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Page 277
them, stared after Thorn. His boyish face seemed to have aged years beneath his ragged, dirty beard.
"He'she's just tired, like all of us," Mariah dissembled. As they started to follow Thorn, Will tripped, and she reached over to steady him. "Are you hanging in there?"
"Hanging"
Oops. Exhaustion made her careless with her language. "I mean, are you able to keep up?"
"I'm still here, am I not?"
Mariah smiled, then turned serious again. "Thorn rescued us. Doesn't that make you feel better toward him?"
"If you mean, do I forgive him for what he did to" He stopped. "No, I will not explain my opinions. But if you are asking whether I will forgive him before he answers for his sins, I must reply no."
Miserable, Mariah forced herself to speed up to get away from Will. Maybe she shouldn't have cut him loose. He could still be with the Indians, unable to pursue his unexplained vendetta against Thorn.
Unable to challenge Thorn to a duel.
Impulsively, she caught up with Thorn. "You asked what else the script had in it. One thing is that damned duel, and I still think it will be against Will." She nodded her head back toward the young man.
"Perhaps I should have left him there." Thorn's words echoed her thoughts, but his tone was mild.
"Maybe." She set her pace to match his again. "Look, if I can predict something else that actually occurs, will you take me seriously?"
He reached over and gently tweaked her chin. She closed her eyes briefly at the tender touch. "It will then, of course, be easy for a rational man to accept that a woman with no skills came here not as the pampered child of a rich man in the east, but from the future."
She felt her eyes blaze at his gentle sarcasm. "I told you about my damned father," she stormed. "At least you can believe that."
He said nothing for a long moment. "Your vehemence about that does, I must admit, sound convincing."

 
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