Finding Her Way

  "There's my sweet girl." Clive rode up to Corinne as she was starting the fire for dinner. She could not help but smile a little when she saw him. He was like a cool breeze to her parched hot day. His white and grey peppered hair had grown longer around his ears. It suited him perfectly.

  "Hello Clive, I have missed you." Corinne said weakly. She just had enough energy to fail at sounding perky.

  "You are looking peaked child. I have to say this is the hardest part of the world to travel through, I reckon, and it gets under everyone's skin. We git ourselves a few more weeks of this before the terrain changes and then it's just plumb difficult." Clive sat down next to her as she poked her fire with a stick." I am not doing well at cheering ya, am I?" He laughed at himself softly and put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

  "I wonder if you'd like a chance to get away from the trains for a few days and ride out with me and Lucas to talk to some of the local natives. We need some hints for water spots cause there's been a few dried up springs. We were counting on them for water. You can bring some of your good oil and make some good trades again." He looked to her hopefully. She smiled but shook her head.

  "My horse is lame and needs a few days with no rider." She went back to poking a stick at the fire. Her mood had lifted at the thought of a small diverting adventure but dove back into the depths when she realized it was impossible. She felt like a four-year-old whose candy had been stolen. Tears were threatening to fall.

  "Ah, well that's no problem. I have more than one horse on this trip. I have a nice ride for ya, no worries. I will bring him by tomorrow morning and you can see for yourself. Will ya come with us if the horse suits ya?" Clive was all cheeriness and Corinne nodded with a bigger smile.

  "I'm sure your horse will suit me, Clive. I will come. How many days will we be gone? I'll need to pack my saddlebags." Corinne felt her mood lift and she actually leaned over and planted a kiss on Clive's cheek. She looked up to see Lucas standing over them.

  "I was coming to check to see if we are leaving tomorrow morning and I catch you kissing Clive. What does he do to deserve it? So I can try to get one too." Lucas laughed as he approached the fire, his green eyes always teased her lately.

  "I just told her about the trip and loaned her a horse, Lucas my boy. I'm sure you can think of some way to get a kiss if you thought hard enough on it." Clive stood and accepted a mug of coffee from Cookie who joined the group. Lucas gave Corinne a wink, headed over to the coffee pot and came back with two cups.

  "Will a coffee be enough, my Cori?" He said low for her ears only when he handed the steaming cup to her.

  Corinne gave him a long slow stare that made him swallow hard and found her voice. "I think you can do better than that, Lucas Grant. A man has to work to earn a kiss... unless he's the kind that goes about stealing them." She watched his eyebrows rise up and she might have seen him blush a little under his tanned cheek. She was mortified at herself. Corinne had no idea why she had said that. Did she want him to steal a kiss? Would it really be stealing? Argh... her mouth had gotten ahead of her.

  Her face heated up and she turned away from the group and Lucas's reaction. She made her way over to see what was cooking for dinner. She was calling herself all sorts of names as she walked away from the group.

  She didn’t see Lucas playacting with Clive behind her as he acted like she had shot him dead in the heart. He landed with