"I don't know what I thought would happen," he said shaking his head-and I believe he was being honest about that. "But I knew that if I had the boys-"

"-you'd be that much closer to getting her," I finished for him.

He nodded silently.

"That little speech of yours back at the gate about not wanting her anymore," I said gently. "That was because she didn't come, wasn't it?"

"Whoa!" Gerald exclaimed as he and Craynolt swooped by. "Who do you want me to bite first?"

"Hey, guys! Good to see you both!-but don't bite anybody yet," I replied, "You might chew on the ropes, though..."

"Yours, or Leo's?"

"Either one-although I may be talking our way out of this, so hold off on that for now."

"Righto! Hey, thanks for sending the big bird back for me."

"Don't call him a bird, Gerald. He doesn't like it."

"Can't hear me, though, can he?"

"Probably not, but you never know with otterells.

He's probably hearing my side of this conversation and can guess at what you're saying. He already wants to eat you, so I wouldn't tease him too much-you might regret it."

"I'll be careful," he promised quickly.

"See that you are," I said warmly. "I don't want to lose anyone else on this trip-and speaking of which, I *290 *53*.

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don't suppose you know what happened to our horses, do you?"

"Went on ahead, I think," Gerald replied. "Maybe they're bringing back help."

"That might be interesting," I commented. Depending on who they brought, of course. There had been a time when I couldn't imagine Rafe following two riderless horses back to our aid, but times had changed considerably since then. Now, if they could just bring back Carnita...

I realized I'd carried on an entire conversation with Gerald while, in the meantime, Brandon still hadn't replied to my query-possibly because he didn't feel the need to, so I altered my question.

"Which would you truly rather have, Brandon?

Carnita, or the boys?"

"I should have taken her years ago," he said quietly, "-despite her protests! But I always thought she would come to me. I was wrong, obviously. I never knew the boys were mine until that last meeting. I think I went slightly mad, knowing that another man was calling my sons his own-a man whom I've always regarded as an enemy of sorts, because of her...I don't know now."

Brandon seemed to be at a loss as to what to do next, so I decided to help him out. I was going for broke, and I knew it, but the way I saw it, it couldn't hurt to try.

"Okay, then," I said briskly, "here's what you're going to do. You're going to let us go-or at least take off Leo's gag-and then we'll try to talk some sense into Rafe-or Carnita-or both. But we can't do it while we're waving swords at each other and-if it's all *291 *53*.

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Cheryl Brooks the same to you-I'd really like our hands untied, too, because my shoulder is killing me."

Brandon was eyeing me warily, so I went on to add, "And if you don't, I'll get loose somehow, but you won't like what I'll do, then-what I could do right now, even with your men holding Leo, and even with my hands tied." Brandon had no idea what the extent of my powers were, so it was a bit of a gamble-a little nudge, actually-to get him to see things my way.

"You'll tell all the horses to run off home if I don't, won't you," he said with the first smile I'd ever seen from him-which was quite charming, actually. No wonder Carnita liked him so well.

I smiled back at him, thinking that this might work out after all. "Wouldn't take much to get them to do that," I said. "They're tired, hungry, and they'd much rather go home than stay here-and so would I."

And I would go home, too, but not without giving that little bitch, Carnita, a really big piece of my mind before I went, because this whole mess was starting to look as though it was her fault-and hers, alone. These men would never have fought if it hadn't been for her! Rafe might have put her aside, if she'd never given him sons-which may have been the motive driving her-but she could still have gone to Brandon after that. She might have had to swallow her pride to do it, but I was sure Brandon would have welcomed her with open arms. Things might have worked out much better that way, though it would have left Rafe with no one to succeed him, which had been his driving motivation through all of this.

I know that having heirs meant an awful lot to him, but-and you may think this selfish of me-looking at *292 *53*.

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it from my own perspective at that moment (sitting in a snowdrift with my hands tied behind my back while someone else held Leo prisoner), I'd have to say I really didn't give a damn.

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Chapter 14.

I know what you're thinking; I had one tiny little thing to be grateful to Carnita for, and that, of course, was Leo. If she hadn't been such a social-climbing little hussy, I'd never have found him. I'd have to keep that in mind, so I wouldn't allow my gut instincts to overrule my better judgment and deck her with a fireball.

I kept these thoughts to myself, because if Brandon had known what I was thinking, he would have been much less cooperative-but it made me feel better. Perhaps, years from now, I could get together with Rafe, and we could discuss all the dire fates that Carnita deserved, but that was best left for another time. Right now, I had to get this adventure wrapped up, so I could go home with Leo, have his baby, and live happily ever after.

By the gods, I liked the sound of that!

Brandon seemed to be taking his sweet time to consider my suggestion, though I couldn't see that he had much choice, but you know how these guys get when they're on a testosterone high.

"Come on, Brandon," I urged. "Let's get this over with and then we can all go home and forget it ever happened."

I had a strong suspicion that there were some things that none of us would be able to forget, but the idea was still very appealing.

