this!
What do you want now?"
She backed straight into a tree. He was right in front of her, smiling.
He stroked her cheek lightly with his knuckle and laughed softly as she
indignantly twisted her face to the side.
"Still waters do run deep, eh, Miss. Stuart? You ready to listen?"
"What" -- "Land."
"What?" she repeated, dazed.
"Land. I want some acreage. Some of your prime acreage, and maybe a few
cattle. If I'm going to go out and die for this land, I'd like to have a
bit of it in my own name."
"That's--that's what you want?"
' "That's it ."
"Land?
"Land, Miss. Stuart. I know you've heard the word." She pressed against
the tree, slipping her hands behind her to hold furtively to keep
herself from falling. Then a crimson blush surged to her cheeks again,
and she raged out in a tempest.
"You! You made me think that--oh, God! You are the lowest, most horrid,
most terrible" -- "Disappointed?" he interrupted pleasantly. She
shrieked something unintelligible and swung at him.
He caught her hand before she could strike him, but she continued to pit
herself against him. He pulled her against him, lacing his arms around
her.
"Don't be angry" -- "Angry! I could gouge out your eyes" -- "Ouch! It
would be hard as hell for me to aim at this yon Heusen of yours if you
did that."
"I could shoot off both your knee caps!"
"Then how could I get places to find out the truth?"
"All right! All right! You fight yon Heusen, then I'll gouge out your
eyes and shoot your knee caps. Now let go of me!"
"No, not yet, I'd be risking my eyesight, I'm afraid. Or my--ouch!" he
said as she stamped on his foot. Her feet were dangerous. And her knees.
"Don't even think about it!" be warned her, pressing her so close
against the tree trunk that she could barely breath.
Nor could she kick him--his thigh was pressed close to hers. Her breasts
heaved with agitation; her heart was thundering.
His lips were close. So close to hers. He was going to kiss her again,
she thought. And if he did, she'd probably let him get away with it,
despite all he had done to her. "Did you know that you have a really
beautiful mouth, Miss. Stuart?" he asked, his own nearly touching it.
"Ah! Not nearly so beautiful as my cattle!" she retorted.
He laughed softly again.
"You are disappointed."
"Don't deceive yourself, Lieutenant. I am vastly relieved."
"Why don't I believe you?"
"Because you're an egotist and a scurvy rat."
"Why is it that you just beguile me so, Tess Stuart? Is it that you
taste like wine and smell of roses, even in the most god-awful heat of
the day.
Is it that fall of golden hair, or your eyes, like wild violets? No ...
it must be the tender words you're always whispering so gently to me.
Words like ... scurvy rat."
"Lieutenant, will you please" -- "I do want you."
"What?" she cried.
"Very much. But I don't want to bargain about it. When you decide to be
with me, you'll do so because you want to.
You might have to think it through and weigh all the factors, or you
might just wake up one night and come to re108 aliz~ that it's going to
be, that there's just something there. I feel it when I touch you, when
I'm near you.
"You're a fool!"
"Am I?"
He l~aned closer. H~ was going to ~ h~ aga~. "Don'tv' she cfi~ out.
H~ igno~ the wa~ing, tang h~ lips with his ~n, ~d ou~ sh~ m~bl~ a ~nd
prot, her mouth was al- ~dy pa~g to his. ~d his tongu~ was d~,. d~
within bet, and it touch~ her in pla~ it could not possibly ~ch.
She ~ ~at h~ was right, and she ha~ ~ for it, but she ~ h~ stffi, and
she wan~ h~ stffi. She t~bl~ against th~ swat sava~e~ of his touch, and
she felt the p~u~ of ~s b~y, of h~ t~ aga~st h~, of mo~ than his thigh.
H~ hands we~ in her hair, strong her fa~, rounding over the full ri~ of
her b~st, and sh~ was still bra~ against him, unabl~ to do anything
other than f~l. ~en he ~1~ her. She gas~ ragg~ly and fell back.
His lips ~ghtly bmsh~ fffst her forbid, then her ch~ks. He smile.
"Egotist, eh?"
He w~ off guard. She sl~m~ her ~ aga~st h~. She didn't qui~ hit home,
but she must have given h~ a good bm~ in the thigh. He groan~ at ~e pa~,
gritting h~ ~th, flash~g her a lethal glad.
"~ Stua~, if I didn't have ~me vague memo~ of ~- ~g a gentleman" -- "If
you have any memo~ at all, sir, it must ~ vague~"
"Miss. S~art, I should tan" -- "Do ex~ me, Lieut~ant," she ~id, at~pt~g
to s~ past h~.
"It's not that you have~'t got d~nt lips, it's just that it's ~possible
to know wh~e they've ~n befog."
"~nt lips]"
"~nt, y~," she said sw~tly, still walking. He caught h~ a~ and pull~ her
into his a~s.
"I ~uld just" -- be ~gan, but then he laughs.
"Impo~ible to 109 know where they've been before! Why, honest to God! I
do believe that you're jealous!"
"Not on your life, Lieutenant!" she protested. But he touched his lips
to hers again, sweeping her swiftly into realms she was just beginning
to discover, then righting her just as quickly and dropping his arms. He
cast his arm out, indicating the trail.
"After you, Miss. Stuart. I will always wait."
"You'll wait until you're old and gray!" she snapped. She was jealous,
she thought. Anguished. It was painful to care like this, so deeply and
so quickly.
He smiled serenely.
"Will I?"
She managed to return the smile.
"Not all women are like Miss. Eliza, Lieutenant."
"No? I had rather thought that they were--at heart."
"You're mistaken."
"Maybe you're mistaken. Maybe most women are hypocrites."
"Oh, you are impossiblev' Tess cried. She swung around and began to
stride angrily toward the wagon.
But before she could reach the break in the bushes, he had pulled her
back.
She started to snap something to him, but the words caught in her throat
when his smoky gaze fell upon her.
"Tess, you are different."
"Different from what?"
He smiled.
"From any other woman I have met," he said softly.
Then he stepped past her and preceded her to the camp fire Jori had
burning with a welcoming warmth and light.
Chapter Six.
The delicious aroma of cooking was already filling the air as Tess
stepped toward the fire. She inhaled deeply as she tried to dispel her
immediate memories of Lieutenant Slater. The fire had been set in the
center of the clearing. A small animal roasted on a spit atop it. Jon,
on his haunches, turned the spit. On a bed of hot rocks surrounding the
fire sat a coffeepot.
Dolly was coming from the wagon with tin plates, and with mugs for the
coffee. She smiled at Tess.
"Rabbit! A nice, plump brown rabbit. Jon caught and skinned that thing
in minutes flat. I do declare, he's a fine provider!"
"Yes, he is," Tess said, smiling at Jon. She strode past him and
daintily swept her skirts beneath her to sink upon the ground. Jamie was
coming across the clearing toward them, too. He sat beside her.
"You caught a big one," Jamie acknowledged.
"Good."
"We need some water for this coffeepot," Dolly said.
"I'll get it," Jamie and Tess volunteered simultaneously. "Fine, you get
it," Tess said.
"No, you can go."
"But, Lieutenant" -- "Jori, give me the damned pot, will you?" Jamie
said.
He started toward the brook, then paused, looking back.
"How's our supply in the barrels?" "Good," Jon said.
"Later we can fill the canteens." Jamie nodded and started toward the
water.
Tess hesitated a minute, then started after him. "Tess!" Dolly called.