A long stretch of time passed that Tain spent on her stomach, studying her hands and trying to think lucid thoughts. The desperate need for self-defense helped her to come up with an idea or two, but not very pleasant ideas. If she could possibly avoid using those ideas she would, but if push came to shove she would just grit her teeth and get on with it.

“It’s time you started supper, Kitten” Killen said suddenly, actually startling her. He’d spent the time himself checking on the horses and then sitting around thinking, and now he was sharing one of the things he’d obviously been thinking about. “I don’t have to tell you that cooking over a fire takes longer than a couple of minutes, do I?”

All sorts of clever or sarcastic come-backs fought to leave Tain’s tongue, but abrupt suspicion kept her quiet as she got to her feet. She’d spent more time on this world and others almost as backward than Killen had, and both of them knew it. Why, then, would he be prodding her with the kind of arrogance designed to start an argument? Even a glance showed that the man was watching her closely, so all she did was look around at the sacks that had to be provisions.

“Have you decided yet what you’d like to eat?” she asked mildly without actually looking in Killen’s direction. “If not, you can think about it while I start the fire.” As Tain went toward the firewood, she decided that the plan she’d just come up with would be better than the others she’d thought of. Playing it cool and agreeable would at the very least give the man nothing to complain about, and at best it might convince him that he meant nothing to her. Disliking someone for no apparent reason was too often looked at in the age-old way: the supposed dislike was really intense interest that the person involved was trying to cover up. As an experienced agent she ought to be better at covering things up than the average man or woman in the street, not worse.

“I think I’d like some stew,” Killen finally answered as Tain started the fire, his voice nearly a drawl. “You’ll have to make do with more of that cereal, at least until I decide that you’ve earned a reward. Good kittens get to taste real food, but bad ones have to make do without.”

“Stew it is,” Tain agreed without reacting to the rest of what he’d said, at least on the outside. Mentally Tain felt the urge to grit her teeth over the way Killen was pushing, but knowing he was definitely up to something let her hold her temper without trouble. Once she figured out what he was up to it would be time enough to decide whether or not to read him the riot act… ***

Jake watched his temporary slave go to the packs to find a pot and the dried meat and vegetables that would go into the stew, his body relaxed only because he refused to let his muscles knot. She wasn’t reacting at all the way he wanted her to, the way he’d decided he had to have her act.

The girl’s disturbance over his lovemaking had bothered Jake at first, so he’d left her alone in order to do some thinking. If she really didn’t feel for him what he felt for her, his forcing her to accommodate him couldn’t be considered anything but low. It had taken a long string of minutes before a different idea came to him, one that was downright intriguing.

If Tain really had nothing in the way of feelings for him, she would have been more disgusted than disturbed over what he’d done. Or she would have put him down in an offhand way, the kind of way he’d seen her use with others in the department. Her very disturbance said she was feeling something, but not a something she wanted to feel. For some reason she felt it necessary to hide her real reactions, and he decided to find out what that reason was. If she had legitimate grounds for acting like that he would respect her need, but if she was just being stubborn…

So Jake had prodded at her in a way that should have made her lose her temper. When people lose their tempers they tell you more than they would choose to say in calmer moments, and in that way you find out what you need to know. Not to mention the fact that Tain was even more attractive to him when she was angry. Fire flashed in those pretty blue eyes of hers, threatening to burn him to the ground if he couldn’t handle her and the anger both. And he wanted to handle her, with both hands…

But she hadn’t gotten angry at his prodding. Instead she’d dismissed just about everything he’d said, accepting it as if nothing he said or did was very important to her. And she seemed to have lost the disturbance she’d felt, settling down into the role she really did have to play without any more fuss. Jake felt the urge to say something else to dig out a reaction, but at the last moment managed to keep his mouth closed. Being too obvious wasn’t likely to get what he was after.

So Jake just sat and watched Tain prepare the food, and when she brought him his bowl of stew he half hoped she’d done something to ruin the meal. That would bring her anger out into the open where he wanted it—but a single, cautious taste of the stew told him the story. The food was fine, just the way it was supposed to be, and the miserable female didn’t even seem to mind that she had to make do with cereal instead of real food.

But as Jake swallowed down what he didn’t really want any longer, he made himself a promise. He would find a way to shake Tain’s cool indifference, damned if he didn’t…

Tain collected the bowls after they’d both finished eating and took them to the bucket where the pots were already soaking. It wasn’t going to take long to get everything washed, and while she saw to the chore she was able to think about Killen’s reaction to her plan. Or his try not to show a reaction, even though he hadn’t been quite as successful as he probably thought.

The man is definitely not very happy, Tain thought, making sure not to show any outward satisfaction. For some reason he wanted me to jump at him, and when I didn’t he almost added to what he’d already said. Then he realized that pushing it would be … pushing it, so he just kept quiet and ate his food.

Ate his food. Tain smiled to herself, remembering how Killen had been cautious with his first taste of what she’d given him. She could have put something into the stew that he wouldn’t have enjoyed at all, but that would have been reacting to his prodding and she’d decided not to react. And her plan made things better in more ways than just one, at least for her. All she wanted was to get back to base and her normal life, and the less fuss she made the less excuse Killen would have to give her a hard time.

Once the dishes and pots were done, Tain went back to stretch out on the blanket in the last light of the day. Killen continued to glance at her from time to time, but she pretended she was all alone in the camp. In reality she was keeping a fairly close watch on the man, so she noticed that he was about to speak when his intentions were interrupted by the sound of a horse coming through the woods. Killen got quickly to his feet, his hand on the long knife he’d kept close to him in its sheathe, but when he saw the rider—riders—he relaxed immediately.

“Tandro, glad to see you made it,” Killen said as the newcomer stopped his horse only a few feet away from Killen. “I was starting to get worried, but then I remembered you had a new slave to enjoy.”

“‘Enjoy’ might not be the best choice of words,” the man Tandro replied dryly as he dismounted, then reached up to get Ennie down. “This slave is completely untrained, so she’ll need a lot of instruction before anyone is able to really enjoy her.”

The native was a big man, easily the same size as Killen, but Tain could see he had black hair and dark brown eyes instead of the dark blond hair and gray eyes Killen had. Ennie had looked extremely uncomfortable where she’d been perched in front of Tandro, and once her feet touched the ground she began to voice her complaints.