Comanche Heart (40 page)

“Swift . . . it’s broad daylight! The table?” She braced a palm on the surface in question. “That’s—you can’t be—” Her breath caught. “After supper, maybe we can—”

“After supper, hell. Now, and then again after supper.” The teasing tone in his voice was underscored with determination. He straightened so he could run his lips along her exposed collarbone. “God, you’re so delicious, I can’t get enough of you. Maybe I should make love to you in here.” His tongue dipped lower as another button came free. “Taste every sweet inch of you. Have seconds, and then thirds.” He slipped an arm around her hips and pulled her toward him, his mouth finding its way to the low neckline of her chemise. “Did you bolt the door?” he asked, his warm breath misting her skin.

Amy couldn’t remember if she had bolted the door. With his mouth nibbling her flesh, she couldn’t remember much of anything. She ran her hands into his hair, horrified at the image of herself stretched out naked across the table. She wasn’t ready for such blatancy. “Swift, I—Please. It’s afternoon. Let’s wait.”

“What difference does the time of day make?”

“I—it’s daylight.”

“I’ve waited all my life for you. I’m done with waiting, Amy. We’re married, remember. We can make love whenever we like. And right now, I’d like . . .”

“But I—it’s—I’m not . . .” His mouth was doing crazy things to her thought processes. She groped for what it was she had meant to say. “I’m not in the mood.”

“You let me worry about that,” he murmured, still nibbling, still bombarding her with sensations that took her breath away.

He clearly didn’t plan to take no for an answer. Amy struggled to speak. “Then let’s at least go to the bedroom.”

He loosened his hold on her and pushed to his feet. “Lead the way.” He caught her wrists. “Don’t button the damned dress. It’s coming off anyway.”

Cheeks flaming, she turned away from him. As she crossed the kitchen, she heard something and hesitated. The sound repeated itself, so faint she almost missed it, a voice that she immediately recognized. “It’s Indigo.”

He groaned and caught her around the waist to haul her back against him. “She has miserable timing.”

With her heart skittering as it was, Amy welcomed the reprieve. “Swift, I have to go see what she wants.”

Heaving a sigh, he released her and followed her to the sitting room window. Quickly buttoning her dress, Amy drew the curtains back to peer out. For a moment she couldn’t see Indigo. Then she caught a flash of movement at the edge of the woods. Focusing, she saw Brandon Marshall grab Indigo’s arm and drag her toward the brush. The girl knifed upward with her knee, catching him in the groin. Two other youths emerged from the trees. Between the three of them, they overpowered the girl and made fast work of dragging her out of sight.

“Oh, my God!”

Swift tensed beside her. The next instant he swore and ran for the door, Amy following closely on his heels. They burst from the house, then ran down the porch steps and across the yard. Indigo’s cries drifted to them from the woods, spurring them forward. Amy’s heart began to pound. She lifted her skirts to keep up with Swift as he leveled out into a full run.

When Swift reached the woods, he paused a moment to home in on Indigo’s screams, affording Amy a chance to catch up with him. Together they zigzagged between the trees and burst into a small clearing. The sight that greeted them made Amy’s legs turn to water. Indigo had been thrown to the ground, and four young men were holding her spread-eagled. Brandon Marshall knelt between her legs and he was wasting no time in jerking up her skirt.

Swift roared with anger and dived into the fray. Taken by surprise, the boys released Indigo and scattered. Swift hit the one closest to him. The next instant the other four converged on him.

Her first thought to get Indigo to safety, Amy darted into the swarm, grabbed the girl’s arm, and dragged her away from the men. After helping Indigo to her feet, Amy hurried her to the edge of the clearing. The horrible sound of fists hitting flesh resounded. She whirled, looking for a weapon of some kind so she could go to Swift’s aid. She needn’t have. Swift had the advantage of surprise, and though the youths were full-grown, they lacked his ruthless precision and deadly speed.

Amy stood frozen. Never had she seen a man fight as Swift did. He tied into the five like a wild man, incapacitating Brandon with a vicious blow to his throat, knocking another down with a well-placed boot directly above his knee and taking out another with his fists. The remaining two fled into the trees.

Still running on rage, Swift collared Brandon Marshall and dragged him across the clearing to Indigo, forcing the younger man to his knees. Amy grabbed a tree limb and brandished it, silent warning to the two young men lying on the ground that she would brain them if they moved.

