felt the hostility that rose from her.
She wondered again about what had happened after Jamie had left her last
night, and she was infuriated that it should bother her so much, that it
should hurt and dig into the very center of her being.
Maybe he would turn around now. Eliza was stunning this morning, her
hair ebony against a yellow dress, her eyes huge with anguish. Tess held
her breath. Then she realized that Jamie had picked up his reins, that
he was shouting to her, telling her they were going.
She called out to the mules. The wagon rumbled forward.
She didn't look back. She followed Jamie and Jon Red Feather through the
open gates of the compound, and she sighed with a soft sound of relief
as she heard the gates closing behind her. They were really on their
way. Jamie Slater was coming with her. Eliza hadn't been able to
convince him to stay.
About last night. She didn't know. She just didn't know. She needed a
gun, she reminded herself. She needed a gunman.
It didn't matter that she wanted the man. If rumor was right, he was one
of the fastest guns in the west.
Maybe fortune was beginning to smile upon her just a little.
And maybe, just maybe, she was setting herself up for the heartbreak of
a lifetime.
She couldn't think, and she couldn't worry. He was with her, and they
were on their way, and for now, that just had to be enough.
Chapter Five.
Jamie Slater didn't seem to do anything by half measures. When he set
out to move, he moved.
They pushed hard throughout the morning, either Jamie or Jon riding
ahead to scout out the road, the other riding with Dolly and Tess. Jamie
was true to his word--some- where around midmorning he called a halt,
and Jon came up to take over the reins of the wagon. Dolly and Jon were
comfortable together, old friends who knew one another well and
respected what they knew. And both of them seemed genuinely fond of
Tess, which was nice.
Dolly was full of stories. She didn't chatter, but she kept Tess amused
with tales of Texas in times before Tess had been born.
'Why, Will and I came out here long before Texas was a state. Before
there was a Republic of Texas!
And long, long before the Alamo. Why, I remember some of those boys, and
it was a privilege to know them.
Mountain men, they were good men. They were the stuff that Texans were
made of. Will missed being at the Alamo by just a hairbreadth. He'd been
sent out to deal with Cheyenne. By the time he came back, the boys were
dead.
They say that Davey Crockett was killed there, but that ain't true.
The Mexicans took him prisoner, and they tortured him to death, that was
what the boys said. He was a fiery old cuss.
They never broke him. You can't break a mountain man. You can kill him,
but you can't break him. Kind of like a Blackfoot, eh?'
'A Blackfoot--or an Englishwoman, eh, Dolly?' Jon agreed, grinning.
Dolly chuckled gleefully and agreed.
