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She clutched the tent flap, and stared at his retreating back, watching his white robe flow behind him

Tally swore silently Think, she told herself, do soBut what?

She caught the eye of one of thethat Tally shivered, and swiftly stepped into the tent

But once inside, Tally didn’t knohat she was supposed to do The tent was crude There were few furnishings—just a low futonlike bed, a blanket of sorts, a s remotely decorative No wardrobe for clothes (not that she had any!), no chair, no

It would have been so easy to panic, but Tally resisted falling apart There was little point in giving way to hysterics No one even knew she was gone No one would know she wasfor years

Sighing, she rubbed her brow, feeling the grit of sand and dust at her te across the desert had been an illu experience She could have sworn she ate more sand and dust than what they’d traveled over thanks to the horses’ flying hooves

Loosening her ponytail, Tally pulled the elastic fro the kinks free What was going to happen now?

What was she supposed to do? Run? Steal a horse? Make vague threats about huovernment relations?

Lifting the weight of her hair from her neck, she let her nape cool She felt hot and sticky all over Hot, sticky and afraid

Why was she here? Were they going to ransom her? Punish her? What?

What did they ith her?

Reluctantly Tally pictured Tair, the bandit who’d taken her from town, and her stomach did a dramatic free fall all the way to her toes Tair wasn’t like the others He was bigger, harder, fiercer The way he’d held her as they rode today had been possessive, the very way his arainst her stoh her It was as if he’d laid claim to her, a statement of ownership

But she wasn’t his She’d never be his

Her stooose bu to ignore the crazy adrenaline ricocheting through her

He hadn’t let her die in the desert When she’d had her asths and then found her inhaler He obviously didn’t want her dead But then what did he want from her? And would anyone back in Seattle care if she never returned?