fell silent, but her eyes were eloquent. Her look said that she hated
Tess.
"I am Chavez, and I will do as I choose!" he warned the dark-haired
woman.
He pushed Tess toward her.
"Take her.
Take her to the house. I will come shortly."
The woman put a hand on Tess's shoulder. Tess shook free from her hand.
"Don't touch me!" she warned her sharply.
"What a woman!" Chavez sighed, and Tess did not know if it was with
mockery or pleasure. She gritted her teeth and stepped past the woman,
striding toward a house she indi The dark-haired woman hurried behind
her.. ~ The daylight was almost gone. By the glow of the fire, Tess
tried to take measure of where she was. The rocks of the mountains rose
all around them, but there were many trails that sprang from the
clearing. She had no idea where they led, but if she could escape during
the night, she could get some distance from Chavez.
"Stop! You stop, you gringa slut!" the woman called out. Tess ignored
her.
She reached the house and threw open the door.
There were just two rooms there. One was a kitchen with dirty shelves
and boxes. Old liquor bottles, chipped and broken, lay upon a dirty,
rickety table. Beyond the kitchen was a bedroom.
Tess stared in horror.
"This is filthy. I cannot stay here." Behind them, Chavez laughed
sourly.
"Anna, she is right. This is a sty. You will clean it up." Anna turned
and hit out at him. He grabbed her hands.
She fought him wildly, then went limp. She pleaded with him in Spanish,
her voice catching on a sob. Tess tried to ignore them. She looked
around and saw there was a back door in the bedroom. She tried not to
stare at it, wondering if it wasn't especially designed as an escape
route for Chavez if a stronger force came after him.
She didn't want him to catch her staring at the door so she turned
around and sat on one of the crude wooden chairs that surrounded the
filthy table.
"Tell her to clean it up!" Anna suddenly said, stamping her foot hard on
the floor.
"I will not," Tess said immediately. She crossed her arms over her
chest.
Chavez was convulsed with laughter once again. He unbuckled his gun belt
and tossed it on the table on top of the debris. He sat in a chair
opposite Tess and stared at her, still very amused, so it seemed.
"She will not clean up your slop, Anna. She is Miss. Stuart. She wears
an Apache squaw's buckskins, but she is a lady. You don't know this,
Anna, to be a lady. You must watch her. You musn't ask her to pick up
swill." He stopped looking at Tess for a moment and slammed his fist
against the table.
"I am hungry, Anna. You will bring me something to eat. And you will
bring something--for the lady."
Anna didn't like that at all. She began to argue again. This time Chavez
rose and slapped her hard across the face.
Anna stared at him, tears forming in her eyes. But she said no more,
choosing to obey him. Chavez looked at Tess sternly.
"That is how to handle a woman!" he told her firmly.
"That, Chavez, is not even the proper way to handle a dog," she told
him.
But a second later it was all that she could do not to shrink away from
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.