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“I’d best be getting along.”
    â€œWell.” She breathed a small sigh of relief when her hand touched the doorknob and safety was in easy reach. “Thanks again.”
    â€œSure.” He nodded briefly and turned to his horse, paused and turned back to look at her with a penetrating intensity that turned her legs to water. When he spoke, it was soft and final. “I mean to have you, you know.”
    Several moments of silence passed before she could summon up an answer.
    â€œD-Do you?” Her voice was a shaky whisper, unlike the coolly flippant tone she would have wished for.
    â€œYes, ma’am.” He vaulted onto the chestnut’s back and pushed the Stetson back on his head so that she had a disturbingly clear view of his eyes. “I do,” he confirmed, turning his mount and galloping away.

Chapter Five
    Often over the next few days, Samantha told herself that her reaction to Jake’s kiss had been merely a passing physical attraction. She was a normal woman, wasn’t she? So why feel guilty about it?
    Jake Tanner
was
a very attractive man.
Too attractive
, she added to herself. And he knew too much about charming women. The fact that Jake was abrasive, smug and irritating had nothing to do with the way she had acted. It had just been a passing fancy.
And would certainly not occur again.
    ***
    Finally Sabrina was allowed up from the confinement of her bed. Samantha decided it was safe to leave her sister for a few hours. With a light heart, she saddled Spook and set off from the ranch at a brisk canter. For a while she enjoyed the feeling of Spook’s hooves pounding the hard road. The sky hung low above her, and heavy, leaden gray clouds draped the distant mountains in mysterious gloom. There was a stillness, a waiting in the air, unnoticed by Samantha in her eagerness to escape the close confines of the house.
    She rode swiftly past the bored, white-faced cattle and the stretches of barbed wire, eager to explore new territory, tasting the joy of motion and freedom. The mountains, grim sentinels above her, stood stone-gray under the unbroken sky. Remembering Dan’s instructions, Samantha took care to mark her route, choosing a clump of rocks, a cottonwood tree with a broken limb, and a gnarled stump as landmarks for her return trip.
    She led her mount to a crest of a hill, watching as a jackrabbit, startled by her intrusion, darted across the road and out of sight.
    Nearly an hour passed before the first flakes began to drift lazily from sky to earth. She stopped and watched their progress in fascination. The snow fell slowly. Lifting her face, she let it caress her cheeks and closed lids. The air was moist, coming to life around her, and she stirred herself out of her dream.
    â€œWell, Spook, this is my first Wyoming snow. I’d like to stay here all day and watch it fall, but duty calls. We’d better head back.” Patting the horse’s neck, she turned back toward the ranch.
    They rode slowly. Samantha was enchanted with the fairyland that was forming around her. Cottonwoods and aspens were draped in white, their branches a stark contrast to the brilliant etchings of snow. The ground was cloaked quickly. Though the beauty was breathtaking, Samantha began to feel uncomfortably alone.
    She took Spook into a canter. The sound of his hooves was soft and muffled. The quiet surrounding her was unearthly, almost as though the world had ceased to breathe. She shivered, suddenly cold in the warm confines of her jacket. To her annoyance, she saw that in her preoccupation with the landscape she had taken a wrong turn, and she began to backtrack, berating herself for carelessness.
    The snow increased, plunging down from a sky she could no longer see. She cursed herself for having come so far, fighting down a sudden surge of panic. “Don’t be silly, Sam,” she spoke aloud, wanting the reassurance of her own voice. “A little snow won’t