I touched my swollen lip. "He's already started upping the violence level."
Richard leaned across the bed until his fingertips touched the bruises on my face. It was a tentative touch like a butterfly's wing. "Did Wilkes do this?"
My heart was suddenly beating faster. "No," I said, "Wilkes was very careful to only show up after all the bad guys needed an ambulance."
Richard smiled, fingers tracing the edge of my face, just beyond the bruises. "How many of them did you hurt?"
My pulse was beating so hard, I was afraid he could see it jumping in my throat. "Just one."
Richard scooted just a little closer to me, hand still trailing up and down my cheek. "What did you do to him?"
I didn't know whether to move away or cuddle my aching face against the cool warmth of his hand. "I broke his arm and leg at the joint."
"Why did you do that?" Richard asked.
"He was threatening Shang-Da, and he pulled a knife on me." My voice sounded breathy.
Richard leaned in close, then closer. He pulled the ridiculous towel from his head, and his thick hair fell in chilled, wet strands around his face, against my skin. His lips were so close to my mouth, I could feel his breath.
I stood, stepping back from him, the comforter still bundled in my arms. I let it fall to the floor, and we stared at each other.
"Why not, Anita? You want me. I can feel it, smell it, taste your pulse on my tongue."
"Thanks for that visual, Richard."
"You still want me after months in his bed. You still want me."
"That doesn't make it right." I said.
"Loyal to Jean-Claude now?" he asked.
"Just trying not to f**k up any worse than I already have, Richard. That's all."
"Regretting your choice?" he asked.
I shook my head. "No comment."
He stood and started towards me. I put a hand out, and he stopped. The weight of his gaze was almost touchable, as if I could feel what he was thinking, and it was personal and intimate, and things we'd never done before.
"Sheriff Wilkes says get out of Dodge by dark tomorrow, take our bodyguards with us, and he'll just forget everything. The rape charges will vanish, and you can go back to your normal life."
"I can't do that, Anita. They're talking about hunting the trolls down with guns and dogs. I'm not leaving until I know the trolls are safe."
I sighed. "School starts in less than two weeks. Are you going to stay here and lose your job?"
"Do you really think Wilkes will let it go that long?" Richard asked.
"No," I said. "I think he or some of his men will start killing people first. We need to find out why this land is so valuable."
"If it's minerals, Greene hasn't filed the report, which means he doesn't need government permission and doesn't need partners."
"What do you mean permission and partners?"
"If he'd found, say, emeralds on land that bordered the national park, then he'd have to file the claim and try to get permission to place a mine next to the park. If he'd found something that needed blasting and hard mining like maybe lead or something, then he might need partners to help him finance it. Then he'd need to file a claim to show the prospective partners."
"When did you start studying geology?" I asked.
He smiled. "We've been trying to figure out what is on the land that is worth this much trouble. Minerals seemed the logical choice."