Cheyenne Captive (50 page)

He didn’t want to fuss with her over something so stupid and controversial as women’s rights. Matter of fact, Austin didn’t like confrontations at all. He paused a long moment. “Let’s not fight, Summer. After all, we’re going to be married soon.”

She nodded reluctantly and looked away but she didn’t pull her hands from his. “You’re right, of course. Maybe I shouldn’t get so upset. We’ll work all that out later.”

Austin stood looking down at her adoringly. He loved her so much, he didn’t care what she wanted to do. If she wanted to lead protests and get thrown in jail again, maybe he could learn to deal with it. But he flinched, thinking what Mother would say. Only the right man who would treat her as an equal partner would get Summer’s love. Austin had to be that man, no matter that it went against everything he believed in to treat a woman as an equal.

He hesitated and cleared his throat. “May I—May I kiss you?”

In the dim light, he thought she looked a bit annoyed. “It may surprise you to learn this, Austin, but there are men in this world who wouldn’t ask! They’d just do it!”

Now he was really puzzled. He didn’t understand whether she was giving permission or criticizing him. He decided to take the chance. Letting go of her hands, he took her in his arms and his thin lips brushed hers gently. For a moment, she was stiff and cold in his embrace. Then she started to melt. Her mouth opened greedily to his and she molded herself so hard against his uniform, he could feel her firm breasts pressed against him. For only a moment, they clung thus and he had an overpowering urge to sweep her up in his arms, carry her into the woods, and make love to her with abandon. He imagined their wild rapture on a soft carpet of leaves under a canopy of shadowy trees.

The image and her hot passion shocked him so much that he pulled away from her abruptly. “Summer!” He couldn’t keep the shock and the disapproval out of his voice though he tried.
Girls men married weren’t capable of such low passion, were they?

But as he looked down into her startled eyes, he realized sadly that it was not he who thrilled her. Her look told him she had forgotten he even existed. She had been lost in some long-ago embrace as her warm lips responded to his automatically.

“I—I’m sorry, Austin! I don’t know what came over me!” She whirled and ran into her tent.

He stood there alone with the moonlight making fragmented patterns through the trees. Taking a deep breath of fresh pine and a faint trace of lily of the valley that lingered, he tasted again the sweetness of her mouth on his. Through the trees, he could hear the faint fiddling and the clapping of the dancers over the roar of the icy creek nearby. He leaned against the rough bark of a tree, thinking as he hesitated. His groin ached with his need and he had the almost overpowering urge to go to her tent and sweep her up in his arms, taking her in passionate abandon, making her his for all time.

Would Summer like that?
He had seen a flash of her that he hadn’t realized existed and he ground his teeth, knowing where she had learned it.
Would his bedroom be haunted forever by this savage from her past? Did it matter as long as Austin finally possessed her?

In the end, he didn’t follow through. Austin was too civilized to respond that way and he could almost imagine his mother’s disapproving face at the idea. Instead, he went to his tent and lay there for hours, cursing himself because he hadn’t swept her up in his arms and loved her with mad passion. The sooner they got out of this primitive country and back to civilization, the better off they’d all be.

Early the next morning, the little patrol took the trail north toward Denver. Most of the men seemed to be suffering from hangovers. Mrs. O’Malley appeared to be so sleepy from all the dancing, she kept dozing off on the wagon seat. Austin himself was tired and cranky from his restless night and Summer seemed as remote as she had ever been. He felt such an overpowering sense of disaster that he was loath to ride out of the miners’ camp. But of course, they had to get to Denver.

In the middle of the afternoon, it happened. Austin just glanced up as they rode along the trail and saw a small puff of smoke. Apprehension rose in him and he didn’t watch the path in front of his horse. He peered at the distant mountains as his eyes scanned the horizon. He saw a puff of smoke, then another. Prickles of hair rose on the back of his neck as if his ancient ancestor were trying to send him a warning.

Indians!
he thought.
We’re being trailed by Indians!
Abruptly, he felt his horse step in a prairie dog hole in the path. As it stumbled, he grabbed at thin air and felt both himself and the horse falling.

