His Defiant Wife, the Adventures of Linnett Wainwright, Book 2 (14 page)

Linnett smiled
and nodded waiting for Will to finish the translation before
speaking again.

“I thank you
Small Speech for your welcome and hospitality. I am pleased to see
this child again, he has become very dear to my heart. I already
have a husband whom I love dearly and who will be missing me. I do
not know this man and I cannot marry him for I have sworn a holy
oath to forsake all men but my husband.”

Will translated
again and a murmur went up from the assembly. Finally Small speech
spoke. “You have no children of your own. Here is a child who needs
a mother, he has chosen you and since his father, who is a very
great warrior agrees to take you, we cannot understand your
objections.”

Linnett took a
deep breath and placing her hands protectively over her belly, she
said, “
I am with child
. I carry my husband’s son.” Will
raised his brows and Linnett glared at him. “Make sure you tell
them exactly what I said,” she hissed. Will nodded and started to
speak but just then, Linnett’s kidnapper, Bear Man, leapt to his
feet and grabbed Linnett and before she knew what he was about, he
placed his hand over her belly pressing hard. He growled at the
council and two of the women stood up, a furious row breaking
out.

Amidst all the
screaming and shouting, a rattle sounded and suddenly there was
silence. Everyone sat down once again and the woman, Small Speech,
walked around the fire.

She smiled at
Linnet and spoke. Will translated. “I am sorry for the behaviour of
these dogs. Will you allow me to feel for the child within?”

Linnett could
only agree with a nod, whereupon the old woman felt around
Linnett’s womb area. As she pressed and prodded she muttered to
herself, shaking her head. Will translated, “She says it is
possible that you are with child, but she cannot tell at this
stage.”

Small Speech
turned to Bear Man and spoke with him at some length before turning
back to Linnett. “Bear Man wants you even if you are with child and
says that if you care for his son, he will care for yours. The
spirits will decide whether you should bear a child.

“The council
will talk of this and you will be told of our decision at sun set.”
Once again, Will had translated, and then he bowed to the council
before taking Linnett’s arm and dragging her away.

The wait seemed
interminable, the afternoon dragged on, and Linnett paced about
inside the lodge. No one spoke to her, but she noticed a very
pretty girl peering in from the entrance with a furious scowl on
her face. Will had vanished. Once Linnett lifted the entrance flap
and looked out, she found two Indian braves standing outside
presumably guarding her. Surely the council would find in her
favour? She was a married woman and she might be carrying John’s
child!

Linnett wished
now that she had voiced her suspicions to John that she was with
child, but she had been waiting to see if her courses would start
again. If they did not, then she guessed she must be at least three
months with child
. Dear Lord,
she prayed
, let my husband
find me soon.

When it had
grown dark, Will returned and took her back to the council. The
woman Small Speech was there, but Bear Man and everyone else,
including the child, had gone. As before, Will bowed and Linnett
copied him. He translated as she spoke. “We have not taken our
decision lightly. We have not taken any account of your holy oath,
for it is a white man oath. We can find no reason why Bear Man
should not take you to wife.”

Stunned,
Linnett dropped to her knees and pleaded with the old woman to set
her free now. Will tried desperately to translate all that she
said, but for the most part Linnett was incoherent with shock. Will
finally gave up and hunkered down beside her. Linnett was aware
that Small Speech had gone. “Come now girl, really it is not so
bad. Yaogah is a very good man. He will look after you well. The
other lassies will be very envious of you, you know. He is
considered a great catch.”

Linnett
screamed at Will, “
Let them have him, then,
for I have a
husband, do you hear me!! Why does no one hear me...
I- have- a-
husband
-!!” Linnett broke down and wept. Bear Man appeared and
picked her up. He carried her back to his lodge, dumped her on the
furs, and then he and Will spoke together in low voices.

Will stooped
over Linnett and spoke to her before he left, “I advise you
strongly to co-operate girl. These people have some very
nasty
ways with those who won’t. I cannot help you anymore;
it is up to you now, girl.”

