Montana Refuge by Alice Sharpe

drive her wild with his touch, just as she knew such secrets about him. He lifted her in his arms without losing contact with her mouth and carried her along in the dark, his right arm under her bent legs, his left hand wrapped around her torso, his fingers pressing into her clothes, into her skin. And still the kisses continued, stoking the fires within, making her dizzy and disorientated.
    But that wasn’t true. She wasn’t disorientated; she knew exactly what was on Tyler’s mind, what he planned to do if she didn’t stop him. Trouble was, she didn’t know what she wanted.
    When he knelt and laid her on a bed of clean straw and peered down at her, she reached up, grabbed the two sides of his open vest and pulled him down on top of her.
    The kisses grew more and more heated as his lips traveled down her throat. She was wearing a T-shirt and he raised it, groaning when he realized she wore no bra. His mouth closed over her right nipple as his hand slipped under the waistband of her jeans, his fingers landing between her legs, his touch driving her frantic with desire.
    She had to stop him. This wasn’t right. Going through with this would make everything harder than ever.
    But oh, the sensations, the waves of pleasure and passion. She hadn’t experienced this in a year and she was overwhelmed with the desire for it to continue, to run its natural course, to be so caught up in the physicality of sex that the emotional quagmire of what it all meant would just go away.
    She caught his wrist, her grip tight, and he stopped everything. Silence hung between them like a lead curtain until he said in her ear, “I want you, Julie. And you want me.” As he whispered these words, he sucked on her earlobe, his hand caressing her bottom.
    “No,” she said, her voice so soft she could barely hear herself. “No, this isn’t what I want and it’s not really what you want either.”
    He shifted his weight, the straw rustling as he collapsed beside her. She straightened her clothes and fought to reclaim her equilibrium.
    “I’m sorry—” she began, but he cut her off.
    “Just don’t, please. I got carried away. It won’t happen again. I thought you wanted—”
    “I did,” she said. “But I don’t.”
    “How do we keep screwing this up?” he added.
    “I’m not sure. But I’ll be gone tomorrow.”
    “I said you didn’t have to leave.”
    “I know, but I think it’s better if I do.”
    “Where will you go?”
    “I’m not sure. The only thing I really know is it’s not your problem. I’m not your problem.”
    He waited a heartbeat, then got up. Without pausing, he walked out the back of the barn, the door slamming behind him.

Chapter Five
    Julie paid a last visit to Babylon before starting the walk back to her cabin. The threat of Trill and the confusion over exactly what had happened in Oregon was still ever present in her mind, heightened now by the fiasco of a few minutes before when she’d been about to make love to Tyler.
    Walking with her head down to watch her step, she suddenly sensed a presence and looked up. A man stood within a pool of light out in front of the cabin next to hers, leaning against one of the porch supports, almost blending into his surroundings like a chameleon. He was as tall as Tyler, a little heavier, lighter coloring. Julie didn’t recognize him and stopped dead in her tracks, a scream edging its way up her throat.
    “You couldn’t sleep either?” he asked, straightening up but not making a move in her direction. It was obvious he’d correctly read the alarm on her face. “I’m a guest here, too,” he added. “I saw you in the kitchen after dinner. My name is John Smyth, by the way.”
    “Julie Chilton,” she said automatically, beginning to remember him now.
    “Look, I can see I startled you. I’ll go back inside. We can meet again later today on the cattle drive.”
    “I’m not going on the cattle drive,” she said, her heartbeat back to normal. The feeling