She met the chief's burning gaze without flinching.
"We helped Morning Light, though we did not know she was your sister, Two Moons."
The Comanche studied Jessie for long moments before mining toward the Indian girl.
"This is true? You did not tell them?"
"The white woman speaks the truth."
Two Moons mulled over the unexpected kindness.
He saw the way his sister studied the white boy.
Turning toward Morning Light, he asked, "This is the medicine man?"
At his sister's slight nod, he turned back to Danny and waved off the hand of the warrior who held him prisoner.
"Your life shall be spared.
You saved the sister of the Comanche chief from the evil spirits.
She speaks of your good I medicine.
You will always be welcome among my people.
Danny swallowed and rubbed his throat that had been nearly crushed by the Indian's grip.
As he did, his fingers brushed -- not a doctor yet.
But some day I hope the amulet.
"I'm I'm to be. And when I am I'd be proud to take my medicine among your people."
Two Moons saw the shy smile that passed between the white boy and his sister.
With obvious anger he spoke to her in their language and watched as she meekly made her way back to the side of the Indian whose duty it was to protect her.
Danny watched as she was forcibly led behind the boulder.
In his eyes was a bleak look of longing that did not go unnoticed by the others.
Two Moons turned his attention to Jessie.
For long minutes the Indian studied the young woman who stood beside the white man.
When at last he spoke, his voice sounded not so much weary as resigned.
"So that you will know that the Comanche owes no debt, I will leave you to this white man. And the word will go out to all Comanches that you are to be afforded safe passage through our land."
"You will let my little brother go," she said with more boldness than she felt.
Immediately Two Moons spoke to the warrior who held Thad imprisoned in his arms.
When the little boy was free, he ran to Danny's outstretched arms.
Both boys hurried to stand beside their sister, who hugged them fiercely and forced herself not to cry.
There must be no show of weakness in front of this arrogant chief.
Jessie turned to glance at Cole and saw that his hands were still clenched tightly at his sides, while a warrior kept his arm firmly about his throat, brandishing a knife inches from his flesh.
The Comanche chief followed the direction of her gaze before he turned his attention back to Jessie.
Two Moons allowed his gaze to roam the young woman's face, her hair, her slender frame encased in her brother's britches and faded shirt.
With a slight nudge of his heels, his pony started forward until it reached Jessie's side.
Two Moons leaned down and caught a handful of silken yellow hair and watched as it sifted through his fingers.
Behind him Cole sucked in his breath and felt the cold steel of the Comanche blade.
Two Moons came very close to smiling for the first time.
Still holding her hair, he jerked Jessie's head upward, forcing her to meet his steady gaze.
The hint of a smile lingered on his lips.
"This white man will be a poor substitute for the chief of the Comanche. Two Moons would have given the Woman-With-Hair-Like-The-Sun fine Comanche warriors."
"Please let him go."
Jessie's words were barely more than a whisper.
The Indian absorbed the warmth of her breath, the deep resonance of her trembling words, before releasing her.
With a look of disdain for Cole, Two Moons straightened and gave a signal to his warriors.
The Indian holding Cole stepped away.
Two Moons nudged his horse into a trot.
With head held high, he rode away from them without a backward glance.
The Comanche warriors slowly disappeared behind rocks and boulders.
A few minutes later they were seen moving silently astride their ponies toward the hills that loomed in the distance.
For the first time, Cole's hand relaxed and dropped to his side.
Jessie turned toward her younger brothers, expecting to see tear or even tears of relief at the departure of the Indians.
Instead Thad's mouth hung open.
In his eyes was a mixture of astonishment and admiration.
Danny continued to stare at the Indians until they were no more than a blur among the rocks and brush.
On .
his face was a look of sorrow at something precious that had been found and then lost, a look of longing so intense Jessie felt her heart go out to him.
But when she made a move toward Danny, he twisted away, ashamed of his display of emotion.
Jessie turned and fell into Cole's arms.
For long minutes she clung to him, needing to absorb his strength.
As she started to push away, he drew her firmly to him.
Against her temple he muttered, "When Two Moons touched you, I wanted to kill him."
He released her, turned on his heel and grabbed the horses' reins, leading them toward the rocks.
He needed .
to be busy to work off his anger and frustration.
For long minutes Jessie watched him, reefing at what he had just revealed.
Jealous?
Cole?
She felt an almost uncontrollable urge to laugh.
And then without warning she found herself weeping instead.
She had prepared herself for the death of all those she held dear.
Her brothers, who were more important than LIFE to her.
And Cole, who had become equally important.
Weighed against that, her own fate had not mattered.
Chapter Seventeen
The warm evening was dusted with just a hint of cool breeze, the distant peaks of mountains ran red with the bleeding sun.
Along the banks of the river, where they had made camp for the night, insects chirped and hummed.
