“Why don’t you come back to the camp and join us? We have more than enough fish. Have you eaten?”
“Yes, thank you, but you ought to go back to the camp. Prescott’s probably worried about you.” He stood. “Besides, I need to get to work. I have to scout the trail ahead. I’m sure there’re logs that have fallen across it since the last time I was through here.”
“And when was that, Mr. Tynan?”
“Just Tynan, nothing else and certainly no mister,” he said as if he’d said it a hundred times.
Chris rose and moved to stand closer to him. He turned his back to her, removed his hat and ran his hand through his hair, which looked to be damp. She wondered if he’d been bathing. His shirt cuff was unbuttoned and as it fell back, she saw that all the muscles in his forearm, along with the veins, were prominent under his skin. He looked as if he had been starved for a while.
“I don’t want to be a troublemaker because I know that you’re only doing what my father has hired you to do, but…” She hesitated over using his name. “But, Tynan, I think you could use a few good meals and I insist that you return with me. If you don’t, I promise to make this journey very uncomfortable.”
He opened his mouth to speak but then closed it and grinned instead—and Chris felt her knees go weak. His entire face lit up and it flashed through her mind that he could get any woman anywhere to do whatever he wanted.
“I can’t resist an invitation like that. I’ll follow you.”
“No, we shall go together. Tell me, why were you in the forest before? Who made this path?”
“Did you enjoy your fishing expedition with Ash? He seems to be a pleasant man. All the way here he was a great help, nothing was too much for him to do. And he’s great with horses and everyone we met liked him. I guess you did too.”
“Well, yes,” she said hesitantly. “How did you meet my father?”
“Ash has known your father for years. It’s a wonder you never met him. Ash’s father worked his way up and made a lot of money in the east. I’m sure Ash is the same kind of man.”
Chris looked up at Tynan in bewilderment. What in the world was he talking about? But he just smiled at her and, this time, instead of being dazzled, she wondered if he often used that smile to get women to stop talking about whatever he didn’t want to hear—or from asking questions that he didn’t want to answer.
She smiled back at him but, if he’d known Chris better, he would have known that her glittering eyes showed that she’d just accepted a challenge. She was going to find out who this Tynan—no last name, no first name—was.
Chapter Four
“I need to talk to you,” Chris said as soon as Tynan was seated in the camp and eating one of the fish she’d cooked. She told him just what she’d told Asher, about Lanier being responsible for killing the missionaries, but Tynan didn’t interrupt her, didn’t say a word, in fact.
When she’d finished speaking, he licked his fingers. “Now tell me what you’ve left out,” he said.
Chris was startled for a moment. “All right,” she said, smiling. “The truth is, Mr. Lanier was very good to me while I was his guest and his wife is very sweet, so I’ve felt some twinge of conscience about telling the world what Mr. Lanier did. Of course every word of it’s true, but, when the story comes out in print, I’m afraid Mr. Lanier’s life could be…ah, changed.”
“Not to mention the length of his neck,” Tynan said, looking at her.
“So I left him a letter telling him what I planned to do.”
There was a long moment of silence from Tynan. “So, if we step out of this forest, no doubt Lanier’s men will be waiting for us with rifles, or maybe cannons, anything to prevent that story from going to press.”
She gave him a weak smile. “Yes, I guess so.” Her face changed. “But they are things I had to do. I had to give Mr. Lanier a chance to flee and I have to give this story to the press. Don’t you understand?”
Tynan stood. “I understand that a man has to do what he must, but you, Miss Mathison, need help and I’m not in a position to give it. Prescott’s in charge of this expedition. I’m just the guide. I follow orders and that’s all. Thank you for the fish, ma’am, and now I need to go scout the trail ahead.” He turned back.
“And I wouldn’t consider going alone if I were you,” he said as he picked up a piece of wood and tossed it to the right of her head onto what looked to be solid ground. The log fell through vines and hit the ground a full second later. He didn’t have to say another word. One could leave the trail and walk into deep holes that were concealed by a tangle of greenery.
With that, he left Chris alone.
She stood there for a moment cursing all men everywhere. “Women must do what they must, also, Mr. Tynan,” she said to no one and set about gathering wood for the fire.
Chris stayed in the camp, talked to Asher when he returned, and didn’t mention Hugh Lanier again. When Tynan returned, she glanced at him, but he didn’t look at her. Chris kept her head turned toward Asher, pretending to find every word he said fascinating. But in truth, she was planning how she’d escape these two men. John Anderson’s newspaper office was on the edge of the rain forest, not four miles from where they’d entered the forest last night. If she could get a horse, ride like blazes down the trail, then into town, she could be there and back by sundown. If luck were with her, she could be back before she was missed.
She stood. “I think I’ll take a walk,” she said to Asher.
“I’ll go with you.”
“No thank you,” she said, giving him her prettiest smile. “I have things I have to do.” She widened her eyes. “Female things.” The mysteries of womanhood always stopped men like Asher Prescott.