Tynan sat to one side of them, head down, whittling on a stick, not participating but not leaving them either. Once, as she was singing with her cheek close to Asher’s, it occurred to her that maybe Tynan didn’t know how to participate.
It was midafternoon before anyone thought of leaving and then it was Chris who stopped the laughter and suggested that they clear up and go.
Tynan tossed his stick away, put his knife in his pocket and slowly started toward the horses. As Chris was tightening the straps on her bedroll, he stopped beside her.
“That was nice,” he said. “Real nice.”
“Where did you grow up?” she asked quickly.
“Not where people sang,” he answered just as fast. “You like the man?”
“Of course. You’ve pointed out what a fine man he is, haven’t you? And you’ve told me to stay away from you so I should be pleasing you now.”
He looked at her in a way no man had ever looked at her before. His eyes seemed as if they could burn her. “You do please me.” Abruptly, he turned on his heel and walked away, almost crashing into Asher.
“What was that about? He looked angry. Is something going on that I don’t know about?”
“Mr. Prescott, I have no idea what you know and what you don’t.”
“Chris, I must give you some advice. Tynan isn’t the sort of man…well, I mean, a girl like you…I don’t like the interest he’s taking in you.”
“Interest in me?”
“Your father told him you were a Montgomery and he asked what that meant.”
“And did you know to tell him?”
“No, I didn’t, except that they are your mother’s people. People like him don’t have relatives, they don’t even have names.”
“Mr. Prescott,” she said icily. “You and I will get along a great deal better if you keep your opinions about Mr. Tynan to yourself. After all, I’ve known the both of you an equal length of time so I see no reason to trust you over him.” With that she mounted her horse, and all the rest of the day, she felt Asher Prescott’s eyes looking at her thoughtfully.
For two days they traveled hard. Three times the men had to cut away small logs across the trail, and once Tynan and Asher had to lead the horses across a log as wide as some boardwalks. Another time they spent hours on either end of a crosscut saw hacking a way through a tree down across the trail. At night they fell into their blankets and slept hard—at least Chris assumed Tynan did too since he slept apart from the camp.
On the evening of the second day, Asher kissed her again. They’d ridden together for a while during the day and he’d asked her more questions about her newspaper career. He also apologized for what he’d sa
id about Tynan, saying he was only concerned about her safety. That evening he asked her to walk with him and, when they were a few yards from the camp, he told her how pretty she was and asked permission to kiss her. Chris said yes.
She’d kissed very few men in her life and wasn’t exactly sure how to do it. Asher’s arms went around her, holding her pleasantly and his kiss was warm and dry and comforting but nothing like the quick, happy kiss of Tynan’s. No fire ran through her body. Nothing made her lean toward him wanting more.
“What the hell are you doing, Prescott?” came Tynan’s outraged voice, making Asher release Chris. “I came out here thinking you’d gotten lost and here you are mauling Miss Mathison.”
“I was not mauling. I asked permission—” Asher halted, his face angry. “What’s it any of your business anyway?”
“My business is to return Miss Mathison to her father.”
“And I don’t believe that’s all you’ve been hired to do either,” Asher said.
“Go back to camp,” Tynan ordered Chris. “Now!”
She scurried to obey him, leaving the two men alone. Later, Asher returned to camp by himself and grinned at Chris. “Sometimes employees forget their places and have to be reminded,” he said with a wink.
Tynan didn’t return to camp that night and in the morning he was quiet, always keeping his distance from Chris.
A part of her wanted to scream with frustration over the mystery of what was going on. What was her father’s original reason for having her taken through the rain forest? He couldn’t have known Hugh Lanier would be chasing them. Why had her father hired a man who barely knew how to build a fire outdoors to help in a place like a rain forest? Why was Tynan one minute pushing her toward Asher and the next acting like a jealous lover?
The day after Asher kissed Chris, Ty allowed them to stop in the late afternoon. As Chris helped Ty unpack, she tried to make converstaion but he only mumbled answers to her questions.
“What is wrong with you?” she hissed under her breath. “You haven’t spoken to me since last night. Are you angry with me about Asher?”