"I'm divorcing you." Ryder's head snapped back as if he'd been struck.

"You will not."

Mary was already moving toward the trunk. She threw back the lid and began gathering his clothes.

"Didn't you say all I had to do was leave them outside our home?" She rooted through his possessions with the single-mindedness of a puppy uncovering a bone.

"Should I put them in the passage or drop them at the mouth of the cavern on my way out?" Shrugging off the hand that Ryder placed on her shoulder, she continued to go through his belongings.

"I want there to be no mistake about my intentions."

"Mary, you can't divorce me for no reason," he said. She stopped long enough to cast him a sideways glance.

"Since you don't think saving your life is a good reason, let me give you another one. You're provoking." She bent to her task again.

"Don't you dare smile behind my back. I'm not doing this for your amusement." Ryder scooped up the clothes she had gathered and pitched them back in the trunk.

"I can keep it up longer than you," he said. Mary's mouth flattened as she stared at the work he had undone.

"All right," she said.

"I won't divorce you." She stood and began unbuttoning her shirt. His expression didn't change, but Ryder did sigh.

"What are you doing now?" Raising defiant eyes, Mary continued to release the buttons.

"When you wanted to keep me around before, you kept me naked. I'm merely anticipating your orders."

"Now who's being provoking?" he asked.

"And you're doing it deliberately." Mary shrugged. Her shirt slipped off her right shoulder. She let it be and removed the belt holding up her trousers. Thrusting it at Ryder, she said, "In case you want to tie me." What he wanted to do was gag her. Unconsciously he wrapped the ends of the cloth belt around each of his fists and pulled tight.

"Or strangle me," she said, eyeing the garrote.

Ryder looked down at his hands and saw what he had made.

Unraveling the ends, he tossed it away impatiently. Mary could see she was engaging him in a battle he didn't want to fight.

Careless of the consequences, she shimmied out of the trousers.

Tossing back her head, she let her shirt slip off both shoulders.

"Well, Ryder? This is what you want, isn't it?"

It was as if lightning seared his eyes. He didn't look anywhere but at Mary's face, and when he acted it was without telegraphing his intentions. In a single sweeping motion he lifted her off her feet and tossed her over his shoulder. She was robbed of breath for a moment.

She pummeled his backside. He walloped hers once.

Shock held her still. The blessed silence almost caused Ryder to change his mind, but he was already at the pool. She tried to hold on to him as his intent became clear, clutching at his shoulders and arms, but he peeled her off, tipped her into the well, and jumped back to avoid the splash of icy water. He was already walking away by the time Mary surfaced. She shook off thick droplets and knuckled others from her eyes. When she could see clearly she glared at him.

"Bastard!" Ryder sat down in the wing chair and stretched out his legs in front of him. One dark eyebrow was raised.

"You just stay there until you cool off." Mary was damned if she was going to do that. She hauled herself out. The icy water had raised bumps on her skin and her teeth had begun to chatter. Belatedly realizing Ryder had another motive for dropping her in the water, Mary gave him a sour look as she reached for a blanket to cover herself.

"Satisfied?" she asked, drawing it around her. Ryder had no difficulty recognizing the trap in that question. He pointed to the bed.

"Sit down," he said.

"Over there." Mary recognized that he was insisting on some distance between them.

"Are you concerned about my safety or yours?"

"Sit down, Mary. Now." She sat. The silence between them built to a point at which it was almost tangible. Mary refused to show what a struggle it was to meet Ryder's predatory stare.

"Tell me about your plan," he said finally. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"You can't keep me here, Ryder. Not easily, anyway.

I'm leaving you, and I'm going back to my family. It's not an idle threat. I've studied those maps every bit as much as you have, and I already know how to get out of this cavern. The journey back to Fort Union is more straightforward than I could have believed. You must have taken the most roundabout route imaginable to make your escape from the stockade." Ryder acknowledged the truth of it with a slight nod of his head. Mary tucked the corner of her blanket more firmly between her breasts.

"You'd better be prepared to make me your prisoner again because I'm done being your wife."

Her voice was clear and firm, leaving no doubt that she meant what she said. The blanket that Ryder had maneuvered her into taking was beginning to look more like armor.

"I wasn't thinking so much about your plan to leave me," he said, "as I was about your plan that we should leave together."

"Oh."

Ryder crossed his ankles and folded his arms across his chest.

"Oh," he said softly.

"I'm prepared to listen." Mary twisted some water out of her hair and untangled the crown with her fingers.

"Rennie and Jarret are still working at Holland Mines. It makes sense to go there rather than try to make contact at Fort Union. With their help, we can get to the station at Tucson. That's where the private cars will be. There's the one that my mother and I used to come out west and I'm sure my father brought another for his journey. Rennie and Jarret have yet another for their own use. We only need to ask for one to take us to Washington. Rennie's in charge of all of Northeast's operations in this area. She can arrange it easily."

"If she will."

"She will," Mary said with serene confidence.

"Then we wouldn't have to ask your father's permission."

"No, we wouldn't. Does that make it more palatable?" Ryder had to admit that it did.

"It might work."

"You'd still have to ask for your uncle's help. We'd need a place to stay and assistance in finding Anna Leigh. Senator Stillwell could be invaluable to us."

"We still have to get to Holland Mines," he reminded her. He would think about his uncle later.