Gawd Almighty. What now?
Jake looked back over his shoulder at the sound and saw the lieutenant’s sorrel horse stumbling to its knees. The uppity Yankee officer grabbed desperately at empty air and then fell from the saddle as the pony went down.

The lanky sergeant reined around. “You hurt, sir?”

The blonde slid from her gray gelding. “Are you okay, Austin?”

Damn!
Jake spat disgustedly. Why had he ever taken this patrol out of the fort anyway? It was a wonder this bunch of greenhorns hadn’t gotten lost or killed a dozen times these last few days. If it hadn’t been for him, they wouldn’t have made it this far. He didn’t really care if they made it the rest of the way or not.

He leaned on the Appaloosa’s saddlehorn and watched, feigning interest as the sergeant and the girl inspected the officer’s ankle. His sorrel mount stumbled to its feet, limping slightly. “Horse is all right.” Jake looked it over critically. “Just a little lame, is all. What about you, Lieutenant?”

Shaw grimaced. “Just a sprain, I think.” He gestured toward the horizon. “I wasn’t paying attention; watching that smoke instead.”

Everyone else turned to look but Jake didn’t bother. He’d seen the smoke talk and the other Injun signs a few minutes after they’d left the miners’ camp this morning. Yes, he’d been aware they were being trailed all day long. The bird calls of a type not found around here had alerted him first. He’d only been amazed this green bunch hadn’t noticed the smoke signals before now.

They all turned questioningly toward Jake. “Yep, it’s Injuns, all right.” He nodded as if he, too, had just discovered them.

That fat Irish woman said something like “Holy Mother of God!” and crossed herself with stubby fingers. The blonde put her hand over her mouth and looked shaken, but she didn’t say anything.
She was
a brave one
, Jake thought approvingly.
Lots of grit to her, just like Texanna
. He wondered again what had ever happened to her and her half-breed son after they had ridden out ahead of the mob that long ago night.

Jake spat to one side. “There’s a clearing about a hundred yards ahead, sir,” he suggested respectfully as he tipped his hat back on his head. “I reckon we ought to move ahead up to there where we can take shelter in the rocks. We don’t want to get caught on this narrow ledge.”

The lieutenant nodded as he tried to stand, supported by the sergeant and the blonde. He hobbled along and the patrol moved up. One of the men caught the limping horse and led it.

“Maybe we should ride ahead to Denver,” the officer suggested as the patrol dismounted in the clearing.

“Denver’s too far ahead of us,” Jake answered as he dismounted. “We’d be easy to pick off one at a time movin’ along that narrow trail. If we got to make a stand, I’d rather do it here.”

The sergeant ran his tongue around the gap in his teeth and looked wistfully behind them. “What about tryin’ to make it back to the miners’ camp?”

Jake scratched his beard and belched. “Same problem as tryin’ to move forward.”

The officer limped over and sat down with his back against a big fir.

“What about firing some shots?” the blonde asked hopefully. “Maybe the miners will hear them and come to our rescue.

Jake coolly lit a cigar. “By the time they git here, it’s gonna be too late! Any help we git is just gonna be ourselves! Anyways, I’d save my bullets if I was the leader of this patrol! We’re gonna need every single one.”

Jake was so pleased with the turn of events, he was having a hard time keeping it from showing in his face. He’d been riding along for days now trying to figure how to work this whole thing to his advantage. All this time, he’d been wondering how he could take that money the Yankee carried and steal that blonde, too. That ring she wore must be worth a tidy fortune, not to mention what he could make off the girl working her as a whore down below the border.

Shaw cleared his throat. “I’m sure Dallinger is right, men. Find any shelter you can around this clearing and we’ll make a stand here if we have to!”

Jake checked his old Sharps rifle and reached for the reassuring feel of his Bowie knife and whip as he smoked. He’d never carried a pistol. He’d rather kill a man at a distance and if they got any closer than that, he trusted only his blade and the long lash.

He watched the girl help the officer off with his boot. Even from here, he could see how discolored and swollen the ankle looked.

The blonde ripped off a piece of her white petticoat and ran to the nearby stream. “Maybe some cold water will help,” she called back.

