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“Are you saying you’ll marry me?” he asked, his eyes alight.
“Like hell she will,” came Tynan’s voice from behind them. “Get your hands off her, Prescott. And if you don’t, I’ll shoot them off.”
Chris moved away from Asher. “You’re supposed to be asleep.”
“Is that what you were hoping? That I was asleep so you could meet him behind my back?”
“Now just one minute, Tynan,” Asher said. “I have every right to do whatever Miss Mathison wants. After all, you were hired to help me win her. Oh, Chris,” he said as he realized what he’d revealed.
“It’s all right, I knew. Tynan, you have no right to interfere in what I do. Now, I want you to go back to—”
She didn’t finish the sentence because Tynan grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. He couldn’t walk very well as his leg was stiffening, but he could force her closer to him. “Prescott, go back to the camp and see to Pilar and watch the old man. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Asher started to protest, but one look at Tynan made him decide against it and he turned back toward the cabin.
“Get your hands off of me!” Chris said, trying to jerk away from him, but not succeeding. “You have no right to interfere in this. Besides, I believe my father hired you tohelphim fall in love with me.”
“I don’t even want to know how you found that out, but that was before…”
“Yes? That was before what?” She was looking up at him with anger flashing in her eyes.
He grabbed her to him, burying her face in his shoulder for a moment, then kissing her as if he were starving.
“Please don’t, Ty,” she said, her voice sounding as if she were in agony. “Please leave me alone.” She tried to push away from him, but he wouldn’t release her.
“Chris, I can’t stand to see him touching you. I just can’t stand it.” His hands were going up and down her back, caressing her, touching her neck, his thumbs toying with her ears.
She managed to push away far enough to look at him.“Youcan’t stand it? What right do you have to prevent me from doing anything? What right do you have to even voice an opinion? I made an absolute fool of myself over you and you threw everything in my face and now you stand here and tell me I can’t talk to a man who has the most honorable of intentions.”
“My intentions toward you are honorable. I’ve always been fair and honest with you. And now I’m saying that if Prescott touches you again, I’ll shoot him. I can’t be more honest than that.”
“You!” she gasped and gave a lunge that separated her from him. “What you want from me isn’t honorable. All you want is a…is for me to…” She was glad the darkness covered her red face.
“So what’s wrong with that? You didn’t seem to mind the last time. Ah, Chris, I don’t want to fight. We had a good time that night and, besides, I haven’t had any women since then.”
Chris was sure that her anger was about to make her explode. “You haven’t had anywomen—plural—since then? Am I supposed to feel sympathy for you? Am I supposed to do what you want merely because you’ve been on the run and haven’t had time to—”
“I had time,” he said. “I just didn’t want any that were offered.”
Chris sputtered for a moment. Was he actually asking her for sympathy? “So now you’re…and I’m supposed to…of all the dastardly, disgusting, repulsive things—I want you to know that Asher asked me tomarryhim. He didn’t ask for a quick assignation, he wanted to marry me, to live with me forever.”
“He wants to live with your father’s money forever.”
“So what’s the difference between you two? He wants my money and you want my body. Neither of you seem to wantme.Well, let me tell you, Mr. Tynan,” she advanced on him, “I’m not sure I want either one of you. I certainly don’t want what you offer.”
He caught her arm. “Chris, you do want me. I know it. I can see it in your eyes. And I want you, so why not?”
She gave him a serious look, the muscles in her jaw working. “And do you plan to include marriage in your offer?” she asked softly.
He took a step back from her as if she’d just contracted a contagious disease. “Marriage? Chris, you know that’s impossible. Your father would send me back to jail on a life sentence and then you’d have no husband. I couldn’t do that to you.”
“Men!” she gasped. “What convenient memories you have. My father said that you’d return to prison if youtouchedme, yet you were more than willing to risk that because it was something you wanted. But now you hold it up to me when the matter of marriage is mentioned. Listen to me, Tynan, and listen good. I amnotgoing to go to bed with you again and you can believe me.” She turned on her heel and started up the hill toward the spring, grabbing the bucket in anger.
“You’ll give in,” Ty said after her, “and you’d better not let Prescott touch you.”
“You hardheaded, vain…cowboy, I’m never going to let you touch me again!” She dug the bucket into the spring water, then, on impulse, stuck her face under the cold water. She wasn’t sure whether she needed cooling off from her temper or from Tynan’s kisses, but, whichever it was, her blood was steaming.
She stayed at the stream for a while before returning to the cabin and settling down beside Pilar to sleep. She woke repeatedly during the night, sometimes sitting up with a jolt and looking around her. Each time she woke, she saw that Tynan was still leaning against the post, still watching the old man.
