Tales of Western Romance (29 page)

He took the reins in one hand, removed the
rope from her neck, and stepped into the saddle.

The mare stood there a moment and then she
put her head down and commenced bucking from one end of the pen to
the other.

Blue Hawk let out a war whoop, everything
else forgotten in the thrill of pitting his skill and strength
against that of the mare.

Inside the house, Lynnie heard the shout.
Thinking something bad had happened to one of hands, she ran out
onto the front porch. Expecting the worst, she came to a stop at
the edge of the top step when she saw Daniel. He rode easy in the
saddle, as if he were relaxing in the rocker instead of clinging to
the back of a wildly bucking bronc. She shook her head in awe. He
seemed to know which way the dun was going to move before it
happened, almost as if he could read the mare’s mind. It was, she
thought, a beautiful sight to see.

Gradually, the dun quieted. Sides lathered
and heaving, she stood in the middle of the pen with her head
down.

Blue Hawk leaned forward and gave her a pat
on the neck, then slid out of the saddle. Standing in front of the
mare, he rubbed her forehead and scratched between her ears. The
mare shook her head, then nudged him, asking for more.

Lynnie smiled as she watched Daniel stroke
the mare’s neck. No doubt about it, she thought as she watched him
walk the mare to cool her off. She had picked the right man for the
job. He would have that rough string eating out of his hand in no
time at all.

* * * * *

With dinner over and the dishes done, Lynnie
bid Adele a good night, then went out onto the front porch to relax
for a few minutes before going upstairs to bathe and get ready for
bed.

Finding Daniel sitting on the swing was a
welcome surprise.

She smiled as she took a seat on the other
side of the swing. “Beautiful night.”

He nodded.

“
I saw you breaking that dun this
afternoon,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like
that.”

He shrugged. “Like I said, I had a good
teacher.”

“
Oh?”

“
Yeah, my father. He raises the best
horses in the county. People come from as far away as New York to
buy saddle horses trained at my father’s ranch.”

“
We didn’t talk about wages,” Lynnie
said. “What would you consider a fair wage?”

“
Room and board for as long as I’m
here,” Blue Hawk said, “and that dun mare when it’s time for me to
go.”

“
Leave it to you to pick the best of
the bunch,” Lynnie said, grinning.

“
Do we have a deal?”

“
Yes.” She leaned back and closed her
eyes, remembering how good Daniel had looked on the mare, the
gentle way he had stroked the horse’s neck. Was he as gentle and
patient with women as he was with horses?

Lynnie opened her eyes, her cheeks burning.
Where had
that
wicked thought come from? There was no
denying he was a handsome man, but she knew very little about him.
And even if she was attracted to him, there was no telling how long
he would be here. Sooner or later, he would probably return to his
own time. Best to keep her distance. That was the smart thing to
do.

But it didn’t keep her from wondering what it
would be like to have him hold her, touch her, kiss her.

“
Hey, you all right?” Blue Hawk asked.
“You’re awful quiet.”

She stared at him, her cheeks growing warmer
as she recalled her lustful thoughts.

“
Lynnie?”

“
I was just…just thinking about…” She
twisted her fingers together. What could she possibly say? Not the
truth, certainly! “Would you like some coffee? There’s some left in
the pot.”

“
Sure. Sounds good.”

Aware of his gaze on her back, she went into
the house. Her hands were shaking as she pulled two cups from the
shelf. Staring out the window, she took a deep breath. What was
wrong with her? She’d never felt this way before.

“
Lynnie?”

She hadn’t heard him enter the room. At the
sound of his voice, her breath caught in her throat.

“
Do you need some help?”

Heart pounding, she turned to face him.
Unable to think of anything to say, she could only stare at
him.

“
Are you all right?”

She nodded.

He took a step toward her. “Are you
sure?”

“
Daniel, I…I…” She swallowed hard as he
closed the distance between them. She stared up at him. It was hard
to think, hard to breathe, with him standing so close. She tilted
her head back so she could see his face.

