Comanche Woman (53 page)

“Mmmmm,” she moaned as the tension eased.

He moved his hands to another spot.

“Ahhhhh.”

And another.

“Mmmm.”

“If you were a cat, I’d say you were purring. Feel better?”

“Mmmm,” she replied.

He was grinning, but only because he knew she couldn’t see his face. He wouldn’t have hurt her feelings for the world, but he found her recent childish petulance so out of character it was funny.

“Do you want to get up, Bay?”

“Mmmmp.”

“All right, then get some rest. I’ll see you tonight.” He reached out a hand and caressed the hard, taut mound that was causing Bay so much trouble. “It won’t be much longer until our child makes his way into the world. Be patient, love.”

She rolled onto her back again and uncovered her face. He could see the tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry I’m acting like such a ninny. I—”

Long Quiet’s mouth came down on Bay’s and cut off her apology as he sat down and lifted her up into his lap. He placed his hand on her belly and gently stroked it, then kissed away the tears at the corners of her eyes. “I love you, Bay.”

Bay hid her face in his shirt and wailed, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me today. I feel so strange.”

He carried her into the other room and set her down on a chair at the table. “Maybe some breakfast will help.”

“Don’t you have to leave?”

“This won’t take long,” he said.

Bay was feeling just awful enough that she not only let Long Quiet wait on her, but she enjoyed it.

He made her laugh with the food he cooked and the way he served it so that by the time the sun was fully up and he had to leave, she was willing to let him go.

“Come home early,” she coaxed. “I’ll make you something special for supper.”

“All right,” he agreed, his hands framing her face. “If you promise you’ll keep this smile on your face until then.”

Bay grinned at the absurdity of smiling through a whole day of being eight and a half months pregnant. “I can only promise I’ll be smiling when you get here.”

He kissed her hard and left, because he knew that if he didn’t he’d end up spending the day with her—and he had work that had to get done.

“I’ll ask Juanita to stop by at noon and see how you are.”

“That’s not necessary. I’m fine. I feel great, in fact, now that I’ve had some breakfast. Go on, now. Get to work!”

Long Quiet had been gone about an hour when the back pains got worse. Bay pressed as hard as she could with her fists against her back to counter the ache, but it didn’t help. She tried lying down, but it felt better to keep moving, so she rearranged the furniture as she’d been meaning to do since the beginning of the year. She’d shoved the table and chairs into the center of the room when she felt the wet warmth flowing down her legs and splashing onto the dirt floor.

“Oh, my.” She wasn’t so dumb about babies now as she’d been eight and a half months ago. She knew exactly what had happened and what it meant. “Oh, my,” she said again. “I’m going to have a baby.”

She wished she’d agreed to have Juanita come by at noon, but it was too late for wishing now. “This is supposed to take hours the first time,” she said aloud, “so Long Quiet will be home in plenty of time to help.”

Only she didn’t count on it. More than once Long Quiet had gotten home much later than he’d promised. Tonight might be no exception, and she didn’t intend to get caught unprepared. She tried to decide whether she could ride to Three Oaks. She knew there was help there.

She felt fine right now, except for the backache of course, but what if she got halfway to Three Oaks and couldn’t get any farther? No, she’d be better off staying right here. At least she had a roof over her head if it rained. Bay looked up at the roof that leaked like a sieve and smiled. At least none of the leaks were near the bed.

Bay made sure there was a clean blanket in the wooden cradle Long Quiet had given her two weeks ago, then straightened the sheets on the bed and put some clean linen down where she could lie to have the baby. She was so involved in preparing everything for the baby that she didn’t hear the horse approaching. She wasn’t even aware someone was in the house until she turned and found herself facing Jonas Harper at the bedroom threshold.

“Hello, Bayleigh.”

“What are you doing here, Jonas? The Rangers are looking for you.”

He smiled at her. A sad smile. “I know.”

Jonas took a step farther into the room. His glittering eyes were sunken in their sockets, his face was covered with a scraggly beard, and his hair was matted and tangled. His once-fine clothes were wrinkled and soiled, with one sleeve nearly ripped off at the shoulder. He looked like the fugitive he was.

Bay backed up a step but realized she had nowhere to go except up onto the bed, so she held her ground. Despite what she knew Jonas had done, she felt sorry for him. Once, she’d loved this man. Was it the blindness of youth that had kept her from seeing him for what he was? Or had the Texas frontier tested his mettle and found him lacking?

“You shouldn’t be here. Long Quiet will be returning soon,” she said.

“Worried about me, Bay?”

“Yes.”

“I love you,” he said.

Bay winced. “No, you don’t, Jonas.”

“Yes, I do. I want you for my wife.”

Bay felt a frisson of fear chase down her spine. “I already have a husband, Jonas. I’m going to have his child.” She curved her hands protectively over her belly.

His eyes narrowed with malice as he eyed her protruding stomach. “That can be easily remedied, my dear.”

He reached for her and Bay stepped back, now fully alarmed. “I’d like you to leave now, Jonas.”

“How could you marry that good-for-nothing half-breed Comanche? How could you let him touch your smooth, white skin? It’s really too bad, you know. You’ll have to be punished. I could have forgiven almost anything, Bayleigh, but not you lying down under some filthy half-breed. And you can see I’d be doing you a favor if I made sure he wasn’t around to defile you any more, can’t you, Bay?”

“You’re mad!” She backed away from him to the other side of the bed.

He let down the blanket that closed off the bedroom from the rest of the house, then followed her around the bed, backing her into the corner.

