"Before Nalte discovers that he hasn't been brought ..."

"A virgin bride?" Jori suggested.

Jamie scowled. He was staring down where the dust still rose in the wake of the horses.

"I met Cochise once," he murmured.

"I admired the man. He was willing to meet with me under a flag of truce in spite of the number of times the cavalry betrayed his trust. He is our enemy, he is dangerous, but I would not hesitate to go to him. I wonder if this Nalte is a man like Cochise."

"Nalte is powerful," Jon said.

"He is the head of his family, and the chief of many families. He usually makes war with the Mexicans because of the war they have made upon him, but he will deal with the Comancheros because they bring him the arms he needs to fight his battles. He is fiercely against the reservation life, and will battle for his land to the bitter end. But from what I have heard, he is still a man with ethics and honor."

Jamie inhaled and exhaled.

"I just don't know. I'm going to try to get her back tonight," he said.

"I daren't risk waiting to deal with Nalte."

He turned and started sliding down the cliff toward the small clearing in the rock where they had left the horses.

"Coming?" he called to Jon.

"I'm fight behind you," Jon a.s.sured him.

The Comancheros rode hard alongside the range until the daylight waned and night began to fall upon them,~ Then they moved into the mountains.

The terrain became very rugged, and their pace slowed.

Chavez dropped back to ride beside Tess.

"This is Nalte's territory.

You will meet your bridegroom very soon." He sneered at her, very pleased with himself. Tess said nothing, but watched the man with as much disdain as possible.

"Wait until you meet Nalte. He is tall and as strong as the rock.

He crushes arrogant little girls between his fingers. He is fierce in his paint and breech clouts and he is merciless upon his enemies."

"Chavez, he cannot be anywhere near as repulsive as you," she said pleasantly. So pleasantly that it took several long moments for the smile to fade from his weathered features. He shook a fist in her face.

"I have not given you to Nalte yet, little girl! You hold your tongue, or you will pay!"

He rode forward again. Tess shivered but kept her eyes straight ahead in the growing darkness. She could feel the horses and the men bunched around her, could feel their eyes upon her, could smell the sweat of their bodies. But she kept her eyes on the trail, looking neither left nor fight, trying desperately not to acknowledge them--or her own fear.

The rocks stopped suddenly. They had come upon a small plateau studded with crude buildings barely discernible in the dusk. An open fire with a huge spit set above it burned in the center of the clearing, and there were women there and a number of armed men awaiting them. Tess figured it had to be a headquarters of sorts for Chavez in the mountains.

Perhaps his last stronghold before it became Nalte's territory in full.

She remained on her horse as the men rushed into the clearing, yelling, screaming, calling to their women, cavorting as they dismounted.

Chavez rode over to her.

"Welcome to my home, little girl." He laughed.

"Mi casa es su casa. Always, my house is yours. Tomorrow, Nalte's tepee will be your home!" He roared with laughter, as if he had just said the most amusing thing in the world.

He dismounted from his horse and lifted her down from hers. He pulled her close against him, still roaring.

"Maybe I will keep you myself. You have so much to learn about manners.

Maybe you are like a very fine horse to be broken, eh? A magnificent mare to be ridden and tamed, eh?" Tess struggled fiercely against him.

He enjoyed her distress and continued to smile. She shouldn't fight him, she thought.

He enjoyed it so very much.

But just as she went limp, a sharp female voice called out, "Chavez!"

His features hardened. He did not release Tess, but turned around and stared at the dark-haired, buxom young woman coming toward him. She wore a white peasant blouse and a full, colorful skirt. Her brown feet were bare. She was young and pretty but her features were wide and her hips showed signs of broadening With age and the birth of children.

She scowled furiously at Tess and scolded Chavez in Spanish.

"Woman, shut your mouth!" Chavez roared at her. She did not stop talking until Chavez turned, his fist raised as if he would hit her. The woman fell silent, but her eyes were eloquent. Her look said that she hated Tess.

"I am Chavez, and I will do as I choose!" he warned the dark-haired woman.

He pushed Tess toward her.

"Take her.

Take her to the house. I will come shortly."

The woman put a hand on Tess's shoulder. Tess shook free from her hand.

"Don't touch me!" she warned her sharply.

"What a woman!" Chavez sighed, and Tess did not know if it was with mockery or pleasure. She gritted her teeth and stepped past the woman, striding toward a house she indi The dark-haired woman hurried behind her.. ~ The daylight was almost gone. By the glow of the fire, Tess tried to take measure of where she was. The rocks of the mountains rose all around them, but there were many trails that sprang from the clearing. She had no idea where they led, but if she could escape during the night, she could get some distance from Chavez.

"Stop! You stop, you gringa s.l.u.t!" the woman called out. Tess ignored her.

She reached the house and threw open the door.

There were just two rooms there. One was a kitchen with dirty shelves and boxes. Old liquor bottles, chipped and broken, lay upon a dirty, rickety table. Beyond the kitchen was a bedroom.

Tess stared in horror.

"This is filthy. I cannot stay here." Behind them, Chavez laughed sourly.

"Anna, she is right. This is a sty. You will clean it up." Anna turned and hit out at him. He grabbed her hands.

