here. Can we get a closer look at those flowers before we leave?”

“Sure can. As I said, ma’am, I’m just aimin’ to please.”

Smiling, Kim settled back into him and clasped her hands over his arms. She didn’t know when she’d felt this content, or happy. “Tell me where we are.”

For a moment, Thad stood transfixed, looking out over the mountain range.

“You’re looking at the western edge of the
San Juan Mountains
, just east of the Continental Divide,” he began. “We’ll end up due west of here,” he pointed in that direction, “and descend down the mountains on the west side of the Divide as we head toward
Elk
Park
. All the streams and creeks below us are falling east and will eventually end up in the
Rio Grande
.” He paused for a moment. Kim tipped her head sideways to see his face. His eyes grazed the horizon. “I can’t see any markers at the moment, but along there somewhere,” again he pointed, “is the Colorado Trail. There are rock
cairns
every once in a while, marking the trail.”

Kim turned to face him. “The Colorado Trail?”

“It’s a hiking trail. Starts around
Denver
, ends in
Durango
. About 470 miles long, if I remember correctly. Sometimes we’ll see hikers when we head toward
Elk
Park
to catch the spur. A lot of times they’ll start or stop there, if they’re out for a day or two hike.”

“Wow, do people actually hike the entire distance?”

“Some do, I’m told. I’d rather ride.” Thad framed her face with his hands. “So what do you think of...my little corner of the world?”

“I like it very much.” There seemed to be a momentary relaxing of Thad’s face when she answered.

“Is it much different from
Kentucky
?”

At the moment, Kim thought,
Kentucky
was a universe away. “Yes. Very much different.”

“Tell me.” His eyes were hard again, penetrating deep into hers. Somehow she wasn’t sure he was talking about terrain. “Tell me all about Kim Martin and what she does in
Kentucky
.”

She held his gaze for a moment, wondering what mysteries laid beyond those dark eyes of his. “Can we stay here for a while and talk?”

Thad wrapped her closer into his embrace. “We’ve got all day.”

Settling down onto the rock, they leaned against a huge boulder. Kim sighed. Thad kept his arms tight around her as she sat between his legs, her back leaning against his chest. She needed this—this closeness with Thad. Sharing. The togetherness. At the moment, there was nothing and no one else to be considered. No Jillie and Mack. Not her mother’s expectations. No student’s problems crowding her mind.

There was only Thad. And it felt so good.

“Jillie and I share an apartment back home in
Lexington
.”

Thad slid one hand between the snaps of her shirt, his warm palm caressing the skin just beneath her breasts. “I gathered that much.”

“We met about five years ago when Jillie was hired as a Biology teacher at my high school. At that time, I was teaching Home Economics, like she said the other day.”

“But now you’re a counselor.”

Kim nodded. “Yes.”

“Do you miss teaching?”

“At times. I enjoyed being in the classroom but counseling gives me even a greater sense of fulfillment.” Stopping, she stared ahead, out over the mountains. “Teenagers are so unpredictable. My days are never the same. One minute I might be dealing with two freshmen squabbling over a misinterpreted conversation, the next with a senior crying over his grades, and then with a junior who I think is being abused by her boyfriend. Sometimes it gets even heavier than that.”

Thad dropped his head against her shoulder and listened.

“There are days when I just want to sit down and cry because I know there is nothing that I can do to help.”

Kim drew in a deep breath. She hadn’t realized until just this minute how she needed to get away from school for a while. Her summer break was just too short; counselors usually work through most of the summer scheduling classes. She hadn’t had much of a break.

“I imagine the kids can talk to you pretty easily.”

She nodded. “But I can usually put their problems right back to them. Help them put things into perspective. Try to make them see where everyone involved is coming from. You know I do have that stubborn streak. My students know I’m there when they need a shoulder to cry on, but they also know I’ll make them buck up and take the heat when the have to. They call me Sergeant Martin.” She laughed. “Sometimes, though, all they want is a sympathetic ear. Whether they’re having problems with parents or drugs or are pregnant, they all need someone to talk to. I think I’m almost a surrogate parent, at times.”

“I’ll bet you are.”

Kim smiled and turned slightly. “There was this girl, one of my former students, who informed me at the end of this school year that she was pregnant. I’ve tried to help her as much as possible and now I’m afraid I’ve let her make me a crutch—something I shouldn’t have done. She’s called me all summer long. She’ll probably be frantic that I’m not home yet.”

“Did you tell her you were leaving?”

“Yes, but I was supposed to be home yesterday, remember?”

“Oh, that’s right.”

“Do you want to try and get somewhere to call?”

Kim shook her head. “No. She’ll be fine. She has a mother who is trying real hard to be there for her, and she has to learn to depend on her a little more. She’ll be okay. I’m sure of it.”

“And what about you?”

She turned even more and looked into Thad’s face. “Me?”

Reaching out, he touched her nose and looked at her sympathetically. “You’re worried about her, aren’t you?”

