and secure ..." He shrugged.
"Then, of course, we have the stores and the alehouse and the
eoffcehouse, so we've a few young and unattached ladies, which makes it
nice for the soldiers at the dances."
"Dances!"
"Why, Miss. Stuart, we do try to be civilized out here in the
wilderness." "Desert," Jamie Slater said from behind them.
"I think it's really more a desert than a wilderness, don't you, Jon?"
He didn't wait for an answer, but continued, "There's the Casey house
right there." He strode up three steps to a small house that seemed to
share a supporting wall with the structure beside it.
The door burst open suddenly. There was a large buxom woman standing
there.
She had an ageless quality about her, for her features were plump and
clear, her eyes were dark and merry, and it was difficult to see if her
hair was blond or silver.
"You poor dear! You poor, poor dear! Caught up in that awful Indian
attack"
"Miss. Stuart doesn't believe that it was Indians, Dolly," Jamie Slater
said evenly.
Dolly waved a hand in the air.
"Don't matter who it was, does it? It was awful and heinous and cruel
and this poor girl lost her friends and her uncle. It was your uncle,
fight, dear?" "Yes," Tess said softly.
Dolly had a hand upon her shoulders, drawing her into the house. Jon and
Jamie Slater would have followed except that Dolly inserted her grand
frame between them and the doorway.
"Jon, Jamie, get on with you now. I'li see to Miss. Stuart. I'm snre you
were right decent to her on the trail, but she's had a bad time of it
and I'm going to see to it that she has some time to rest, and I'm going
to give her a nice long bath, some homo-cooked food, and then I'm going
to put her to bed for the night. She needs a little tenderness right
now, and I'm not so sure you're the pair to provide it!"
"Right, Dolly," Jon said. Amused, he stepped back. Jamie Slater tipped
his hat to Tess over Dolly's broad shoulder. His lip, too, was curled
with a certain amusement, and Tess felt that, for once, she could too
easily read the message behind his smok~-gray eyes. He thought that she
needed tenderness just about as much as a porcupine did.
"Good evening, Miss. Stuart. I do hope that you'll be feeling better
soon."
"If you're lucky, Jamie Slater, she'll be up and about for the dance
tomorrow night."
"If I'm lucky" -- Jamie started to murmur. "Well, hell, there's no lack
of young men around here, Lieutenant!" Dolly said.
Tess could feel a brilliant crimson flush rising to her cheeks. She
wasn't sure who she wanted to bat the hardest--Dolly for so boldly
putting her into an awkward situation, or Jamie Slater for behaving as
if escorting her to a dance would be a hardship.
"There's absolutely no need for anyone to concern himself," she said
quietly, a note of steel to her voice. There-she'd given Slater his out.
"I consider myself in mourning. A dance would he completely out of the
question."
"Would it?" There was a core of steel to Jamie's voice, too. He managed
to step past Dolly and catch her shoulders, and she thought he was
furious as he gazed into her eyes. She couldn't understand him in the
least.
"I don't think so, Tess. Your uncle was a frontiersman, a fighter. I
don't think he'd want you sitting around crying about what 53 can't be
changed.
He'd know damned well that life out here was hard, and sometimes awfully
darned short and sweet, and he'd want you to live. And that's what
you're good at, isn't it? Fighting--living?"
"Lieutenant Slater, really, I" -- "Maybe it's just the fighting that
you're so good at. Maybe you don't really know how to live at all."
She cast back her head, ignoring the grip of his fingers upon her
shoulders.
She gritted her teeth hard, then challenged him hotly.
"And you think you're the one who could teach me how to live,
Lieutenant?
Why, I'm not sure that you're more than a perfo~t Yankee mannequin
yourself, Lieutenant."
His lip curled. His grip on her shoulders suddenly relaxed.
"Why don't you test me then, Miss. Stuart?"
"Jamie Slater, that young girl is vulnerable right now" -- Dolly started
to warn him, but Jamie and Tess both spun on her.
"As vulnerable as a sharp-toothed cougar," Jamie supplied.
"Never to the likes of him!" Tess promised. Dolly was silent. Soft
laughter sounded, and Tess saw that it was Jon Red Feather laughing, and
that he seemed quite pleased with the situation.
"No wonder white men don't like Indians!" Jamie muttered darkly.
"Sure. Keep the white folks at war with themselves, and half the battle
is solved," Jon said pleasantly.
"Jamie, come on. It's settled. You can pick up Miss. Stuart right after
sunset."
"Nothing is settled" -- Tess began.
"Sunset!" Jamie said. He seemed to growl the word. And he didn't give
her another second to protest, but slammed his way out the door. It
closed with such a bang that even Dolly jumped, but then she smiled
benignly.
"I do just love that man!" Dolly said.
Tess stared at her blankly.
"Why?" she demanded. "Oh, you'll see," young lady. You'll see. And that
Jori! He does like to stir up trouble.
But then, maybe it's not trouble this time. Jon can be plain old silent
as the grave when he wants, too. I think that he's just delighted to put
Miss. Eliza's nose out of joint. She thinks she just about has her claws
into Jamie, and who knows, it is lonely out here. But she isn't right
for him, she just isn't fight at all. You'll see."
"Miss. Simmons" -- "Dolly. We're not very formal out here.
"Ceptin' the men, when they're busy playing soldier, that is."
"Dolly, I have no intention of going to a dance with Lieutenant Slater.
I don't really like him. He's self-righteous and hard as steel and cold
as ice" -- "Hard maybe, cold, no. You'll see," Dolly predicted. "But" --
"Come on, I've got a steaming bath over there in the corner . You just
hop in, and I'll make you some good strong tea, and pretty soon dinner
will be ready, too. And you can tell me all about yourself and what
happened, and I'll tell you more about Lieutenant Slater."
"I don't want to know anything more about Lieutenant Slater," Tess said
firmly. But it was a lie. She wanted to know more about him. She wanted
to know everything about him.
And she did want to go to the dance with him. She wanted to close her
eyes and feel his arms around her, and if she thought about it, she
wanted even more. She wanted to see him again as she had seen him that
morning with his shirt hanging open and his hair tousled and his bare
feet riding the rocks with confidence and invincibility.
"Let me help you out of those dusty travel clothes," Dolly said. She was
quick and competent, and Tess felt immediately at home with her, able to
accept her assistance. In seconds she was out of her dirt-coated
clothing and into a wooden hip tub with a high back that allowed her to
lean in 55 comfort. Dolly tossed her a bar of rose-scented soap and a
sponge, and she blissfully squeezed the hot water over her knees and
shoulders.
"What did you do to your hands, young lady?" Dolly demanded.
Tess looked ruefully at her callused palms.
"Driving. I can do it, of course. It's just Uncle Joe usually did most
of the driving."
She didn't know what it was about saying his name, but suddenly, tears
welled in her eyes.
"You should cry it out," Dolly warned her.
"You should just go right on ahead and cry it out."