There it was again—that little tug on his heart. She could make him smile in the worst of circumstances. He had no idea how he would react if the elders tried to take her from him, but he knew he wouldn’t allow it. He followed her, hunkered down beside her and examined her leg. He was certain Rachael would never recognize the authority of the elders. She wasn’t raised with their rules and she had already formed her allegiance with him. They might try ordering her around, but it would never work.

“You have a smug look on your face.”

“Smug? I’m never smug.” But he was feeling smug. The elders were going to get an earful if they tried to force Rachael to accept his banishment.

Rachael touched his dark hair, tugged at the silky strands until he looked at her. “If they think they’re going to change your sentence from banishment to death, they’re going to have a fight on their hands.”

She looked so warriorlike he grinned as he washed her calf gently and applied more of Tama’s magic healing potion. “Once a sentence is handed down, they won’t change it. My skills are of value to the community, so I doubt they’d even ask me to leave this area.”

His fingers were soothing on her leg but his comment set her teeth on edge. “Let them ask us to leave. They don’t own the forest. Blast them anyway. I hate bullies.” She yanked her jeans over her leg and began making up the bed with fast, jerky movements. She nearly kicked Fritz with her bare foot, forgetting he had taken refuge under the bed.

Rachael looked flaming mad. Even her hair crackled with electricity. He grinned to himself as he pulled on his own clothes. The house was being put back in shape in rapid order although she was limping even more.

“Sit down, sestrilla.” He kept his voice gentle. “All that hopping around isn’t doing your leg any good.” He pulled out his guns and checked the chambers, setting each one carefully on the table.

“We have a tub in the middle of the floor,” she pointed out, her dark eyes spitting sparks. “You could do something about it instead of idly babying your guns.”

His eyebrow shot up. “Idly babying my guns?” he repeated.

“Exactly. What do you intend to do? Shoot the man? The precious, all-wise elder? Not that I mind, but at least warn me.”

“You’re in one of your little moods again, aren’t you? I think if you had some sort of signal to give to me before you went off, it would help tremendously.”

She straightened up and turned around very slowly to face him. “My little moods?”