When Jessica awoke the next morning, Wolfe was standing by the window, as naked and magnificent as the mountains rising to meet the dawn. He was looking out over the rugged land with an expression of loss and yearning that made her heart turn over. She wondered what he was seeing in the wild sunrise.
And why it made him so sad.
«Wolfe?»
As he walked toward Jessica, his expression changed. The gentle smile he gave her made tears burn behind her eyelids. Indigo eyes swept over her, lingering on the banked fire twisting through her hair and the crystalline perfection of her light eyes. Long, lean fingers traced her eyebrows, her cheekbones, the curves of her mouth. He sat on the bed beside her and kissed her tenderly.
«Good morning, Mrs.Lonetree.»
Wolfe had not called her that before. The words pierced Jessica as deeply as the sorrow beneath her husband’s smile. Trembling, she smiled up at him in return; and then her heart caught and her smile threatened to turn upside down.
She had never seen anything as poignant as Wolfe’s haunted eyes and tender smile.
«Did I remember to tell you last night how beautiful you are?» Wolfe asked.
«You made me feel beautiful.»
«You are.» His eyes closed for an instant as though in pain. «And so fragile.»
«What’s wrong?» she whispered.
«Nothing. Save this…and this…and this.»
As Wolfe touched each small mark he had left on Jessica’s skin, he pulled down the bedcovers. The silence became thick with emotions and unspoken words.
«I’ll be more careful of you next time, elf.» He looked into her clear, pale blue eyes. «If you want a next time.»
Jessica caught one of Wolfe’s hands between hers, kissed his palm, and pressed it to her cheek.
«I loved joining with you,» she said in a low voice. «I want there to be times without number.»
Black eyelashes swept down, concealing the haunted indigo depths of Wolfe’s eyes. «I’ll try not to get you pregnant, but…you burn through my control.»
«Don’t you want a child?»
«I’ve caused you enough fear and hurt. I won’t tear you apart bearing children who have neither titles nor estates to inherit.»
«Wolfe,» she said brokenly, «I want your children!»
«Hush, elf,» he murmured, touching her lips with his thumb. «It’s not necessary. I won’t cry annulment for lack of heirs. You’re safe with me. You’ll never have to fear for your life again.»
Jessica’s hands tightened on Wolfe’s. The grief in him was as real and yet as impossible to touch as night itself. It tore at her in ways she couldn’t name.
«I love you, my Lord Wolfe,» she said, lifting up to his lips. «I’ve always loved you. I always will.»
«Yes. I’ve always known that.»
Jessica waited, but Wolfe said no more. Pain twisted through her as she finally understood the source of Wolfe’s unhappiness.
Tree That Stands Alone.
«You don’t love me,» she whispered, realizing too late what she had done to the man she loved.
«I want you, Jessi. I’ve always wanted you. I always will.»
Wolfe fitted his mouth to Jessica’s with exquisite care before he took her with a single, slow penetration if his tongue. The kiss deepened and changed until she was breathing quickly and moving hungrily against him.
«Wolfe,» she said raggedly.
«Lie with me, Jessi. Let me worship your body with mine.»
Jessica couldn’t withhold herself from the naked hunger in Wolfe’s eyes and in his body. She let him come to her, let him take her in burning silence, let him unravel her so gently that she never knew she was undone until the world turned to gold around her and she wept Wolfe’s name and her love against his chest. Then he held her, letting her tears scald him in the long minutes before she took a shuddering breath and lay quietly once more.
Slowly, Wolfe eased from the bed and pulled on his clothes. The bedroom door opened and closed soundlessly behind him. Moments later, Jessica’s eyes opened bright with tears. Impatiently, she wiped them away and reached for her clothes.
Wolfe found Reno in the kitchen. The empty mugs and plates on the table showed that Caleb andRafe had already eaten and gone out to work. From the other bedroom came the sound of Willow singing softly to her baby as she nursed him. The gentle music burned Wolfe like acid, reminding him of what he had done to the delicate girl who had always trusted him to protect her.
But he had taken her instead.
