Rocky Mountain Oasis by Lynnette Bonner Page B

preferred to ride astride. Uncle Jackson had caught her twice, and both times she had received a beating for behaving in such an unladylike fashion.
    Sky scooted up close behind the cantle and reached around her to take the reins. The hardness of his chest and the brush of his muscled arms as he held the reins sent her heart into an erratic flutter. She did not like these muddled feelings. One moment she felt terrified and the next she was hopelessly attracted. And caring for a man was something she had promised herself she would never do again. The repercussions of it on one’s emotions were too painful after the inevitable betrayal. She took a deep breath and tried to still the beating of her heart, but he began to talk and she found that the deep resonance of his voice did funny things to her as well.
    “I should tell you that I am not Jason, the man you agreed to marry when you came west.”
    She had suspected as much yesterday at the ceremony but had been too overwhelmed to question him.
    There was a long silence and finally she said, “I never agreed to marry anyone. My uncle made the agreement, and I don’t suppose he’ll much care as long as he got his money.”
    “I see,” he said.
    She wondered at his strange tone. It didn’t help that she couldn’t see his face.
    “Well, just so you know a little about me, my full name is Skyler Tyrell Jordan. I was born and raised on a ranch in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. My parents are Rachel and Sean, and I have one brother named Rocky and one sister named Sharyah. All of my family still lives in Oregon, so you won’t meet them for some time.”
    Brooke was relieved to hear this.
    Sky continued, “Other than that, there’s not much to tell about me. I own a small farm on up the hill a ways and have lived in this area for about five years.”
    She wanted to ask who Jason was but kept quiet and began to take in the scenery around her.
    The trail wound its way up the opposite side of the gorge that the stage had plunged into yesterday. It was narrow and dusty. Tall evergreen trees shaded it in most areas, but some of the hillsides grew nothing but huge expanses of yellow daisies and an occasional patch of scrub brush. The droning of bees could be heard amid the stillness of the day and birds twittered happily, darting in and out amongst the trees as they chased one another. After yesterday’s long trying day, the warmth of the sun, the creaking of saddle leather, and the sounds of nature combined to make her very tired.
    Her head nodded and she jerked it up, hoping Sky had not noticed. What would he think of her? She had slept in this morning, only to be falling asleep not an hour down the road! She wanted to sing to keep herself awake but was too embarrassed, so she had to content herself with pinching her arm every few seconds. But the pinching didn’t work very well and her head nodded for a second time.
    Sky slipped one arm around her, pulling her back against his chest and pressing her head back onto his shoulder. “Rest.”
    Everything in her urged resistance, but it felt so good to lean back and relax that she gave up the fight.
    “That’s better,” He whispered in her ear, “Go to sleep. You’ve had a long couple of days.”

    Brooke didn’t awaken until they splashed across a creek. She opened her eyes, perplexed for a moment, then realized how heavily she was leaning on Sky and jolted upright. Hoping she had not caused him undue discomfort, she sat forward and looked around, realizing they had leveled out at the top of the ridge. A long gently rolling plain stretched before her, golden heads of grain nodding in the breeze. Interspersed here and there amongst the grain, clusters of yellow pine stood in stark contrast to the brilliant blue of the sky beyond. A single white cloud traced its way through the blue, drawing Brooke’s eyes upward.
    “It’s beautiful,” she murmured.
    “Welcome home.” Sky’s words were soft. “The house is just