Daisy

by Greenwood, Leigh

  "I do," Daisy said, upset Tyler would interpret her reaction as fear. "Nobody could have taken better care of me."

  "Until now."

  "Even now," Daisy said. "There was nothing improper about that kiss. I wasn't afraid of you. I enjoyed it."

  Tyler's disbelief was obvious, but she wasn't willing to take him any deeper into her confidence. He had penetrated too far as it was.

  "Go see about your deer. I'm going to see if Zac's awake."

  He was up, dressed, and pouring over his cards when she entered. "Is Tyler back?" he asked.

  "Yes."

  "Did he find a way down the mountain?"

  "The snow's still too deep."

  "You were gone a long tine," Zac said, eying her suspiciously.

  "Tyler took me up to the top of the ridge. He wanted to show me the view."

  "On a day like to day!" Zac exclaimed, looking out the window at a huge icicle which hadn't started to melt.

  "It was a spectacular view."

  "You must be as crazy. It's five thousand feet straight down." Zac shuddered. "As far as I'm concerned, I'd just as soon never climb another mountain."

  "You don't feel excited when you look out over the edge?"

  "Not unless you call wanting to throw up excitement."

  Daisy walked over to the pegs along the wall. She unbuttoned the coat and slipped out of it. She felt better knowing Zac wasn't affected by the mountaintop view the way Tyler was. She didn't admire Zac, but as long as you didn't ask him anything about cards, he did show a certain amount of common sense. It comforted her that his reaction should be so close to her own.

  Yet she could not forget that moment. It was unlike anything she'd ever experienced. It was probably nothing but a dizzy spell -- more likely wishful thinking, the same kind of groundless optimism that had supported her father all his life -- but she couldn't erase it from her memory. It had happened, and for a moment she felt better than she ever had in her life.

  She thought that was probably how a drunk feels when the first rush of alcohol reaches his brain. The first moments are sheer euphoria. But soon everything crashes and you're left feeling miserable. Daisy had no intention of crashing or of feeling miserable. She might not be able to forget the experience -- she couldn't always control her mind -- but she refused to give it any credence. It was a mirage, wonderful but unsubstantial.

  The door opened to admit Tyler. "The deer hasn't eaten. I'm going to look for something else."

  "What does it usually eat?" Daisy asked.

  "Leaves, twigs, small tree limbs, bark, moss."

  "Ugh!" Zac said. "No wonder I don't like venison."

  "Want to come with me?" Tyler asked Zac.

  "I'm not going tramping around the mountains stripping bark off trees to feed a deer I can't eat."

  "I'll go," Daisy offered.

  "You ought to take a nap," Tyler said. "Climbing that ridge was more exercise than you've had in a long time."

  She didn't know whether he really didn't need help or if he just didn't want her company. After the way she had acted, she couldn't blame him.

  "How about fixing some breakfast before you go?" Zac asked.

  "I'll do it," Daisy offered. "I'm not as good as Tyler, but I can cook."

  "I don't suppose you can ruin breakfast," Zac murmured.

  "I can, but I won't."

  "I'd let him starve," Tyler said. He waited a moment, as though for Daisy to say something, then he closed the door and was gone.

  Daisy walked to the window and watched Tyler cross to the trees. She hugged her arms around herself. That kiss had changed something. Not just the relationship between them, something deep inside her. She was glad of the time alone. She needed to look within herself. Only there would she find the key to everything else.

  * * * * *

  Daisy paced back and forth.

  "I thought you were going to cook breakfast," Zac said.

  "I changed my mind," Daisy said. It felt wonderful to say that. She'd never refused to cook before. She paused, almost certain he would do something to her for this defiance.

  "Do you always go back on your word?"

  "No."

  "Why did you this time?"

  "I just don't feel like cooking."

  Zac watched her in silence. Daisy didn't like that. He saw too much.

  "What happened out there?"

  "Nothing."

  "Liar."

  "Nothing important." She flushed. "I don't want to tell you about it."

  "I didn't think you would."