Linnett shut
her eyes and muttered, “I would rather die, Will!
Just go
away
!” Will shook her by the shoulder and shouted, “Damn it,
woman, that’s just what you will do, die! None too pleasantly
either! At least while you live, there is hope. You’re no good to
your unborn child or John dead!
Think on that, woman
!”

Will turned and
nodded to Bear Man before leaving them alone. The huge native stood
like a statue staring down at Linnett for a long time. Suddenly,
with the speed of a cheetah, he reached down, and grasping her arm,
he hauled her up against his chest. His hand gripped her chin.

He stared down
into Linnett’s green eyes and his other hand slid over her breasts,
squeezing, assessing and claiming. Linnett drew back her head and
spat in his face. The man released her and wiped his eyes. Linnett
took the opportunity to bolt forward towards the opening, but as
she bent to escape, a large arm snaked around her waist and hauled
her back inside the lodge.

He twisted a
hand in her thick hair and pulled her head back, forcing her chest
out. Linnett’s breasts jutted, outlined by the tight leather dress,
and the huge man mauled them, squeezing and kneading Linnett’s
tender flesh. Without thinking her action through, Linnett twisted
her head and sank her teeth deep into Bear Man’s arm. He
immediately let go of her hair with a guttural curse and he sucked
his injured bloody wrist. Linnett dropped onto the furs behind her
with a whimper of fear. Then she looked up into his face and
blanched at the expression of fury there. No longer inscrutable, he
was livid with her.

Bear Man
dropped down beside her and reached out his huge hand. Grabbing
Linnett by her hair, he dragged her face down across his enormous,
hard thighs. Linnett struggled in vain; she knew this position only
too well and she knew it would bode no good for her.

Bear Man lent
sideways slightly and pulled out, from a sheath tethered to his
side, a large dagger. He slit Linnett’s tight dress from hem to
waist, exposing her bare bottom. Linnett let out a banshee wail of
fury and frustration. Only her husband had the right to punish her
this way! This indignity should not be happening to
her
,
especially not with this barbarian!

Linnett stilled
as she felt a large hand roughly explore her bottom cheeks, and
then she stiffened as the fingers of that large hand dipped between
her legs, thrusting and invading her private area. Linnett tried
frantically to struggle free, but he pinched her soft thigh hard,
twisting the tender skin viciously.

Linnett gasped
and thrashed her head, her mouth searching for flesh to bite and
tear, venting her rage. When a loud slap and a sharp pain sliced
through her buttock, Linnett shrieked with fury. She gasped as a
volley of powerful, painful slaps scalded her bottom.

The spanking
was hard and harsh with no let-up. On and on the man pounded her
bottom until Linnett lay sobbing, her body jerking as each heavy
blow fell. Finally the man stopped. He slid his hand down between
Linnett’s legs, and thrusting brutally, he pushed his fingers
inside her. He roughly fondled her sex. He was violating and
humiliating her. This continued until the weeping Linnett thought
his next move would be to surely rape her.

Suddenly he
pulled his hand away and pushed her roughly off his lap. Standing,
he licked his wrist, which was now dripping blood. He stared at her
with his unblinking black eyes, dark and furious. Then he spoke
harshly to her in his guttural tongue and spun away quickly and
fluidly, disappearing through the entrance flap still clasping his
injured wrist.

After Bear Man
had gone, Linnett fell sideways. Her arms clasped around her upper
body, her legs drawn up, she lay curled into a ball shaking and
weeping. Finally shuddering, she sat up and immediately a sharp
object dug into her hip. Reaching down beneath a blanket, she
pulled out Bear Man’s dagger. Linnett pulled the sharp knife to her
and stared at the blade. Why did this man want her so much?

Any young woman
of the tribe could mother his son. Was he drawn to her because of
her blonde hair? He seemed to be fascinated by the colour. Linnett
twirled the knife in her hands, and then before she could change
her mind, she reached behind her and grabbed a skein of her hair,
twisted it at her neck and drew the blade across the wedge. A
cascade of rippling honey fell into her hand, and she placed it on
the fur bed she was sitting on.

