She decided to take her chances with the Apache. She didn't make it.

Jamie had been still, but he came to motion in a flash. Just as she reached for the rawhide flap, his arms swept around her calves, and she came crashing down to the hard ground. She coughed and gagged and struggled against his weight to turn around and face him. He straddled her. Her sir~ple doeskin dress was wound high around her hips, and she was naked beneath it. Jamie didn't seem to notice. He sat calmly upon her, crossing his arms over his chest, aware that she wouldn't be going anywhere at all.

He stared down at her.

"Undisciplined--brat!"

"Brat! I'm twenty-four years old" -- "An old maid! Maybe that's half the problem."

She gasped, stunned by the remark, and started to struggle furiously beneath him. Her fingers wound into fists but he was ready, leaning forward to pin her wrists to the sides of her head.

"I told you--it's done my way. You may be Miss. Stuart, and you may be the publisher of the Wiltshire Sun, and you may own one of the finest ranches this side o the Mississippi, but you're with me now, and I warned you, it's going to be done my way! Especially among the Apache!

You don't make a fool of a man in front of them!"

" But I just wanted to know what was going on!"

"I really should take a switch to you--but at some later date." The fury suddenly faded from his voice. He released her wrists, his hands ma.s.saging both tenderly and tempestuously through the splay of her hair.

"Tess, Tess, what are we doing? We're going back to Wiltshire, and all h.e.l.l will break loose when we get there. Let's not fight each other now." ' She stared at his striking features, at the handsome and rugged angles and planes of his face, at the pa.s.sion in his silver eyes. She trembled suddenly and wound her arms around him.

"Hold me!" she whispered.

And he did.

They shed their clothing, and she thought that he made love to her more tenderly, more carefully, that night than he ever had before.

When the sun rose their naked bodies were entwined together in the soft shadows. She didn't want to leave, she thought. She could live among the Apache with Jamie forever.

But of course she couldn't. This was not her world, and she had vowed that she would fight von Heusen. Neither she nor Jamie could walk away now.

Jamie leaned over and kissed her lips, and she looked into his eyes.

"It's time," he told her.

He rose and dressed quickly, and she followed his example.

They did not leave with the dawn, for Nalte wanted another conference with Jamie. His sister, Little Flower, came to Tess to say goodbye. Tess had learned very little of the language, but she had been grateful for Little Flower's shy kindness. It seemed that Nalte was bestowing gifts on Tess-- she was given a new outfit in which to ride, in pale buckskin, with fine tin cone pendants and beautiful beadwork. There was a long overdress that fell nearly to her knees, and beneath it, soft trousers so that she might ride easily. She was given boots at last, fine boots with rawhide bottoms and soft leggings to cover her calves. She thanked Little Flower as best as she could for the gifts, then kissed the young woman on the cheek.

Nalte came to her then. Little Flower fled, and Nalte watched Tess for several moments before speaking.

"You 255 will take the dress, too. Slater has told me that it will always be special to him."

She flushed.

"Thank you. Thank you for the gifts. I've nothing to give you in return."

He shrugged.

"I have gotten what I wanted from Slater. And I give you the gifts in his behalf. In our courting ritual, we exchange gifts, as I have told you." She smiled and lowered her head, wondering what Jamie had given him.

"Most of all, Nalte, I thank you for my freedom."

He grunted and looked at her still.

"I understand that you are a warrior yoursell~' " A warrior?" she said, startled.

"You take on men's battles."

"I didn't really intend to. I just--I had to fight back." She paused.

"This man had my uncle murdered. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand. I will pray that the sph'its will be with you."

He left her then.

Jamie returned soon after.

"They are ready to ride," he told her.

"Let's go."

She nodded and hurried after him. There was a small roan mare set aside for her use, and she silently accepted Jamie's help to mount the saddle less creature.

She was startled to see Jamie mounting a large paint gelding. She stared at him and said softly, "Jamie, your own horse" -- "He's Nalte's now,"

Jamie said curtly. "Your horse! But you loved that horse. Why on earth would you want to" She broke off. He hadn't wanted to give Nalte the horse. The horse had been the negotiation.

"I'm sorry, Jamie."

"It doesn't matter," he said, and, turning his back, he rode ahead to talk to the half-naked warrior in a breech256 clout at the head of the party of a dozen or so, their escort through Comanchero territory. The Indian turned and she gasped, startled to see that it was Nalte.

She couldn'? t ponder the chief's partic.i.p.ation in their ride then, for cries suddenly filled the air and they were leaving the village behind at a quick pace. Jouncing on her pony, Tess turned back.

Little Flower was waving to her. Tess smiled warmly and waved in turn.

They she turned again and hugged her knees to her pony. She had thought that she knew how to ride hard, but she had never ridden with the Apache before.

She realized she was learning about a hard ride all over again, from the very beginning.

By the time they stopped for the night, she could barely dismount, and when she did she nearly fell.

