Savage Desire (Savage Lagonda 1) (22 page)

Tajarez stood up and held out his hand to her and she allowed him to pull her to her feet. Tajarez frowned at Palomas, then his face relaxed into a smile. "My father selected well, Palomas, when he chose you to protect Mara."

"It could be, my prince, that the only protection she will need will be from the man who will become her husband."

Tajarez inclined his head slightly. "Pray that it is so, Palomas. Something tells me this will be a very long journey. It already begins to tell on me."

"That may very well be, my prince, and this is only the first day."

"Mara," Tajarez said, pushing her toward Palomas. "It would seem that we must be parted for now. Put Tanka out of your mind. You can see she is unimportant to me."

Mara did not answer, but allowed Palomas to steer her out of the tent. Once out in the fresh air, she breathed deeply, feeling she had lost the battle to Tajarez. What he
could not command her to do, he achieved by making her
submissive to his lovemaking.

Her anger was all but forgotten; her suspicions of Tanka were laid to rest. But now her body had betrayed
her. She had no control over her own feelings whenever
Tajarez touched her. She had much to learn about her husband, and she had just received her first lesson.

A LARGE . .. BROWN BEAR HAD PERCEIVED AND
CREPT ON ME WITHIN TWENTY STEPS BEFORE
I DISCOVERED HIM. IN THE FIRST MOMENT, I
DREW UP MY GUN TO SHOOT BUT AT THE SAME
INSTANT RECOLLECTED THAT SHE WAS NOT
LOADED, AND THAT HE WAS TOO NEAR FOR ME TO HOPE TO PERFORM THIS OPERATION BEFORE
HE REACHED ME, AS HE WAS BRISKLY AD
VANCING ON ME.

—
Meriwether Lewis

12

Two weeks had passed since the day of the wedding. The days now followed a familiar pattern. They rode hard for most of the day, stopping only to eat or to rest the horses. When they stopped at the end of each day, they would find the camp already set up and the meal prepared. Jeffery had explained to Mara how this was accomplished. A group of ten men, along with the woman, Maga, would ride all night until they reached a preplanned destination, where they would set up the camp. Then they would sleep for the day. When the main body caught up to them, they would start out once more, ride all night, and set up the camp for the next day. It had all been very cleverly thought out and brilliantly executed so they could travel at a faster pace and still have every comfort.

Mara saw very little of Tajarez. Only occasionally would he ride with the main body. It seemed he and Jeffery were always away. She ate all of her meals with Sasha in her own tent, for Tajarez did not invite her to eat with him, as he had on her first night in camp.

He need not worry that she would seek him out again. If he wanted her, he would have to come to her, she thought. On the occasions when she encountered him, he was polite, asking only about her comfort. His cold, indifferent manner hurt her deeply.

She was beginning to see him in an entirely different light. He was indeed every inch the royal prince as he moved among his men issuing orders, which they readily carried out. He seemed arrogant, distant, and completely unapproachable.

Palomas, the watchdog, was ever present, and Mara was becoming accustomed to his being at her side.

At night Sasha would teach Mara the language of the Lagonda tribe. At first it had seemed very difficult, but Mara now felt she was making progress. She longed to talk to Tajarez in his own language, hoping he would be proud of her accomplishment. With this end in mind, she applied herself ever harder to the task ahead of her.

It was late afternoon, and Mara rode at the head of the large group of Lagonda warriors. As usual, Tajarez and Jeffery were not with them. She had not seen them, in fact, since the night before, and then she only saw them at a distance. Jeffery seemed to be enjoying himself, and Mara envied him his freedom. This was not her idea of what they had planned as children. Then their dream of travel had included sharing their adventures.

At first when they had started the journey, they would pass an occasional white settlement, or a cabin nestled in the woods, but for the last few days, they had seen nothing of the white civilization. Once they had passed a small party of Indians, who had stared at them, but made no attempt to communicate with them.

They were moving at such a fast pace that Mara wondered how much distance they had covered, and how many weeks it would take to reach their destination. Surely at this pace, it would not be too long.

