“I don’t know. Somebody has to. John Anderson will have that story in print by now. People hate the Indians even more than they already do whenever they hear of them killing missionaries. This time they didn’t do it, Hugh Lanier did, and I didn’t think it was fair for the Indians to get the blame.”
“Even though it meant that a white man, a man you knew, would probably lose everything?”
“The missionaries lost everything,” she said softly.
“I’ve never seen a woman who handled being shot at as well as you did yesterday. Had some practice?”
“Some,” she answered.
“I thought women like you wanted to stay home and raise babies.”
“What does that mean, women like me? Besides, I’ve never been in love. Have you?” She held his ankle in her hands and had no idea how her fingers were tightening.
“A few times. Hey! Your little nails are sharp.”
“Sorry,” she mumbled, her head down.
“What does it matter to you if I’ve ever been in love?”
“It doesn’t, of course,” she said stiffly, easing the pressure on his foot. “I ask questions of everyone.”
“Look, Miss Mathison, believe me when I say I’m not your type. I’m a drifter and if there isn’t any trouble I seem to make it. You ought to learn something from Elsie. She turned me in because she can’t stand me.”
Chris smiled at him. “You probably didn’t pay enough attention to her.”
Ty leaned back on his elbows and watched a bird overhead. “A man can’t spend two years in jail and then not give something like Elsie every ounce of his attention.”
She yanked on the bandage she was wrapping around his foot. “If you like women like her, that is. I doubt if you’ve seen a woman like her without her corsets.”
Ty looked back at her, his eyes dancing with laughter. “Fat, are they?”
“Twenty-seven-inch waists at least and maybe they do have a lot on top but by the time they’re twenty-two, they’ll all be sagging and—” Chris stopped, aghast at what she was saying. “Put your boots on,” she said rigidly. “Maybe you can get a fat woman to change the bandages in a day or two since you obviously like well padded women and I’m sure I’m too skinny for you.”
She started to stand but he caught her arm, grinning at her, but she kept her head down. He was making her so angry!
He put his finger under her chin. “You don’t think you’ll be sagging in a year or two? As old as you are?” There was laughter in his voice. “You don’t think I like skinny little girls who follow me around and ask me questions?”
“I don’t know,” Chris whispered and felt exactly like a little girl. She’d never wanted anything as much as she wanted this man to like her.
“Slim, pretty little blondes are my favorite,” he whispered.
Chris looked up at him with eyes sparkling with tears and, as he moved his head toward her, she knew he was going to kiss her, so she closed her eyes and parted her lips in anticipation.
“What the hell am I doing?” he said and pushed Chris so that she landed on her seat a foot away from him. “Get out of here right now! You hear me? Don’t come near me again. You’re right that I like a different type woman. Virginal nurses who follow me around are the type I like least. Now go back to camp and don’t even get near me again!”
Chris, a little frightened by his temper, ran up the trail to the path back to camp.
Chapter Five
When Chris reached the camp, out of breath from running, Asher was sitting by a cheery fire, smiling up at her. He began to talk to her about the forest, but Chris was barely listening. She was wondering why Tynan had been sent to jail.
“Chris! Are you listening to me?” Asher asked.
“Yes, of course,” she said, looking at him but not listening.
Later, when she was snuggled inside her blankets, she lay awake for a long time. She could barely see the stars through the trees but she watched the leaves and the blackness above. At night this forest was a frightening place.
She’d been awake for over an hour when she heard a soft sound to her right. She knew it was Tynan come to see that they were all right. She’d never seen a man take his responsibilities more seriously.