Jamie was there to catch her. She widened her eyes and stared at him and she wanted to straighten and show him that she could be strong. But her knees were buckling and she merely managed to whisper, "Oh, Jamie ..."

He caught her before she fell. The Apache warriors were preparing a fire, and he carried her to it. One warrior stretched out a blanket for her, and a roll was stuffed beneath her head.

She never ate a meal that night for she fell asleep instantly.

Somewhere in the middle of the night she felt a new warmth. She opened her eyes and realized that Jamie had stretched next to her, and she was curled up in the shelter of his arms.

She stared up at the stars and was suddenly very afraid. She had wanted to go home, and they were going home. But Jamie was right, it would be open war now. She didn't want to die.

She was just learning how to live.

She closed her eyes and curled her fingers around the strong male hand that curved beneath her breast.

"Please G.o.d, please G.o.d, please G.o.d," she whispered. The rest of her prayer formed no words, but she knew it in her heart.

She wanted to survive. and more.

She wanted to survive with Jamie. The life that was now so precious to her would be meaningless without him.

She dosed her eyes again, and to her amazement, she slept once more.

The Apache stayed with them all the next day and the next night.

Jamie seemed c6ncerned for them, warning Nalte that they were moving into Comanche territory. But Nalte knew Running River, and he didn't seem concerned.

Tess tried to talk to Nalte, reminding him that many whites had believed yon Heusen when he said that it had been Indians who caused all the trouble. Few of the new settlers knew there was a difference between Comanche and Apache.

Nalte, however, was resolute. He and the Apache rode with them to the outskirts of the town of Wiltshire. Then he lifted his spear high in the air and a shrill, blood-chilling cry escaped him. The Apache formed behind him.

"Goodbye, Slater, Sun-Colored Woman."

"Thank you. No matter what comes, Nalte, I will always be your friend,"

Jamie told him.

"I believe you." The chief moved forward, and he and Jamie clasped hands.

Then Nalte swung his newly acquired mount around and his men raced off behind him. Jamie watched them disappear in a cloud of Texas dust, then he looked at Tess.

"This is it. We're almost home."

"Perhaps we should go into town"

"No. We'll head to the ranch."

"But I need to put this in the paper" -- He swore, roughly, violently.

"Tomorrow, Tess! We're going home. I tried to make a few arrangements for help.

You can't go into town alone, and I have to get back to the ranch!

Got it?"

"Got it!" she shouted back.

They weren't far. She swung her Apache mare around and nudged her to a fleeting gallop. She raced for a good ten minutes before she pulled up suddenly, a feeling of utter joy encompa.s.sing her heart as the ranch came into view. It was still standing. No one had burned it to the ground.

Smoke was spewing from the chimney; Dolly or Jane must be cooking something inside. Life had gone on while she had been with the Apache.

And the people who loved her had held on.

Jamie was behind her. She turned and shouted to him. "It's still standing!"

"Yes," he began.

She didn't let him say more. She nudged the mare hard again with' her heels and thundered toward the ranch. She pa.s.sed the paddocks and the beautiful mares with their foals and she felt joy cascade throughout her. Von Heusen hadn't beaten them--not yet.

She reined in the mare as she came to the house. Dust flew as the little horse pawed the ground. Tess leaped down and went racing for the front door.

"Dolly, Jane, Hank!" She stood in the entryway, looking at the large desk, at the stairway leading to the second floor, at the furniture in the parlor, at the dining table. She was home.

"They're here! Someone is here!" a voice shouted. It was an unfamiliar voice. Tess stared in astonishment as a tall, slim blond woman came hurrying down the stairway. She was followed by a handsome little boy of about five, then a second blond woman with a serene and beautiful face.

"Miss. Tess!"

Tess swung around as Jane hurried from the kitchen, throwing her arms around her.

"I knew you'd come back, I just knew that you would!"

"Well." The first woman had reached the entryway.

"I knew that Jamie wouldn't come back without you, of course," she said.

"Where is he?"

Tess stared with astonishment at the two women and the little boy.

Then the door burst open behind her. Jamie had arrived, but he wasn't alone.

With him were two men, both as tall as he, with the handsome but rugged features of ranchers, of men who eked their existence from the land and the elements. They were talking, the three of them were talking, the darkest of them saying something about yon Hensen.

Then Dolly emerged' from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her ap.r.o.n.

"Those twins!" she proclaimed.

"The little darlings are going to eat us out of cookies and cakes, they are!

Oh!

Oh, Tess! Jamie, Lieutenant Slater, why you're home! You're home!" There were tears in her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I knew Tess wouldn't come home without her lieutenant. I knew you wouldn't!" Dolly flung her arms around Jamie, and then Dolly and Jane were fighting to hug Tess, and she was trying to hug them back.

But she still couldn't help staring at the strangers who were suddenly filling her house. Twins? What twins?