"Kiss and make up?" he suggested with a wry smile.

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"Something like that. Of course, Rafe won't have anyone to kiss but his kids, but he'll get over it. He's pretty tough. And it's the boys that he cares about.

Carnita just makes him crazy."

"You really think it will work?"

"Never know 'til we try," I said honestly. "Just remember that your solution to the problem has been one big, fat fiasco after another, so it couldn't hurt to let me give it a go. One witch against another, as it were."

"Carnita is not a witch," Brandon objected.

"Well, maybe not in the strictest sense of the word,"

I admitted, "but there are plenty of people who would hear her story and come to that conclusion."

"You don't think much of her, do you?" he observed.

"I really don't know her well enough to answer that question," I said-and this was true-"but Leo says her heart is not steadfast. Are you sure you want to deal with that?"

"It has always been steadfast for me," Brandon replied. "Not strong, perhaps, but steadfast. I believe she still loves me."

"And I believe she never loved Rafe," I said agreeably. The shallow, two-faced bitch!

Gerald heard that and snickered from a nearby tree. It was good to hear his laugh, but I'd really have preferred to hear Leo's at that point.

"Will you please untie Leo now?" I prompted. "I promise he won't hurt anybody."

"I believe he has hurt quite a few of my people already," Brandon said grimly. "He is a good fighter."

And an even better lover, I thought, but didn't voice that opinion, since guys don't like to hear that sort of *295 *53*.

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Cheryl Brooks thing. Girls do, but there weren't any around at the time.

Well, Morgana might have been around somewhere, but she didn't like hearing stuff like that, either. I needed to get home to Desdemona. Then it occurred to me that she might not join in the discussion of Leo's sexual prowess with a great deal of enthusiasm, either. Damn! I needed a girlfriend! Maybe I should try to strike up a friendship with one of Gerald's women.

"No!" Gerald said vehemently. "You should not! I don't want them hearing anything about him!"

"Coward!" I shot back at him, trying hard not to laugh.

Brandon saw me smiling anyway, but he misinterpreted it, giving it my original meaning instead.

Signaling to his men, he said, "Loose him, then. Seems the witch covets him for some reason."

"If you only knew," I said with a knowing shake of my head. "He was Rafe's slave before-well, actually, he was Carnita's-but he's my husband now. And, trust me, Carnita would never come to you if she still owned him!"

"Well, then, let's make sure that never happens,"

Brandon said briskly, getting to his feet. "Now, if you would be so kind as to tell our horses to return and behave themselves, we can be on our way." Pausing for a moment to consider, he added, "I believe I will still have someone ride with you. Forgive me for not trusting you completely, but..."

"I understand," I said graciously. "But Alton will be so upset."

"Another horse, then," he said, taking my meaning *296 *54*.

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immediately. "I wouldn't want you to end up in another snowdrift."

"Me, either," I declared. "I've had enough snow on this trip to last a lifetime!"

Brandon grinned hugely. "You can thank my witch for that," he said.

"She can control the weather?" I squeaked. "Wow!

That's really impressive!"

"Oh, she is," he agreed with another smile. "She's also very...useful-and beautiful," he added.

"Should Carnita be concerned?" I inquired carefully.

"Not really," he replied. "I may have fathered her daughter, but that was a long time ago-before I met Carnita, in fact-and she'll have none of me to wed."

So, there had been at least one other woman in his life...

I'd thought as much.

"Smart girl," I said approvingly. "It's best not to fall in love with 'the one.' "

"But you did," Brandon pointed out.

"Yes," I replied. "But since Leo doesn't have any property for sons to inherit, it won't matter to him that he has only one daughter."

A shadow of a doubt crossed my mind-Leo was a warrior, that much had been made clear to me on this journey. Would he be content to settle down on a primitive planet with an herbalist witch and help me brew potions? And would he be satisfied with only a daughter to raise? All the other men I knew valued sons so highly-would Leo be any different in this regard?

Wouldn't he want sons to carry on his prowess with the sword and bow, his skill as a tracker?

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Cheryl Brooks His gag removed, Leo grinned. "It would not matter to me if we had no children at all," he said. "But we will."

"Only the one, Leo," I reminded him.

"You may be surprised," he said mysteriously.

"I doubt it," I said, dismissing the subject with a wave of my hand. We witches never had more than one daughter-never!-though it was very sad that Leo would have no sons because they surely would have driven all the local girls wild. Then I remembered all the turmoil that one extraordinarily beautiful woman had caused and decided that perhaps it was best if he didn't...

The ride from there on was much more pleasant.

In addition to Gerald sitting snugly in the front of my cloak, I had a charming young man named Kyle riding behind me, who held me on the pommel of his saddle with such strong arms and kept me laughing to the point that Leo scowled at him from time to time. Turns out he was the one who'd fired that arrow into my shoulder- and the one in my side!-something which he seemed to regret, for he kissed me on that shoulder a few times while we rode.