This hazy, restful place seemed a million miles away from the simple sod shack they had left so long ago.
The horses were fed and rested.
Supper had been a fine meal of venison and sourdough biscuits.
Everyone had taken a long soothing bath in the river, and their clothes were spread over low-hanging bushes to dry.
Cole rolled a cigarette and lifted a flaming stick to the tip.
He filled his lungs with smoke and watched while Jessie sat beside the fire, wrapped in a blanket, pressing water from her freshly washed hair.
She and Cole had long ago stopped hiding their affection for each other.
It was not unusual for her to touch a hand to Cole's cheek in passing or for Cole to press a light kiss on the tip of her nose when she was scolding him for swearing.
When the boys were sound asleep for the night, she and Cole would slip away to a quiet place to love.
Thad and Danny had accepted this new aspect of their relationship with more ease than Jessie had expected.
At first she had been hesitant to let them see her true feelings for Cole.
But when she managed to overcome her shyness, she realized that her brothers had been aware of the situation almost from the beginning.
"You like him, don't you, Jess?"
Danny asked one morning as they saddled their horses in preparation for breaking camp.
"Yes. Is that all right with you?"
She wasn't even aware that she was holding her breath until her brother made his response.
"I guess so. As long as it's what you want."
"It's what I want," she said simply.
"It doesn't bother you that Cole's a gunman?"
She bit her lip, reluctant to admit that the thought often bothered her.
"I know that he's a man on the run, and that he can't promise me a future. I'll just have to settle for whatever time we have. I can't help the way I feel about him."
Danny nodded his understanding.
"I know. I can't help liking him, too. He's saved my hide more times than I care to count. If I'm ever in a fight, I want him on my side."
Little Thad's approval was evident in the way he hung on Cole's every word.
The little boy had found a hero, who was gradually becoming a substitute for the father he so badly missed.
"Would you have fought Two Moons for Jessie?"
Thad asked innocently as he climbed into his bedroll for the night.
Cole's hand, smoothing the blankets over the boy, paused in midair.
He cast a speculative look at Thad and replied, "I guess I'd have had no choice."
"You could have let him take her."
"Would you?"
Thad's eyes were wide with innocence.
"Course not. But that's different. She's my sister. She doesn't mean anything to you."
Cole's response was immediate.
"She means everything to me, Half-pint."
"She does?"
Cole tousled the boy's hair and tucked the blankets under his chin.
"Yep."
He saw Jessie glance at him from across the fire and grinned.
"Who else can make biscuits that melt in your mouth?
And who else would see to it that we take a bath regularly?
Thad's high-pitched laughter danced in the night air.
"Did your mom make you take baths when you were little?"
"She sure did. My father and I had to go out to the creek and haul in buckets of water every Saturday night."
"That's the way Jessie was with me and Danny and Pa," Thad said in awe.
"Did your ma make you go to church every Sunday?"
"Yep."
Cole chuckled and stretched out beside the boy, resting his back against the trunk of a gnarled tree.
"We had to drive the buckboard nearly twenty miles to the nearest town every Sunday to hear the preacher talk about fire and brimstone."
"Yeah."
Thad cushioned his head on his arms just the way Cole did and stared up at the sky alight with a million winking stars.
"But you know something, Half-pint? I didn't really mind. In fact, I liked going to church and meeting all the other families from miles around. It was a good feeling, taking the morning off from chores, and eating big picnic lunches in the churchyard afterward."
"Yeah."
The little boy closed his eyes, picturing the way it might have been if his mother hadn't died, if his father hadn?
t given up on the town and the church.
"Jessie tried to make Pa take us to church, but he wouldn't. And once in a while Jessie took us, but most of the time there were too many chores around the ranch. Pa used to get real mad if we didn't get everything done before dark."
Cole glanced at the young woman who'd been forced to grow up so soon.
Her head was bent over her mending.
The dancing flames of the fire turned her hair to a curtain of red gold.
It couldn't have been easy for her, but he'd never heard her complain.
"What was your ranch house like, Cole?"
Thad asked, his voice thick with sleep.
"It was actually two wooden buildings, with a dogtrot between. In one end we all slept, and in the other there was a big kitchen. At roundup time my mother and sister used to cook for nearly thirty men every night until the herd was taken for slaughter."
"You must have had a big ranch."
"It was big, even by Texas standards."
"Did you get to ride with the herd?"
Cole smiled as memories washed over him.
"My first time was when I was nine. We rode up the Shawnee Trail through Dallas, crossed the Red River near Preston, past Fort Gibson, and entered the southeastern corner of Kansas near Baxter Springs. We had a herd of over five thousand head of cattle, with twenty-two men and me. Those steers were only worth about eight dollars a head in Texas, but in Kansas they brought thirty dollars each. And," he added proudly, "our Texas longhorns hardly lost any weight at all on the long trek."