«IsJessi all right?» Reno asked.
Wolfe gave him a slicing, sideways glance, wondering if the other man had somehow guessed that Jessica had finally become a wife in fact as well as in name.
«She’s fine,» Wolfe said curtly. «I told her to sleep late. Why?»
«Willow said she looked real ragged last night.»
«So did I.»
«That’s the God’s truth,» Reno said.
«Three days of a Hell-wind like that would take the starch out of the Devil himself.»
Reno smiled and resettled his hat on hair that was thick, black, and shiny. The light green of his eyes was like cut crystal. Looking at him, Wolfe wondered how Jessica had avoided succumbing to Reno Moran’s dark charm and physical grace. Or toRafe, who had the smile of a fallen angel and eyes that had seen Hell. Wolfe couldn’t help thinking that either Moran would have been better for Jessica than ahalfbreed who had nothing to speak of but an uncanny skill with mustangs and long guns.
Yet Wolfe knew he would have killed anyone who tried to take away the beautiful, sensual elf who came to him so perfectly, exploring the shimmering reaches of passion with him as no other woman had.
«That’s a brave girl you have,» Reno said. «Not many women would have gone out in that storm for love or money, much less for a meansteeldust mustang that most men would shoot on sight.»
Wolfe’s eyes narrowed against the darkness and pain streaking through him. «My fault.Jessi was trying to prove I shouldn’t send her back to England.»
Reno gave Wolfe a questioning look.
«Jessitold me how you stood over more than one foal, holding off wolves with your six-gun,» Wolfe said, changing the subject as he poured a mug of coffee. «I owe you.»
«Like Hell you do. If it hadn’t been for your skill with a rifle, Jed Slater would have killed Willow, Caleb, and me.»
«You get the pick of my foals,» Wolfe said as though Reno hadn’t spoken.
«Lonetree, sometimes you can be a bullheaded son of a bitch.»
«Thank you.»
Reno shot him a disbelieving look, then laughed out loud.
Wolfe smiled, but it faded quickly. The shadow of a bird flying beyond the window caught his eye. For long, aching moments, he looked past the grass and trees to the unbridled glory of the SanJuans. He hadn’t truly known how much a part of his soul the mountains were until he looked at them and knew he must leave their wildness behind. The pain of it drew deep brackets around his mouth.
But it had to be done.
«Remember that blue roan you fancied?» Wolfe asked quietly.
«The wild one you caught a few summers back?»
Wolfe nodded.
«I remember. Hell of a good desert horse. Best I’ve ever seen.»
«She’s yours.»
«Now look here,» Reno began.
«You’ll earn her,» Wolfe said, cutting across Reno’s objections. «It will cost you most of a summer of gold hunting.»
Reno’s eyes narrowed as he measured the man sitting across from him.
«I want you to ride withJessi and me as far as the Mississippi,» Wolfe continued. «Between the Indians, the gold hunters, and the dregs of the soldiers on both sides of the war…» He shrugged.
«It gets real lively,» Reno agreed.
«If it were just me, it wouldn’t matter. ButJessi will be along. I’d feel better knowing you were at my back.»
Reno’s expression became intent as he sensed the turmoil behind Wolfe’s calm words.
«I’d gladly ride to Hell with you,» Reno said calmly, «and you know it.»
«I’m not going to Hell. Not quite.» Wolfe’s smile thinned.
«England?» guessed Reno.
«It’sJessi’s home.»
«You’ll have a hard time hunting mustangs for a living in England.»
«Lord Stewart has wanted me to work for him for years. He’ll get his wish.»
Reno said something under his breath in Spanish about Wolfe having the heart of an ox — and the brains.
«Gracias,» Wolfe said sardonically.
There was silence, followed by the sound of Reno’s work gloves snapping against his palm.
«When do you want to leave?» Reno asked finally.
«Soon.Jessi isn’t cut out for the West.»
«I haven’t heard Red complain. Have you?»
The question was ignored by Wolfe. After a moment, Reno stood with the lazy grace that had fooled more than one man into thinking he was slow.
