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He
would not be able to buy Teressa Elizabeth Bryant’s freedom from Mountain Sage
and Eagle Lance. She was not their prisoner or their slave, but their daughter.
They would not willingly let her go.
    Feeling suddenly restless, he began walking along the shore.
He wondered how much Teressa remembered of her former life. Did she secretly
yearn to return to her rightful parents, or had she blocked all memory of
Edward and Rosalia and her life with them from her mind? And what would he do
if she refused to go back with him?
    He was pondering several possibilities when he rounded a
bend of the river and ran into the object of his musings.
    A wordless cry erupted from her throat as she lashed out at
him with her fists.
    “Quit that!” He grabbed her in a bear hug, pinning her arms
to her sides. His breath went out of him in a whoosh of pain as she drove her
knee into his groin. Pain exploded through him.
    “Dammit, Teressa,” he said, gasping for air, “I’m not going
to hurt you.”
    She stopped struggling and he let her go, doubling over in an
effort to ease the ache in his groin. After a moment, he looked up to find her
staring at him, a shocked expression on her face.
    “I am sorry,” she said, her voice shaky. “I thought…” She
shrugged. “I did not recognize you. I thought you might be Crow.”
    Chance grunted. “What are you doing out here so late
anyway?” He tried breathing through his mouth to ease the pain. That didn’t
help either.
    “I could not sleep.” She regarded him through narrowed,
thoughtful eyes. ”Who are you?”
    “You know who I am,” he said, lapsing into English.
    “Teressa.” Her voice was little more than a whisper. “You…”
She spoke haltingly, in English, as though trying to recall the words. “You
called me Teressa.”
    “That’s your name, isn’t it?”
    “No.” She shook her head vigorously. “I am Winter Rain.”
    “You know that’s not true. You’re Teressa Elizabeth Bryant.”
    “No! I am Winter Rain. My mother is Mountain Sage…”
    “Your mother’s name is Rosalia Bryant.”
    “And my father is Eagle Lance. He is a great warrior…”
    “Your father is Edward Bryant,” Chance went on doggedly.
“He’s a wealthy man, and he wants you back.”
    “ Heyah , heyah , heyah !” she cried. No,
no, no!
    Turning her back to him, she put her hands over her ears.
    Chance drew in a deep breath and let it out in a long
shuddering sigh. One more breath, and he slowly straightened up. Damn, she’d
got him right where it hurt.
    “Teressa?”
    She shook her head. “I will not listen! I will not!”
    He swore under his breath as he realized she was crying and
trying not to let him know.
    “Why did you have to come here?” she asked, sniffling.
    He stared at her back. Her shoulders were shaking. “Your
parents sent me to find you.”
    “How did you know I was here?”
    “I remembered seeing you when I was here year before last.
You look exactly like your mother. Except for your eyes,” he said, recalling
Rosalia’s words. “You have your father’s eyes.”
    She started to deny it, then realized he wasn’t talking
about Mountain Sage and Eagle Lance, but her wasichu parents, Edward and
Rosalia. “I do not believe you.”
    “I’m surprised you remember English so well after such a
long time.”
    She turned to face him, her eyes widening a little. “I often
interpret for the wasichu traders who come here. They cannot cheat my
people if they know I understand what they are saying.”
    “And where did you learn to speak English, if not from your wasichu mother and father?”
    She didn’t answer, but he saw the confusion in her eyes.
Maybe she really didn’t remember where she had come from or who her real
parents were.
    His gaze moved over her face. In the light of the full moon,
he could see the tears shining in her eyes. Answering some inner need, he drew
her into his arms again, careful to turn his body to the side in case she tried
to knee him