Kid secured the horses as best he could under the ledge at the entrance to the cave. He took off his bedroll and saddlebag before walking through the cave opening, all the while staring at the back of the woman in front of him. The ride had been torture since the moment they'd left the way station three days ago. Why did Jimmy have to twist his ankle, making him the replacement to go on this run with Lou? One night things were perfect between them and the next morning, it was like he'd committed the ultimate crime. Try as he might, Kid just couldn't come up with any reason why she would be mad at him. He didn't think he'd done anything wrong but Lou obviously did and with every grunt and groan out of her directed at him, he knew her anger wasn't diminishing. She had given him the silent treatment for two days before they'd left on this run so once they were alone on the trail, Kid was sure she'd explode with nasty comments directed his way, blaming him for whatever it was that he had done. But Lou had done the opposite. She held her tongue, letting her anger stew, and everything he did or said seemed to add fuel to the fire - a fire that she had now ignited. And now after what had happened a half-hour ago, it was even worse, except for the fact that she was now talking to him, if that's what you could call it. Kid didn't see any end in sight, and found it safer to stop asking her what was wrong; he'd just have to take the verbal abuse and hope she got tired of it real soon and gave up talking altogether. Lou walked further into the cave, shivering from the wet, frigid clothing clinging to her petite body. She started to peel her jacket off, hoping she wouldn't feel quite as cold once the heavy material was removed. Of course who was she kidding? They were caught in the middle of a snowstorm and this cold, damp cave was the only shelter for miles. "This is all your fault, you know that, don't you?" she stated through chattering teeth. She hadn't spoken ten whole words to him the whole time they'd been gone but had said that same sentence to him five times already. 'I hear you!' he wanted to shout at her but knew it would only make it worse. This was Lou and she wouldn't be happy until she got things off her chest and came out the winner. Her chest. Kid paused before answering her as his mind wandered. The corner of his mouth twitched into a grin as he thought of what lie under that wet shirt of hers. How he wanted to put his lips around her nip... He felt her cold stare and cleared his throat; clearly knowing what he wanted to see was off limits until she calmed down. "Whatever you say, Lou," he sighed. He turned his back on her, giving his attention to the horses instead. He kept doing that, ignoring her instead of fighting and what she wanted to do was fight. He deserved it, after all! Things had been so great between them since the night at the Red Fern station. He'd been so sweet and caring toward her that Lou was convinced she could never get angry at him. Oh, had that thought quickly been turned around by him saying what he'd said to the boys! She followed him to the cave opening as he made trips back and forth depositing saddles and her wet items inside the cave. "I mean it. If you hadn't of taken us in the wrong direction in the first place, we wouldn't have had to double back and cross that creek again. Then Lightning wouldn't have stepped in that hole and lost her balance, and I wouldn't have fallen off her back into the freezing water!" She stood with hands on her hips, waiting for an answer. "Next you'll probably say it's my fault the wind picked up and the snow fell harder," Kid muttered to himself. "What did you say?" Lou demanded, coming up behind him. Kid turned around and nearly bumped his chest into hers; she was that close to him. Her eyes were so dark and intense that Kid was forced to look away. "Um, I said you should get out of those wet clothes before you catch your death." He'd been so worried about her ever since she'd fallen into the water but whenever he had tried to express his concern, she'd bitten his head off. He'd finally learned to bite his tongue and not overreact to her being so wet in the middle of winter. "And what pray tell am I supposed to put on? In case you've forgotten, not only did I go into the creek but so did my saddle bag, bedroll, everything." She crossed her arms over her chest, daring him to come up with a way to solve this problem. Kid reached into his saddlebag, pulled out a shirt and threw it at her. "Here, put this on." Lou grabbed the shirt and held out her hand, expecting Kid to throw another piece of clothing her way. When nothing came, she looked at him in confusion. "That's it?" she asked in disbelief. "No pants, no long johns?" "I have pants and I have long johns," Kid told her calmly, knowing that if he got mad at her, it would just spur her on more. "I only have one of each since I wasn't expecting bad weather to extend our trip and in case you've forgotten, I had to wade in the creek after you so I'm soaked from the waist down. Now I think the shirt will be enough until your clothes dry. I'll give you some privacy to get changed. I'm gonna try to find something we can burn to make a fire." He walked toward the cave entrance, stopped and glanced back at her. "I won't be long so I suggest you get changed fast." With that said, he walked out into the swirling snow. "Whatever you say, Kid," Lou retorted. Oh, how he was getting on her nerves! He didn't even seem bothered that she was mad at him and had stopped asking her what was wrong after only one day out on the trail. How could she forgive him now? The least he could do was act as if he missed her. "Damn you, Kid," she said. She went to throw his shirt to the