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and love him, and lose herself in his strength. Pulling out of his arms, she laced her fingers through his, and led him over to sit beside her on the edge of the bed. His hand felt rough and big against hers. Familiar, yet alien. That single contact of flesh against flesh made her body tremble with awareness.
    â€œWhy is Lillie with you, Thomas?”
    â€œThe school believed her when she said I was her father. They seemed glad to send her with me.” She saw the smile in his beautiful, dark eyes.
    â€œWhat are you going to do with her?”
    He shrugged, his shoulder rubbing against hers. “She chose me to be her father. She needs someone to take care of her. So that is what I will do.”
    Pru knew the loss of his wife and son years ago haunted him still. Was taking on Lillie his way to atone for that? “She can be a difficult child.”
    This time his smile included a flash of white teeth. “This I know. But I admire her spirit.”
    â€œWill you take her back to Heartbreak Creek?”
    He studied her for a long time, his gaze boring into her in that knowing way that reached so deep inside her mind she felt stripped bare. “You say ‘you’ instead of ‘we.’ Does that mean you are still not ready to come home, Prudence?”
    Dread moved through her. She knew that was the question he had come to ask—the same question he had asked on hislast visit, and the visit before that: When would she give up this dream of helping every ex-slave who crossed her path and come back to him?
    And do what?
    There was some truth in the note she had written him. Their differences were vast. She couldn’t live in a tipi any more than Thomas could live in a city. She needed people around her, not a life of isolation in the mountains. And she needed to do something for all the poor, lost freed men and women who had never been given the advantages she had. Guilt at what they had suffered while she’d lived an easy life rode like a demon on her back. She couldn’t simply walk away from people so desperate for help.
    But she couldn’t walk away from Thomas, either.
    â€œJust give me a little more time. Please, Thomas.” Once she had her education initiative going, and she felt she could turn over her part in the Underground Railroad, she would be able to leave.
    She saw his chest rise and fall on a deep sigh and knew she had disappointed him again. She had a sense of him slipping away and tightened her grip on his hand. Maddie had been right. He had changed. Not just that he had cut his hair and put away his Indian attire. There was something fundamentally different. It frightened her, made her wonder what other changes had come about while he was in England. “Can’t you wait just a little longer? I’ll be done soon.”
    For a long time, he didn’t speak. “You weaken me,
heme’oone—
sweetheart. When I am with you, I think only of how much I want you.”
    â€œIs that a bad thing?”
    When he didn’t answer, she looked over and saw the frown on his face.
    â€œI do not know,
Eho’nehevehohtse
. Being apart from you leaves an ache inside me I cannot find. It is a wound that will not heal. But when I look on your face, it hurts a little less.” Lifting his other hand, he reached over and gently brushed aside a curl that had escaped her pins. She felt the slight tremble in his fingers and wanted to weep.
    But this wasn’t the time for sadness. She didn’t want to ruin their time together with fears about the past or the future.
    â€œI’m sorry.” Tipping her head against his shoulder, she blocked her doubts and let his familiar scent flood her senses—earth, sunshine, strong healthy male. “I’ve missed you, Thomas.”
    â€œHave you?”
    Confused by the question, she drew back to study his face. His expression told her nothing, but she sensed that change again. “What’s