"Five thousand cattle," Thad said, stifling a yawn.
"I've never seen more than a hundred steers at a time."
"It's quite a sight."
Cole stared at the sky, tracking the path of a shooting star.
"They stretch out for miles."
He settled himself more comfortably and added, "There's something special about being on the trail. The sound of cattle lowing all through the night. The smell of coffee and grits and flapjacks cooking before it's even light out."
"Sounds like some of Jessie's breakfasts, doesn't it?"
Cole flashed a smile in the darkness.
"Your sister's one hell of a cook."
"We're sort of like a family now, aren't we?"
At Thad's innocent question, Cole went very still.
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, you know. Jessie's the only ma I've ever known. And now that you and Jessie like each other, I feel almost as good as if Pa were along.
I feel safe with you, Cole.
'-' The man beside him grew silent.
Strange.
He'd been thinking the same thing about feeling like a family.
This was the closest he'd come to having a family in a long time.
He loved these two boys as much as if they were his own.
And there was no denying hisfeelings for Jessie.
But safe?
He shook his head, denying the little thread of fear that insinuated itself into his mind.
If only he could keep them safe.
He hoped his presence among them wouldn't bring them harm.
He'd been witness to enough violent death.
He couldn't bear to involve them.
At the sound of soft even breathing, he glanced down at the little boy and realized that he was already asleep.
With a rare display of tenderness he bent his lips to the pale blond head.
When he strode toward the creek, he wasn't even aware of the gangly youth who stood in the shadows and watched.
But Danny felt himself echoing the sentiments of his little brother.
Something had happened along the trail.
Something he hadn't quite figured out yet.
Maybe they weren't quite a family, but they were definitely not the same people who had started out on their quest so many long miles ago.
Cole wrapped a blanket around Jessie's shoulders and lifted her into his arms.
With a muffled laugh he carried her off to a hill overlooking their camp.
When he set her on her feet, he took the blanket from her and spread it on the grass.
Taking her hand, he drew her firmly into his arms and lowered his mouth to hers.
"I've thought of nothing but this all evening," he muttered against her lips.
He absorbed the first jolt of heat at their contact.
"Really? And I thought the only thing that interested you was that frayed old saddle of Danny's that you worked on for hours."
He framed her face with his big hands and cut off her words with a quick hard kiss.
"That poor kid was going to find himself sitting in the dust in another day or so. He needs a sturdier saddle."
"It's all we had."
"Jessie."
He caught her and turned her into his embrace.
"I wasn't being critical. I just meant that this journey has been hard on the horses and equipment. Not to mention the people involved."
He nuzzled her lips until he felt them warm and soften beneath his.
The familiar tingle began low in her stomach and continued to build.
She sighed and gave herself up to the kiss before murmuring, "We've gone so far, Cole. And still there's been no sign of Pa. What if we've d
one all this for nothing?"
"Nothing?"
He reached for the buttons of her shirt and eased it from her shoulders.
Lowering his mouth, he ran moist kisses across her shoulder to the sensitive column of her throat and thrilled to her shuddering response.
"Without this journey I'd have never met you.
Think how empty my life would have been.
His lips moved lower until they captured her breast.
With a little gasp she clutched his head as she felt the passion begin to pulse through her.
Passion that was fueled anew each time he touched her.
Just as she felt her legs weaken and tremble, he caught her in his arms and lowered her to the blanket.
With hurried movements they shed their clothes and lay together flesh to flesh, heartbeat to heartbeat.
Desire quickly became need.
A hard driving need that had their pulses racing, their hearts hammering.
Cole knew now that he would never have enough of her.
A hundred times, a thousand times would never satisfy him.
He wanted her always.
His woman.
His mate.
How natural it seemed to love this woman.
He hadn't felt this young, this carefree in years.
"I've never thought I was a man who needed much, but I wish..."
"What do you wish for?"
She touched her lips to his throat.
"I wish, just for tonight, I could give you a fine big ranch house with a soft feather bed. And gowns of satin and lace, and all those things women yearn for."
As she started to protest, he added bitterly, "Hell, I can't even tell you about myself. Who I am, where I'm headed. I can't promise you a future. I can't even promise you tomorrow. ' “ You've given me something better," she whispered against his lips." We have cool green grass and a sky filled with diamonds. We have this night.
And best of all, we have other.
And as for who you are, what you are--" she smiled and he felt his heart ache at the sweetness of her, " I kno I need to know about you.
You're strong and good and de And whatever happened before I met you doesn't matter that matters is that we have each other now.
His mouth covered hers in a hot, hungry kiss that spo[ his desperate need to make this night of loving last fort As he lost himself in her, he felt a wave of gratitude to Fates that had brought them together.
Above them, millions of stars glittered in a black velvet and a pale yellow moon seemed to cast its golden ray: benedictionupon the lovers.