  "Then why did you ask?"

  "You got Tyler upset."

  "Me? Isn't it possible he got me upset?"

  "You're always in a taking. Tyler never gets upset. What did you do to him?"

  "Nothing!" Daisy nearly shouted.

  "I don't believe you."

  "Fine. Don't!"

  She retreated to her corner, but she could almost feel Zac's eyes boring through the blankets. She picked up one of the books she had stacked against the wall. But try as she might, she couldn't concentrate.

  Zac said Tyler never got upset over women. He should know his own brother. Maybe she had upset him. Maybe he did like her. Maybe he meant the kiss to be something more than just a spur of the moment reaction.

  No, she was simply indulging to wishful thinking, the kind of thing she had sworn to avoid ever since she could remember. If Tyler had been interested in her, she would know it.

  What if he was so self-contained he didn't know how to communicate with other people?

  Daisy couldn't endure the numberless questions that bombarded her mind. She tossed her book aside and got up.

  "Where are you going?" Zac asked when she cross the room and took the coat down again.

  "I'm too jumpy to stay inside."

  "A guilty conscience?"

  "No!"

  "Tyler doesn't want you outside."

  "I just want some air."

  "There's plenty of air in here."

  "I feel cooped up."

  "He's going to be mad."

  "According to you, I've already made him mad. A little bit more won't make any difference."

  "It will with Tyler."

  Daisy made an impatient noise and rushed outside.

  The sun was brighter, but the cold was just as intense. She had to put her hand over her eyes to shield them from the glare. The intense white was almost unbearable.

  She looked around for some place to go, something to do, but there was nothing unless she wanted to split wood or go feed the animals. Tyler had already done both of those.

  She gazed down the mountain through the trees. It was hard to believe Albuquerque was only some twenty miles away. It seemed like a world apart. She looked up toward the ridge where Tyler had taken her such a short time ago, where he had kissed her and thrown everything out of balance.

  Turning away, she started toward the shed. She wasn't really interested in the deer at the moment, but it would give her something to do.

  When she reached the shed, she found the door ajar. She stepped inside. The mules and burro were there, but the deer was gone. Tyler must have failed to secure the latch when he left. She ran to the cabin. "The deer's gone!" she shouted inside to Zac.

  "So?" he said.

  "Tyler has done everything he could to make it better. We've got to find it and get it back."

  "I'm not chasing after a deer."

  Daisy stalked inside the cabin. "You are the laziest, most good-for-nothing boy I've ever seen in my whole life. I don't know what your brother sees in you, but if it were up to me, I'd trade you for a deer any day." She walked over to the wall where Tyler kept his rifles.

  "Hey, what are you doing?" Zac demanded.

  "Getting a rifle."

  "Put that back," he said, getting up from the table.

  Daisy paid him no attention. She grabbed a handful of shells and put them in her pocket.

  "Do you know how to load that?" Zac asked.r />
  "No, but I'll figure it out."

  "Hellfire!" Zac exclaimed, wresting the rifle from her grasp. "Let me have this. You're liable to shoot yourself."

  "Are you coming?"

  "I don't have much choice, do I?"

  "Hurry. No telling what might have happened to the deer."

  It was hard to follow the doe. It was so light it could run on top of the icy crust.

  "It would serve the stupid beast right if I shot it," Zac complained.

  "You do, and I'll use that rifle on you."

  Zac eyed her unhappily. "You're crazy enough to do it. Why do you care about that deer? The cougar will probably get it."

  "It's Tyler's deer."

  She knew that sounded dumb. She couldn't explain why it was Tyler's deer or why it was so important, but that deer stood for something in Tyler she didn't understand, but something she wanted very badly to be able to share. She felt it was a secret that made his life better than hers.

  "If we don't find it, it won't be anybody's deer."

  "Look!" Daisy said, pointing to a paw print in the snow.

  "The cougar," Zac said. "That deer's a goner. We might as well go back."

  Daisy should have been frightened. But she had defied the beast once. For some crazy reason, she felt certain she could do it again. "We can't just leave it."