She fought him wildly, then went limp. She pleaded with him in Spanish, her voice catching on a sob. Tess tried to ignore them. She looked around and saw there was a back door in the bedroom. She tried not to stare at it, wondering if it wasn't especially designed as an escape route for Chavez if a stronger force came after him.

She didn't want him to catch her staring at the door so she turned around and sat on one of the crude wooden chairs that surrounded the filthy table.

"Tell her to clean it up!" Anna suddenly said, stamping her foot hard on the floor.

"I will not," Tess said immediately. She crossed her arms over her chest.

Chavez was convulsed with laughter once again. He unbuckled his gun belt and tossed it on the table on top of the debris. He sat in a chair opposite Tess and stared at her, still very amused, so it seemed.

"She will not clean up your slop, Anna. She is Miss. Stuart. She wears an Apache squaw's buckskins, but she is a lady. You don't know this, Anna, to be a lady. You must watch her. You musn't ask her to pick up swill." He stopped looking at Tess for a moment and slammed his fist against the table.

"I am hungry, Anna. You will bring me something to eat. And you will bring something--for the lady."

Anna didn't like that at all. She began to argue again. This time Chavez rose and slapped her hard across the face.

Anna stared at him, tears forming in her eyes. But she said no more, choosing to obey him. Chavez looked at Tess sternly.

"That is how to handle a woman!" he told her firmly.

"That, Chavez, is not even the proper way to handle a dog," she told him.

But a second later it was all that she could do not to shrink away from him as he jumped to his feet and stood over her, his hand raised, ready to strike. She willed herself not to flinch.

Slowly, his hand fell.

He smiled, then he laughed, and returned to his seat, still looking at her.

"I would like to keep you here. I would like to see you change your tune. I would like to see you after your eyes had been blackened and your body used by every man here. Then you would not be so proud."

"You could never really touch me, Chavez," she said softly.

"You can hurt Anna because she loves you. You cannot hurt a woman who despises you. That is something that you cannot even begin to understand."

He looked at her, puzzled, then the door opened again. Anna was back with a plate of food for Chavez and one for Tess.

Tess didn't want to touch anything in the filthy hovel, but she thought again that she needed strength if she was going to escape, and she hadn't had anything but water all day. She accepted the plate Anna handed her, saying a soft, "Thank you." Anna looked at her curiously, then went to sit in a chair facing Chavez, her head bowed.

Tess chewed the stringy beef she had been handed, and scooped up the beans with a spoon. She ate quickly but she still had not finished when Chavez let out a loud belch and wiped his face with the back of his sleeve. She glanced at him and felt ill. Knowing she could eat no more, she set her plate on the table.

"You see? She does not eat much, just little, little bites, like a lady," Chavez told Anna. He pushed himself back from the table and rose.

Belching again, he growled at Anna to get out of his way.

"I will drink with my comrades!" he said. He went to Tess and gripped her chin hard.

"I will come back when I have drunk my fill. And I will decide if you get to learn your lessons from me--or the Apache." Laughing, he released her, collected his guns from the table and strode out of the house. When he was gone, Tess stared at Anna, watching the woman's jealous face.

Suddenly she leaped to her feet.

"Anna, listen to me. You want Chavez. I do not! Help me. Get me out of here."

"No!" Anna cried in alarm.

"You want him. I hate him] Please" -- "No! No, no, no! He will beat me!

He might kill me." The woman wasn't going to help her, no matter how jealous she was. With a deep sigh of exasperation Tess wandered back to her chair.

She closed her eyes for a moment.

Lord, she was tired.

Seconds went by, then minutes. Anna stayed where she was, her head lowered.

Tess looked longingly at the rear door. If she tried to escape, Anna would sound the alarm. She wouldn't have a chance.

She wondered how long Chavez had been gone. The Comancheros were all outside drinking. Drink might make Chavez think he wanted her more than he wanted the gold the Apache was paying for her. He was a brutally cruel man, she had to remember that. It wasn't difficult. She had only to close her eyes to remember how he had murdered Jeremiah and David in cold blood.

And then an idea came to her. She hurried over to Anna, falling to her knees before the woman in her excitement.

"Anna! What if we fought? What if we pretend that I bested you and that I".

"You could not beat me, puta!" Anna claimed. "Anna! Chavez is your man!

This is pretend. I tie you up.

I gag you. Then I am gone, and you have Chavez, and he cannot hate you for letting me go. He must love you all the more for what I have done to you." Tess didn't know if that was true or not, but she was certain that Anna would survive Chavez, and equally certain that she might not do so herself. Anna's eyes had narrowed, as if she was giving the idea a great deal of speculation.

Tess picked up a lock of her hair.

"I am blond! That is what they want. If I stay, Chavez might throw you out."

That decided it. Anna stood and looked around the room. She rushed' from the kitchen to the bedroom and found some scarves.

"Is this good?"

"Yes, yes."

Anna moved to the hearth where she picked up a heavy cast-iron skillet.

She thrust it toward Tess.

"Hit me. You must hit me hard on the head. I must have a bruise."

"I--I don't think that I can" -- "You must! If Chavez should beat me, it would be much worse. ' " All fight," Tess agreed doubtfully.

"Let's get in the bedroom. I want you to fall on the bed. I don't want to hurt you ."