going to have to go after Comancheros and Apache as well as von Heusen's
men. I'll member to thank Jon,' she said coolly.
'He didn't owe me anything.'
'You do that,' Jamie told her. But still he didn't leave. He stood by
the entrance, and she sat across from him, her knees crossed, her
shoulders and back-very straight, her hands resting upon her knees. The
distance between them seemed immense, and yet she felt the touch of his
eyes as if it was fire.
It was he who spoke. ~this time, lightly, softly. 'Tess?'
'What?'
'Did--did any of them--hurt you?'
She knew what he meant. Her cheeks burned and her lashes fell over her
cheeks.
'David was a monster, and he probably would have killed me. Jeremiah
wasn't so bad--he wouldn't let David touch me. I was sorry to see
Jeremiah killed.' Her voice faded slightly.
'Especially the way he was killed.
And Chavez. Well, you know about Chavez, because. because you were
there.'
'Yes, I know about Chavez. What about Nalte?' She shook her head.
'He let me be. Because of his sister.'
She started, hearing the long, ragged exhalation of his breath. She
thought, for a moment, that he would cross the distance between them and
take her into his arms. He did not. She could scarcely breathe, longing
to leap to her feet once again. But he had already set her from him. She
wasn't going to touch him again.
'You're still Nalte's,' he told her harshly. She gazed at him, wondering
what he meant. Then she realized that he would not touch her until he
had completed his negotiations with the Apache chief.
He didn't say any more. He swung around and left, and she knew that even
if she had called his name then, he would have left her.
The day wore on endlessly. Tess could hear the ceremonial drums beating
and the chants of the puberty rite, but she could see nothing, and she
was involved in nothing. She tried very hard to be patient, and to
understand that everything rested upon negotiation.
Late in the afternoon, Jon came in. She almost leaped into his arms, but
he was carrying a dish of food for her. He set it down, and she did hug
him, fiercely. 'Eat,' he told her.
'You may need your strength.'
She nodded and sat and looked suspiciously at her bowl. 'What is it?'
she asked.
'Something exotic and Apache,' he told her, 'beef. Probably, from cattle
taken in a raid. You should not worry.
The Apache are very finicky about what they eat. They will not eat
snake, for they believe that the creature is evil, and they will not eat
evil meat.
Here they are close enough to the plains to seek out the buffalo. They
also hunt deer, antelope, elk and bighorn. Their food is quite safe, I
assure you.'