ground in anger but stopped as the tail of it hit her in the face. Instantly memories and feelings flooded her mind. Lou brought the piece of blue material up to her nose and inhaled deeply. It was such a fantastic smell; everything about it belonged to Kid. The combination of soap, sweat and horse scent were enough to make her weak in the knees. Lou had to sit down as it brought back memories of nights spent in Kid's arms. How she would slowly unbutton his shirt and slip it off his shoulders, exposing his muscular chest and strong arms. The idea was to free him so he could claim her as his over and over again. Waking up with his arms wrapped protectively around her had made her feel so secure for the first time in years. Lou smiled as she recalled how after a heated night of making love, the next morning was spent with her wearing his shirt. It would be falling off her shoulders and only half buttoned but she always left it that way, knowing Kid loved the view it gave him of her breasts. She finally shook her head and grunted, getting mad at him all over again for causing her mind to wander. He didn't deserve those kinds of thoughts about him. He deserved punishment for what he'd said, what he'd promised not to tell. Lou managed to quickly peel her wet clothes off and put on Kid's shirt. At least it came down to the middle of her thighs, giving her a little protection. Any other time and she would have been grateful to be alone on a ride with him, wearing nothing but his favorite shirt. But with what he'd done to her, he didn't deserve to see her in the shirt, much less deserve the opportunity to help her out of it. She did hope Kid would get back soon with something to start a fire with. The light from outside was slowly diminishing, making it hard to see, and even though it felt good to be dry once again, she was only half dressed so she was still cold. Maybe it would help if she wrapped herself up in something while she waited. She went to the pile of their belongings that Kid had deposited inside the entrance. As she went through their possessions and came up with Kid's bedroll, Lou found herself repeatedly glancing outside. She even tried to listen for the sound of crunching snow, hoping for some kind of indication that Kid was safe and on his way back to her. No, not back to her, she corrected herself, only on his way back to shelter. ********** Kid had found a couple bushes under an overhang of the rock wall that encompassed the cave. He broke off as many branches as he could carry then headed back to the cave. His pants were near frozen to his legs and he couldn't wait to change out of them. He was also nervous about leaving Lou alone, though there was no way he was about to admit that to her. Not with her in the mood she was in. He entered the cave, concentrating on what was in front of him as his arms were laden with branches, making it hard to see. But what he did manage to see caused him to stop dead in his tracks. 'What a sight!' he thought, hungrily licking his lips. Lou was facing away from him, wearing the shirt he'd given her and, as he knew, nothing else underneath. It wasn't the first time she'd worn one of his shirts but it may as well have been because each time he saw the sight of her dressed like that, in his shirt, it always made him weak in the knees. He had to steady himself so as not to disturb her. She hadn't heard him enter so he stood and watched as she went about spreading a blanket out on the ground. In order to get it to lay right, she was forced to bend over and each time she bent over, the shirt would ride up her thighs, exposing her smooth, perfect legs to him. They were the most muscular legs he'd ever witnessed on a woman, just what was needed to wrap around his waist as she rode him. Kid found himself leaning to the side as he tried to get a glimpse of her rounded bottom. As she turned his way, Kid instantly straightened up and looked away. He felt a blush creep into his cheeks and silently cursed, hoping she wouldn't notice. Lou was so intent on laying the blanket out that she was surprised to find him standing behind her. "Kid, you're back!" she exclaimed then frowned as she reprimanded herself for sounding relieved that he was back safe. She quickly looked away, desperately trying to find something to do as a distraction from his constant stare. Spotting the blanket, she casually took a seat on it. Kid noticed the warmness to her voice and couldn't help but smile. "Were you worried about me, Lou?" "Who, me, worried about you? Don't flatter yourself," she said, waving the thought aside. "It's just that you took such a long time, I was beginning to think something had happened to you and I would have to go out into the snow once again and rescue you. That's all." She gave him a fake smile then started playing with the ends of the blanket. "Whatever you say, Lou," Kid told her, still grinning. He knew her better than that and could tell clear as day when she was lying. And she most definitely was lying now. Ignoring her, he set about making the fire. After several attempts, he managed to get it lit and once the flames created light in the cave, Kid went to retrieve his dry clothes. "If you will be so kind as to turn your back, I would like to get changed now," Kid said to her. "Be my guest," Lou replied as she moved. "It doesn't matter to me what you do." Kid bit his lip to hold back the chuckle about to emerge. This was good, she was talking to him more and more and he knew that sooner or later her resolve would melt and she'd just yell at him then it would be over and out of the way and they could finally start to enjoy this trip. Lou found it so hard to resist the urge to peek over her shoulder at him. She heard him struggling