Slater Bros: Apache Summer Part 15

He winced as the meat burned his fingers, then he smiled.

"Dig in!"

They all ate hungrily, and in silence. Jamie rose and brought a loaf of hard bread from the supply pack. It didn't matter that it was hard--it was delicious. And when they were finished eating, the coffee was done.

It did taste wonderful after all the food, just as Dolly had so cheerfully suggested.

It grew dark as they sipped it. Velvet dark. The moon was a bare sliver in the sky, but there were hundreds of stars out, dotting the heavens.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Dolly said.

"Very nice," Tess agreed. She yawned.

"We should take the dishes to the water and wash them now."

"Don't be absurd. It's dark as Hades," Jamie said harshly. His eyes were smoke when they touched her. He was furious, she realized. And it wasn't their arguing over the payment in acreage, it couldn't be. He liked to taunt her and anger her, the silver light of challenge was always in his eyes then.

But he wasn't feeling fondly toward her at all at the moment, she was certain. Her heart beat too-hard as his eyes touched her, and she thought she saw something lethal in him, something that made her s.h.i.+ver, something that made her think she did not want him to be her enemy. He was coming to fight her battle, she reminded herself.

But then why did he look as if he wanted to strangle her? "I--I can bring a lantern," she heard herself saying.

"Dammit, you can just wait until morning!" Jamie said irritably. He stood, tossing the last of his coffee into a bush.

Then he strode away, disappearing into the darkness. Tess cast a quick glance toward Jori.

"What's the matter with him?"

Jon shrugged.

"I don't know. You'll have to find out yourself." He stood and stretched.

"Ladies, I suggest an early night."

"He's gone off on his own!" Tess said indignantly. "He's taking first guard," Jon said softly.

"I'm going to bed," Dolly announced.

"Tess, now you come, too."

Jori was dragging his saddle and blanket to the fire. He stretched out and closed his eyes, setting his hat over his face. Dolly headed for the wagon.

Tess hesitated, then decided to go after Jamie.

She heard Jon rise as she moved into the bushes, and she swore softly, certain that he would follow her. He did. But before he could reach her, a hand snaked out for her, catching her arm, swinging her around. She tossed back her head and met Jamie's angry eyes. She wrenched free from his grasp.

For safety's sake, she took a step backward.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"Looking for you."

"I told you not to run around in the dark!"

"But you" -- "Miss. Stuart, from now on, you're taking orders from me.

And from now on, you listen. And if I hear one more crack out of you about my being a Yank just like von Heusen, I'll tan your backside until it's the color of a Comanche. Are we understood?"

"No!" she snapped indignantly.

He took a single step toward her. In the near darkness, his eyes seemed to glitter with a menacing light.

She decided that she wasn't going to tempt fate any further that evening.

She didn't think he made idle threats.

She turned and fled.

Jon was standing not far from the camp fire. He had seen her reach Jamie.

She slowed her pace as she saw him. She smiled pleasantly and wished him good night. "Good night, Tess," he told her.

She crawled into the wagon. Dolly was already softly snoring. Tess unhooked her shoes. Closing the cover of the wagon, she stripped down to her chemise and pantalets. She crawled into her bunk, closed her eyes and made every effort to sleep. Her heart was still pounding, and she didn't know if it was with vexation or excitement. He wanted her property, not her person, she reminded herself. Then how could he seem to insinuate so much that seemed sensual when they talked about dry land? And then, of course, he could change so quickly. Lose his temper over simple words when he could tease so long himself. She didn't understand, but he was occupying more and more of her mind. And more and more of her heart.

It was light when she awoke. Dolly was already up. Tess quickly slipped into her dusty brown dress for the second day on the trail. She tied her shoes and slipped from 115 the wagon. She could smell coffee brewing already, and something was cooking in a frying pan.

She could hear voices by the fire. Jori and Dolly, she determined. She started around the wagon then held Still.

Jamie, bare-chested, in only his boots and jeans, was shaving. His mirror was leaning against the steps at the front of the wagon, his shaving mug was on the second step, and he was wielding a straight razor against his cheeks.

Apparently he caught sight of her in the mirror. He nicked himself and scowled deeply at her. She should have walked by. She could not. She smiled, enjoying the sight of him so. He had wonderful shoulders, broad and very bronze. He was nearly as dark as Jori, with powerfully bunched muscles in his arms and chest, and hard, unyielding ones at his lean waist. She swallowed suddenly. She'd seen lots of men bare-chested. The hands often stripped off their s.h.i.+rts after a long day and doused themselves with water at the troughs. Jamie Slater's chest was different. She couldn't look at him and wonder if the herd was doing well. She looked at him and wondered what his flesh would feel like beneath her fingers.

Maybe he read her mind. Maybe her thoughts were obvious in her eyes.

They were still locked with his in the mirfof.

Her smile faded and she felt a crimson blush rising to her cheeks.

She prayed for motion then and she managed to move her feet and hurry past him to the fire. "Fis.h.!.+" she said delightedly.

"Freshwater fish, just wonderful," Dolly supplied happily.

"Jon, you're wonderful!" Tess claimed.

