Creighton's Hideaway by LoRee Peery Read Free Book Online

child.” She gazed off into the distant hills.
    “Not at all. You’re just a bit out of your element here. Now, I’d be lost in your environment at the youth center.”
    She shook her head and grinned. “You’d better not be lost out here. You’re leading me!”
    A bob-white whistled from a small plum thicket across the creek. Creighton answered the quail. As with his mimicked cricket trill, Shana couldn’t tell the difference between man and fowl.
    He smiled down at her, and reached out a hand. “Ready to go?”
    She placed her hand in his, more comfortable than the first time, and they continued on. In some places they had to step a few feet away from the water where twisted foliage, soupy mud dotted with green lichen, or piles of limestone interrupted a smooth path.
    As much as Shana wanted to soak in the landscape, she focused on her footing.
    The cattle drank from this water in the deeper spots and their deposits had to be avoided.
    In a tall bunch of wheat grass the brown length of a huge feather protruded. She plucked it from its resting place. “What a giant feather! Creighton, what is this? Turkey? Hawk? Eagle?”
    “That’s from a red-tailed hawk. We can see many eagles in flight along the river. You’ll probably run across a turkey feather or two out here. They are narrower and longer.”
    Shana tucked the end of the feather in the knot of her folded shirt sleeves and they continued on. Somewhere along the hike, she’d relaxed. The knot in her belly no longer threatened to choke her.
    But she was ever aware of the man by her side, linked as though they were a unit. The great outdoors was also growing on her. Lincoln, her duplex, her job, didn’t exist here. She stopped and turned to Creighton. “Could I have another drink, please?” She closed her eyes as she tipped back her head.
    Then while Creighton drank, Shana cupped her hand over her eyes and gazed off towards the mounded ridges.
    “When I was a kid and saw bluffs like that from the road, I’d look at the hills and want to go explore.” She turned back to meet Creighton’s gaze. “Do you ever picture buffalo and Indians and horses when you look at the land?”
    “A lot. I often wonder what it was like a hundred and fifty years ago. Or two hundred, when Lewis and Clark went through this part of the country. Exploring gets us in touch with the earth, and the sky. I would have loved it.” He ran his hands through his hair and then down his face. “I admit, I love it now!”
    Shana knew without reservation that she also had it in her to love this land, and maybe even this man. Her eyes opened wide at the idea. Where had that come from? She had enough problems to deal with. A relationship? No way. The timing was all wrong.
    Creighton swung his gaze back to Shana. “So, did you see a lot of hills from the road?”
    “Sometimes Dad took us on trips. Mom and I went along when he guest lectured at other universities. He said history is learned as much by traveling and the discovery of new experiences, as by getting the information from books. Or teachers. But we stayed near universities in big cities.” She reached out again for the water bottle, and handed it back to him nearly empty. “Creighton, I’ve wondered why you don’t have horses. I would think you need them in certain rough terrain.”
    “I used to have horses.” He gazed off into the distance, loss shadowing his face. “Circumstances change. Now I keep busy with the cabins. The pickup works and I’ve got my ORV.”
    “Your what?”
    “My quad.”
    She shot him a blank look.
    “Off Road Vehicle, the four-wheeler,” he clarified then added, “Lord willing, I’ll have horses again. Some day.”
    They resumed their quick pace. Shana had paid no attention to the thickening brush along the creek until a path led off to another cabin. Situated between a plum thicket and cedar trees, it blended right in with the landscape.
    “So, is this one of the rustic ones?”
    “Sure