me.”
“No. I’m Indian. You’re white. The people in this town would destroy you. Tonight was just a taste of what you’d have to go through.”
“I’m willing to risk it!” she cried desperately.
“I’m not. I can take it, but you—you hang on to your Pollyanna principles, sweetheart. I can’t offer you anything in return.” If he’d thought there was even a fifty-fifty chance of living here in peace, Wolf would have taken the risk, but he knew there wasn’t, not the way things were. Other than Joe, she was the only human being in the world he’d ever wanted to protect, and it was the hardest thing he’d ever done.
Mary lifted her head from his shoulder, revealing her wet cheeks. “All I want is you.”
“I’m the one thing you can’t have. They’d tear you apart.” Very gently he pulled her arms down and turned to leave.
Her voice came behind him, low and strained as she fought against tears. “I’ll risk it.”
He stopped, his hand on the doorknob. “I won’t.”
For the second time she watched him walk away, and this time was far worse than the first.
Chapter Five
J oe was unusually distracted; he was normally the most attentive of students, applying himself to the subject at hand with almost phenomenal concentration, but tonight he had something else on his mind. He’d accepted without comment their move to the school for lessons and never even hinted that he’d learned the subject of the school board meeting that had resulted in the change of locations. As it was the beginning of May, and the day had been unseasonably warm, Mary was half inclined to put his restlessness down to spring fever. It had been a long winter, and she was restless herself.
Finally she closed the book before her. “Why don’t we go home early tonight?” she suggested. “We’re not getting much done.”
Joe closed his own book and pushed his fingers through his thick black hair, identical to his father’s. Mary had to look away. “Sorry,” he said on a long exhalation. It was typical that he didn’t offer an explanation. Joe didn’t often feel the need to justify himself.
But in the weeks she’d been tutoring him, they had had a lot of personal conversations between the prepared lessons, and Mary never hesitated when she thought one of her students might be troubled. If it were only spring fever gnawing at him, then she wanted him to say so. “Is something bothering you?”
He gave her a wry smile, one that was too adult to belong to a sixteen-year-old boy. “You could say that.”
“Ah.” That smile relieved her, because now she thought she knew the cause of his restlessness. It was indeed spring fever, after a fashion. As Aunt Ardith had often lectured her niece, “When a young man’s sap rises, a girl should look out. I declare, they seem to run mad.” Evidently Joe’s sap was rising. Mary wondered if women had sap, too.
He picked up his pen and fiddled with it for a moment before tossing it a side as he made up his mind to say more. “Pam Hearst asked me to take her to a movie.”
“Pam?” This was a surprise, and possible trouble. Ralph Hearst was one of the townspeople most adamantly opposed to the Mackenzies.
Joe’s ice-blue eyes were hooded as he glanced at her. “Pam is the girl I told you about before.”
So, it was Pam Hearst. She was pretty and bright, and her slim young body had a form guaranteed to affect a young man’s sap. Mary wondered if Pam’s father knew she had been flirting with Joe and that was one reason for his hostility.
“Are you going to go?”
“No,” he said flatly, surprising her.
“Why?”
“There aren’t any movie houses in Ruth.”
“So?”
“That’s the whole point. We’d have to go to another town. No one we know would be likely to see us. She wanted me to pick her up behind the school, after it got dark.” He leaned back in his chair and looped his hands behind his head. “She was too ashamed to go to the dance with me,
“No. I’m Indian. You’re white. The people in this town would destroy you. Tonight was just a taste of what you’d have to go through.”
“I’m willing to risk it!” she cried desperately.
“I’m not. I can take it, but you—you hang on to your Pollyanna principles, sweetheart. I can’t offer you anything in return.” If he’d thought there was even a fifty-fifty chance of living here in peace, Wolf would have taken the risk, but he knew there wasn’t, not the way things were. Other than Joe, she was the only human being in the world he’d ever wanted to protect, and it was the hardest thing he’d ever done.
Mary lifted her head from his shoulder, revealing her wet cheeks. “All I want is you.”
“I’m the one thing you can’t have. They’d tear you apart.” Very gently he pulled her arms down and turned to leave.
Her voice came behind him, low and strained as she fought against tears. “I’ll risk it.”
He stopped, his hand on the doorknob. “I won’t.”
For the second time she watched him walk away, and this time was far worse than the first.
Chapter Five
J oe was unusually distracted; he was normally the most attentive of students, applying himself to the subject at hand with almost phenomenal concentration, but tonight he had something else on his mind. He’d accepted without comment their move to the school for lessons and never even hinted that he’d learned the subject of the school board meeting that had resulted in the change of locations. As it was the beginning of May, and the day had been unseasonably warm, Mary was half inclined to put his restlessness down to spring fever. It had been a long winter, and she was restless herself.
Finally she closed the book before her. “Why don’t we go home early tonight?” she suggested. “We’re not getting much done.”
Joe closed his own book and pushed his fingers through his thick black hair, identical to his father’s. Mary had to look away. “Sorry,” he said on a long exhalation. It was typical that he didn’t offer an explanation. Joe didn’t often feel the need to justify himself.
But in the weeks she’d been tutoring him, they had had a lot of personal conversations between the prepared lessons, and Mary never hesitated when she thought one of her students might be troubled. If it were only spring fever gnawing at him, then she wanted him to say so. “Is something bothering you?”
He gave her a wry smile, one that was too adult to belong to a sixteen-year-old boy. “You could say that.”
“Ah.” That smile relieved her, because now she thought she knew the cause of his restlessness. It was indeed spring fever, after a fashion. As Aunt Ardith had often lectured her niece, “When a young man’s sap rises, a girl should look out. I declare, they seem to run mad.” Evidently Joe’s sap was rising. Mary wondered if women had sap, too.
He picked up his pen and fiddled with it for a moment before tossing it a side as he made up his mind to say more. “Pam Hearst asked me to take her to a movie.”
“Pam?” This was a surprise, and possible trouble. Ralph Hearst was one of the townspeople most adamantly opposed to the Mackenzies.
Joe’s ice-blue eyes were hooded as he glanced at her. “Pam is the girl I told you about before.”
So, it was Pam Hearst. She was pretty and bright, and her slim young body had a form guaranteed to affect a young man’s sap. Mary wondered if Pam’s father knew she had been flirting with Joe and that was one reason for his hostility.
“Are you going to go?”
“No,” he said flatly, surprising her.
“Why?”
“There aren’t any movie houses in Ruth.”
“So?”
“That’s the whole point. We’d have to go to another town. No one we know would be likely to see us. She wanted me to pick her up behind the school, after it got dark.” He leaned back in his chair and looped his hands behind his head. “She was too ashamed to go to the dance with me,
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