him as he jumped to his feet and stood over her, his hand raised, ready

to strike. She willed herself not to flinch.

Slowly, his hand fell.

He smiled, then he laughed, and returned to his seat, still looking at

her.

"I would like to keep you here. I would like to see you change your

tune. I would like to see you after your eyes had been blackened and

your body used by every man here. Then you would not be so proud."

"You could never really touch me, Chavez," she said softly.

"You can hurt Anna because she loves you. You cannot hurt a woman who

despises you. That is something that you cannot even begin to

understand."

He looked at her, puzzled, then the door opened again. Anna was back

with a plate of food for Chavez and one for Tess.

Tess didn't want to touch anything in the filthy hovel, but she thought

again that she needed strength if she was going to escape, and she

hadn't had anything but water all day. She accepted the plate Anna

handed her, saying a soft, "Thank you." Anna looked at her curiously,

then went to sit in a chair facing Chavez, her head bowed.

Tess chewed the stringy beef she had been handed, and scooped up the

beans with a spoon. She ate quickly but she still had not finished when

Chavez let out a loud belch and wiped his face with the back of his

sleeve. She glanced at him and felt ill. Knowing she could eat no more,

she set her plate on the table.

"You see? She does not eat much, just little, little bites, like a

lady," Chavez told Anna. He pushed himself back from the table and rose.

Belching again, he growled at Anna to get out of his way.

"I will drink with my comrades!" he said. He went to Tess and gripped

her chin hard.

"I will come back when I have drunk my fill. And I will decide if you

get to learn your lessons from me--or the Apache." Laughing, he released

her, collected his guns from the table and strode out of the house. When

he was gone, Tess stared at Anna, watching the woman's jealous face.

Suddenly she leaped to her feet.

"Anna, listen to me. You want Chavez. I do not! Help me. Get me out of

here."

"No!" Anna cried in alarm.

"You want him. I hate him] Please" -- "No! No, no, no! He will beat me!

He might kill me." The woman wasn't going to help her, no matter how

jealous she was. With a deep sigh of exasperation Tess wandered back to

her chair.

She closed her eyes for a moment.

Lord, she was tired.

Seconds went by, then minutes. Anna stayed where she was, her head

lowered.

Tess looked longingly at the rear door. If she tried to escape, Anna

would sound the alarm. She wouldn't have a chance.

She wondered how long Chavez had been gone. The Comancheros were all

outside drinking. Drink might make Chavez think he wanted her more than

he wanted the gold the Apache was paying for her. He was a brutally

cruel man, she had to remember that. It wasn't difficult. She had only

to close her eyes to remember how he had murdered Jeremiah and David in

cold blood.

And then an idea came to her. She hurried over to Anna, falling to her

knees before the woman in her excitement.

"Anna! What if we fought? What if we pretend that I bested you and that

I"

"You could not beat me, puta!" Anna claimed. "Anna! Chavez is your man!

This is pretend. I tie you up.

I gag you. Then I am gone, and you have Chavez, and he cannot hate you

for letting me go. He must love you all the more for what I have done to

you." Tess didn't know if that was true or not, but she was certain that

Anna would survive Chavez, and equally certain that she might not do so

herself. Anna's eyes had narrowed, as if she was giving the idea a great

deal of speculation.

Tess picked up a lock of her hair.

"I am blond! That is what they want. If I stay, Chavez might throw you

out."

That decided it. Anna stood and looked around the room. She rushed' from

the kitchen to the bedroom and found some scarves.

"Is this good?"

"Yes, yes."

Anna moved to the hearth where she picked up a heavy cast-iron skillet.

She thrust it toward Tess.

"Hit me. You must hit me hard on the head. I must have a bruise."

"I--I don't think that I can" -- "You must! If Chavez should beat me, it

would be much worse. ' " All fight," Tess agreed doubtfully.

"Let's get in the bedroom. I want you to fall on the bed. I don't want

to hurt you ."

"You must hurt me some."

They walked into the bedroom. Like the kitchen, it was a mess--with the

bed unmade and clothes strewn everywhere.

