"Now you must listen to what we've come to tell you."

"Yes, Senor Stone," Pharaoh said tightly.

"We come to warn you."

"Warn me of what, old friend?"

"The Spanish captain, Lopaz. He is behind me. Someone has betrayed

you, Stone. You must flee."Patrick looked around at his burned fields and half finished house.Catherine was here and Lopaz was behind her. She'd come to warn him.Because of him, Catherine was in danger. If Lopaz found them together,

Catherine would disappear as completely as Patrick McLendon had vanished.

Patrick's grievances with the man were quickly forgotten. He had to

save Catherine. Patrick nodded his head in agreement."Yes, Catherine must go, quickly."Catherine looked around at the destruction."But what about the fire?""Everything here is lost, anyway," Patrick said."I am not cut out to be a planter. I was only fooling myself."

"Except for the cane," one of the slaves said.

"We gonna save the sugarcane."

Jillico appeared beside the native woman.

"Hurry, Stone, the time has come."

"Yes," Mona agreed sadly.

"The time has come."

There was more here than Patrick could fathom.

"The time for what, Jillico?"

But it wasn't Jillico, but the woman who spoke.

"It is time for the White Woman to return."

Chapter Eight Q^r^s^Q rnaraoh, you will take Catherine back with you. Take her to Isabella.

" "No, Patrick. I won't go." "You will go, Catherine. Lopaz is a dangerous man. You don't know what he will try to do." 7 "Oh, but I do know. He'll try to get me into his bed."

That stopped Patrick. Reluctantly he decided that Catherine was right.

For now, the only way he could protect Catherine was to keep her with him.

"All right, you will stay for now," he agreed, turning to Pharaoh.

"Thank you again, old friend. Make certain you're not seen. Are you sure you won't be in trouble over this?"

"Only Miss Isabella knows and she say, 'be careful." She know about de slaves and me helping them get to you for safety. "

"The slaves! How can we protect them?""Do not worry. Dey'll be hidden until de danger is past. Go now,Stone, and take care of dis woman who loves you."

Patrick insisted that Catherine be placed in his pirogue. She was right about the danger to her. Patrick knew Lopaz, probably betterthan anyone. Patrick had had firsthand experience with his cruelty.Protecting Catherine was more than simply a matter of his desire forher. It was his responsibility and he had no intention of delegatingthe task to someone else.

They got into one of the larger flatboats, with Jillico at the bow anda man Patrick didn't know at the stern. The other Indians and the medicine woman, Mona, followed.

Catherine settled herself in Patrick's arms and released a sigh ofcontentment. Patrick tried to question Jillico about their destinationbut was quickly signaled to silence. Like ghosts, the Indiansdisappeared into the night, carrying Patrick and Catherine to safety.

The wind dropped. Behind them the fire would reach the second bayouand burn itself out, revealing the location of Patrick's burned-outplantation to anyone traveling on the water. For now, what was left ofhis cotton field was safe, for it was behind a section of trees. He couldn't be certain about the fate of his house. It mattered little now, for he was heading away from it as quickly as the small boatswould take them, with no promise that he'd return any time soon.

Had it not been for Catherine he'd have stayed and faced Captain Lopaz.Without him, Patrick had little chance of clearing his name of thecharge of murder. But Catherine's safety was more important than hishonor.

Flight was alien to Patrick. He'd never left anything unsettled unlesshe was going forward to meet new challenges. From his first desertion at fourteen, when he'd signed on a trading ship, abandoning his nativeland, he'd set his sights on making his fortune.

The trading ship was captured by pirates who allowed a brash youngPatrick to join their crew. Years passed and Patrick's fortune andreputation grew. And then one day he'd bought his own ship and becomerespectable. He'd never returned to Ireland, falling in love with thebrave new country that had thrown off its oppressor and claimedindependence.

Then, he'd fallen in love with Catherine. She'd never understood whyhe'd left her behind. But it had to do with his promise to her familyto do the honorable thing. Honor was important to Patrick. That same honor made him refuse her love until he could offer her the kind of life she deserved. And he'd come so close to doing that. But fate played funny tricks. Instead, he'd lost his ship and his good name.

Then as if all the luck of the Irish had deserted him, an insect withan insatiable appetite had turned his dream into ashes.

Suddenly, like the sun peeking out in the midst of a thunderstorm,Catherine appeared. Unafraid, she'd turned her back on her own worldand followed him.

"I knew they were wrong when they said you were dead," she whispered.

"Who said?"

"The man who bought the Savannah Lady and sailed her to Charleston.

Officials there sent the report to Rush. "

"Then why in God's name did you leave Cadenhill and come toLouisiana?"

"Why did I come? I was sure that you weren't dead. I had to find out why you hadn't come back. Now I know. You were in jail."

"You know that?"

"Yes, I just don't know why."

"Captain Lopaz charged me with a murder I believe he committed. He wanted to cover his tracks and steal my ship while he was at it. He tried to kill me."

"Now he's come back to finish the job." Catherine shivered and snuggled closer.

"No, it's greed that brings him here, and the desire to regain favorwith the governor. I don't believe that the captain knows who Stoneis. He thinks Patrick McLendon is dead, as perhaps he must remain."

"Fine. I didn't come all the way across the country to be a widow.

I'll be Catherine Stone. One name suits me as well as another. "

"Shhhh!" Mona's voice carried across the silence.

Patrick held Catherine tighter. Brave, determined, always ready to goafter what she wanted, Catherine had forced Pharaoh to bring her towarn him. And now Patrick was taking her God knew where, and to Godknew what. It made his heart sing to know that she trusted him enoughto go without question.

In the darkness he couldn't see her. But he could feel the ever present energy that surrounded her, just as it always had. She nestled into the curve of his arm, pressing her cheek against the roughsailor's shirt he was wearing. Her arm rested against his and she laysilently content to be in his care.

