upon his cheek. She wanted to touch it tenderly, but he was holding her
with too great a vigor. And the smoky anger in his eyes told her he did
not want her touch.
He had come for her. He had survived both yon Heusen's guns and his
fight with Chavez to come for her. But now she realized that he had come
only because he considered himself responsible for what had happened to
her. She paled, trying to pull from his grasp, but he wouldn't let her.
'The puberty rite for Nalte's sister will last four days. He will not
attend to any other business during that time. Jori and I are to be his
guests. You are to stay here, do you understand me?'
'Just stay here ... for four days?' she whispered.
'Can't I be with you?'
He swore, vehemently.
'You were purchased, Tess! Damn it, don't you realize that? And not for
your talents with a newspaper.'
'Jamie, don't you start with me' -- 'No, don't you start with me,' he
said heatedly.
'You can manage yourself, and you can manage a lot, and you probably are
a damned good rancher and newspaper woman. But if you try anything here,
Tess, we'll both probably die. Do you understand? We're walking a very
narrow line here. I've tried to explain von Heusen to Nalte.
He has a sense of honor; there is a chance he will return you. But I
can't do-any of this if you interfere. Do you understand?'
She wrenched free of him at last. His hands fell upon his hips and his
hat brim tipped over one eye, yet she could still see the silver glint
in the other. She swung around and walked with her shoulders stiff and
straight, then she sat Indian fashion upon a blanket roll. She mustn't
let him see how hurt she was.
He didn't say anything else to her, but started to turn to leave. She
couldn't stand that, and called out to him.
'Jamie!'
'What?' he demanded impatiently.
'What' -- She paused, licking her lips. 'what happened to Chavez?'
'He's dead,' Jamie said flatly.
'And the Comancheros' -- 'The Comancheros never saw me,' he said.
'But if we're going to get out of the mountains, we're going to need an
Apache escort. So don't create problems.'
'Me!' 'You,' he said succinctly, and he was on his way out again.
'Jamie!'
'what now?'
She hesitated a second.
'Thank you. Thank you for coming after me.
Thank you for risking so much.'
'You don't need to thank me. I owed you this.' This time he stayed,
staring at her. But she couldn't speak anymore because sudden tears were
welling behind her lashes and threatening to spill over on her cheeks.
He owed her this. He had come for her because he owed her. She had
dreamed that he was falling in love with her.
Maybe she was proving to be too much trouble. She had traded half her
land for a hired gun. But she had never told 231 her hired gun he was
