Best Kept Secrets(58)

"Warm enough?" he asked her over his shoulder.



"Yes," she lied.

She had thought his long white duster with the steep pleat

in the back was all for show. She'd never seen one outside

a Clint Eastwood western. Now, however, she realized the

coat was designed to keep a rider's thighs warm.

"Who were you meeting in the bar last night?"

"That's my business, Reede. Why did you follow me?"

"That's my business."

Impasse. For the time being, she let it go. She had a file

of questions she wanted to ask him, but it was difficult to

keep her mind on her task when her open cleft kept bumping

into his hips with each rocking motion of the horse. She

blurted out the first question that came to mind. "How did

you and my mother get to be such close friends?"

"We grew up together," he said dismissively. "It started

out on the jungle gym on the school playground and evolved

as we got older."

"It never became awkward?"

"Nope. We had no secrets from each other. We'd even

played doctor a few times."

" 'I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours'?"

He grinned. "You must've played doctor, too."

Alex didn't rise to the bait, knowing that he was trying to

sidetrack her. "I guess the two of you eventually grew out

of that stage."

"We didn't play doctor anymore, no, but we talked about

everything. No subject was taboo between Celina and me."

"Isn't that the kind of relationship a girl usually has with

another girl?"

"Usually, but Celina didn't have many girlfriends. Most

of the girls were jealous of her."

"Why?" Alex already knew the answer. She knew even

before he shrugged, a move that rubbed his shoulder blade

against her breast. Alex was hardly able to speak. She had

to force herself to ask. "It was because of you, wasn't it?

Her friendship with you?"

"Maybe. That, and the fact that she was by far the prettiest



girl around. Most of the girls considered her a rival, not a

friend. Hold on," he warned her before guiding the horse

into a dry gully.

Inertia pushed her forward, closer to him. Instinctively,

she hugged his torso tighter. He made a grunting sound. She

asked, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing."

"You sounded . . . uncomfortable."

"If you were a guy sitting astride a horse taking a steep

incline and were being crammed against the pommel of the

saddle so that your manhood pushed into your lap, you'd be

uncomfortable, too."

"Oh."

"Jesus," he swore beneath his breath.

Until the ground leveled out, there was an awkward silence

between them, broken only by the horse's clumping tread as

he carefully picked his way over the rocky ground. To hide

her embarrassment and keep the cold wind off her, Alex

buried her face in the flannel-lined collar of his coat. Eventually,

she said, "So, Mother came to you with all her problems."

"Yes. When she didn't, and I knew something was wrong,

I went to her. One day she was absent from school. I got

worried and went to her house during lunch break. Your

grandmother was at work, so Celina was there alone. She'd

been crying. I got scared and refused to leave until she told

me what was wrong."

"What was the matter?"

"She got her period for the first time."

"Oh."

"From what I gathered, Mrs. Graham had made her feel

ashamed of it. She'd told her all kinds of horror stories about

Eve's curse--crap like that." There was disapproval in his

voice. "Was she that way with you?"

Alex shook her head no, but didn't remove it from the

protection of his collar. His neck was warm, and smelled like

him. "Not that severe. Maybe Grandma had become more



enlightened by the time I reached puberty." Until Reede

reined in the horse and dismounted, Alex hadn't realized that

they'd reached a small frame house. "What about Mother?"

"I consoled her and told her that it was normal, nothing

to be ashamed of, that she had officially become a woman."

He looped the reins around a hitching post.

"Did it work?"

"I guess so. She stopped crying and--"

"And . . .?" Alex prodded him to continue, knowing that

he had omitted the most important part of the story.

"Nothing. Swing your leg over." He reached up to help

her down, taking her around the waist with sure, strong hands

and lifting her to the ground.

"Something, Reede."

She clutched the sleeves of his coat. His lips were drawn

into a thin, stubborn line. They looked chapped and consummately