"I'd never do that to Mary Ben."

"I didn't think you would. But it's something we men must keep in mind when we're with a woman."

"Does it hurt, Kain? I mean, does it hurt when you do it to a woman so she'll get a baby? I've heard mares squeal something awful when a stallion rams it in her."

Henry's watchful eyes prevented even the slightest smile to spread Kain's lips. This was by far the strangest conversation he'd ever had. He wondered vaguely if these were the things a father told his son. No adult had ever discussed s.e.x with him. He had learned first from his cla.s.smates, and later from courtesans.

"It may hurt the woman the first time, but after that she can receive you without pain. It isn't at all like putting a stallion to a mare. The man must kiss the woman, pet her and make her want him to . . . complete the act."

"Does it hurt the man, too?"

"No. In fact, it's very pleasant. If a man and a woman love each other, it's something that they both want to do. It's one of G.o.d's greatest gifts."

"I'm glad you told me. I wonder if Mary Ben knows about it. Do you think I should tell her? I want to do it with her someday."

"I don't think you should talk to Mary Ben about it just yet, Henry. John looks after her as if he were her pa. Let's wait and see if it would set easy with him if you courted her."

"Why would he care?"

"Well . . . she's awfully young."

"I'm going to ask Mary Ben if I can court her," Henry said determinedly. "If she says I can, I'll ask John. I'll give her the ribbon and the toilet water, and I'll ask her. Van doesn't have a beau, Kain. You should ask Van if you can be her beau."

"That's a good idea, Henry. I might do that."

If it were only that simple, Kain thought as he prodded Big Red into a lope. Since the encounter in the store he'd felt an increasing uneasiness in his stomach. The last thing he wanted to do was to be sick in camp. He wanted to hurry and get there so he could drop off the supplies and go downriver with the excuse of taking a bath.

Vanessa finished spreading the wash on the bushes to dry and watched Kain take his pack from the back of John's wagon, remove clean clothes and ride off back down the trail. She shifted her body to free the sticky shirt from her back. The day was unnaturally warm for this time of year and Vanessa longed to go to the river and bathe. She went to the wagon where Ellie was putting away the supplies.

"Let's go take a bath, Aunt Ellie. When the sun gets low it cools off too fast."

"You go ahead, dear. I'll come down later. Take Mary Ben with you."

"Mary Ben won't come with me. I've asked her before. I think it's because she doesn't have underclothes, Aunt Ellie. Or if she does, she doesn't want me to see them."

"Oh, dear. I hadn't thought of that. Poor shy little thing." Ellie clucked her tongue sorrowfully.

"She isn't as shy as she was a first, but she still won't say over a few words to me. She's more at ease with Henry, and they spend a lot of time together."

"I've noticed," Ellie said with a worried frown. "Henry seems to be taking hold of things more, though. I don't have to prod him so much. I think he's trying to impress Mary Ben. He likes her a lot, Vanessa. Maybe too much, and I don't know what to do about it. It's something I hadn't counted on."

"They're like two little kids, playing and laughing and whispering secrets to each other," Vanessa said wistfully. "I don't think Mary Ben's had much to laugh about."

"What should we do, Vanessa? Henry wouldn't understand if I told him not to spend so much time with her."

"No, he wouldn't understand. He would think he'd done something wrong and was being punished. Mary Ben is the first girl who has been friendly with him. The girls back home were meaner than dirt to Henry," Vanessa said, her remarkable eyes flashing with indignation.

"But what if . . . He mighta""

"What if he wants to . . . make love to her? It would be up to Mary Ben to put a stop to it. Henry wouldn't force her. It isn't in him to hurt anyone or anything."

"But what if she wants him to? Mary Ben might not realize the consequence."

"Mary Ben hasn't been sheltered like the girls back home, Aunt Ellie. I'd bet there isn't much about men she doesn't knowa"bad ones, that is."

"Do you suppose Kain would talk to Henry?"

"I'm not going to ask him to!"

"I will. I like that man. He's quality. I was hoping that you and hea""

"No chance of that. He's not the settling kind." Vanessa s.n.a.t.c.hed up a towel and a bar of soap and started toward the river. After a few steps she turned, walked back and picked up a bucket. "The river is icy cold. If there are still coals where we had the wash pot I'll heat some water."