As always, he felt an overpowering need to protect and cherish her.

There'd been a time when he'd built invisible walls to separate them,walls she seemed neither to see nor to acknowledge, a time before heallowed himself to imagine a future such as had existed on her familyplantation, Cadenhill.

When he'd bought his plantation and called it Rainbow's End he'd beenfooling himself into believing that such a life was possible. And that foolishness had nearly taken away the instinct that had accounted forhis survival.

Now he was being hunted by the same man who'd nearly killed him. There was no more time for dreaming of a future. Dreams only softened himand made the danger greater for the woman he dreamed of.

The woman he dreamed of?

Catherine sighed and with her fingertips traced the edge of his cheekalong his beard. Her breathing slowed as she fell asleep with her handresting on his face, content now that she was where she'd set out tobe, in Patrick's arms again.

Patrick pulled her close, his large, rough hand burrowing beneath hercoat and holding her tight against him. Her skin was like warm satin beneath his touch and he reveled in the feel of it, just as he had inhis dreams. She would always be sunshine and satin.

Dreams? Like that night at Isabella's. As he breathed in the soft,feminine smell of her, and felt his body adjust to her closeness thedream started to clear, like an early morning fog lifting in thesunlight. Suddenly he was no longer certain of what he remembered.

Had he been dreaming, or had Catherine actually been there, in his bed,in his arms? Had their lovemaking been real? Had he done the thinghe'd sworn not to do? He was stunned.

He didn't understand how it could have happened. But nothing about hisrelationship with Catherine had ever made sense to him--how she couldhave crossed a wild unsettled land to reach the Mississippi, how shecould have found her way to Heaven, and to him.

As the first rays of light peeked over the trees Patrick heard theonset of a breeze. Like a sigh of contentment the air ruffled the branches of the great live oaks, tangling in the wisps of gray moss asif it had found its place of refuge.

A spindly-legged blue heron watched curiously from his place among thecattails. He seemed part of the illusion that there was land beneaththe lush green grass. He didn't move as they passed and Patrick hadthe feeling that they were sliding through a liquid, lonely dream.

"Will Lopaz be able to find us, Jillico?" Patrick's whisper carriedacross the black water.

"No."

"Where are we going?"

"To a spiritual place, known only to the Natchez."

"What about the guide who's bringing Lopaz? Will he know?"

"No, only the old ones know of the Sun King's temple."

Catherine was still sprawled against Patrick, her eyes still closed insleep. Even with the muddy face and men's clothing she wasbeautiful.

He'd never felt such completeness as he did holding her in his arms,feeling her head pressed against his chest. But that couldn't be.

He lay, convincing himself that his need for her had triggered hisdreams. They couldn't have made love. Even half out of his mind with fever he couldn't have disgraced her that way. Still, the naggingdoubt plagued him, forcing him to swear that even if what he'dremembered was real, it couldn't be allowed to happen again. He couldn't turn her into the kind of savage he'd become.

But he knew, even as he made his vow, that if it were up to Catherine,they'd be together again. She'd never once hidden behind subterfuge,or womanly wiles. If she wanted a thing, she went after it. Just as she'd come after him.

At the time she'd burst into the clearing and ripped off her hat he'dbeen so startled to see Catherine with Pharaoh that he hadn't thoughtanything through.

They were fleeing civilization, hunted like criminals both by theSpanish and by an American who believed that his betrothed had beenkidnapped by the pirate named Stone. The American's reward, added tothe one offered by the governor, had been impossible for the guide toresist.

As harsh reality set in, Patrick realized that his situation was evenmore precarious than before. Catherine might have found him, but shecouldn't stay with him. As soon as he could make proper arrangementshe'd have to send her back to her family. Stone's purse wouldn't makethe payment on his land, but it would see Catherine back toPetersburg.

He could accept the loss of Rainbow's End, but not what would happen toCatherine if she remained with an outlaw. Starting over again wasn'tnew for Patrick McLendon. He'd done it before.

Then Catherine opened her eyes. A slow smile spread across her mouth,and the day seemed infinitely brighter than before.

Catherine wished she were alone in the dugout with Patrick. But perhaps that would have been a mistake. She wouldn't have been able to keep her hands from touching his firm body, running her fingertipsalong the scars she'd examined so intimately that night they'd spenttogether. They'd capsize and drown. She blushed and lowered her lashes, fearful that he could read her thoughts.

Though she knew full well that he didn't remember what had happenedbetween them in Isabella's bed, every nerve ending in her body wasresponding to his presence. He'd thought the woman in his arms wasIsabella. She wished he'd known that it was Catherine.

She tried to hold back the twinge of jealousy she felt. Isabella had offered Patrick a safe haven when he most needed it. Catherine couldn't resent her for that. Once they got to wherever it was theywere going, she'd tell him the truth about that night.

She allowed herself to watch him without reacting, allowed her gaze todrift to the sky overhead and the thick growth along the bank. Soon enough they'd come to a stopping place and for now she could fill hereyes and her thoughts with his presence.

When the sun was straight overhead, the natives beached the piroguesand Jillico gave Patrick and Catherine permission to stretch theirweary legs while food was prepared.

"Be careful," he instructed Catherine, who was looking for privacy inorder to deal with certain natural functions.

"There are snakes."

"I'll accompany you." Mona seemed to materialize beside them.

Catherine looked up, caught between the warning and the urgency of herneed. Patrick, unsettled by the strong sense of danger raised byMona's offer, walked to Catherine's side.

"No, I'll go."

Catherine hesitated. She knew it was foolish to feel uncomfortable with the native woman, but she did. She gave Patrick a hesitant nod.