This Calder Sky by Janet Dailey Read Free Book Online

shoulders and Chase jerked it tight just above her elbows. The horse stopped as quickly as it could in the water to hold the rope taut.
    Maggie struggled wildly, twisting and straining, trying to loosen the binding rope, animal sounds of desperation coming from her throat. Despite her struggling efforts, the tension on the rope wasn’t eased. She cast a wild look over her shoulder, a curtain of wet black hair getting in her way.
    With his quarry captured, Chase urged his horse forward while his eyes took in the nude beauty of her. The horse was momentarily confused by the command, trained to hold the tautness of the rope until its captive was set free, but at the insistence of its rider, the horse obeyed. Chase kept the rope tight, feeding the excess to his left hand and coiling it up.
    He made no attempt to check the horse until it was alongside the stumbling, splashing, still-struggling girl. Close up, the unblemished perfection of her naked flesh was even more beautiful. Chase pulled her backward a step to draw her even with his saddle and bent down to scoop her up. The tight noose pinned her arms to her sides.
    When he hooked his arm around the front of her waist, it was like grabbing hold of an icicle. Eventhrough his jacket, he could feel her coldness. What lusting thoughts he’d possessed were overridden by concern for a person exposed too long to the river’s frigid waters. He was angry with himself, disgusted by his actions. The girl was nearly frozen, and all because his damned pride had wanted revenge. Chase hauled her kicking, twisting body onto the saddle in front of him.
    â€œLet me go!” Her wet hair draped over her breasts like swathes of black silk, while her pinned arms crossed to hide the lower, triangular patch of black hair from his sight.
    A distant part of his mind noted the fury of her order. Even now, when she had to be frightened of his intentions, she didn’t plead with him or show fear. There was an absent registering of respect for her indomitable spirit.
    Other considerations were uppermost in his thoughts at the moment. “Hold still and I’ll take the rope off of you.” Chase issued the terse command while trying to hold her straining, wiggling form in the saddle, with the horse sidestepping nervously beneath its unruly burden.
    She looked at him warily, not trusting him altogether. She was shivering too violently to be motionless, but she ceased struggling. As Chase relaxed his tight hold on the reins to loosen the rope, the horse started for shore. He let it go and lifted the noose over her head, tossing the lariat onto the gravel. Immediately, she tried to slide off the horse, but Chase stopped her.
    â€œPut my jacket on,” he ordered, shrugging out of it and draping it around her shoulders. She was practically engulfed in it. Chase saw the long, black lashes come together in silent appreciation for the body warmth it held.
    Holding her around the waist, he stepped out of thesaddle. Even dripping wet, she weighed no more than a minute. He could feel the violent tremors shuddering through her body, but she didn’t make a sound, remaining rigid in his arms, rejecting his assistance. A broken limb from the dead tree rested on the sunny stretch of the sandbar. Chase set her on the ground next to it and began breaking the dried wood into pieces.
    â€œIt’ll only take a couple of minutes to get a fire going,” he said, but received no response.
    The sun-sered wood was like tinder, catching with the first match. Chase fanned it with his hat and let it burn good for a minute, then built a teepee of fatter pieces to keep it going. The girl scooted closer to the warmth it sent out, huddling deep inside his jacket, which came all the way down to her thighs. His gaze swept over the moisture beaded on the raised flesh of her bare legs. As he began unbuttoning his shirt, she slanted him another one of those wary green looks.
    Using his shirt as a towel,