  "You plan to tell that cougar he can't have it?"

  "You've got a rifle. Shoot him. Now stop talking and hurry up."

  "I'm just as crazy as you," Zac muttered. "That damned cat is liable to decide it would like some young, tender Randolph flesh better than a stringy deer."

  "You may be young and tender," Daisy snapped, "but you're bound to taste sour."

  "For a country girl, you sure have got a nasty tongue."

  "Hush!" Daisy hissed. "There's the cat."

  The cougar was perched on the lowest limb of a Douglas fir. He was watching something. As they watched, he gathered his muscles under him, ready to spring.

  "Shoot him!" Daisy urged Zac. "Hurry up."

  "Be quiet, you silly female. I can't aim with you screeching like an Indian."

  "Shoot!" Daisy shouted. She grabbed for the rifle. It exploded into the silence.

  "Dammit to Hell!" Zac cursed as they both tumbled into the snow.

  * * * * *

  Tyler muttered under his breath as he tramped through the woods, ripping branches from trees as he went.

  "You fool! You big, stupid, horny fool! Why couldn't you keep your hands to yourself? The least you could have done was work up to it gradually. How did you expect her to react when you grabbed her like some sex-starved lunatic who hasn't seen a woman in six months?"

  He cut a limb from the sapling, tossed it into a pile to be picked up on his way back, and moved on.

  "You had no business putting your hands on her. You asked her up to the ridge to look at the view. You said you wanted to show her something more beautiful than anything man could create. And what did you do? You pounced on her like a bull in rut."

  He swung down around a large boulder and stopped where a trickle of water had melted a path through the snow. Listening intently, he could hear the sound of water falling over rocks. The snow was melting. If it stayed clear, Daisy would be able to leave before long.

  "You'll be lucky if she doesn't take out while you're gone."

  He was mad at himself for losing control. It was stupid, especially after he'd been so careful for so long. Until today she had no idea of the need burning inside him. Now she wouldn't feel safe. She would only have to look at him to be reminded of what he had done.

  "She'll probably hide behind Zac."

  That would hurt. It would be bad enough if she kept her distance -- he deserved that -- but he didn't know if he could stand it if she turned to Zac for protection.

  It was time Tyler admitted he liked Daisy. A lot. The lust was still there, but it was all mixed up with something else now. He wanted to kiss her because he wanted to touch her, to feel her in his arms, to feel her close to him. He was haunted by the memory of her in the bath. Last night he had dreamed of making love to her again. He had lingered lovingly over every inch of her body until he lost himself in a release so exquisitely powerful it woke him. That's probably what sent him over the edge. He'd been able to hold himself together when he put his arms around her and drew her to him, but he'd lost all restraint when she threw her arms around him.

  He found a grove of oak trees and proceeded to cut several supple branches. He didn't know why he was being so particular. Any animal that could strip the bark from a tree could eat any kind of limb. He had just started to collect the branches when he heard a shout followed closely by a rifle shot.

  The killers! How could they have found the cabin so quickly? He had been a fool to get so caught up in his own thoughts he forgot about them. Cursing himself, he started for the cabin at a run.

  Chapter Thirteen

  "Did you hit him?" Daisy asked, scrambling to her feet.

  "Not likely with you throwing my aim off," Zac grumbled. He picked up the rifle and held it out of Daisy's reach. "At least he's gone," he said, pointing at the limb.

  "He's after the deer." Daisy started in the direction of the tree at a run. "Hurry!"

  "Stop! You can't go running after a cougar," Zac called as he started after Daisy. "You might catch him."

  Daisy didn't slow down. She stumbled through the snow making as much noise as possible. She wanted to scare the cougar, but she hoped she wouldn't scare the deer so badly it would run too far for her to find it. Zac followed, making almost as much noise, only he was shouting at Daisy, not the cougar. She didn't pay him any attention, just kept plowing through the snow until a blood-curdling snarl brought her to an abrupt stop.