Perhaps if he
found this gift from her, he would let her escape and not pursue
her. If he did give chase and he caught her, perhaps without her
hair he would soon release her. Anyway, she needed to get away now
before the man came back and finished what he had intended.

Linnett
quietened herself by taking deep breaths; she began to think. The
doorway was guarded but the back of the lodge wasn’t. Linnett used
the dagger to pull and scrape at the mud and rushes that were the
main components of the back wall’s construction.

It took her
about a quarter of an hour or so to make a hole just large enough
for her to wriggle through. Worrying that at any moment Bear Man
would be back to finish what he had started, she glanced over her
shoulder every few seconds. Her heart was racing and beating so
loudly she was sure someone would hear.

Lying on her
stomach, she squeezed through the small gap. Standing up on the
outside, Linnett gently brushed the earth from her dress and
thought what a dreadful mess she must look by now. Her native dress
was all ripped and torn, split up to her waist at the back and she
was covered with dirt. Her skin was scratched and bruised from her
escape through the undergrowth earlier.

She ran lightly
from lodge to lodge, always keeping to the shadows. A dog came up
and snarled, but all at once a small, shadowed form caught hold of
the dog and whispered a command. Immediately the dog fell silent
and lay down.

Linnett waited
to see if this person was about to give her away, but as the form
moved close to her, Linnett realised it was a young girl. She
recognised her as the girl Linnett had seen at the lodge earlier,
scowling at her from the entrance. The Indian girl took hold of
Linnett’s hand and quietly led her around the perimeter of the
encampment, keeping the dogs that growled quiet by giving them a
softly spoken command.

Once they were
at the edge of the village, she pushed Linnett towards the cover of
trees and melted away into the darkness. Linnett took a deep breath
and crept through the undergrowth. When she was far enough in, she
ran like the wind into the cover of the forest.

It was pitch
dark and she couldn’t even see her feet, let alone where she was
going. After struggling downhill and tripping over tree roots, her
head smacking on the low overhanging branches, Linnett became
exhausted. Eventually, she collapsed in a heap on the ground, her
chest heaving painfully from her exertions.

After a while,
she stood up and continued to push her way through the trees,
heading to a lighter area of ground that might lead to the edge of
the woodland. It turned out to be a clearing in the forest, and as
Linnett crept around it, she was grabbed from behind and lifted off
her feet. A hand clamped itself over her mouth before she could
scream.

Linnett fought
with every ounce of strength she had until a familiar voice cursed
her and delivered a stinging slap to her bare rear end, whispering,
“
Niet lieveling!”
into her ear. Not Bear Man, then, but
Hans; Linnett went limp with relief. Hans carried her through the
trees and handed her up to John, who was astride his own horse and
holding onto the reins of Hans’s mount.

Linnett pressed
her face into her husband’s neck and breathed in the familiar scent
of him, her relief making her boneless and exhausted. She felt his
kisses on her face and sighed.
Safe.
She was safe.

Sarah gently
shook Linnett awake from a deep and healing sleep the morning after
they had arrived back at the homestead. She sat down next to her on
the bed and stroked the short hair away from Linnett’s face.

After they had
arrived back at the Lammers house the night before, Linnett had
explained in a shortened version what had occurred at the native
village. After some warm milk, John had carried Linnett upstairs
and gently tucked her into bed, whereupon she had fallen into a
deep restorative sleep.

“I should stay
in bed today if I were you, Linnett,” Sarah said, handing Linnett a
cup of steaming coffee the following morning.

“Oh no, I want
to get up and talk to John as soon as I can!” Linnett replied,
looking expectantly at the door.

“I don’t think
that would be a very wise idea
today
,” said Sarah
firmly.

“Why ever not,
Sarah? I feel just fine!” said Linnett.

“Believe me,
Linnett, you won’t feel fine for very long. Now that you are safe
and sound again, John is
livid
with you for riding off the
way you did. I would stay here today and let him calm down a bit
before you get up and about. It won’t save you from a whipping, but
he might go easier on you once a day or so has passed!”