Jack looked past Datiye and saw her. Immediately he dropped his hands and stepped away from the slender squaw. Then he looked back at Datiye and spoke in a harsh tone. Datiye interrupted, throwing her palms back on his chest.
Candice didn’t want to see any more, but she didn’t move. Datiye stared boldly back. Jack said something to her and she turned and left, but not before throwing a last cold dance at Candice. Jack approached, taking the urns from her.
“I’ll do that,” he said, his gaze searching her face.
Candice looked at him coldly, trying to remain expressionless and not show him that she felt like murdering somebody. Preferably that otherwoman. “That’s all right,” she huffed, reaching for the urns.
A tug-of-war ensued. “No, I’ll fill them. They’ll be heavy.”
“Do you fillherurns too?” Candice released her grip so abruptly, he momentarily lost his balance.
“What?” he asked blankly, recovering.
“Nothing,” Candice said, her nostrils flaring.
Jack gave her a cautious look and started for the stream. Candice glared at his back, then started after him, crashing noisily through the bushes and brush. She pulled up short behind him as he finished filling the urns, and glimpsed a smile he was trying to hide.
“Is something funny?” she asked in an icy voice.
He straightened, and the smile burst, wreathing his face. “No,” he said, and started laughing.
“Just what is so funny?” she cried furiously.
“You!” he said, laughing harder. “My God! For such a graceful woman, you move like a hurricane! Candie,shiji, I must teach you how to walk.”
She stared. She stared at him, laughing. She waited for him to stop, and when he finally did, her voice was as casual as she could make it. “So,” she said, “is that woman your mistress?”
CHAPTER THIRTY
“Is Datiye your mistress?” she repeated.
He could see that she was upset, and it stunned him. This was the second time she had asked him that, her tone high and tense. Why would she care if he had another woman? Was she jealous? That thought was intoxicating. She also seemed ready to lash out at him, and now was not the time. The night was looming before them. Tonight they had to share theirgohwahto seal their marriage, and he didn’t want to have to carry her forcibly there—no Apache that he had ever known had taken a wife forcibly; brides made their own choices. Of course, thinking about the deception disturbed him, until he reminded himself it was to her benefit too—it was marry him or be left behind as Hayilkah’s property.
“Well? Is Datiye your mistress?” Candice demanded.
“No.” His gaze was searching.
“I don’t believe you.”
“I’m not a liar.”
“No? Then why did Datiye say she was your mistress?”
At her tone, his jaw went tight. “She’s jealous of you,” he said. He put his hand on her shoulder without thinking and felt her entire body go tense. Instantly he withdrew it. “I imagine women have been jealous of you your whole life, Candice, so why let it bother you now?”
She absorbed that with an angry toss of her thick blond hair.
He gave her a sidelong glance and couldn’t help the smile or the light in his eyes. “What do you care, anyway,ish’tia’nay?”His tone was soft and teasing.
Her hands flew to her hips. “I don’t care, Mr. Savage, believe me I don’t.”
He clasped her shoulder before she could turn her back on him. “You’re not jealous, are you?”
Her mouth dropped a foot. “Me! Jealous! Me! Candice Carter?” She laughed incredulously.
He grinned. His forefinger touched her chin. “’Fess up, sweetheart. I won’t tell a soul.”
She gave him a black glance. “There’s absolutely nothing to ’fessup!”