Anna stood before the bed.

"Now hit me."

Tess closed her eyes and bit her lip. Then she raised the iron skillet

high and brought it crashing down on Anna's head. The woman fell without

a sound.

Panicked Tess checked to see if she had a pulse and if l~er lungs still

rose and fell with her breath. Assured that the woman was alive, she Set

to tying her wrists and ankles and gagging her with the scarves.

She was just finishing the task when the front door slammed open.

Chavez was back!

Tess ran to the rear door. She moved soundlessly and with tremendous

speed, and yet it wasn't enough. The door stuck when she tugged upon it.

Chavez was behind her. He grappled her shoulders and spun her around, a

rich growl thundering against his throat.

Tess stared into his ebony eyes. His fingers closed around her throat.

"You are dangerous! The gringos were right about you! You are trouble

and you need to be taken care of, now?

He was strangling her. She could barely breathe. In desperate

self-defense she brought her knee slamming as hard as she could against

his groin. It was a powerful and direct hit, and Chavez screamed out his

pain, staggering back.

Tess did not want to stay to see if his condition improved. She grabbed

the door again. Gasping, nearly crying, she strained against it.

Then, it opened. She nearly fell against Chavez, it opened so suddenly.

She was about to bolt through it when she gasped. Her heart seemed to

stop in her chest, her knees grew weak, her mind went blank of anything

other than the man standing in the doorway.

It was Jamie. He had come.

Hands on hips, he stood there, staring. The breadth of his shoulders

filled the doorway. He seemed to tower over her and Chavez, and indeed,

the entire room. He stared at Tess and at Chavez, swiftly summing up the

situation.

He was alive! He had come for her. She had not allowed herself to

believe he could be dead, but still he was a dream standing before her,

the hero come to sweep her away. She was so stunned to see him she could

not move, she could not utter a word, she couldn't even cry out her

thrill at seeing him standing there alive, warm blood pulling in his

veins, his chest rising and falling with every breath he took. She saw

nothing but Jamie.

Chavez had not seemed to notice Jamie was there. Chavez was staring at

Tess, and there was pure, cold murder in his coal-black eyes.

"Tess!" Jamie hissed to her.

"Move!"

She found motion at last as Chavez charged after her. She pitched

herself toward Jamie. He caught her shoulders, and his smoke-gray eyes

stared sternly into hers. "Go!" he commanded her.

"Go, get out of here, run! Do you hear me? Get the hell out and run!"

Then he thrust her behind him and out the door, into the darkness of the

night. Tess heard the sound of the impact as Chavez came thundering

against Jamie.

She couldn't run. She paused and turned back. Chavez had pulled his

knife.

The steel glistened in the pale moonglow of the night.

"Jamie!" she cried.

But Jamie had seen the knife. She expected him to draw his Colt, but

when he didn't she realized he couldn't draw down the entire camp upon

them with the sounds of bullets.

He, too, drew a knife.

"Go!" he thundered to Tess.

Still she hesitated, tears forming on her eyes. "Jamie" -- "Go! I'll

deal with you later?"

His furious, high-handed tone finally sent her into motion. She had been

kidnapped and abused, and now he was yelling at her.

Yelling at her. and facing Chavez with a knife. She bit her lip, then

turned and ran. The trail stretched~ out in the darkness before her,

narrow, twisting, rising higher and higher into the mountains. Gasping

for breath, half choking, half sobbing, Tess continued to run. She

stumbled into a huge rock, glowing white in the moonlight.

She caught hold of it, wincing against the pain in her feet, inhaling

deeply and desperately. Then she started to run again, almost blind as

the shrub grew thicker and rose higher, adding to the darkness of the

night.

Staggering, she kept on running. She grabbed at shrubs, still running,

heedless of discomfort or pain.

Then, in the darkness, she slammed against something with such impetus

that she fell to the ground, barely catching herself to break the fall,

scraping her palms with the rock and dirt beneath her hands. Stunned,

she tossed the hair from her eyes and looked up, trying to discern what