Part 10 (1/2)
”What in h.e.l.l did you think you were doing coming out here after I told you to stay in the cabin?” he demanded as he dismounted, rage pouring out like custard boiling out of a pot.
”I wanted to go home,” she said.
”I told you I'd take you as soon as the snow melted.” He took her by the shoulders and spun her around. ”Does this look like melted show?” he asked, forcing her to look at the world of white that surrounded them.
Daisy shrugged out of his grip. ”You got through,” she said, turning back to face him. ”I thought I could.”
”How? Do you see any wings on that mule?”
Daisy didn't answer.
”You could have ended up dinner for that cat. Why didn't you leave the mule and climb a tree? Cougars prefer mule meat.”
”I didn't know that.”
”I suppose you didn't know you could have gotten lost or fallen and frozen to death, either.”
She had scared him half to death. Even now, knowing she was safe, his heart beat too loud and too fast. He couldn't put into words the horror he felt when he saw Daisy fighting off the lion with a pine branch. He refused to allow himself to consider what might have happened if he'd arrived a few minutes later. It would have been a guilt he wouldn't have been able to shake for the rest of his life. She had no right to do that to him.
”I didn't risk my neck pulling you out of that fire so you could die in a snow drift. Neither do I like giving up my bed and half my cabin to have you run away the first time my back is turned.”
”I'm s-sorry,” Daisy stammered. ”I just wanted to go home.”
”So you steal my mule and head off into a blizzard.” The snow was coming down harder.
”I didn't mean--”
”You may not have any consideration for your own life, but you ought to think of the mule. He hasn't done anything to you. He doesn't deserve to die.”
”I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!” Daisy shouted at him, her balled-up fists pressed to her temples.
”If you're so d.a.m.ned sorry, why did you do it?”
”To get away from you!” Daisy flung at him. Her mule took exception to her tone of voice. He half reared, pulling her backwards by the rein caught over her arm.
Tyler couldn't have been any more shocked if she'd made a s...o...b..ll and hit him in the face. ”To get away from me!” he repeated, incredulous.
”I appreciate your taking care of me, but I can't stand your bossing me around all the time,” Daisy said, able to turn around only after she had convinced the mule she wasn't mad at him.
”My what?” Tyler decided the bullet must have given her a concussion after all.
”Your telling me what to do.”
”I never tell you what to do. I--”
”Yes, you do,” Daisy contradicted. ”All day long. I feel like a prisoner. You tell me when to go to bed, when to get up, how long I can stay up, what to eat, how fast to eat it, and how much. You hedge me in until I could scream.”
”I only did what I thought was best.”
”Then you decided to take me to your brother instead of Adora's family,” she said, ignoring his interruption. ”He'll probably dislike me as much as Zac. Then George will show up and blame me for Zac's not going back to school.”
With a defiant toss of her head, Daisy started back along the trial, her mule following behind her. Tyler had to follow if he wanted to talk to her.
”George would never do that. He's a sensible man.”
”That's not the point,” Daisy said over her shoulder. ”I'm not a child, and I'm no longer sick.” She pulled at her bandage, but it wouldn't come off.
”I never realized--” Tyler began.
”You never listen. You go around doing exactly what you want, and you're so big n.o.body can stop you.”
Tyler was furious at how she saw what he'd done. He knew women could be blind, but he never expected Daisy to be so perversely ungrateful.
”I can make my own decisions,” Daisy informed him.
”I suppose you're used to bullet wounds in your head, being snowed in by a blizzard, and being tracked by murderers,” Tyler said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
”No, but--”
”I gather it's no concern to you that the killers are still after you or that they probably mean to kill Zac and me as well.”
Daisy turned back, her face drained of color. ”What do you mean?”
d.a.m.n! He hadn't meant to mention the tracks, but she made him so mad he couldn't think straight.
”I found their tracks a couple of miles down the mountain,” he said, trying to make it sound like he didn't attach much importance to the discovery. ”They are going away from us, but it means they're still looking for you. If you had gotten down the mountain, you could have run into them.”
She looked directly into his eyes. ”I shouldn't have left. I shouldn't have taken your mule. I'm sorry.”
”There'll be time to talk about that later,” he said, his voice gruff. His temper had cooled. ”Here, let me help you into the saddle.”
Daisy resisted, but he mounted her on his mule anyway.
”See what I mean?”
”What?” He didn't have time to play Daisy's games.
”I didn't think you did.”
”Hold on while I climb up,” he said.
”I can ride by myself.”
”I'm riding behind you. Your mule is exhausted.” Tyler caught up the reins of her mule, then climbed up into the saddle. ”I'm not taking any more chances. You've caused enough trouble for one day.”
That was unfair, and he hadn't meant to say it, but he wouldn't retract a word. They were safe words. She would know he was angry. She wouldn't know it was because he had been so scared for her.
And he was angry.