«Amigo, Ithink you’re making a mistake.»
«No. I’m merely paying for one.»
«What mistake is that?» Jessica asked from the doorway.
«He’s got some damn fool idea about —» Reno began, then broke off abruptly. The look Wolfe was giving him would have frozen lightning.
Cursing under his breath, Reno snapped his gloves against his hand again and went out the back door without another word.
Jessica looked at Wolfe curiously.
«I’m giving Reno the pick of the foals,» Wolfe said.
«That’s hardly a mistake. He earned it. Without him, we would have lost more than one foal.»
«That’s what I told him.»
As though pulled against his will, Wolfe turned again and stared out the window. Jessica saw deep emotion kindle in Wolfe’s eyes, then fade into the haunted shadows she had first noticed that morning when he watched the sunrise. She went and stood beside him. She saw nothing beyond the window but the beauty of the vast land.
«Wolfe? Is something wrong?»
He turned and looked at her with haunted eyes.
«Wolfe,» she whispered, reaching toward him.
«Kiss me, Jessi,» he said, bending down to her. «Kiss me hard and deep. When you kiss me, I don’t think about what must be.»
With a small sound, she went up on tiptoe even as he lifted her in his arms, letting the wildness inside him focus in the passion only Jessica had ever been able to summon from the depths of his soul.
«Does this mean you’ve forgivenJessi for going out in the blizzard?» Willow asked from the doorway.
Reluctantly, Wolfe ended the kiss and tucked Jessica’s scarlet face against his neck. He smiled at Willow despite the bittersweet combination of sadness and desire twisting through him.
«We’re negotiating,» Wolfe said.
«Her surrender or yours?» retorted Willow.
«Mine, of course. Elves are too fragile. They either win or die.»
«In that case,» Willow said dryly, «I’ll get Ethan’s bathwater and leave you to your, er, negotiations.»
As Wolfe lowered Jessica’s feet to the floor, a cool premonition slid down her spine, the echo of Wolfe’s words.
Elves are too fragile. They either win or die.
Jessica said nothing until Willow went out of the kitchen carrying a pan of warm water in her hands. When Jessica turned to Wolfe, he was staring out the window once more. The expression of sorrow in his eyes made fear squeeze her heart.
«Love, what’s wrong?» she asked.
«Nothing.»
She shook her head slowly. «Your eyes are haunted.»
«‘Tisyour imagination.» Wolfe smiled and touched her cheek gently. «Elves are noted for their imagination.»
«Wolfe,» she whispered. «I can’t joke about what I see in your eyes. Who or what are you mourning?»
His eyes narrowed in surprise. He hadn’t expected Jessica to see into him so clearly, even more clearly than he saw into himself.
Mourning.
«I’m always sad to say good-bye to Caleb and Willow,» Wolfe said after a moment, the only part of the truth he would discuss.
It was Jessica’s turn to be surprised. «We’re leaving?»
«It’s too wild here.»
Wolfe’s voice was resonant with finality and grief. A chill roughened Jessica’s skin.
«What are you saying?» she whispered.
«We’re going to England.»
«I’d rather hunt mustangs,» she said, «or did you want to wait until autumn, when this year’s crop of foals will be weaned?»
Wolfe turned away without answering.
«Wolfe?»
«We’ll be in England when the foals are weaned.»
«Then we’ll come back next spring.»
«No.» The word was soft, final.
«Why not?»
«Spring and fall are when Lord Robert’s managers are most needed on his country estates.»
The chill moving through Jessica congealed into ice and settled into the pit of her stomach.
«What does that have to do with us?» she asked tightly.
«I will be one of those managers.»
«What are you saying?»
Wolfe looked out the window. «We will live in England.»
«You hate England.»
Wolfe shrugged. «Parts of the countryside are quite pretty.»
«They’re not a patch on this,» she said, indicating the wild beauty of the mountains beyond the window.
«No. They’re not.»
«What of your mustangs?»
«I’m giving them to Caleb.»
Jessica swayed and whispered. «You mean never to come back to the West!»