Sunlight filtered through the branches and made speckled patterns on the ground. Vanessa watched them idly as she walked toward the river. As always when she was alone, her thoughts went to Kain. Was it her imagination or had he been avoiding her of late? They hadn't been alone for several days. Each time she made an attempt to ride beside him he seemed to have a reason for dropping back to talk with John. Several times she had caught him watching her, but he no longer teased her like he had when they first met.

Ellie, with her gentle questions, had started him talking one evening. He had been all over the world, even to places she hadn't heard about. She had sat back in the shadows, listening and watching the firelight flicker on his dark face. Each time he had looked at her with those honey colored eyes, she sensed a certain tenseness in him. For the dozenth time she recalled the touch of his hand on her cheek and the way his fingers had stroked her hair the night he was so angry because she hadn't stayed in the wagon. His touch had sent the most extraordinary sensation through her body. He'd made no attempt to touch her since. Why couldn't she get him out of her head?

Vanessa reached the riverbank, filled the bucket and carried it to the red coals in the circle of stones. She dropped a few handsful of gra.s.s on the coals, and when it blazed she fed small sticks to the hungry flames. Her mind kept straying back to Kain. Why had he ridden away without a word? He acted as if he were a man with a lot on his mind.

When the water in the bucket was warm she lifted it from the fire and removed her shirt. She ran the warm, soapy cloth over her neck and shoulders and down her arms, and thought, longingly, of a big tub of warm water. A full bath was the thing she had missed the most during this trip. After she washed and dried her upper body she slipped the shirt back on, wishing she had brought a clean one with her. She removed the pins from her braid and put them in the pocket of her shirt before she unbraided the long rope of fiery hair. When it was spread over her shoulders, she ma.s.saged her scalp and raked her fingers through the curly ma.s.s, glorying in the sense of freedom the gesture gave her.

The man concealed in the thick willows that grew along the river bank watched in fascination. He had caught glimpses of her several times during the past week, but he had not seen her this close. She was paler and thinner than he remembered, but a thousand times more enticing. The closer the bone the sweeter the meat, he thought as his black eyes raked her slender figure. Her waist and hips were so lithe and slender that in contrast her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were startlingly soft and emphatic. Primer Ta.s.s stood as still as a stone, but blood raced to the seat of his l.u.s.t and his fevered flesh leaped upward. That fiery hair! He had never seen anything like it. His brain stopped; his heart was not beating; he was there, alone with her.

Primer Ta.s.s' feet began to move and he was out of the willows and standing not six feet behind her when she turned. He had not meant to reveal himself. He wasn't ready to make his move, but his need for her to know that he was there and that she was his woman overrode his judgment.

Vanessa froze with terror. It was as if the man in black had sprung from a nightmare. He had the same dark face and flat expressionless eyes as when she'd last seen him. Her frightened mind registered the fact that he was not a big man, he was not much taller than she. That he moved quietly and quickly was evidence since she had heard nothing. What a fool she was for coming down here without a weapon to defend herself. He stood looking at her with those dull, black eyes. She wanted to run, but she'd have to turn her back on him, and she'd be d.a.m.ned if she'd give him a chance to pounce on her.

"Ya waitin' fer me?" His voice was as oily as she remembered, oily and smooth.

"Waiting for you? I don't know you. I want nothing to do with you. Get away from me."

"Ya got the purtiest t.i.tties I ever did see."

Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened only to snap shut again. Then her fright turned to anger and blossomed into an outburst.

"How dare you spy on me! You nasty, vile, stinking piece of horsedung!"

"Ain't n.o.body got more right ta look at yore t.i.tties 'n me. I done told ya I took ya fer my woman."

"I'm not your woman! Get that through your thick skull right now. And get the h.e.l.l away from me."

His laugh was guttural, and his eyes took on a feverish glow. "s.p.u.n.ky, ain't ya? I like that."

"Come near me again and I'll blow your stupid head off."

"I'd not be much good to ya dead." With his eyes on her face he ran his hand down over his lower stomach and outlined the elongated hardness that was causing his buckskins to protrude. Without wanting to, her eyes followed his hand, and her face flamed. He laughed again. This time it was a throaty, pleased chuckle. "Jist alookin' at ya gets me all het up 'n ready fer ya." The black eyes fastened to her face were like two bottomless, evil pits.