"Oh, I didn't catch these. Jamie did," he told her casually.

Dolly pa.s.sed Tess a plate.

"I'm taking a walk to the brook with a few of the utensils. I'll be right back." "Thanks, Dolly," Tess said. Dolly winked. Jon smiled at Tess as she hungrily ate her fish.

"Coffee?" he asked her.

"Please." He handed her a mug, then said something about finis.h.i.+ng the harness.

She was left alone with a beautiful, early morning sun and the delicious food and coffee. She set down her plate and took a long swallow of coffee.

She closed her eyes, inhaled the aroma and felt the heat. When she opened her eyes, Jamie was standing before her.

"Miss. Stuart, you might want to hurry along a little. The rest of us have been up a while now, and I'm ready to ride.

We can make Wilts.h.i.+re by tomorrow if we keep moving." She gazed up at his newly shaven face. All the planes and angles were handsome, smooth and rugged all at once-- masculine ... and still belligerent. It was war, she thought.

She sighed softly.

"Why, Lieutenant, I, at least, am fully clothed.

And I do promise that I can finish this coffee and the fish before you can be dressed and ready to ride."

" Then let's see it, huh?"

He started to walk by her.

"Oh, Lieutenant," she called. "What?"

"You're bleeding, sir. There seems to be a--a gash right at the tip of your chin. Have you been Shaving long, sir?"

"Longer than you've been wearing a corset, Miss. Stuart. A whole lot longer," he told her pleasantly. That time, when he stepped by, she quickly leaped to her feet, finished her coffee and, as quickly and delicately as possible, peeled the last of her fish from the bone. She glanced over her shoulder.

He was b.u.t.toning the last b.u.t.ton of his s.h.i.+rt.

She cast the last drop of coffee and bit of food into the ashes of the camp fire and raced for the steps to the driver's seat of the wagon.

She made it just as he rode up on his roan.

"I won," she told him.

"At best--and that's if I'm in the mood to be cavalier-- it was a tie, Miss. Stuart."

"At best for you, Lieutenant."

He smiled.

"Half of your acreage, Tess."

"A quarter."

"That remains to be seen," he told her, riding close.

"But then, a lot of things remain to be seen, don't they?" He nudged Lucifer and rode to the rear of the wagon.

"Jon, you ready?

Where's Dolly?"

"Here, here, I am coming, I do declare, the rush you boys get yourselves into! I was just down at the brook, cleaning up the pans, and there you are, riding off without me."

"Dolly! We'd never ride off without you!" Jamie promised her solemnly.

"Never," Jon echoed.

"But times awastin', Dolly," Jamie said.

"And suddenly, I'm just darned eager to reach Wilts.h.i.+re."

Dolly climbed onto the wagon. Tess lifted the reins against the mules, and they were under way again.

By late afternoon of the following day they had reached the outskirts of Wilts.h.i.+re. Then Tess gave the directions to her home, a large ranch outside of town.

Tess held the reins. As the house came into view, she saw Jamie pull in on his big roan and stare. He glanced her way.

"That's it? That's your--ranch?"

"That's it."

He started to laugh suddenly, looking at Jon. Then he spurred the roan and raced toward the house. Tess flicked the reins and hurried after him with the rumbling wagon. The house was magnificent. Joe had put years and years of work into the sprawling, two-story ranch house. There were two large barns to the left and a large red carriage house to the right.

The vegetable garden, lush with summer, could be seen behind the house.

The paddocks, stretching before and behind, seemed to go on forever.

Horses, her uncle's prize thoroughbreds, roamed in the paddocks, the yeaifs foals seeming to dance alongside their mothers.

Tess knew about the weathered paint on the fine old house, however.

Since the war, nothing much had been done. They had considered themselves lucky to hang on to the property once the battles had ended and the dust had died down. There were floorboards on the blue~-gray porch that needed to be mended, and Tess thought that if Jamie Slater looked long and hard at the velvet drapes in the parlor, he would see the material was old and fraying.

In the past few years, all their efforts had gone into their battles with von Heusen.

She drove the wagon hetwcen the paddocks toward the house. Jamie and Jon were far ahead of her. They'd reached the clearing before the house, and Jamie was turning around on the huge roan, looking at everything around him.

He was still amusd. A--and pleased.

He must have thought I was a potato farmer and that he bartered himself for a few dusty acres! Tess decided. Well, he should be pleased.

The front door burst open as the wagon reached the clearing. Hank Riley, Joe's foreman, came hurrying down the st~s, followed by Janey Holloway, who had worked for them since Tess had begun to work at the paper. Hank was as tall and skinny as a young oak sapling, with a weathered face so browned and crinkled that he sometimes looked like an Indian. Janey was young and plump and pretty, with sandy hair and soft gray eyes.

Jane stared from Jamie to the wagon, then screamed with joy, clutching her heart when she saw Tess. Hank didn't make a sound. He came hurrying down the steps of the porch and over to the wagon and reached right up, catching hold of Tess and swinging her down. He lifted her up and swung her around again, a smile crinkling his face to 119 even greater depths.

"Tess! The Lord be praised, but that man told us you were dead!"