“Are you all right, Indigo?” Swift asked with deadly calm.

Sobbing and trembling, Indigo nodded, hugging herself as if against the cold.

Swift grabbed a handful of Brandon’s hair and jerked his head back. “Beg her forgiveness, you worthless bastard!”

“I won’t,” Brandon croaked, holding his bruised throat.

Swift cuffed his bloody ear. “Do it, or so help me God, I’ll kill you!” There was no mistaking the murderous gleam in Swift’s eyes. “I mean it, boy. Don’t think I don’t.”

Swallowing convulsively, Brandon struggled to get the words out. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry. . . .”

“That’s not good enough.” Swift gave the youth’s hair another jerk. “Beg her forgiveness!”

“I beg your forgiveness,” Brandon cried. “I beg your forgiveness, Indigo!”

Swift glanced up. “It’s up to you, Indigo. Shall I spare his life?”

Indigo’s pale countenance tightened. She drew the moment out, studying Brandon’s bleeding face as if she had never seen him before.

“For God’s sake, you can’t let him kill me!” Brandon sobbed. “Indigo, please. . . .”

The girl’s mouth twisted with disgust. “Spare him, Uncle Swift. He isn’t worth killing.”

With that, Indigo spun and left the clearing. Because Amy feared the two boys in the woods might reappear to press a second attack, she was reluctant to follow her niece and leave Swift alone.

He tossed Brandon into the dirt. “Don’t ever come to Wolf’s Landing again, not if you value your life.”

As he turned to leave, Swift’s gaze fell to the tree limb Amy held. His dark eyes warmed, and his mouth slanted into a grim smile. Pulling the weapon from her grasp, he took her arm and led her away. When they neared the edge of the clearing, Brandon staggered to his feet. His friends gathered around him.

“They haven’t heard the last of this,” Brandon cried. “No one humiliates a Marshall and gets away with it! He’d better start wearing his guns if he knows what’s good for him.”

Swift stiffened but kept walking. Indigo awaited them at the edge of the woods. She flew into Amy’s arms.

“It’s over, love,” Amy whispered, smoothing the girl’s tangled hair. “It’s over.”

“Oh, Aunt Amy! Why did they try to do that to me? Why?”

Amy hugged the girl closer. She had no answers. Indigo was trembling so badly that Amy feared she might collapse. She glanced at Swift. As if he understood the unspoken message, he scooped Indigo into his arms to carry her home.

“Oh, Uncle Swift!” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m so glad you came! So glad. I dropped my knife. And I couldn’t find it. Then they caught up with me.”

“You’re sure you’re all right?” he asked.

“Yes. They didn’t—you came before they—” Indigo burst into hysterical tears. “Ma and Aunt Amy tried to tell me, and I wouldn’t listen.”

Swift struck off at a brisk pace. “Let’s get you home to your mother, hm?”

 

An hour later Indigo was safely tucked into bed in her loft bedroom, sound asleep, her scrapes and bruises tended. Loretta came downstairs to join Hunter, Swift, and Amy before the fire. Amy poured her cousin a mug of hot cocoa. As she handed it to Loretta, she placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Is she okay?”

Pale and shaky, Loretta gave a vague nod, her eyes unfocused. “As okay as a girl can be after something like this.” She glanced up and met Amy’s gaze. “I guess no one understands better than you how she must be feeling.”

Amy’s stomach knotted. Memories assailed her. Stepping into that clearing and seeing Indigo being attacked had brought back the past to her. As if Swift sensed how shaken she was, he stepped close and looped an arm around her shoulders. Drawing her to him, he brushed silken lips across her temple.

Grateful for the support, Amy leaned against him, needing the reassurance of his touch. “Oh, Swift, I’m so glad you were at the house. I don’t know what I would’ve done.”

His voice taut, he replied, “You looked pretty capable with that tree limb.” His eyes twinkled down at her. “I haven’t seen you with that look in your eye for years. You’d have done just fine without me.”

Amy shivered. “I’m not too sure of that. What if—”

“Let’s not think about what ifs. I was there, it’s over, and Indigo’s all right.”

Setting aside her mug, Loretta passed a hand over her eyes. “Physically, anyway. I’m afraid she may never forget. Damn that Brandon Marshall! I’d like to hang him by his toenails and beat him within an inch of his life. I knew this would happen. I just knew it! Why didn’t I do something more to stop it?”