Vanessa was speechless with horror and outrage. She longed to smash his hateful face, but more than that she longed to turn and run.

"Ain't ya got nothin' to say 'bout it, purty woman?"

"I've got plenty to say and I mean every word of it. Come near me again and I'll blow a hole in you big enough to drive a wagon through! Now go and leave me alone. If Kain knew you were here he'd kill you right now!"

"Are ya aworryin' 'bout me?" He stood with his thumbs hooked in the strap of his gun belt. "I jist wanted to make sure ya knowed I laid my claim on ya that first day. The fat Dutchman 'n the kid thought they'd get a go at ya, but I'd a killed 'em first."

"You've no claim on me, you stupid, ignorant lout! I could horsewhip you for even thinking it. I wouldn't have anything to do with you if you were the last man on earth. You're everything I despise in a man."

"That's the kind a talk I like from my woman. We'll hitch good . . . when the time comes. Ya'll be wantin' it same as me when I get ya off in the mountains 'n show ya how tis. I'm aimin' fer us to have us a mighty fine old time out there all by our lonesome. Ya can do all the hollerin' 'n scratchin' 'n fightin' ya want. It'll jist make it better."

He leaped toward her. He moved so fast she was caught off guard. She turned to run, but managed only a few steps when his hand tangled in her hair and jerked her back against him. Before she could scream his hand clamped over her mouth, and he dragged her into the thick willows. A fresh flush of fear raced through her body.

"Ya'll keep quiet now, cause I could squeeze the life outta ya afore ya knowed it. I don't want to, but I will afore I let ya brin' the gringos down on me." His hand moved from her mouth to her throat and his fingers tightened.

"I won't . . . I won't scream. Kain will kill you if he catches you here," she managed to say.

"The gringo ain't your man. If'n he was he'd be f.u.c.kin ya ever' night, like I'd be adoin'. I been watchin'. But it don't matter none. I'm goin' to kill him," he muttered against her ear. The hand on her rib cage moved up to her breast. His fingers closed over her soft flesh and he rasped, "I love t.i.tties. I like to bite 'em, lick 'em, nuss 'em." His thumb and forefinger pinched her nipple. "It ain't big. It ain't been nussed, has it?"

Pain and terror knifed through her. Unmindful of his threats she began to struggle. His fingers moved up to her jaw and he jerked her head around. He attacked her mouth with brutal, wet kisses, and all the while his arm held her back against his chest. Finally he lifted his head. She felt faint and sagged against his arm. Her stomach rolled and bile rose in her throat.

"Ya like that, do ya? It ain't nothin' to what it'll be. I can show ya thin's that'll make ya so hot fer me ya'll chase me all o'er them mountains a tryin' to get me."

Her eyes blazed. She would have spit in his face if not for the fingers that clamped her chin and dug into her cheeks.

"Wait fer me. When I get thin's fixed, I'll be back fer ya." His arm fell way, but his fingers on her cheeks tightened. A long, thin knife appeared in his hand and she made a frightened sound and tried to jerk away. "Jist hold still. I ain't agoin' to hurt ya none if'n yore quiet. I jist got to have this. I jist got to." He grabbed a handful of hair at the top of her head and the knife began sawing through it.

"No!" The protest came from her choked throat.

The pull on her scalp was so painful it brought tears to her eyes. Finally the pressure stopped and he held out a two-foot length of gleaming copper hair. He smoothed it and carefully wrapped it around his hand. He was smiling. Vanessa's hand went to the top of her head. Not over an inch of hair covered a large patch on her crown. Her mouth formed a soundless cry of rage.

"I ain't never seen white skin like yores or hair like this here. I'll be akeepin' ya jist fer me 'n not let n.o.body else have yaa"if'n ya behave yourself."

"Vanessa!" Ellie's voice came from beyond the willows. "Are you down here? Vanessa!"

The tip of the knife sliced the top b.u.t.ton from her shirt, then was suddenly beneath Vanessa's chin and held her silent. "I'm goin' to have me this, too. Ya listen up good. Tell the gringo Primer Ta.s.s was here. Tell 'em I'll be waitin' up the trail 'n I'll drop him from any hill or clump a tree he pa.s.ses. Then it'll be jist you 'n me."