Sasha's brother, Anias, was more often than not in the group of warriors that surrounded her. She did not feel easy in his company, for it seemed he was always watching her, and she would often wonder if he liked her at all, for he never smiled at her as all the others did, and he did not approach her. Mara could sense that he and Palomas did not like each other, and wondered if it was because of the quarrel they had had that day by the river.

Mara noticed the river they were approaching. It was very wide, and the current was swift. She saw what looked like a small trading post on the riverbank. As they approached, she noticed the warriors had closed ranks about her, and she was surrounded on all sides by a protective shield.

She was surprised when instead of skirting the trading post, as they had all of the previous white settlements they passed right in front of it, and rode toward the river.

"Sasha, ask Palomas what is going on, and why we are stopping here," Mara said as they drew even with the river and many of the braves dismounted.

Sasha quickly did as she asked, then turning to Mara, told her what Palomas had said. "He says the man that owns the trading post has a large ferry with which he can pilot men and horses across the great river. Jeffery has arranged it so he will transport us across, thus saving much time, and making it safer for you."

"Where is Tajarez, and my brother?"

"Palomas does not know."

Palomas lifted Mara from her horse, and she straightened her riding habit. She looked at the ferry that would be taking them across the river. There was a rope that spanned the width of the river, and some sort of pully was connected to the flat-bottomed boat.

"Sasha, let us go into the trading post while they are deciding what is to be done. I have always wanted to see what one was like."

So saying, she started walking, and Sasha joined her with Palomas walking just behind them both. The structure was very crude. It was built out of logs, and the cracks were filled in with mud. As they reached the front porch, Mara lifted the skirt of her riding habit and wrinkled her nose in distaste. The boards of the porch were stained with tobacco juice, and the smell was very unpleasant.

Opening the front door, which had a small bell attached to it that tinkled letting the proprietor know when a customer entered, Mara stepped inside and was met by other, stronger, more unpleasant odors. What looked like a deer carcass was hanging from the ceiling, and there was an unusually large number of flies and insects crawling on the foul-smelling meat. There were many fur pelts hanging on the walls, and the shelves that ran the length of the walls were stocked with dried meat, tins of coffee, tea, sugar, and flour. The dirt floor was filthy, as was the rest of the place.

Mara had just decided she needed a breath of fresh air when a woman came from the back room, her arms loaded with bolts of calico material. She stared at Mara in amazement before she set the bolts of material on the counter.

Mara could not help noticing that the woman was none too clean herself. Her gray homespun gown was stained, and the once white apron, which was tied about her huge, bulky frame, was greasy, as well as needing mending. Mara could not judge the woman's age, but she placed her somewhere between thirty and fifty. She silently scolded herself for criticizing the woman's appearance. It must be a hard life, living in the wilderness the way she did, never seeing another woman, and probably never being able to travel. She smiled brightly at the woman.

"What's a fine-looking lady of quality doing in the backwoods?" the woman asked.

"I am traveling with my husband and brother," Mara told her.

"Most times it ain't safe for a woman to be out here; injins, you know."

Unfortunately, Palomas chose that moment to enter the room. The woman's eyes widened in horror as she stared at the tall, fierce-looking Indian.

"Lord save us all," she said, placing a shaky hand to her throat. "We will all be scalped."

Palomas's eyes moved over the woman and he dismissed her as unimportant, while she backed as close to the wall as she could get.

"Palomas will not harm you, madame," Mara told her, a smile playing on her lips at how fearsome Palomas must look to someone who did not know him. "He is with me."

The woman moved forward slightly, eyeing Palomas suspiciously. "What you doing with the likes of him? Ain't no decent woman has anything to do with injins. Besides, they will steal everything they, can lay their hands on."

At that moment the woman noticed Sasha, who was standing across the room from her, delicately handling a red ribbon. The woman then made a fatal mistake. She grabbed Mara by the shoulder and raised her voice. "You get them injins out of my store. You there, girl, put that ribbon down. I ain't about to have you soil it so it won't be fit to sell."

Although Palomas did not understand the woman's words, he heard the tone of her voice and saw that she had put her hands on the Golden One. Grabbing the woman by the wrist, he swung her away from Mara, causing her to crash into the wall. He then stood between her and Mara, his hand on the hilt of his knife.

