Tykota's Woman(32)

He turned around and took her hands. "I should never have touched you with such intimacy. No one should be that familiar with your body but the man you will one day marry."

She pulled her hands free of his, feeling cold and empty in the depths of her heart. "I know you were only trying to distract me from the danger. It worked as well as when you goaded me to anger to get me across the desert. You are very good at ruling people, Tykota."

"I am sorry." His voice sounded devoid of emotion.

A lump formed in her throat. "As I said, there is nothing to apologize for."

Makinna just wanted him to leave before the tears that were in her heart reached her eyes. He must not know that she loved him, that if he wanted her, she would go anywhere with him, brave any hardship, just to be with him.

"Please," she said, turning away. "I am weary. I want to be alone now."

She heard him walk away, and she held her back straight until the sound of his footsteps disappeared.

It was a long time before Makinna fell asleep, and when she did, it was with the memory of his lips on hers.

Tykota paced the floor of the inner cavern, paused to splash water over his face, and fought against going to Makinna and finishing what he had started earlier. But he mustn't. Their lives were never meant to join. She had family waiting for her in California, and he had to honor the promise he'd made to his father.

He had watched the proud tilt of Makinna's head and knew that he'd hurt her tonight. But it was better to hurt her a little now than to hurt her much more later on. In the ravine, he had awakened emotions in her that should have been left for her husband. She was young and inexperienced and had mistaken desire for love. When she returned to her world, she would meet a man who would-

He stopped himself, unwilling to think about another man touching her as he'd done. In his heart, she would always be his. But in the real world, she could never belong to him.

He did not sleep, and when the sunlight filtered through cave's ceiling, he was still awake. But he knew what he must do.





Makinna stood on the ledge, looking out at the desert. She didn't hear Tykota came up beside her, and she jumped when he spoke to her.

"Makinna, I have to leave you here for a day or two. You will have plenty of food and water." He had his gun belt slung over his shoulder, and he placed it beside her. "I am leaving this with you. You will be safe if you do not wander out of the cave as you did yesterday. Will you promise me that you will remain here until I return?"

Unable to find her voice, she nodded.

He stared into her eyes for a moment, as if there was something he wanted to say, but finally he turned away. She watched him descend the mountain and disappear below the ridge. Frantically, she searched for him, but he had already melted into the landscape.

Never had she felt such an emptiness. Not even with the death of her mother and brother had she felt so alone.

She walked to the inner chamber, stripped off her gown, and waded into the pool. She remained there for over an hour, allowing the cool water to soothe her aching body.

But nothing could soothe her aching heart.

The hunted had now become the hunter. Tykota knew that he had to have horses if he was going to get Makinna out of this desert alive. The Apache would know by now that he was traveling with a woman, and that that made him even more vulnerable to them.

It didn't take him long to come upon their trail. They were making no effort to cover their tracks, since they had no fear of just one man and a female. He slipped behind a boulder and watched as they set up camp. All he had to do now was wait to catch one of them alone.

There was an urgency within him. He would need two horses if he was going to outrun and outsmart his enemy.

The dying sun cast jagged shadows across the desert as Makinna watched for Tykota. He had been gone for three days, and she was certain that something had happened to him. He was dead, or he'd be back by now.

Apprehensively, she looked at a bank of clouds forming in the west: heavy, dark, ominous clouds that arched above the horizon like black smoke. Thunderstorms had terrified Makinna ever since she'd gotten lost in the woods when she was five years old. She could still remember the terror she'd felt as she had huddled beneath a tree while thunder boomed and lightning struck all around her. She had been panic-stricken when lightning had hit a nearby tree, splintering it and causing it to burst into flames. With the dark terror known only to a child, she had been certain she would be struck by those jagged spears and burn just like the tree.

Somehow her father had found her, cold and wet and huddled in the darkness. That night she had trembled beneath a warm blanket and basked in the affection of her family, but she never recovered from her fear of thunderstorms.