The Touch of Fire Read online

  “LINDA HOWARD IS AN

  EXTRAORDINARY TALENT.”

  —ROMANTIC TIMES

  Discover these thrilling books

  of romantic intrigue from

  Linda Howard

  KILL AND TELL

  OPEN SEASON

  NOW YOU SEE HER

  ALL THE QUEEN’S MEN

  MR. PERFECT

  And look for her

  spellbinding romances

  SON OF THE MORNING

  SHADES OF TWILIGHT

  AFTER THE NIGHT

  DREAM MAN

  HEART OF FIRE

  ANGEL CREEK

  A LADY OF THE WEST

  All available from Pocket Books

  “LINDA HOWARD WRITES SUCH BEAUTIFUL LOVE STORIES. HER CHARACTERS ARE ALWAYS SO COMPELLING.... SHE NEVER DISAPPOINTS.”

  —JULIE GARWOOD

  “LINDA HOWARD MAKES OUR SENSES COMES ALIVE.”

  —CATHERINE COULTER

  Acclaim for her sensational novels …

  KILL AND TELL

  “A riveting masterpiece of suspense.”

  —Iris Johansen

  “Linda Howard pens the most sensual stories … she’ll make your heart beat a little faster! Romantic suspense has never been better.”

  —The Literary Times

  OPEN SEASON

  “A thriller ... with deftness and charm.”

  —The Orlando Sentinel

  ALL THE QUEEN’S MEN

  “A high-suspense romance. … Howard’s trademark darkly sensual style and intense, layered plot will delight her fans.”

  —Booklist

  “[A] sexy thriller. … Another explosive hit. … When it comes to mixing that perfect blend of romance and danger, Ms. Howard is unbeatable!”

  —Romantic Times

  “A fascinating novel of suspense and sensual tension”

  —Rendezvous

  MR. PERFECT

  “There is nothing quite like a sexy and suspenseful story by the amazing Linda Howard! Mr. Perfect is funny, exciting, gripping, and sensuous.”

  —Romantic Times

  “Sexy fun. … A frolicsome mystery.”

  —People

  SON OF THE MORNING

  “Linda Howard offers a romantic time-travel thriller with a fascinating premise … gripping passages and steamy sex.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “A complex tale that’s rich with detail, powerful characters, and stunning sensuality.... It’s no wonder that Linda Howard is the best of the best.”

  —CompuServe Romance Reviews

  SHADES OF TWILIGHT

  “[A] sizzler. … Ms. Howard is an extraordinary talent. … [Her] unforgettable novels [are] richly flavored with scintillating sensuality and high-voltage suspense.”

  —Romantic Times

  “Family, loyalty, love, sex and revenge steam up the pages ... Howard … maintains tension through a twist-filled plot.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  AFTER THE NIGHT

  “Linda Howard is one of the top authors writing romantic intrigue.”

  —Affaire de Coeur

  “Powerful characters, a powerful setting, and an intriguing mystery.”

  —The Literary Times

  DREAM MAN

  “Sexy, very hard to put down.”

  —The Newport Daily News (RI)

  “The incomparable Linda Howard brings high-voltage power and hard-edged sensuality to this emotional roller coaster of a novel .... They don’t get much better than this.”

  —Romantic Times

  Books by Linda Howard

  A Lady of the West

  Angel Creek

  The Touch of Fire

  Heart of Fire

  Dream Man

  After the Night

  Shades of Twilight

  Son of the Morning

  Kill and Tell

  Now You See Her

  All the Queen’s Men

  Mr. Perfect

  Strangers in the Night

  Open Season

  Dream Man

  Published by POCKET BOOKS

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  An Original Publication of POCKET BOOKS

  POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  Copyright © 1992 by Linda Howington

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce

  this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

  For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue

  of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  ISBN-13:978-0-671 -01972-3

  ISBN-10: 0-671-01972-4

  eISBN-13: 978-1-4516-6445-4

  First Pocket Books printing October 1992

  20 19 18 17

  POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Photo of the sunset by Sarah Dawn Nichols

  Cover design by Jae Song

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  Dedicated to my niece,

  Brandwyn Robinson,

  whom I’ve loved from the minute

  she was born

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  CHAPTER

  1

  1871, Arizona Territory

  Someone had been on his back trail for most of the day. He had seen a telltale flash of light in the distance when he had stopped for grub around noon, just a tiny bright flicker that had lasted only a split second, but that had been enough to alert him. Maybe it had been the sun glinting off a buckle or a shiny spur. Whoever was back there had been just a little careless, and now they had lost the advantage of surprise.

  Rafe McCay hadn’t panicked; he had continued to ride as if he had nowhere in particular to go and all the time in the world to get there. It would be getting dark soon, and he decided he’d better find out who was tracking him before he made camp for the night. Besides, according to his calculations the tracker should be exposed on that long tree-line trail just about now. McCay got the field glass out of his saddlebag and stepped into the shadow of a big pine, making certain that no reflection could give him away, too. He trained the glass on the trail where he estimated the tracker would be and soon spotted the man: one rider on a dark brown horse with a right front stocking. The man was holding the horse to a walk and leaning over to examine the trail as they went. McCay had come that way himself an hour or so before.

  Something about the rider was familiar. McCay kept the glass trained on the distant figure, trying to trigger his memory, but he couldn’t get a good look at the man’s face. Maybe it was the way he sat in the saddle, or maybe even the horse itself that gave McCay a gnawing sense that somewhere down the line he’d seen or met this particular man, and that he hadn’t liked what he’d learned. But he just couldn’t bring the man’s name to mind. The rig on the horse wasn’t unusual, and there was nothing about the man’s cl