Wolfe didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. The shadows in his eyes said all that was necessary.
«But why? You love this land. I’ve seen you, Wolfe. You watch these mountains the way a man watches a woman he loves.»
«Let it go, Jessi.»
«No! Why can’t we live here? Why must we live in England?»
«This is no place for you,» Wolfe said quietly. «You have to be born for this land. You weren’t.»
«And you were.»
He made an odd, almost helpless gesture. «Yes. But I can survive England. You can’t survive the West.»
«Dear God, how you must hate me.»
Swiftly, Wolfe turned and touched Jessica’s cheek. «I don’t hate you, elf.»
«You will. I’ve cost you the only thing you’ve ever truly loved. You will hate me as surely and as deeply as you love the land!»
Wolfe saw the shine of tears on Jessica’s face and gathered her into his arms. «Hush, wife. You’re only hurting yourself.»
«I don’t want to live in England,» she said flatly, pushing away from him. «Do you hear me? I love the mountains. Why can’t we live here?»
«You gave yourself into my care. I won’t watch this wild land kill you.»
Jessica’s hands clenched against Wolfe’s shirt, digging into the hard muscle beneath the cloth.
«Wolfe, listen tome.Iam stronger than you believe. If I were the weak little elf you think me, I would have died as a child!»
His hand curled beneath her chin. Silently, he felt the delicate bone structure and soft skin. He smiled sadly.
«You haven’t half my strength,» Wolfe said. «In England, that won’t matter.»
«In England no one looks beyond yourbastardy and Indian blood,» she said harshly. «Here you have friends and a chance to build a better life for yourself. Can’t you see that? Can’t you see what —»
Wolfe’s thumb pressed against Jessica’s lips, sealing in her urgent words. 1
«I’ve always seen that,» he said in a calm voice, «It’s why I left England, and you. I could have you or I could have the West. I took you, knowing what the end would be. England.»
«But I —»
«It’s done, Jessi,» he interrupted flatly. «It was done when I took your maidenhead.»
«Wolfe, please believe me. I didn’t mean for this to happen! Not like this. Dear God, not like this!»
Gently, Wolfe took Jessica’s clenched hands from his shirt. «I know. But all your pleas and tears won’t change what is. You are what you are. I am what I am. We are husband and wife and England will be our home.»
Jessica closed her eyes. She would have preferred blows to Wolfe’s calm summation of their marriage.
«Go begin packing,» Wolfe said quietly. «I’ll help Caleb for the time that is left.»
The kitchen door opened and closed softlybehindWolfe.
For a long time, Jessica stared blindly at the door, seeing nothing but the tears overflowing her eyes, understanding too late what Wolfe had always known: Their marriage would destroy one of them, if not both.
Agree to an annulment. Damn you, let me go!
I’m the wrong husband for you. You’re the wrong wife for me. Lying together would be the worst mistake of my life.
You were not born for the Western wilderness. I was.
Don’t love me, Jessi. It will only hurt us both.
It’s done, Jessi. It was done when I took your maidenhead.
You are what you are. I am what I am.
Tree That Stands Alone.
Jessica opened her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to stave off the ice radiating through her soul. With the same fierce determination she once had used to survive as a child, she searched now for a way out of the trap she had sprung around Wolfe.
When she finally found it, she washed the marks of grief from her face and went to find Caleb Black.
«DELAYING won’t accomplish anything,» Wolfe said, continuing the argument that had begun the moment Jessica had awakened him at dawn. «Whether we leave today or ten days after, we’re still leaving.»
«I said I would return to England without a fuss if you would hunt mustangs for one last rime,» Jessica said evenly. «I meant it.»
Warily, Wolfe looked at Jessica. He had seen her in many moods, from intense fear to intense passion, but never had he seen her like this. There was nothing fey or elfin about her now, nor anything fragile. There was simply an ingathering of strength and purpose that reminded him of nothing so much as himself.
«I don’t want to hunt mustangs,» Wolfe said carefully.
«Then do it for Caleb. He needs more horses in order to work his ranch properly. He said so himself.»
