and a saddle and told him he lived on a ranch not far away. It was clear that he was excited to be providing horses for a TV commercial.
“A friend of mine works up here. Ainsley Hamilton? Do you know where I might find her?” Sawyer asked.
Ted nodded and smiled, before pointing off to a wide open meadow and a stone cliff behind it. “She took off toward Box Canyon about twenty minutes ago. You could probably catch up to her. Wouldn’t hurt to get some saddle time in before you have to go before the camera, I would imagine,” he said.
“I’d appreciate that,” Sawyer said and saddled up. Riding past the still and silent carnival, he headed for the canyon. The day was quite warm now for the end of October. The leaves on the aspen trees in the meadow hadn’t fallen yet. Sun-dappled, they shimmered red, orange and gold in the breeze. Past them, the pines were a dark cool green at the mouth of the canyon.
The moment he rode into the ponderosa pines, the temperature dropped. The sheer rock walls cast the canyon in shadow. Sawyer noticed what appeared to be an old creek bed winding its way out of the canyon. He could see Ainsley’s horse’s tracks in the dirt.
Reining in, he swung out of the saddle. He’d decided to walk into the canyon, rather than ride, to give him time to consider how he would handle this. Normally he preferred the truth.
But he’d gotten the feeling from Frank that he was dealing with an independent woman who might resent him butting into her business. Also, she didn’t know him from Adam. He figured it might make her less self-conscious if she thought he was just an extra hired on for the commercial. He might be able to find out who was following her, take care of the matter, and Ainsley would never have to be the wiser.
The commercial was supposed to wrap in a few days, according to Ted. Sawyer figured he’d be able to find the man tailing Ainsley long before that.
Tying up the horse at the opening of the canyon, he ventured in. As he came around the corner between the two rock cliffs, he heard something and drew up short. Standing just yards ahead was a young blonde woman dressed in jeans, boots and a blue-checked Western shirt, holding a gun on him.
“STAY WHERE YOU ARE!” Sawyer ordered as a stream of pebbles cascaded off the side of the cliff, clattering on the ground between them. Glancing up, he caught movement as someone stepped away from the edge of the canyon wall above them. He swore and held up his hands. Frank had faxed him a photo of the young woman, but it certainly hadn’t done her justice. “Please, don’t move!”
“I believe that’s my line,” Ainsley said and kept coming toward him, brandishing the gun. “Why are you following me?”
There wasn’t time to explain. From the top of the canyon wall fist-sized rocks began to come down like a waterfall. She glanced up in surprise, the tumbling rocks distracting her enough to give him the edge.
Sawyer launched himself at her, wrenching the gun from her hand as he took her down, rolling them both back under the edge of the canyon wall. A moment later, an avalanche of larger rocks came crashing down just inches from them. Dust choked the canyon, and for a few moments neither could see anything.
The rocks continued to fall in a deafening roar. Neither of them moved until the trickle of rocks finally ended with several large boulders booming down in another cloud of dust.
Sawyer had covered her body with his own when the rock slide began. Now he lifted himself up on his arms to stare down at her. She was ghost-white and seemed to still be trying to catch her breath.
“Are you all right?” he asked, hating how close a call it had been.
She nodded, but he could see she was still shaken.
He moved to let her sit up in the small space under the rock face. She looked from the gun resting in his open palm to the huge pile of rocks next to them. From her shocked expression, she was just now realizing what had happened. If he hadn’t come along when he had and thrown her under the ledge, she would have been under those rocks.
Ainsley stared at him, hugging her knees to her as she pressed her back to the canyon wall. Her blue eyes were wide, her bow-shaped mouth tremulous, lips slightly parted. He had the craziest desire to kiss her.
Those eyes focused on him, and he saw suspicion darken the blue. In a heartbeat, the two of them were back where they started. “Why did you follow me?” she demanded accusingly.
“I was out riding, getting used to the horse before my commercial shoot tomorrow, when I saw this canyon. If you were followed, it was by someone on top of the canyon wall—the one who I suspect started the landslide.” She didn’t look convinced. “I just got here. I’m guessing you were already armed and on foot when I entered the canyon.”
She took a breath and let it out as she considered that. “That’s assuming the slide didn’t merely start on its own.”
“It didn’t. I saw a shadow up there as the first rocks began to come down. Someone was up there. If it makes you feel any better, I think you were right about being followed. It just wasn’t me.”
She seemed to hug herself tighter, but she was no longer looking at him with so much suspicion.
“Come on, let’s get out of here. I think it’s safe now.” He had to move some of the rocks to make an opening for them to crawl out. The pile of rock had nearly blocked the narrow canyon.
Until he checked where the slide had started, he couldn’t know for sure what or who had triggered the slide. But he was fairly certain of what he would find when he checked it out. Ainsley had been followed, and that person had set off the landslide.
“I would suggest getting out of the canyon in case whoever was up there is still around.” He didn’t think the person had stuck around, but he also didn’t want to take any chances. “Let me go first—just in case.” Sawyer eased out of the space he’d made, offering her a hand. She took it as she scuttled out and stopped. Her gaze widened at the sight of the huge boulders that had careened down. He could see that she was thinking the same thing he was. That had been a close call for both of them. She looked more afraid than even before.
Given that she’d suspected she’d been followed—not just this time—for months now, he could understand her fear. Had the man following her gotten tired of his game and decided to end it in this canyon? Or had he gotten too close to the edge and inadvertently set off the rock slide?
“The person up there probably didn’t mean to set off the slide,” he said, hoping to reassure her when he wasn’t all that convinced himself.
Right after the slide had stopped, he’d wanted to hightail it out of the canyon in the hopes of catching the culprit. But one look at Ainsley and he knew he couldn’t leave her. Also, he couldn’t be sure that there wouldn’t be more.
His guess was that whoever had set off the rock slide had to be somehow connected to the commercial, since they were so far from everything out here. Anyone could have gotten hired on; look how easy it had been for him.
He watched her glance up and, following her gaze, saw no one in the narrow strip of brilliant blue above them. He heard nothing. Nor did he see anyone. He was betting that whoever had set off the slide was long gone. But he couldn’t count on that.
“Where is your horse?”
She pointed back up the canyon.
“I’ll go with you to get it,” he said. She didn’t answer, just stood hugging herself as if reliving what had happened. “Here, you’ll want this back.” He handed her the gun, which he’d stuck in the waistband of his jeans. Her gaze lifted to his in surprise. She took the weapon, her fingers brushing his. She seemed startled as if she’d felt the same jolt he had.
She quickly pocketed the weapon, turned and started toward the boxed end of the canyon. He followed, limping and reminding