with his wet clothes and could picture him so clearly as each item of clothing was removed. But picturing it in her mind wasn't enough; she had to see it for herself. As she moved her head to look, she managed to stop herself at the last moment. A groan of frustration was surfacing and in desperation, Lou forced the corner of the blanket into her mouth to stifle the sound. As it worked, she breathed a sigh of relief. Kid laid all their wet clothes near the fire then turned to her. He noticed for the first time what she was sitting on, it was his bedroll and she had the rest of it on her lap and near her mouth. He didn't want to know what it was doing up there but set his jaw firmly as he realized what she intended on doing to him. "No way, Lou," he sternly told her. "I may be a gentleman but I draw the line here. If you expect me to say 'since you're the woman, you take the blanket and I'll suffer on the cold ground' then you've gone absolutely insane! It's freezing, I'm tired, and everything else we own is wet. That's all we have left and I'm not giving it up!" He planted his feet in front of her with his hands resting on his hips. "Fine, you can share with me!" she replied, pushing the rest of the blanket away from her lap. "How very generous of you, considering it's my blanket to begin with." He took a position on the blanket, making sure to stay as far away from her as possible. Lou looked at him as he went to sit down, noticing how he was dressed for the first time. He hadn't buttoned his long john top so she had a clear view of his firm, tight chest and his pants were positioned low on his hips. Without the support of a belt, they slung in just the right spot to make a woman take notice. How she wanted to put her hands on the waistband of those pants and slowly push them further down his body. She turned away as he caught her eye. She'd have to stop having these thoughts or there was no way she could stay mad at him. "I'm glad to see you're talking to me again," Kid began, hoping to break the ice. "It's no fun having you mad at me, especially since I did nothing wrong." "Nothing?!" she exclaimed, turning to him. "This is all your fault." "If you think I deliberately wanted you to fall into a creek in the middle of a snowstorm, then you don't know me at all." "I do know you, or at least I thought I did - that's why I can't believe you did what you did. How could you tell them?" Kid turned to her and noticed that the anger previously displayed on her face had been replaced with disappointment. He stared at her in confusion at her words until slowly realization dawned. So that was it. He cringed, starting to feel guilty. It was not his intention of saying anything to the boys, especially anything that would upset her, but they had finally worn him down and how did she find out anyway? Who was the one to snitch on him? When he found out... "Lou, I didn't mean anything by it. Let me explain - when the five of us are alone, you know, without you around, well, the others get started on these conversations and they always center around women we've known. They'd been hounding me ever since they found out about you and I don't know why but I finally told them. It was just between us … or was supposed to be." He got angry as he thought of who had told Lou. "It was just, you know, guy talk." He laughed, trying to make light of the matter. "Guy talk! Yeah with me as the subject. I just thought when you gave your word that you wouldn't tell about me being a girl that that promise also included not telling how you found out I was a girl." She couldn't look at him so she played with the ends of the blanket. Kid moved closer and stilled her hands with one of his own. "Lou, I'm sorry. I would never intentionally hurt you or say anything to discredit you. It wasn't one of my brighter moves." He tried to make her look at him, giving her his hound dog eyes that normally she couldn't resist. But tonight she was resisting them, evident as she turned her eyes away from him. "I mean, come on, they all know you got 'em." He tried to laugh about it but stopped as she jerked her hands away from him. "I'm sure you told them how small they are too," she accused. "I did no such thing and I happen to think they're perfect. I wouldn't want them any other way." Kid moved his hand to the front of her shirt and slowly started to unbutton it. Lou looked down, watching his hands at work. She knew she should stop him but at the contact of his hands, her body was almost curving into his touch. And he did say he was sorry. She also knew how annoying the rest of the boys could be until they found out what they wanted to know. They were like an annoying puppy that followed you around - feed them what they required to survive and they'll be on their way. "Besides, they may get to see them through your long johns but I'm the only one you've blessed with seeing them in the flesh. And I'd like to keep it that way." He had deftly opened the top buttons and now his hand made its way toward its destination. Lou gasped as he found his target. She was already hard from the wet clothing clinging to her body for so long but that didn't stop Kid's expert thumb from forming circles around her nipple. She leaned into him with her eyes closed, her hand resting on his thigh. Suddenly her eyes flew open as she registered what he had just said. "What do you mean 'they see them through my long johns'?" "Well one look at you and we know if it's cold or warm in the bunkhouse." Kid leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. Lou turned her head sharply toward him. "You mean... ?" She couldn't even finish the sentence; she was in so much shock. "How could you not tell me I was ... I was ... pointed!" she cried, for