Wolfe looked uneasily at Jessica. He sensed the wild grief in her as clearly as she had sensed it in him that morning. Yet there were no tears in her eyes, no resonances of passion in her voice.
He didn’t know her this way. The realization frightened him.
Wolfe’s hands flashed out, pulling Jessica into his arms. «I won’t take you into the wild with me,» he said harshly.
«I know.»
«Is that why you’re so eager for me to hunt mustangs? Are you already tired of having me in your bed and body?»
The words were hardly out of Wolfe’s mouth before Jessica was kissing him as though she expected to die in the next moment and wanted him never to forget what she had been like when fully alive. He kissed her in the same way until they both were breathing brokenly, consumed by passion.
«Fill me,» Jessica whispered against his mouth. «Fill me until I can’t remember what it is to be separate from you. Fill me as though it were the last time.»
With a hoarse sound, Wolfe swept the filmy layers of Jessica’s nightgown above her waist. He whispered her name as he knelt between her legs and drew them up over his thighs. The melting ease of his penetration told him more about her love than any words could have. The sweetness of being possessed by him and possessing him in turn dragged a husky sound from the back of her throat.
«More,» Jessica said urgently. «Wolfe, I must have more of you.»
«You’re too small. I’ll hurt you.»
«Please…»
She pulled at him, straining against him, asking for more of him, asking for all that he had to give, her words a dark fire licking over him, making him shudder with a need unlike any he had known before. With a hoarse sound, he slid his arms beneath her knees and lifted her legs, opening her without reservation. She moaned and bit her lip and arched against him, asking for more. Her silken heat spilled over him, underlining her whispered pleas.
«To think I called you a nun,» Wolfe said hoarsely. «You are fire, elf. Burn for me.»
Then he gave her what she was crying for, filling her, sinking into her so deeply that she felt him all through her body until she was stretched on a golden rack of ecstasy and she burned.
Wolfe felt Jessica’s wild release begin and laughed with elemental triumph. He moved slowly, deeply, dragging cries from her, watching her burn, burning with her as the silky fire of her ecstasy fused their bodies together. He drove repeatedly into her, sinking more deeply into her fire, wanting it never to end. But she felt too good, she lured him too profoundly. Her words and rippling cries and sleek body demanded that he give himself to her as completely as she had given herself to him.
Even as Wolfe tried to hold back, he knew it was too late. He was too much a part of her, his body so deeply joined with hers that he didn’t know where he ended and she began, two flames intertwined, burning redoubled with each breath. Fighting no more, he gave himself to her and to the ecstasy that burned ever higher, feeding on his release, renewing and consuming both of them until they burned as a single flame, inseparable.
CALEB was waiting for Jessica in the kitchen. He looked at her pale, drawn face and bleak eyes and said something savage beneath his breath.
«You really mean to go through with this damn fool idea?» he demanded.
«Yes.»
«Did you tell Wolfe?»
«That wasn’t part of our bargain. I agreed not to set out alone if you would agree not to tell Wolfe that I was going.»
Caleb took off his hat, ran long fingers through his black hair, and said bluntly, «I think this is a piss-poor idea.»
«I’m aware of that,» Jessica said in a clipped voice. «I’m also aware that Wolfe would probably kill Reno orRafe if they helped me. Wolfe won’t kill you.»
«You’re a lot more certain of that than I am,» Caleb retorted.
«Wolfe will be angry, but he knows there is no other woman for you except Willow. Reno orRafe wouldn’t touch me, either, but I’m afraid to test Wolfe’s temper that far. He might shoot before he asked questions. He’s frighteningly good with that rifle.»
«Seems like a man as possessive as Wolfe is just might love his wife.»
«Desire isn’t love,» Jessica said tightly.
«Jessi —» Caleb began, only to be interrupted.
«I trapped Tree That Stands Alone into marriage. I’m setting him free.»
«Jessi —»
«Are the horses ready?» she asked, cutting across his attempts to speak.
There was a taut silence.