He didn’t say anything as he slipped his arm
around her waist, slowly drawing her closer, giving her plenty of
time to back away, or slap him, if she was of a mind to. When she
didn’t, he lowered his head and kissed her gently.

Lynnie closed her eyes as his mouth covered
hers. Never, in any of her wildest dreams, had she imagined
anything quite like this. Warmth spread through her, making her
knees weak and her heart soar. Lost in a world of sensation, she
clung to him, marveling that something as ordinary as a kiss should
fill her with such wonder.

She moaned softly when he lifted his
head.

He murmured her name, his voice gruff, and
then he kissed her again.

She was breathless when he released her. With
one hand pressed to her racing heart, she stared at him.
“Daniel…”

“
I know.” He smiled wryly as he stroked
her cheek. “We need to slow down, but…” He paused, not knowing how
to say what he was thinking. Not even sure he was capable of
coherent thought when she was so close and he wanted her so much,
and that was crazy. He hardly knew her, yet he knew in his heart
that she was what he had been searching for his whole
life.

She tilted her head to the side. “But?”

He shook his head. “I’d better get some
sleep,” he said, smiling. “The rest of those broomtails won’t be as
easy to break as that dun mare.”

“
Of course,” Lynnie said. “You need
your rest. Good night, Daniel.”

When she would have turned her back to him,
he caught her hand and drew her back into his arms. “Sweet dreams,
Lynnie,” he murmured, and kissed her one more time.

* * * * *

She dreamed of him that night and woke before
dawn, her first thought the memory of his mouth on hers.

Knowing she wasn’t going to be able to get
back to sleep, Lynnie stepped into her slippers, pulled on her
robe, and went downstairs. The house was quiet. Adele wouldn’t be
awake for another hour.

After warming a pot of leftover coffee, she
filled a cup and carried it outside to watch the sun rise. She
sipped her coffee, suddenly overcome with the urge to slip down to
the barn and wake Daniel with a kiss. And with that thought in
mind, she set her coffee cup on the railing, lifted the hem of her
robe, and hurried down the stairs.

She was halfway there when the sound of hoof
beats stopped her in her tracks. She glanced over her shoulder,
thinking some of the cowboys had returned early from rounding up
the cattle in the north pasture, felt her heart sink to her toes
when she saw a dozen painted Indians bearing down on her.

Before she could scream, the warrior in the
lead leaned over the side of his horse and plucked her off the
ground as if she weighed no more than a child. He clapped a hand
over her mouth, spun his pony around, and thundered out of the yard
while the other warriors opened the corral gates and stampeded the
horses.

Heart pounding with fear, Lynnie glanced over
her shoulder, certain she would never see her home or Daniel Blue
Hawk again.

* * * * *

Blue Hawk sat up as the sound of galloping
hoof beats reached his ears, and with it a sense of foreboding.
Running to the door of the barn, he pushed it open in time to see a
dozen mounted warriors herding the rough string east toward the
mountains.

But it wasn’t the sight of horses being
stolen that made his blood run cold. It was the sight of Lynnie’s
pale face as a warrior carried her away.

Blue Hawk stared after the Indians. They were
Cheyenne. He knew it without a doubt. They were his kin, the
warriors he had idolized as a young boy, the reason he had jumped
at the chance to journey into the past.

And they had taken Lynnie. Hurrying back into
the barn, he pulled on his shirt and tugged on his boots. The
Indians had taken all the horses corralled outside. Jase and all
the able-bodied cowhands were out rounding up cattle. The only men
left on the ranch were Martinez and Wilks, and they were both laid
up in the bunkhouse. The only horse left on the place was Lynnie’s
palomino mare, placidly munching hay in her stall.

He quickly saddled the mare, then led her
outside and tied her to the hitching post in front of the bunkhouse
before hurrying inside.

Wilks was sitting up on his bunk, looking
worried. Martinez was pulling on his pants. It was slow going, with
one arm in a cast.

“
What’s going on?” Wilks asked. “The
house on fire?”