lack of a better word. She climbed up onto her knees and looked down on him, her mouth hanging open in utter disbelief. "Because I like that look on you," he suggested as a reasonable answer then when her eyes became slits out of anger, he figured he'd better come up with a better excuse. "I didn't want to embarrass you," he said, rising to meet her height. "And once the moment passed, I'd forget about it until it occurred again. Forgive me." "I most certainly will not. How am I ever gonna be able to go back to that bunkhouse again?" She quickly pulled the edges of her shirt together. Kid sighed. Nothing he was saying was coming out right. How was he going to fix this? "I screwed up, Lou, alright? I'm sorry. I know I try to appear as if I'm perfect but I do make mistakes." He noticed that he had her attention so he continued, "I would never make fun of you, Louise, you mean too much to me. I wasn't bragging about seeing you when I told the others how I'd found out. I guess I thought if it was out in the open, they wouldn't have anything to pester me about. I should have known better." "Yes, you should have," she reprimanded. Kid tentatively reached over and took her hand in his once again. He grinned as she didn't pull away. "I guess I got a lot of making up to do, huh?" "You better believe it," she told him firmly. "It's hard enough being a girl living with a bunch of guys, the least you could do is help me out a little. I can't help how I'm built or the differences between us but I'm still family and I deserve to be treated with respect." "You're right, you do. And if anyone says or even looks at you funny, they'll have to answer to me." "Protecting my honor?" she asked, smiling. "Something like that." He grinned then grew serious. "If it helps any, I regretted telling them as soon as I did - it was our little secret and now it's gone." "Well, not entirely," Lou said, looking at him with a sly grin. She inched as close to him as she could and rested her hand on his knee once again. Kid knew that sultry look all too well that she was flashing in his direction. "What are you up to?" "Who me? Nothin'," she insisted as she leaned over. She planted a kiss on his cheek as her hand made its way inside his long john top. Kid jumped at the contact of her hand on his chest. "Louise," he cautioned. "The good thing about secrets is that you can always make new ones, better ones." She kissed his mouth this time. As he responded, she pulled his top over his head. Kid leaned toward her, putting his hand on her thigh. He slowly moved his hand under the fabric resting in her lap. Lou broke away from the kiss and sat straight up. "Kid, I don't have anything on under there," she warned. She wanted to be the leader, not him. "Oh, I'm fully aware of that." As his hand continued its journey, he tried to push her to the ground but Lou retaliated. She was going to have this her way or none at all. Lou twisted herself until she had the upper hand and she pushed him onto his back. She then deftly opened the buttons on his pants and with one swift sweep, she pulled them off him. He looked at her in amazement. "I'm impressed." "That was nothin'," she assured him. She leaned over his chest, her exposed breasts resting firmly against him. As she made contact with his lips, she threw her leg over his thighs. Kid shifted until he was on his side. His free hand went to work running up and down her leg. He then approached the junction between her legs. As he touched her most sensitive area, she arched into his hand. She gasped and kissed him harder. Days of pent up frustration needed to be released. Lou pulled on his hair in her attempt to keep touching him. "God, I love running my fingers through your hair," she mumbled against his mouth. "I know what you mean," he muttered as his tongue found its way into her mouth. She practically wanted to devour him but pulled away at the contact his hand was making. She stilled his actions. "Kid, I was talking about this kind of hair," she reprimanded, pulling on the curls on his head. "I know what you were talking about and I do like your hair but right now, my hand was perfectly happy where it was so if you'll allow it to get back to what it was doing, I'll be forever grateful." "Who's to stop a man when he has a mission in mind? Of course, I have one of my own." She gave him a naughty look that said he better beware. She tugged at the long johns covering what she wanted to get her hands on. He lifted his hips off the ground so she had easy access. Once he was free, he undid the buttons and freed her of her shirt with one hand while his other pushed her to the ground. He leaned over her, letting his length tease her as it rubbed back and forth over her lower abdomen. He brushed against her womanhood then quickly pulled away. He chuckled as she automatically thrust her hips in his direction. With his hand, he started at her cheek, touching each part of her. He traveled down the valley between her pert breasts, onto her flat stomach then crept toward his destination. He wanted her to be ready for him and smiled as he found her moist and, from the look on her face, eager. Lou looked into his eyes. Her breathing became heavy as just his touch was sending shivers through her body. She was close to going over the edge but wanted to do it joined with him. "You're traveling into dangerous territory there, Kid. Once you enter, I might not be willin' to show you the way out." "And who said I wanted to find my way out? I kinda feel right at home in there." "Kid?" "Yes, Lou?" "Please come home." He smiled as he spread her legs apart and positioned himself above her. As he lowered himself onto her, he whispered, "Whatever you say, Lou." Email Debbie TYR EXPRESSions Home