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to the ranch. He reasoned that he was far enough into the mountain that it would be muffled at best. He
also picked a time when his dad was operating a chainsaw while cutting firewood for the house and
the lodge for the following winter, which would drown out any sounds coming from the rock drill.
With a small light strapped around his head and plugs stuffed into his ears, he pulled the cord that
started the rock drill and positioned the bit into a fissure that he'd partially opened with the hammer
and chisel before leaving for Wyoming. Even with a gas-powered drill it was slow going because he
was drilling into granite, but it was considerably faster than using hand tools.
But while the drill, bit by bit, made its way through rock, his mind was divided between hanging
onto the 50-pound piece of equipment, and Rose's reaction when he kissed her at his place, four days
before. He hadn't talked to her since he dropped her off at Marc's house that same day because she
asked him to stay away, claiming she needed time to think. He suspected she'd learned about his
dyslexia, or decided on her own that he was different from other people, and she wasn't sure what to
do about it.
But he'd had time to think too, and although he hadn't spoken to her, he had wandered over to the
museum on several occasions to stand with the visitors and listen to what she was telling them,
mainly because he wanted to learn about her culture and traditions, but most of what she said escaped
him because every gesture of her hands as she talked, or look in her eyes when they darted to him for
an instant, or the rise and fall of her chest when she held his gaze on occasion, had him thinking about
how she'd felt in his arms, and how much he wanted to hold her again.
It was all new to him, wanting a woman with him day and night, especially night. It seemed
lonely lying in bed while thinking about how it would be with her in his arms, naked and clinging to
him after they'd made love, then simply lying in his arms for the rest of the night. Things had definitely
escalated for him during the past four days.
At best, when he'd invited her into the pasture to meet his mares, he'd done so to see if she was
interested, nothing more, but even before he tried to kiss her she'd let him know in a dozen different
ways that she was, and now he couldn't get her out of his mind, and he spent his evenings drawing
pictures of her because it helped fill the void.
What came from all of it was a clearer understanding of Jeremy's motive for giving up
everything, including a rodeo bull-riding career he'd worked hard to establish, and disappearing from
his family's lives, maybe forever, because he couldn't live without the woman he loved.
But as attracted as he was to Rose, Tyler wondered to what extent he'd go for any woman. Leave
his home and family and go into witness protection, not knowing if he'd ever return? Give up his
mares and follow Rose to places unknown because circumstances demanded it? He didn't think so.
But he did understand Jeremy's reasons. For him, life without Billy wasn't worth living.
On returning to the ranch from Cody though, it was all he could do to keep from telling his
parents and the rest of the family that he and Josh had seen Jeremy and Billy and little Amy, their
latest grandchild. He'd thought about Amy too. In fact, she'd made a lasting impression on him. She
had a sweet smile and trusting eyes. Maybe it was the trusting eyes that got to him, big brown innocent
eyes that held no secrets. They told him clearly that she liked it when he held her and she trusted that
he wouldn't drop her or harm her. It came to him what an enormous responsibility Jeremy and his
other brothers had as fathers. He'd never given it much thought before, though he reasoned it was not
unlike the responsibility he had for his mares...
After a while, he killed the engine and set the rock drill down, and lowering himself to his knees,
moved the rock fragments away from the hole. After removing one of the ear plugs, he put his ear
against the opening and listened. At best he might hear a hissing sound as steam escaped from inside
the mountain if the cycle of sounds started up. At worse, he'd hear the usual wails tapering off into
sighs. But after a few minutes, when he heard nothing, he concluded that he was between cycles of
sounds and started up the drill again.
He hadn't been drilling long when a shadow fell over the area, throwing him into semi darkness.
Cutting the engine, he laid the drill down, removed his ear plugs and turned, startled to find his father
standing not more than eight feet behind him.
"What's going on in here?" Jack asked.
Having prepared for such a scenario, even though he'd hoped to avoid it, Tyler said, "I'm trying to
open up a fissure and see if the sounds in here change." After explaining his geothermal-geyser theory,
he added, "The sounds are nothing more than steam seeping through cracks and fissures, and that same
steam could turn a turbine and power a generator and convert the geothermal energy into electricity to
run the ranch, and with the hot water already at the surface, it would be relatively inexpensive to set
up a hot-water heating system. But right now all I want to do is see if there's anything to my theory."
"Have you talked to Marc about this?" Jack asked. "This cavern is his domain."
"I haven't mentioned it," Tyler replied, "but I won't be drilling anywhere near the pool or the
petroglyphs. All I'm trying to do is open up a few fissures in this area, which is where I'm sure the
sounds are coming from, and see if the sounds change, nothing more."
Jack looked askance at the drill, then at Tyler, and said, "How much longer do you intend to do
this?"
"Not long," Tyler replied. "Is the drill making a lot of noise back at the ranch?"
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