«I’m damn tempted to ride out after Wolfe,» Caleb said finally.
«I can’t stop you.»
«And I can’t stop you, either, is that it? You’ll cut and run off in the wild the first chance you get, and the Devil take the hindmost.»
«Of course. That’s the only reason you agreed to take me to the stage in the first place.»
«Blackmail.»
«In a word, yes.»
Caleb’s mouth turned down as he looked at the darkness and determination in Jessica’s eyes. It reminded him of the time Willow had set out alone on Ishmael in the middle of the night rather than go through with a marriage she believed Caleb didn’t want. Willow had come very close to dying because of her determination that Caleb be set free. The memory of nearly losing her still haunted him at odd moments, making him go to Willow and hold her, reassuring himself that she was alive, safe, his.
Jessica was no less determined to do what she believed was right than Willow had been. All Caleb could do was see that Jessica stayed safe until Wolfe had a chance to sort out the mess.
Grimly, Caleb pulled out his six-gun, spun the cylinder to check the load, and holstered the gun with a smoothness that told its own deadly story.
«The horses are waiting, Mrs.Lonetree.»
Tears came unbidden to her eyes. «My name is Lady JessicaCharteris.»
«CALL it,» Reno said.
«Heads,» saidRafe.
«Tails.»
Rafeflipped the coin.
Reno’s hand flashed out, caught the coin, and smacked it down on the back of his hand. He pocketed the coin without bothering to look at it.
«Tails,» Reno said, turning away.
As he reached for his horse’s rein, the bullwhipRafe was holding rippled and writhed as though alive. Suddenly, the tip cracked with the sound of a pistol shot.
Reno turned towardRafe, who was coiling the whip with swift motions of his hands.
«That’s your free one, Matt,» Rafe said flatly. «Don’t do it again. Which horses do you want?»
«Only one of us is going. Me. You’re staying with Willow.»
Rafesmiled thinly. «I figured that out real quick. What you haven’t figured out is Wolfe was so eager to get finished hunting mustangs and get back to his wife that he left here at a dead run.»
Reno hesitated, listening.
«By the time you catch up and the two of you get back to the ranch,» Rafe continued, «Caleb will have a hell of a long lead on you. So which of Caleb’s horses are best for making up time over rough country?»
«Willow said to be sure one of the horses we had waiting for Wolfe was Ishmael.»
«All right. Who else?»
Reno’s smile was as hard and brilliant as his eyes. «Doesn’t matter. Everything Caleb left here is better than anything he took with him. That boy was in no hurry to put daylight between himself and Wolfe.»
Rafeblinked and then laughed softly. «Tricky.»
«Smart. Wolfe is going to come down off the mountain like a bluenorther.»
«Maybe. And maybe he’ll just letJessi go. From what I’ve seen, he wasn’t any too pleased to be married to her.»
Pale green eyes assessedRafe before Reno showed his teeth in a wolfish smile. «And that’s just what you were planning to rub Wolfe’s face in, wasn’t it?»
Rafe’ssmile was as cold as his gray eyes. «That’s a fact. He was hard on her.»
«He had some cause, andJessi was the first one to say so.»
«All the same, I’d like to be the one to tell Wolfe.»
«Sorry, big brother. This one is mine.» Reno swung into the saddle and looked down atRafe. «Think. Why do you suppose Jessica asked Caleb to go instead of one of us?»
«I’ve been wondering about that,» Rafe admitted, «what with a wife and new baby to look after and all.»
«Stop wondering. Caleb is married to the soles of his feet and Wolfe knows it. So doesJessi.»
«Neither one of us would have touchedJessi,» Rafe said instantly. «She knows that.»
«Uh-huh. Now, do you want to be the one to explain it all to Wolfe while he’s a half mile away, taking your measure over the barrel of a rifle?»
«IfJessi didn’t love that hard-headed son of a bitch, I’d be glad to explain it to Wolfe any way I got the chance.»
«So would I,» Reno said flatly. «But she does love him.»
Rafe’smouth tightened. He nodded and stepped out of the way.
