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“What do you expect, sis? For me to tie you to your bedpost?”
“No, not exactly.”
“Sis, I don’t plan to do anything but mind my own business from now on, especially where your private life is concerned.”
Stephanie looked at him at length, trying to see through his strange, uncharacteristic behavior. Then she shrugged and went back to her camera. After getting it adjusted and ready for shooting, the sound of an approaching horseman drew her quickly around. When she discovered who was riding like an unleashed beast toward her and Adam, she was stunned.
“Runner,” she gasped, her fingers going to her throat as fear gripped her. “Oh, Lord, it’s Runner. He has surely been following us.”
Adam paled. He looked wild-eyed from side to side, then behind him. There was no way he could get away from Runner’s wrath. Behind him was a sheer drop. On b
oth sides were more high rock formations. He was trapped.
He looked over at Stephanie. He could tell that she felt no less trapped than he, and he was glad at the reason. As long as Runner was angry at her for having come to Canyon de Chelley against his wishes, Runner would not discuss what Adam had told him.
He watched Runner rein his horse to a stop. His heart pounded as Runner stamped toward them, his eyes narrowed with anger.
Stephanie’s knees were weak as her and Runner’s eyes met and held. Never had she seen him this way. She had seen him angry before, but never had he been this venomous. And his anger seemed leveled only at her. He did not even seem to notice that Adam was there.
When Runner stormed on past Stephanie, she jumped with a start. Gasping, now realizing his intentions, she started to go after him to stop what he was planning to do. But his fingers had already separated the camera from the tripod. He had already ripped the plate from it.
Stephanie screamed when Runner threw the camera and plates to the rocky floor of the cliff, then ground his heel into them, over and over again until the camera was nothing more than strewn bits and pieces.
Speechless, Stephanie stared down at her broken camera. She jumped with alarm when Runner bent over and began gathering the pieces up, then rose to his full height over Stephanie and thrust them into her hands.
Runner still said nothing to her. He gave Adam a glowering stare, then turned and walked determinedly to his horse and swung himself into his saddle.
When he rode away, Stephanie seemed wrenched from her trance. She dropped the pieces of the camera and went to her horse and quickly mounted. In a flurry, she rode after Runner.
When she finally caught up with him, she began shouting at him to stop. When she begged him, over and over again, he wheeled his horse to a sudden stop and glared at her as she also drew a tight rein.
“Runner, I understand how you could be angry at me, but never would I expect you to be this upset,” Stephanie said, edging her horse closer to his. “I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I was wrong. I shouldn’t have ever come. Please forgive me? I love you. With all of my heart I love you.”
“You, who betray me more than once, can ask for forgiveness?” Runner said, laughing sarcastically. “Go back to your brother. You are of the same mind. You are of the same soul and heart. He leaned closer to her. “There is one thing I cannot understand. How could I have been fooled so easily by someone like you who uses a man for the glory of a brother?”
Stephanie paled, struck dumb by what he was saying. None of it made any sense. None of it had to do with her having just been caught taking photographs of a sacred Navaho site.
“What do you mean by the ‘glory of a brother’?” she said, her voice drawn. “What do you mean by saying that I am someone who uses men for the glory of my brother? I have never been guilty of such a thing.”
“You lie as easily as you deceive,” Runner hissed, angrily. “And I allowed myself to love you. I doubt I shall ever trust enough to love again.”
Stephanie shook her head slowly. “I have no idea what you are talking about,” she said, tears now falling. “The only thing I am guilty of is coming today to take photographs of Canyon de Chelley. The rest of what you are saying makes no sense whatsoever. How could you think that I could do anything to hurt you when I have told you often how much I love you?”
She brushed tears from her eyes. “Do you truly believe that I could pretend while we were making love?” she said, choking on a sob. “If so, I have enlisted in the wrong profession. I should have gone into acting.”
“That is a good idea,” Runner said, laughing again.
He nudged his horse to walk away, then turned and glowered at her one last time. “Adam told me the truth about how you were scheming together so that he could win the support of the Navaho for his town,” he said, his teeth clenched. “When Adam told me that you were using me only for his gain, that you were only pretending to love me, I did not want to believe him. But now that I see you here, going against my wishes, I am certain all that he said was true.”
Stephanie grew paler. She found what he was saying hard to comprehend. Could Adam actually stoop this low to keep Runner away from her?
“My brother told you many lies,” Stephanie said, pleading up at him with her eyes. “You must believe me, Runner. I would never use you. Never! I want to be your wife! Please believe me.”
“Never!” Runner said. He rode away from Stephanie, forcing himself to block out the sounds of her sobs.
A part of him wanted to turn his horse around and return to her. But the part of him that feared that Adam had told the truth made him ride stubbornly onward. He had wasted enough time on Stephanie and Adam. Although he had successfully stopped her from taking photographs of the sacred canyon, he knew that he still should have spent this time looking for his brother.
His brother was worth far more to him than the lying, scheming white woman ever would be again.