"You'd shoot a man in the back?"

"Sh.o.r.e. What's him to me?" He laughed openly at her. "I killed men I knowed better 'n him. Ain't no man standin' atween me 'n a woman I want."

"You're an animal!" Vanessa croaked. "I'll never go with you. If you force me I'll put a knife in you the first chance I get!"

To her amazement he laughed. "I warn't mistook 'bout ya. Ya'll come when the times right, 'n ya'll fight ever step of the way, won't ya, Vanessa? That's yore name, ain't it? Vanessa."

He said her name again as though trying to taste it. "Now mind I'll be watchin' ya, same as I been doin'. Ya can tell these folk I been here, it don't matter none. I'll jist be up ahead, 'n pick that b.a.s.t.a.r.d off with a shot in the head. Ain't no way he can be ready fer me," he concluded blandly. He watched her the way a snake watched a small frog or an insect, his black eyes still and staring. "I got to be aleavin' ya, but I want me a little kiss first."

"Vanessa?" Ellie's voice sounded anxious.

As soon as his mouth was near enough, Vanessa sank her teeth in his lip with all her strength. He grabbed her hair and twisted until she let go. Blood ran from his lip and down his chin, yet he smiled.

"Does hurtin' make ya hotter? I knowed women like that." His voice was a mere purr of a sound.

He jerked on her hair so hard that tears sprang to her eyes and she stumbled back, falling against a tree trunk. When she turned to look, he was gone.

"Vanessa!"

"I'm here, Aunt Ellie." She got quickly to her feet and pulled up the tail of her shirt, wiped her eyes and scrubbed her mouth, then straightened her clothes and pushed the hair back from her face. Her stomach churned as if she was about to be sick. She felt herself go ice cold. The next second she was burning hot. She was trembling from head to foot, but she made an effort to keep her voice steady. "I'm in the bushes. I'll be there in a minute." She took deep breaths to calm herself, then walked out from behind the willows, adjusting the belt that held up her britches.

"It scared me for a minute when you weren't here," Ellie said with a little laugh.

"There are times when a body's got to go to the bushes." Vanessa kept her face turned away. A gust of wind from the river whipped her hair. "It's getting cold. I'll finish washing in the wagon." She leaned over, away from her aunt, whirled her hair into a loose roll and pinned it to the top of her head.

"I thought you'd have your hair washed by now and I'd pour water over it to rinse out the soap."

"I decided to not wash it today. It would take a long time for it to dry." It was a lame excuse, but the only one Vanessa could think of. "Let's go back to the wagons, Aunt Ellie. This place gives me the creeps."

"Is something wrong? Why, heavens! You're nervous and jumpy."

"Ia"I thought I heard someone back there sneaking around." She picked up the bucket and dumped the water on the coals. "I shouldn't have come down here without the gun." She started back through the trees and Ellie followed.

"Could it be Indians?" Ellie looked back over her shoulder fearfully.

"I don't think so. It was probably someone from the campground."

Vanessa's knees were weak and trembling, but she was not too rattled to think clearly. With mounting distress she silently acknowledged that there was no place where she was absolutely safe from Primer Ta.s.s. She could never be alone again as long as that man lived. He was a beast! She had suffered indignities from him that no decent woman should have to endure, the way he handled her breast, his foul talk. . . .

She would have to tell Kain, she thought. Kain had to be warned. Ta.s.s said he would be waiting up the trail . . . to kill him and take her. Oh, Kain! Oh, darling!

Chapter Eight.

Mary Ben? Are you in there?" Henry stood at the end of the Wisner wagon.

"No, silly. I'm over here."

Henry turned and saw Mary Ben standing at the edge of the camp beneath a large oak tree, its branches cut off so as to not tear the tops of the wagons. She was laughing at him.

"Silly?" He went toward her. "Are you calling me silly, Mary Ben?"

"Silly! Silly!" she shouted and struck off through the trees, running lightly. Her joyous laugh and the old yellow dog trailed her. When she was sure she was out of his sight, she hid behind a large tree trunk. Henry pa.s.sed her hiding place, although he knew she was there, then turned and caught sight of her skirt as she darted to the other side.