  The cougar was a short distance ahead. But instead of running after the deer, he was facing her. Only then did she notice the splotches of red in the snow. Zac had hit the cougar, not enough to kill him, but enough to make him mad. And he was intent upon taking out his anger on Daisy.

  Daisy turned and headed back, but a glance over her shoulder told her that despite a badly wounded hip, the cougar was gaining on her. She couldn't see Zac. If he wasn't going to keep up, he should have given her the rifle.

  After climbing to the crest, worrying over Tyler's kiss, and trailing the deer, Daisy wasn't sure she had enough energy to make it to the safety of the cabin. She stumbled then scrambled to her feet immediately. She was surprised to see blood on her hands. She had cut them on the ice when she fell.

  Ignoring the blood, she struggled on. She considered climbing a tree. Her skirts would be a serious handicap, but maybe the cougar couldn't climb with a wounded hip. She stumbled again. She tried to get to her feet, but she slipped on the ice and fell flat. She looked over her shoulder, fearful the cat would already be upon her.

  A rifle shot rang out. The cat let out a heart-stopping snarl that nearly caused Daisy to faint. A second shot cut the snarl short.

  Daisy looked up to see Tyler standing over her, a rifle in his hand. The look on his face was balm to her soul. He was too frightened to be mad, but that wouldn't last long. She knew now there had been a reason for the kiss on the ridge.

  Tyler helped her to her feet. "Are you all right?"

  "Yes," she said, brushing some of the snow from her. "I just slipped."

  "You cut yourself."

  "Not badly. Just some scratches."

  "You sure?"

  "Yes."

  Tyler looked to where the cougar lay still in the snow. "He was close."

  "Zac wounded him."

  "Where's the deer?" Zac asked, coming up behind his brother.

  "I don't know," Daisy answered. "Gone, I guess."

  "Why did you let it out?" Tyler demanded, his temper flaring out of control.

  "You must have left the door unlatched," Daisy said. "It was gone when I came out."

  "And you went after it?"

  "I had to. It was hurt."

&n
bsp; "It wasn't hurt so much as tired. It's probably half way to Colorado by now." He turned to Zac. "You should have had better sense than to let her go after it."

  "Me!" Zac exclaimed.

  "You know more about living wild than she does."

  "She's the one who grew up in this miserable place," Zac pointed out. "I've been in Boston, remember. We don't have stupid deer and rampaging cougars there."

  "You still knew better," Tyler said, really angry now. "I ought to wring your neck." Tyler took Daisy by the elbow and started for the cabin. "She could have gotten killed or seriously hurt. I hold you responsible."

  Zac gaped at his brother. "You try stopping her from doing any addlebrained thing she takes into her head. I told her not to go. You ought to be thankful I took the rifle from her. She'd probably have shot herself."

  Zac protested all the way back, but Tyler refused to speak to him. When they reached the cabin, he ushered Daisy inside. Zac followed close on his footsteps, but Tyler blocked the doorway. "You can stay outside until you get some sense."

  With that he closed the door on his brother and bolted it. Zac banged on the door with his fists and shouted curses at both of them, but Tyler ignored him.

  "You can't leave him outside," Daisy said. "It was my fault. He told me not to go."

  "He could have stopped you."

  "I wouldn't have listened to him."

  "He could have made you stay."

  "How?"

  "Like this," Tyler said and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Do you think I would have let you go?" he asked in a tight voice.

  "No."

  Zac had started kicking the door with his boots, but the door showed no sign of breaking. Daisy found the banging very distracting, but Tyler seemed oblivious to it.

  "You had no business out there, not even in the yard."

  "I had to find the deer."

  "That deer is a wild animal. It knows how to live outside. You don't."

  "But he was your deer."

  "What difference does that make?"

  "I don't know. It just did."

  Tyler stared at her hard for a moment. "You faced the cougar because of me?"

  "I didn't know it was there. I'm not sure I'd have gone if I had," she confessed.

  Now Zac was banging on the window. Daisy was sure he'd break the panes any minute.