Hunter stood in stony silence, gazing down at his wife. After a long while, he hunkered down and drew her into his arms. “Indigo is strong, little one. Her memories of Brandon Marshall will become dust in the wind. You can’t spare her everything. And you can’t choose her friends. She must learn to judge a man’s character herself.”

Loretta clung to him. “Oh, Hunter, why did he do such a thing? She’s such a sweet girl. A little undisciplined, yes, but she did nothing to deserve this. What’s the matter with that young man?”

Hunter closed his eyes. “Here in this town we’ve built, we forget the rest of the world and all the hatred. Indigo carries my blood. In the eyes of some, that makes her less than human.”

Loretta sobbed. “That’s so wrong of them, though! I thought by coming here we had escaped the prejudice.”

“Here, in this place, we have,” he whispered. “It is the world outside Wolf’s Landing—” He broke off and ran a hand up her slender back. “Don’t cry. Indigo will heal. And she will be more wise now, yes? All will be well. The words of the prophecy promise us that.”

Amy recalled a few words of the prophecy and prayed Hunter was right. A new tomorrow and a new nation where the Comanche and
tosi tivo
will live as one forever. Was such an existence possible? Wolf’s Landing was steadily growing, as was Jacksonville. More strangers moved into the area every year, bringing with them their narrow-mindedness and irrational prejudices, not just against Indians, but against every other minority. A person could read one issue of the
Democratic Times
and figure that out. If the poor Chinese dared to so much as get the wrong expression on their faces, they found themselves arrested and heavily fined. Sometimes Amy wondered if Jacksonville’s citizens hadn’t passed a silent vote to use the Chinese people as a source of city revenue. Could Hunter and his offspring truly live here among the whites in peace? Brandon Marshall wouldn’t be the last man to lust after Indigo and consider her fair game because of her Indian blood.

Swift cleared his throat. “I hate to say this, but I’m afraid Brandon may be back looking for trouble. He’s a little too arrogant for his own good. I sure wish Marshal Hilton wasn’t over in Jacksonville, just in case.”

Swift’s words intensified Amy’s foreboding. She slipped an arm around his waist, no longer frightened just for the Wolfs, but for Swift and for herself. Her premonition of last night, that reality might come between them, came back to haunt her. If Brandon Marshall carried through on his threats, Swift might be forced to strap on his guns. If he did that, the nightmare he had fled in Texas would start all over again here.

She lifted her face to his. “If he challenges you, what will you do?” she asked shakily.

His dark gaze met hers. “I won’t pick up my guns again, Amy. You have my word on that. He’ll have to shoot an unarmed man. Not even Brandon would be that stupid.”

“But—”

“No buts,” he said softly. “I came here for a fresh start. I won’t let a hothead like Marshall push me around.”

The promise in no way lessened Amy’s apprehension.

Hunter glanced up. “Indigo is my daughter. If he comes back, he’s my problem.”

Swift’s mouth quirked. “He may not see it that way. I’m the one who made him get on his knees. Let’s just hope we’ve seen the last of him.”

Loretta interrupted with a stern, “You’re both forgetting Marshal Hilton. He’s the law here. I’m sure Brandon won’t return before tomorrow when Hilton gets back. He’ll handle any problems, no doubt.”

A sound on the loft stairs caught everyone’s attention. Amy turned to see Indigo on the bottom step, her face streaked from crying, her arms filled with a bundle of white woman’s clothing. Clearly the girl hadn’t been sleeping as soundly as they had surmised. She raised her chin and squared her shoulders.

“I’ve caused no end of trouble, haven’t I?” Before anyone could respond, she added, “Well, I won’t again. I promise you that.” She inclined her head at the bundle in her arms. “I’m burning them. Every last stitch. Don’t try to stop me.”

Amy’s gaze fell to the clothing, dresses, undergarments, and footwear. A swath of delicate pink trailed over Indigo’s wrist. Amy recognized the pink gown the girl had worn the night of the social.

Indigo marched across the room toward the back door. As she grabbed the handle, she glanced over her shoulder, her blue eyes swimming with tears. “From this moment on, I am Comanche. I’ll never again wear a
tosi
woman’s garments. Never!”