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Page 278
He veered toward the left, touching her ann so she followed. She glanced behind to make sure Will and Paul saw their turn, then asked, "What about my vehemence about the rest?"
"I do not know what to think. You do not seem crazy. In fact, you appear to be incredibly, courageously sane. And yet"
"And yet, you can't believe I'm from the future. I don't believe it eitheror, rather, that I somehow wound up in the past." She knew she sounded defeated. She looked down at her poor, work-damaged hands, which symbolized to her all she'd gone through. When would she wake up and find out she'd somehow been cast as an actress in a film gone awry?
When would she find Pierce and make him fix things? What if she couldn't right his damned grievous wrong? She couldn't do much to control a fanatical young man bent on avenging something too terrible even to revealor a stubborn woodsman who wouldn't run from any fight, even if he believed in her.
Which he didn't.
And he certainly didn't care for her the way she did him.
"Okay, Thorn." She made herself sound forceful. "Here's the scoop. Though I don't remember details, the screenplay said that, before the duel, your inn would be taken over by raiders. I don't know who or why, but the Thorn in the script prevailed."
"Raiders? Taking over my inn? Are they Indians, Miss Walker?"
She pondered for a moment. "No. From what I can recall, they were traders of some kind."
She winced as Thorn laughed. The fact that he laughed at, instead of with, her hurt. "Indians, I can understand. Maybe even settlers being stalked by Indians or soldiers. But . . . traders?" He calmed down, but there was still a merriness in his tone. "All right, Mariah. I will watch out for . . . traders who take over my inn!"

"What's wrong?" Mariah's sweet voice came from beside Thorn, at the edge of the forest.

 
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