She made a face. "I don't know. Lately he doesn't seem so pleased." Realizing too late how it sounded, her face warmed. "I mean he seems preoccupied with something."
Blond brows lifted briefly and then he shrugged. "Alex has always been a little reserved."
Of course, he wasn't telling her anything she wasn't already painfully aware of. Still, this was different. She sighed involuntarily.
"I think secretive is the word."
Gerald's eyes reflected humor and his breath came out in a sudden rush that barely resembled a laugh. His mouth twisted into a wry smile.
"Yeah, that would probably be a better word. Still, we all have our secrets, don't we?"
Carmen glanced up at the mountain and smiled. "I suppose we do. Sometimes it's hard to broach a subject - especially when you've avoided it for a while."
His gaze followed hers and he lifted a brow in inquiry.
She grinned. "How would you like to take a treacherous ride?"
His gaze became wary. "Oh, that's why I came out here," he responded in a dry tone.
She giggled. "Alex doesn't want me to ride up there alone."
Both brows shot up and he employed the lopsided smile again.
"Then by all means, lead the way. I love a mystery."
Carmen let Princess move forward and stopped her only long enough to mount. She smiled down at Gerald.
"Follow me. It isn't far."
Gerald mounted in his usual awkward style and followed her.
She led the way up the side of the mountain, following a switchback trail above a twenty-foot bluff. He kept looking over the edge, his complexion paling when a rock leaped over the edge and bounced its way to the bottom.
"Don't look down," she instructed. "Casper is sure footed and knows the way up."
He glanced up at her, his expression and tone sarcastic.
"It isn't going up that worries me. It's going down. You know what they say. It isn't the fall that kills you. It's the sudden stop at the bottom."
She grinned. Leading him over the last rise and onto the open plateau, she dismounted.
"We'll leave the horses here and walk the rest of the way."
He followed her up a steep trail between two boulders and then to the top. The graves lay before them near the edge of a cliff. He frowned as he read the headstones.
"Husband and wife? Who are they?"
Of course, he wouldn't know her maiden name was Poluck. She smiled.