Jesse smothered an oath. Young fool. What did he think he was doing, prodding the enemy into retaliation? He could understand preferring death in the swamps to one at the end of a rope, but as long as he was alive, there was hope. Where the devil was Amanda? What was taking so long? If she didn't hurry, that hot-tempered brother-in-law of his was going to talk this Yankee into shooting him before he could be rescued.
Glancing at Jamie, Jesse saw that he was staring at his half brother with narrowed eyes. Finally Jamie said, "Let it go, Michael. Leave the Yank alone before you make him cry."
Furious now, the Yankee soldier stood up and drew his pistol. Jesse tensed. He had to do something quickly. But what? He wasn't near enough to the fire yet, not with the Yankee only a few feet away and too close to risk doing anything.
"Damn Rebs," the soldier was snarling as he thumbed back the hammer on his Navy six, "I'd just as soon see you all in hell…"
Jesse cocked his own pistol and took aim on the Yankee. Sweat beaded his forehead and dripped into his eyes, stinging. Suicide. That's what this was-suicide.
Just when it seemed as if he'd have to shoot, a loud explosion shattered the night. Men shouted and leaped from their blankets, scattering as they fumbled for weapons and prepared to meet an assault.
The soldier about to shoot Michael and Jamie jerked around in surprise, and Jesse squeezed the trigger of his pistol. It bucked in his hand, and he was scrambling to his feet even as he saw the Yankee clutch his chest and fall backward. Michael and Jamie had instinctively hit the ground, falling to one side as best they could. Jesse ran to them in a crouch, praying the Yankees wouldn't see through the ruse until he had them free.
Slicing through the ropes binding them with his sharp knife, Jesse just grinned at their obvious surprise when they recognized him. "Run like hell," was all he said before turning to toss his powder-packed bullets at the campfire. In the confusion, he managed to run back into the thick woods just as the bullets began to explode, adding to the general chaos.
Ahead of him, he could see Michael and Jamie running through the woods toward Panther Creek. When Michael stumbled and fell, Jamie paused to help him up, half dragging him as they fled. Jesse paused to set off a few more bullets, hoping the damp ground wouldn't keep them from exploding.
Reaching the edge of the creek, he paused, breathing hard. Amanda ran to the edge of the opposite bank, her moonlit face anxious as she called across the water, "Where are they? Did you free them?"
Unable to catch his breath, he pointed, and she turned to see the two men approach. Bruised and battered but very much alive, they grinned when they reached Jesse.
"If we had time," Jamie drawled, "I'd kiss you."
"Save it for the ladies," Jesse shot back. "Let's put some miles between us and those Yanks. They're going to be mad as hell when they figure out you're gone and there ain't no more Rebs in sight."
They wasted no time in floundering into the murky water of the creek. Recent rains had swollen it, and the current was swift. Jesse held his pistol up in the air to keep the powder dry, cursing the drag of water against his body. It seemed to take much longer to get back across than it had to cross the first time, but finally he clambered up onto the bank.
Breathing hard and dripping muddy water, he gave a mild protest when Amanda flung her arms around him. "Hey, you'll get wet…"
"I don't care," she said in a half sob. "You did it. You freed them. Now Michael won't die and Jamie won't be accused, and there won't be a family feud and Oakleigh won't be torn down for a McDonald's-"
"Hush, hush," he said, reaching out to hold her against him. "You're hysterical. We don't have time for this. Michael's hurt. We'll have to let him ride one of the mules back to Oakleigh. And we sure can't stand here congratulating ourselves, or the Yankees will have us all. Now come on. You can get reacquainted with Jamie when we get back home."
"Oh-yes," she said softly, and he gave her a sharp look. Moonlight gave her face a pale glow, but her eyes were shadowed.
"What's the matter, Amanda?"
"There's something I must tell you," she began, but was interrupted just then as Jamie and Michael reached them.
Dripping and exhausted, they sank to the muddy banks, and Jesse knew they'd never all be able to make it away with only two mules. He made a swift decision.
"Jamie, you and Michael take the mules. Don't bother to argue. Amanda and I will walk back. The Yanks won't be looking for an old farm couple. They'll be looking for two Rebs. You and Amanda can catch up on family history later."
"Amanda?" Jamie echoed, lifting his head to look up at Jesse with a puzzled frown. "Who's that?"
A chill shivered down his spine, and Jesse turned to look at Amanda. She met his gaze steadily, but offered no explanation or defense. He looked back at Jamie and said, Don't you have a cousin named Amanda?"
"Not that I know about. Why?"