“I worry about all my students, Thad.”

“But you’re worried about her more.”

After a minute, she agreed. “Maybe. She’s so young. Naive. I don’t know what she’s going to do with a baby.”

Thad didn’t say anything more for a while. Kim settled back against him. For the longest time, they let the warm afternoon breeze wash over them as she surveyed her surroundings.

But her thoughts returned to Melissa, the young pregnant student. Melissa had made a crutch of Kim, and she’d allowed it, but even worse than that, Kim had made a crutch out of Melissa. Actually, there had been too many Melissa’s over the years. The year before it had been Christopher. Before that Daniel and Ginny. Before that....

It dawned on Kim then that perhaps all these years she’d allowed her job to be the crutch. She’d gotten so involved in what she could do, give, and make better for all her students, that she hadn’t given any thought to what she could do for herself.

Perhaps that’s why none of the relationships she’s had with men over the years had panned out.

Was she that determined to make her mother see that there was more to her than making some man a wonderful wife and having his babies?

Thad said something. She didn’t hear. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” She pulled her gaze back to look him in the face.

“I said your job must be an extremely important part of your life, isn’t it?”

She answered that it was before she’d really given it a second thought. Then in the silence that followed, she wondered if she’d made it important for all the wrong reasons.

Chapter Fourteen

Thad brushed a tendril of wet hair away from Kim’s face. Droplets of water clung to her lashes and the apples of her cheeks as her eyes sparkled up at him. In his arms, she felt like wet silk as their bodies glided together in the warm pool next to the waterfall. Her legs were wrapped around his waist and his arms held her close. Her breasts were crowded against his chest, soft, fluid, and sexy.

God, how he loved holding her. She made him feel primal and male and full of something he hadn’t felt in quite some time. If ever.

Leaning in, he captured her lips in an urgent kiss. How he hated thinking about being separated from her. With Kim in his arms, everything felt...so right. Was she eager to return to that apartment, and her life before now?

“Have you ever thought about doing anything else?” he blurted out, wondering if he was actually thinking out loud. “I mean, what if someday, you couldn’t find a counseling job? How important is that to you?” Thad knew that in order to win Kim’s heart, he had to get to the middle of what Kim was, on the inside and out. Was counseling her life, just as ranching was his? He knew jobs of her sort were few and far between in this sparsely populated area.

Her gaze narrowed as she contemplated his question. She studied him for a minute, as if weighing her words very carefully. “Counseling, and teaching, are the only jobs I know how to do.” She paused and looked away, almost with an irritating look. “Unless...of course, not counting if I decided to get married and have kids some day. I might make a halfway decent mother.” Jerking her gaze back to him, she continued, “Gee, that sounded so hokey. What I mean is that I think I’d like being a wife and mother one of these days, but I would never want to give up my job.”
        

Thad felt like a boulder landed in his stomach. Kids? “So you’d like to have kids?”

She faced him again and nodded. “Someday. What about you?”

“I’m too old to be a father.”

Kim cocked her head sideways and tightened her grip around his shoulders. A sly grin crossed her lips. “You’re not old, Thad Winchester.”

“I’m forty.”

“That’s not old.”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-nine.”

“Practically jailbait.” Thad snickered. “But right now you make me feel pretty damned young.”

Kim smiled back and held the connection between them. He like her smile better than the puzzled look she gave him earlier. “I think you’d make a pretty good daddy.”

Leaning forward, Kim pressed her lips against his. A swirling mist of desire rose up within him. He urged his hands lower into the water, smoothing them over Kim’s firm rear, forcing her closer against him. “I used to think I might,” he whispered against her lips. “I just never found the right woman to be my child’s mommy.”

Kim pulled away and stared into his face. Her eyes searched, looking for something he didn’t know if he could give. Slowly, he lifted her out of the water and carried her to the edge of the stream. Their clothes lay scattered, where they’d hastily left them moments before, so he laid her on the blanket of grass.

Laying beside her, he gathered her into his arms and held her against him. “Kim,” he whispered. “You’re making me crazy.” Damn. What was he going to do without her?

She stroked his face. He relaxed his hold and let her lie back against the grass. With her head pillowed on his arm, she caressed while watching his eyes.

“Thad,” she breathed, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned children...and all that other stuff. I wasn’t meaning to imply— I mean, I didn’t...don’t want you to think that I was pushing you into something—”

“Kim,” Thad interrupted. It was now or never. They had to discuss their options. “We have to talk.”

An expression lanced over her face that he wasn’t quite sure how to read. “About what,” she whispered.

“Where do we go from here, Kimmy?” he asks softly. “What happens when it’s time for you to go home?”

She didn’t answer him immediately, as if contemplating what her answer should be. “I have go home, Thad,” she whispered. “And from there, well, we’ll just have to see.”

He nodded and looked away.

How could she say that so quickly, without putting much thought to it. He didn’t see. Never would. If she went home, he doubted he’d ever see her again.