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“They will think you mad,” Thunder Horse said, now openly smiling down at Reginald. “So do as you must and then live . . . and die . . . with the result.”
Reginald took a slow step away from Thunder Horse, then turned and began running as fast as his weak legs would take him. Yet his heart was filled with an almost uncontrollable hatred.
Jessie.
Yes, Jessie.
He would get back at Thunder Horse through Jessie.
He would kill two birds with one stone.
He would take Jessie away from the Indians and he would at the same time make her pay for what she had done to him.
No woman double-crossed him and lived to tell of it, not even a cousin.
Thunder Horse watched Regina
ld until he couldn’t see him any longer, then gazed down at the coins. He stepped up to them and with a heel, he ground what he could into the ground. It was the hunger for such coins that had sent Reginald Vineyard into the sacred cave to take silver from it.
Thunder Horse wanted nothing that came from such greed.
“Thunder Horse, I am sorry that I didn’t tell you Reginald Vineyard came here last night while you were gone,” one of his warriors said from behind him, drawing Thunder Horse quickly around. “He did not make it into our village. I stopped him and sent him away.”
“He will not come again,” Thunder Horse growled, then walked past the warrior and hurried into his lodge, where Jessie stood over the fire, visibly trembling.
She turned quickly when she heard him enter.
She hurried to him and flung herself into his arms.
“He is gone and will not return,” Thunder Horse said, holding her close.
“What if he saw me?” Jessie said, leaning away so that she could look into his eyes.
“It would not matter if he did, for he knows better than to bring trouble into my village for any reason,” Thunder Horse said. He framed her beautiful face between his hands. “My woman, you are safe. Nothing will ever come of this meeting, even if he did see you.”
“He is an unpredictable man,” Jessie said, still bewildered that he had turned into such an evil man after being a decent person in his youth.
Of course the children poked fun at him then, because of his bad eyesight and small stature, but she had thought he had ignored those humiliations and had made a good life for himself as an adult.
She knew now that she’d been terribly wrong. He had made a true mess of his life.
“He might be unpredictable, but he is also a coward who tries to seem otherwise,” Thunder Horse said. “He will never get a chance to harm you. I won’t allow it.”
Feeling truly safe, and loving Thunder Horse so much, Jessie eased back into his arms. “I know that you will keep me safe,” she murmured. “I shall not worry another minute about what happened here today, not even if he, by chance, got a glimpse of me.”
Yet inside her, where her fear of this cousin of hers was centered, she knew that no one could watch her one hundred percent of the time for the rest of her life, not even this strong and wonderful Indian chief!
She would just have to be cautious in everything she did from now on. She would have to be certain to watch all around her whenever Thunder Horse wasn’t near.
She clung to Thunder Horse, reveling in the safety she felt while she was in his arms.
Chapter Twenty-four
A fire burned softly in the cave where Jade and Lee-Lee sat beside it. On every side they were surrounded by solid rock, except overhead, where the cave gave way in places to open sky, and smoke from the fire filtered slowly through the spaces.
“What if someone sees the smoke created by our fire?” Lee-Lee asked, watching the slow streamers float up. “Mother, what if Reginald Vineyard sees it?”
“The smoke is not enough to draw anyone’s attention,” Jade reassured her. “By the time it escapes through the cracks, it is quickly dissipated into the air. I planned all this, Lee-Lee, after I found the cave and came inside to see if it could be used for our temporary hideaway.”
