'Jamie!' she cried.
But Jamie had seen the knife. She expected him to draw his Colt, but
when he didn't she realized he couldn't draw down the entire camp upon
them with the sounds of bullets.
He, too, drew a knife.
'Go!' he thundered to Tess.
Still she hesitated, tears forming on her eyes. 'Jamie' -- 'Go! I'll
deal with you later?'
His furious, high-handed tone finally sent her into motion. She had been
kidnapped and abused, and now he was yelling at her.
Yelling at her. and facing Chavez with a knife. She bit her lip, then
turned and ran. The trail stretched~ out in the darkness before her,
narrow, twisting, rising higher and higher into the mountains. Gasping
for breath, half choking, half sobbing, Tess continued to run. She
stumbled into a huge rock, glowing white in the moonlight.
She caught hold of it, wincing against the pain in her feet, inhaling
deeply and desperately. Then she started to run again, almost blind as
the shrub grew thicker and rose higher, adding to the darkness of the
night.
Staggering, she kept on running. She grabbed at shrubs, still running,
heedless of discomfort or pain.
Then, in the darkness, she slammed against something with such impetus
that she fell to the ground, barely catching herself to break the fall,
scraping her palms with the rock and dirt beneath her hands. Stunned,
she tossed the hair from her eyes and looked up, trying to discern what
had happened.
She gasped yet made no noise, and her heart began to thunder with
renewed terror.
He stood before her, naked except for a breech clout his arms crossed
over his chest. He was as tall as Jamie, as broad, and very, very dark.
His hair was ebony and it streamed straight down his back. He was nearly
copper in color, and his features were very strong and hard.
He reached down, grasped her wrists and drew her to her feet.
Instinctively she tried to pull away from him. His grip upon her
tightened.
He smiled very slowly, and though she struggled, he held her tightly.
'Let me go,' Tess said.
'Jamie--er, Lieutenant Slater is right behind me, and he'll shoot you.'
She was losing her mind. She was trying to explain things in English to
an Apache savage.
'So you are the blond woman who costs so dearly,' he responded in
perfect English.
'You have escaped the Comancheros. You will not escape me.'
She shook her head wildly.
'No! You do not understand me! Let me go.
I've a friend. He's fight behind me. He's killing that Comanchero and
he's going to kill you. He'--' Shut up, Sun-Colored Woman.'
'My name is Tess. Or Miss. Stuart. It's' -- 'Sun-Colored Woman. That is
to be your name. I am Nalte, and it will be so.'
'Nalte!' she breathed. She had escaped the Comanchere to run into the