«All right, Blackfoot,» Reno said. «Let’s see if you’re half the running fool Jed Slater thought you were.»
The tall black horse leaped forward, hitting its full stride in seconds.
THE second day on the trail, Caleb spent as much time looking over his shoulder as he did watching the route ahead.
«Stop putting a kink in your neck,» Jessica said, looking up from the stream where the horses were drinking. «Wolfe isn’t coming after me.»
«For a bright girl, you can be stump dumb at times.» Caleb checked the cinch on the pack saddle and then on his own horse. «Wolfe loves you.»
«He wants me. There’s a difference.»
«Not for a man, honey. Not at first.»
Caleb swung up on his horse and started forward again, leaving Jessica staring after him. He kept to a steady pace, not wanting her to accuse him of shirking his side of the bargain. On the other hand, he never took the shortest route around any obstacle. No point in giving Wolfe cause to be any angrier than he already would be.
It was late afternoon before Caleb reined in to study the route ahead. On either side lay a cluster of raw mountain peaks which were separated by a broad band of land that was clothed in trees, scrub, and grass. The divide was several miles wide at the bottom and less than a mile at its highest elevation. Where Caleb and Willow were, the land was green with the wild rush of spring and alive withmeltwater from the nearby mountains.
«We’ll camp here,» Caleb said.
«It won’t be dark for two hours.»
Caleb slanted Jessica a cool amber glance. «It will take longer than that to get over the divide. If we don’t camp here, we’ll be picking our way through a half-frozen marsh in the dark with no place to sleep but sitting up in the saddle.»
Jessica met Caleb’s glance, sighed, and looked uneasily over her shoulder. She thought she had caught movement behind them, but Caleb didn’t seemed concerned. When she looked back, he was watching her with an odd smile on his face.
«Don’t fret, Red,» Caleb said kindly. «I gave you enough lead on your man that he’ll work off the worst of his mad before he catches us.»
«Wolfe isn’t coming.»
«Horseshit.»
Jessica gave Caleb a startled look.
He smiled as gently as though she were Willow.
«Even if you’re right,» Jessica said with a catch in her voice, «Wolfe couldn’t get to us this quickly without riding a horse to death. He wouldn’t do that.»
«One horse couldn’t get the job done,» Caleb agreed. «Three could, though — Deuce, Trey, and Ishmael.»
«What?»
Caleb looked past Jessica at the open ground they had just covered.
«If I were you,» he said, «I’d spend the next few minutes thinking up ways to take the edge off Wolfe’s temper.»
The certainty in Caleb’s voice sent a stroke of unease through Jessica. She stood in her stirrups and looked past him.
Two big black horses and one smaller sorrel had broken from the cover of the forest and were running flat out toward her up the long sweep of the grassy divide. Only one horse carried a man. As she watched, the rider leaped from the back of one of the blacks to the sorrel without slowing the pace one bit.
«Dear God,» she breathed.
«Looks more like WolfeLonetree to me,» Caleb said dryly.
With watchful amber eyes, Caleb waited while the horses thundered closer. When he saw that Wolfe’s rifle was still in its scabbard, Caleb let out a silent breath of relief and gave Jessica a reassuring smile. Jessica didn’t notice. She sat on Two-Spot and waited, knowing her horse had no chance to outrun the Arabian stallion.
Wolfe didn’t even glance at Caleb when he galloped up and pulled Ishmael to a rearing, dancing halt. Wolfe had eyes only for the red-haired girl who was sitting astride Two-Spot with a spine as straight as a ramrod. Calmly, Wolfe dismounted, turned the hot horses over to Caleb, and then stood silently, watching Jessica.
«I’ll make camp in those trees,» Caleb said, gesturing toward a scattering of evergreens a mile back down the trail.
Wolfe nodded.
«You might keep in mind that she was only doing what she thought was best for you,» Caleb said as he took Ishmael’s reins. «The same as you were doing what you thought was best for her.»
«Adios, Cal,» Wolfe said flatly.
