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He scrambled to his feet, fists at his sides. “Didn’t I tell you never to call me Reggie again?” he shouted. He pointed toward her room. “And get back to your room. Mind your own business!”
Horrified by his reaction to her kindly meant gesture, Jessie stared dumbfoundedly at him for a moment. Then she hurried to her room and closed the door between herself and her cousin.
Seeing how distraught Jessie was, Jade took her into her arms. “Now you know the true ugliness of this man,” she murmured, gently embracing her. “Jessie, be careful. Be . . . very . . . careful about what you do or say around him.”
Jessie eased from Jade’s arms.
Pale, her heart thumping wildly inside her chest, she laid a hand on her belly. She was truly afraid now for her child. One blow from this man and she could lose her baby!
Tomorrow she would start her plan of escape.
She would explore the countryside on the horse Reginald had given her. He had remembered how she had always enjoyed horseback riding.
But he had told her not to go far from the ranch; that it was dangerous. She now realized he was afraid she might meet people who could eventually help her!
But the main thing she knew now was that she would have to find a way to flee, the sooner, the better.
But how?
She had no money. And now she had not only herself and her unborn child to think about, but also Jade and her daughter Lee-Lee. They were in danger as long as they were under the thumb of her cousin Reginald.
“What are you going to do?” Jade asked, sensing Jessie’s tumultuous thoughts.
“I’m not sure yet,” Jessie said. She took Jade’s hands in hers. “But there must be a way for us to get away from this man. He might be my cousin, but I’m beginning to believe he is a madman!”
Jade flung herself into Jessie’s arms. “Then you’ll help us? Thank you, oh thank you,” she sobbed. “Still, I can’t help being afraid.”
“Yes, I know,” Jessie said, returning Jade’s hug. “I am afraid, too.”
They both stiffened when they heard Reginald rant and rave in the corridor as he walked back toward his own bedroom.
“I wonder what caused him to change,” Jessie said, her voice drawn. “There isn’t anything about him that is the same as he once was.”
“I hear the Indians put a curse on him,” Jade said, leaning away from Jessie to peer intently into her eyes.
“A curse?” Jessie gasped, paling. “Why?”
Jade shrugged. “He must have wronged them, too, somehow,” she said. She lifted the hairbrush. “Come, and I will finish brushing your hair so that you can go to bed. You look tired, Jessie. Very, very tired.”
Jessie took the robe off, laid it across the back of a chair, then sat back down before the mirror.
As Jade resumed brushing her hair, Jessie’s thoughts went over all that the lovely Chinese woman had told her.
That part about the Indians intrigued her. She wondered if it might be true. If so, might it have anything to do with Thunder Horse’s Sioux people?
Yes! She recalled now that Reginald had said the Sioux knew about where he had found the silver, but no one else did!
Had the Sioux put a curse on him? Did Thunder Horse have a role in this?
Thunder Horse.
Ah, just the thought of that handsome chief made everything bad leave Jessie’s mind.
She hoped that tomorrow, when she was out horseback riding, she might possibly see him, or even find his village.
Might she eventually seek help from the Sioux, and especially Thunder Horse?
He had already helped her once. Were she to ask, would he save her a second time?
