She gave a sigh of exasperation. “All right, Captain, let’s get down to it and stop this charade. You’ve bested my men, my maid, and me. You win. Now, what do you want?”
“The army has ordered me to accompany you, and that’s what I plan to do. That is, if you don’t have sense enough to listen to reason.”
“Reason being my doing whatever it is you want me to do, is that right? No, sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.” She took a breath. “Captain, you may be one of the few people left on earth who doesn’t like to hear a singer of my caliber, but I can assure you that millions of people around the world are not so—” She meant to say pigheaded, stubborn, or stupid, but thought better of it. “Not so unaware. They would like to hear me sing.”
“Good idea. I’m all for music, but—”
“How generous of you.”
He ignored her remark. “But I think you should go back to the States, wait a few years until this land is more settled, and then return to sing.”
She took another breath to calm herself, and when she spoke, she spoke as though to a not very bright child. “Captain Montgomery, perhaps you’ve heard this before, but a singer’s voice is not a permanent thing. It is an unfortunate fact of life, but I will not always be able to sing. As it is now, I’m twenty-five and not even at my peak, but I need to sing while I can, and I want to sing for these poor, lonely men. No, more than that, I am going to sing in the gold camps.”
He looked down at her. “You’re stubborn, aren’t you?”
“Me? I am stubborn? You have been told in every way possible that you are not wanted, not needed, yet here you are playing Indian in the middle of the night and tying up so
me poor, defenseless female.”
He almost smiled at her, but he did sit on the cot and lean over her to untie her hands. His skin was warm and tan, and she thought he must run around in just a breech cloth a great deal to be tanned all over as he was.
When her hands were untied she sat up and rubbed her wrists and watched while he untied her ankles. The moment she was free, she pushed at him and sprang off the cot. He caught her around the waist before she reached the tent flap and dropped her onto the cot, then towered over her, glowering.
“You have any whiskey?” he asked after a long moment of glowering. “I think I need some.”
“Serving firewater to Indians is illegal.”
“Don’t push me anymore. I’ve had all I’m going to take from you.”
“In the little trunk is a bottle.”
He went to the trunk, turning his back on her, but when she so much as moved her foot, he looked back at her, but she just smiled.
He took a glass from the trunk also and poured himself a healthy shot, downed it, and poured another. “The way I see it is that there are two choices: You either don’t go on your singing tour or you go with me as your escort.”
“That’s like giving me a choice of different ways to die.”
He raised one eyebrow at her. “I can assure that my company isn’t generally considered to be bad.”
“Please spare me the listing of your romantic conquests. I am not interested.”
The whiskey seemed to be having an effect on him, as he could feel himself relaxing. “What are you interested in, ma’am?”
“Singing, singing, and singing. And my family also. That’s about it.”
He was beginning to feel so relaxed that he thought he’d better sit down, so he sat on the floor, leaning against the trunk. “Your family. Little dukes and duchesses. Do they sing too?”
“Not much, but they’re great with buffalo guns.”
“Ah, yes, hunting.” His eyes were feeling heavy. “If you must go and sing, I’ll go with you and protect you.”
“But, Captain Montgomery, what you don’t seem to understand is that I don’t want you with me. I never asked for the army’s help; I never wanted it. And I especially didn’t want someone like you. Under no circumstances do I want you with me.”
“Orders,” he murmured. “Orders.”
“Your orders, not mine.”
He rubbed his hand across his eyes, then looked at the bottle of whiskey. “What’s in this?”