Without another word, Caleb reined his horse back toward the setting sun, taking with him all the horses but the one Jessica rode. Two-Spot stretched against the bit and whinnied at being left behind.
Without warning, Wolfe vaulted on behind Jessica, took the reins from her, and turned Two-Spot toward a nearby stand of aspens. Their delicate new leaves glowed an unearthly green in the slanting light. When the small breeze stirred, the leaves quivered as though alive and breathing.
Jessica felt as shaky as one of the leaves. She looked down at the dark, lean hand holding the reins, and at the arm that half-circled her without touching her. The temptation to trace the veins in the back of Wolfe’s hand with her fingertips was so great that she had to close her eyes against it. An almost hidden tremor went through her as she fought not to show her hunger and yearning to touch the life that beat so strongly beneath Wolfe’s controlled surface.
Wolfe dismounted and tied Two-Spot to a slender aspen. Then he stood and looked at Jessica for the longest minute of her life. She met his narrowed indigo eyes, refusing to show either the pain or the yearning that seethed beneath her outward calm.
«You looked surprised to see me when I rode up,» Wolfe said.
«Caleb wasn’t. He did everything but set fire to trees so you could follow.»
«I would have found you if you’d gone barefoot over solid stone.»
«Why?»
The question put the match to Wolfe’s temper. «You’re my wife.»
«The marriage isn’t valid.»
«Like Hell it isn’t. I had you so deep and so hard it’s a bloody wonder either one of us could walk afterward.»
Scarlet flags burned on Jessica’s cheekbones, but she didn’t back down. «You said you would withhold your fertility from the union despite my wishes otherwise,» she said carefully. «That is grounds for annulment.»
«I was trying to spare you the risk of childbed!»
«So you say.» Jessica shrugged casually despite the tension that made her body feel brittle. «A magistrate might view your actions as less than noble.»
«That’s just it,» Wolfe shot back. «I’m not noble. You are!»
No matter how hard Jessica fought it, she couldn’t prevent a scalding tear from falling. The combination of grief and rage in her voice made it shake.
«And there it is,» she said, «the one thing I can’t change and you can’t forgive.»
«You’re not making sense.»
Her eyes focused on him. They were as pale and bleak as the streamside ice.
«I can learn to cook and clean and launder,» Jessica said. «I can burn in your arms and you in mine…but it’s not enough. It will never be enough. You despise the aristocracy, and my father was an earl.»
«That’s not —»
«You want me,» she continued relentlessly, «but not as a wife. I’m not fit to be the mother of your children. I’m a spoiled, cruel child. I’m a —»
«Jessi, that’s not what I —»
«— girl, not a woman, as useless as teats on a boar hog, the wrong —»
«Damn it, that’s not —»
«Yes it is!» she said harshly, talking over him. «You have never lied to me, no matter how much the truth hurt. Don’t begin now, when there is no more need. I trapped you, I’m setting you free. Go back to the wild land you love, the land for which you were born, the land I’m not worthy to inhabit and never will be. I am what I am and —»
«Damnation.Will you listen or do I have to —»
«— you are Tree That Stands Alone and lying with me was the worst mistake of your life!»
«Wrong,» Wolfe said furiously. «The worst mistake of my life was promising Willow I’d try talking with you first!»
With no warning, Wolfe yanked Jessica out of the saddle and fastened his mouth over hers. She twisted and thrashed against him, but he was much too strong. He absorbed her struggles until the wild urgency of his kiss reached her on a level deeper than words.
Unable to deny Wolfe and herself any longer, Jessica yielded to him the softness he had already taken, sharing the kiss with him. It was a long time before he lifted his head.
«This is the only truth that matters,» Wolfe said finally, brushing Jessica’s tears away. «You are mine, only mine. And I am yours.»
«You are Tree That Stands Alone.»
«And you are the sun in my sky. Don’t take the sun from me, Jessi.»
She tried to speak, but was too moved by what she saw in his eyes to say more than his name.
«Wolfe?»
«Stay with me, Jessi Lonetree,» he whispered. «Share the wild land with me. Love me as much as I love you.»