She was a real beaut!
Jake had hungered for her ever since he’d first seen her in the Cheyenne camp. But he’d never expected to see her again once she got on that eastbound train. He’d just about given up hope on his plan since they were only a few miles out of Denver. He could hardly take the woman and the money right out from under the noses of an armed cavalry patrol.
Now, the Injuns had come along and opened up some interesting possibilities.
Jake hadn’t figured out exactly how he was going to pull it off, but there had to be a way.

As for the Injuns, he wasn’t afraid
. If he had been, he’d have sounded the alarm this morning, when he first noticed them and there was still time to retreat to the safety of the miners’ camp. Naw, he could blend into the trees and disappear like magic. He was going to stay around and try to get away with what he wanted in the panic and confusion. If that didn’t work out, he’d just mount the Appaloosa and disappear, leaving this stupid bunch of greenhorns to the mercy of the war party.

The lieutenant’s face looked strained.
That ankle was hurtin’,
Jake thought,
but he was tryin’ to take the responsibility and be a good officer.

“I’m afraid most of my fighting has been book strategy at West Point,” he confessed. “I’m going to have to count on your experience to get us out of this, Dallinger.”

“I’ll do my best, sir,” he answered with just the right amount of humbleness. “I jest been sittin’ here tryin’ to think what move to make next.”

And that was God’s truth, too,
he thought with a slight smile.
Just how was he gonna get that money and that woman outa here? He didn’t want to wait for that war party to come riding into the clearing.

The officer called him over. “Dallinger, maybe we can bargain with the Indians. You know, give them some horses and supplies—”

Jake snickered. “We could if they turn out to be Ree, Crow, Shoshoni, or Pawnee. They’re peaceful and a little cowardly. The army uses them tribes for scouts a lot of the time. But if they’re Arapaho, Sioux, or, God forbid, Cheyenne, you better say your prayers!”

“Don’t talk so loud!” the lieutenant commanded. “No need to scare the women! I’ve got a thousand dollars in gold in my saddlebags. Maybe we could offer them that and they’d let us leave.”

Jake tried not to show his greed at the mention of the money. “Injuns don’t know about gold, sir. They’d just punch holes in them coins and use ’em for necklaces.”

“What about just riding out and leaving them all our extra horses and the supply wagon?” Shaw gestured toward the spare mounts grazing on the edge of the clearing.

“Why should they settle for our spares when they can kill us and take
all
the horses?” Jake took a final drag off the cigar and tossed it aside.

The officer’s thin lips trembled in exasperation. “Then what in the devil do you think they want?”

For answer, Jake turned deliberately to look toward the women who were carrying ammunition to each trooper. “With a beauty like that one travelin’ with us, you gotta ask what they want?”

“Good God!” Shaw’s face paled as Jake’s words seemed to sink in.

Yep, she was a beaut, all right!
Jake thought as he watched her. He was going to enjoy her himself for a while until he humbled the snotty little bitch, then he’d either sell her to some Mexican general or make her whore for him. That made him think of Kate.
That damned slut!
Automatically, his hand went to the big whip.
He hadn’t really meant to kill Kate, but he’d been in such a rage when he caught her with Texanna’s half-breed son that he’d strangled her with the lash before he thought.

He hadn’t believed for a minute the boy had been raping her like she said because he knew Kate and her eye for a man too well. Maybe he wouldn’t have cared except that it was War Bonnet’s son she took a shine to and he hated that chief because of Texanna. The sheriff and the mob had been all too eager to believe his story about finding Kate dying and how she’d blamed it on the Injun kid.

The sergeant joined them and looked toward the forest around them anxiously. “What do we do now, sir?”

The lieutenant looked toward Jake. “What do you think, Dallinger?”

Jake spat to one side. “Can’t be a very big war party or they would have already attacked us. Let’s wait and see what they got in mind!”

He looked around at the little patrol.
They were all scared, all right, scared enough to do anything he suggested because they were leaderless.

That uppity young officer may have looked mighty good out on the parade ground at West Point but he didn’t have enough faith in hisself to give men confidence enough to follow him to the outhouse
, Jake thought. He couldn’t figure out why that blonde would be plannin’ on marryin’ the guy. Must have plenty of money, that had to be it. He was good-lookin’ in a sissy sort of a way but he couldn’t have much to offer a woman in bed, especially one that was used to bein’ humped by some big Cheyenne stud. Jake tried to imagine the little blonde naked in bed and his groin ached, thinking about her.