“Did you know your Comanche threatened me, Bay? I must say he did a good job of it. I ran all the way to Shelby County and stayed there—until the Rangers started hunting me down. It got to be a choice between shooting a Ranger in Shelby County or coming back here and shooting your half-breed. I figured there’d be less fuss if I finished off the Comanche. So here I am, Bay.”

“You’re not thinking straight, Jonas. Why don’t you go home and—” Bay cried out when Jonas grabbed her by the hair.

“I can’t have you warning him, can I, Bay? That wouldn’t do at all. I’m just going to tie you up so you’ll be here waiting for me when I get back.”

“Jonas, please don’t do this. My baby—”

“Don’t mention that bastard to me again,” he snarled.

Bay held her breath as the whites of Jonas’s eyes showed all around. He
was
mad! “All right, Jonas. I’ll stay here and wait for you. You go and do what you have to do and I’ll be here waiting for you. But don’t tie me up, Jonas.”

The strip of linen he shoved into her mouth gagged her. Bay fought him then, because she was afraid that if Jonas left her tied up, her baby would be born and die before she could do anything to help it. She clawed his face and heard him yell, “Stop that, you bitch!”

She pounded his chest and face with her fists. She clawed at him again, but this time he slapped her hard across the face. Bay recoiled, covering the red mark on her face with her hand.

Jonas waved his fist at her and said, “I warned you to stop that! The next time it’ll be your belly.”

Bay swayed with dizziness and almost passed out. She grabbed her belly protectively, but Jonas yanked her hands away and tied them together. Then he shoved her onto the bed and tied her hands to the bedpost.

“That ought to keep you out of trouble.”

In the next moment he was gone, as though he’d never been there. Except Bay was gagged and tied to the bedpost.

Long Quiet had captured a
bayo
stallion he thought would be a perfect mate for Golden Lady, but the
bayo
was resisting all his efforts to tame him. He’d finally decided to try an old Comanche trick. He blindfolded the stallion and led him chest deep into the center of a large pond of water. Then he climbed onto the
bayo
’s bare back, grabbed a hunk of the thick blond mane, and slipped off the blindfold.

As expected, the stallion reared and plunged. But the slowing effects of the water on the stallion’s movements made it impossible for the horse to unseat its rider. Several
mesteñeros
surrounding the pond kept the horse from coming out of the water, until at last the
bayo
accepted Long Quiet’s domination.

Long Quiet rode the stallion out of the water and in a circle around the approving
mesteñeros
.

“He is beautiful, no?” Paco said. “This one, this
hombre
.”

“Hombre. I like that tag,” Long Quiet said. “That’s what I’ll call him.” He stroked the
bayo
’s neck.

“Do you wish Juanita to visit your wife to be sure she is well?” Paco asked.

“No, I think I’ll go see her myself. That’ll give me a chance to give Hombre a good ride.”

“But first you put a bridle on this horse, no?”

Long Quiet laughed. “If it’ll please you, I will. But I don’t need it.”

Paco snickered because it was true. Long Quiet had a special talent with horses.

Only Long Quiet knew it was the result of having spent a lifetime on horseback as a Comanche.

Since it was nearing noon, Long Quiet sent the
mesteñeros
off to have their meal and to take a siesta. They all promised to meet again late in the afternoon, when the sun was lower.

Long Quiet put his heels to Hombre and let the stallion run. All he needed to do was keep the
bayo
headed in the right direction, and he could do that with the halter he’d compromised on, instead of putting a bridle on the horse. The
bayo
would be tired enough when they got close to the adobe house that he’d be able to stop him with pressure on the halter.

Long Quiet’s first reaction when he heard the shot and saw the spot of blood appear on the
bayo
’s neck was fury. As the horse went down, Long Quiet curled himself into a ball and rolled free. He came up running, dodging the bullets that chased him to the safety of a small outcropping of rock.

“I’m going to kill you, you bastard Indian,” Jonas shouted. “And then I’m going to get rid of your half-breed brat.”

“Come and get me, Jonas.”

“I already got Bay,” Jonas taunted.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve been to your house. It’s not much to look at. How did you talk Bay into living in such a hovel?”

“Where’s Bay, Jonas?”

“Oh, she’s safe enough,” Jonas said. “I left her tied to the bedpost. She kept babbling about having her baby. Maybe it’s been born by now. But poor Bay won’t be able to do anything about it.”

Long Quiet’s savage instincts took over. There was only one thing to do with a rabid animal—kill it. “Why don’t you come out and fight me, Jonas? Why are you hiding like a scared rabbit?”

“I’m not scared. You come out first, though.”

“I’d be a fool to trust you, Jonas.”

“I’ll throw out my rifle. See?” Jonas threw a rifle out from behind a rise in the terrain, and it clattered down the hill.

“All right, Jonas. I’m coming out. We’ll fight this out man to man.”

“Sure, breed, you come on out and fight me.”

Long Quiet expected to be shot the moment he stepped out from behind the rocks, and Jonas didn’t disappoint him. He dodged, but the bullet caught him in the leg. He stood up and waited for the next shot. “Come on out, Jonas. I can’t run from you now. And I don’t have a gun.” Long Quiet held his hands out to show they were empty.

Jonas’s head and shoulders appeared above the rise. “I’d be a fool to trust a Comanche,” Jonas said, throwing Long Quiet’s words back at him. “But I guess you aren’t going anywhere with a bullet in your leg.”