Desert Rain by Elizabeth Lowell Page A

it just aroused him all over again. With a silent curse, he turned away
     from her. He gave the sky a measuring look. Antelope Wash looks like a bad risk, he said
     after a moment.
    Holly looked up. There was a blue-black density to the margin between cloud and land that
     told of mountain storms at the higher altitudes. He was right. Antelope Wash was out,
     which meant she had to stay at Hidden Springs.
    She groaned. Now Ill have to set up camp all over again, Holly said. No. Well both ride
     Sand Dancer out. Ill send some men to pick up your stuff tomorrow. I can pick it up after
     the shoot on Monday. The instant the words were out of her mouth she regretted reminding
     Linc about her job as a model. Them! His voice was scornful. The tame Viking and his
     black-haired whore. When Linc saw Hollys stricken expression, he controlled his tongue
     with an effort. Sorry, he said. I forgot. Youre with them. Of all the mismatches Abruptly
     he cut off his words. He simply shook his head and forced a smile. Tears and anger and
     fear twisted Hollys throat, squeezing her voice until it was barely recognizable. Royce
     models are just that, she said. Models. Im one of them. Linc heard her distress more than
     her words. He hugged her gently.
    Id make a terrible diplomat, he said against her black hair, breaking my own truces and
     saying all the wrong things.
    Holly made a muffled sound.
    The last thing I want to do is hurt you, Linc said, kissing her forehead. Truce? Again?
    Youre wrong about Rogers models, she insisted.
    Im wrong about Rogers models, Linc repeated dutifully. Truce?
    She knew that he hadnt changed his mind. Words alone werent enough to take away the cruel
     lessons of his childhood.
    Truce, she agreed. But someday Im really going to have to rearrange your prejudices. Linc
     smiled thinly. It took a lifetime to arrange them. And all I have is two days. You have a
     lifetime,nin‡, if you want it.
    Do I?
    He sensed her despair, although he didnt understand its cause. He held her in a fierce
     grip, trying to banish the fear he saw in her golden eyes.
    She leaned against him, glorying in the rasp of beard stubble against her cheek. First,
     her hands slid around his back, then her arms. She held him with a womans surprising
     strength.
    Holly and Linc stood pressed tightly together, each storing up the others presence like
     land drinking water after a long drought. There was nothing sexual in their embrace,
     simply an elemental need to comfort one another.
    The long ride to his ranch in Garner Valley was the same for Linc and Holly, a time of
     simple closeness, of comfort given in silence and accepted the same way. She rested her
     cheek against the warmth of his naked back and gave herself to the remembered rhythms of
     being on horseback.
    Feeling at peace despite the uncertainty of her future with Linc, Holly let the familiar
     landscape of desert slide by around them.
    All too soon Sand Dancer climbed over the ridge that separated the lush Garner Valley from
     the desert. The valley lay between two ridges of the San Jacinto Mountains. The contrast
     between the sand and rock of the high desert and the pine and grass of the valley was
     startling.
    It hasnt changed, Holly said dreamily. What hasnt? The Mountains of Sunrise. The ranch is
     even more beautiful than I remembered.
    Linc smiled, pleased that she still liked his home. Part of him had feared that the ranch
     would look less appealing after six years in Manhattans sophisticated concrete and neon
     wilderness.
    The ranch takes a lot of time and money to keep up, Linc said.
    Its worth every minute, every penny.
    The white fences around the house, show rings, and paddocks were as clean as the clouds
     gathering against the mountains. The irrigated pastures were green. The grazing Arabians
     were sleek, elegant, lively, obviously bursting with health.
    On either side of the Mountains of Sunrise were other horse