The last really good lay he’d had was that Arapaho gal,
he thought. Matter of fact, she was the reason he was still scouting for the army. After she’d knocked him in the head and got off with his half of the reward money, he had no cash to start that saloon with so he’d stayed on as a scout. He had to admire her even though if he ever saw her again, he’d kill the bitch. She was every bit as ruthless and full of tricks as Jake himself.

He checked his rifle again and looked around at the men, silent and waiting behind the rocks. The lieutenant still sat against his tree. Jake started to suggest he take cover, then thought better of it.
Hell! What did he care if the officer was the first to take a bullet? That’d make it easier for Jake.

The lieutenant grimaced and tried to prop his swelling ankle into a more comfortable position. “We just going to sit here all day?”

Jake shrugged and tipped his hat back. “You got any better ideas, sir?”

Shaw shook his head. The way he was favoring that swollen ankle, Jake decided, that man wasn’t going to chase after any Injuns or Jake, either, for that matter. The lieutenant would have to finish his ride to Denver in the wagon.

Jake ran his tongue over his yellow teeth and sniffed the clean, cool air, considering the possibilities. It would be dark in about three hours.
If he could get some kind of ruse going, he might take the girl and sneak off.
In the trees off to one side, he saw movement but the others didn’t seem to notice.
He had been right about one thing,
Jake thought coolly.
It wasn’t a big war party or they would have already have attacked.

A fly buzzed around his face and he brushed it away, pulling his hat down over his eyes to cut the glare. Then on the edge of the clearing, four painted braves rode out, yelping and waving blankets, trying to run off the extra horses.

The sergeant from Vermont leaped to his feet. “If that’s all there is of them, sir, let me take the men and go after them!”

Summer looked around wildly. “Weren’t those Dog Soldiers? I didn’t get a good look, but—”

“Let me go after them, sir!” The lanky sergeant interrupted her.

“I—I don’t know.” The officer glanced uncertainly toward Jake. ”I’m not sure going after them is a good idea—”

“Shore it is, Lieutenant!” Jake said eagerly. “Let the men go after those red devils and teach ’em a lesson! You can’t ride so’s you and me will stay here to protect the ladies till the patrol gets back.”

“That’s not a good idea,” Summer blurted. “I think—”

“I’m the Injun expert around here.” Jake glared at the girl, then looked back to the officer. “Beggin’ yore pardon, sir, but take a man’s advice. Women don’t know nothin’!”

The little blonde tried to protest again, but Shaw evidently agreed with Jake’s opinion of women. “Mount up!” the lieutenant ordered Meridith.

Jake had a hard time holding back the laughter as the green officer gave the command that sent the novice patrol to mount and ride out in hot pursuit. Sure them was Cheyenne Dog Soldiers! He’d recognized them at a distance and they were pulling the oldest trick in the books! How many greenhorn patrols had been ambushed just that way, led away by a handful of braves only to find there was half a hundred waiting out there behind a hill to surround them?

He scratched his beard and watched the patrol ride out.
He wasn’t sure what the Cheyenne hoped to gain by this trick, but it didn’t matter none,
he thought. By the time the Dog Soldiers doubled back and rode into this clearing after losing the patrol or killin’ them, he intended to be long gone. All them Injuns was gonna find was that fat Irish sow and the officer.

But he’d have to be real careful now. If a single gunshot sounded, that would alert the patrol and they’d swing around and come back.

Jake looked at the two women. “Either of you ladies got a gun or know how to use one?”

They both shook their heads. “No,” answered Summer. “We aren’t carrying guns. Neither of us knows how to shoot one and we didn’t figure we’d need to with an armed patrol along to protect us.”

Jake glanced over at the officer propped against the tree. “What about you, sir?”

“Come to think of it, Dallinger,” Shaw said, “all I’ve got for my pistol and rifle are the ammunition that’s in them. You might bring me some more shells from my saddlebags.”