Blue Hawk quickly explained what had
happened, then said, “I need a rifle.”

Martinez jerked his chin at the scarred trunk
at the foot of his bed. “Take mine. There’s ammo inside.”

“
Obliged.”

“
If you hold on a bit, I’ll come with
you,” Martinez offered. “I’ve still got one good arm.”

“
Thanks, but you’ll only slow me
down.”

Outside again, Blue Hawk slid the rifle into
the saddle boot. He was about to step into the leather when the
housekeeper, Adele, came running down the porch stairs, her
bathrobe flapping behind her.

“
They took her!” she cried. “I saw them
from my window upstairs. My poor Lynette! What are we going to
do?”

“
I’m going after her,” Blue Hawk said,
and swinging onto the mare’s back, he rode out of the yard at a
dead run.

Chapter 9

The tracks were clear and easy to follow.
Even if his father hadn’t taught him how to read trail sign from
the time Blue Hawk was old enough to learn, following the Cheyenne
wouldn’t have been difficult. The rough string cut a wide swath
across the prairie. A faint cloud of yellow dust lingered in their
wake.

Blue Hawk drew back on the reins, easing the
Palomino into a trot. It wouldn’t do to get too close. The last
thing he wanted was for the warriors to know they were being
followed. If he was lucky, he’d be able to sneak in after dark and
rescue Lynnie. If he was caught… Blue Hawk shook the possibility
away. He would worry about that if and when it happened.

* * * * *

Lynnie had never been so afraid in her life.
Not when she was six and got lost, not when she was ten and broke
her wrist, not when her father passed away and she realized she was
the owner of the Slash Bar R.

The Indians pushed on without stopping,
heading for the mountains in the distance. She had a terrible
feeling that once the Indians reached their stronghold, no one
would ever be able to find her. It might be days before Jase and
the men returned. By then, it would be too late.

Did anyone even know she was missing?

It seemed they rode for hours before the
Indians allowed the rough string to slow to a walk. She blinked
back her tears when she saw the dun mare Daniel had broken. She
would never see him again.

She slid a glance at the warriors riding on
either side of her. They were tall, with copper-hued skin and long
black hair. Their resemblance to Daniel reminded her that he was
half-Cheyenne. Had he been born a hundred and fifty years ago, he
might have been one of the warriors surrounding her. It was all too
easy to imagine him with paint on his face and feathers in his long
dark hair. He rode the way they did, as if he was a part of the
horse.

Her fear increased when the Indians stopped
for the night. What would they do with her now? She knew little of
Indian ways, but she had heard stories of Indian atrocities –
horrible tales of rape and torture.

The warrior who had captured her dismounted,
then lifted her from the back of the horse. She stared up at him,
her heart beating a frantic tattoo in her chest. With a grunt, he
pushed her down on the ground.

She sat there, trying to make herself
invisible, while the other warriors set up camp for the night. A
short time later, the men had a small fire going. The warrior who
had captured her thrust a hunk of jerky into her hands and
pantomimed for her to eat.

She took it gladly. Save for a few sips of
coffee earlier that day, she’d had nothing to eat since the night
before.

The warriors hunkered around the fire,
laughing and talking in a rough, guttural tongue. Gnawing on the
jerky, she wondered if Daniel spoke Cheyenne.

As the fire burned down, the Indians rolled
into their blankets, leaving three men awake to guard the
horses.

Her captor offered her a drink of water, tied
her hands and feet, then covered her with a blanket.

Lying there, afraid of what the morrow might
bring, she closed her eyes. Daniel was part Indian. If anyone could
find her, he could.

It was her last thought before exhaustion
claimed her.

* * * * *

Blue Hawk tied the palomino to a tree a good
distance from the Cheyenne camp, then crept slowly forward, careful
to keep downwind of the Cheyenne ponies. He had hoped to find a way
to steal Lynnie away from the Indians, but one look at the camp,
and he knew it would be impossible. Three warriors stood guard; the
other nine slept in a circle, with Lynnie in the middle.