She scoffed. “Right. You’ll subcontract the exploitation to Madre Gold to Tomesko Mining.”

“That’s a leap in logic,” he pointed out.

“There’s no other reason to go to Tappee.”

“We are building a medical clinic,” Anthony put in. “Not necessarily,” Jared countered with a warning glare.

Melissa glanced from one to the other with surprise and more than a little curiosity.

“How do you know anything about Tappee?” he couldn’t help but probe, watching her closely for signs of…he wasn’t even sure what.

“I read the Chicago Daily,” she answered with a blink, and her green eyes went back to neutral. “There was a story last year about a mining engineer who was kidnapped by rebels.”

“The company paid a million dollars.” Jared took the story to its conclusion. “And they killed the guy, anyway.”

“That was more than a year ago,” said Anthony. “And we are not going there to mine.”

“You think they care?” asked Jared. “Do you honestly believe they won’t take any Westerner hostage?”

“I believe they do care,” said Melissa.

“Yeah?” Jared challenged. “Is that conclusion based on your vast travel experience with the American national bus system?”

“Do not be rude,” Anthony cut in, anger clear in his tone.

Well, Jared was angry, too. He’d had about enough of the argument, and he’d had about enough of watching Anthony maul Melissa. He grabbed his Stetson hat from a peg on the wall and crammed it on his head.

“I’m going to walk Melissa back to her cottage,” he announced, linking her arm and moving her firmly out of Anthony’s grasp.

“What in the hell…” Anthony began.

“You need to get back to the meeting,” Jared ordered over his shoulder, propelling Melissa toward the stairs. It took her a second to get her feet sorted out under her, but he made sure she didn’t stumble.

He could feel Anthony watching them as they crossed the darkened yard toward the driveway lights. Jared knew he was going to get an earful back in the house, but he didn’t care. He could give just as good as he got.