'It's all right.
You'll come to like it soon enough. I'm real good. I'm real, real good.
I'll have you screaming in a way you just ain't imagined yet, honey. And
later on, you'll be grateful.
'Cause you're going to Nalte, one of the chiefs of the Mescalero Apache.
He's wanted a blond woman like you for a long time. They say he tried a
few raids to acquire one, but he kept coming up with brunettes. Our
Comanchero friends promised him a beautiful young blond white woman.
Nalte is tough, Miss. Stuart. You'll be real glad that I initiated you
into this ...'
He tried to secure both her wrists with one hand while he spoke. Tess
fought him like a wildcat, delaying his purpose but losing her strength
quickly.
Nalte? An Apache? Then the Comancheros were the delivery men. Von Heusen
was dealing with the Comancheros, and the Comancheros were dealing with
the Apache. She would be safe from the Comancheros. Because she was
meant for the Apache!
But she wasn't safe from David. She sobbed as she fought to free her
wrists. She threw his weight from her hips, but he seemed to enjoy
feeling her move against him. She twisted and sank her teeth into his
fingers.
He shouted out in pain and sat hard on her, plunging his fingers into
his mouth and stating at her murderously. Then his palm connected
sharply with her cheek, and the world seemed to spin. His hands were
upon her, upon her breasts, tugging at her petticoats.
'No!' she screamed in desperation and horror. But there was no one to
help her out here. Jamie was by the river, dead. The vultures might well
find his body before anyone else could.
David's hands were upon her, and he was tugging on her clothes. He was
about to violate the only beauty she had ever really dared to reach out
and hold.
'Get off her!' someone suddenly roared. And David was plucked away from
her.
Tess crawled quickly backward on her elbows. Her heart soared as she saw
that David and Jeremiah were involved in a fistfight with one another.
David was swinging and screaming at the same time.
'What the hell's the matter with you, Jeremiah? You can have your damned
turn when I'm done' -- 'No! Von Heusen said no! He promised the chief an
in- noeent woman ' -- 'What do you think she was doing by the river with
Slater?'
'I don't know anything! I saw the girl washing her face, and I saw
Slater going for a swim. That's all I saw. Von Heusen promised the
Comancheros an innocent. And he made us swear not to touch her. I'm not
getting my balls shot off for your entertainment, and that's a damned
fact.'
'I give the orders here' -- 'Von Heusen gives the orders here!'
Tess realized that she was just staring at them. They were fighting like
madmen and not paying the least bit of at ten- 185 finn to her, and she
was just staring at them. She rolled over and stumbled to her feet. It
