become a woman, Jamie was silent, holding her gently, staying
motionless.
Tess knew that he didn't sleep, and she shifted against him, asking him
what was wrong.
'We're free to go home tomorrow,' she whispered to him.
'Yes, or the next day,' be said absently.
'Nalte has been involved with his sister and us. He may be busy with
tribal business tomorrow.'
'what difference will a day make?'
He shook his head, still staring toward the top of the tepee and the
poles that seemed to reach toward the stars.
'A
day will not make a difference. Nothing will a make a difference.
That's the point. When we go home, Tess, von Heusen is still going to be
there. And we still haven't any proof of what he is doing.'
'But--but Jeremiah and David kidnapped me--and they left you for dead!'
Tess protested.
'Jeremiah and David are dead. They can't be brought to trial, and they
can't be forced to testify against von Heusen.
We're right back where we started. And I know you. You'll head right
back to that newspaper office of yours.'
'Jamie, I have to!'
'You don't have to!' he told her savagely. 'Jamie' -- 'We're going back,
Tess, and we're going to fight yon Heusen. But we have to do it by my
rules.'
'I don't' -- 'That's right--you don't. You don't make a move without
someone by your side, do you understand me? Things are going to get
worse. Von Heusen may be thinking right now that you and I are gone. He
may even have had a few moments of divine pleasure, thinking that he'd
won at last. But Tess, by now he must have discovered that he can't get
his hands on that property, even if we're both believed to be dead and
gone. He's going to be furious when he finds it's willed to my
family--and he's going to be ready for a full- scale war. We've got to
pray that we're going to be ready for it.'
'Can we be?' Tess whispered.
'Yes, we can,' he said. But then he swung around on her, staring at her
fiercely, clutching her chin with a grip so tight that it was painful.
'But Tess, so help me God, you'll do it my way.'
'Jamie' -- 'You'll do it my way?'
'Fine! All right!' she snapped.
He dropped her jaw. Tears were stinging her eyes, and she quickly rolled
away from him, furious that no matter how close it seemed they became,
he still played the dictator. And left her frightened that she was
falling more and more deeply in love with a man who would wage war for
her, who would risk his life for her. And yet ride away in the end, when
it mattered the most.
He did not reach for her, and she did not come back to touch him that
night.
Her back was mid, and she drew the blanket more fully around her.
She shivered in the night. But the distance remained between them.
