The Judge and the Gypsy by Sandra Chastain Read Free Book Online

interests you other than chipmunks and a crusty old loner like me.”
    Savannah frowned. “You’re not old. A little crusty, maybe, but hardly a curmudgeon. I like honest people who work hard and try to make the world better in some way.” People like you, she mused, then wished the thought hadn’t slipped into her mind.
    “I agree about making the world better,” Raschsaid, “but I’m afraid that I see fewer and fewer people trying to accomplish that.”
    “Maybe you aren’t looking hard enough.”
    “I’m looking, they just aren’t there.”
    Though Rasch had slowed down, he still moved along at a steady clip. Savannah tried to follow without breathing heavily, but her ears were popping. She opened her mouth wide and closed it again, trying to rid herself of the full feeling that had settled in her head.
    “Here, try some of this.” Rasch stopped, pulled a pack of gum out of his pocket and handed it to her.
    She took it, glancing at the brand with a smile. “Red-hot cinnamon? Somehow I’d have guessed that you were a wintergreen man, or perhaps peppermint.”
    “Just proves that looks can be deceiving,” he said, and gave her a smile that tore at the protective cover with which she’d so carefully insulated herself.
    “My sentiment exactly,” she managed to say as she unwrapped the stick of gum and popped it into her mouth.
    “Unwrap one for me, too, will you?”
    Unwrapping the gum wasn’t a problem, but putting it between his lips and sliding it into his mouth was an experiment in self-control. When his lips brushed the end of her fingertips, she felt the current flare between them. She drew back and looked quickly away, her cheeks warm, her heart pumping wildly. What was happening?
    “Thanks,” Rasch said, his voice oddly low.
    She could feel his eyes on her for a long moment, then he turned his attention back to the trail, this time picking up his rapid pace again, as if he were ina hurry to get somewhere, or away from somewhere.
    By the time he stopped again, for water and a snack of trail mix, it was late afternoon, and Savannah’s emotions were strung as tight as the high wire on which she and Tifton had performed for so many years.
Tifton
. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying desperately to focus on Tifton and her reason for being alone on this mountain with the man she’d sworn to punish. So far, the only one being punished appeared to be herself.
    Savannah knew that she had nine and a half days left.
    She had nine and a half days to make Judge Horatio Webber need her.
    Nine and a half days to give this stranger love … and then vanish from his life forever.

Three
    Savannah slid out of the straps of her backpack and plopped down on a tree stump. She could hear the rush of water somewhere in the thick growth of rhododendrons beyond the trail. In the spring this would be a fairyland. Now it was dotted with confetti-colored leaves and pine straw, like some crazy quilt of red and orange and brown.
    “We have about another hour’s walk,” Rasch said. “That is, if you still think you can keep up with me.”
    “Of course I can,” she answered, and pushed herself quickly to her feet. Suddenly she felt as if she were touching the ground after having been in the air for hours, practicing, rehearsing, pushing herself and Tifton to new heights. After a particularly daring move there was always a moment of disorientation when the thrill subsided and reality intruded again.
    Suddenly Rasch was beside her, holding her byboth elbows, peering into her eyes. “Are you all right?”
    She raised her eyelids and caught the concentration of his gaze. For just a moment she felt the weakness intensify. She closed her eyes, fighting off the dizzying effect of his nearness, and took a deep breath.
    “I’m fine. It’s the altitude, I guess.”
    “Don’t you like heights?”
    He thought she had acrophobia? If the situation weren’t so ridiculous, she’d laugh. She, one half of the