Jesse drew in a deep breath. "It doesn't matter right now. What's important is getting you two safely out of here. The mules are tethered over in that grove of cottonwoods. Take the levee road around. You're less likely to run into any patrols that way, as Morton and Forrest have pretty much got the Yanks on the run."
Rising to his feet with an effort, Jamie reached down to help his brother up, then turned back to Jesse. He gave a wet, weary smile. "See you at Oakleigh."
"Yeah. See you at Oakleigh," Jesse said flatly. He stood watching them disappear into the shadows, unwilling to even look at Amanda. What could she say? What explanation could she give for her lies that would be believable? And what reason would she have for lying in the first place, unless she was the enemy.
Closing his eyes, Jesse had the miserable thought that he would hardly care if she was Lincoln's daughter. He still wanted her, and that inescapable fact was as galling as the knowledge that it went against everything he'd been fighting for these past three years…
Oakleigh was just ahead. Amanda could see the chimneys rising above the tops of the trees. In the uneventful day and a half since they'd liberated Jamie and Michael, Jesse had said very little to her. Beyond an occasional comment or general direction, he'd been remote and aloof. She had tried to explain once, but he'd just looked at her with shadowed blue eyes and said he didn't want to know.
Now they were within sight of the house and she knew she would have to tell him everything or lose it all. She'd thought-hoped? feared?-that like Sam Becket in the Quantum Leap television series, once she had accomplished her mission and saved Michael, she would be transported elsewhere. Or at the very least, wake up in her own bed at home. But it had not happened.
She was still here, and she didn't know quite what to do now except tell Jesse the truth. Then he'd probably have her committed to the nineteenth-century equivalent of an insane asylum, and she'd spend her final days knitting wool caps in a padded cell. If she knew another way, she'd take it. But she didn't.
"Jesse," she said when they reached the edge of the woods bordering the pasture behind the house, "I have to talk to you."
He jerked to a halt, his back stiff and straight. Afternoon sunlight glittered in his black hair, making it glisten. "I told you. I don't want to hear it."
"But-"
He whirled on her, and she was surprised at the fury and pain in his eyes as he snarled, "It doesn't matter, damn it. Do you understand that? It doesn't matter to me who you are."
Grief clogged her throat and brought tears to her eyes. "Why not?" she whispered. "It matters to me who you are."
"God." Jesse closed his eyes for a moment, and she saw his hands clench and unclench at his sides.
Moving to him, she stood on her toes and pressed a kiss on his jawline. His hands flashed up to grab her, and his fingers dug painfully into her upper arms. He looked down at her through the thick brush of his lashes.
"It doesn't matter, Amanda," he rasped. "If you tell me you're in league with the devil or the Yankees, I don't care. God help me-I don't care."
His last words were a groan, and she felt a flash of hope. For the first time since she'd awakened on the attic floor, she caught a glimpse of promise.
"Jesse-are you saying you love me?"
"I don't know if it's love or obsession, but whatever it is, you're all I think about." He looked despairing, and Amanda pulled free of his grasp and put both her palms on each side of his face.
"I love you, Jesse," she said softly. "I think I've loved you since I saw your face in a photograph when I was ten."
His brows knit in a frown and he shook his head. "I've fallen in love with a madwoman. I suppose they'll lock us up together one day."
"They may," she agreed, "especially if I ever tell anyone what I'm about to tell you."
"Amanda, I don't think I want to hear this."
"But you must. We have to be totally honest with one another. And if I don't tell you, you may always think I'm just crazy." She laughed shakily. "Or once I tell you, you may be convinced of it. Please? Let me tell you?"
Jesse gazed down at her for several moments before saying with a sigh, "All right. But I warn you-if you tell me things I think my commander should know about, I'll reveal them."
"No national secrets, I promise," she said. "Although what I intend to tell you may cause you pain, fortunately I don't know enough to influence the war either way."
Leaning back against the broad trunk of a tree, Jesse crossed his arms over his chest and regarded her steadily. "As long as we understand one another, you may say what you like."
"I know this will sound rather silly, but do you mind if we go up to the attic when I tell you? I think perhaps it will be easier there."
"The attic? Oakleigh's attic?"
She nodded. "Yes. I don't know why, but it all started there with your sister's wedding dress and a news clipping. Maybe it will be easier to explain if we go there."
Shaking his head, Jesse muttered, "None of this is going to make any sense, but I guess I've already committed myself to the deed."
She put a hand on his arm. "I want us to be alone when I tell you."
A faint smile curved his mouth. "I wonder just who will be more at risk?''