The terrified woman was clinging to the wall, her eyes wild with fear as she gasped for breath.

Mara was angry that the ignorant woman had insulted the gentle Sasha. "You are lucky, madame, that Palomas did not do you more harm. I will ask you to apologize to my friend, or I will not be responsible for what Palomas does to you," she said angrily.

The woman's mouth gaped open. "You would take the side of a filthy injin against your own kind?"

"Do not class yourself as my kind, madame. See how Palomas watches you? He is waiting for you to apologize to Sasha." Mara knew that Palomas could not possibly know what had transpired between the woman and herself, but the woman did not need to know that.

"One word from me, and he will be upon you in a flash. Do you tell Sasha you are sorry?"

The woman edged her way along the wall, never taking her eye off the man who represented sudden death to her. She spoke in a shaky voice: "I meant no harm by what I said to your friend." Then she looked at Sasha. "I was just joshin'. You can keep the red ribbon if you want to."

Mara reached into her reticule and withdrew a coin and tossed it in the direction of the woman. "Thank you, no. My friend and I pay for the ribbon. We want nothing from you." She placed a protective arm around Sasha, feeling renewed anger at the hurt she saw in Sasha's eyes. She led Sasha to the door, but turned to the woman once more, unable to resist one last shot. "This place is filthy. You should consider cleaning it up. No self-respecting Indian would be caught dead in here," and with that, she swept from the room, leaving the startled woman staring after her.

Tajarez and Jeffery were at that moment with the woman's husband, making arrangements for him to pilot them across the river.

"Jeffery, what are you doing here?" a newcomer said as he dismounted and shook Jeffery's hand vigorously.

Tajarez recognized the man, Anthony, from David's wedding. He was the man who had been so interested in Mara at the time.

"I might ask you the same question," Jeffery told him.

"I have been hunting with my father and brother. We thought it might be good to get away from it all for a while. We hired an Indian guide, and just struck out. We have some mighty fine pelts to show for our trouble. If you are going to cross the river, I would caution you. Last night we were attacked by the biggest damn grizzly I have ever seen. We wounded him in the chest, and managed to get away by taking to the river. Before we could escape, however, he killed our Indian guide. I am telling you, this grizzly is a real killer, and if he has not died of his wound, he is still dangerous." Anthony paid little heed to the tall Indian who stood beside Jeffery, thinking he must be a guide himself. "By the way, how is that beautiful sister of yours faring? I never did get to be alone with her at David's wedding. She just seemed to disappear."

"Well, as it happens, Mara is with me. She is . . ."

Before Jeffery could finish what he was saying, Anthony saw Mara coming out of the trading post. "Excuse me, my friend. I see her for myself. I go to pay my respects." With that, he hurried toward the trading post.

"If he is a friend of yours, you had better stop him before he reaches Mara. Palomas will
kill
him," Tajarez warned.

Jeffery looked quickly at Tajarez, and then at Anthony, who was already approaching Mara. Seeing the danger to his friend, he raced across the distance, trying to catch Anthony before he reached Mara.

Mara was still angry. She had always disliked small-minded people, and the woman in the trading post had been the epitome of ignorance and stupidity. Sasha had more than likely never been exposed to the prejudices of the outside world, and Mara, feeling protective toward her, was determined she would never face such humiliation again. She heard someone calling out to her, and saw Anthony advancing on her. He waved to her, and bounded up the steps to take both of her hands in his.

"What are you doing here, Anthony?" she asked in surprise as he planted a brotherly kiss on her forehead.

It was a startled Anthony who felt himself flying into the air and landing with a thud at the bottom of the steps. When he opened his eyes, it was to see a fierce-looking Indian with a knife at his throat.

Mara, sensing the danger to Anthony, flew down the steps to his aid. She threw her body across his, knowing no other way to save him. "Palomas, stop this," she cried. "He is my friend."

Jeffery was at her side, and then she saw Tajarez, anger written on his handsome face. He picked her up and held her in his arms.

'Tajarez, stop him. He will harm Anthony."

"Does this man mean so much to you?"

"Of course, he is a friend."

Palomas grabbed Anthony by the shirt front and pulled him to his feet.