Jade. Ruth Langan

      It was late afternoon and Wade had been on the trail since breakfast at Millie Potter’s, bringing whatever comfort he could to those who lay sick or dying.

      As his horse topped a rise, he stared across the wide expanse of barren land to where a carriage stood tilted at a crazy angle. When he rode closer he found Jade standing alongside her rig, examining a broken wheel.

      “Are you hurt?” He swung from the saddle and hurried to her side.

      “No.” She was so relieved to see someone, anyone, she could have hugged him. “Fortunately the team was moving slowly, otherwise I’d probably have been thrown to the ground. There’s no telling how much damage might have been done.” She rubbed a tender shoulder. “As it is, I was bounced around a good bit.”

      He studied her with grave concern. “Are you certain nothing’s broken? Your arm? Your shoulder?” He ran a hand across her shoulder, down her arm, probing gently.

      She was surprised at the tenderness of his touch. And jolted by it. To cover her shock she muttered, “The only thing broken is that wheel.”

      Wade was genuinely concerned for her safety. And annoyed by the rush of feelings the simple touch of her evoked. “With his fears relieved, he gave in to a wave of unexpected anger. “What in heaven’s name are you doing all alone in the middle of nowhere? There isn’t a living soul for miles. Did you want to tempt the fates? To see if you could outrun a gang of outlaws again?”

      At his heated words, her relief was forgotten as her anger surfaced. “I don’t owe you an explanation, Reverend Weston. But for your information, I was visiting the graves of my parents.”

      That stopped him, but only for a moment.

      “Then you should have taken some of your wranglers along for protection.”

      “They have a ranch to run.” She touched a hand to the knife at her waist. “Besides, I told you. I always carry protection with me.”

      He swallowed back a snort of anger. “As I recall, your knife was useless against the gang that stopped you on the trail.”

      She glared at him, but before she could protest he said crisply, “Maybe you enjoy tempting fate, to see if your…guardian angel will save you again.”

      “Instead,” she said with a frown, “I have only you.”

      “Sorry to disappoint you.” He turned his back on her and studied the broken wheel. “I’m afraid I don’t have the tools to repair this. But I can take you to your ranch….”

      She brightened.

      “As long as you don’t mind a few stops along the way,” he finished.

      She sighed. Her plans for the rest of the day would have to be postponed. But at least she wasn’t stuck unhitching the team and riding bareback to the ranch. She managed a smile. “Thank you, Reverend. I’d be grateful for the ride.”

      He unhitched her team and led them to a shady knoll with grass and water, then tied them to a rope stretched between two trees. Assured that the horses were secured, he swung into the saddle, then reached down and pulled Jade up behind him.

      The slit on both sides of her silk skirt allowed her to straddle the horse’s back without tearing the fabric. It also exposed a great deal of her flesh, from ankle to knee.

      Jade was surprised by the flare of feelings when her arms encircled his waist. As the horse broke into a run she was forced to hold on tightly. With her cheek pressed to his shoulder, she clung to him as the horse’s hooves ate up the miles of Texas landscape.

      While he guided his mount, Wade fought a battle of his own. He was achingly aware of the breasts flattened against his back, of the thighs pressed to his, of the small, delicate hands holding firmly to him. The wind caught Jade’s hair, swirling it like silk around him. He inhaled the exotic scent of her perfume and found himself thinking things he had no right to. Things that quickened his heartbeat and made his blood run hot.

      The direction of his thoughts threatened to distract him and make the rest of his day completely unsettled.

      

      “It was good of you to come, Reverend.” The widow Purdy lay in the big bed her husband had made for her more than fifty years earlier. “And what a lovely surprise to find Miss Jewel with you.”

      “You two know each other?” Wade had thought the widow, living in such isolation, would have no knowledge of this newcomer to the territory.

      “Diamond had her wranglers slaughter a cow and deliver it to my place to see me through the winter. When she couldn’t accompany them, Jade came in her place.”